NSS was established in 1950 by P.C. Mahalanobis to collect economic and social information from the whole country on the basis of random sampling.
About NSS
- Ministry: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
- Headed by a Director General: Responsible for conduct of large scale sample surveys on All India basis.
- Coverage:
- Household surveys on socio-economic subjects: E.g. surveys on population, birth, death, migration, fertility, family planning etc.
- Surveys on land holding, livestock and agriculture.
- Establishment surveys and enterprise surveys: E.g. non-agricultural enterprises in unorganized sector and collection of rural retail prices in rural areas.
- Village surveys: Formation on availability of infrastructure facilities in Indian villages.
- Four Divisions of NSS:
- Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD): Located at Kolkata, it is responsible for technical planning of surveys, formulation of concepts and definitions, sampling design etc.
- Field Operations Division (FOD): With its headquarters at Delhi/Faridabad is responsible for the collection of primary data.
- Data Processing Division (DPD): Headquarters at Kolkata is responsible for sample selection, software development, processing, validation and tabulation of data.
- Survey Coordination Division (SCD): Located at New Delhi, coordinates all the activities of different Divisions of NSS.
Major Surveys of NSS
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