Who founded the Indian Statistical Institute at Kolkata in 1931 and is called the father of Indian statistics?
- A.C. R. Rao
- B.P. C. Mahalanobis
- C.V. K. R. V. Rao
- D.D. R. Gadgil
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, P. C. Mahalanobis. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis founded the Indian Statistical Institute at Kolkata in 1931, set up the National Sample Survey in 1950, gave statistics the distance measure named after him, pioneered large scale sample surveys and pilot surveys, and prepared the plan frame of the Second Five Year Plan, which placed heavy industry at the centre of Indian planning. National Statistics Day is observed on his birth anniversary. Option A, C. R. Rao, was a distinguished statistician of the same institute, known for the Cramer-Rao bound and the Rao-Blackwell theorem, but he was not its founder. Option C, V. K. R. V. Rao, was an economist who founded the Delhi School of Economics and the Institute of Economic Growth. Option D, D. R. Gadgil, was an economist remembered for the Gadgil formula for the distribution of central assistance to the States.
Read the full article: National Statistical System of India: NSO and Surveys
Practice Questions
View allThe National Statistical Office was formed in 2019 by merging which two organisations?
- A.The Central Statistics Office and the National Sample Survey Office
- B.The Labour Bureau and the Central Statistics Office
- C.The Economic Adviser's Office and the National Sample Survey Office
- D.The Registrar General's Office and the Central Statistics Office
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In 2019 the government merged the two bodies into a single National Statistical Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, so that the preparation of the national accounts and the conduct of the large sample surveys would sit in one office.
Read the full explanation →National Statistics Day is observed in India on which date?
- A.29 February
- B.29 June
- C.20 October
- D.15 September
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National Statistics Day has been observed on 29 June every year since 2007 to mark the birth anniversary of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and to create awareness about the use of statistics in planning and policy; a theme is announced each year by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Read the full explanation →The Census of India is conducted by an office under which ministry?
- A.Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
- B.Ministry of Home Affairs
- C.Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- D.Ministry of Rural Development
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The census is taken by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, which works under the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the authority of the Census Act of 1948; the same office maintains the civil registration system of births and deaths.
Read the full explanation →The first synchronous census in India was conducted in which year?
- A.1872
- B.1881
- C.1891
- D.1901
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The census of 1881, taken under the Viceroy Lord Ripon and directed by W. C. Plowden, was the first to be carried out on one reference date across the whole country, and the unbroken decennial series of Indian censuses is counted from it.
Read the full explanation →The Periodic Labour Force Survey, which gives India's unemployment rate, is conducted by
- A.The Labour Bureau
- B.The National Statistical Office
- C.NITI Aayog
- D.The Reserve Bank of India
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The survey was launched in 2017 in place of the earlier five-yearly employment and unemployment rounds of the National Sample Survey, and it reports the labour force participation rate, the worker population ratio and the unemployment rate on the three activity statuses, namely usual status, current weekly status and current…
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