New Delhi [India], August 14 (ANI): The National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday convened the third sensitization-cum-review meeting with Statistical Advisers from various ministries and departments, placing a sharp focus on safeguarding personal data, strengthening evidence-based policymaking, and aligning India's statistical systems with international benchmarks.

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), underlined the importance of privacy in an era of growing data use. 'We all respect our own privacy. Post Supreme Court judgement, we are all well aware privacy is a fundamental right. We need to be careful that individual privacy remains,' he said.

Explaining the challenge, he noted that datasets such as electricity bills, medical records, or financial information often carry a personal dimension. 'We have to balance the huge utility of actually using this data, analyzing the data, building models on it, preserving privacy and ensuring that individuals are not affected,' Krishnan added.

He further stressed on the idea to use technology as effectively as possible, as well as, decentralize the risks and make sure that databases stay with the relevant agency and entity; anonymization mechanisms and decentralized databases are connected via secure APIs.

Highlighting the role of data in governance, B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, called for a shift towards more scientific decision-making.

'The government has to move towards data-based decision making, evidence-based policy making, and you are the providers of evidence. You need to start moving in these directions, improving your skills,' he urged.

V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser, outlined the steps being taken to modernize statistical practices. He noted that the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has partnered with several international organizations, including the United Nations, to align India's statistical system with global standards.

'I am very happy to note that India has been elected a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission for the period of 2024 to 2027, after a gap of almost two decades,' he said. Adding to this, Nageswaran stated that the Indian national statistical system can play a very key role in showcasing itself across the globe by leveraging its own rich statistical heritage, together with the adoption of innovative and modern technologies.

He also emphasized the need for inter-ministerial cooperation and for statistical advisers to connect their datasets with non-statistical information. 'The data we generate should be timely, and second, it has to be credible,' he said. (ANI)