New Delhi, 9 September

Several MPs on Wednesday questioned a government bill that proposes to widen the remit of the Indian Statistical Institute, claiming it will reduce the premier institute’s autonomy.

At a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, members raised concerns about the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, and sought its minute examination.

The committee met for the first time to discuss the Bill, with many of them questioning the government's move as they feel that the proposed law may reduce the autonomy of the Indian Statistical Institute, sources aware of the deliberations said.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in the Monsoon session of Parliament. At the time of its introduction, many MPs raised their objections.

Subsequently, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla referred the Bill to the parliamentary committee for threadbare examination.

The committee was given three months to submit the report. However, sources on Wednesday said the Bill will take a much longer period than the sanctioned time.

The Bill seeks the institute's incorporation as a 'body corporate' to strengthen its governance, promote academic excellence and research, and allow it to serve emerging needs in the field of statistics and allied fields.

The Bill says the President of India will be the Visitor of the institute and the provisions for a Board of Governors will be its principal policy executive body.

The board will be headed by a chairperson, who will be an eminent person from the field of academia, industry, education, public policy, and statistical sciences.

The board will be accountable to the central government, the bill notes.

The institute will have an Academic Council, which will act as its principal academic body, and it will be headed by the institute's director.

All full-time professors and full-time faculty will be members of the Academic Council.

The Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959, declared the institute to be an institution of national importance and empowered it to grant degrees and diplomas in statistics.

The Act was amended in 1995 to empower the Institute to grant degrees and diplomas in statistics, mathematics, quantitative economics, computer science and such other subjects related to statistics as may be determined by it from time to time.

The 1959 Act, according to the proposed bill, has limited provisions in respect of the governance, administration, finance, accountability and functioning of the Institute and is not adequate to enable it to respond to the requirements of an evolving academic and research environment.

Therefore, it says, the government decided to repeal the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959, to bring out comprehensive legislation providing for the incorporation of the Indian Statistical Institute, an institution of national importance, to excel as a globally recognised centre in Statistical Sciences and allied fields.

The legal reform will enable an ecosystem to train a new generation of high-quality data scientists and statisticians, bridging the massive talent gap currently facing India's tech and financial sectors, the Bill says.