States will play a pivotal role in creating a robust statistical system, Saurabh Garg, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), said at the 28th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (CoCSSO) on August 12.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the ministry, Garg pointed to “the greater need of developing linkages and shared areas of interest for more robust National Statistical System with pivotal role to be played by states.”

He pointed that the ministry was working towards fast-tracking PLFS releases and conduct next Economic Census.

RL Karandikar, chairman, National Statistical Commission also called for greater coordination between the two to cater to increasing demand for data by stakeholders, calling for ease of access.

The two-day conference is to set the tone for upcoming surveys and development of administrative datasets.

One of the pain points that are being addressed is the need for district level statistics for a lot of primary economic indicators.

The government released Women and Men in India 2023 report at the conference.

The report notes a drastic reduction in maternal mortality over the last two decades.

The maternal mortality ratio has declined to 97 per lakh liver births in 2018-20 compared with 254 per lakh in 2004-06.

It also pointed to improvements in labour force participation, with female labour force participation rate rising to 37 percent in 2022-23 from 23.3 percent in 2017-18.