THIS is apropos of two news items (April 1).
According to one, the result of population census just completed in India gives the number of people as 1.2 billion. The other says 'legislators are sceptical as regards the forthcoming census in Pakistan'.
A census is carried out every 10 years in most countries. In the subcontinent the British colonial administration started the exercise over a century ago and, along with India, Pakistan continued doing so without any delay.
It is a constitutional requirement. India has been conducting a census since 1951 without fail, requiring the census to be held in February and results are released by the end of March.
On the other hand, in Pakistan census has taken its toll with political motives. The 1971 census was postponed for a year due to the civil war in then East Pakistan, but was conducted in 1972. The 1981 census was conducted on time, but its results made Punjab jittery, because it lost some population due to migration to Sindh and consequently some of the National Assembly seats of the former were allocated to the latter, according to the requirement of the 1973 Constitution.
For political reasons the 1991 census was postponed, and was only conducted in 1998 after pressure from the UN. Although the 1998 census was conducted under the supervision of the armed forces, it still did not account for over six million people - mostly from Sindh - so that none of the provinces were reported losing (or gaining) their share in the country's population as was established in 1981.
Consequently, the UN did not accept the current (2010) estimate of Pakistan's population of 171 million as given by the Pakistan Census Organisation, and the UN and its affiliated bodies report an estimated population of 185 million.
All of us know that census is a requirement for all sorts of planning in the country as well as at the local level. Therefore, an accurate and timely census is our immediate need. Would Pakistan set aside internal politics and join 50 other nations which are conducting censuses this year or would it prefer joining the group of countries like Somalia and Afghanistan which have not been able to conduct their censuses for decades due to political turmoil and instabilities.
PROF MEHTAB S. KARIMWashington