We the undersigned demand that the Government of India releases the report and data of all NSSO Surveys that have been completed and approved by the NSSO’s internal systems, including the results of the 75th round Survey of Consumer Expenditure, 2017-18.

A media leak published in a business daily has revealed that the 2017-18 Consumer Expenditure Survey shows a sharp decline in average consumption. It has been suggested that the survey results are not being released because they support other evidence that the economy is experiencing a downturn. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has now announced that the results of the survey will not be released at all, because they show a higher divergence with the “administrative data” than for earlier surveys.

It should be noted that consumption surveys are known to give results that diverge from macroeconomic estimates of the National Accounts. Also, National Accounts estimates are based not only on administrative data but on a combination of sources including NSSO and other surveys. Several committees have looked into these discrepancies. While further work can be done to identify sources of and reduce these discrepancies, the common understanding has been that the flaws lie as much in the methods deployed for arriving at macroeconomic estimates as they do in surveys.

Consumption surveys are crucial for monitoring trends in poverty and inequality, and are also of critical value for national income accounting, and for updating macro-economic data such as price indices. They can provide an important check on administrative and macroeconomic data, which is important both for policy makers and the general public. The fact that data on supply of goods and household consumption are diverging points to the need for questioning supply side data (which are being widely questioned within and outside India) as much as it points to the continuing need for improving survey methods.

It is of fundamental importance for the nation that statistical institutions are kept independent of political interference, and are allowed to release all data independently. The record of the present government on this score has been very poor. Until recently, India has good cause to be proud of its statistical system, and the sample surveys conducted by the NSSO have served as a shining example and a model to the rest of the world. While there has been much discussion and debate about the methodology of the surveys, these have been scientific and technical in nature, devoted to trying to improve the system to enable better measures of crucial indicators.

However, this government has chosen to attack the credibility of this pre-eminent statistical institution simply because the results of the surveys do not accord with its own narrative about the economy, without providing any adequate reasons, and by misrepresenting essential features of the surveys. It has repeatedly shown its disinclination to make public any information that may show its own performance in a poor light. Last year, before the parliamentary elections, the results of the Periodic Labour Force Survey were not allowed to be released until the Parliamentary Elections were over, despite the resignation of two members of the National Statistical Commission, and a leak in the media. Subsequently, results of other surveys including the 75th round (Consumer Expenditure), 76th round (Drinking water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Housing Conditions) and more recent quarterly data of the PLFS surveys, have not been released.

This suppression of essential data is terrible for accountability and for ensuring that citizens have the benefit of official data collection that is paid for with their taxes. It is also counterproductive for the government, which may be kept in the dark about actual trends in the economy and therefore not be able to devise appropriate policies. Undermining the objectivity and credibility of an independent statistical system is fundamentally against the national interest.

In the interest of transparency and accountability, all data must be released without delay and irrespective of what the results are. The government may wish to defend itself against interpretations of the statistics that it disagrees with. But this is best done through technical papers and seminars. To prevent release of data that are adverse, and diverge from its own understanding, is neither transparent nor technically sound.

We therefore demand that the government should immediately release the report and unit-level data of the 75th Consumer Expenditure Survey. The government should also commit to release all other survey data after the usual processes to check for possible errors have been concluded.

