National Statistics day is observed on 29th June – 2020

To acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by PC Mahalanobis

• National Statistics Day is celebrated on 29 June every year. The day is to
  commemorate the birth anniversary of Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis
• The day aims to create awareness among youth about the role of statistics in socioeconomic planning and policy formulation
• On this day, the nation pays homage to Professor Mahalanobis. Its main aim of the
  day is to popularize the use of Statistics in everyday life

Key highlights of the Observation

• A series of events have been planned across the country to mark the occasion
• The theme of Statistics Day, 2020 is to “Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages & SDG- 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women
  and girls”
• The theme has been chosen for intensive and focused discussions towards filling
  the data gaps and improvement of timelines or quality in SDGs
• Every year, Statistics Day is celebrated with a theme of current national
  importance that runs for a year by way of several workshops and seminars, aimed at
  bringing about improvements in the selected area
• Under normal circumstances workshops and seminars would have been held. This
  year the same will not be possible due to the impact of the ongoing corona virus
  pandemic
• The event is at normal times jointly organized by the Ministry of Statistics and
  Program Implementation (MoSPI) and Indian Statistical Institute
• As a part of the celebration of the day a video conference will be held
• Professor Bimal Roy, Chairman of National Statistical Commission, Dr Preeti
  Sudan, secretary of Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Dr Sanghamitra
  Bandhopadhyay, Director Indian Statistical Institute, International participants from
  UN Women, UN ESCAP, and other eminent people will be joining the video call in order
  to celebrate the day

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

• Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis is known as the father of Indian
  Statistics
• He was born on 29 June 1893. He was an Indian statistician and scientist. He was
  a pioneer in anthropometry studies and in pilot surveys
• He served as a member of the planning commission from 1956-61
• He gave two-sector Input-output model for the Second Five Year Plan which later
  became known as the Nehru-Mahalanobis model
• In December 1931, he established Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata
• He was honored with Padma Vibhushan in 1968, Weldon Memorial Prize from the
  University of Oxford in 1944, Fellow of the Royal Society, London in 1945

What is “World Statistics day”?

• It is an international day to celebrate statistics. Created by the United Nations
  Statistical Commission, it was first celebrated on 20 October 2010
• The day is celebrated every five years
• As of 2010, 103 countries celebrate a national Statistics Day, including 51 African
  countries that jointly celebrate African Statistics Day annually on 18 November
• The Royal Statistical Society in the UK also launched its get stats statistical literacy
  campaign on the same day at 20:10 (on 20.10.2010)
• The next World Statistics Day was to be celebrated on 20 October 2020

Pic courtesy : affairscloud.com