Second Workshop on

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Second Workshop on Forging Partnerships in
Statistical Training in Asia and Pacific 23-24
November, 2004, Bangkok, Thailand COUNTRY
STATEMENT INDIA By DR. A. K. YOGI DEPUTY
DIRECTOR GENERAL(TRG.) CENTRAL STATISTICAL
ORGANISATION
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Indian Statistical System

• The Indian Statistical System manages, produces
  and disseminates official statistics in the
  country through a 2-tier structure. It functions
  within the overall federal and democratic system
  of Government administrative set up of the
  country.
• The Constitution of India vests legislative and
  administrative powers and functions between the
  Central Government and the State Governments. The
  responsibility is divided on the basis of a
  three-fold classification viz. Union List, State
  List and Concurrent List.

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• The authority and responsibility for the
  collection, compilation and
  dissemination of statistics relating to
  particular subject is determined by the overall
  responsibility for the subject under the
  Constitution.
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme
  Implementation (MOSPI) is the nodal Statistical
  Ministry in the country.

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• The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) under
  MOSPI is vested with the function of coordination
  of all statistical activities at the all-India
  level.
• The State Directorates of Economics and
  Statistics (DES) are empowered with the
  responsibility of coordination of statistical
  activities at the State level and maintains
  liaison with the CSO.

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Statistical Legislation

• Statistical legislation provides the support and
  backing for eliciting information from the
  respondents in the data collection programmes.
• Important among them are
• - The Census Act, 1948 and
• - The Collection of Statistics Act 1953

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Functions of MOSPI

• The MOSPI plays a key role as the apex body in
  the official statistical system in the country
  and
• acts as the nodal agency for planned
  development of the statistical system in the
  country
• coordinates statistical works with a view to
  identifying gaps in data availability for both
  Central and State Governments and suggests
  remedial measures

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• iii) maintains liaison with international
  organisations like UNSD, ESCAP, UNSIAP, IMF,ADB,
  FAO, ILO, etc interchanges of statistical
  intelligence and development of capabilities for
  improving statistical system and serves as the
  clearing house for statistical matters
• iv) lays norms and standards in the field of
  statistics
• v) advises the Central and State Government
  agencies on statistical methodologies and
  analysis

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• vi) prepares and publishes annual estimates of
  national accounts and related aggregates.
• (vii) compiles and releases the Index of
  Industrial Production
• viii) conducts Annual Survey of Industries,
  periodic all India Economic Census, and follow up
  enterprise surveys
• ix) conducts large scale all India sample surveys
  for creating data base to help in proper economic
  and developmental planning

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• x) disseminates data and analysis through
  periodic and regular publications and web site
  (http//www.mospi.nic.in)
• xi) supports NGOs and research institutes
  including Indian Statistical Institute(ISI)
  through grants and
• xii) promotes international understanding in
  statistics through Mahalanobis Award for best
  international statistical professional.

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Indian Statistical Service (ISS)

• In order to create a core group of trained
  statistical personnel, Indian Statistical Service
  (ISS) was constituted to cater to the needs of
  Central Ministries/Departments. Most State
  Governments have also constituted a cadre of
  statistical/economics experts for manning
  statistical units of different Departments.
  Further, the Government of India has very
  recently constituted a Subordinate Statistical
  Service (SSS) for providing statistical support
  in different Central Ministries.

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Training of Statistical Personnel

• The Training Division of CSO is responsible for
  imparting need based and effective training in
  official statistics and related fields for more
  than 600 Indian Statistical Service and 3800
  Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS) officials
  besides large number of State Government
  officers.  
• The Training programmes conducted by the CSO are
  aligned to the requirements of the statistical
  personnel working in the country and are of the
  following types.

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Training for ISS officials

• ISS Probationary Training
• A comprehensive two year training programme for
  direct recruits of ISS officers has been devised
  to equip them with requisite knowledge to enable
  them to discharge their duties.
• Successful completion of the training programme
  is mandatory.
• The ISS officers remain on probation till they
  successfully complete all their training modules.
  

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• The training programme includes various courses
  on wide ranging subjects dealing with the
  subjects of the ministries where they are likely
  to be posted.
• Training for Promotee officers of ISS
• The officials promoted to ISS from SSS have
  experience of several years before they are
  inducted into the ISS.
• In order to enable them to discharge their added
  responsibilities, an 8 weeks training programme
  has been devised for these officials.  

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• The training programme includes modules on
  statistical methods (one week) Official
  Statistics and related methodology (3 weeks)
  Management Development (one week) Office
  Procedures, Communication and Office
  Administration (one week) and Fundamentals of
  Computers (two weeks).

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• Refresher training for In-service ISS officers
• ISS Cadre has a strength of 603 officers. For
  these officers, training programmes of one/two
  weeks duration are conducted/organized on
  important, relevant and newly emerging subjects
  of interest/benefit to ISS officers.
• As per the policy, an ISS officer is to undergo
  refresher training for a period of at least four
  weeks every two years.
• The Training Division accordingly, prepares the
  training calendar in advance and before the start
  of the Financial year, i.e., in April.

