Two members of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) resigned from the body, on the 28th of January.
P.C. Mohanan, the Acting Chairman of the NSC, and J. Meenakshi, an external member of the Statistics Body, submitted their resignations citing the ineffectiveness of the Commission as the reason to quit.
Mr. Mohanan said, “We found that the Commission was not very effective in discharging whatever it was supposed to do. And in recent times we thought we were being sidelined or we are not taken very seriously.” He further added, “It is an apex body for all statistics in the country. That purpose was not really being served. That was our feeling.”
According to sources, Mr. Mohanan was upset with the behaviour of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as they sidelined Mr. Mohanan and weakened his authority.
The tenure of Mr. Mohanan and Ms. Meenakshi was originally to end on the 20th of June 2020.
Another reason for the members quitting the Commission is a report on employment and unemployment and data regarding the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey report for the duration between 2017 and 2018. According to the Commission body, the data was approved and was scheduled to release, but it is not yet released as the Government was not allowing the Commission to do so. The Commission body is also expected to release a survey report containing data regarding the Gross Domestic Product (GDP.)
Mr. Mohanan said, “It has been approved by the Commission for releasing, because, the commission is all approving authority for NSSO reports and we have approved the report for release.” However, the Government did not allow the NSC to publish the NSSO data due to the elections and the issues pertaining to unemployment under the rule of the NDA.
With the resignation of the two external members, the NSC is left with only 2 members, chief statistician Pravin Srivastava and planning body NITI Aayog’s Amitabh Kant. Three posts in the NSC were vacant before the resignation by Mr. Mohanan and Ms. Meenakshi.
According to the NSC website, the Commission body should have a total of 7 members.
Stay tuned for further updates .
