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While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - ther

While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. NHFS (National Health Family Survey), used here, is a sampled survey (not a census), and has a detailed guide[1] on how they go about accounting for these biases, and ensuring their results remain representative despite sampling. afaik, the results from NHFS have the same limitation as a census - and it is not used for targeting benefit delivery. You can look at the Questionnaire to get a better idea of how it was administered. It doesn't include any identity numbers (such as ration card or aadhar card), and starts with this: > My name is _______. I am working with (NAME OF ORGANIZATION). We are conducting a survey about health all over India. The information on family welfare and health that we collect from households and individuals will help the government to plan health services. Your household was selected for the survey. I would like to ask you some questions about your household. The questions usually take about 25-35 minutes. All of the answers you give will be confidential and will not be shared with anyone other than members of our survey team. Your participation in the survey is voluntary. If I ask you any question you don't want to answer, just let me know and I will go on to the next question or you can stop the interview at any time. While incorrect answers are a real thing, surveys can be designed around these problems, with both statistical analysis and better survey design. [1]: http://rchiips.org/NFHS/NFHS5/pdf/NFHS%20data%20quality%20assurance.pdf http://rchiips.org/NFHS/NFHS5/pdf/NFHS%20data%20quality%20as... [2]: http://rchiips.org/NFHS/NFHS5/schedules/NFHS-5Household.pdf http://rchiips.org/NFHS/NFHS5/schedules/NFHS-5Household.pdf

tablespoon 4y ago
>> My mom used to do census work in some of the villages in India, where people would give out questionable and unverifiable details based on benefits offered by the Govt. > While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. Would that matter? That seems to imply a certain amount of legal savvy that I'm not sure should be assumed of anyone, including "villagers" who I assume are typically uneducated. If I were engaging in beneficiary fraud (like the OP describes), I probably would tell the same lie to every government agent that comes by, unless I had a compelling reason not to. Staying consistent is safer and also far easier than sorting out the minimum amount of lying required to pull it off.
praveen9920 4y ago
> While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. Try explaining this to common Indian villager. Ground reality is they see the same govt employees collecting any data and they have their own assumptions. Govt employees themselves do not do very good job of explaining anything. > NHFS (National Health Family Survey), used here, is a sampled survey (not a census), and has a detailed guide[1] on how they go about accounting for these biases, and ensuring their results remain representative despite sampling. afaik, the results from NHFS have the same limitation as a census - and it is not used for targeting benefit delivery. I assumed so. Its not the question of the process set for NHFS. On-ground reality is completely different from their assumptions.
- captn3m0 4y ago
  > On-ground reality is completely different from their assumptions. The people designing the survey are very well aware of the reality, imo. The survey is based on not just what the answers are, but also what the surveyer sees at the household. They have multiple questions to ascertain the actual number of people living in the household, including questions like "who all slept here last night". Initial samplings of the survey are done with control groups (two separate teams) across different intervals to ensure that the methodology is good enough, and survey results are reflective of the ground-truth. One way to validate the results would be to measure them with another methodology, and it turns out that the relevant result (India's Total Fertility Rate) has a fairly similar value (2.0 v/s 2.1)[1] via the SRS (sample registration system, 2020) which is conducted by another body (census of india) via a somewhat different methodology (tracking life-events by a local body, and using birth/death registrations alongside). It's easy to give up and blame lying survey responders or sampling biases, but there are ways to solve for these, that are being used here. [1]: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fertility-rate-declined-by-20-in-india-in-10-years-srs-data/articleshow/94464169.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fertility-rate-dec...

tablespoon 4y ago

>> My mom used to do census work in some of the villages in India, where people would give out questionable and unverifiable details based on benefits offered by the Govt. > While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. Would that matter? That seems to imply a certain amount of legal savvy that I'm not sure should be assumed of anyone, including "villagers" who I assume are typically uneducated. If I were engaging in beneficiary fraud (like the OP describes), I probably would tell the same lie to every government agent that comes by, unless I had a compelling reason not to. Staying consistent is safer and also far easier than sorting out the minimum amount of lying required to pull it off.

praveen9920 4y ago

> While incorrect data being used for beneficiary fraud happens, census is india is limited in scope by law, and is not used for targeted benefits delivery - there is very little reason to lie here, since the data isn't correlated back with, for eg, your ration card. Try explaining this to common Indian villager. Ground reality is they see the same govt employees collecting any data and they have their own assumptions. Govt employees themselves do not do very good job of explaining anything. > NHFS (National Health Family Survey), used here, is a sampled survey (not a census), and has a detailed guide[1] on how they go about accounting for these biases, and ensuring their results remain representative despite sampling. afaik, the results from NHFS have the same limitation as a census - and it is not used for targeting benefit delivery. I assumed so. Its not the question of the process set for NHFS. On-ground reality is completely different from their assumptions.

captn3m0 4y ago
> On-ground reality is completely different from their assumptions. The people designing the survey are very well aware of the reality, imo. The survey is based on not just what the answers are, but also what the surveyer sees at the household. They have multiple questions to ascertain the actual number of people living in the household, including questions like "who all slept here last night". Initial samplings of the survey are done with control groups (two separate teams) across different intervals to ensure that the methodology is good enough, and survey results are reflective of the ground-truth. One way to validate the results would be to measure them with another methodology, and it turns out that the relevant result (India's Total Fertility Rate) has a fairly similar value (2.0 v/s 2.1)[1] via the SRS (sample registration system, 2020) which is conducted by another body (census of india) via a somewhat different methodology (tracking life-events by a local body, and using birth/death registrations alongside). It's easy to give up and blame lying survey responders or sampling biases, but there are ways to solve for these, that are being used here. [1]: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fertility-rate-declined-by-20-in-india-in-10-years-srs-data/articleshow/94464169.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fertility-rate-dec...