Usability of India’s government statistics1

Abstract

The quality of metadata is a crucial determinant of usability/interpretability of data. This paper draws attention to the poor quality of India’s government statistics and the paucity of metadata necessary to understand data quality problems. The paper suggests that there has been a decline in India both in terms of the availability and quality of metadata for key government sources of information including maps, decennial population censuses and National Sample Surveys amidst growing sophistication in the understanding of metadata. The poor quality of metadata impairs cross-sectional as well as inter-temporal comparisons and policymaking apart from concealing biases and lapses of government statisticians. The paper draws on the experience of three states – erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland – where government statistics have been affected by serious errors that are not well-understood due to the lack of adequate metadata.