The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has undertaken a series of digitalisation and technological upgradation measures to strengthen the country’s official statistical system, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The initiatives include the development of multiple modules covering data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination, aimed at improving efficiency and accessibility of official statistics.
As part of these efforts, the Ministry has also launched a Data Innovation Lab under its Capacity Development Scheme to integrate emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) into statistical processes. So far, six use cases based on AI and ML have been deployed.
The government said these initiatives have made access to official statistics more seamless for stakeholders. Data is now being disseminated in machine-readable formats through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), significantly reducing the time gap between publication and public access.
Emphasising data security, the Ministry stated that “security by design” principles are being followed from the development stage itself. All applications undergo security audits and are deployed with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certification.
Guidelines issued by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) are being implemented to ensure robust cybersecurity. Additionally, an agency has been onboarded to monitor compliance with these guidelines, and a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has been appointed.
The Ministry noted that technological reforms are an ongoing process and are incorporated into annual action plans based on emerging requirements. These measures are expected to further improve data collection, validation, processing and dissemination.
The information was provided by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
