Transparency push: Centre will provide unit-level data free of cost

This means the unit-level data for the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) 2017-18, which was at the centre of a controversy recently, will be available for free to researchers and analysts

The National Democratic Alliance government, recently accused of concealing crucial data, has decided to become more transparent by making raw data from surveys and censuses available free of cost for public use.

“It has been decided to make the unit-level data available free of cost so that more people can access and scrutinise the data produced by the National Statistical Office (NSO),” said chief statistician Pravin Srivastava.

This means the unit-level data for the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) 2017-18, which was at the centre of a controversy recently as the government had delayed the release of the report, will be available for free to researchers and analysts.

“Official statistics are key inputs for decision making and policy interventions and become public assets for conducting research both in public and private spheres,” said the order, dated March 22, by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

It added the MoSPI has taken a decision to provide free of cost the single-point digital access of its census and survey data to students, researchers, institutes in India and abroad, through a national repository, from April 1.

Earlier, users had to pay a fee, in the form of a bank draft, for obtaining the unit-level data in the form of a CD.

For instance, the Employment/Unemployment report, produced by the erstwhile National Sample Survey Office (which has been merged with the Central Statistics Office to form the NSO), was available for ~7,253 for individual researchers and ~14,506 for institutions based in India. For foreign researchers, the cost was in the range of ~18,133-~36,265.

“The move to make unit-level data free of cost is a step in the right direction as accessibility to the data becomes easier, especially if you belong to rural areas. However, the government should also make available the raw data immediately after the main findings of the survey are released,” said Vikas Rawal, professor at Jawharlal Nehru University’s Centre for Economic Studies and Planning.

The MoSPI is yet to make public the raw data of the PLFS report of 2017-18, released on Friday, which showed the unemployment rate touching a 45-year-high at 6.1 per cent. A government official said the raw data will be made public in a few days.

Under the new system, users will have to register themselves on the microdata.gov.in portal to gain access to the data related to Annual Survey of Industries, Employment and Unemployment, Household Consumer Expenditure, Economic Census, Enterprises Survey, Index of Industrial Production, among others.

The primary unit-level data is provided to users after the identification details of individuals or establishments surveyed are anonymised.

India’s official statistics came under a cloud recently after several experts raised questions on credibility of the new gross domestic product series. The government’s move to withhold the first PLFS had put a further dent.