Amid row over NSSO jobs report, Piyush Goyal calls for embracing modern ways of data collection for accuracy

Mumbai: Amid the Opposition’s attack on the Centre over an NSSO report on the unemployment rate in the country, Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday called for embracing modern ways of data collection for ensuring accuracy. [caption id=“attachment_5954731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Piyush Goyal. Image courtesy: pib.nic.in[/caption] The finance minister also said that the charm of having a “fixed 9 am to 5 pm” job was waning across the world, and the youth today are looking to engage in new ways of working. A recent report by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) claimed the unemployment rate in the country was the highest in 45 years in 2017, providing ammunition to the Opposition to target the Narendra Modi government. “There was a time when a job in a government department or a company, like let’s say Tata group or PSU like NTPC, was the only thing that reflected a job or working class in this country. In the whole world, the situation has changed today,” Goyal said. India has now aspirational youth, who are looking to engage with new technology and ways of working, he said. In the “changing world”, jobs such as those related to artificial intelligence, 3D manufacturing and others are “determining the future of the mankind”, the minister said. These new working opportunities were making the youth “job creators than only job-seekers”, he added. “But having said that, it will be a combination of different ways by which working opportunities and employment, self-employment, self-empowerment will be created. And it is that new way of working that the NSSO is trying to capture,” he said. The minister observed that traditionally the NSSO conducted surveys and came out with a report every five years. “But we now realise that lot of old methods of data collection are outdated and we have to now connect with the modern age of data collection and data analytics.” To illustrate his point, Goyal gave the example of data collection in the Railways with the help of data loggers. This, he said, helped the Railways attain better performance vis-a-vis punctuality. “Every data should connect with the modern world and accuracy and better data analytics is very important,” he said.