Not consulted over note ban, says statistics ministry

Several members expressed concern over joblessness, noted that data was not reflecting true picture

The government did not consult the ministry of statistics over the impact of demonetisation, officials told a parliamentary panel. 

The issue cropped up on Thursday when TCA Anant, secretary, statistics and programme implementation, appeared before the parliamentary standing committee on finance, sources said. The committee is reviewing the ministry’s demands for grants for 2017-18. 

When several members asked Anant if the ministry was consulted over the likely impact of demonetisation before the government announced it on November 8, 2016, the secretary replied in the negative. 

Several members expressed concern over joblessness in the country and noted that data available with the ministry was not reflecting the true picture. The members urged the government to provide more accurate and analytical data supported by field studies so that it could deal with the problem better. 

The Opposition has been targeting the government over the note ban, saying the controversial move took away hundreds of thousands of jobs. The government claims the move will bring benefits to the system in the long run. 

Noting the ministry was missing out on its objectives, Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi said the government should remember the contribution of noted statistician P C Mahalanobis, who had done seminal work in generating economic data. 

Trivedi further said the gross domestic product data were not meaningful in understanding the widespread problem of unemployment. The lawmaker also said India need not blindly follow the UN on issues like sustainable development goals and climate change but must develop homegrown models to come up with solutions to these issues. 

Sikkim Democratic Front member PD Rai told the officials their data were obsolete and needed to be updated keeping in mind emerging social and economic challenges. He urged the ministry to regularly update data on joblessness. 

Referring to Bhutan’s Happiness Index, one of the members wondered why the Centre should not do something to measure the well-being of citizens. 

Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey pointed at the discrepancy in data originating from the ministry and the Indian Statistical Institute due to recent changes in the Union Budget from plan and non-plan to revenue and capital expenditure-based projections.