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NSC resignations row: Modi govt clarifies after members of stats body quit over jobs report, GDP data; All you need to know

NSC resignations row: Two external members of the NSC had resigned citing differences with the government on issues related to jobs data and GDP back series data, saying the government was not taking the NSC seriously.

NSC resignations row: A fresh controversy erupted when the delay in publishing the NSSO jobs report and the back series of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forced top two members of National Statistical Commission (NSC) to step down from their posts on Monday. Two external members of the NSC, Acting Chairman PC Mohanan and JV Meenakshi, had resigned citing differences with the government on issues related to jobs data and GDP back series data, saying the government was not taking the NSC seriously. In the wake of the resignations by the independent members over disagreement with the government on certain issues, Modi-led government has come under attack. What is the controversy all about? • PC Mohanan has alleged that the NSC was not consulted before releasing the back series data on GDP. The release of GDP back series data by NITI Aayog last November had created a furore as to how it got involved in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) work. • The back series data had revised the GDP growth rates during the UPA years downward which initiated a political slugfest with both ruling party BJP and opposition Congress trying to impress that their economic policies were superior to that of the other. • Another politically sensitive issue that the resignations have brought up is related to the employment survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), which was approved by the Commission last December but is yet to go for publication. • The complaint by the two about the delay in publication of the employment survey has armed the Opposition to intensify its attack on the government for lack of jobs, particularly when the general election is due in a few months. What the Ministry has to say? • The Ministry of Statistics has said the two members never brought up the issues to them and that it valued the Commission for its expertise. • "The members had expressed certain concerns on the functioning of the Commission including release of the labour force survey results and the back series of GDP. These concerns were not expressed by the members in any of the meetings of the Commission in the last few months," the MoSPI said in a statement. • On the labour force survey, it said NSSO is processing the quarterly data for the period July 2017 to December 2018 and the report will be released thereafter. • "Insofar as the back series of the GDP is concerned, the NSC had itself urged the Ministry to finalise and release it. The official estimates of the back series of GDP were accordingly computed using the methodology adopted in the 2011-12 base year serious," it said. Attack by the opposition • The Congress in Wednesday accused the Modi government of destroying yet another institution after two members of the National Statistical Commission resigned and said one more venerable institution has died due to the government's "malicious negligence". • Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the party mourns the death of the National Statistical Commission and will remember its valiant fight to release 'untainted' GDP data and employment data. • His colleague Ahmed Patel said the resignations serve the government's objective to "black out" all data and statistics of its "mis-governance", while party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi wondered if this has come in the wake of the "very embarrassing" jobs data and whether the NSC was "being forced" by government to do more data doctoring. Current team of NSC With the two members quitting, the NSC now has only two members -- Chief Statistician Pravin Srivastava and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. In November last year, the NITI Aayog had come under fire for announcing the revised GDP data of UPA years. NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar and Chief Statistician Srivastava had announced the back-series data by the government. (With inputs from agencies)

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