Accusing the Modi government of acting against “national interest,” a group of 214 scholars have demanded immediate release of the results of the 2017-18 Consumer Expenditure Survey, conducted by the National Sample Survey Office.
The statement comes in the light of the Modi government deciding to junk the Consumer Expenditure Survey 2017-18 findings over “data quality” issues.
The survey, titled ‘Key Indicators: Household Consumer Expenditure in India’, showed that consumer spending fell for the first time in more than four decades in 2017-18, majorly due to decelerated rural demand. The average amount of money spent by a person in a month fell by 3.7 per cent from Rs 1,501 in 2011-12 to Rs 1,446 in 2017-18, the survey claimed.
“In the interest of transparency and accountability, all data must be released without delay and irrespective of what the results are. The government may wish to defend itself against interpretations of the statistics that it disagrees with. But this is best done through technical papers and seminars. To prevent release of data that are adverse, and diverge from its own understanding, is neither transparent nor technically sound,” the statement reads.
Below is the full statement:
We the undersigned demand that the Government of India releases the report and data of all NSSO Surveys that have been completed and approved by the NSSO’s internal systems, including the results of the 75th round Survey of Consumer Expenditure, 2017-18.
A media leak published in Business Standard has revealed that the 2017-18 Consumer Expenditure Survey shows a sharp decline in average consumption. It has been suggested that the survey results are not being released because they support other evidence that the economy is experiencing a downturn. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has now announced that the results of the survey will not be released at all, because they show a higher divergence with the “administrative data” than for earlier surveys.
It should be noted that consumption surveys are known to give results that diverge from macroeconomic estimates of the National Accounts. Also, National Accounts estimates are based not only on administrative data but on a combination of sources including NSSO and other surveys. Several committees have looked into these discrepancies. While further work can be done to identify sources of and reduce these discrepancies, the common understanding has been that the flaws lie as much in the methods deployed for arriving at macroeconomic estimates as they do in surveys.
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Consumption surveys are crucial for monitoring trends in poverty and inequality, and are also of critical value for national income accounting, and for updating macro-economic data such as price indices. They can provide an important check on administrative and macroeconomic data, which is important both for policy makers and the general public. The fact that data on supply of goods and household consumption are diverging points to the need for questioning supply side data (which are being widely questioned within and outside India) as much as it points to the continuing need for improving survey methods.
It is of fundamental importance for the nation that statistical institutions are kept independent of political interference, and are allowed to release all data independently. The record of the present government on this score has been very poor. Until recently, India has good cause to be proud of its statistical system, and the sample surveys conducted by the NSSO have served as a shining example and a model to the rest of the world. While there has been much discussion and debate about the methodology of the surveys, these have been scientific and technical in nature, devoted to trying to improve the system to enable better measures of crucial indicators.
However, this government has chosen to attack the credibility of this pre-eminent statistical institution simply because the results of the surveys do not accord with its own narrative about the economy, without providing any adequate reasons, and by misrepresenting essential features of the surveys. It has repeatedly shown its disinclination to make public any information that may show its own performance in a poor light. Last year, before the parliamentary elections, the results of the Periodic Labour Force Survey were not allowed to be released until the parliamentary elections were over, despite the resignation of two members of the National Statistical Commission, and a leak in the media. Subsequently, results of other surveys including the 75th round (Consumer Expenditure), 76th round (Drinking water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Housing Conditions) and more recent quarterly data of the PLFS surveys, have not been released.
This suppression of essential data is terrible for accountability and for ensuring that citizens have the benefit of official data collection that is paid for with their taxes. It is also counterproductive for the government, which may be kept in the dark about actual trends in the economy and therefore not be able to devise appropriate policies. Undermining the objectivity and credibility of an independent statistical system is fundamentally against the national interest.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, all data must be released without delay and irrespective of what the results are. The government may wish to defend itself against interpretations of the statistics that it disagrees with. But this is best done through technical papers and seminars. To prevent release of data that are adverse, and diverge from its own understanding, is neither transparent nor technically sound.
Indeed, in order to produce transparent and robust information on distribution, it is also important for the government to grant researchers access to (anonymous) tax microfiles.
We therefore demand that the government should immediately release the report and unit-level data of the 75th Consumer Expenditure Survey. The government should also commit to release all other survey data after the usual processes to check for possible errors have been concluded.
Signed
- A Vaidyanathan, Former Member, Planning Commission
- A K Shiva Kumar, Ashoka University
- A V Jose, Visiting Fellow, CDS, Thiruvananthapuram
- Abhijit Sen, former Member, Planning Commission
- Abhirup Sarkar, ISI Kolkata
- Achin Chakraborty, IDS, Kolkata
- Aditya Bhattacharjea, Delhi School of Economics
- Aijaz Ahmad, University of California, Irvine
- Ajit Zacharias, Levy Institute, Bard College, New York
- Alejo Julca, Independent researcher
- Alex M. Thomas, Azim Premji University
- Alicia Puyana, Flacso, Mexico City
- Alpa Shah, London School of Economics
- Aman Bardia, New School for Social Research, New York.
- Amit Basole, Azim Premji University
- Amit Bhaduri, Emeritus Professor, JNU
- Amitabha Bhattacharya
- Amiti Sen, Journalist
- Amiya Bagchi, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
- Anamitra Roychowdhury, JNU
- Andres Lazzarini, Goldsmiths University, London
- Angus Deaton, Princeton University
- Anita Dixit, Pratichi Institute
- Anjana Thampi, IWWAGE, New Delhi
- Anup Sinha Retired Professor of Economics IIM Calcutta
- Anwar Shaikh, New School for Social Research
- Arindam Banerjee, AUD, Delhi
- Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University
- Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Ashok Kotwal, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- Ashwini Deshpande, Ashoka University
- Astha Ahuja, University of Delhi
- Atul Sood, JNU
- Atul Sarma, Visiting Professor, ISID, New Delhi
- Atulan Guha, IIM, Kashipur
- Ayushya Kaul, Jamia Millia Islamia
- Avinash Kumar, JNU
- Awanish Kumar, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
- B Srujana, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research
- Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor, Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford
- Ben Fine, SOAS
- Bhanoji Rao, Governing Board Member, GITAM and IFHE Universities
- Bharat Ramaswami, ISI Delhi
- Bibhas Saha, Durham University
- Bindu Oberoi, University of Delhi
- Biswajit Dhar, JNU
- Byju, V, Thiruvananthapuram
- C P Chandrasekhar, Retired Professor, JNU
- C Saratchand, University of Delhi
- Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician, FAO
- Chalapati Rao KS, ISID, Delhi
- Chirashree Das Gupta, JNU
- Chris Baker, Editor, Siam Society
- Chrostophe Jeffrelot, Sciences Po and King’s College London
- D Narasimha Reddy, University of Hyderabad
- D Narayana, Former Director, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation
- Daniela Gabor, University of West England, Bristol
- David Kotz, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Debabrata Pal, JNU
- Debraj Ray, New York University
- Deepak K Mishra, JNU
- Dev Nathan, Institute for Human Development
- Devaki Jain, ISST, New Delhi
- Devika Dutt, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Dilip Mookherjee, Boston University
- Dinesh Abrol, ISID, Delhi
- Dipa Sinha, AUD
- Dipankor Coondoo, Retired Professor, ISI
- Dipankar Dey, Dept of Business Management, Calcutta University
- Ahmet Tonak, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- E Bijoykumar Singh, Manipur University
- Emanuele Citera, The New School For Social Research
- Farzana Afridi, ISI, Delhi
- Francesco Saraceno, Sciences Po
- Gaurav Khanna, University of California, San Diego
- Giovanni Andrea Cornia, University of Florence
- Hanjabam Isworchandra Sharma, Manipur University
- Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Trent University, Canada
- Hema Swaminathan, IIM Bangalore
- Himanshu, JNU
- Indra Nath Mukherji, JNU
- Indraneel Dasgupta, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
- Indranil Chowdhury, University of Delhi
- Indranil Mukhopadhyay, OP Jindal University
- Ingrid Kvangraven, York University
- Iqbal Singh, Akal University, Bathinda
- Ishan Anand, Ambedkar University, Delhi
- Ishita Mukhopadhyay, University of Calcutta
- Mohan Rao, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
- Jan Breman, University of Amsterdam
- Jan Kregel, Levy Institute
- Jason Hickel, Goldsmith College, London
- Jayan Jose Thomas, Economist, New Delhi
- Jayati Ghosh, JNU
- Jens Lerche, SOAS
- Jesim Pais, SSER
- John Harriss, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
- Jose Antonio Ocampo, Columbia University
- Joydeep Baruah, OKD Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati
- Kalyani Menon-Sen, Feminist Learning Partnerships
- Kathleen McAfee, San Francisco State University
- K J Joseph, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation
- K N Harilal, Member, Kerala State Planning Board
- K Nagaraj, Retired Professor, MIDS
- K P Kannan, Retired Professor, CDS
- K V Ramaswamy, IGIDR
- Kumarjit Mandal, University of Calcutta
- Kunibert Raffer, retired Associate Professor, University of Vienna
- Lawrence King, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Lucas Chancel, Co-Director, World Inequality Lab
- M S Bhatta, Retired Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia
- M S Sriram, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
- M Vijayabaskar, MIDS
- Maitreesh Ghatak, LSE
- Mahalaya Chatterjee, Calcutta University
