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<h1>Data delays are denying India access to good policy</h1>
<time datetime="2018-02-10T10:00:20+11:00">10 February 2018</time>
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<p>Authors: Ankush Agrawal, IIT Delhi, and Vikas Kumar, Azim Premji University</p>
<p>The growing clamour in India for evidence-based and targeted
policymaking has not been matched by improvements in the quality of
data. Whatever attention quality receives is restricted to data <a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/05/31/poor-numbers-misrepresent-the-development-of-indias-tribes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accuracy</a>. By contrast, even though the <a href="http://www.mospi.gov.in/report-dr-rangarajan-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Statistical Commission</a>
flagged the timely release of data as a major issue more than a decade
and a half ago, timeliness as a dimension of data quality has still not
received much attention from the government, academia or the media.<span id="gmail-more-109450"></span></p>
<p><img class="gmail-aligncenter gmail-wp-image-109451 gmail-size-medium" title="A man walks past a screen displaying news of markets update inside the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai, India, 6 February 2018 (Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)." src="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RTX4RBO3-400x282.jpg" alt="A man walks past a screen displaying news of markets update inside the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai, India, 6 February 2018 (Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)." width="400" height="282"></p>
<p>In recent times, India has seen growing delays in the release of
major databases despite the ‘technocratisation’ of policymaking, public
professions of faith in evidence-based policymaking, the introduction of
advanced data processing technologies and growing fascination with big
and real-time data. Some of these developments were reflected in the
campaign and <a href="http://www.bjp.org/images/pdf_2014/full_manifesto_english_07.04.2014.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manifesto</a> of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2014 parliamentary elections that <a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/06/19/overcoming-underdevelopment-conflict-and-data-deficits-along-indias-periphery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">engaged with government statistics</a>.
The Party’s campaign addressed the delays in releasing 2011 census data
on religion, and its manifesto promised to use ‘technology to
disseminate real-time data’ and to set up ‘an institute of big data and
analytics for studying the impact of big data across sectors for
predictive science’.</p>
<p>After coming to power, the BJP has not followed through, though. It
has not yet released the full set of 2011 census data: so far only one
of the migration tables has been released, and the complete general
population table reports have not been published, which deprives
policymakers of valuable qualitative information. Census tables on
language await publication. The BJP government has also failed to
release other reports including the <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/upa-panel-set-tough-norms-for-tribal-land-nda-sits-on-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Report of the High-level Committee on Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of the Tribals of India</em></a>, the complete findings of the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33369710" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Rapid Survey of Children</em></a> or the <a href="http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/17/web-exclusives/1000-page-study-unaccounted-incomes-india-which-hasnt-been-made" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Study on Unaccounted Incomes in India</em></a>.</p>
<p>Despite dramatic improvements in data processing technologies that
should have drastically reduced the time involved, time between
collection and release of religion and language data has <em>increased</em> since 1970.</p>
<p>The government released language tables from the 1961 census in 1964.
This was when it published information about all languages spoken in
the country, rather than just languages with more than 10,000 speakers,
so the data released were more rather than less complex. By contrast, it
released language tables of later censuses five to six years after
enumeration. It has still not released 2011 language tables after seven
years. Further delays would mean that these data will not be available
until after the preparations for the 2021 census begin in 2019. Similar
observations hold good for religion data.</p>
<p>In case of religion, it is possible to identify the date by which the
census data might have been processed because the census questionnaire
links the identification of caste of a person to her/his religious
affiliation. This means that the caste and religion data have to be
sorted together and can be released around the same time.</p>
<p>Indeed, until 1981, the data on scheduled castes, scheduled tribes
and religion were released in the same year or within a year of each
other. This near-concurrent release has not continued. Caste and tribe
data from the 2011 census were available on 30 April 2013, when the
primary census abstract was released. Many hoped that other tables would
be released sooner than expected because the abstract was <a href="http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=95372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a>
‘a year ahead of schedule’. Further, as per the National Statistical
Commission’s recommendations the religion and language tables of the
2011 census should have been released by March 2014.</p>
<p>In 2004, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government failed
to release the 2001 religion data. The Indian National Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance government, which took credit for
institutionalising the right to information, failed to release the 2011
religion data in 2014. It is noteworthy that both 2004 and 2014 were
election years. Some of the key tables based on the 2011 census data on
religion were finally released in August 2015 — 28 months after the
primary census abstract’s release and 15 months after the 2014
elections.</p>
<p>The delayed release of data reflects the unwillingness of India’s <a href="http://www.epw.in/journal/2012/18/perspectives/dealing-deteriorating-statistical-base.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deteriorating</a>
statistical system to face public scrutiny. The absence of
cross-examination affects the quality of statistics, which in turn
pushes the system into a vicious cycle of deteriorating data quality and
diminishing trust in the system. Moreover, delayed releases make data
obsolete for policymakers.</p>
<p>The growing delays in the release of government statistics are also an indicator of the <a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/09/18/the-politics-of-indian-census-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government’s interference</a>
with India’s statistical machinery. If one focusses specifically on
religion and language data from the census, the growing delays can be
read as symptoms of the deepening communal crisis. The delays have been
growing since 1981 — the period that witnessed the communalisation of
Indian politics. Under these circumstances, the re-insulation of the
statistical system from governmental and political interference should
be an urgent priority.</p>
<p><em>Ankush Agrawal teaches economics at IIT Delhi.</em></p></section>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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