We the undersigned demand that the Government of India releases the report and data of all NSSO Surveys that have been completed and approved by the NSSO’s internal systems, including the results of the 75th round Survey of Consumer Expenditure, 2017-18.
A media leak published in Business Standard has revealed that the 2017-18 Consumer Expenditure Survey shows a sharp decline in average consumption. It has been suggested that the survey results are not being released because they support other evidence that the economy is experiencing a downturn. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has now announced that the results of the survey will not be released at all, because they show a higher divergence with the "administrative data" than for earlier surveys.
It should be noted that consumption surveys are known to give results that diverge from macroeconomic estimates of the National Accounts. Also, National Accounts estimates are based not only on administrative data but on a combination of sources including NSSO and other surveys. Several committees have looked into these discrepancies. While further work can be done to identify sources of and reduce these discrepancies, the common understanding has been that the flaws lie as much in the methods deployed for arriving at macroeconomic estimates as they do in surveys.
Consumption surveys are crucial for monitoring trends in poverty and inequality, and are also of critical value for national income accounting, and for updating macro-economic data such as price indices. They can provide an important check on administrative and macroeconomic data, which is important both for policy makers and the general public. The fact that data on supply of goods and household consumption are diverging points to the need for questioning supply side data (which are being widely questioned within and outside India) as much as it points to the continuing need for improving survey methods.
It is of fundamental importance for the nation that statistical institutions are kept independent of political interference, and are allowed to release all data independently. The record of the present government on this score has been very poor. Until recently, India has good cause to be proud of its statistical system, and the sample surveys conducted by the NSSO have served as a shining example and a model to the rest of the world. While there has been much discussion and debate about the methodology of the surveys, these have been scientific and technical in nature, devoted to trying to improve the system to enable better measures of crucial indicators.
However, this government has chosen to attack the credibility of this pre-eminent statistical institution simply because the results of the surveys do not accord with its own narrative about the economy, without providing any adequate reasons, and by misrepresenting essential features of the surveys. It has repeatedly shown its disinclination to make public any information that may show its own performance in a poor light. Last year, before the parliamentary elections, the results of the Periodic Labour Force Survey were not allowed to be released until the Parliamentary Elections were over, despite the resignation of two members of the National Statistical Commission, and a leak in the media. Subsequently, results of other surveys including the 75th round (Consumer Expenditure), 76th round (Drinking water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Housing Conditions) and more recent quarterly data of the PLFS surveys, have not been released.
This suppression of essential data is terrible for accountability and for ensuring that citizens have the benefit of official data collection that is paid for with their taxes. It is also counterproductive for the government, which may be kept in the dark about actual trends in the economy and therefore not be able to devise appropriate policies. Undermining the objectivity and credibility of an independent statistical system is fundamentally against the national interest.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, all data must be released without delay and irrespective of what the results are. The government may wish to defend itself against interpretations of the statistics that it disagrees with. But this is best done through technical papers and seminars. To prevent release of data that are adverse, and diverge from its own understanding, is neither transparent nor technically sound.
Indeed, in order to produce transparent and robust information on distribution, it is also important for the government to grant researchers access to (anonymous) tax microfiles.
We therefore demand that the government should immediately release the report and unit-level data of the 75th Consumer Expenditure Survey. The government should also commit to release all other survey data after the usual processes to check for possible errors have been concluded.
