The federal government has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to conduct Pakistan’s first national digital census by December 2022 or January 2023.
The census was originally planned for August 2022 but could not be launched due to the delay in the acquisition of 126,000 tablets required for the task. Now that the Letter of Credit (LoC) has been issued for the procurement of the tablets, it is likely that the task will be completed in time.
The federal government has instructed PBS to assist the Government of Sindh in conducting the census through the de jure methodology because the provincial government had certain reservations during the last census.
The Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal, presided over the third meeting of the Census Monitoring Committee (CMC) on Monday, according to a press release issued by the Ministry for Planning. The meeting was attended by all the provincial Chief Secretaries, the Additional Commissioner Islamabad, the Director General (DG) Military Operations, the Managing Director of the National Technology Council (NTC), and the Chairman NADRA, as well as other senior officers and local government representatives.
The attendees were apprised about the pilot census, the finalization of the revised work plan based on the schedules provided by the NADRA, and updates on the meeting with the Chief Minister of Sindh regarding the enumeration methodology.
The NADRA briefed the committee about the pilot census conducted in 33 districts throughout the country between July and August 2022 to test the tools and technology to be used in the seventh national population and housing census.
The PBS Chief Statistician, Dr. Naeem Uz Zafar, informed the attendees that despite the overall success of the pilot census, a few shortcomings were detected, which will be addressed before the final rollout. Additionally, all the software and hardware will be retested by PBS and NADRA before the final census.
Minister Iqbal stressed efficiency in launching the census in collaboration with all the stakeholders, including the Election Commission (EC) of Pakistan, civil society, academia, politicians, and demographers to ensure unanimity. He also instructed the PBS and the NADRA to revise the census training and the acquisition of the tablets, respectively. He also instructed NADRA to involve the EC in the process as a co-opted CMC member.
