The National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) organizes National Seminars at regular intervals following the release of survey reports based on data collected in the National Sample Surveys. The seminar serves as an academic platform where experts, researchers, academia, and government officials from various institutions present and discuss research papers based on the survey findings. So far, seventeen (17) National Seminars have been organized in reputed institutes and universities across the country.

Continuing this tradition, the 18^th National Seminar on survey results of  NSS 78^th  Round: Multiple indicator Survey, 79^th Round: Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey (CAMS) and Survey on Ayush, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), and Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is being organized by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India at Goa University, Panaji, Goa, on the 8^th and 9^th  of April 2025.

The seminar will be inaugurated by Director General (NSS) and the Vice-Chancellor of Goa University will grace the occasion. Distinguished members of various expert Committees under whose guidance the survey instruments were finalised will also honour the event with their presence and participation in the discussions.

The event will host 225 participants, including researchers, academicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The event will also be attended by the experts from international organizations, experts from private survey agencies and professors/scholars from renowned institutions.

For the 18^th National Seminar around 40 research papers were received from Assistant Professors, Research scholars & students of various universities/colleges of across India, in-service and retired officers of Indian Statistical Service, other Government officers of different State /Central Govt. departments, researchers, data users etc.. Following a thorough evaluation by the Paper Selection Committee, 14 papers have been shortlisted for presentation. The seminar will comprise five technical sessions, during which these selected papers will be presented. The presentations will be based on survey findings related to the aforementioned key thematic areas of the seminar.

The seminar will present research papers which broadly cover emerging topics of current importance, including ICT skills inequality, financial inclusion, the impact of health insurance, digital competency among youth, and insights into the platform economy, particularly app-based cab services and delivery services, all based on NSS survey data. Topics related to consumption patterns across household types, and AYUSH utilization, productivity in informal economies related to the unincorporated sector and industries will also be covered.

The papers titled “Predicting an NSS Indicator Value: A Machine Learning Approach”, “A neural network approach to identify features associated with multidimensional poverty in rural India”, utilise advanced computational techniques to analyze large datasets, uncover patterns, and make predictions or classifications across various fields.

Apart from the research papers, a session on presentations by the Stakeholder Ministries/Private survey agencies on utility of National Sample Survey data is also included in the proceedings of the seminar. The seminar aims to facilitate informed discussions, policy recommendations, and data-driven insights on these critical topics, contributing to evidence-based policymaking and governance.

Participants are encouraged to join this significant event through open registration. The registration link is provided below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSea7ooVF5HGOs0__FRZ6KmPE1wcMCIgWAu2EDtcIbALXPomvQ/viewform?usp=header

For those unable to attend in person, the event will be streamed live on YouTube. Watch it on the official MoSPI YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@GoIStats.

For more information about National Sample Surveys and Reports, please visit the MoSPI website at www.mospi.gov.in.

National Sample Survey seminar promotes evidence-based policy through presentation of survey findings and computational analyses. The National Statistics Office organises a seminar to disseminate and discuss recent National Sample Survey findings through five technical sessions and a stakeholder session; a Paper Selection Committee shortlisted submissions for presentation, including computational studies applying machine learning and neural-network techniques to NSS datasets to support evidence-based policy insights, with participation open by registration and proceedings streamed online.