The Indian Statistical Service (ISS) is a civil service under Group ‘A’ of the Central Civil Services of the Union. A Civil Service with high degree of proficiency in Statistical methods and applications. With the main mandate of producing quality Official Statistics with better methods and techniques, provide solutions to the data and information needs and interpretation and analysis of statistics.
A committee under the chairmanship of Shri V.T Krishnamachari, the then Deputy Chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission was constituted for examining the matter of establishing statistical cadres after the cabinet decision of 26th July 1952. The Committee submitted its report in September 1953 and recommended formation of ‘Statistical and Economic Advisory Service’. Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the then Honorary Statistical Adviser to the Cabinet did not favor the idea of a combined Statistical and Economic Advisory Service and suggested an alternative scheme for creation of a Central Statistical Pool. After deliberating on various contradictory views, the Cabinet on 12th February 1958 decided that two separate services namely Statistical Service and Economic Service should be formed. This decision paved the way for formation of Indian Statistical Service (ISS) and finally the service was constituted on 1st November 1961 as a cadre of qualified professionals with core discipline of Statistics.
The posts of ISS at various Grades are distributed among various Ministries, Departments and other Organisations with the aim to have an appropriate statistical set-up to provide a real time objective data and to analyze it for:
(a) policy formulation, implementation and monitoring (including concurrent monitoring & evaluation and outcome/endline assessment) and (b) decision making.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation acts as the Cadre Controlling Authority of Indian Statistical Service. The Ministry is concerned with all matters pertaining to the service including recruitment, promotion, training, career and manpower planning, etc. However, day-to-day administrative matters of ISS officers are looked after by the Ministries/Departments where they are posted.
Recruitment to the service is made through Indian Statistical Service Examination conducted by UPSC annually, promotion from the feeder grade i.e. Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS) and through absorption of Statistical Officers working in other Ministries/Departments. The first examination for direct recruitment to the service was held in the year 1967 and the first batch of the service was appointed in the year 1968.