Panchayats as geographical units for the aggregation, estimation, and publication of official statistics

In our recent book, A New Statistical Domain in India: An Enquiry Into Village Panchayat Databases, Jun-ichi Okabe and I examine the statistical domain that emerged after the 73^rd Amendment Act to the Indian Constitution devolved powers and responsibilities to local bodies or panchayats in rural areas. The Amendment fundamentally changed the paradigm of development in rural India by transferring powers and responsibilities from bureaucratic state administration to elected local institutions of self-government.

Foundational changes in development administration require foundational changes in the statistical system that informs it. In the book we try to explore the statistical domain that is relevant to the level of government closest to the people – the village panchayat.

The book is a detailed examination of existing databases, supported by seven years of fieldwork in two village panchayats, Warwat Khanderao in Maharashtra and Raina in West Bengal.

The basic statistical need of the panchayati raj administration is data on its jurisdiction. There are no official statistics at present from which data can be easily obtained at geographical units that coincide with the administrative boundaries of the panchayati raj institutions (PRI) – the gram (village) panchayat and the intermediate panchayat (or panchayat samiti).

The problem of obtaining such statistics is two-fold: (a) the granularity of current official statistics, that is, the level at which disaggregated data are available, and (b) the differences in the geographical boundaries of the PRIs and other departmental administration.

Disaggregation as a feature of current statistics

Depending on the method of data collection, aggregation, and estimation, the lowest geographical unit at which statistical estimates of different social, economic and demographic parameters are available in India varies. Much of official data, particularly data based on sample surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), are estimated at the State level. NSSO household data also allow for estimation at agro-climatic regions below the State (and more recently, at the district level), but are no use for panchayat administration.

Official statistics that are obtained through aggregation of administrative records are better equipped to provide estimates at geographical units below the State. Data from administrative records are collected by the respective government ministries and departments, but are usually aggregated at the level of districts, rarely at units below it. Agricultural statistics and health statistics are examples of such types of data.

There are only few sources of village and town level statistics. The most widely used source for village-level statistics is the Census of India. Although Census of India provides information on a range of demographic and social variables at the level of village, Census data cannot be accessed at the unit level because of the confidentiality of the data collected. The other census-type survey conducted in India is the Economic Census, which enumerates all economic establishments (other than those involved in crop production and plantations). However, data from the Economic Census are not easily accessible. In our surveys we found that though village panchayats had access to Census of India data, they were unaware of the Economic Census.

Hence, in brief, the official statistics in India use the State, district and occasionally village as the units at which data are aggregated, estimated, and published. While village-level statistics can be useful for PRIs, statistics aggregated at State and district level are of little immediate use to them.

Alternative ways to provide village panchayats with disaggregated data

The Government of India may address the problem in three ways. First, the government may redesign existing sample surveys. The sample size may be increased and more complex sample estimation procedures may be used to arrive at estimates at lower geographical units. However, it is near impossible to arrive at village level estimates through sample surveys.

Secondly, the government may conduct more census-type surveys. However, census surveys are time- and resource-intensive.

Thirdly, the government may use existing administrative records more intensively and extensively to generate official statistics. This would require uniform methods of record-keeping across States. There are important moves in this direction already, such as use of the simplified formats and the digitisation of panchayat accounts, and the use of uniform records at Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres (and the digitisation of such records) and primary health centres.

The first two approaches suggested are top-down or centralised approaches and the third is a bottom-up or decentralised approach to deal with the problem.

Our next blog draws on our study of two villages to discuss the third approach in detail, and to explore how a new statistical system that caters to the needs of panchayati raj administration, particularly at the gram panchayat level, can be made possible.

A related problem – differentiating the village and the gram panchayat

Can a statistical system with adequate disaggregated data serve the panchayat as well as other departmental administration? The village forms the lowest administrative unit in India. A village in India generally refers to the revenue village, its boundaries demarcated in the cadastral maps and land revenue records of the government. The definitions of the village used in the Census of India and other official statistics are based on the revenue village.

The lowest tier of the panchayat system is the village (or gram) panchayat. However, the geographical boundaries of a gram panchayat are not always the same as those of the revenue village. In West Bengal, a gram panchayat is a cluster of villages. In other States, such as Maharashtra, a village coincides roughly with a revenue village. As a consequence of the potential differences between the boundaries of village and a village panchayat, it can be difficult to produce panchayat-level statistics, even where village-level official statistics are available, and vice-versa.