It has taken three years for the government to validate the 2017 National Census—even then the approval has not been without complaints. The MQM, which earlier had emphatically rejected the results but is now an ally of the PTI government, submitted a dissent note. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has rejected the federal cabinet’s decision to go ahead without an audit in randomly selected blocks to remove “massive lacunae in the controversial” headcount exercise.
An accurate and representative census is necessary for the good functioning of the country. PPP has valid concerns against the census—it contends that the count on de jure method does not count migrants from other provinces in the population of the province where they were presently living, which has affected the Sindh results, and according to PPP, disenfranchises Sindhis. This logic can be extended to the other provinces as well. A fair and accurate census provides a strong database for which the government can consult to make well-informed policy decisions—methodologies which leave behind certain populations in the census will lead to weaker policy for those segments of society. Inaccurate census data can lead to discrepancies in funding allocations to provinces, which can severely affect government province. Five percent for a recount is not too difficult and can be managed.
While these contentions are valid, the timing of this, three full years after the census took place, sheds light to how poorly coordinated the process has been. This inordinate time delay is causing many problems. The government’s solution does not seem practical at this point—it has suggested holding a census after every three years, instead of ten years as it mostly has been. Yet considering the long delay that the validation of this census has taken, this suggestion seems unlikely—it seems it would be better if the different political parties could pull off a thorough census after every five years, rather than a highly contentious one after three years.
https://nation.com.pk/25-Dec-2020/census-contentions
Census Contentions: edit in The Nation, Dec 25, 2020
It has taken three years for the government to validate the 2017 National Census—even then the approval has not been without complaints. The MQM, which earlier had emphatically rejected the results but is now an ally of the PTI government, submitted a dissent note. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has rejected the federal cabinet’s decision to go ahead without an audit in randomly selected blocks to remove “massive lacunae in the controversial” headcount exercise.
An accurate and representative census is necessary for the good functioning of the country. PPP has valid concerns against the census—it contends that the count on de jure method does not count migrants from other provinces in the population of the province where they were presently living, which has affected the Sindh results, and according to PPP, disenfranchises Sindhis. This logic can be extended to the other provinces as well. A fair and accurate census provides a strong database for which the government can consult to make well-informed policy decisions—methodologies which leave behind certain populations in the census will lead to weaker policy for those segments of society. Inaccurate census data can lead to discrepancies in funding allocations to provinces, which can severely affect government province. Five percent for a recount is not too difficult and can be managed.
While these contentions are valid, the timing of this, three full years after the census took place, sheds light to how poorly coordinated the process has been. This inordinate time delay is causing many problems. The government’s solution does not seem practical at this point—it has suggested holding a census after every three years, instead of ten years as it mostly has been. Yet considering the long delay that the validation of this census has taken, this suggestion seems unlikely—it seems it would be better if the different political parties could pull off a thorough census after every five years, rather than a highly contentious one after three years.
https://nation.com.pk/25-Dec-2020/census-contentions
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan