What is the new Indian Statistical Institute Bill drawing criticism? | Explained
The Indian government has introduced the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026, aiming to modernize the institute's governance structure. The bill faces criticism from faculty and lawmakers who argue it may undermine the institute's traditional autonomy.
Why it matters
The debate highlights the tension between government efforts to standardize institutional governance and the preservation of academic independence.
The government has tabled a new Bill in Parliament, called the Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2026 , which will replace its approximately 67-year-old predecessor that had been enacted in 1959. While seemingly innocuous, several of the provisions of the Bill have become contentious, with several faculty members of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) as well as Members of Parliament protesting it.
In the 1920s, India’s greatest statistician P.C. Mahalanobis set up the Statistical Laboratory in the Presidency College in Kolkata. On December 17, 1931, he founded the Indian Statistical Institute as a “learned society” housed in the Statistical Laboratory. The Institute was registered on April 28, 1932, as a non-profit distributing learned society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 and is now registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act of 1961 amended in 1964.
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