June 29 is a golden day for the entire statistics fraternity in our country. Born on the day in 1893, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, a globally known physicist turned statistician, created an identity of India vis-à-vis the world when he played the pioneering role in establishing a world class institute of statistics called Indian Statistical Institute(ISI) in Calcutta (now Kolkata) way back in 1930. Prof Mahalanobis, popularly known as the father of statistics in India, was a proud PhD scholar of Prof Ronald A Fisher, universally acclaimed father of statistics.

Prof Mohahalonobis, in close association with Prof Fisher, has laid the foundation of statistics in our country. Being a member of the Second Five Year Plan, Prof Mahalanobis had shaped the destiny of our great nation. The Government of India, keeping his contributions to the field of statistics in view, declared his birth day as the National Statistics Day by an act in the Parliament during 2007.

Today, on his sacred 128th birth day, we, the statistics fraternity across the country, celebrate the 14th National Statistics Day and pay our loving tribute to such a great son of the soil. The theme of this year's Day is Good Health, Well Being and Gender Equality.

In fact, with respect to our country India, statistics was virtually an unexplored area of knowledge in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Statistics was neither taught nor researched at university level. There was no statistical society and journal in the field of statistics. Certain aspects of demographic or socio-economic statistics only were being collected for the purpose of British administration. The new era of statistics began with the extensive work of Prof Mahalanobis.

Statistics soon emerged as an independent and indispensable discipline which cut across the boundaries of knowledge ranging from science, social science, humanities, business administration to many more.

It is after a long lapse of 26 years since establishment of the ISI, the foundation of statistics education was laid in our State with the opening of one year diploma course in statistics in the Department of Rural Economics and Sociology of the Utkal University, headed by Professor Bidyadhar Mishra, under the auspices of Ford Foundation Grant, USA in the year 1956 and with the establishment of Post Graduate Department of Statistics under Utkal University in 1958.

One of the oldest departments of Utkal University, the Statistics Department has a glorious history of imparting quality teaching and research since its inception.

It is ironical to note that the department is at present managed by three faculty members as against eight sanctioned posts (two professors, two associate professors and four assistant professors). The department is offering MA/MSc, MPhil and PhD in statistics and also one self-financing course  MTech(IT).

The faculty members are actively engaged in cuttingedge research, the thrust areas of the research being Survey Sampling, Econometrics, Demography, Stochastic Modelling, Operational Research, Biostatistics and Survival Analysis. The department has organised many workshops, national and international conferences in its domain. In order to popularise the subject among young masses, the department, in close association with the Utkal Statistics Alumni Association(USAA), has been conducting STATISTICS OLYMPIAD among intermediate students since 2015.

This department is no less involved in arranging various outreach programmes viz., Swachh Bharat, blood donation and organ donation camps.

The Department of Statistics, since its humble beginning has been producing brilliant alumni who have excelled in Indian Statistical Service.

There are many challenges ahead, being the premier and oldest department in the State, it has the responsibility of imparting excellence in research and education in statistical science. The acute faculty shortage is one of the grave concerns for the department in the last few years, particularly towards imparting quality education to young and dynamic aspirants. There is also an urgent need for collaboration between the Department of Statistics in one hand and Government agencies and corporate sectors on the other. Establishment of a modern statistical laboratory with latest software packages is also another challenge for the department.

Besides Utkal University, three other universities in Odisha are also offering post graduate degrees in statistics, viz., Sambalpur University, Ravenshaw University and Central University of Odisha, Koraput.

In Sambalpur, the Department of Statistics was established in the year 1976 with a view to catering to the needs of western Odisha with Prof Jitendriya Sarangi as its first professor. The department has academic autonomy with nine sanctioned teaching posts. It offers MA/MSc, MPhil and PhD programmes in statistics. The department offers specialization in Stochastic Process, Queuing Theory, Inventory, Operations Research, Applied Statistics, Data mining, Advanced Time Series Analysis, SQC & Reliability. The department, which had prominence in terms of teaching and research until recently, is in a state of crisis as it is now managed by only one faculty member.

The Ravenshaw University is the third State university to have offered postgraduate course in Statistics in 2010. In fact, Ravenshaw was the premier college of the State where the first undergraduate course in statistics was taught. However, here too the department lies short-staffed. The sanctioned strength is seven. The department is yet to find its first professor.

Establishment of the Central University of Odisha at Koraput in the year 2015 -16 was a milestone so far as education in the State is concerned. Statistics had the privilege of being one of the first few departments to be opened under the aegis of the School of Applied Sciences. Currently, it offers a two - year MSc programme in Applied Statistics and Informatics. When the course curriculum is designed keeping the employment opportunities in view, current faculty position (only one assistant professor) becomes the main obstacle.

The situation in recently established GM University is slightly better. Three faculty members have been recruited to manage the UG course. Opening of PG course is under active consideration of the university administration.

Against the backdrop, status of statistics education in the university level is well understood, let alone the affairs relating to the subject in degree colleges. The subject has been closed down in some of the degree colleges over the last few decades. In a nutshell, statistics can be said to be on the brink of a disaster. If due attention is not given right from now, the fact that our State is going to have a unique distinction of “No Statistician State” cannot be ruled out.

It is apt to mention here that statistics, in the meanwhile, has assumed great significance both in theory and practice. We hardly find a field where statistics does not find its use, Statistics is widespread in research. The applications of Statistics include, Data Science, Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, 6- sigma, etc . The job opportunities are now vast in statistics of course with additional short term courses in allied subjects such as Computer Science, Machine Learning, IT, Data Science etc.

On this auspicious day, we only pray God for statistics to live long.

(Kunja Bihari Panda is Professor, Department of Statistics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Email id: kbpanda62@yahoo.co.in and Prafulla Kumar Swain is Assistant Professor, Utkal University,  Email id: prafulla86@gmail.com)