April 12, 2002
`22’
MANEKA GANDHI ADVOCATES GREEN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM
Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation has suggested ‘green accounting system’ to generate data on environmental aspects that includes the maintenance of the Natural Resource Accounts of the country. She was speaking in a function organised by the ministry here today to felicitate the two distinguished young statisticians Shri Rahul Mukerjee and Dr. Rajeeva Laxman Karandikar who share the first National Award in Statistics instituted in honour of Prof. C. R. Rao.
Smt. Gandhi said that we have to be sensitive to the links between environmental issues and economic and social developments. Natural resources are utilised or destroyed in the name of development. But these have significant environmental costs.
Emphasizing the need for using new technologies for establishing a strong data collection network she said - "the data is meaningful only if the right information is available at the right time. The relevance of statistics and statisticians will continue only if their analysis and data generation has an assured reliability and is used as an input by policy planners."
She hoped that the benefits of economic development based on statistical researches would reach every individual in the country and every statistician would contribute for the development of the country.