mospiR

An R client for the MoSPI Microdata Portal. Downloads unit-level survey data published by India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Installation

remotes::install_github("saketkc/mospiR")

Setup

Get an API key from microdata.gov.in, then add it to ~/.Renviron:

MOSPI_KEY=your-key-here

api_key <- Sys.getenv("MOSPI_KEY")

Usage

Search datasets

library(mospiR)

# All datasets (fetches all pages)
all <- list_datasets(api_key)

# Filter by keyword
labour <- list_datasets(api_key, query = "labour force")

# Single page
page1 <- list_datasets(api_key, page = 1)

List files in a dataset

files <- list_files("DDI-IND-MOSPI-NSSO-68Rnd-Sch2.0-July2011-June2012", api_key)
files[, c("name", "size")]

Download a single file

download_file(
  dataset_id  = "DDI-IND-MOSPI-NSSO-68Rnd-Sch2.0-July2011-June2012",
  file_name   = "Nss68_1.0_Type2_new format.rar",
  folder_path = "data/nss68",
  api_key     = api_key
)

Download all files in a dataset

download_dataset(
  dataset_id  = "DDI-IND-MOSPI-NSSO-68Rnd-Sch2.0-July2011-June2012",
  folder_path = "data/nss68",
  api_key     = api_key
)

Functions

Function	Description
list_datasets(api_key, page, query)	List datasets; page = NULL fetches all pages; query filters by title (client-side)
list_files(dataset_id, api_key)	Files in a dataset (name, base64, size, …)
download_file(dataset_id, file_name, folder_path, api_key)	Download one file by name
download_dataset(dataset_id, folder_path, api_key)	Download all files in a dataset

Failed requests retry up to 4 times with exponential backoff on 401, 429, and 5xx.