New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- The National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday convened the third sensitization-cum-review meeting with Statistical Advisers from various ministries and departments, placing a sharp focus on safeguarding personal data, strengthening evidence-based policymaking, and aligning India's statistical systems with international benchmarks.

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), underlined the importance of privacy in an era of growing data use. "We all respect our own privacy. Post Supreme Court judgement, we are all well aware privacy is a fundamental right. We need to be careful that individual privacy remains," he said.

Explaining the challenge, he noted that datasets...