The Indian statistical system was undergoing a steady transformation in response to the new challenges arising out of globalization and liberalization of the country’s economy, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Napam, Assam on Saturday.
The Indian statistical system resolved many significant structural and operational changes in the statistical system both at the Centre and the states, said Mukherjee inaugurating the North East Centre of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Napam, Assam in Sonitpur district.
“Statistics today has become a powerful tool for planning and reforms. It forms the foundation of all effective planning in the world today. All major nations use statistical tools and techniques for national planning,” pointed out Mukherjee who is also the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute.“The importance of unbiased and trustworthy statistical data cannot be undermined for a democratic society. Decisions based on rigorous statistical outcomes are precise and, therefore, augment anticipatory results,” he said.
“In any economy the industry and commerce bank critically upon statistical information on which they base their investment decisions,” the minister added.
The North East Centre was the fourth centre of the Indian Statistical Institute, which was first started in 1931 in Kolkata and subsequently its two other two centres came up after 1949 at the initiative of then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for better statistic connectivity with south Asia, he said.