Radha Mohan Singh urges NSSO to release data in every 5 years

Speaking on the occasion of 10^th Statistics Day, the Union Minister said that the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) should adopt sophisticated technology and methodology to prepare the data in every five years. At present, the NSSO prepares the data in every 10 years.

Singh said,” It is imperative to remove regional disparity so as to achieve economic and social development. Regional disparity cannot be removed until the related statistics are provided,” further adding, “Statistics play a vital role to formulate the schemes related to agriculture, agricultural products and other areas”.

The Union Minister further said that according to available updated land utilization statistics of 2012-13, more than half of the cropped area had remained un-irrigated in the country even after 60 years of planned development and timely availability of data will help the government to plan and implement schemes in case there is delayed or deficient rainfall.

Singh highlighted that the Ministry of Agriculture is implementing a scheme named as Fasal for the utilization of sophisticated technology available to assess the agricultural products. The Department of Space, Indian Metrological Department and Economic Development Institute are sharing the process of implementation of this scheme.

He also stressed on the government initiative for adopting remote sensing technology for the assessment of horticultural production. The Ministry has initiated a pilot project named asChaman and 11 states have been included in this project to develop remote sensing based program for the assessment of area and production of horticulture crops.