Minding the gaps in India’s data infrastructure
5 years, 2 months ago

Minding the gaps in India’s data infrastructure

The Hindu  

Last week, demographers from around the world gathered in Delhi to mark 25 years of National Family Health Surveys. Can India’s existing data infrastructure support high quality data collection or are we staring at a precipice where deteriorating data quality will lead evidence-based policy development astray? Presentations by Dr. Amy Tsui, Professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Santanu Pramanik, Deputy Director, National Council of Applied Economic Research -National Data Innovation Centre, on contraceptive use highlighted the difficulties in obtaining reliable, high quality data. Veterans of the Indian statistical system blame deteriorating data quality on the move from regular employees to contract investigators at the National Sample Survey and use of for-profit data collection agencies in the NFHS. Rising government salaries combined with increased technological needs of modern data collection systems make it difficult to rely on veteran investigators in the civil services to meet all of government data needs.

Research Infrastructure Quality Indian Data Collection Collection Nfhs National Data Contraceptive Use  infrastructure  collection  nfhs  research  national  data  gaps  quality  indian  indias  minding  women  contraceptive

History of this topic

Data reliability: Lessons from the 75-year-old National Sample Survey
1 day, 14 hours ago

Data reliability: Lessons from the 75-year-old National Sample Survey

Live Mint  

At an event to commemorate 50 years of the National Sample Survey in 2001, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee noted that these surveys had contributed “invaluable raw material" to India’s development plans, even though their contribution was often “unseen and unhonoured." “It is not often recognized that behind every piece of statistical information lies the dedicated work of …

India needs a reliable database to aim its welfare schemes better
8 months, 1 week ago

India needs a reliable database to aim its welfare schemes better

Live Mint  

Of every rupee spent in the name of the poor, only 15 paise goes to poor households, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once observed, drawing attention to widespread leakages in India’s welfare programmes. Even critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledge his government’s ability to aim welfare spending towards the deserving. Almost all of the Modi government’s flagship welfare schemes …

What the new expenditure survey says about poverty
9 months, 1 week ago

What the new expenditure survey says about poverty

New Indian Express  

The publication of a fact sheet by the National Sample Survey Office, containing the results of the NSS Household Consumer Expenditure Survey data for 2022-23, a decade after the publication of the last survey data in 2011-12, has again sparked a debate regarding poverty in India. Using the 2022-23 data on average monthly per capita consumer expenditure for rural and …

Opinion: Why India badly needs a new data architecture
10 months, 1 week ago

Opinion: Why India badly needs a new data architecture

India Today  

The authors had a chat soon after the MOSPI released data on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office. There is a World Bank estimate that says the poverty ratio is about 10 per cent, which means about 140 million plus Indians live in poverty. If poverty levels are indeed below 5 per cent as …

India’s draft policy on official statistics misses the mark
1 year, 4 months ago

India’s draft policy on official statistics misses the mark

Live Mint  

At a time when India’s statistical system is facing growing questions from within and outside the government, the statistics ministry has published a revised draft policy on official statistics. The 2018 draft policy raised hopes that Mospi was serious about addressing India’s statistical challenges. However, the draft policy goes on to say that the use of administrative data would minimize …

What the debate on NSS population counts missed out
1 year, 4 months ago

What the debate on NSS population counts missed out

Live Mint  

One of independent India’s early achievements was to set up a large-scale household survey system. An under-estimation of our urban population in NSS surveys has consistently figured in NSC meetings ever since it was set up, official records show. “The listing of households done by the census authorities and that, if any, done subsequently by local authorities is not available …

A data collective can strengthen our statistical system
1 year, 5 months ago

A data collective can strengthen our statistical system

Live Mint  

Most economists remember Margaret Thatcher as a leader who ushered a new era of business-friendly economic policies in the 1980s. The Rayner review led to deep cuts in the survey wing of the government’s statistical service, limiting the range of government data available to the public. As public trust in official statistics declined, the Royal Statistical Society began demanding reforms. …

