2 members of National Statistical Commission quit over jobs data report

PC Mohanan, who was the acting chairman of the National Statistical Commission along with member JV Meenakshi resigned on Monday, leaving behind no external members in the body.

The chairman and an external member of the National Statistical Commission have resigned, expressing disappointment over the treatment being meted out by the government.

P C Mohanan, the acting chairman, and member J V Meenakshi resigned on Monday, leaving behind no external members in the Commission. Their tenure was to end in June 2020. They cited withholding of the publication of the National Sample Survey Office’s employment survey for 2017-18 and a lack of consultation with the Commission before releasing the backdated gross domestic product series last year as some of the key reasons for their resignations.

“We have resigned from the NSC. Over the months, we have been feeling that we were not taken seriously and being sidelined by the government. Recent decisions of the NSC were not being implemented,” Mohanan said on Tuesday.

The immediate trigger for the resignations was the delay in releasing the NSSO’s first series of household survey, known as the periodic labour force survey, for 2017-18.

“The members have raised certain issues regarding the functioning of the NSC (in the resignation letter). They, however, did not express any concern in any of the meetings of the Commission in the last few months,” Chief Statistician of India Pravin Srivastava, who is also a member of the NSC, said. “The ministry always values the advice of the Commission and takes action accordingly.” 

Sources said the NSC had approved the survey report in its meeting held on December 5 in Kolkata and it was supposed to be released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. 

“The report was approved and should have been released immediately, but was not. I thought I should not watch silently what was happening,” Mohanan added. 

However, almost two months after the approval, the report hasn’t been made public. Srivastava said the NSSO was supposed to come up with annual estimates on labour force, along with quarterly ones in urban areas, and the NSSO would release them after the quarterly survey results for July 2017-December 2018 are processed. 

A former member pointed out that the government was uncomfortable with the findings of the NSSO’s household survey. This comes even as the Labour and Employment Ministry has withheld the release of the annual household survey for 2016-17 conducted by the Labour Bureau, despite necessary approvals in place. 

The issue of employment has taken centre stage as the campaign to the upcoming general elections gathers momentum. The National Democratic Alliance government has repeatedly cited lack of numbers on jobs as a bigger problem than job creation itself. 

“The NSC was essentially meant to bring about a sense of credibility to the data put out by the National Statistical System and if the NSC feels that it is not being permitted to carry out its functions, then it is entirely appropriate that it resigns,” Pronab Sen, who was the NSC’s chairman between 2013 and 2016, said. 

As such, the survey reports of the NSSO need the Commission’s approval and not that of the government, a former NSC member explained. “This mechanism was put in place in 1960s, when a governing council was there, which was replaced by the Commission in 2006,” the member said, requesting anonymity.

The government released GDP back-series through the NITI Aayog in November last year, but did not involve the NSC in the consultation process, which did not go down well with NSC members. 

“The government did not take the GDP back-series to the NSC. It is supposed to be the highest body in terms of statistics,” pointed out another former member. 

The NSC had released its report on the GDP back-series, which was disowned by the government as just another exercise. 

Further, the latest Economic Census was announced by the government but was not brought to the Commission. Also, the NSC was kept out of the release of the National Policy on Official Statistics. “The National Policy on Official Statistics was announced without any reference to the Commission,” said a former member. Former NSC chairman R B Barman said, “Since the NSC is the apex of the system, it should have enough space for being independent.” 

The Congress on Wednesday accused the Modi government of destroying yet another institution after two members of the National Statistical Commission resigned and said one more venerable institution has “died” due to the government’s “malicious negligence”.

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the party mourns the death of the National Statistical Commission and will remember its valiant fight to release ‘untainted’ GDP data and employment data.

His colleague Ahmed Patel said the resignations serve the government’s objective to “black out” all data and statistics of its “misgovernance”, while party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi wondered if this has come in the wake of the “very embarrassing” jobs data and whether the NSC was “being forced” by the government to do more data doctoring.

“One more venerable institution died on 29 January, 2019 owing to malicious negligence by the government,” Chidambaram tweeted.

“We mourn the death of the National Statistical Commission and remember with gratitude its valiant fight to release untainted GDP data and employment data. May the NSC rest in peace until it is re-born again,” he said in another tweet.

“Government must immediately release the unemployment report which it is trying to withhold. The report and the Commission which prepares such reports belong to the people of India and not to any political party. Government has no business to sit on it because the findings don’t suit them,” Patel tweeted.

Singhvi also said statisticians have quit the government over differences in “job data in actuality and being projected by government in the election season”.

“Modinomics is all about ModiStats,” he charged.

“Another venerable institution national statistical commission victim of BJP Modi achievement of destroying institutions. Was it because jobs data very embarrassing, hence national sample survey report withheld by government as stated by resigning chairman? Or was NSC being forced by government to do more data doctoring,” he said on Twitter.

-- With inputs from PTI