Collaborators

Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Department, Government of Tamil Nadu

The primary responsibility of the Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Department originally was the preparation of the Annual and Five-Year Plans for the State, monitoring and review of expenditure on State Plan Schemes, Twenty Point Programme and Centrally Sponsored Schemes. In the context of the abolition of the Union Planning Commission and the merger of the Plan and Non-Plan portions of the Budget, formation of NITI Aayog, and the advent of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of the Department will evolve to longer-term strategic goal setting and medium term operational sequencing of development projects and programmes in Tamil Nadu, and securing greater policy coordination in such initiatives and bringing focus on achieving the targets and indicators under the SDGs.

The Department coordinates with various Government Departments towards achieving overall development goals and is a member of various Departments’ State level Committees for Schemes and Programmes. The Department also scrutinises proposals for development schemes prepared by other Departments. The Department is also the Nodal Department of the State Government which coordinates with and interacts with the NITI Aayog, and for updating the current status of the issues received from the departments concerned raised under PRAGATI. The Department performs a number of coordination functions for new initiatives of the Government, involving multi-departmental action.

Drawing on the expertise of the State Planning Commission (SPC), the Department of Economics & Statistics (DOES) and the Department of Evaluation & Applied Research (DEAR), the Department is providing policy advice. It also takes up the promotion, design and implementation of projects through the Tamil Nadu Innovations Initiatives and evidence-based policy-making initiatives. Further, through the Special Initiatives Wing, overseeing the Chennai Metro Rail Project and certain New Special Initiatives to speed up the progress of important infrastructure and development projects are being carried out.

More details: https://www.tn.gov.in/department/23

Department of Economics and Statistics (DES), Government of Tamil Nadu

The Department of Economics and Statistics (DES) plays a pivotal role in the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of various types of socio-economic data for planning & policy decisions. The DES is also functioning as a “Nodal Agency” for matters relating to the economic statistics of the State Government. It works in coordination with the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), and Central Statistical Organization, Government of India for certain studies. DES organizes ad-hoc studies depending on the requirements of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India.

More details: https://des.tn.gov.in/en

The Survey Research Center (SRC), Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

The Survey Research Centre (SRC) at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research is a community of faculty, staff and students that serves the public interest by conducting research integrated with state-of-the-art data collection and analysis, developing social and behavioural research methods, and training leaders in survey and data science. SRC faculty specialize in cutting-edge theory and research on key questions facing society including: aging, life course development, the role of education, fertility and families, retirement, health disparities, poverty, income and wealth, health measures and behaviours, substance abuse, development and evaluation of interventions, and the role of social networks and environment over the life course.SRC conducts some of the most widely cited and influential studies in the world including Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Monitoring the Future, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, University of Michigan Survey of Consumer Attitudes, National Survey of Family Growth, and the Army Study To Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers. SRC, through its Survey Research Operations, provides measurement facilities to Michigan faculty and a wide range of external clients, from federal agencies to individual university researchers to small, non-profit organizations. SRC seeks to develop, strengthen, and diversify its research faculty and staff. Bringing together highly talented and motivated individuals from all walks of life and backgrounds will contribute fresh approaches to complex research problems and bring new expertise that will improve the scientific research in which we are all engaged.

More details: https://src.isr.umich.edu/about/

Note: SRC's involvement in the initial phase of the project and completion of the TNHPS pre-baseline has been very helpful. Later, MIDS took the lead in designing and implementing the subsequent rounds of the survey - including 4 rounds of TNCPS and TNHPS-BLS.