Union Cabinet gives nod to adoption of UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics

May 5, 2016

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for adoption of United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
Decision in this regard was taken by the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The 10 UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics are

Principle I: Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, economy, serving the Government, and public with data about the economic, social, demographic and environmental situation.
Principle II: Statistical agencies need to decide according to strictly professional considerations to retain trust in official statistics. In this regard they must strictly take in to professional considerations, including scientific principles and professional ethics.
Principle III: Statistical agencies must present information according to scientific standards on the methods, sources and procedures of the statistics to facilitate a correct interpretation of the data.
Principle IV: Statistical agencies need to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics.
Principle V: Data for statistical purposes may be drawn from all types of sources. In this regard, statistical agencies must choose the source with regard to quality, costs, timeliness and the burden on Respondents.
Principle VI: Individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes.
Principle VII: The laws, measures and regulations under which the statistical systems operate are to be made public.
Principle VIII: Statistical agencies within countries must have coordination to achieve consistency and efficiency in the statistical system.
Principle IX: Statistical agencies in each country must use international concepts, methods and classifications. It will promote the consistency and efficiency of statistical systems at all official levels.
Principle X: There should be bilateral and multilateral cooperation in statistics. It will contribute to the improvement of systems of official statistics in all countries.

Comment
The adoption of the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics will bring

Professional independence, accountability, impartiality and transparency in methods of collection, compilation and dissemination of official statistics besides adopting international standards.
It will pave way for devising a National Policy on Official Statistics for improving systems, procedures and institutions consistent with these principles.

Background

The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics were endorsed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in its Resolution in January 2014.
On a reference from the UnionnMinistry of External Affairs on the draft UNGA Resolution, the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) had supported it.
Most of the ingredients in these principles are already being adhered to by MoSPI since they are for qualitative improvements and good of the statistical system.

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