Committee to review NSSO survey questionnaire

The questionnaire runs into over 40 pages and has almost 562 items to be filled by respondents

It might be quite a challenge to accurately calculate the quantity of rice an individual consumed in one year or for that matter the amount that he has spent on transportation.

But, the questionnaire of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) to ascertain the household monthly per capita consumption expenditure expects the respondents to reply to precisely the same.

The questionnaire has come in for much criticism as it runs into more than 40 pages and has 562 items to be filled by respondents.

To streamline the process, the government has now appointed a committee under a senior official from the Indian Statistical Institute, which is working to make the survey relevant and in sync with the changing times.

“The method of filling in the surveys by NSSO is defective and the questionnaire faulty. At most times, surveys do not give a correct picture as the replies are not very correct,” said a senior official of the Planning Commission.

The commission bases its poverty estimates on NSSO surveys for household consumption expenditure. The last poverty estimates for 2011-12 was based on the 68th round covering the period 2011-12.

“We have raised the issue with the ministry of statistics and programme implementation and it has assured us that it would look into it,” the official remarked.

Based on average per capita expenditure by households at Rs 1,287.17 a month in rural areas and Rs 2,477.02 in urban areas, the Commission had estimated that 25.7 per cent of people were below the poverty line in rural areas in 2011-12, compared to 41.8 per cent in 2004-05. Similarly, the poverty rate had declined to 13.7 per cent in urban areas in 2011-12 against 25.7 per cent. Poverty lines were taken as Rs 816 per capita consumption expenditure a month in rural areas and Rs 1,000 in urban areas.

The NSSO questionnaire, based on which the sample surveys are tabulated, have been revised periodically, but in many cases do not capture the changing consumption pattern as the last revision was done some time back.

Some other officials said certain aspects of the survey are also out of date. “For example, expenditure on telecom is not calculated separately, but clubbed with the miscellaneous category, which makes capturing such expenditure difficult,” the official said.

Agreeing with the need to have a comprehensive look at the questions asked in the NSSO survey, National Statistical Commission Chairman, Pronab Sen told Business Standard that many things are not clearly captured in these surveys as the responses are based on memory.

“A person is asked different things from the past, like how much rice he consumed in a month, week or year. In the case of consumer durables, it is easy to recall, but not in case of items like rice,” Sen said.

He said despite all this, NSSO gets the data pretty much right. “But yes, there are some serious issues with expenditure on some items, say transportation.”
SURVEY MECHANICS

• NSSO Consumption Expenditure Survey seeks replies like grams of rice consumed in a month or year, litres of milk consumed etc
• The questionnaire is almost 40-pages long and has more than 500 questions
• Planning Commission bases its poverty estimates on the consumption expenditure survey
• Govt appoints committee to look into consumption expenditure survey