Indemocracy, it is neither possible nor necessary for people to govern directly.The most common form of democracy in our times is for the people to governthrough their representatives, call them politicians. These politicians lead in this age oftechnology and development. Democracy is not about people electing their rulesbut have to follow some rules and procedures. They have to work with andwithout the frame work of institutions. As we know that the government works ina country, states or local bodies for social, economic environment andpolitical aspects. Governing a country involves various activities such asensuring security to the citizen and providing facilities for education andhealth. It collects tax and spends the money thus raised on administration,defence and development programmes. It formulates and implements severalwelfare schemes for development and wellbeing. But some persons have to takedecision on how to go about these activities, other have to implement thesedecisions. It is important that everyone should know who is responsible fordoing what. It is also important that these activities keep in taking placeeven if the position is key position change.
Here it isto mention that the responsible person in a society or region means politicalexecutive and permanent executive. Those elected by people for specific periodcalled the political executive or politicians. The politicians are also calledpolitical executive and have more power than the non- political executive. In terms of reality the permanent andpolitical executive should be honest, free from any evils, work for the people,by the people and of the people. Further political executive to be accountable,role model in the society and free from corruption in a particular region fordevelopment process and wellbeing of the people. Among the politicians one canbecome head of the country, and assume other important positions which directlydeal with planning and policy formulation. The one application of planning andpolicy formulation is to have literacy of statistics or statistical literacyfor local area development. The planning and policy formulation persons,experts, researchers, administrators and politicians should be having somehowknowledge of figures for need action with trust and faith.
Politiciansplay an important role for development and wellbeing of the people at localarea development. There are so many schemes and programmes of government andnon-government organisation where local area development required trustworthyadministrators and politicians for better implementation. The politicians havea leadership role; to lead the society in such a way that change theenvironment of different matters through his knowledge, behaviour andcharacters. It means that knowledge, behaviour and character have direct linkwith persons of politicians. There are different types of politicians in asociety that all are not well in terms of knowledge, behaviour and character.It has been seen that politicians are different in terms of walk and talk.Today in the age of technology, politician has a crucial role in achievingsustainable goals.
Here Iwant to mention that there are 17 sustainable development goals of UnitedNations for all nations with the aim to end poverty, to achieve qualityeducation and good health by 2030. There is an emphasis to achieve zero hungerby 2030 with existing programmes and schemes, also to improve gender equality,to get clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy, developmentwork and economic growth, industries, innovation and infrastructure, reducedinequality, sustainable cities and communication, responsible consumption andproduction , climate change, life in water, life on land, peace justice and strong institution. All UNmember countries with strong institutions try to achieve sustainabledevelopments goals. The strong institution means here government for thepeople, of the people and by the people. The strong institution depends uponthe politicians which come through electoral processes. In a democracy,politicians are powerful persons in the society.
If anypolitician of any group, any cast, creed or society has electoral win andbecomes a representative, he becomes thehead of that area he must have knowledge of the area as that is required fordevelopment. Here some politicians disappoint. This may happen due to lack ofknowledge. The politician first must have knowledge of the area and capacityfor the development and well-being of the population that can be done throughvarious schemes and programmes of government and non-government organisations.The programme and planning can be implemented rightly at right place and atright time to achieve success. It has been observed in the field and shows theability of politician of that area. I have personally interacted with manypoliticians on many occasions, and observed that the implementation lags behinddue to their capacity. The knowledge, and information about statistics isurgently need for politicians. The main reason for an unsuccessful politicianis lack of information and statistical literacy.
As we knowthat statistical literacy is a term used to describe the ability of a person ora group to understand statistics. Statistical literacy is the ability tounderstand and critically evaluate statistical results that permeate our dailylives coupled with the ability to appreciate the contribution that statisticalthinking can make in public and private, professional and personal decisions.
As we knowthat statistics or data is the measure of indicators for the progress ofSustainable Development Goals (SDG) and are the bases for quality and formeasuring country’s performance. This showed the importance of the literacy ofstatistics nowadays at every national and international forum . There are a lotof debates, workshops, seminars and conferences regarding how to develop thereal statistics for development, growth and wellbeing through politicians. Thedevelopment of statistics also depends upon the statistical system of thecountry.
InEuropean countries, the politicians are able to work in terms of statisticalliteracy for development and wellbeing. The statistical literacy of politiciansin Netherlands is the reason for strong institutions. There, the politicianswork for future not for present.
It is tomention here that every politician should work with information and knowledge,otherwise in the field of local area development he will lose faith. It hasbeen seen that some conflicts, disturbance and less development is due topoliticians which is to be considered.
It hasseen that good politicians are those who have advance knowledge of area andother information along with statistical figures. It has also been seen thatthose politicians who have somehow knowledge of statistical literacy of schemesand programme, are the most powerful politician in the field forimplementation.
AltafHussain Haji (ISS) is Director, National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry ofStatistic and PI, Regional office, Srinagar