New Delhi, June 25 -- One big gap in India's statistical coverage has been the absence of a national survey on household incomes. Despite multiple trials in the past, we have not been able to successfully carry out an all-India survey to assess how well Indian households are faring by this yardstick.

So, it's heartening that the National Statistics Office (NSO), which functions under the statistics ministry, plans to carry out its first ever Household Income Survey (HIS) across the country.

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In the 1950s, the ministry tried to collect income data as part of its consumption expenditure survey. About a decade later, it attempted to gather data on receipts and disburseme...