Research in the theory and applications of statistics as a new scientific discipline began in India in the early twenties through the pioneering initiative and efforts of the late Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, who has rightly been described as a great visionary. He picked up a small group of young scientists for the Department of Physics, Presidency College, Calcutta, where he taught. This group formed the laboratory’s nucleus, later known as the Statistical Laboratory.

In the early thirties, realizing the necessity for a concerted effort for the advancement of theoretical and applied statistics in India, Professor Mahalanobis, together with Professor P.N. Banedee and Professor N.R. Sen, both of Calcutta University, convened a meeting on December 17, 1931, to consider various steps for setting up an association for the advancement of statistics in the country. It was unanimously resolved to set up the Indian Statistical Institute with Sir R.N. Mookeerjee as President and Professor P.C. Mahalanobis as Honorary Secretary.

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was registered as a non-government and non-profit distributing learned society on April 28, 1932. The total expenditure in the first year was Rs. 238.00, and the number of workers was only two or three. From such a modest beginning, the Institute grew under the able leadership of Professor Mahalanobis into an all-India organization which is now functioning under the aegis of the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning & Programme Implementation, Government of India with 1600 workers, including about 500 scientific personnel and an annual expenditure of about Rs. 42 crores.

The Institute has its headquarters in Calcutta, two other Centres in Delhi and Bangalore, and a branch at Giridih in Bihar. Also, it has a network of service units of Statistical Quality Control(SQC) and Operations Research (OR) Division at Baroda, Mumbai, Pune, Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Delhi, and Bangalore. Evolution From the beginning, Prof. Mahalanobis and his associates worked zealously and enthusiastically to develop statistical theory and methods and promote research and practical applications in different natural and social sciences areas. Sankhya -the Indian Journal of Statistics and the official organ of the Institute, started publishing in 1933 under the editorship of Prof. P.C.

Mahalanobis is still considered a prestigious and internationally acclaimed journal in statistics. With a history of about 70 years of meaningful work as a centre of excellence, 1SI is regarded as one of the world’s leading organizations for promoting statistics as a critical technology for all scientific endeavours. The objects of the Institute include the study and dissemination of knowledge of statistics, research and development of statistical theories and methods for their use in various fields of natural and social sciences, as well as collection and analysis of information, investigations, undertaking projects and operational research for planning and improvement of efficiency of management and productions.

The enactment of the “Indian Statistical Institute Act 1959” (the bill was piloted by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru) by Parliament recognized it as an Institute of National Importance. It empowered ISI to confer degrees and diplomas in Statistics. Thus, the Bachelor of Statistics (Hons), Master of Statistics, and post-graduate Diploma in Computer Science courses started in 1960. The Institute was also empowered to award Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees from the same year. Later, courses leading to a Master of Technology degree were started in Computer Science and Quality, Reliability and Operations Research, which received formal recognition from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). In honour of the excellent research work done by the scientists of the Institute in several areas related to statistics, section 4 of the Indian Statistical Institute Act of 1959 was amended by Parliament in September 1995 to empower the Institute to award degrees and diplomas not only in statistics but also in mathematics, quantitative economics, computer science and other such subjects related to statistics as may be determined by the Institute from time to time. Subsequently, a Master of Science programme in Quantitative Economics was also introduced.

Contributions

The role and importance of the ISI in conducting and promoting the teaching of statistics have been appreciated by international bodies as well. In 1950, the ISI, jointly with the International Statistical Institute, set up the International Statistical Education Centre under the auspices of UNESCO and the Government of India to impart training in Theoretical and Applied Statistics to participants from countries of the Middle East, South and South-East Asia, the Far East and Commonwealth countries of Africa.

The fundamental contributions made by 1SI include, among others, Mahalanobis Distance, Sample Surveys, Multivariate Analysis, Design of Experiments, and Inference. The Institute was pivotal in establishing the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Central and State Statistical Bureaus and creating an international understanding for disseminating knowledge of quality, statistics, and applications. Its recent significant contributions include small-area statistics, environmental statistics, and Bayesian Analysis.

The ISI also played a pioneering role in starting the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) movement in India by organizing a visit by Professor W.A. Shewhart, the father of SQC, to India in 1948 and later by inviting other experts like Prof W.E. Deming, Dr. J.M. Juran, Prof. L.H.C. Tippet, Prof. E.R. Ott and Prof G. Taguchi for the same purpose. SQC promotional work was gradually extended to all the industrial centres in India under a comprehensive programme covering education and training, applied research, and consultancy services. Over the years, the SQC and OR Divisions have grown to the size of having ten operating units all over the country and have served in promoting, educating, training, and technical guidance in Total Quality Management Methodology and Quality Assurance Systems for the benefit of the Indian manufacturing and service industry over the decades and continuing its quality service to the industry. Since its inception, the Institute has recognized the need to develop and use accurate and fast computing equipment for the processing and analysis of data.

In 1953, a small analogue computer was designed and built in the Institute. In 1956, the Institute acquired an HEC-2M machine from the U.K., the first digital computer in India. From 1956 until the mid-sixties, the Institute was the country’s de facto national computer centre. In the early sixties, the Institute, in collaboration with Jadavpur University, undertook the design, ‘ development, and fabrication of a fully transistorized digital computer called ISIJU-1, commissioned in 1966.

The Institute has maintained its tradition of high-quality research and development in computer science. Keeping pace with the global advances in computer technology, the activities of the Institute in the field of computer science gathered tremendous momentum in the late seventies, resulting in the diversification of research in different areas. In recognition of its contributions to computer science, the Government of India, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, established one of the five national Nodal Centres for Knowledge-Based Computing Systems at the ISI in 1988. Also, a new division emphasizes research in the theory and application of computer science, pattern recognition, image processing, artificial intelligence, machine intelligence, computer vision, natural language processing, documentation analysis, and remote sensing. The ISI is nationally and internationally recognized as a centre of excellence for its contribution to theoretical statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, and other interdisciplinary research areas in natural and social sciences and their applications in related areas. With the new millennium approaching, the ISI is ready to accept the new challenges ahead -(PIB)

Source: Press Release
PIB
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Date: July 02, 1999