The government has appointed 1991-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer Saurabh Garg as Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). In an order last week, the Department of Personnel and Training assigned additional charge of MoSPI Secretary to Garg, who currently holds the charge of Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment. The order, however, does not make a mention of the appointment to the position of Chief Statistician of India, which is usually held by the same official as the MoSPI Secretary. The order said the new appointment will be there till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier. The order for the new appointment of MoSPI Secretary came after the completion of the tenure of GP Samanta as MoSPI Secretary on April 15, 2024. Samanta, who was an adviser in the Reserve Bank of India’s Department of Statistics and Information Management, was appointed as Chief Statistician of India-cum-Secretary MoSPI for two years in April 2021. He was then given a one-year extension in April 2023. The Chief Statistician of India is an appointment in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. CSI, while holding the charge as Secretary, MoSPI, also heads the National Statistical Office and has the charge of Secretary of the National Statistical Commission. MoSPI undertakes several crucial surveys including the Annual Survey of Industries, Consumption Expenditure Survey Periodic Labour Force Survey along with compiling GDP and retail inflation data for the country.
