India, Sept. 6 -- The claim of Mr. Subhash Garg, former Finance Secretary that the Indian economy actually grew by only 2.6 per cent, and that the 7.8 growth rate as officially claimed is due to data jugglery as the downward revision of the current prices propped up the latest GDP numbers, kick-started a fierce debate in the country. Mr. Subhash Garg made a serious allegation that methodological change was done to deliberately revise down previous year's figures to make this year's GDP growth rate higher on a lower base.

At the outset, it must be recognized that the estimates are estimates only and they are not perfect and can be made better. It must also be recognized that if the government wants it can do data manipulation at different...