Page 159 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 3

STS538 Rameshwar S.

Table 3: Change in expenditure weights in one decade.
Major groups 1984/85 1994/95
No of items Weights No of items Weights
Food, beverages & tobacco 102 40.0 85 26.8
Housing 11 20.6 11 19.5
Furniture & household 24 6.2 28 11.8
supplies
Clothing & footwear 22 11.5 29 15.1
Transportation 12 11.4 11 11.7
Services 9 8.2 16 9.9
Miscellaneous 15 2.1 10 5.2
Total 205 100.0 190 100.0

US Virgin Islands
In January 2001, the Bureau of Economic Research (BER) of the
Government of the USVI signed a professional contract with the author as the
consultant to establish a CPI for USVI. Prior to that, USVI was using US
southern states’s CPI, such as Florida. USVI does not have a Statistical Office.
BER and the Eastern Caribbean Center (ECC) at the University of VI (UVI) are
responsible for surveys, census and statistics. ECC had conducted HIES and
published results, which were used to develop the first CPI.
India
The construction of CPI dates back to the period following the First World
War. The enactment of Minimum Wages Act, 1948 was an important milestone
in the history of the compilation of CPI. This act requires fixation as well as
revision of minimum wages from time to time. The compilation of CPI for
Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME) (also referred to as middle class
population) has been undertaken by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO)
since 1961 whereas the CPI for Agricultural Labourers and CPI for Industrial
Workers are compiled by the Labour Bureau since September 1964 and
October 1946 respectively. The Labour Bureau also started compiling the CPI
for Rural Labourers since November 1995.

148 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9