India, Aug. 20 -- India's official claims of record foodgrain output face serious doubt after an NSO report found nearly one in four Crop Cutting Experiments violated scientific norms.

With procedural lapses, poor supervision, untrained staff and frequent sample changes across many states, the credibility of yield estimates underpinning procurement, food security, trade and crop insurance policies is now under question.

The Centre's claims of record production of major food grains have come under scrutiny after questions were raised in the Annual Report on Improvement of Crop Statistics (ICS) Scheme, 2023-24' published by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). ...