National Statistics Day held
Speaking on the occasion, District Chief Planning Officer Jeevaratnam said that in recognition of Professor Mahalanobis' contributions in creating a strong statistical infrastructure for the country, his birth anniversary will be celebrated as National Statistics Day every year on June 29.
Remembering his contributions, the District Statistics Handbook for the year 2025-26 was released on the occasion. Retired Statistics Department officials Mohandas, Hanmandlu, Degree College faculty Ramesh, District Statistics Department officials, staff, and others participated in the celebrations.
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Hans India
4 days ago
- Hans India
National Statistics Day held
Khanapur: The National Statistics Day was celebrated on Sunday at the Nirmal Collectorate Conference Hall. During the programme, a floral wreath was laid at the portrait of renowned statistician Professor PC Mahalanobis and a grand tribute was paid. Speaking on the occasion, District Chief Planning Officer Jeevaratnam said that in recognition of Professor Mahalanobis' contributions in creating a strong statistical infrastructure for the country, his birth anniversary will be celebrated as National Statistics Day every year on June 29. Remembering his contributions, the District Statistics Handbook for the year 2025-26 was released on the occasion. Retired Statistics Department officials Mohandas, Hanmandlu, Degree College faculty Ramesh, District Statistics Department officials, staff, and others participated in the celebrations.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Indian Express
National Statistics Day: 5 things about PC Mahalanobis, who could decipher the stories data tells
June 29 is celebrated as National Statistics Day. It is the birth anniversary of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the father of statistics in India. Known as 'The Professor', Mahalanobis played a key role in setting up the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Kolkata and the Planning Commissions of independent India. Among his many gifts, the one that benefitted India the most was the ability to accurately and efficiently read the stories that datasets contain. Born in Kolkata in 1893 to an influential Brahmo Samaj family, Mahalanobis studied at Presidency College before leaving for London for further studies. However, he came back to India and spent his life in both setting up statistics — the science of collecting and reading data — as an academic discipline, and applying the academic knowledge to practical scenarios. Here are five snapshots from his illustrious life that will tell you about his contributions, and why you should care about them. Brain behind India's sample surveys The National Sample Surveys that India conducts have long been admired the world over for the granular data they capture about households. This information, about income, employment status, health status, consumption habits, etc. then informs policy decisions. It was Mahalanobis who in 1950 helped launch the first such survey. Nobel laureate economist Angus Deaton with co-author Valerie Kozel wrote in 2005: 'Where Mahalanobis and India led, the rest of the world has followed, so that today, most countries have a recent household income or expenditure survey… Most countries can only envy India in its statistical capacity.' In a country as huge and diverse as India, it was very difficult to get an idea of the actual living conditions of people across the length and breadth of the country. Mahalanobis did pioneering work in efficient sample surveys, which basically involve collecting information from small representative samples to get an accurate idea of the big picture. For example, interviewing a sample of say 50 families from rural and urban areas, of different religious, caste and economic backgrounds, living in different geographical conditions, can give a reasonably good idea of how the country at large is earning, spending, and living. India has Mahalanobis to thank for coming up with a method to do this and then implementing that method. In the world of statistics, Mahalanobis is best known for coming up with the 'Mahalanobis Distance' in 1936, which is still used for understanding and analysing data. Put very simply, the Mahalanobis Distance tells you how far from the normal or ideal a certain piece of data is. For example, suppose a survey looks at households with comparable incomes in a certain region and the health of the children in these households. All the children are likely to be at different levels of height, weight, haemoglobin, etc. The Mahalanobis distance can look at all these variables — income, health indicators — and flag if a child is an outlier, like being remarkably stunted for an affluent household. Two chance happenings Two of the most important decisions in Mahalanobis's life were made due to a missed train and a delayed boat. In 1913, after graduating from Calcutta's Presidency College, he went to England to study BSc. at the University of London. He made a trip to Cambridge, where he was awe-struck by the chapel of King's College. He then happened to miss the train back to London, and stayed the night at a friend's house. 'In the friend's house he met a student who was studying at King's College and, hearing that Mahalanobis found the chapel so attractive, suggested he apply to study there. Remarkably, he was interviewed the next day and offered a place,' MacTutor, a mathematicians' biographies collection maintained by the University of St Andrews, Scotland, says. Mahalanobis's tryst with statistics also happened by chance. His boat to India had been delayed due to World War I, so he had some extra time to spend in the library of King's College. Here, he came across the journal Biometrika. '…fascinated by what he read, he bought a complete set of volumes and took them back to India…He saw that statistics was a new science connected with measurements and their analysis…This was the turning point in his scientific career,' the MacTutor article says about Mahalanobis. Similar to Biometrika, Mahalanobis started the journal Sankhya in India. Work in flood prevention When Mahalanobis passed away in 1972, the great statistician CR Rao wrote his obituary for the Indian National Science Academy, and talked about Mahalanobis's early work related to floods in Bengal and Odisha. In 1922, a flood devastated North Bengal. The government was considering building expensive retarding basins to hold up the flood waters when the problem was referred to Mahalanobis. 'A statistical study of rainfall and floods extending over a period of 50 years showed that the proposed retarding basins would be of no value in controlling floods in North Bengal. The real need was improvement of rapid drainage… Specific remedies were recommended, many of which were implemented and proved effective,' Rao wrote. Mahalanobis made a similar study for Odisha in 1926, where an expert committee had concluded that the bed of the river Brahmini had risen, leading to floods. The statistical study by Mahalanobis 'covering a period of about sixty years showed that no change had occurred in the river bed, and the construction of dams for holding up of excessive flood water in the upper reaches of the river would provide an effective control,' Rao wrote. Mahalanobis even provided the first calculations for a dam project on the Mahanadi, 'which formed the basis of the Hirakud Hydroelectric Project inaugurated about thirty years later in 1957,' Rao wrote. In the 1950s, Mahalanobis was trying hard to get the new American computer, the UNIVAC, to India. In the book 'Planning Democracy', Nikhil Menon, professor at the University of Notre Dame, writes that the Americans were refusing his request because of Mahalanobis's political beliefs. 