RBI organised 16th annual conference on ‘Statistics Day’

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank organised its 16th annual conference on ‘Statistics Day’ designated by the Government of India on June 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of (Late) Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in recognition of his notable contributions in the fields of economic planning and statistical developments in India.

In his inaugural address, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor touched upon the unique challenges faced by the discipline of statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the expectations from practicing statisticians.

The Reserve Bank treats information as a ‘public good’ and envisions to keep calibrating its information management systems to the needs and expectations of various stakeholders. The new and rising demands for policy inputs and decision-making necessitate robust quality of statistics and statistical methods.

Prof T. Krishna Kumar, an eminent econometrician, delivered the P. C. Mahalanobis Memorial Lecture titled “Operations Research approach to Economic policy: A Legacy left behind by Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis and the Indian Statistical Institute”.

Professor (Sir) David Spiegelhalter, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, gave the keynote address. Prof. Manindra Agrawal of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur delivered a special lecture on tracking the Covid-19 trajectory through the SUTRA Model.

A panel discussion was held on ‘Statistical Inputs for the Reserve Bank’s Policy Making and its Way Forward’. The conference concluded with an address by Dr. O. P. Mall, Executive Director, on the communication of statistics.