• India’s membership at UNSC will begin in January 2024, and also there is a possibility of India chairing the United Nations Statistical Commission during this tenure.
• In its membership, India needs to deliberate the key issues related to the System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008.
• India can be the voice of the global south or developing countries or emerging economies at the UNSC.
• These countries are affected by the current measurement methods of the international statistical standards.

United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC)

• It was established in 1947.
• The headquarters are located in New York.
• It is the highest decision-making body for international statistical activities.
• It oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
• It is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council.

Functions:

• It is responsible for setting statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international levels.
• One of the best-known subunits of the Statistics Division is the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), also known as the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNCSGN).
• This unit attempts to standardize the names of locations across languages, alphabets, and cultures.
• India, as a UN member and signatory to statistical standards issued by the Commission on various thematic areas, adopts these to implement; and the statistics so developed play a critical role in our planning processes.
• Statistics also enable comparability across countries through various indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross Value Addition (GVA), and other measures.
• It also includes household survey data, employment-unemployment statistics, price statistics, health accounts, tourism accounts, environment accounts, etc.

Members:

• There are 24 member states.
• They are elected by the Economic and Social Council based on the following geographical distribution:
• African states (5)
• Asian States (4)
• Eastern European States (4)
• Latin American and Caribbean States (4)
• Western European and other States (7)

Composition:

• There is a chairman, 3 Vice-chairmen, and a Rapporteur.
• They are elected for one year by the members of the Commission at the beginning of a session.

India and its Contribution to the UNSC

India had two prominent statisticians chairing the UNSC:

P.C. Mahalanobis

• He was the first Indian to hold UNSC for its eighth and ninth sessions held in 1954 and 1956 respectively.
• He created a sub-commission on statistical sampling, which paved the way for the application of sample surveys in various fields of official statistics.

V.R Rao

• He chaired the 19th session in 1976.
• He strengthened the statistical organizations of many developing countries, especially for carrying out household sample surveys.
• He is also credited with having chaired the only ever session of the UNSC held outside a UN duty station.
• It was held in New Delhi, in 1976.

India’s agenda in its UNSC tenure

In its membership, India needs deliberate issues related to the System of National Accounts (SNA).

System of National Accounts (SNA):

• The finalization and implementation of the SNA 2025 will be one of the most important agendas.
• This refers to the framework adopted by UN member countries for the formulation of national accounts, based on which India estimates its GDP, GVA, and other macroeconomic aggregates.
• The current estimates of National Income are based on SNA, 2008, with 2011-12 as the base year.

Issues related to the System of National Accounts (SNA):

Measurement of unpaid work:

• The global south countries like India are in a disadvantageous position on account of the non-measurement of certain economic activities, such as unpaid work by women.
• Example: Women’s labor participation rate in India is just about 20%, compared to about 70% in the US, UK, and other developed countries.
• A large contribution of women engaged in economic activities, such as family labour in agriculture and small shops and tea stalls, remains unaccounted for.
• This makes the size of GDP and per-capita income smaller than it is.
• There is a need to redefine it and develop methods to measure the value addition of unpaid work.

Measurement of digitalization

• The basic structure of production, consumption, and expenditure has changed since the SNA 2008 was developed and implemented.
• The internet is almost ubiquitous and technology disruptions are frequent, amid rapid digitalization in India and other countries.
• Firms that are dependent on digital intermediary platforms also known as the ‘gig economy’ has independent service providers, such as bicycle couriers, ghost kitchens, and ride-hailing cab drivers.
• Currently, their value addition remains outside the system’s accounting ambit.
• There are a few products and services which are beyond SNA 2008, like data, digital services provided by enterprises, and those provided by communities.
• In developed countries the growth of digital-economy industries is estimated at around 10-12%, while India’s is around 21%.
• India should play a key role to bring about a consensus on including additional digital industries and products and enabling countries to measure the contribution of digitalization.

Other issues

• There are other important issues relating to the measurement of our well-being, of the impact of climate change.

India’s four-year membership tenure at the Commission comes at an opportune time. If India could incorporate unpaid work, digitization, and other issues into the revised SNA of 2025 and implement the same, then India’s $5 trillion economy with a $1 trillion digital economy will not be a distant aim.