Comments
The time taken between collection and release of official data and statistics could be significantly reduced with the Centre now planning to use tablets instead of paper sampling.
“We are planning to use tablets and other devices for sampling and collection of data. To some extent, this will reduce the time lag in releasing the data to some extent,” said a government official.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), which is the nodal Ministry for the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and the Central Statistics Office, has already introduced the use of handheld devices or tablets for collection of data for inflation, annual survey of industries and the periodic labour force survey.
“This has already ensured faster release of data, as can be seen for inflation. But for other surveys and statistics, it is to be seen how much this will help,” said the official.
MoSPI Minister DV Sadanand Gowda had recently informed Parliament that the NSSO, along with the World Bank, has developed a computer assisted personal interviewing solution to collect data directly using handheld devices for the Periodic Labour Force Survey.
“Further, a Standing Steering Committee of NSSO on IT has been constituted to facilitate switching over from the paper schedule, being used for collection of data in its regular socioeconomic surveys, to digital methods and tools,” he had said.
Statistics qualityThe Centre is, however, hopeful that the move will improve the quality of official statistics, some of which is often much delayed, and will also help analysts who use the data for research.
At present, it takes the NSSO about one year to release the key indicators of its pan-India surveys, and an even longer time for the detailed results.
For instance, it conducted a nationwide survey on ‘Domestic Tourism Expenditure’ as part of its 72nd round surveys between July 20l4 and June 2015.
While it released the key Indicators of Domestic Tourism in India based on Central sample data and the unit level data of the survey in June last year, it released the detailed report earlier this year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.