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• Every officer is asked to choose 3 programmes in
  order of preference from the training calendar.
• Eligibility level of officers for whom a
  particular training programme is proposed is
  decided in advance.
• The request for exemption is generally not
  encouraged.
• Specific subjects on which training programmes
  are presently being conducted for ISS officers
  are wide ranging.

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• Training Programmes for Non-ISS Statistical
  Personnel of Central Government/State
  Governments/Public Sector Undertakings
• There are about 4000 statistical officials
  working in various Ministries/Departments of
  Central Government and about 10,000 State
  statistical personnel are working in 29 States
  and 6 Union Territories of our country.
• To acquaint these officials with the latest
  development, training programmes of two/three
  weeks duration on various aspects of Official
  Statistics have been designed and are being
  implemented.

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• Programme for M. Stat Students of Indian
  Statistical Institute(ISI), Kolkata
• ISI is the premier Institute of India in the
  discipline of statistics with the status of a
  deemed University.
• A three weeks course on Official Statistics is
  organized for M. Stat students of ISI.
• The course is divided into 2 modules of one week
  and two weeks.

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• Module 1 comprises of lecturers on (a) National
  and International Statistical System, b)
  Agriculture Statistics, (c) Industrial
  Statistics, d) Social Statistics, (e) Price
  Statistics, (f) Financial/Banking Statistics and
  (g) National Accounts Statistics.
• In Module 2 one of the six topics from (b) to (g)
  is chosen as specialized field of training.
• Successful completion of the programme is
  compulsory for obtaining their M.Stat Degree.

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• Programme for International Statistical Education
  Centre(ISEC), Kolkata
• ISEC, Kolkata is operated jointly by the
  International Statistical Institute and the
  Indian Statistical Institute.
• The ISEC organises a regular 10 months Diploma
  course of training on Statistics for
  International participants in India.
• Out of this, six weeks training on Official
  Statistics is organized at CSO and rest at
  Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

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• The six weeks course is divided into two modules
  of four weeks and two weeks. In the first
  module, participants are acquainted with the
  basic concepts, definitions and clarifications of
  all principal subjects of Official Statistics.
•  
• The second module of two weeks is a
  specialization course in the subject opted by the
  participants.

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• Training for Subordinate Statistical Service
  (SSS) Officials
• The Government of India has constituted
  Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS) by merging
  3894 statistical functional posts in 40 different
  Ministries.
• The incumbents who have been absorbed in the
  service have expertise in the field work and
  activities of the Ministry where they were
  posted.
• Thus, every member has a different experience of
  work as the nature of work in different
  Ministries is different.

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• After absorption, these officials are liable to
  be posted/transferred in any of the 40
  participating Ministries.
• To enable these officials to discharge their
  duties, it has been decided to give induction
  training to all the SSS officials.
• A 3 weeks module comprising of Official
  Statistics (2 weeks) and Field Training (one
  week) has been prepared.
• For new recruits, additional one week training on
  computers would be provided.

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• Other training programmes
• In addition to the regular programmes, the
  Training Division also organizes (one/two days)
  short visit training programmes on demand for
  foreign participants.
• The Training Division has also organized a four
  weeks International Training Course/Workshop on
  Sample Design for Household and Establishment
  Surveys in collaboration with UN Statistical
  Institute for Asia and Pacific (UNSIAP) during
  18th October, - 12th November, 2004 at Indian
  Statistical Institute, Kolkata for participants
  of Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) countries.

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Organisation of Training Programmes

• The above training programmes are conducted
  either at Training Division, CSO or at other
  institutes specializing in particular subjects.
• For Official Statistics, the lecturers are mostly
  senior ISS officers working in the concerned
  fields of official statistics.  

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• For other (Statistical/Economic/IT) subjects like
  Sampling Theory, Time Series Forecasting, Small
  Area Estimation, Macro Micro Economics,
  Software Engineering, Management Techniques,
  Operations Research etc. the trainees are either
  sent to organisations/Institutes specialized in
  these areas or lecturers are invited from such
  organizations/institutes.
• The outside lecturers are selected on the basis
  of their expertise in the particular field.
• The feedback of the participants is also taken
  into account while inviting the lecturer again
  for the same topic.

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Training Programmes and other related matters

• The regular training programmes have been devised
  keeping in view the statistical needs of the
  officials working in the Indian Statistical
  System.
• The MOSPI, has constituted a Training Programme
  Approval Committee (TPAC) comprising senior
  officers of MOSPI and is headed by the Director
  General and Chief Executive Officer, NSSO, with
  Additional Director General Training as the
  convenor of the Committee.

