New Delhi:
The union government may have adopted digital solutions to streamline data processing but the National Crime Records Bureau – which reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs – is lagging behind. The Home Ministry has cited ‘data validation’ as the main reason for this delay.
The process is, however, in its ‘final stages’, for crime data from 2023, junior Home Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar told the Rajya Sabha Wednesday afternoon.
“Process of collection of data is initiated only after completion of each year. Data is collected from 89 centres, which includes 36 in states and union territories and 53 in metropolitan cities i.e., cities with a population of more than 10 lakh,” he said.
This delay had been flagged by five Rajya Sabha MPs – Ranjeet Ranjan, Rajni Ashok Rao Patil, and Neeraj Dangi, as well as the AAP’s Sanjay Singh and the Indian Union Muslim League’s Haris Beeran. They had asked the Home Ministry why 2023 crime data had been delayed.
Such concerns had been expressed last year too; D Ravi Kumar, a Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, called the delay “intentional” amid claims, in reports by human rights groups, that crimes against Dalits, “particularly in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh”, had increased from 2022.
“The data is collected via a software developed by the NCRB, but the collection and consolidation/compilation is done at various levels – district/state, states/union territories, and subsequently by the Bureau – through this software,” the minister responded in a written reply.
This data, he said, is checked and double-checked at each of these levels.
“In case of discrepancy or inconsistency it is referred to the state or union territory for re-validation. Training to ensuring uniformity (of data collection and validation) is imparted…”
The NCRB has been releasing its ‘Crime in India’ report, and another on accidental deaths and suicides, every year since 1953, and these reports are widely regarded as the most comprehensive source of information on crimes in India.
Consequently, they are also the basis of policy discussions.
The last reports were about 2022 data, and were released in December 2023.
Meanwhile, opposition MPs also raised the census issue (pending since 2021) and demanded two other reports – on birth and deaths over the past five years – also be published.