Hyderabad: The National Statistics Office (NSO), Hyderabad has started a four-day regional training camp at CR Rao Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, Gachibowli under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.
This program is to prepare its officers and field staff for the 80th round of NSS survey. Scheduled to run from January to December 2025, the nationwide survey will focus on health, specifically out-of-pocket spending as well as access to government-funded health insurance programs.
It will also include a comprehensive module on telecom and ICT skills to address the needs of sectors such as Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The Regional Training Camp was inaugurated by Dr. Yugandhar, Chief Executive Officer of CR Rao Institute.
In his address, Dr. Yugandhar said that data plays an important role in policy formulation and such training initiatives will provide the officers with the necessary skills to implement important surveys.
N Ajith Kumar, Deputy Director General, NSO Regional Office, elaborated on the importance of the survey in providing accurate data to address socio-economic challenges. He said that proper and rigorous data collection is necessary to ensure effective policy making in the health and telecommunication sectors.
The event brought together senior officials along with 150 district enumerators from Telangana including Deputy Director Siva Parvathy Reddy, Assistant Director Jayaram and KV Swamy. These enumerators, who are focused on the data collection process, received specialized training in survey methods and protocols. Members of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Government of Telangana were also present.
The 80th round of NSS survey is expected to provide a comprehensive understanding of health and telecom trends across the country and provide essential inputs for evidence-based policy making. Training camps like these strengthen the capacity of NSO officers and field teams to ensure reliable, high-quality data collection.