MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION RESOLUTION

New Delhi, the 19th January, 2000

• No.M/13011/3/99-Admn.IV. – The Government of India has decided to establish a National Statistical Commission to critically examine the deficiencies of the present statistical system with a view to recommending measures for a systematic revamping of the system. The commission will consist of Dr.C.Rangarajan, Governor, Andhra Pradesh, as its part-time Chairman and the following as part-time members.
  
  • Shri V.R.Rao, ex-Director, Central Statistical Organisation and UN Advisor
  • Shri S.M.Vidwans, ex-Director (Economics and Statistics), Government of Maharashtra and UN expert
  • Prof. J.Roy, Professor Emeritus at Indian Statistical Institute
  • Dr. Prem Narain, Emeritus Scientist, IARI and ex-Director, Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute
  • Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Director-General, NCAER
  • Dr. V.R.Panchmukhi, Director-General, Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and other Developing countries
  • Dr. Y.Venugopal Reddy, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
  • Dr. K.Srinivasan, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India and ex-Director of International Institute of Population Studies
  • Prof. S.Tendulkar, Delhi School of Economics and Vice-Chairman, National Advisor Board on Statistics
  • Dr. A.B.L.Srivastava, Chief Consultant, Educational Consultants India Ltd., and ex-Professor, NCERT
  • Dr. Fredie Ardeshir Mehta, Eminent private sector Economist and Director, M/s Tata Sons Ltd.
• The terms of reference of the National Statistical Commission are as follows:
  
  • To examine critically the deficiencies of the present statistical system in terms of timeliness, reliability and adequacy.
  • To recommend measures to correct the deficiencies and revamp the statistical system to generate timely and reliable statistics for the purpose of policy and planning in Government at different levels of administrative structure.
  • To recommend permanent and effective coordinating mechanism for ensuring integrated development of the decentralized statistical system in the country.
  • To review the existing legislation for the collection of statistical information and to recommend amendments, where necessary, to achieve the objective of collection and dissemination of timely, reliable and adequate statistics.
  • To review the existing organization of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Statistics Wing) and other statistical units of the Government and to make recommendations on their staffing and training requirements to enable them to cope with the increase and development of statistical services.
  • To examine the need for instituting statistical audit of the range of services provided by the Government and local bodies and make suitable recommendations thereof; and
  • To recommend any other measures for improving the statistical system in the Country.
• The commission will be assisted by a Secretariat headed by a full-time Secretary at the level of Additional Secretary. Appropriate boarding/lodging, TA/DA and transport arrangements will be made by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and regulated as per the instructions issued by the Ministry of Finance from time to time. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation will meet the expenditure involved in all the activities from the budget allocations of the Ministry.
• The Commission is expected to submit its report to the Government within a period of twelve months from the date of its establishment.

(N.S.Sastry)
Director General and Chief Executive Officer
National Sample Survey Organization.