Critical Data Remain Elusive, As 2024 Comes To A Close

The delay is spread across government datasets spanning multiple sectors including health, environment, demography, agriculture, and criminal justice.

Many datasets are intended to be released on an annual basis. However some, like the Census of India (decennial or 10 years) and the livestock census (quinquennial or 5 years), follow longer cycles. Despite their critical importance, these datasets have not adhered to their scheduled timelines.

One of the reasons why India puts out data with a year’s lag is due to the sheer number of entries and the time taken for collection of the nationwide data, according to this report by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a Mumbai-based Human Rights movement.

As 2024 comes to a close, we look at the state of India’s public data.

The following are a few of the datasets that have been delayed anywhere from two to four years.

The Medical Certification of Cause of Death is compiled under the Civil Registration System in accordance with the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and adheres to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - Tenth Revision (1993). Collected by state governments and published by the Office of the Registrar General, this data is crucial for researchers, health planners, and epidemiologists. It provides detailed information on causes of death, categorised by gender and age profiles, aiding in public health planning and mortality trend analysis. There have been no updates since 2020.

IndiaSpend has reached out to Sanjeev Kumar, additional registrar general at the Civil Registration System, regarding the delays in MCCD, CRS and SRS datasets.

The Census is a decennial survey which determines, down to the village level, the population numbers, sex breakdown, age bands, literacy and migration, among other aspects of India's population. The 2021 census was delayed due to the nationwide Covid-19-induced lockdowns, but since then, despite life returning to normalcy, the timeline for the next census is unclear. The government has now announced that the census will be conducted in 2025 as per this recent news article.

“The major missing dataset is the Census, which has not been conducted since 2011. While the exact reasons for this are unclear, they appear to be largely political and administrative rather than technical,” says P.C Mohanan, former chairman of the National Statistical Council (NSC).

The delay in compiling census data affects other datasets as well.

“The Census is critical for various applications, including updating the National Register of Citizens, the National Population Register, and potentially redrawing parliamentary constituencies. Initially, the delay was attributed to Covid-19, but with elections and other national exercises now being conducted, this justification no longer holds. The absence of updated Census data significantly impacts other statistics, as it provides the population baseline needed for calculations such as poverty rates, employment figures, and other critical metrics” says Mohanan.

IndiaSpend has reached out to Biswajit Das, Deputy General Director for the census division at the office of the Registrar of India, regarding the delay. We have also reached out to Rekha Lohani, director of research at BPRD, with questions regarding delay in data on police organisations; Amandeep Garg, additional secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change regarding the delay in Swachh Bharat rules compendium and Siddharth Shankar, senior statistical officer at the department of animal husbandry and dairying, regarding the delay in livestock census.

It is not only datasets but also annual reports of ministries that are being delayed. IndiaSpend looked at all 53 ministries to track their annual reports. An annual report summarises government ministry's activities, policies, and programmes for the past financial year and the first three quarters of the current year). Nine ministries have delayed their annual reports, as of 4.30 a.m. on December 30, 2024.

The Ministry of Law and Justice has the longest delay with 2017-18 being the last annual report filed even as departments within the ministry have since released reports (2021-22 for Department of Legal Affairs, 2022-23 for Legislative Department and the Department of Justice). Others that saw delays are the ministries of and AYUSH, chemicals and fertilizers, civil aviation, cooperation, defence, development of north-eastern region, railways and youth affairs and sports are also seeing delays.

Reasons for delay

Experts argue that the government has been removing data that could hurt it politically, and that this is one of the main causes for the delay.

"There are several factors at play here,” says Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) or Society for Citizens' Vigilance Initiatives. “For example, with the Consumer Expenditure Survey, it was found that consumption had dipped, but this data was withheld, likely because it was inconvenient for the government. Similarly, it's inexplicable why the government has not conducted the census, something that is typically done every 10 years. By not doing so and offering no explanation, people are left in the dark. Naturally, questions arise about why the government would avoid conducting the census--are they concerned about revealing data that could be inconvenient?”

Implications of delayed data

Experts point out that lack of current data impacts important policies. "When the government halts data collection, people lose access to critical information needed to hold it accountable," says Bhardwaj.

She highlights how outdated census data from 2011 undermines basic rights like those under the National Food Security Act, which uses census figures to determine ration card eligibility. Despite projections of population growth, the absence of a new census has left millions excluded from food security support.

Experts point to the fact that currently, most of the programs and schemes are running on estimates based on the 2011 census. “In policymaking, this disconnect has significant consequences. Take PDS (Public Distribution System) as an example: its coverage of the poor depends on poverty line calculations and population estimates, which are currently rough guesstimates,” says Vrunda Bansode, a partner at Sattva Consulting, a Global impact and CSR consulting firm from India.

Bansode highlights that the absence of updated census data forces reliance on outdated figures for "per capita and per-thousand calculations," complicating district-level planning where broad state or national data falls short. She adds that projections for metrics like population growth or children in need are undermined by missing trends such as migration or fertility shifts.

New data release new problems

The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23--the first such survey in 11 years--was released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in two parts: a fact sheet in February 2024, and the full survey in June.

The previous survey, conducted for July 2017-June 2018, was withdrawn in 2019 due to "data quality issues", leaving the outdated 2011-12 data in use. The NSSO has since changed its methods for measuring household consumption, moving from the Mixed Reference Period (MRP) to the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP), affecting comparability.

The 2022-23 survey introduced further changes, including more items surveyed, three separate questionnaires, multiple visits for data collection, and computer-assisted interviews, along with data on current prices instead of constant prices.

Mohanan notes that the 2022-23 Consumer Expenditure Survey introduced improved data collection methods but is "not strictly comparable with past surveys". While the government had hinted at publishing 2022-23 and 2023-24 data together to address these issues, the former were released independently. The 2023-24 survey, completed by July 2024, was scheduled to be released by December, though delays beyond six months could make it overdue.

Experts also point out another trend where the government has not agreed with international ratings and indexes and has contested those claims. For instance, the global hunger index ranked India 105 of 127 countries, with a score of 27.3 in the 2024 Global Hunger Index pointing to a serious level of hunger in the country. The government responded by questioning the methodology and calling it ‘erroneous’.

Bhardwaj highlights that when global indices critical of the government are released, there's often an attempt to discredit them, with the government countering by presenting its own data or altering collection methodologies. For example, data on anaemia, which were traditionally collected in a specific way, are now being modified, making it difficult to compare with past data.

She believes that such changes undermine decades of progress tracking and research, and discrediting indices like the Global Hunger Index or Democracy Index isn't a constructive response, experts say, pointing out that governments should address the issues these indices raise rather than dismiss them.

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.