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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has compiled preliminary reports of census data, Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa said on Tuesday following the monthly briefing on inflation at the Statistics House.
Mr Bajwa said that the PBS would share the reports with the prime minister, who is chairman of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). He further said that the reports would be shared through the office of the finance minister.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi took the oath on Tuesday. It was expected that the cabinet members would be sworn in on Wednesday.
The government spent Rs18.5bn on census, of which Rs6bn was spent on army personnel and a similar amount on PBS staff
As per earlier reports, the PBS was scheduled to send the census reports to the finance ministry by the end of July. A tentative meeting of the Council of Common Interests was also planned during the same period.
In the two phases almost all areas of Pakistan, including the special areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, were completely covered.
The first phase of the exercise ended on April 15. The phase-II of the census was completed by May 25.
The government spent Rs18.5 billion on census, of which Rs6bn was spent on army personnel and a similar amount on the PBS staff. The remaining Rs6.5bn was spent on providing transportation. The provinces had shared the cost of the survey with the federal government.
The first census in the country was conducted in 1951, the second in 1961, the third in 1972 instead of 1971 due to political turmoil, and the fourth in 1981. The fifth census, which was due in 1991, was conducted in March 1998 with the help of the Army.
The census is considered to be one of the basic elements for judicious distribution of resources, calculating representation in parliament, electoral processes, tax collection, tackling civic issues, including growing urbanisation and evaluation of resources for infrastructure development.
Under the Constitution, the government is bound to conduct census every 10 years.
Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2017