Signed
1. A Vaidyanathan, Former Member, Planning Commission
2. A K Shiva Kumar, Ashoka University
3. A V Jose, Visiting Fellow, CDS, Thiruvananthapuram
4. Abhijit Sen, former Member, Planning Commission
5. Abhirup Sarkar, ISI Kolkata
6. Achin Chakraborty, IDS, Kolkata
7. Aditya Bhattacharjea, Delhi School of Economics
8. Aijaz Ahmad, University of California, Irvine
9. Ajit Zacharias, Levy Institute, Bard College, New York
10. Alejo Julca, Independent researcher
11. Alex M. Thomas, Azim Premji University
12. Alpa Shah, London School of Economics
13. Aman Bardia, New School for Social Research, New York.
14. Amit Basole, Azim Premji University
15. Amit Bhaduri, Emeritus Professor, JNU
16. Amitabha Bhattacharya
17. Amiti Sen, Journalist
18. Amiya Bagchi, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
19. Anamitra Roychowdhury, JNU
20. Andres Lazzarini, Goldsmiths University, London
21. Anita Dixit, Pratichi Institute
22. Anjana Thampi, IWWAGE, New Delhi
23. Anup Sinha Retired Professor of Economics IIM Calcutta
24. Anwar Shaikh, New School for Social Research
25. Arindam Banerjee, AUD, Delhi
26. Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University
27. Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts Boston
28. Ashok Kotwal, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver
29. Ashwini Deshpande, Ashoka University
30. Astha Ahuja, University of Delhi
31. Atul Sood, JNU
32. Atul Sarma, Visiting Professor, ISID, New Delhi
33. Atulan Guha, IIM, Kashipur
34. Ayushya Kaul, Jamia Millia Islamia
35. Avinash Kumar, JNU
36. Awanish Kumar, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
37. Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor, Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, OxfordBen Fine, SOAS
38. Bhanoji Rao, Governing Board Member, GITAM and IFHE Universities
39. Bharat Ramaswami, ISI Delhi
40. Bibhas Saha, Durham University
41. Bindu Oberoi, University of Delhi
42. Biswajit Dhar, JNU
43. Byju, V, Thiruvananthapuram
44. C P Chandrasekhar, Retired Professor, JNU
45. C Saratchand, University of Delhi
46. Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician, FAO
47. Chalapati Rao KS, ISID, Delhi
48. Chirashree Das Gupta, JNU
49. Chris Baker, Editor, Siam Society
50. Chrostophe Jeffrelot, Sciences Po and King’s College London
51. D Narasimha Reddy, University of Hyderabad
52. D Narayana, Former Director, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation
53. Daniela Gabor, University of West England, Bristol
54. David Kotz, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
55. Debabrata Pal, JNU
56. Debraj Ray, New York University
57. Deepak K Mishra, JNU
58. Dev Nathan, Institute for Human Development
59. Devaki Jain, ISST, New Delhi
60. Devika Dutt, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
61. Dilip Mookherjee, Boston University
62. Dinesh Abrol, ISID, Delhi
63. Dipa Sinha, AUD
64. Dipankor Coondoo, Retired Professor, ISI
65. Dipankar Dey, Dept of Business Management, Calcutta University
66. E Bijoykumar Singh, Manipur University
67. Emanuele Citera, The New School For Social Research
68. Farzana Afridi, ISI, Delhi
69. Gaurav Khanna, University of California, San Diego
70. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, University of Florence
71. Hanjabam Isworchandra Sharma, Manipur University
72. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Trent University, Canada
73. Hema Swaminathan, IIM Bangalore
74. Himanshu, JNU
75. Indra Nath Mukherji, JNU
76. Indraneel Dasgupta, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
77. Indranil Chowdhury, University of Delhi
78. Indranil Mukhopadhyay, OP Jindal University
79. Iqbal Singh, Akal University, Bathinda
80. Ishan Anand, Ambedkar University, Delhi
81. J. Mohan Rao, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
82. Jan Breman, University of Amsterdam
83. Jan Kregel, Levy Institute
84. Jayan Jose Thomas, Economist, New Delhi
85. Jayati Ghosh, JNU
86. Jens Lerche, SOAS
87. Jesim Pais, SSER
88. John Harriss, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
89. Jose Antonio Ocampo, Columbia University
