June 29th the birth anniversary of P.C. Mahalanobis is commemorated as the National Statistics Day of India.
Prsanta Chandra Mahalanobis
- 29 June, 1893-28 June, 1972
- P C Mahalanobis, known as father of Indian Statistics, received his early schooling at the Brahmo Boys School and graduation in Physics in 1912 through Presidency college, Kolkata.
- He left for England in1913 for higher studies at University of London.
- Mahalanobis was introduced to the journal Biometrika, that motivated him for the interest in statistics.
- A statistical laboratory was developed by him at Presidency College and later this formed the foundation for the famous Indian Statistical Institute at Kolkata.
- One of his important contribution was in designing and conducting large scale surveys.
- He introduced the concept of pilot surveys and advocated the usefulness of sampling methods.