NSSO hiring 1,000 temporary staff

There is nearly a 30 per cent shortage for field investigators in the NSSO as the high educational qualifications,modest pay and few promotions do not attract enough talent, said a senior official,adding that the FOD has a staff strength of 4,000.

Consequently,the NSSO branches in 27 states have invited applications from agencies to provide field investigators on a contract basis for a two year period ending December 2014.

Candidates with a bachelors degree in statistics,economics,mathematics or commerce would be eligible to work as field investigators.

The largest vacancy for field investigators is in Maharashtra at 163,followed by Andhra Pradesh 114 and Gujarat 81. See chart

We tend to use contract based field investigators whenever there is a shortage. But the contract staff is trained and brought at par with regular staff to ensure that the quality of data does not get affected, said a senior official from the statistics ministry.

But experts contend that the use of contract staff often impacts the quality of the surveys as they do not have the same understanding of grass root issues as regular enumerators of the NSSO.

We need to strengthen the statistical system not through sub-contracting for field level investigators but by appointing more regular workers as the quality of data from the NSSO is of crucial importance to the national plan, said Amitabh Kundu,dean of the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University and a member of the National Statistical Commission.

The Reserve Bank of India has also time and again raised concerns over the volatile nature of macro economic data which hinders decisions on monetary policy.

RBI governor D Subbarao has earlier pointed to the sharp volatility in the numbers for the index of industrial production as well as revisions in inflation data and GDP calculations.

The statistics ministry has,however,been trying to get more regular staff. We are trying to hold additional examinations for the Subordinate Statistical Service. The Staff Selection Commission has already selected 600 candidates for the service this year of which we expect 400 to join, the official said.