ISLAMABAD: Three new data entry codes for the disabled have been introduced in the population count form and a follow-up survey will be held after the census to determine major causes of disability in the country, Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa said on Friday.
The announcement came following Supreme Court directions to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) which was asked to include separate codes for the disabled in the ongoing count. The data will help chart the total number of healthy and unhealthy people in the country.
“We have conveyed to enumeration officers all over Pakistan to manually include in Form 2-A, in the ‘sex’ column, three additional codes: ‘4’ for disabled man, ‘5’ for disabled woman and ‘6’ for disabled transgender,” Mr Bajwa said, while addressing a press conference.
Headcount to begin today
The requisite changes were made to the computer tabulation system as well, he said. The proposed survey will help collect data about the causes of disability, including data on fertility, education and employment, etc.
The survey would cost Rs18.5 billion, he said, of which, Rs6bn would be spent on army personnel and a similar amount on the PBS staff. The remaining Rs6.5bn would be spent on providing transportation. Provinces would share the cost of the survey with the federal government, Mr Bajwa said.
In the first phase of the census, the government has kicked off house listing and population headcount in 63 districts. The census team will comprise two people — a civil enumerator and a military person. Each census team has been assigned two blocks.
A block has 200 to 250 houses on average. Enumerators carried out house listing in the first three days. From Saturday onwards, the headcount will begin for 10 days. A day will be spent counting homeless people, and another day to return the data collected.
A similar exercise will be carried out for the second bloc from March 31 onwards.