(14 August 2023) Government Data Roundup: Reports by MoSPI, CAG, Parliamentary Standing Committees Among Those Released Recently

In this 35^th edition of the fortnightly roundup of government data, we look at some of the reports and data released by MOSPI regarding Crop Statistics, MOSPI’s report of Twenty Point Programme, Standing Committee Reports and CAG Audit Reports.

Twenty Point Programme – Annual Report 2023 & Progress Report 2022-23

About the reports 

The Twenty Point Programme (TPP) is a package of government programs, with the aim of improving the quality of life in rural areas. The program includes a range of schemes related to poverty alleviation, employment generation, education, health, housing, and environmental protection. It was initially launched in 1975 and restructured in 1982, 1986, and 2006. The Programmes and Schemes under TPP-2006 are in harmony with the priorities contained in the National Common Minimum Programme, the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, and the SAARC Social Charter. It has 20 Points covering 65 items. These 65 items coincide with various programmes and schemes of the government which are administered by the Central Nodal Ministries/Departments and by and large are implemented through the State Governments/UT Administrations.  

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) monitors the performance of the TPP based on reports received from state governments and central nodal ministries. The management information system relating to Twenty Point developed by the Ministry consists of a monthly Progress Report (MPR) and yearly Review of the Programme, Pointwise, Item-wise, and State-wise.

Recently, MOSPI released its yearly review reports of TPP -2006. The Two reports are: 

• Annual Report 2022-23 of Twenty Point Programme
• Twenty Point Programme – 2006 Progress Report for the period April 2022 to March 2023

Highlights 

• 8.04 lakh self-help groups were promoted during 2022-23. The target for the year was overachieved by 110%.  Similarly, the number of SHGs provided Revolving Fund (RF) was also over-achieved at 130%. However, in the case of SHGs provided with Community Investment Fund, only 68% of the target for the year was achieved. 
• Under Food Security, 5.13 crore tonnes of food grains were distributed through Targeted Public Distribution System, this was 93% of the target. Around 4.9 crore tonnes of food grains were distributed through NFSA, which was also 93% of the target for the year. 
• 92% of the target for 2022-23 was achieved to provide Rural housing under PMAY(G). 
• In the case of Roads constructed, 29.7 thousand kilometres of roads were constructed under PMGSY. This is only 63% of the 47 thousand kilometres targeted in the year. 
• 15 lakh Million Units of electricity were supplied during 2022-23, which is just short of the intended target. 
• More than 1.34 crore job cards were provided under MGNREGA, of which the major share was in Tamil Nadu with more than 90 lakh cards. 
• 193 hectares of land were distributed to the landless, of which 93 hectares were in Uttar Pradesh. Bihar and Assam have distributed 43.4 and 42.9 hectares each. 

Review of Crop Statistics System in India – 2017-18 and 2019-20 

About Review of Crop Statistics System in India 

The agriculture sector has a vital role to play in Indian Economy. Hence there is a need for timely, reliable, and comprehensive statistics on area under crops and crop production. The field Operations Division (FOD) of the National Statistical Office (NSO) under MoSPI has the responsibility of guiding the States in developing suitable techniques for obtaining reliable and timely estimates of area and yield rates. It is also responsible to ensure the adoption of Uniform concepts, definitions, and procedures in the collection of crop area and yield-related statistics. It keeps a constant watch on the quality of Crop Statistics through the Scheme for Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS).  

The scheme ICS was taken up in the year 1973-74 with the objective of pointing out, through the Join efforts of NSO and State governments, the deficiencies in the system of crop statistics. Sample checks on area enumeration and area aggregation are carried out in a sample of about 10 thousand villages in each season and conduct around 32 thousand crop-cutting experiments in a year. 

Based on the findings of the ICS scheme, NSO (FDO) releases a publication – Review of Crop Statistics System in India. 

MOSPI has recently released the 43^rd & 45^th editions for the years 2017-18 and 2019-20 respectively. 

Review of Crop Statistics System in India (2017-18) 

• During 2017-18, the scheme covered 21 States and one Union Territory. 
• Few states accounting for 5% of the total reporting area of the country do not have a satisfactory system for collecting area statistics. 
• The average workload per Primary worker (Patwari) as per the ICS scheme during 2017-18 at all India levels was found to be 8 villages having 1300 survey numbers and 600 hectares of geographical area per village. 
• At the time of the inception of the Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS) Scheme, during the year 1973-74, a total of 1,73,097 experiments were planned under GCES. These experiments increased to 16,47,802 in number under GCES 2016-17, which formed the basis for sample selection for supervision of Crop Cutting Experiments under the ICS Scheme during the agricultural year 2017-18 
• The overall response for sample check on enumeration of the area was almost cent per cent for the Central Sample but ranged from 51% to 79% for State samples during 2017-18. 
• During 2017-18, timely completion of Girdawari was found only in 45% of sample villages during Early Kharif, 54% during Late Kharif, 46% during Rabi and 37% during the Summer of 2017-18. Instances of non-completion of Girdawari in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, & West Bengal were alarmingly high. 

Review of Crop Statistics System in India (2019-20) 

• During 2019-20, the scheme covered 20 States and 2 Union Territories 
• The system of land records is being followed in 17 States and 2 UTs in 86% of the All-India reporting area. The Non-Land Records States/Permanently Settled States or EARAS states (the area statistics are generated on the basis of sample surveys) account for about 9% of the reporting area. 
• 17,26,577 experiments were planned under GCES 2018-19 
• States like Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, U.P. and West Bengal reported responses below 51%. 
• Maps available with the Patwari workers were found usable in 88% of cases. In 64% of cases, the maps available with the Patwari worker were found to be last updated more than 20 years back. 

Consolidated Results of Crop Estimation Survey on Principal Crops 

About Consolidated Results of Crop Estimation Survey on Principal Crops

Estimates of yield rates of principal food and non-food crops are obtained on the basis of crop-cutting experiments conducted in the majority of States/UTs under the National Programme of Crop Estimation Surveys (CES). In this process, certain vital micro-level details relating to the conduct of crop-cutting experiments for the estimation of crop yield are also captured. 

The analysed results of CES are consolidated and brought out by NSSO (FOD) in their annual publication titled ‘Consolidated Results of Crop Estimation Survey on Principal Crops.’

MOSPI has released two editions i.e., 70^th and 71^st for the years 2017-18 and 2018-19. 

Consolidated Results of Crop Estimation Survey on Principal Crops (2017-18)

• 59 food and 17 non-food crops were covered under the programme of Crop Estimation Surveys (CES) during the year 2017-18. Five New Crops were added during 2017-18 
• Two-fold, as well as four-fold stratification, has been adopted for some important crops in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. 
• A total of 16,95,660 crop-cutting experiments were planned on different crops during 2017-18 as compared to 16,47,802 experiments in the previous year.
• Out of 14,08,781 experiments for food crops, only 64,785 (4.6%) experiments were planned on 19 fruits and vegetable crops covered in 13 States. The cropping pattern in India is gradually shifting towards Cash crops and Fruits & Vegetables 
• 18% of the experiments planned under CES during 2017-18 were supervised. This includes 2% of experiments which were supervised under the Scheme of Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS Scheme) implemented by NSSO. 

Consolidated Results of Crop Estimation Survey on Principal Crops (2018-19)

• 61 food and 17 non-food crops were covered under the programme of Crop Estimation Surveys (CES) during the year 2018-19. Two new Crops viz. Rajma Beans & Bitter Gourd in the states of Andhra Pradesh & Kerala respectively were added during 2018-19. 
• Two-fold, as well as four-fold stratification, has been adopted for some important crops in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, however, a three-fold classification has been adopted for Paddy and Wheat. 
• A total of 17,26,577 crop-cutting experiments were planned on different crops during 2018-19 as compared to 16,95,660 experiments in the previous year. The net increase of 30,917 experiments in the sample size is due to an increase of 61,867 experiments under food crops and a decrease of 30,950 experiments under non-food crops. 
• Out of 14,70,648 experiments for food crops, only 64,852 (4%) experiments were planned on 18 Fruits and Vegetable crops covered in 13 States. 

Standing Committee Reports 

Various Standing Committee Reports were submitted during the Monsoon Session of 2023 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. 

Reports include Ecosystem of Start-ups to benefit India, Development of Trade and Industries in North-eastern Region, 353^rd report on Issue of Fixing of Airfares, Judicial processes and their Reform, Thirty Second Report of the Committee on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Forty-seventh Report of the Committee on the subject ‘Review of the functioning of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), The Forty-Eighth Report of the Committee on “Citizens’ Data Security And Privacy, etc. Details of these reports can be read in our Parliament reviews here and here 

A few of the other Standing Committee Reports include: 

• Review of Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK)
• Action Taken by the Government on the Recommendations/ Observations contained in the Three Hundred Thirty-Fifth Report on Reforms in the Education of Performing and Fine Arts
• Construction of Road-Over Bridges (ROBs), Road-Under-Bridges (RUBs), Service Roads and Review of Road Survey Guidelines etc.

Audit Reports by CAG 

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has released various Audit reports over the last fortnight. A few of these reports are: 

• Performance Audit on AB-PMJAY
• Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN
• Performance Audit on “Swadesh Darshan Scheme”
• Compliance Audit on “Departmental Trading Units including Supply Chain Management in Khadi and Village Industries Commission
• Performance Audit on “Role of Tea Board of India in Development of Tea in India”
• Compliance Audit on Finance and Communication
• Performance Audit of National Social Assistance Programme
• IT Audit of Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICES) 

Featured Image: Government Data Roundup