Data helps any country meet its developmental goals: G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant
2 years ago

Data helps any country meet its developmental goals: G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

The Hindu  

India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Tuesday said that the data is a key aspect to help any country meet its developmental goals and India has benefitted from the same. In a video message Union Minister of State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the Government of India would soon start collecting uniform and harmonised anonymised data sets under …

Reliable data, good policy
3 years, 1 month ago

Reliable data, good policy

The Hindu  

When evidence-based policymaking becomes the cornerstone of good governance, it is difficult to overstate the importance of reliable and timely public data. Among the emerging economies, India is credited to have a relatively robust public data system generated through its decennial Census and yearly sample surveys on specific themes. The MHCE provides the data base to compute the weightage assigned …

Opinion | The march towards an equitable data economy
3 years, 9 months ago

Opinion | The march towards an equitable data economy

Live Mint  

Over the past few months, many of us have been part of various WhatsApp group debates about migrating to platforms that provide better privacy. The next wave of data governance ideas will seek to protect collective harms and build on the foundation of individual agency and control. Greater acceptance for “data sovereignty” assertions across India and Europe is a welcome …

Data can be an asset for governance, growth and public welfare
3 years, 11 months ago

Data can be an asset for governance, growth and public welfare

Hindustan Times  

Data is a critical component for measurable and actionable governance and policy perspectives, as well as for triggering innovation and growth. Data as a beneficial good is also covered in the Economic Survey 2019, which proposed that data gathered by governments on issues of social interest ought to be democratised in the interest of social welfare, or made a public …

Equity and NPR data
4 years, 6 months ago

Equity and NPR data

The Hindu  

From the time of Independence until 2019, India’s citizenship law was region- and religion-neutral. In an application to the Supreme Court of India, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that “States must respect and ensure that migrants in their territory or under their jurisdiction or effective control receive equal and non-discriminatory treatment regardless of their legal status …

Government’s data collection efforts stalled by NRC fears
4 years, 11 months ago

Government’s data collection efforts stalled by NRC fears

Live Mint  

New Delhi: The prospect of a National Register of Citizens is not only raising political tensions, it is now paralysing government data collection efforts. In Andhra Pradesh, a junior statistical official responsible for NSS data collection in Guntur district was attacked while attempting to collect data for the 78th round of the survey. Other local government employees were also manhandled …

Opinion | We are data rich, let’s use it right
5 years, 1 month ago

Opinion | We are data rich, let’s use it right

Live Mint  

When Meera Kumar travelled to London as a 19-year-old exchange student, she was amazed by the transport system. There is a silver lining—the new wave of mission-driven entrepreneurs working to ensure India’s rich data is responsibly harnessed. A team at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, led by Pravesh Biyani, is working with the Delhi government to make real-time GPS …

4 New Data Protection Trends in India Jeopardize Innovation
5 years, 4 months ago

4 New Data Protection Trends in India Jeopardize Innovation

The Diplomat  

Indian policymakers last year launched the praiseworthy effort to develop a cross-sector data protection law. India’s February 2019 draft e-commerce policy, which sought to address “community data,” vividly exemplified these concerns. Even the aforementioned new consultation on the data protection bill demonstrates the challenge of aptly defining and regulating “non-personal data.” It identifies “e-commerce data” as a type of “non-personal …

Data 'of the people, by the people, for the people' should be govt mantra: Economic Survey
5 years, 6 months ago

Data 'of the people, by the people, for the people' should be govt mantra: Economic Survey

Firstpost  

The Economic Survey emphasised that data and information highway must be viewed as equally important infrastructure. Data “of the people, by the people, for the people” must become the mantra for the government, which needs to view data as a “public good” and make necessary investments, Economic Survey said on Thursday. The Economic Survey for 2018-19 asserted that the benefits …

Economic Survey suggests merging of different datasets held by govt
5 years, 6 months ago

Economic Survey suggests merging of different datasets held by govt

The Hindu  

The government needs to view data as a public good and make necessary investment, particularly in social sectors, to enhance ease of living for citizens, improve targeting in welfare schemes and uncover unmet needs, as per the Economic Survey 2018-19. The Survey stated that given that sophisticated technologies already existed to protect and share confidential information, data could be created …

What is India’s stand on data storage?
5 years, 7 months ago

What is India’s stand on data storage?

