In highly deregulated regimes, sometimes, conducting a survey is the only option available for obtaining the data necessary for policy making. However, we do recognise that a survey has to be properly designed to serve the objectives. Firstly, quality of data derived from surveys depends on the methodology and standards used for these surveys.
An international conference of this type is useful for sharing of country experiences on these issues and, hopefully, you will benefit by learning from varied experiences in making judgments on the complex issues involved. Secondly, in a country like India with significant diversity, the matching of survey–design with target population is important.