National Statistics Day

National statistics day is celebrated on 29th June every year in India to observe the birth anniversary of a great mathematician of India, professor Prashant Chandra Mahalanobis. Professor Prashant Chandra Mahalanobish was referred to as the “Father of Indian statistics” who founded the Indian Statistical Institute, which is considered as one of the prestigious institutes of India. Because of his immense contribution in the field of statistics, his birthday is observed as a National Statistics Day all over India.

National Statistics Day is celebrated on 29 June as an initiative of the government to promote the knowledge about statistics and to imply it in our day-to-day activities. Another important aim of the day is to create national economic policies in the country. Because of some of the aw-spinning contributions of the great mathematician and scientist, professor Prashant Chandra Mahalanobis, the government of India decided to celebrate the day of his birth as a national Statistical day.  The great mathematician was born in Kolkata on 29th June 1893. Thus this year celebrates the 128th birth anniversary of the professor. In the year 1931, he also founded Indian Statistical Sciences. 

Apart from the National Statistics Day, World Statistic Dy is celebrated internationally every five years on 20th October. The World Statistical Day was proposed by the United Nations Statistical Commission and was then celebrated for the first time in the year 2010. But according to the day, by the ay 2010, approximately 103 countries celebrate the National Statistic Day in their own respective time and date of the year. Among these 103 countries, there are about 51 countries of Africa that celebrate their own National African Statistical Day on 18th November every year. State Statistical Literacy Campaign was launched by the Royal Statistical Society in the U.K. on the same day of the International Statistical Day at 8:10 P.M. The next International Statistical Day will be celebrated after four years in the year 2025 all over the world.

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History of National Statistics Day 29 June

To acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the great scientist of India late Professor Prashant Chandra Mahalanobis in the field of statistics and economic planning of the country. He is also well known for his phenomenal work called “Mahalanobish distance” which is a statistical measurement beside several other contributions in statistical mathematics. He also proposed an effective statistical tool to carry out large-scale sample surveys. Another outstanding contribution of the phenomenal scientist was that he established another statistical method called “Fractile Graphical Analysis” which is a tool that helps in effectively comparing the socio-economic conditions prevailing among the diverse groups of the country. He was also honored with Padma Bhusan award by the government of India and was also a part of the Indian Planning Commission from the year 1955 to 1967. He is still considered for his breakthrough contribution in designing industrial planes in India after the independence of the country. Thus his birthday is marked as a National Statistics Day that was proposed by the government of India for the first time in the year 2006. Later, the notification was issued in the year 2007 that was published in the Gazette of India on 5th June 2007.   

Importance of the Day

The main importance of this day is to promote the importance of statistics in everyday life and in understanding the social and economic framework of a country with a special emphasis on the contribution of statistics for an understanding of the socio-economic conditions prevailing in various socio-economic groups of the country. The endeavors of the national statistical day are directed towards educating, inspiring the young generation to study statistics, and creating a rising awareness among the public in general. The goal of National Statistics Day is not only to create economic policies for the country but to also find various utilities of various statistical tools in day-to-day life. For instance, in the time of the pandemic, statistics played a very important role in healthcare services in analyzing the data of the affected and to put up certain sustainable healthcare development plans to deal with the covid situation all over the country.  

Theme and Celebration of National Statistics Day 29 June 2021

The National Statistics Day, like many other national days, is celebrated according to a theme set for every year. All of these themes are related to creating awareness about the socio-economic conditions of the country and creating policies against the particular socio-economic problem by bringing the problem into the limelight. Thus the theme is chosen based on the prevailing issues holding national relevance. On this day primarily the government institutions and the bodies along with many affiliated non-governmental organizations put up various seminars on the importance of statistics and its relevance in making various policies that are of national importance. Other than the seminars many competitions on various levels starting from junior schools to university level are organized to promote and induce the importance of statistics and encourage the study of statistics among the young generation of the country. 

The government of our country marks 29 June Statistics day, and to honor this occasion, the central government also released a handbook named “National Indicator Framework (NIF)”. This handbook was developed by the Ministery of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) that aims at helping in measuring the progress of various sustainable goals within the socio-economic framework and to handle the associated targets at the national levels. It also aims at providing a proper direction to the policymakers and various bodies that are associated with and responsible for the implementation of various economic and social policies and programs. 

The National statistical day theme for the year 2020 was “sustainable development goal 3” which aims at ensuring healthy living and promoting well-being among all ages and the second theme of the day in the year 2020 was “ sustainable development goal 5” that aims at various statistical measures to create and study the extent of achievement of gender equality and establishing various policies to empower all women and girls across the country. The theme chosen for the year 2019 was “Sustainable development goals (SDGs)”. Under this theme of National Statistics Day, an intensive and detailed decision was carried out by the government officials to focus on filling the gaps in the data and upgrading the timeline, and improving the quality of SDGs.

In the year 2019, the celebration of the National Statistics Day was held jointly by the Indian Statistical Institutes along with the Ministery of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI). The event was held in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi that was chaired by Rao Inderjit Singh who is the Union Ministry of the state (independent charge), Ministery of Statistics, and Program Implementation (MoSPI), and Ministery of Planning. During this event, Prof. C.R. Rao’s award of the year 2019 was facilitated by the winner for their contribution in the field of statistics. The award for “on the spot essay writing competition” for the post-graduate students on the pan-India level on the topic relevant to statistics will also be facilitated on the same day.

The field officers of the National statistical offices, state governments as along colleges and universities arrange various seminars, quiz shows, conferences, debates, programs, lectures, essay competitions at inter-college levels. The implementation of the program of 2019 was done by Mr. Bibek Bedroy who is the chairperson of the economic advisory council, along with Mr. Prveen Srivastava, who is the Chief Statistician of India cum the secretary, Ministery of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) in the presence of the Prime Minister and the president of India who is joined by the senior officials of the state and central government along with the stakeholders. 

The other important themes of various years are as follows:

1. In the year 2018, the theme was “the quality assurance in official statistics” which was set to underline the importance of compliance along with the importance of various parameters to assure quality in statistical systems and products.

2. In the year 2016, the theme was “Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare” that also incorporates the importance of various statistical tools in analyzing the data on various socio-economic crises related to agriculture in India that in turn helps to design various schemes and policies to bring relief to the farmers and to promote agriculture in the country.     

National Statistical Day Celebration:2021

Every year the government aims at celebrating National Statistics Day across all the states of India on a national level to promote the involvement of statistics in day-to-day life and to emphasize the importance of statistics in framing and developing various economic policies by the governments.  But in the year 2021, due to the pandemic situation of covid-19, this day was celebrated via video conferencing and holding webinars and webcasting on 29th June at NITI Ayog in New Delhi. 

The chief guests of this webinar were Rao Indrajit Singh, who is the Union Minister of State, Ministery of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), and Ministery of Planning. Prof. Bimal Kumar Rao, who is the chairman of the National Statistical Commission, Dr. G.P. Samantha, who is the chief statistician of India and MoSPI, Prof. Sangamitra Bondopadhyay, who is the director of Indian Statistical Institute, Pietro Gennari, who is the Chief statistician in Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations and Renata Lok who is the UN-Resident Coordinator. They were all scheduled to individually address the participants on the Pan India level for the occasion. The senior officials of both central and state governments, along with the stakeholders, also participated in the program through video conferencing this year.