The Hindu  

The story so far: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently expressed apprehension about nations wanting to store data locally. Earlier that month, the U.S. criticised India’s proposed norms on data localisation as ‘most discriminatory’ and ‘trade-distortive’. India is at a juncture where various bills are ready to be signed into law that will set data localisation and protection regulations in stone. Among …

The problem with cherry-picking data
5 years, 8 months ago

The problem with cherry-picking data

The Hindu  

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said last week, “we definitely have a data crisis,” and blamed academics for creating a “false narrative”. Data are being withheld precisely where experts have flagged problems, such as on employment, farmers’ crisis and economic growth. To counter the argument of a crisis facing large segments of the population, …

India’s data-driven governance regime is not foolproof
5 years, 9 months ago

India’s data-driven governance regime is not foolproof

Hindustan Times  

The ongoing controversy over the credibility and objectivity of India’s statistical system is one of the most damaging legacies of this out-going government. This new regime relies largely on administrative data, which is routinely collected by government departments to track and monitor the progress of schemes and is increasingly beginning to shape day-to-day administration. Economists Abhijit Banerjee and Shrayana Bhattacharya …

A short history of data
5 years, 9 months ago

A short history of data

The Hindu  

Over the past two months, Indian national statistics and the organisations that administer them have faced a volley of criticism. The famed English statistician R.A. Fischer observed that its achievements “brought India not far from the centre of statistical map of the world.” The Institute’s fingerprints were readily apparent in the creation of India’s National Income Committee, the Central Statistical …

108 Experts Concerned Over Political Interference in Economic Data
5 years, 9 months ago

108 Experts Concerned Over Political Interference in Economic Data

The Quint  

Expressing concerns over "political interference" in statistical data in India, as many as 108 economists and social scientists on Thursday, 14 March, called for restoration of "institutional independence" and integrity of statistical organisations. They said that for decades, India's statistical machinery enjoyed a high-level of reputation for the integrity of the data it produced on a range of economic and …

Economists' warning signal: To regain India's data credibility, govt should withdraw faulty GDP back series, release NSSO job numbers
5 years, 9 months ago

Economists' warning signal: To regain India's data credibility, govt should withdraw faulty GDP back series, release NSSO job numbers

Firstpost  

The Mundle series showed that the GDP growth had actually touched the double-digit mark, India has been desperately hoping for, in 2006-07. That’s what reflects in a letter released on Thursday by 108 economists and social scientists calling for restoration of “institutional independence” and integrity to the statistical organisations in India freeing critical data releases from the clutch of damaging …

Everyone is afraid of data
5 years, 10 months ago

Everyone is afraid of data

The Hindu  

Over the past two weeks, headlines have focussed on declining employment between 2011-12 and 2016-17; loss of jobs under the National Democratic Alliance government, particularly post-demonetisation; and the government’s refusal to release a report using the Periodic Labour Force Survey documenting this decline, leading to resignations of two members of the National Statistical Commission. Sometimes these concerns lead to lack …

Amid row over NSSO jobs report, Piyush Goyal calls for embracing modern ways of data collection for accuracy
5 years, 10 months ago

Amid row over NSSO jobs report, Piyush Goyal calls for embracing modern ways of data collection for accuracy

Firstpost  

Piyush Goyal also said that the charm of having a “fixed 9 am to 5 pm” job was waning across the world, and the youth today are looking to engage in new ways of working. Mumbai: Amid the Opposition’s attack on the Centre over an NSSO report on the unemployment rate in the country, Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday …

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