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• The TPAC practically advises the Training
  Division on all matters concerning training.
• The Training Division every year prepares the
  training calender with details on duration of
  course, content, eligibility criteria for
  participants (wherever required), places where
  the programmes are to be conducted.
• The Training calendar is circulated among all the
  statistical offices/organizations of Union and
  State Governments for inviting nominations. The
  Training Calendar is also put up on the website
  of the Ministry (http//www.mospi.nic.in)

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• All the training programmes are in English
  language.
• Further, the lecturers being mostly the ISS
  officers are aware of the UN/ International
  reference material concerning their topics.
• Generally in all training programmes, adequate
  emphasis is given on practical aspects and field
  visits.
• Also during training, there is regular attendance
  checking.
• The participants are graded in all the training
  programmes except in the in-service refresher
  courses for ISS officers.

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Participants

• The training programmes organized for Non-ISS
  officials by CSO are open for all Central/State
  Statistical officials of the Government and
  Public Sector Undertakings.
• In training programmes for Non-ISS officials,
  minimum academic qualifications are prescribed so
  that the officials understand subject and get the
  benefit of the course.

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Evaluation

• All the training programmes conducted/organized
  by the Training Division are evaluated.
• For this purpose, feedback is taken from the
  participants in the pre-designed format at the
  start of the programme regarding their
  expectations and utility of the course etc.
• The views of participants on the usefulness of
  other programmes organized by the training
  Division are also obtained.  

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• At the end of the programme, a feedback session
  is held which is attended by the Training
  Division faculty.
• Suggestions given by the participants are
  considered and actions are taken to the extent
  feasible.
• The feedback form is in two parts.
• Part A filled by participants at the start of
  the training programme seeks information on the
  following.
• (1) What are your expectations from the
  course?

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• (2)   How this course will be useful to you?
• (3)   Training Division is conducting
  training programmes on following subjects. Give
  them rank from 0 to 2 based on usefulness.( 0-
  course to be deleted, 1- useful, 2- Highly
  useful)
• 1.  Statistical Systems Basic Statistics
• 2.  Agriculture Statistics
• 3. Industrial , Trade Services Statistics
•  

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• 4.  Labour, Employment Price Statistics.
• 5.  Social Statistics including Population
  Statistics
• 6.  National Accounts Statistics National
  Resource Accounting.
• 7. Sample Surveys and Organisation of Large
  scale Sample Surveys.
• 8.  Computer level I-Foundation course on
  Information Technology including Data Analysis
  Presentation Skills.
• 9. Computer level II-Electronic data processing.
• 10. Computer level III-Advanced IT Technology on
  Networking RDBMS.

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• Part B seeks information at the end of the
  training Programme on the following
• ( 1)   Have your expectations from the course
  fulfilled
• (a) Fully (b) Partially (c) Not at all
• (2) Give points from 0 to 4
• - Course Content - Course Material
• - Course Duration - Course Design
• - Faculty - Training
  facilities
• (3) Give your suggestions for the useful
  topics that may be included in the future
  training calendar

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Important Challenges

• The Government of India had set up a National
  Statistical Commission (NSC) in January, 2000,to
  critically examine the deficiencies in the
  statistical system with a view to recommending
  measures for systematic revamping of the system.
  The NSC in its report (August 2001) has made
  several recommendations on training aspects.
  Important among them are -
• (i)  Setting up of a suitable Central Training
  Facility (CTF) for ISS and senior statistical
  officers of the states, equipped with all
  facilities of training, stay, library etc. 

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• ii) Immediate need for training of trainers so
  that when availability of qualified
  trainers is assured, the CTF could be transformed
  into a Training Academy.
• iii) Making mandatory for each ISS officer to
  undergo refresher training for a period of at
  least 4 weeks in every two years.
• iv) Organising refresher training in
  specified areas.
• v) Announcing Training Calendar in advance.
• vi) Reorganisation of contents of Non-ISS courses
  into smaller modules and offer them on a large
  scale to supporting statistical personnel.

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• vii) Linking of training and deployment.
• The recommendations at (iii) to (vi) above have
  been implemented. Further, the Government of
  India has also decided to set up CTF. The
  construction of STF has started. The project is
  expected to be completed by March, 2007.
• Efforts are also being made to implement other
  recommendations of the NSC.
• The implementation of other recommendations
  remains a major challenge for the MOSPI. It is
  in this endevour, we look forward for forging
  partnerships in statistical training in Asia and
  the Pacific region.

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Expectations from the regional network of
statistical training organizations

• we look forward for the following from forging
  partnerships in statistical training in Asia and
  the Pacific
• (i) to exchange views and experiences on
  future strategies for more coordinated systems of
  training in official statistics
• (ii) to identify feasible interactive and
  participatory mechanism among the organizations
  involved in statistical training not only in the
  Asia and Pacific region but also with other UN /
  international training organizations.

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• More specifically possibility of trainers
  training, exchange of experts and sabbatical
  programmes are required to be considered
• (iii) to ensure a mechanism where by standard of
  statistical training is upgraded to meet the
  needs of the countries in the region
• (iv) to work out set of quality guidelines for
  assessing training courses and materials, in
  preparation for the accreditation and
  certification and
• (v) to evolve a system wherein specific needs of
  a particular country/countries in the matters of
  training could be directly addressed to.