National Statistics Day 2023: History, significance and this year’s theme

National Statistics Day, June 29, is a celebration of life and work of Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.

National Statistics Day is celebrated every year on June 29 in recognition of contributions made by Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics and economic planning.

Prof PC Mahalanobis's Birthday is celebrated as National Statistics Day every year.(Illustration: Biswajit Debnath)

Often referred to as the 'father of Indian statistics', Professor Mahalanobis is best known for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure used to find the distance between a point and a distribution.

He was one of the members of the first Planning Commission of India and founded the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

Prof. Mahalanobis was born on this date in 1893.

The theme of National Statistics Day, 2023 is “Alignment of State Indicator Framework with National Indicator Framework for Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals”.

“The objective of this Day is to create public awareness, especially in the younger generation for drawing inspiration from Professor (late) Mahalanobis about the role and importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation,” Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation said in a press release regarding celebrations of the event this year.

“...the main event of Statistics Day, 2023 is being organized at Scope Convention Centre, Scope Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. The Chief Guest of the event is Rao Inderjit Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Ministry of Planning and Minister of State for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Prof. Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar, Chairman, National Statistical Commission (NSC); Dr. G. P. Samanta, Chief Statistician of India & Secretary, MoSPI; and other dignitaries are also scheduled to address the participants on the occasion,” it added.