Digital census work be completed by January 2023

Census monitoring committee asked to get consent of Sindh government on Dejure methodology

Islamabad: Sep 13, 2022: The government has directed the Department of Statistics (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics) and NADRA to review the timeline and complete the major works by December 2022 or January 2023.

Census monitoring committee asked to get consent of Sindh government on Dejure methodology.

Third meeting of Census Monitoring Committee (CMC) to was held on 12th September, 2022 under the chair of Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, M/o PD&SI, at P – Block, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.

As per recommendations of CMC, Pilot Census for 7th Population & Housing Census – 2022 was conducted w.e.f. 20th July, 2022 to 3rd August, 2022 in 33 districts throughout the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan with the aim to test tools and technology before going into full rollout.

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The statistics department is of the opinion that if the census is done by January 2023, delimitation may be done as the final number of constituencies will come out when the provincial census results are out.

Pilot Census Evaluation Report has been finalized by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

CMC is responsible for supervision and evaluation of Pilot Census and recommendations for full roll-out of Census-2022. Therefore, the main objectives of meeting were debriefing on Pilot Census, finalization of revised work plan based on timelines provided by NADRA and to provide updates on meeting with Chief Minister Sindh regarding enumeration methodology to the committee.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretaries of all Provinces/Regions with relevant Secretaries, Additional Commissioner Islamabad, DG Military Operations, Directorate, Chairman NADRA, MD NTC and senior officers from Education, Local Government, Finance and senior officers of PBS.

Dr. NaeemuzZafar, Chief Statistician, gave a brief of the previous CMC Meeting and then he discussed the outcomes of Pilot Census.

He informed the participants that Pilot Census was conducted for testing tools and technology, field operation and security mechanism before full roll out of Census-2022.

PBS has scrutinized the whole process and it is heartening to share that PBS, along with partner organization, completed enumeration within assigned time of 15 days for each block; however, despite overall success, there were a few shortcomings which will be addressed before full rollout.

All software and hardware will be tested before Census Operation by PBS and NADRA.

PBS has compiled all the issues faced during the exercise and it is very important to present the exact situation to the committee and collaborating partners like NADRA, NTC and SUPARCO etc.

Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of PD&SI emphasized on the timely completion of Census and involvement of and consultation with all stakeholders like Election Commission, Civil Societies, Academia, Politicians and Demographers to ensure consensus.

He directed PBS to coordinate with Election Commission and include them as co-opted member in Census Monitoring Committee; moreover, he directed PBS to engage with civil society to ensure that they are on-board. On census timelines, he directed PBS and NADRA to revise census training and tablet procurement respectively.

Ahsan Iqbal further advised PBS to make all efforts to get consent of Sindh government on Dejure methodology as they had reservations on results of last census.

The meeting resolved to continue with concerted efforts for transparent and credible conduct of census.