core sector communique

Srikant Jena sets Tones for Sixth Economic Census
Professor C. R. Rao Award for Young Statisticians Conferred on Dr. Shalabh

The All-India Conference of Planning Secretaries and the Directors of Directorates of Economics and Statistics of States and Union Territories for Sixth Economic Census was inaugurated by Shri Srikant Kumar Jena, Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation in New Delhi today. Shri Jena urged upon intensive training arrangements for the enumerators and supervisors to collect primary data with good quality. He also emphasized that an effective publicity plan both in the centre and in the states and union territories must be in place to create public awareness and solicit cooperation from the respondents. He sought active support of senior officials of states and union territories in this gigantic exercise and wished that with the effective use of state and union territory machinery, the sixth economic census would be conducted with appropriate data quality and timeliness. On this occasion he also conferred the ‘Professor C. R. Rao award for young statisticians’ on Dr. Shalabh, Associate Professor of IIT Kanpur for 2010-11.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India plans to conduct the sixth economic census as a Central Sector Plan Scheme during April to November 2012 in collaboration with all state and union territory governments. The census would involve collection of data from entrepreneurial units in the country. Data on major industrial activity of the unit, number of workers, ownership details, major source of finance, and gender, religion as well as social group of the owner for proprietary units among others would be collected for micro level planning and policy formulations.

The last economic census was conducted in the year 2005. However, launching of the sixth economic census would help in assessing the impact of initiation of various socio-economic development schemes by the government on the total number of establishments in the country and number of persons engaged in various economic activities. The database would enable policy makers and analysts to assess the impact of the economic liberalization process on entrepreneurial activities, especially in the unorganized sector. The data at lower geographical levels, like tehsil and village in case of rural areas and wards in the case of urban areas, would also be a valuable input for local level planning required under 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments. Further, the information on number and distribution of entrepreneurial units by geographic location would provide the framework for undertaking follow-up statistical sample surveys to assess the individual contribution of various industrial sectors in the country’s GDP.