They observed that data unfavourable to the government was getting revised or suppressed on the basis of questionable methodologies.
A group of economists and social scientists on Thursday urged the Indian government to restore the integrity of statistical organisations as their national and global reputation was “at stake”. Any data unfavourable to the government “seems to get revised or suppressed on the basis of some questionable methodology”, they said, citing some recent examples.
In a statement, the group of 108 people said it was time for “all professional economists, statisticians, [and] independent researchers in policy”, to come together to “raise their voice against the tendency to suppress uncomfortable data, and impress upon the government authorities, current and future, and at all levels, to restore access and integrity to public statistics, and re-establish institutional independence and integrity to the statistical organisations”.
Integrity of statistics, they said, is crucial to generate data “that would feed into economic policy-making”, which would lead to “honest and democratic” public discourse.
The signatories included Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ashwini Deshpande of Ashoka University, Jean Dreze of the Allahabad University, Maitreesh Ghatak of London School of Economics, Jayati Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Reetika Khera of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and former University Grants Commission chairman Sukhadeo Thorat.
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