National Statistical Commission to be revived as govt appoints two new members: Report
New Delhi: The National Statistical Commission (NSC), which has been inactive for a year, is gearing up for operation with the appointment of all five members, media reports said.
A committee is also assessing its data collection methods and will propose any necessary changes to its methodology, Moneycontrol reported, citing senior officials.
Established in 2006, the NSC serves as a government-funded advisory entity on statistical affairs.
Its functionality had been severely limited due to the government's failure to appoint new independent members.
The NSC requires a minimum of five members, including a chairperson, to carry out its duties.
Since 2022-23, the NSC has operated with only three members.
Debasis Kundu and A Ganesh Kumar have been named the new members of NSC, which is chaired by Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar. Mukesh Mohania and Asit Kumar Sandhu are the other members, said the report.
The steering committee of the National Statistics Commission, which was formed in 2023, held its first meeting in the last week of April, the report added.
“As a part of the reform, NSC’s steering committee has been formed which will review all NSO surveys and suggest changes if needed in the methodologies,” he was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.
This marks the first instance since 2019 that the NSC has a complete roster of full-time members. Back in 2019, Amitabh Kant was appointed as an ex-officio member until 2022, following the resignation of two members and the commission chairman.
Bimal Kumar Roy functioned as the chairman of the NSC from 2020 to 2022, apart from members Kiran Pandya, Pulak Ghosh, and GC Manna.
However, from 2022 to 2023, only Kararndikar, Mohania, and Sandhu remained in the NSC, leaving two positions vacant.
The Rangarajan Commission, which proposed the establishment of the NSC in 2005, advocated for an independent body responsible for certifying the quality of India's statistics, solely accountable to Parliament.
However, in July 2023, Rao Inderjit Singh, the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, informed the Rajya Sabha that the government had no plans to grant statutory powers to the NSC.
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