90. Joydeep Baruah, OKD Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati
91. Kalyani Menon-Sen, Feminist Learning Partnerships
92. Kathleen McAfee, San Francisco State University
93. K J Joseph, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation
94. K N Harilal, Member, Kerala State Planning Board
95. K Nagaraj, Retired Professor, MIDS
96. K P Kannan, Retired Professor, CDS
97. K V Ramaswamy, IGIDR
98. Kumarjit Mandal, University of Calcutta
99. Kunibert Raffer, retired Associate Professor, University of Vienna
100. Lawrence King, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
101. Lucas Chancel, Co-Director, World Inequality Lab
102. M S Bhatta, Retired Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia
103. M S Sriram, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
104. M Vijayabaskar, MIDS
105. Maitreesh Ghatak, LSE
106. Mahalaya Chatterjee, Calcutta University
107. Malabika Majumdar, Retd. Professor, University of Delhi
108. Mandira Sarma, JNU
109. Martin Ravallion, Georgetown University
110. Mary E John, CWDS
111. Mira Shiva, Public Health Physician
112. Mridul Eapen, Member, Kerala State Planning Board
113. Mritiunjoy Mohanty, IIM, Kolkata
114. Mustafa Özer, Anadolu University
115. Mwangi wa Githinji – University of Massachusetts, Amherst
116. Nalini Nayak, SEWA, Kerala
117. Naveed Ahmad, Department of higher education Jammu and Kashmir (cluster University Srinagar)
118. Narender Thakur, University of Delhi
119. Nisha Biswas, Scientist
120. Nishith Prakash, University of Connecticut
121. Nitin Sethi, Independent journalist
122. Oliver Braunschweig, The New School for Social Research
123. Padmini Swaminathan, independent researcher, Chennai
124. Parthapratim Pal, IIM Calcutta
125. Pasuk Phongpaichit, Professor, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
126. Prabhat Patnaik, Emeritus Professor, JNU
127. Pranab Bardhan, University of California, Berkeley
128. Pranab Kanti Basu, Retired Professor, Visva Bharati University
129. Praveen Jha, JNU
130. Pulin B Nayak, Retired Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
131. R Nagaraj, IGIDR
132. R Ramakumar, TISS
133. R V Ramana Murthy, University of Hyderabad
134. Ragupathy, Goldsmiths University, London
135. Rahul Roy, ISI, Delhi
136. Rajah Rasiah, University of Malaya
137. Rajesh Madan, Noida
138. Rajeswari Sengupta, IGIDR
139. Rajesh Bhattacharya, IIM, Kolkata
140. Rajiv Jha, University of Delhi
141. Rakesh Ranjan, University of Delhi
142. Ramaa Vasudevan, Colorado State University
143. Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum, and Visiting Professor, Goa University
144. Ranjan Ray, Monash University
145. Ranjini Basu, Focus on the Global South
146. Ratan Khasnabis, Adamas University, and Retired Professor, Calcutta University
147. Ravindran Govindan, Laurie Baker Center for Habitat Studies, Trivandrum
148. Ritu Dewan, Director (retd), Dept of Economics, University of Mumbai
149. Rohit Azad, JNU
150. Romar Correa, University of Mumbai
151. Rosa Abraham, Azim Premji University
152. Runa Sarkar, IIM Calcutta
153. S Krithi, TISS, Hyderabad
154. Sagari R Ramdas, Food Sovereignty Alliance
155. Saikat Sinha Roy, Jadavpur University
156. Samarjit Das, ISI, Kolkata
157. Sanjay Reddy, The New School for Social Research
158. Santosh Das, ISID, New Delhi
159. Sarmistha Pal, Surrey Business School
160. Satish Deshpande, Delhi University
161. Satyaki Roy, ISID, Delhi
162. Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Delhi University
163. Seema Kulkarni, SOPPECOM, Pune
164. Servaas Storm, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
165. Shambhu Ghatak, Senior Associate Fellow, Inclusive Media for Change
166. Shantanu De Roy, TERI University
167. Shiney Chakraborty, ISST, New Delhi
168. Shipra Nigam, Consultant Economist, New Delhi
169. Shouvik Chakraborty, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
170. Shyjan Davis, University of Calicut
171. Siwan Anderson, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Col
umbia, Vancouver
172. Smita Gupta, Economist
173. Snehashish Bhattacharya, SAU
174. Sona Mitra, IWWAGE, New Delhi
175. Stefano Zambelli, Provincial University of Trento
