SUPPORT FOR STATISTICAL STRENGTHENING PROJECT (SSSP)

The Support for Statistical Strengthening Project (SSS), earlier called as India Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP) for strengthening the Statistical system in the country was launched as a follow up measure of the recommendations of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) chaired by Dr. C. Rangarajan. This project is a Central Sector Scheme whereby the Government of India shall be giving grants to State Governments for carrying out the necessary reforms and strengthening of the State Statistical System, which would include not only the Directorate of Economics and Statistics but also the line departments which are involved in the process of statistical data collection.

The main vision of the project is to equip the State Statistical System for timely dissemination of adequate, reliable and credible statistics on economic, social and environmental aspects at all the required levels of disaggregation within its decentralized structure so as to enable objective decision making within and outside the Government, stimulate research and promote informed debate on all aspects affecting the life of people.

Kerala State Strategic Statistical Plan (KLSSSP)

The Government of India has launched India Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP) to provide grants for State Governments to carry out necessary reforms and strengthening the State Statistical System comprising DES and line departments. The project is primarily aimed at supporting the implementation of the vision of the Indian Statistical System to provide within its decentralized structure; reliable, timely and credible economic and social statistics to assist decision making within and outside the Government, stimulate research and promote informed debate relating to conditions affecting people’s life. The project also aims to facilitate the process of enhancing the role of the State DESs to provide for effective coordination of statistical activities within the States as also to assist the line Departments and data producing agencies to improve the quality and coverage of data being collected and promote their use at the state, district and local levels of administration.

The Department has been declared as the nodal agency for all statistical matters in the State including inter-alia co-ordination of statistical activities of various line Departments vide G.O. (P) No: 16/9/Plg dated 23rd April, 2009. This has been done with the objective of generating quality data in different policy areas for objective planning and policy formulation. As per the guidelines of ISSP, the Government of Kerala has prepared the Kerala State Strategic Statistical Plan (KLSSSP), which lays out the road map to strengthen the statistical capacity across the State Statistical System. Government of India have approved the KSSSP project report and the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Government of India and State Government on 16/3/2012. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Govt. of India has released the 1st installment of Rs 937.122 Lakh during the year 2011-12 and the amount has also been revalidated for the year 2012-13 and the implementation of various activities in the MoU starts during the year 2012-13.

                Even though the project was started during the year 2011-12, for a period of more than 3 years there was no central release for the implementation of the project. Due to this reason, the implementation could not hitherto acquire the desired pace and momentum. The implementing agency-the Department of Economics & Statistics (DES) –was pondering over as to what could be done in order to implement the project in an effective manner without sacrificing its main objectives. It was in this context that the MOS&PI, requested the State Government to revisit the current MoU between the State and Central Governments and make a revision of the same for the successful implementation of KLSSSP.

                As per the letter No. I-12012/12/2013-ISSP dated 17/12/2014, GOI informed that the revised allocation from GOI in respect of KLSSSP is Rs.14.9925 Crore as against the earlier allocation of Rs.49.3718 crore. The MOS & PI had directed to revise the MoU on the basis of the revised allocation and get approval by the SHLSC. The SHLSC approved the revised MoU on 13/02/2015, after that the MoU signed between GOI and GOK on 19/08/2015. As per the revised MoU, the total allocation of the project is Rs.1624.90 Lakhs out of which Rs.1499.25 Lakhs as GOI share and Rs.125.65 Lakhs as State share. The activities are classified as 12 major activities in the revised MoU.

Out of the total allocation, an amount of ` 937.122 Lakhs was released during March 2012 and the balance amount was released by GOI through PFMS on 27/03/2017 & 22/02/2018. As per the request, MOS & PI has given permission to go ahead with the implementation of all activities in full tempo and as far as possible try to complete all the ongoing activities before 31^st March 2019.

 

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