Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday ordered provincial governments to finish the 7th Digital Population and Housing-2023 field operation by May 15.
The Minister gave these orders during a Census Monitoring Committee (CMC) meeting to review Census Field Operation progress.
Syed Amin Ul Haque, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, Chief Census Commissioner, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), provincial Chie Statistics, and other stakeholders attended the conference.
The government prolonged the 7th Population and Housing-2023 field operation until May 15, 2023, on May 1.
The Chief Census Commissioner updated the Minister on field operations and PBS targets since the deadline extension on May 1. He informed the meeting that the Demographer Committee was formed by the 9th CMC meeting to analyse demographic trends by examining growth rates.
The source said that after comprehensive talks, the other elements in the anomalous blocks suggested opening all districts in Pakistan for at least 10 days whose population growth is less than 1.5 and closing other districts above the average.
After CMC clearance, districts with a growth rate of less than 1.5 were closed nationwide, however CM Sindh allowed enumeration from May 1 to 15.
The Planning Minister ordered provincial Chief Commissioners to close PBS gaps and finish the exercise by May 15. The Minister remarked, “Finish this exercise on May 15 so that the Census report can be submitted to the CII for final approval.” This is the national exercise, and all eyes are on the government.
The Minister noted that the massive exercise should not be controversial because the country is already in the worst circumstances and urged stakeholders to devote all their resources to make it effective.
This Digital Census cost Rs 34 billion, and successful administration requires precise demographic and distribution data. Delimitation will take four months after the CII Election Commission of Pakistan receives a report.
