The National Statistics Day is celebrated every year India to create public awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation.
End Hunger, Achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition and Promote Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2 of the UN) is the theme of this year's National Statistics Day.
The day also acknowledges the notable contribution of Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in fields of statistics, statistical system, and economic planning.
He is often referred to as the 'father of Indian statistics.
In 1933, he had founded the first Indian statistical journal Sankhya.
He is also best remembered for the statistical measure of Mahalanobis distance.
He had founded the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).
The Union Government had designated June 29 as National Statistics Day in 2007.
The Second Five-Year Plan had relied on Mahalanobis mathematical description of Indian economy.
This plan had encouraged the development of heavy industry in India.
This later became as Nehru-Mahalanobis model or Basic Industry strategy of economic growth.