National Statistics Day 2021 – 29th June | Check Theme, Significance & Celebration

Hello Readers!

Today we will be talking about the national statistics day which is celebrated every year on 29th June. Do you know why the date selected is 29th June? Do you know whose contributions are celebrated on this day? We’ll let you know the answers to these questions. Also we will discuss in detail the significance of the day, its history, the theme of this year and other key facts.

Why 29th June?

National Statistics Day is celebrated on 29th June on the birth anniversary of Late Professor Prashant Chandra Mahalanobis (PC Mahalanobis). June 29 is selected to honour the invaluable contribution of Professor P C Mahalanobis in establishing the National Statistical System. This year marks the 128th birth anniversary of the eminent professor.

Professor P C Mahalanobis

P.C Mahalanobis is known as the “Father of Statistics”. He was born in 1893 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was an esteemed statistician who served as an advisor to the Indian Government. He was one of the members of the first Planning Commission of India. He founded the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) on December 17, 1931 in Kolkata. 

His Contributions

• He is popular for his contribution ‘Mahalanobis Distance’, a statistical measure. The formula is used to find the distance between a point and a distribution. 
• He established the National Sample Survey in 1950 and set up the Central Statistical Organization to coordinate statistical activities in India. 
• He also developed the Feldman-Mahalanobis model which was a Neo-Marxian model of economic development. The model was employed in the Second Five Year Plan of India which promoted industrialization of India. 
• He was awarded: Padma Vibhushan in 1968 for literature and education; Weldon Memorial Prize from the University of Oxford in 1944; Fellow of the Royal Society, London in 1945. 

National Statistics Day 2021

Significance 

The aim of this day is to create awareness among youth about the role of statistics in daily life. It aims to popularize the importance of statistics in framing policies. 

Theme

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2: End Hunger, Achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition and Promote Sustainable Agriculture”.

Celebration 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the main event was organized through Video Conferencing at NITI Aayog, New Delhi.

Chief Guest of the event was Rao Inderjit Singh. He is the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and Ministry of Planning. 

The Ministry is developing E- Sigma (e-Survey Instrument and Generalized Multimodal Application). It will help in real time validation that would reduce the time lag. This will transform the survey ecosystem. 

National Integrated Information Portal (NIIP) – It is a one-stop digital platform of major official data sets of the Central and State Government. It is said that its completion will enable data – driven policy making and user-friendly access of official data to all citizens and stakeholders. 

With this we come to the end of this blog. We covered all the relevant information about the National Statistics Day. We hope you find this article informative.

Stay tuned for more such updates.