National Statistical Commission of India

Why is in news? Laxman Karandikar appointed part-time chairperson of NSC

The Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) said that the Government of India had appointed Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, Professor Emeritus at CMI, as the part-time chairperson of the National Statistical Commission of India for a period of three years.

National Statistical Commission of India:

The National Statistical Commission (NSC) of India is an autonomous body which formed in June 2005 under the recommendation of Rangarajan commission.

The NSC was constituted with effect from 12th July 2006 with a mandate to evolve policies, priorities and standards in statistical matters.

The Commission has a part-time Chairperson, four part-time Members and an ex-officio Member.

The Chief Statistician of India, the post created specifically as the Head of the National Statistical Office is the Secretary of the Commission.

He is also the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The NSC Secretariat is located at New Delhi.

The Chairperson of the Commission enjoys the status of a Minister of State and the Members of the Commission have the status equivalent to the Secretary to the Government of India.

The Chairperson and the Members also enjoy a relative security of tenure as once they assume office, they can be removed only by the President after the Supreme Court of India has on inquiry held in accordance with the procedure Article 145 of the Constitution of India reported that they ought to be removed.

The objective of its constitution is to reduce the problems faced by statistical agencies in the country in relation to collection of data.

Statistical agencies like the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) face numerous problems in collecting data from State and Central government departments, but an autonomous body like the NSC is thought to be more able to coordinate things as a statutory status would lend it teeth.

It would lay special emphasis on ensuring collection of unbiased data so as to restore public trust in the figures released by the Government.