'India was unable to get a digital computer from the United States through the 1950s partly because of Mahalanobis' reputation as a Soviet sympathiser during the Cold War…The Indian government, like the Professor, remained unaware that the person spearheading the mission to bring computers to India was himself an obstacle,' Menon wrote. Menon quotes President of Brooklyn College, Harry Gideonse, to describe the 'threat' the Americans believed Mahalanobis was. Gideonse in a report described Mahalanobis as a person of 'exceptional personal charm and broad cultural background'. 'To me, Mahalanobis is far more significant than straight communist propaganda. He has personal and moral authority, apparent integrity, and an impressive command of relevant information. His ideas are in my judgment a direct preparation for an authoritative solution to India's economic problems,' Gideonse wrote.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Indian Express
Knowledge Nugget: National Statistics Day- Understanding the legacy of the father of Indian statistics for UPSC Exam
Take a look at the essential events, concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here's your knowledge nugget for today on National Statistics Day and the legacy of the father of Indian statistics. National Statistics Day is celebrated every year on June 29th to commemorate the birth anniversary of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the father of modern statistics in India. This year it will be observed under the theme '75 Years of National Sample Survey', marking the significant contribution of the National Sample Survey in providing timely and reliable statistical data that supports evidence-based decision-making and governance in India. In this context, let's understand the legacy of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. 1. In 2007, the Government of India designated June 29th as National Statistics Day to honour Mahalanobis' birth anniversary. The first National Statistics Day celebration took place in 2007 and has since become an annual event that highlights the crucial role of statistics in national development. 2. The day aims to raise public awareness, particularly among the youth, about the importance of statistics in strategic planning, economic development, and policy-making. 3. This year, on the occasion, a number of significant statistical publications will also be released, such as Nutritional Intake in India 2022-23 & 2023-24 and the Sustainable Development Goals – National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2025. 4. Additionally, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) will introduce the GoIStat smartphone application, which was created to make official data easier to obtain. 5. An Indian scientist and statistician, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, has made significant contributions to the field of statistics and economic planning in India. He is renowned for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure. 6. Mahalanobis was born on June 29, 1893, in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in British India. He received his early schooling at the Brahmo Boys School, from where he graduated in 1908. 7. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931 and and lay the foundations of the Indian statistical system through the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). He made pioneering studies in anthropometry in India. 8. Mahalanobis was instrumental in designing the way we conduct surveys today. He introduced the concept of pilot surveys and advocated the importance of sampling methods. He also introduced a method for estimation of crop yields using statistical sampling. 9. During the latter part of his life, Mahalabonis was a part of the Planning Commission of India which was responsible for independent India's five-year plans, in which he emphasized on the importance of industrialization and also corrected previous census methodology errors. 10. Mahalabonis was deeply interested in cultural pursuits and was awarded one of the highest civilian awards, the Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India for his contribution to science. Mahalabonis died on June 28, 1972. 11. Mahalabonis Distance (MD) is a multi-dimensional generalisation of the idea of measuring how many standard deviations away is point P from the mean of D. Apart from MD, which measures distance relative to the centroid – a base or central point which can be thought of as an overall mean for multivariate data. 1. The National Sample Survey Organisation has been conducting large scale sample surveys in diverse fields on All India basis since 1950. These surveys are conducted in the form of rounds extending normally over a period of one year though in certain cases the survey period was six months. 2. Primarily data are collected through nation-wide household surveys on various socio-economic subjects, Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), etc. Besides these surveys, NSS collects data on rural and urban prices and plays a significant role in the improvement of crop statistics through supervision of the area enumeration and crop estimation surveys of the State agencies. It also maintains a frame of urban area units for use in sample surveys in urban areas. 1. The MoSPI came into existence as an Independent Ministry on 15.10.1999 after the merger of the Department of Statistics and the Department of Programme Implementation. 2. The Ministry has two wings, namely, Statistics and Programme Implementation. The Statistics Wing called the National Statistical Office (NSO) consists of: 📌Central Statistics Office (CSO) 📌National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 3. The Programme Implementation (PI) Wing has three Divisions, namely, 📌Central Twenty Point Programme (TPP) 📌Infrastructure and Project Monitoring (IPM) 📌Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) 4. Besides, there is National Statistical Commission (NSC) created through a Resolution of Government of India (MOSPI) and one autonomous Institute, viz., Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) declared as an institute of national importance by an Act of Parliament. Consider the following statements with reference to the contributions of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis: 1. He introduced the concept of pilot surveys. 2. He was the first Chairperson of the Planning Commission of India. 3. He introduced a method for estimation of crop yields using statistical sampling. 4. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Indian Statistical Institute in 1931. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 1, 3 and 4 only (c) 2, 3 and 4 only (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (Sources: Who was Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis or 'PCM'?, Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – Indian Express UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. 🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for June 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at
