Inaugural session of 28th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) held on 12th August 2024 in New Delhi
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is organizing 28th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) during 12th-13th August, 2024 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi which has commenced today.
It is being attended by the representatives of Central Ministries/Departments, State/UT Governments, World Bank, UN agencies and other stakeholders. This Conference provides an institutional platform for discussion and improved coordination between the Central and State Statistical organizations for enhancing the efficiency of the Indian Statistical System in a collaborative approach. The theme of discussion of the conference, “Use of Data for Decision Making: Strengthening State Statistical Systems,” aims to facilitate exchange of ideas, best practices, discussion on issues of common interest and the way forward.
Rao Inderjit Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning and Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, inaugurated the Conference on 12th August, 2024. In his inaugural address, he highlighted the importance of the conference in the federal set up as it brings together all concerned stakeholders of national statistical system at a forum for discussion as to how the system can be taken forward for improving the quality, timeliness and relevance of data in the process of governance. He also highlighted the practical significance of data for targeted intervention for measuring the growth of the economy. While appreciating the work done by officers in statistical system across Central and State/UT Governments, he regarded them as the Nuts and Bolts of the system of governance. He urged the Central and State Government agencies to closely work together for attaining the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Vikisit Bharat@2047’.
The 25th issue of the publication, Women and Men in India, 2023, was released during the inaugural session of the conference today. This comprehensive and insightful document offers a holistic view of the current status of women and men across the country, presenting crucial data on various topics, including Population, Education, Health, Economic Participation, and Decision-Making Involvement, among others.
Women and Men in India, 2023 provides data disaggregated by gender, urban-rural divide, and geographical region, offering a nuanced understanding of the status of different groups of women and men. The publication highlights several significant achievements of the nation.
Key highlights of the report include the successful reduction of the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) from 254 per lakh live births in 2004-06 to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20. The Under-5 Mortality Rate has also seen a notable decrease, from 43 in 2015 to 32 in 2020.
The publication sheds light on the increase in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), with male LFPR rising from 75.8% to 78.5% and female LFPR from 23.3% to 37% between 2017-18 and 2022-23. It has been reported in the publication that 47.6% of start-ups in the country are led by at least one woman director, underscoring the growing influence of women in the entrepreneurial landscape.
Prof. Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, Chairman, National Statistical Commission, while addressing the participants highlighted the need of greater coordination of Centre and States/UTs in order to cater the increasing demand for data by stakeholders. He highlighted the need of ease of access to better quality of data and inter-operable data sets for use of statistics in decision making.
Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary, MoSPI in his address, indicated the ongoing reform initiatives of the Ministry for availability of quality data to meet the dynamically changing data requirements. He hoped that the conference will re-vitalize the existing statistical coordination mechanism between Centre and States/UTs especially when it is much needed for quick actions towards statistical reforms for a better and more robust National Statistical System. He mentioned some of the recent initiatives of the Ministry viz. e-Sankhiyiki portal as a single stop data repository, Research and Analysis Unit in MoSPI for deriving data based policy insights, Data Innovation Lab, Data Users’ conferences, etc. He also indicated about the plan of Ministry to increase the frequency of surveys like Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and conducting the next Economic Census. While welcoming all the participants, he urged all the stakeholders especially the States/UTs for suggestions on augmenting capacity building, developing sub-state/district level estimates of macro-economic aggregates, greater institutional mechanism of coordination between MoSPI and States/UTs statistical agencies, etc . While highlighting the background and objectives of the conference, he underscored the greater need of developing linkages and shared areas of interest for more robust National Statistical System with pivotal role to be played by Staes/UTs. With the above, he set the tone for the plenary and breakout sessions planned for the conference.
Shri Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Capacity Building Commission (CBC) in his pre-recorded address, highlighted the initiatives of CBC towards improving the human resource capabilities in more holistic way as per the changing needs of the time and also in tune with the best global practices. He also indicated about the tie up of CBC with MoSPI for enhancing the skills of the statistical personnel and about the envisaged plan of action for that. He encouraged all the participants from Central and State/UT governments to take part in upcoming specialized statistics related courses being prepared by CBC.
The two day conference is scheduled to have discussions on a wide range of subjects of common interest between Central Government and State/UT Governments such as Agriculture and Livestock, Sustainable Development Goals, Sample Surveys, National & Regional Accounts, Support for Statistical Strengthening of States and its proposed revamp, Internal Quality Assessment Framework, Consumer Price Index, Index of Industrial Production, Social Statistics, Capacity Building, Economic Census & Enterprise Surveys, Environment Statistics, Quality IT initiatives, Data & Meta Data Standards, Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme, New initiatives in Infrastructure & Project Monitoring, data dissemination etc.