India, Oct. 7 -- The debate over India's latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers highlighted something important: Numbers as consequential as GDP must command public trust. That trust depends on making the methodology and data sources accessible, and allowing independent experts to examine them. The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) deserves credit for putting out discussion papers on the new methodology.

Over the last decade, several publicly funded surveys have been released late, only partly released, or not released at all. These surveys are critical for public policies as they tell us whether people are becoming better off, whether children are healthier, whether young people are finding jobs and where ...