e ‘15th National Statistics Day’ celebrations of the Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh : Prof Ashis Sen Gupta (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata) discussed the necessity of spreading awareness among the masses on the importance of statistics in daily life and the importance of statistics for the formulation of national policies.
He was delivering the keynote address of the ‘15th National Statistics Day’ celebrations of the Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to commemorate the birth anniversary of late Prof Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and his invaluable contribution in establishing the National Statistical System.
“The essence of statistics is to make sense out of data which can be done only when it is implemented sensibly,” he said highlighting the contributions of Prof Mahalanobis such as the establishment of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Central Statistics Office (CSO) and publication of the internationally reputed journal of statistics, Sankhya.
Prof Ashis reminded that leading researchers of his time from UK, USA and Russia among other countries such as Prof R A Fisher, Prof Kolmogrov, and Prof Weiner visited the ISI and published their work in Sankhya.
Presiding over the inaugural function, Prof Qazi Mazhar Ali (Dean, Faculty of Science) said that by a good choice of data and that of the efficient data analysis techniques, we can compete in the computer intensive world.
He highlighted the potential available in the Faculty of Science in the form of collaborative work on Geospatial data.
In the plenary talks, Prof V Charles (Chief Analytics Officer, Anthrolytics Ltd. London) delineated the role of statistics in business, while A K Mishra (Additional Director General, Ministry of Statistics and Planning, New Delhi) discussed the role of statistics in sustainable development.
Welcoming the guests and participants, Prof Aquil Ahmed (Chairman, Department of Statistics and Operations Research, AMU) stressed on popularising statistics in everyday life and making people aware on how statistics help in shaping and framing policies.
He informed that the Department of Statistics and Operations Research will begin a MSc (Data Science) course from the 2021-22 academic session. Dr Fatima Siddiqui conducted the programme and extended the vote of thanks.