After PM lament, Stats Bill 2007 to help spruce up data

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New Delhi, Sep 10: Within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh underlining the need to improve the government’s primary data collection, the Cabinet is expected to take up the Collection of Statistics Bill, 2007 at its meeting scheduled for Thursday. Under the proposed law, data would be acquired not just from industrial and commercial establishments, but also individuals and households.

The new legislation will have a provision for simple imprisonment as per the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to punish those who wilfully provided false information to the government or any public sector authority. At the same time, any employee working under the Act who fails to protect the secrecy of the collected data would also be liable for imprisonment.

This is in line with the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing committee on finance that reviewed the Bill after it was introduced in the Rajya Sabha last year. The Parlaimentary panel was prompted to suggest the imprisonment measure on the basis of pleas made by the Steel ministry and other government departments.

The steel ministry had pointed to the large scale under-reporting by the steel producers for various reasons including tax evasion, and argued that the fine imposed on industrial units for incorrect data was a ‘grossly ineffective’ deterrent. Even the smallest of steel producers would prefer to pay the paltry fine rather than part with data.

The provision of imprisonment should be built in the new Bill on the lines of IPC, which imprisons the person withholding data or providing false information, the ministry had urged the House panel. The panel also said that the existing provision of mere monetary penalty of Rs 1,000 for individuals and Rs 5,000 for companies was too meagre to deter anyone from making false statements. The penalty is proposed to be raised to Rs 5,000 for individuals and Rs 10,000 for companies.