Independence of national statistical body

Turned into a subservient organisation---one that was pliant to accommodate politically motivated data manipulation, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) earned quite an infamy. Political or dictatorial governments resorted to such ploys in order to present a rosy picture of the vital national sectors under their rules, little aware that concocted data took a heavy toll on planning with the critical issues of national life concerning a broad spectrum of human development. So, the need for an independent statistical organisation cannot be overemphasised. A task force formed by the government to this end has come up with a set of recommendations worth considering. It has suggested a new name, Statistics Bangladesh (StatBD) for the BBS. But a change in the name is less important than a radical transformation of the organisation into an independent statutory body.

The task force appears to have diagnosed the ailments the BBS suffers from and prescribed how those endemic problems can be overcome. It is in favour of limiting the role of the Statistical and Information Division (SID) to just secretarial and policy coordination. Instead, an apex body to be named as Trust and Transparency Commission (TTCS) will be in charge of the oversight of the statistical body or the national statistical organisation (NSO) headed by a chief statistician (CS). That the TTCS headed by the planning adviser/minister will act as the selection committee for the CS, review and approve annual reports, expenditure audits and budgets looks fine. Additionally, overseeing recruitment rules and policy may enforce transparency but the change in the organogram with the involvement of finance adviser/minister, chair of the pareliamentary standing committee on the planning ministry, four independent experts and the CS as member-secretary and SID secretary as an ex-officio member may complicate matters. The legacy of bureaucratic foot-dragging cannot be ruled out.

Even the recipe for carrying out 12 core surveys such as the population census, agriculture census, economic census, national income accounting etc., with funds allocated in the national budget avoiding dependence on donors' aid may be contentious because of domestic fund constraint. But if the suggestion could be implemented, it would be good for the country's economic sovereignty to some degree. If a policy on open data and their release, as prescribed by the task force, could be introduced maintaining a public calendar, it would have streamlined the exercise by way of consolidating the NSO's independence. But to do this, first the financial independence of the organisation has to be ensured.

Freedom or independence guaranteed on charters often remains illusive because of fund constraints and bureaucratic go-slow policies. The suggestion for the planning ministry to play the pivotal role here with the finance ministry's involvement has the potential to overcome the shortage of fund if the bureaucratic tangle does not stand in the way. However, no mantra of enforcing check and balance sought to be a solution to the problems is entertained if the culture of delay ---deliberate or otherwise ---continues to haunt. There is, however, no dispute about the independent space that the national statistical organisation needs to deliver authentic data. Manipulation of facts or ground reality can end up in disastrous results. It is expected that the task force's report would serve as a keynote document for bringing about the changes in the functioning of the NSO.