TURA: Together with the rest of the country, National Statistics Day 2019 was celebrated here at the SMELC Conference Hall in Dakopgre, Tura with the theme “Sustainable Development Goals”.
The programme was organised by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Meghalaya Shillong in collaboration with the office of District Statistical Officer, West Garo Hills Tura.
Speaking on the occasion as Chief Guest, District Agriculture Officer, West Garo Hills, Tura M D Arengh highlighted on the importance of the use of statistics in our everyday lives and how statistics helps in shaping and framing policies of a country. Referring to the collection of statistical information pertaining to various sectors of the economy, he said that the statistical department plays an important role in supplying statistical data to planners, administrators in the form of reports to cater to the needs of effective planning process and administration of the state.
Meanwhile, Functional Manager, District Commerce and Industries Centre, Tura Cherak F R Marak, also stated that statistical data is necessary for policy formulation and that even though few department collect their own data but, most of the departments rely on the department of statistics for data collection which is being used for the implementation of various schemes and programmes in the district.
In his keynote address, District Statistical Officer, Tura H B Lyngdoh recalled the notable contribution made by Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the field of economic planning and statistical development in the post independent era, and for which the Government of India has decided to celebrate his birth anniversary as Statistics Day on 29th June every year. He also informed that he was known as the architect of Indian Statistics who have contributed immensely for the formulation of 1st and 2nd Five (5) Year Plan for India.
Further, he also briefed about the activities of the department comprising of conducting Crop Estimation Surveys, Land Use Statistics, Price Statistics, National Sample Surveys and other census and surveys. The District Statistical Handbook, District at a Glance, District Level Block Indicator, etc were also published by the department providing demographic profile as well as socio economic aspects of the district and are useful for research scholars, planners, students, etc, he added.
In order to mark the event more meaningful, Extempore speech competition was also held for students after the function.
