NSSO Full Form

NSSO stands for the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). In India it is a one-of-a-kind organisation that conducts surveys on socioeconomic, demographic, agricultural, and industrial topics, gathering data from households and businesses in villages and towns. It is the Government of India’s focus agency for the collecting of statistics data in areas that are critical for development planning. In 1950, the National Sample Survey Directorate was established in the Ministry of Finance. In 1957, the directorate was transferred to the cabinet secretariat, and in 1970, it became a part of the National Statistics Service of the Ministry of Planning’s Department of Statistics. It has been under the newly formed Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation since 1999 (MOSPI).

The NSS Directorate was established in 1950 to collect data on a number of socio-economic issues using sample surveys.

• The fieldwork was delegated to the Directorate of the National Security Service (NSS)
• The Indian Statistical Institute was charged with the work of finalising sampling designs, inquiry schedules, drafting instructions, training field employees, data processing, and report writing

The NSS Directorate was reorganised in March 1970, and all components of its activity were consolidated under a single government body known as NSSO, which was overseen by the Governing Council. The Governing Council of NSSO was dissolved and its work was taken over by NSC with the founding of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) on 01.06.2005. Statistical Analysis Sampling is a method for picking a few items (a sample) from a large set of data (a population) in order to draw conclusions about the full population.

The sampling techniques assist us in ensuring that samples are representative of the overall population.

Divisions of NSSO

The NSSO is divided into four divisions.

SDRD (Survey Design and Research Division): This division, based in Kolkata, is in charge of technical survey planning, development of ideas and definitions, sample design, inquiry schedule design, tabulation plan design, and survey analysis and presentation.

Field Operations Division (FOD): The Division is in charge of collecting primary data for NSSO surveys, with headquarters in Delhi/Faridabad and a network of six Zonal Offices, 49 Regional Offices, and 118 Sub-Regional Offices distributed across the country.

Data Processing Division (DPD): The Division, which has its headquarters in Kolkata and six smaller Data Processing Centers around the country, is in charge of sample selection, software development, data processing, validation, and tabulation.

Coordination & Publication Division (CPD): This division, based in New Delhi, coordinates the work of the NSSO’s many divisions. It also publishes the NSSO’s bi-annual journal, “Sarvekshana,” and hosts National Seminars on the findings of NSSO’s numerous socio-economic surveys.

Objectives of NSSO

NSSO’s goals are as follows-

• To offer statistical and other information to meet the needs of the state and national planning and policy
• To develop statistical methodologies for statistical data analysis, administrative issue solving and forecasting of future trends
• To collect and publish data that will be useful to people involved in the country’s economic activities
•  To provide and analyse information that is valuable to socioeconomic research workers

Functions of NSSO

NSSO’s functions include-

1. Conduct large-scale sample surveys on topics such as household consumer spending, employment and unemployment, health and medical services, and so on.
2. It determines which topics will be covered in each survey cycle.
3. As the FOD’s agricultural branch, the NSSO is in charge of aiding states by establishing appropriate survey procedures for generating reliable and timely crop production estimates.
4. Every year, it conducts an annual survey of industries (ASI).
5. Every year, the NSSO publishes reports on the state of agricultural production estimation in India.
6. The National Statistical Service of the United States is in charge of coordinating the results of state-run crop estimation surveys.

History of The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 

• In 1950, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was established to undertake large-scale sample surveys across India
• The NSSO’s employees are drawn from the Indian Statistical Service and the Subordinate Statistical Service (both of which are appointed by the UPSC) (appointed through the Staff Selection Commission)
• Survey Design and Research Division, Field Operations Division, Data Processing Division, and Co-ordination & Publication Division are the four divisions of the NSSO

The Director-General of the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) was assisted by two additional director generals, four deputy director generals, joint directors, and other official officials. Delhi was the headquarters of the CSO.

The Central Statistical Organization was in charge of coordinating the country’s statistical activities. CSO’s operations included the following-

• Accounting for National Income
• Annual Industry Surveys are conducted
• Follow-up surveys and the Economic Census
• Indexes of industrial production and consumer pricing indexes are compiled
• Statistics on Human Development
• Statistics on Gender
• Providing official statistics training
• Work on the Five-Year Plan

These two institutions, NSSO and CSO, are currently amalgamated to form a single National Statistical Office (NSO), which will likely be responsible for all of the responsibilities previously performed by CSSO and NSO.

Conclusion

The NSSO, which is part of the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation and is led by a Director General, is in charge of conducting large-scale sample surveys in a variety of disciplines across India. Data is mostly obtained through national household surveys on various socio-economic topics, the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), and other methods. Aside from these surveys, the NSSO collects data on rural and urban pricing and contributes to the enhancement of agricultural statistics by supervising State agencies’ area enumeration and crop estimation surveys.