Transforming BBS

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) earned enough infamy for inaccurate, biased, distorted and even fictitious data over the years. Based on those data provided for creating social and economic indices, there was hardly any chance of getting a real picture of various aspects of the national life including even the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The made-up outcomes of surveys and study led to "just what the doctor ordered". In this case, the doctor is the highest administration that has been after painting a rosy picture on all fronts of national life. More embarrassing was the fact that various government agencies and some private organisations including multilateral organisations came up with different sets of data to make the matter confusing and worse.

Clearly, this practice has improved over the past couple of years when the multilateral bodies insisted on accuracy of data so that they could help the country come out of the shady information and statistics. But still there is a long way to go before the nation knows about its status in terms of socio-economic performances, income, livelihoods and the gnawing poverty hampering equitable distribution of wealth. It is exactly against such a background, the government formed a taskforce in order to collate information scientifically and transform it into reliable data. The taskforce has suggested renaming the BBS as the Statistics Bangladesh (StatBD). Renaming something is not the all important task. What matters most is to bring about a paradigm shift in the statistical body's function. To that end, the organisation has to be given full autonomy independent of the administration that remains subservient to the ruling political party collaborating with each other in order to impose their decisions to conveniently present a false picture.

The most important suggestion made by the taskforce led by Dr Hossain Zillur, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) is the appointment of a chief statistician from the open market to head the government statistical body. Here the intention is clear: the number one position in the department has to be qualified enough to lead the operation of the StatBD. Under him or her, a dedicated team will put in their best of efforts in order to generate unalloyed data so vital for presenting an authentic picture of the country's social, economic health as well as other crucial facts of collective life. This means that the quality of the team must be equal to the task.

It is exactly at this point, the recommendation for formation of a council with the assignment of monitoring and overseeing the statistical body stands out. It is because the council will act as vanguard, leaving no room for sidestepping by the statistical body. There have been a lot of commissions including Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) but those were never allowed to function independently. Quite a number of such commissions turned into toothless tigers. One recent administrative intervention superseding the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP)'s directive issued to correct the misnomer of rice speaks volume for the undue exercise of power and curtailment of independence of the institution. The culture of developing institutions has time and again been stymied. The Consumer Rights Protection Council is there to ensure the DNCRP's accountability and transparency but it is the ministry concerned that calls the shot. Let there be no such undue interference once the proposed StatBD comes into being no matter what its official name may be.