JNU attack: Professor resigns from govt panel

Well-known Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor C P Chandrasekhar has resigned from the government-appointed Standing Committee on Statistics (SCES) following the attack by "masked goons" in the varsity.

The panel was constituted last month under the chairmanship of former chief statistician Pranob Sen to "review the extant framework relating to data sources, indicators, concepts or definitions and other issues" of the economic data-sets and scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

Chandrasekhar, who teaches at JNU's Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, wrote emails to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) and the members of the committee on Monday night that he would not be attending the meeting because of the situation in JNU, "where I stay".

"Further, I feel that under the current conditions, this committee is unlikely to be able to restore the credibility of the statistical system, which has been undermined in the recent past," Chandrasekhar, whose expertise is in applied macro-economics and development economics with a focus on industry and finance, wrote.

He said he appreciates the sustained efforts of a large number of colleagues within the statistical system, whom he had "greatly valued working with in the past, to build a robust and credible statistical base".

"It is unfortunate that political pressures have reduced their autonomy now and efforts to consolidate a well-designed system are being subverted. In these circumstances, I will not be able to serve on this committee," he wrote, amid the government facing criticism over political interferences. (ENDS)

The government had faced flak over the revision of the gross domestic product (GDP) numbers and withholding of employment data by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The government had also not released the Consumer Expenditure Survey results of 2017-18, citing data quality issues.