— Pakistan’s 7th census to be the biggest digital exercise in South Asia
— 121000 field enumerators deployed for census
ISLAMABAD: With the estimated expenditure of around Rs 34 billion, the country’s first ever digital population and housing census begins across the country from Wednesday. For holding the census, around 121000 field enumerators have been deployed across the country.
While addressing a press conference here, Member Support Services and Spokesperson of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Muhammad Sarwar Gondal said the census starting from March 1, 2023 will be completed by 1st April and the data will be released by 30th of April after approval from Council of Common Interests.
According to him, the process has already been started in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
A portal has already been launched by the Bureau so that people can submit their data themselves and don’t need to face the botheration of giving data to census teams visiting door-to-door.
He said more than 4 million people have already been registered at the portal and a UTN number will be issued to them after their data is saved and they can give that number to the census team which will save their own time and also of the census team.
The Spokesperson said 121000 field enumerators have been deployed for the field operation of the census which is beginning on Wednesday.
He said this process will be completed by 1st April and the data will be released by 30th of April which will then be approved by the Council of Common Interests.
He added that this will be the evidence based authentic data as per international standards which will be used for constituency delimitation in next general elections as well as for public policy planning.
He said this is the 7th census in the country and the first ever digital census not only of Pakistan but also of south Asia.
The spokesperson said the census teams will be monitored by geo-mapping and geo-tagging data of SUPARCO and administration officials of respective province, division, district and tehsil where census teams are carrying out enumeration, will be given access to the dashboard of that specific area.
Elucidating this, he said Chief Secretaries of provinces will have access across the province, similarly Commissioners will have access to Divisions, Deputy Commissioners to districts and Assistant Commissioners to tehsils.
The spokesperson said to avoid any hacking or failure of the online system we have separated the process from the internet and have converted it into our own internet server. He said we have already done a security audit of the dashboards.
However, to ensure smooth running of census field operation there will also be an alternate manual system if any problem occurs in the online system in any area.
The spokesperson said security arrangements have also been made for the census staff and police and army personnel will be deployed keeping in view the sensitivity of the area.
He said special SOPs have been devised for enumeration in flood affected areas of the country where many people are not yet settled into their homes.
In reply to a query he said as with any first-time technology initiative, there are some minor issues that are being reported, which have been communicated to NADRA, who is taking care of the technology solutions behind the census. Mr Gondal was grateful for the positive feedback as it is helping NADRA improve their systems.
Responding to another question regarding concerns being raised on the process from Sindh, in particular Karachi, Balochistan and a few other quarters, Gondal said that prior to the census extensive and intensive consultations were held at levels, especially with provincial stakeholders to explain the complete digital process.
The apprehensions being raised are due to a lack of understanding of what the census process entails. PBS is once again engaging with the stakeholders to explain the facts and clear all misunderstandings to ensure that the census is being held in a transparent manner, counting each and everyone living in Pakistan, at the location they are living in. It is for this reason that a digitized methodology was chosen for this census.
Further explaining the census objective, Mr Gondal shared that “as per the General Statistics Reorganization Act 2011 and UN Conventions, census is a national duty to inform policy making, future planning and development for the progress of the country. Participation in the census is mandatory and providing reliable information is a civic duty for everyone living in Pakistan.”
According to him, spreading fake news or misinformation for any purpose is a criminal offense, or politicizing it or using it for agenda setting is dishonesty to the country and to the people. Census is our national duty and together we have to make this first-ever digital census a global success.
Staying true to the principles of honesty and integrity, fulfilling its main mandate and the decision of the CCI, PBS is conducting the first-ever digital census with the objective of providing credible, transparent and timely data for decision-making. The digitization of the census guarantees transparency, accountability and efficiency.
