Ronita Torcato
More than 120 participants comprising Heads of Department, Faculty Members and students of Statistics from various colleges along with government officers participated in the Statistics Day 2023 celebration organized by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Field Operations Division (FOD) Mumbai, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, in association with S.K.Somaiya College, Mumbai at the Vidyavihar campus today.
The Government of India has been celebrating June 29 every year, since 2007, as “Statistics Day”, to mark the birth anniversary of the late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, in recognition of his contribution to the fields of Economics, Planning and Statistics.
Supriya Roy, Deputy Director General, NSSO FOD, Regional Office Mumbai, in her keynote address, highlighted the importance of this year’s theme “Alignment of State indicator frame work with National Indicator framework for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals”.
Dr R. B. Barman, Former Chairman, National Statistical Commission who was chief guest said SDGs are not only crucial for equity but also a major driver of sustained inclusive growth. The information system should be disseminated to grassroot levels to achieve the goal of broad based development, he said.
Roop Rashi, Textile Commissioner of India, stressed the need for the use of statistical data in policy formulation as well as program implementation at all levels in the quest to achieve sustainability. Data, the new oil, is the most important input for credible and measurable output and outcome and hence requires synergies between responsible production by Industry and seamless integration with Academia/ Reasearch, she said.
Dr Dnyaneshwar Doke, Principal, M.L.Dahanukar College, Mumbai, D.S.Tidke, Joint Director, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt of Maharashtra, Maharnab Manna, Deputy Director, Ministry of Textiles, Prof Chhaya Pinge, HOD, Ramnarain Jhunjhunwala College, Mumbai, Piyali Unnikrishnan, Associate Professor, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and Prof Tanzim Shaikh, B.N.Bandodkar College, Thane also gave presentations on Sustainable Development Goals and the use of statistics data in various fields.
It may be mentioned that the UN General Assembly in its 70th Session adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated 169 targets for the next 15 years. The 17 SDGs came into force in 1st January, 2016.Though not legally binding; the SDGs have become de facto international obligations and have the potential to reorient domestic spending priorities of the countries during the next fifteen years. The 2030 Agenda also underscored that quality, reliable and disaggregated data will be needed for measurement of progress on targets and to ensure that “No One is Left Behind”.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has developed a National Indicator Framework (NIF) for Sustainable Development Goals, for facilitating the monitoring of SDGs at national level. The NIF was developed following consultations with Ministries/Departments, States/UTs, UN agencies, research institutions and other stakeholders. MoSPI periodically reviews and refines the NIF in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
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