THAT the results of the National Census 2017 were approved by the federal cabinet on Tuesday, three years after the fact, is an indication of how contentious the exercise has been. The MQM, which earlier had emphatically rejected the results but is now an ally of the PTI government, submitted a dissent note. It was decided at the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan, to send the census report to the Council of Common Interests for the provinces to sign off on. Further, the cabinet proposed that the exercise be conducted every three years instead of decennially as mandated by the Constitution.
A periodic census is essential for running the country, at least if it is to be run with the help of reliable statistical data. Providing a detailed socioeconomic picture, it guides governments in framing policies and allocating funds for them. The population distribution mapped by the census factors into the NFC Award, the delimitation of constituencies and the allocation of seats in parliament. Its results are thus not only critical for the country’s future but they also go to the heart of political power that is dependent on changing population dynamics. With various distortions having crept into the political arena due to periods of unelected rule and disputed elections, the holding of the census itself has become a fraught undertaking. Consider how the intervals of national census taking have become longer. After independence the exercise has been held in 1951, 1961, 1972 (a year later because of the 1971 war), 1981, 1998, and the most recent, 19 years later, in 2017. Even so, the 2017 census was held only after the Supreme Court ordered it. The conduct of the exercise by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the constitution of the PBS governing council raised a number of misgivings especially among the smaller provinces and the results were widely disputed. Aside from other procedural anomalies, the census was conducted without a pilot survey and not followed up by a post-enumeration survey. These mechanisms assess the quality of the data and as a widely accepted practice are included as components of the overall operation. A flawed census, in a country already riven with ethnic and religious fault lines, stokes further dissent and alienation. The census-taking process itself must be revisited and amended to ensure a transparent and credible exercise. Two hundred million-plus people deserve nothing less
https://www.dawn.com/news/1597544/census-results
Census results: Editorial in Dawn, Dec 24th, 2020
THAT the results of the National Census 2017 were approved by the federal cabinet on Tuesday, three years after the fact, is an indication of how contentious the exercise has been. The MQM, which earlier had emphatically rejected the results but is now an ally of the PTI government, submitted a dissent note. It was decided at the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan, to send the census report to the Council of Common Interests for the provinces to sign off on. Further, the cabinet proposed that the exercise be conducted every three years instead of decennially as mandated by the Constitution.
A periodic census is essential for running the country, at least if it is to be run with the help of reliable statistical data. Providing a detailed socioeconomic picture, it guides governments in framing policies and allocating funds for them. The population distribution mapped by the census factors into the NFC Award, the delimitation of constituencies and the allocation of seats in parliament. Its results are thus not only critical for the country’s future but they also go to the heart of political power that is dependent on changing population dynamics. With various distortions having crept into the political arena due to periods of unelected rule and disputed elections, the holding of the census itself has become a fraught undertaking. Consider how the intervals of national census taking have become longer. After independence the exercise has been held in 1951, 1961, 1972 (a year later because of the 1971 war), 1981, 1998, and the most recent, 19 years later, in 2017. Even so, the 2017 census was held only after the Supreme Court ordered it. The conduct of the exercise by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the constitution of the PBS governing council raised a number of misgivings especially among the smaller provinces and the results were widely disputed. Aside from other procedural anomalies, the census was conducted without a pilot survey and not followed up by a post-enumeration survey. These mechanisms assess the quality of the data and as a widely accepted practice are included as components of the overall operation. A flawed census, in a country already riven with ethnic and religious fault lines, stokes further dissent and alienation. The census-taking process itself must be revisited and amended to ensure a transparent and credible exercise. Two hundred million-plus people deserve nothing less
https://www.dawn.com/news/1597544/census-results
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan