That there is an acute scarcity of authentic data in almost all sectors of the country's economy is hardly disputed. Volumes have been said and written, highlighting the need for improving the statistical status at the national level but with no tangible effect. In such a scenario, any move, no matter how small it may be, to collate data of any sector is most welcome. The planning ministry, according to a report published in this paper Saturday last, has decided to embark on the job of compiling the basic data of all industries and business entities. This will serve a very useful purpose in formulating plans, policies, rules and regulations at the national level.
The basic objective of the move will be to prepare the 'statistical business register' containing basic information about the country's trade and industry. Initially, the work on the register will be on a pilot basis. Later it would be taken up on a wider scale using modern and digital systems of information gathering. The register, according to the government plan, will be updated regularly so that the data available with it are found useful for all concerned, including planners and policymakers. However, one has reasons to be sceptical about the future of the pilot scheme from the experience of the past. Lots of pilot schemes are not ultimately pursued properly. What usually happens is the wastage of certain amount of money on such schemes.
The fact remains that had the Registrar of the Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC&F) been adequately mindful about compiling and updating the data of all the business entities procuring mandatory registration from it, the policymaking at the national level would have been much smoother than what it is now. The relevant law demands that registered companies make available their updated information with the RJSC&F annually, but that is hardly complied with. Nearly 0.15 million companies and firms are now registered with the RJSC&F and it is not possible on its part to monitor compliance and take necessary actions with the scanty manpower and logistics available with it.
Even the trade bodies at the national and sectoral levels are not that attentive to collate and update all the relevant data of their respective member entities. Almost all the trade representative bodies do not have organised wings to gather information and do the research works. Had they been that mindful in the matters of collecting updated information about their members, they would have done great service to themselves and the policymakers at the national level.
Questions are often raised about the quality of data that are compiled by the national statistical organisation, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). Manipulation of data to demonstrate economic success has also been alleged at times. If and when the initiative of the planning ministry for gathering information about industries and business entities is implemented in a proper manner, it would hopefully become a permanent data storehouse. All concerned would now expect that the scheme would not meet the fate of such pilot projects of the past.