ISLAMABAD: A comprehensive presentation on the spadework required for the sixth population and housing census, to be carried out in March under the supervision of the armed forces, was made at a meeting of the Apex Committee on Population Census on Thursday.

The chief statistician of Pakistan, Asif Bajwa, informed the committee that the country had been divided into 162,921 ‘census blocks’ which would cover the four provinces as well as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. A field force of 205,372 persons, who would work as enumerators and supervisors, would be required for the exercise.

While explaining the methodology to be employed, Mr Bajwa said the exercise would be carried out in one go. That is, house listing and the main census would take place simultaneously.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who chaired the meeting, suggested that experts of the Survey of Pakistan and the interior and information technology divisions should meet to share their experiences and assessments before taking up the all-important exercise.

He also directed the Economic Affairs Division to coordinate with donor agencies and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to arrange the requisite foreign support and expertise, where required.

The minister emphasised the importance of the exercise and said that all efforts should be made to conduct it in an accurate and transparent manner.

Earlier, Mr Bajwa made a presentation on the preparations made by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for the conduct of census in the country. He informed the committee that the population and housing census would be held in accordance with decisions of the Council of Common Interests.

He presented a detailed analysis about the preparatory activities which included finalisation of modalities with the federal and provincial governments and the armed forces for the nationwide exercise.

The meeting was attended by all the committee’s members including interior division secretary, acting defence secretary, IT division secretary, acting finance secretary, additional secretary, EAD, and representatives of the provincial governments, Nadra, Manpower Institute, NIPS, ECP, Capital Administration and the Survey of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2015

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