Mahalanobis's Institute Gets a New Charter: The ISI Bill and Who Owns India's Statistical Capacity
Summary
The Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 3 August 2026 by the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh.
●It seeks to incorporate the Institute as a body corporate, strengthening its governance, promoting academic excellence and research, and equipping it to serve emerging needs in statistical science.
●Under the Bill the President of India will be the Visitor of the Institute, and a Board of Governors will function as its principal policy executive body, headed by a chairperson drawn from academia, industry, education, public policy or the statistical sciences.
●Founded by P.C. Mahalanobis in Kolkata in 1931 and declared an institution of national importance by the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959, the ISI developed the large-scale sample survey methods that underpin India's official statistics and shaped the Second Five Year Plan.
The Indian Statistical Institute was founded by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in Kolkata in 1931 and registered as a society, becoming an institution of national importance under the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959, which also empowered it to award degrees.
●Mahalanobis pioneered large-scale sample surveys in India and gave his name to the Mahalanobis distance, a standard measure in multivariate statistics; he also authored the two-sector Mahalanobis model that underpinned the Second Five Year Plan's emphasis on heavy industry.
●The Institute's work led directly to the National Sample Survey, established in 1950, whose methods remain the basis of India's household consumption, employment and unemployment estimates.
●Institutionally, the ISI sits under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which also houses the National Statistical Office and receives advice from the National Statistical Commission, a non-statutory body constituted in 2005 following the Rangarajan Commission's recommendations.
The ISI is not merely a university — it built the survey machinery from which nearly all of India's official social and economic statistics are derived.
◎ In Simple Words
The Indian Statistical Institute is a very old and respected place that works out how to measure things about the country, like how many people have jobs or what families spend. It was set up in 1931 and given a special law in 1959. The government has now proposed a new law to change how it is run, who leads it and what it is allowed to do.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 2 questions
P.C. Mahalanobis is associated with which of the following?
The National Statistical Commission, which advises on India's official statistics, is:
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