The Centre for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore, celebrated its 26th Foundation Day on July 9 with a Foundation Day Lecture delivered by Dr. Saurabh Garg, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India.

Dr. Garg's lecture, 'Modernising the Official Statistics System — Creating the Backbone of Sound Public Policy', traced how India's official data, from Census records dating back to 1871, to surveys pioneered in the 1950s, to fast-growing administrative data, forms the foundation for sound policymaking.

He further stressed that data must be treated as a strategic asset, not just a byproduct. He highlighted how India’s Viksit Bharat @2047 vision, with goals like zero poverty, universal quality school education, 70% female labour force participation, and a fully skilled workforce, depends on robust, timely data to track progress. He highlighted how this data already powers citizen-facing systems like Ayushman Bharat, Gati Shakti, and Digi Yatra.

"Data is not just an asset; it is fast becoming a factor of production, especially given the fact that data is the raw material for artificial intelligence," he remarked.