The Advisory Group on Data Dissemination was formed with Dr. Pravin M. Visaria as Chairman. In spite of his deteriorating health, Professor Visaria accepted the responsibility and was diligently and skillfully guiding all the deliberations of the Group. Unfortunately, Dr. Visaria passed away in the month of February 2001. His sudden demise was a serious blow to the Group in the accomplishment of its task. The Group had immensely benefited from the expertise that Dr. Visaria had in the field of economics and economic statistics. The Group places on record its deep sense of grief on the sad demise of Dr. Visaria which is also a serious loss to the entire profession of economists.