Signed

1. A Vaidyanathan, Former Member, Planning Commission

2. AV Jose, Visiting Fellow, CDS, Thiruvananthapuram

3. Abhijit Sen, former Member, Planning Commission

4. Abhirup Sarkar, ISI Kolkata

5. Aditya Bhattacharjea, Delhi School of Economics

6. Alex M Thomas, Azim Premji University

7. Amit Basole, Azim Premji University

8. Amit Bhaduri, Emeritus Professor, JNU

9. Amiya Bagchi, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

10. Anamitra Roychowdhury, JNU

11. Angus Deaton, Princeton University

12. Anjana Thampi, IWWAGE, New Delhi

13. Arindam Banerjee, AUD, Delhi

14. Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University

15. Ashwini Deshpande, Ashoka University

16. Astha Ahuja, University of Delhi

17. Atul Sood, JNU

18. Atulan Guha, IIM, Kashipur

19. Ayushya Kaul, Jamia Millia Islamia

20. Avinash Kumar, JNU

21. Awanish Kumar, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai

22. Bibhas Saha, Durham University

23. Biswajit Dhar, JNU

24. CP Chandrasekhar, Retired Professor, JNU

25. C Saratchand, University of Delhi

26. Chalapati Rao KS, ISID, Delhi

27. Chirashree Das Gupta, JNU

28. D Narasimha Reddy, University of Hyderabad

29. Debabrata Pal, JNU

30. Deepak K Mishra, JNU

31. Dilip Mookherjee, Boston University

32. Dinesh Abrol, ISID, Delhi

33. Dipa Sinha, AUD

34. Dipankor Coondoo, Retired Professor, ISI

35. Dipankar Dey, Dept of Business Management, Calcutta University

36. E Bijoykumar Singh, Manipur University.

37. Himanshu, JNU

38. Indra Nath Mukherji, JNU

39. Indraneel Dasgupta, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

40. Indranil Chowdhury, University of Delhi

41. Indranil Mukhopadhyay, OP Jindal University

42. Iqbal Singh, Akal University, Bathinda

43. Ishan Anand, Ambedkar University, Delhi

44. J Mohan Rao, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

45. Jayati Ghosh, JNU

46. Jesim Pais, SSER

47. John Harriss

48. KP Kannan, retired Professor, CDS

49. MS Sriram, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore

50. M Vijayabaskar, MIDS

51. Mahalaya Chatterjee, Calcutta University

52. Malabika Majumdar, Retd Professor, University of Delhi

53. Mandira Sarma, JNU

54. Mary E John, CWDS

55. Mridul Eapen, Member, Kerala State Planning Board

56. Nalini Nayak, SEWA, Kerala

57. Narender Thakur, University of Delhi

58. Nitin Sethi, Independent journalist.

59. Padmini Swaminathan, independent researcher, Chennai

60. Prabhat Patnaik, Emeritus Professor, JNU

61. Pranab Bardhan, University of California, Berkeley

62. Pranab Kanti Basu, Retd Professor, Visva Bharati University

63. Praveen Jha, JNU

64. Pulin B Nayak, Retired Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics

65. R Nagaraj, IGIDR

66. R Ramakumar, TISS

67. R V Ramana Murthy, University of Hyderabad

68. Rahul Roy, ISI, Delhi

69. Rajesh Madan, Noida

70. Rajeswari Sengupta, IGIDR

71. Rajesh Bhattacharya, IIM, Kolkata

72. Rakesh Ranjan, University of Delhi

73. Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum, and Visiting Professor, Goa University

74. Ranjan Ray, Monash University

75. Ritu Dewan, Director (retd), Dept of Economics, University of Mumbai

76. Rohit Azad, JNU

77. S Krithi, TISS, Hyderabad

78. Sarmistha Pal, Surrey Business School

79. Satish Deshpande, Delhi University

80. Satyaki Roy, ISID, Delhi

81. Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Delhi University

82. Shambhu Ghatak, Senior Associate Fellow, Inclusive Media for Change

83. Shantanu De Roy, TERI University

84. Shouvik Chakraborty, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

85. Smita Gupta, Economist

86. Sona Mitra, IWWAGE, New Delhi

87. Suchetana Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University.

88. Subin Dennis, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research

89. Sushil Khanna, IIM, Kolkata

90. Sripad Motiram, University of Massachusetts Boston

91. Sunanda Sen, Retired Professor, JNU

92. Surajit Das, JNU

93. Surajit Mazumdar, JNU

94. Suresh Aggarwal, Former Professor, Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi

95. Suranjan Gupta, New Delhi

96. Taposik Banerjee, Ambedkar University, Delhi

97. Uttam Bhattacharya, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata

98. Vamsi Vakulabharanam, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

99. Venkatesh B Athreya, Professor of Economics (Retired), Bharathidasan University

100. Vikas Rawal, JNU

101. Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj India, and former member, UGC

102. Yoshifumi Usami, University of Tokyo

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