Survey imperative for planning, policy formulation
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 24: Even several months after the Government constituted committees at various levels to facilitate the massive Economic Census exercise, the process has not yet taken off, raising serious concerns over delays in compiling critical data required for planning and policy formulation. Further, officers of several concerned departments are ignorant about the reasons behind the impediment.
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The Government, vide Order No. 201-JK(GAD) dated February 11, 2025, constituted the Union Territory Level Coordination Committee, Regional Level Coordination Committees for Kashmir and Jammu and District Level Coordination Committees for the smooth conduct of the 8th Economic Census in Jammu and Kashmir.
The main objectives of an Economic Census are to prepare a comprehensive frame of all economic establishments and provide detailed data on their characteristics to serve as a benchmark for planning and policymaking. It also serves as a sampling frame for future surveys and offers insights into the geographical spread and structure of economic activities.
However, the exercise has still not started and officers of several concerned departments are completely unaware of the reasons behind the delay, official sources told EXCELSIOR. They added, “while some officers of J&K Government departments are of the stand that the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has to take initiative in this regard, the officers of the Central Government organization clearly state that the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department of the J&K Government is supposed to get the exercise carried out through the Directorate of Economics and Statistics”.
“The delay is notwithstanding the fact that the Economic Census provides a complete count of all entrepreneurial units, offering essential data for economic planning and development, especially for the informal sector. It helps create a comprehensive statistical business register and provides detailed information on variables like employment, ownership and economic activity, which is critical for informed policymaking, targeted development strategies and subsequent more detailed surveys”, sources said.
The UT Level Coordination Committee was constituted to monitor preparedness and progress, resolve administrative and technical issues faced in the conduct of the Economic Census, review deployment of adequate numbers of enumerators and supervisors, review progress of field work on a monthly basis and sensitize business associations and citizens in general for cooperation.
Likewise, the Regional Level Coordination Committees were supposed to ensure seamless communication between various stakeholders, develop a training framework, implement an awareness plan for sensitization, develop a data analytics framework and review and monitor operational activities and progress of field work on a monthly basis.
The District Level Coordination Committees were supposed to provide feedback to the Union Territory Level Coordination Committee, sensitize local law and order agencies and local Government functionaries at Panchayat/Ward level for cooperation in the smooth conduct of the Economic Census, and facilitate providing administrative unit maps of wards/villages for fieldwork.
Moreover, the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department was made the Nodal Department with directions to ensure overall coordination.
“Although the administrative groundwork, such as formulation of committees and appointment of nodal officers, was completed well in time, the actual field operation has not begun. The committees were tasked with coordinating manpower, logistics and training for the enumeration of all economic establishments, but the absence of further directives and operational timelines has left the exercise in limbo,” sources said.
“Everything is ready at the administrative level, but no communication has been issued regarding the start of the survey,” an official said while wishing anonymity, adding, “continued delay may push the timeline further and impact the credibility of the overall exercise. There is a need for issuance of operational guidelines so that the enumeration work can finally begin.”
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