Editorial . . . . . . . . 

On National Statistics Day, Ms. Satvir Kour Sudan, Director General, Economics and Statistics, J&K, released the Digest of Statistics (2021–2022). The day was earmarked to honour the late Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis, who is credited with creating the Indian Statistics system. The day serves as a reminder to participants of the use of statistics and their significance in various areas of economic planning for the advancement and welfare of people, as well as a chance for field functionaries to gather and compile data while increasing the reliability of that data for real-time performance evaluation in various economic sectors. Statistics research focuses on the information obtained from the data. By learning statistics, we can develop new, effective strategies for collecting data, processing it, and coming to conclusions. Alternately, statistics can be thought of as a challenging but valuable process that helps us to predict outcomes, make fact-based judgments, and carry out scientific studies. The fact that statistics is not a new topic of study but one that has roots in the development of human society may be important to notice. It has been used ever since there has been life on earth, despite the fact that its use was rather limited. Statistics was traditionally considered to be a by-product of the state’s administrative activity and the “Science of Statecraft.” The government has historically been in charge of keeping track of the population, births, deaths, taxes, crop production, and many other forms of activities. These occurrences can be quantified and counted to generate a range of numerical statistics. Despite being only a century old in its current meaning, the term “statistics” has been around for far longer. The Latin term “status,” the Italian word “statista,” which means statesman, or the German word “Statistik,” which means “political state,” are thought to be the origins of the word “statistics.”
Statistics are interpreted in many ways by different people. Others consider statistics as the tables, charts, and numbers that are regularly seen in newspapers, journals, books, reports, speeches, lectures in schools, television, etc., while others see statistics as an imposed area of mathematics. We are exposed to a wide range of numerical data almost daily, much of which has a significant impact on our daily lives. The evolution of society and the advancement of all other disciplines are significantly influenced by the study of statistics. All aspects of life, including economics, housing, medicine, education, industrial psychology, and natural sciences like physics, biology, and chemistry are covered by the area of statistics.

As a result, statistics has numerous uses. The applications of statistical knowledge are numerous and spread across many fields. Businessmen can make rapid and informed judgments thanks to statistics. With the use of statistics, businesspeople may properly organize their production. Utilizing statistical techniques, the quality of the resources is assessed once they have been produced. In order to build enterprises and make informed judgments about all elements of the company, statistics are essential. Businessmen who understand statistics well can use it to their advantage. “Statistics can assist us to measure risk and avoid making unwise decisions,” The understanding of statistics has an impact on the economy as well. National income accounts, which serve as multipurpose indicators for managers and economists, are created using statistical methodologies. These techniques are also used in economic research for data gathering, analysis, and hypothesis testing. Under statistical knowledge, imports and exports, supply and demand, per capita income, and inflation rates are all investigated and examined. Statistics is a crucial factor in the social and scientific disciplines. Statistics make and explain measurements in mathematics with the utmost precision. In mathematics, estimations, probability averages, and dispersion are all used. Statistics and mathematics have a close relationship. Whereas mathematical techniques like algebra, differentiation, and integration are used in mathematics, statistical techniques are used in mathematics. Additionally, banks leverage their statistical expertise. The idea of depositing money, earning profits, and suffering losses all require statistical methods and approaches based on probability to estimate the number of deposits and their related statements for a given day. All governmental policies have statistics as their primary foundation. The statistical information is now used to inform all administrative decisions. When the government wants to change the pay scales of the employees in order to define the standard of living, the methods are used to calculate an increase in the cost of living. Additionally, statistics are useful in creating the provincial and federal governments’ budgets. It makes estimates or projections regarding the receipts and outlays from various sources. Statistics is important in assessing and examining the experiments and drawing conclusions from the results in a variety of disciplines, including meteorology, biology, chemistry, physics, business, and communications. The study of stars and space, known as astronomy, also makes use of statistical knowledge. Different celestial body features and attributes, including their densities, masses, diameters, and distances, are measured with the aid of statistics. The state’s ideology has changed as a result of statistics. All of our judgments and choices are influenced by numbers. Aside from all of these uses, statistics also help us by using a variety of techniques to predict things like the weather, the spread of various diseases, mortality rates, the likelihood of various natural disasters like earthquakes or floods, the efficacy of various medications, the outcomes of elections, the buying and selling of various goods, insurance company rates, etc. Weather forecasters inform every one of their predictions for the upcoming weather. Using statistical techniques, scientists do research on the spread of specific diseases and their impact on the population. Different statistical techniques deal with various data types. Not every method works with every type of data.

As a result, we saw how statistics, whether through education, medicine, work, government, administration, astronomy, or another field, regulate every element of our lives and society. Statistics serve as a stepping stone for arriving at the correct answers, even though not all calculations and conclusions can be reached using a probabilistic perspective. The release of the Digest of Statics for the years 2021-22 is a vital document for all of us and needs to be appreciated .