- Malabika Majumdar, Retd. Professor, University of Delhi
- Mandira Sarma, JNU
- Martin Ravallion, Georgetown University
- Mary E John, CWDS
- Mira Shiva, Public Health Physician
- Mridul Eapen, Member, Kerala State Planning Board
- Mritiunjoy Mohanty, IIM, Kolkata
- Mustafa Özer, Anadolu University
- Mwangi wa Githinji – University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Nalini Nayak, SEWA, Kerala
- Naveed Ahmad, Department of higher education Jammu and Kashmir (cluster University Srinagar)
- Narender Thakur, University of Delhi
- Nisha Biswas, Scientist
- Nishith Prakash, University of Connecticut
- Nitin Sethi, Independent journalist
- Oliver Braunschweig, The New School for Social Research
- Padmini Swaminathan, independent researcher, Chennai
- Parthapratim Pal, IIM Calcutta
- Pasuk Phongpaichit, Professor, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
- Prabhat Patnaik, Emeritus Professor, JNU
- Pranab Bardhan, University of California, Berkeley
- Pranab Kanti Basu, Retired Professor, Visva Bharati University
- Praveen Jha, JNU
- Priya Mukherjee, William & Mary, Virginia
- Pulin B Nayak, Retired Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics
- R Nagaraj, IGIDR
- R Ramakumar, TISS
- R V Ramana Murthy, University of Hyderabad
- Ragupathy, Goldsmiths University, London
- Rahul Roy, ISI, Delhi
- Rajah Rasiah, University of Malaya
- Rajesh Madan, Noida
- Rajeswari Sengupta, IGIDR
- Rajesh Bhattacharya, IIM, Kolkata
- Rajiv Jha, University of Delhi
- Rakesh Ranjan, University of Delhi
- Ramaa Vasudevan, Colorado State University
- Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum, and Visiting Professor, Goa University
- Ranjan Ray, Monash University
- Ranjini Basu, Focus on the Global South
- Ratan Khasnabis, Adamas University, and Retired Professor, Calcutta University
- Ravindran Govindan, Laurie Baker Center for Habitat Studies, Trivandrum
- Ritu Dewan, Director (retd), Dept of Economics, University of Mumbai
- Rohit Azad, JNU
- Romar Correa, University of Mumbai
- Rosa Abraham, Azim Premji University
- Runa Sarkar, IIM Calcutta
- S Krithi, TISS, Hyderabad
- Sagari R Ramdas, Food Sovereignty Alliance
- Saikat Sinha Roy, Jadavpur University
- Samarjit Das, ISI, Kolkata
- Sanjay Reddy, The New School for Social Research
- Santosh Das, ISID, New Delhi
- Saradindu Bhaduri, JNU
- Sarmistha Pal, Surrey Business School
- Satish Deshpande, Delhi University
- Satyaki Roy, ISID, Delhi
- Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Delhi University
- Seema Kulkarni, SOPPECOM, Pune
- Servaas Storm, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
- Shambhu Ghatak, Senior Associate Fellow, Inclusive Media for Change
- Shantanu De Roy, TERI University
- Shiney Chakraborty, ISST, New Delhi
- Shipra Nigam, Consultant Economist, New Delhi
- Shouvik Chakraborty, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Shyjan Davis, University of Calicut
- Siwan Anderson, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- Smita Gupta, Economist
- Smitha Francis, ISID, New Delhi
- Snehashish Bhattacharya, SAU
- Sona Mitra, IWWAGE, New Delhi
- Stefano Zambelli, Provincial University of Trento
- Suchetana Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University.
- Subin Dennis, Tricontinental Institute for Social Research
- Sudhir Kumar Suthar, JNU
- Sudip Chaudhuri, IIM, Kolkata
- Sudipta Bhattacharyya, Visva Bharati
- Sujata Patel, NIS, Shimla
- Sukanta Bhattacharya, University of Calcutta
- Sushil Khanna, IIM, Kolkata
- Sripad Motiram, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Sunanda Sen, Retired Professor, JNU
- Surajit Das, JNU
- Surajit Mazumdar, JNU
- Suresh Aggarwal, Former Professor, Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi
- Suranjan Gupta, New Delhi
- T Sabri Öncü, Former Head of Research, CAFRAL
- Takahiro Sato, Kobe University
- Taposik Banerjee, Ambedkar University, Delhi
- Thomas Piketty, Paris School of Economics
- Upasak Das, University of Pennsylvania
- Utsa Patnaik, Emerita Professor, JNU
- Uttam Bhattacharya, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata
- Vamsi Vakulabharanam, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Velupillai Kumaraswamy, former Professor, University of Trento and New School University
- Venkatesh B Athreya, Professor of Economics (Retired), Bharathidasan University
- Vikas Rawal, JNU
- Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj India, and former member, UGC
- Yoshifumi Usami, University of Tokyo
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