Question

Discuss the important statistical organizations (offices) in India.

Answer 1

1. Official Statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as international organizations.
2. They provide quantitative or qualitative information on all major areas of citizens’ lives.
3. Official Statistics make information on economic and social development accessible to the public, allowing the impact of government policies to be assessed, thus improving accountability.
4. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) came into existence as an Independent Ministry in 1999 after the merging of the Department of Statistics and the Department of Programme Implementation.
5. The Ministry has two wings, Statistics and Programme Implementation.

National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO):

1. The National Sample Survey Organisation, now known as National Sample Survey Office, is an organization under the Ministry of Statistic of the Government of India.
2. It is the largest organisation in India, conducting regular socio-economic surveys.
3. It was established in 1950. NSSO has four divisions:
   • Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD)
   • Field Operations Division (FOD)
   • Data Processing Division (DPD)
   • Co-ordination and Publication Division (CPD)

The Programme Implementation Wing has three Divisions, namely,

• Twenty Point Programme
• Infrastructure Monitoring and Project Monitoring
• Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.

Besides these three wings, there is the National Statistical Commission created through a Resolution of Government of India (MOSPI) and one autonomous Institute, viz., Indian Statistical Institute declared as an institute of National importance by an Act of Parliament.