Centre approves continuation of Capacity Development scheme

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the continuation of the Capacity Development Scheme for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore.

The Capacity Development Scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The overall objective of the scheme is to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for making available credible and timely Official Statistics for policymakers and public at large.

The major ongoing activities under the Capacity Development Scheme, include augmenting resources for bringing out important statistical products, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Statistical classifications, etc.; conducting various Socio-Economic surveys, capacity building and strengthening statistical coordination, and improving IT infrastructure.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), a continuous survey to assess quarterly labour data in urban areas and annual labour data for the whole country (urban and rural areas), was launched in April 2017 under the scheme.

The Capacity Development Scheme has two Sub-schemes, Economic Census and Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS). Under Economic Census, a listing of all non-agricultural establishments is undertaken periodically, which forms the basis for conducting detailed socio-economic surveys. The last (6l) Economic Census was conducted during January 2013 to April 2014 and the Government now aims to conduct the Census once every three years in future.

The SSS Sub-scheme is to strengthen State/ Sub-State level statistical systems/ infrastructure to facilitate the development of a robust national system. Funds are released to States/ UTs for this purpose after detailed examination of their proposals.

In view of the requirement for better statistical coverage of sectors or areas, in addition to the regular ongoing activities, the Ministry proposes to also take up three new surveys under the Capacity Development Scheme, namely, Time Use Survey (TUS), Annual Survey of Service Sector Enterprises (ASSSE), and Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE).