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National Sample Survey Organisation of India

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The National Sample Survey (NSS) was setup in 1950 for conducting large scale sample surveys to meet the data needs of the country for the estimation of national income and other aggregates. It was reorganized in 1970 by bringing together all aspects of survey work under a single agency, known as the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) under the overall technical guidance of Governing Council headed by a non-official and experts in the field as Members. The director general and chief exectuve officer of the NSSO is responsible for supervising the activities of the organisatioin. It has four divisions viz.,

1. Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD)
2. Field Operations Division (FOD)
3. Data Processing Division (DPD) and
4. Coordination and Publication Davison (CPD)

The SDRD has its headquarters at Kolkata. FOD has its headquarter at Delhi with a network of six Zonal Offices located at Bangalore, Gowahati, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Nagpur, 48 Regional Offices and 117 Sub-Regional Offices spread throughout the country. The DPD with its headquarters at Kolkata functions through the Data Processing Centres located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Giridih, Kolkata and Nagpur. The CPD located at Delhi functions as the Secretariat of DG & CEO, NSSO.

The subject coverage of the socio-economic surveys confirms to a well-defined cycle of surveys extending over a period of 10 years. Surveys on Consumer Expenditure, Employment and Unemployment, Social Consumption (Health, Education, etc), Manufacturing Enterprises and Service Sector enterprises in the unorganized sector are covered once in five years, while subjects like Land and Livestock Holdings, Debt and Investment are covered once 10 years.

Thus, out of a cycle of 10 years, pre-assigned subjects are allocated for nine years while one year is kept for an open round to cover special topics of current interest to meet the demand of the data users. The data on consumer Expenditure and Employment and Unemployment are also collected in every round from a thin sample along with the main subject of enquiry.

The 58th round of NSS (July-December 2002) survey was on Disability, Housing Condition, Village Facilities and Urban Slums besides Household Consumer Expenditure along iwht some key characteristics of Employment-Unemployment. All six reports of this round have been brought out and are available to the public.

The NSS 59th round survey (January-December 2003) was on Land and Livestock Holdings, Debt and Investment and Household Consumer Expenditure along with some key characteristics of Employment-Unemployment. A situation assessment survey (SAS) of farmers was also conducted along with the 59 round on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The NSS 60 round survey (January-June 2004) was on Morbidity and Health care besides Employment-Unemployment and Household Consumer Expenditure. The seventh quinquennial survey on Consumer Expenditure, Employment and Unemployment has been conducted during its NSS 61 round (July 2004 to June 2005).

The planning commission uses consumers expenditure data collected through quinquennial survey for estimating the ‘Incidence of Poverty’. The 62 round of NSS (July 2005-June2006) will be devoted to survey on “Unorganised Manufacturing” apart from this, usual annual survey on Household Consumer Expenditure and Employment-Unemployment shall also be carried out.

The results of NSSO surveys are brought out in the form of NSS reports which are available for sale. NSS reports are also available on the website of the Ministry http://www.mospi.nic.in free of cost. Summary of the results of survey are also published in Sarvekshana, a biannual technical journal of the NSSO. Validated unit level data relating to various surveys of the NSSO are available on CD-ROM for sale at nominal price.

The National Sample Survey Organisation undertakes the fieldwork of annual survey of industries under statutory provisions of the collection of statistics act, 1953 (central rules, 1959) covering all factories registered under section 2 m (i) and 2 m (ii) of the factories act, 1948, and bidi and cigar units registered under the Bidi and Cigar Workers (conditions of employment) act, 1996.

The National Sample Survey Organisation also provides technical guidance to states in the field of agricultural statistics for conducting crop estimation surveys and keeps a continuous watch on the quality of crop statistics through the Improvement of crop statistics scheme.

The National Sample Survey Organisation regularly collects rural retail prices on monthly basis from shops/outlets in selected markets located in a sample of 603 villages and 59 urban centres for compilation of Consumer Price Index numbers.

The National Sample Survey Organisation conducts Urban Frame Survey (UFS) for providing sampling frame of first stage units in the urban sector for its surveys. It is carried out in a cycle of five years, thereby providing updated frame twice in a span of 10 years.

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Tags: bidi, cigar, employement, Field Operations DivisionData Processing Division, National Sample Survey Organisation, Survey Design and Research Division