Venkaiah Naidu
In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics, statistical system and economic planning, “Statistics Day” will be celebrated on Friday.
29th June, 2017 marked the beginning of the 125th year of birth of Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis. The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has held year-round celebrations which will be culminated on Friday.
The objective of celebration of this day is to create public awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation, to acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Mahalanobis, and to pay homage to him.
Every year, one particular theme of current national importance is selected for focused discussions and efforts throughout the year aimed at bringing about improvements in the selected area. The theme selected for the Statistics Day this year is ‘‘Quality Assurance in Official Statistics’.
The theme has been chosen to underscore the importance of compliance with essential parameters of quality in statistical systems and products. The ISI at Kolkata, set up by Prof. Mahalanobis in 1931 and declared an autonomous “Institute of National Importance” through an act of Parliament in 1959, celebrates 29th June as the “Worker Day”.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation and ISI are having a joint event on Friday.
Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India will grace the occasion as the chief guest. On the occasion, Naidu will release a commemorative coin of Rs 125 and circulation coin of Rs 5 denomination as a mark of respect to Prof. Mahalanobis.
