Anant gets extension

The tenure of the chief statistician and secretary of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) T C A Anant has been extended by the government till January. His term was to come to an end on June 29.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has extended the tenure of T C A Anant...beyond 29.6.2015...until he attains the age of 60 years," an order posted on the department of personnel and training said.

Anant has been handling the charge of chief statistician since June 2010. He took over from Pronab Sen, who was appointed as the first chief statistician of India on February 21, 2007.

The post assumes importance in the current context, since the methodology of computing gross domestic product (GDP) has undergone a sea change, after which India has been projected as the fastest growing large economy from 2015-16. Anant was previously a professor of economics at the Delhi School of Economics, and a member of the advisory committee on regulations under the Competition Commission of India.

The Chief Statistician of India is a post specifically created to head the National Statistical Office, after the establishment of the National Statistical Commission. It was recommended by a commission, chaired by C Rangarajan, to review the Indian statistical system.