Current Issues Involving Statistical Services In India

  A series of economic shocks — including the demonetisation of high denomination currency notes in 2016, the introduction of Goods and Services Tax in 2017 and the COVID-19 lockdown — have exposed the growing incapacity of India’s official statistical system to meet the requirements of policymaking. Acknowledging that the credibility of India’s statistical system has come under intense scrutiny in recent years because of apprehensions raised over the procedural lapses in the release of the gross domestic product (GDP) data, methodology for computing national income series with a new base year, delay in the release of data like Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2017-18, withholding of the Annual Consumption Expenditure Survey for 2017-18 and the Mudra survey in recent times, ISS coaching in Lucknow suggests that the government should begun discussions on a much-delayed revamp of official statistics. Some of the major challenges facing the official statistical system are as follo...