JNU Violence: Professor C P Chandrasekhar resigns from statistics committee  

CP Chandrashekhar, a professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has resigned from central government panel tasked with reviewing economic data "because of the current situation in JNU".

"I regret to inform you that, because of the situation in JNU where I stay, I will be unable to attend tomorrow's meeting. Further, I feel that, under current conditions, this Committee is unlikely to be able to restore the credibility of the statistical system, which has been undermined in the recent past," reads resignation letter from the panel of professor CP Chandrasekhar of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at JNU.

"I wish to record my appreciation of the sustained efforts of the large number of colleagues within the statistical system whom I have greatly valued working with in the past to build a robust and credible statistical base," he said.

"It is unfortunate that political pressures have reduced their autonomy now, and efforts to consolidate a well-designed system are being subverted. In these circumstances, I will not be able to serve on this Committee,...The most disturbing part is a narrative is being built to make anti-national elements be perceived as the truth."

In December 2019, India’s statistics ministry set up a ‘Standing Committee on Economic Statistics’, to “review the extant framework relating to data sources, indicators, concepts or definitions and other issues” of the country’s economic data-sets.

The panel led by former chief statistician Pronab Sen, was created after several data controversies rocked the Narendra Modi government in 2019.