Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)
The government has replaced the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics, set up in late 2019, with a Standing Committee on Statistics.
Pronab Sen has been named the new chair of the panel.
The move comes after the previous round of household surveys on consumption expenditure and employment was discarded due to concerns about “data quality”.
The new panel is said to have a broader mandate to review the framework and results of all surveys conducted under the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The SCoS — with “enhanced terms of reference” vis-à-vis the SCES, “to ensure more coverage”
It has 10 official members, and four non-official members who are eminent academics. The panel can have up to 16 members.
SCoS will address the issues raised from time to time on the subject, results and methodology for all surveys.
The terms of reference of the SCoS include identification of data gaps that need to be filled by official statistics, along with a strategy to plug those gaps.
It has been mandated to explore the use of administrative statistics to improve data outcomes.
While the panel will help finalise survey results, the NSC will have the ultimate authority to approve the publication of those results.
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