An exciting account of how government statistics in developing countries are social artefacts dynamically shaped by political and economic contexts.

The system of official economic statistics in India has undergone myriad changes since Independence. There have been various developments in its administrative structures and changing levels of focus on different economic sectors. The types of datasets available for these sectors have been ever-evolving and undergo dynamic changes owing to real-time measurement and analysis using ICT. The Agricultural and Livestock Censuses capture data on the agricultural sector. For the Industries sector, Annual Survey of Industries and the Directorate of Industries in states are the two major sources of data. Since economic liberalisation in India, there has been an increased focus on the Services sector and developing a well-organised mechanism to cover it. This sector is covered by National Sample Surveys, Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ MCA-21 Database, GSTN and others. The unorganised and informal sectors of the economy also find coverage in NSS Rounds on Employment and Enterprises. The Census of India, the Economic Census, Price Indices and NSS Rounds on Consumption Expenditure, Enterprises and Employment, among others, are major sources of economic statistics as well. We also have new arrays of data for the formal sector in the form of EPFO, Direct Tax, Property Tax and others. Using this sector-wise classification of Agriculture, Industries, and Services, and also including the unorganised and informal sectors, the paper explores India’s structure of economic statistics. While the paper draws attention to recent datasets and rounds of surveys, the focus is also on the evolution of the system of official economic statistics in India. The paper highlights issues with the credibility and utility of the available data, in light of a declining GDP growth which also gives rise to more serious questions on the reliability of the country’s data architecture and system of economic statistics. It also discusses structural changes such as those of the MoSPI and NSC. The system of official economic statistics in India now faces the challenge of adapting to Information and Communication Technology. The paper thus emphasises the role of strengthening realtime and Management Information Systems’ data to enable evidence-based policymaking and planning and realise the vision of ‘New India’ and a US$ 5 trillion economy.

"How do you see India? Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous middle class. It is also defined by progressive and liberal young Indians, who vote beyond the constraints of identity, and paradoxically, by an unchecked population explosion and rising crimes against women. Is it, though? In 2020, the annual population growth was down to under 1 per cent. Only thirty-one of hundred Indians live in a city today and just 5 per cent live outside the city of their birth. As recently as 2016, only 4 per cent of young, married respondents in a survey said their spouse belonged to a different caste group. Over 45 per cent of voters said in a pre-2014 election survey that it was important to them that a candidate of their own caste wins elections in their constituency. A large share of reported sexual assaults across India are actually consensual relationships criminalised by parents. And staggeringly, spending more than Rs 8,500 a month puts you in the top 5 per cent of urban India. Data-journalism pioneer Rukmini S. draws on nearly two decades of on-ground reporting experience to piece together a picture that looks nothing like the one you might expect. There is a mountain of data available on India, but it remains opaque, hard to access and harder yet to read, and it does not inform public conversation. Rukmini marshals this information - some of it never before reported - alongside probing interviews with experts and ordinary citizens, to see what the numbers can tell us about India. As she interrogates how data works, and how the push and pull of social and political forces affect it, she creates a blueprint to understand the changes of the last few years and the ones to come - a toolkit for India."-- dust jacket.

India Has Entered The Second Stage Of Financial Sector Development, Where Market Forces Are Helping In Resources Allocation And Efficient Price Discovery Process.The Harmonization Of Regulatory Institutions And Devising Of New Financial Architecture Is Necessary To Enhance The Resilience Of India S Financial Sector And Reduce The Fragility Of Some Financial Institutions. High Exposure In Government Securities, Government Guaranteed Loans, Improper Valuation Of Collaterals, Vulnerability To Interest Rate Cycle, Still High Level Of Npas, Unsatisfactory Corporate Governance And Disclosures, Inadequate Surveillance, Stock Market Volatility, Risk Concentration And Policy Failure Cause Concern. This Necessitates Improving Transparency And Governance, Resolving Failure In The Industrial And Financial Sector, De-Linking Government And Private Sector, Fostering Innovation, And Improving The Supervisory And Regulatory Infrastructure. Given The Debilitating Impact Of Financial Sector Crisis On The Economy, The Stability Of The Financial Sector Should Be The Goal Of The Economy. Financial Stability Can Be Strengthened By Improved Financial Infrastructure, Enhanced Competition And Restructured Segments Of Financial System.Reform Measures Enhanced Efficiency And Stability Of The Banking System In India. Indian Banks Are Well Placed Compared With Their Counterparts In Developed Countries. But There Are Persisting Issues Of Removal Of Structural Barriers To Competition, Privatisation Of Banking System, Radical Restructuring, Downsizing Of The Balance Sheet, Recapitalisation And Eventual Privatisation Of The Financial Institutions, Withdrawal Of Quantitative Credit Controls And Directed Credit And Modernisation Of The Payment System. The Inexorable Process Of Economic Reforms Must Continue To Slash Poverty And Support Sustainable Development While Strengthening Financial Institutions. This Overarching Goal Of Development Needs A Renewed Thrust On Financial Sector Reforms. The Papers Included In The Present Book Cover Large Areas, But All Coalesce Into The Central Theme Of India S Transforming Financial Sector. It Is Hoped That The Book Will Prove Useful To A Wide Cross Section Of The Reading Public, Including Scholars And Academics, The Government Executives, International Institutions, Business Communities, And Planners And Policymakers.

India has had operating railways for well-over 150 years: railways that have played a central and well-documented role in the making of India in the colonial and post-colonial eras. This handbook provides a reference guide for researchers interested in almost any facet of the history, colonial and post-colonial, of these railways. The secondary literature is identified and surveyed, primary sources and their locations identified, statistical and cartographic data discussed and presented, and a massive bibliography made available. This handbook is the indispensable tool for anyone seeking to understand India's railways and the roles they played in the making of modern India.

When this book was originally published in 1989 here had been virtually no studies of the country’s historical demography. This volume was significant for 3 reasons: it contributed greatly to the knowledge of India’s population history; it had major implications for the work of social and economic historians of India; and lastly the Indian context provides an excellent laboratory in which to investigate certain large-scale demographic phenomena – among others the experience of bubonic plague, influenza, cholera and famine.

This book analyzes the historical development and current state of India's healthcare industry using some interesting case studies.

The book gives a glimpse of the development of the earth observation cameras in India and provides insights into the technological innovations and the leadership foresight which placed India at par with achievements elsewhere in the world, in this area. The book also covers some aspects of the management functioning in ISRO. The book starts with the beginning of the space program in India and systematically chronicles the journey of the development of advanced space based imaging system. The book also provides some basic technical insights into the building of space based remote sensing cameras, which have been presented in a way that can be understood by non-specialists too. In addition to students and professionals in the field who will get a broad account of the functioning of space based camera systems and the nuances in the design, development and deployment of them, those in policy making and technical management in space agencies across the globe will also find the book useful to understand the path taken by India to achieve pre-eminence in this field.

This study reviews the evolution of tractor use in India in the past few decades, and supplements this with a panel model analysis using factors associated with state-level tractor density growth. Growth in tractor use in India, unlike that in the United States and Japan, has occurred at relatively low wage rates and with a substantial majority of the workforce remaining in the agricultural sector. Considerable growth in domestic manufacturing has contributed to growth in tractor densities. Tractor density across the 14 major states in India between 1982 and 2012 was positively affected by income per capita, cropping intensity, and the average size of farmland holdings. Tractor intensity grew at a fast pace even in low-wage regions of India, indicating that relatively lower labor wages might not have been a binding factor for diffusion of farm machinery and tractors among smallholding farmers in India.