The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
does a silent job of collecting data on various fields from the entire country.
Some of the data have predominant significance in an individual’s life - like that
for Consumer Price Index [Urban] where data is taken on the selling price of certain
goods [pre-fixed]. The concerned data help in determining the Dearness
Allowance (DA) of government employees. Some other data which also gets
collected may not be of direct use to individuals, but in long term, it helps
in policy formulation and taking important decisions relating to the holistic
development of the country. These include the area enumeration of different
villages in India, getting idea regarding the amount of crop yield from a
particular field for all seasons – viz. Rabi, Kharif and Jayat Rabi,
socio-economic survey, urban frame survey, Annual Survey of Industries, among
others. All these surveys are done by the Field Operation Division of National
Sample Survey Office under the aforementioned Ministry. The surveys are carried
out simultaneously by the different Regional and Sub-Regional Offices all over
India.
One of the major problems that the investigators face
is the lack of response since there is no law binding the informant for
supplying information. Suppose, let’s take the experience of a crop-cutting
survey. Now any state of India has hundreds of villages and it is the
responsibility of Field operations Division (FOD), Faridabad to allot certain villages
for each round in such a manner such that after every five years, the same
village gets repeated again. A tedious task no doubt, given the size of most of
the Indian states. But then one may sideline this as a routine work, saying
that they are just repeating the procedures which they are following from time
immemorial. Next job is to pick up a field through random number. Suppose
village A in state X got selected and there are 1000 plots in which crop is
being cultivated in that village, then if the random number being allotted is
700, then choose the 700th plot for your study. If random number
allotted is 1500, divide 1500 by 1000 and the remainder i.e. 500 will give you
the required plot number. Its statistics so far – probably no big deal, and can
be done by sitting at the village Patwari’s office.
Even if the chosen plot does not grow the required
crop, say wheat about which information is needed - then go for the next field,
not that complicated yet. But now surfaces the typical problems. One fine
morning you happily go to the field and ask the farmer for his help. The poor
Indian farmer who used to be very naïve would previously agree to help
unconditionally - making life easier for the investigator. But now the farmer,
who has also started feeling that he has missed his share of pie for quite some
time asks the question-
“mujhe
kya milnewala hain?”
And well, the investigator knows the answer only too
well. Rs 50, may be, and that too after a year. For that the farmer has now to
cut the crop in the investigator’s presence, manually thresh it and give the
exact measurement to the investigator. The most difficult is the crop cutting
part - it is not the usual crop cutting that the farmer does at regular
interval of time. You take a square of side 5m or an equilateral triangle of
the same side length or a circle with radius 5m, that too after measuring the
plot by actual walking, then subtracting 7 from both length and breadth and
then considering random numbers. Then you have to separate the crop of that
small area and dry it up. After say 8-9 days, the investigator once again goes.
This time that crop should be manually threshed - even a difference of 100 gm
can now bring lots of changes in the estimate of the total crop yield of that
particular crop of the country. But what has the farmer got to gain from all
these statistical jargons?
He gives time for crop cutting - but he has nothing to
bind him to that date. If he feels he may cut it before or might cut it after -
depending on his experience regarding the crop as well as weather condition.
But the poor investigator has nothing to do - he has to get the information and
that too for the plot chosen, he cannot force the farmer for any of the things,
but cannot also return empty-handed. Even if the farmer refuses for manual
threshing - the investigator might as well has to thresh the crop on his own, since
his job is to get the data and he knows that the data would be needed to
calculate the national figure. Now this particular yield rate will give an
estimate of the amount of that particular crop grown in that season in the
entire country. And then if any of the data goes wrong - the entire nation,
powered by the now 24X7 news channels will attack the statistical machinery of
the country and start throwing questions like how can there be such under
production? How can China do it and not India? But does the process look very
simple?
The process of data collection is not very complicated
apparently. The Sample Design and Research Division (SDRD) of NSSO located in
Kolkata is carrying out the research as to what are the items relevant these
days on which the data should be collected. The Industrial Statistics (IS) wing
of the Central Statistical office (CSO) has left no stone unturned in
identifying the different industries in the country, the varied raw materials
needed for the output of the various products that rule the market; and the FOD
ensures that with the inadequate manpower it has, it must collect data for all
the proposed schemes that will help in policy making. Now-a-days, the NSSO
collects data for six years in a decade and has left four years for different
central ministries who might request this particular department to collect data
as per their requirement. Thus it is quite evident how much importance this particular
ministry has.
But how much awareness do the common people have with
regard to this is a big question. The people also feel that the time in which
they are providing the data is simply meaningless since they are not going to
gain anything from the data they provide and there is no law binding on them
which compels them to provide the data.
At least, apparently no one sees any monetary gain in
this.
Hence even if a person having three cars within his
residential complex demands that his monthly per-capita expenditure is Rs 3000
for five persons, no one can challenge his data and no one can compel him to
give the actual data. Similarly for the farmer, first of all, demarking the
area with the precision as demanded by a statistician is itself a herculean
job. Then that much crop needs to be separated and should be threshed
separately manually in front of the Superintendent Officer and the village
Patwari. Thesedays, on request from the Ministry of Commerce, the NSSO is
collecting data on Wholesale Price Index Number. The Commerce Ministry has done
everything - right from fixing the commodity basket at 2004-05 base to
designing the schedule and selecting the quotations and the units.
What NSSO does is to go to the respective units, that
too every month and request the people to fill up the schedule and upload it in
the web portal. The Commerce Ministry has provided each unit with username and
password and given a master password to the ROs for continuous monitoring. But
however much they have tried to make life smooth; people would not do the job
and give thousands of excuses for not doing it - reason being nothing is
forcing them to provide the data.
But suppose if the Income tax Department demands
certain data from the same unit - they’ll postpone all of their jobs at hand
and start preparation for providing data to the IT Department. Reason? Well, the
IT Department has power which NSSO doesn’t have. The entire work of NSSO is
persuasion based. No one has any power to force the people to provide
information -however useful the information might be. The only exception is in
the Annual Survey of Industries where non-responses is comparatively less as
people are empowered with the Statistical
Act 2008. But in most of the cases, people do not have the necessary
awareness. The importance that these data carry for the entire nation is
something that is known only to a handful of persons who also do not have the
necessary authority to make people part with the data.
Hence some sort of
autonomy must be provided to the Ministry as data is the basis for everything.
Instead of blaming the CSO or NSSO for some wrong figures, kindly give them the
power so that data collection becomes a smoother and easier process.
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The
anonymous author spells out the ground realities which speak of the travails of
the official statistician.
