The National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India organised an All India Workshop of Trainers (AIWOT) for the NSS 80th Round of its Socio-Economic Survey at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi during 10th & 11th December 2024. The subjects under coverage in this Round are Survey on Household Social Consumption: Health and Comprehensive Modular Survey on Telecom (CMS-T). The NSO and State Directorates of Economics & Statistics (DESs) will carry out the survey on health jointly for a period of one year starting from 1st January 2025. CMS-T will be conducted by the NSO during January-March, 2025.

Shri. Kal Singh, Director General, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India inaugurated the Workshop on 10th December, 2024. He highlighted the importance of the health survey data in the compilation of National Health Accounts in his inaugural address.

Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation chaired the valedictory session. In his address, he emphasized the pivotal role of surveys in evidence-based policy making. Highlighting the need for high-quality and timely data, he urged the participants to ensure rigorous standards in data collection and processing. He also stressed the importance of proactive interaction with State authorities, not only to facilitate the seamless implementation of surveys but also to address other critical issues under the purview of the Ministry.

Ms. Geeta Singh Rathore, Director General (NSS), other senior officers of National Statistics Office including officers from all the regional offices of Field Operations Division (FOD), and representatives of Central Ministries/Departments concerned and State Directorates of Economics & Statistics participated in the Workshop. The officers from the field offices and States who attended the workshop will further impart training to the field officials before the launch of the survey from 1st January 2025.

The survey on health aims to generate basic quantitative information on the health sector. Primarily, indicators on morbidity, hospitalization rates, utilization of both public and private health care institutions, proportion of institutional childbirth etc. will be attempted to be derived from this survey data with special emphasis on ‘out of pocket expense’ as well as on access to government financed health insurance programmes.

The Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) on Telecom will provide information on telecom-related indicators and ICT skills. The collected data will also be used for reporting of global indices by line Ministries/ Departments.

The survey will cover the whole of the Indian Union except the villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which are difficult to access.

Health survey data collection to inform policy, emphasizing out of pocket costs and government insurance access nationwide. The NSS 80th Round implements a year long household health survey, jointly conducted by the National Statistics Office and State Directorates of Economics & Statistics, and a separate CMS T windowled by the National Statistics Office. The programme stresses rigorous data collection standards, trainer cascades to field officials, and coordination with State authorities. The health survey targets indicators such as morbidity, hospitalization, health care utilization, institutional childbirth and specifically measures out of pocket expense and access to government health insurance; CMS T will provide telecom and ICT skills metrics for global reporting.