Summary Census is being delayed on the pretext of one or the other
Dunya News Report (Saleem Khilji)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan may be the only one in the list of largest countries, which has been running without census for the last 18 years. Under the Constitutional obligation, the census was due in 2008. Lastly, it was decided by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in 2010 during the PPP government to hold census in 2011, but only the count of houses could be made possible at that time.
The question as to who is responsible for this procrastination is yet to be answered by the Ministry concerned. The present and past governments anyhow are responsible for delaying the census as it was delayed on the pretext of one or the other. Among a number of excuses is the crises situation prevailing within the country since the last two decades, but it is less convincing for many. Apart from it is a mere negligence on the part of our bureaucracy, who is in fact responsible for the data collection.
After partition, the first census in the country was held in 1951, the second one in 1961, third in 1972, fourth in 1981, and the fifth and last one was in 1998. All these censuses were untaken under the legal cover of Census Ordinance 1959. However, the next and 6th census will be conducted under General Statistics (Re-organization) Act, 2011.
According to this Act, the Federal Government is not bound to hold census at regular intervals. Part VI of the Act states: “The Federal Government may, from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, declare that a census of population and housing conditions of Pakistan shall be taken by the Bureau during such period as may be specified therein.”
Though the process to hold the sixth census is scheduled to start from March 28 (to be completed about 20 days), the government has not yet released the amount earmarked for the purpose. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, during a press briefing on February 6, hinted at the delay in population and housing census on account of unavailability of military personnel due to their engagement in operation Zarb-e-Azb. However, the minister did not furnish the media with
any possible date or deadline regarding the holding of census.
Earlier, a spokesman for Pakistan Statistics Bureau, hinting at the early release of funds, said a host of activities are required to conduct such a large operation and many do not require upfront funds. These pertain to planning, coordination, resource requirements and assessment of available resources, he said, adding that these activities are already in hand.
The government has earmarked Rs14.5 billion for the census out of which Rs 7.4 billion would go to Pakistan army for providing security. Around 0.2 million army men will be deployed across the country for the security of census staff. The census (both population and housing) would be conducted simultaneously for which the country has been reportedly divided into 162,921 census blocks; each block would consist of 200 to 250 houses.
Holding of census after every 10 years is a constitutional obligation. It is a federal subject as listed at Sl. NO. 38 of Federal Legislation list, Part-1, Fourth Schedule, Constitution of Pakistan.
It is highly important in the sense that the seats for the national and provincial assemblies are allocated on the basis of it. Secondly, the funds between the federation and the provinces are disbursed and distributed on the basis of population. Thirdly, the quota for the recruitment of federal posts is also worked out on the basis of population ratio. It is also required for tax collection and other civic issues, including peri-urban settlements, resource allocation for infrastructure development, provision of civic amenities, etc.
Some of the governance experts believe that the policy makers and bureaucracy are deliberately delaying the process, as it would result in formation of more constituencies and urban areas for which the government would have to provide civic facilities and basic infrastructure. The government is bound to provide a population exceeding 3000 households all the basic and civic amenities as were enshrined in the Constitution. The experts are of the view that hundreds of new union councils would emerge in the aftermath of census so the provincial governments have to devolve more funds to the districts ultimately halting the mega projects in big cities. Most of the district funds are being utilized in the big cities ultimately attracting a large chunk of population in rural areas towards urban areas causing scores of problems there. The ratio of rural and urban population is now 50:50, which used to be 70:30 till the late 80s.
Generally, the research techniques like de-jure (persons count at their usual place of residence), and de-facto (persons count where they are found on the census data) are used to get census results. In 1998 census, both these techniques were applied simultaneously. The same techniques are likely to be applied now.
Statisticians said regular census provides governments, policy makers, officials, academics, business community and related people to take stock of the socio-economic conditions in the country. Without a proper data, they said, no planning can be done. Though estimations are made on the basis of old data but these cannot be the alternate. They said any analysis done on the basis of old data may lead to wrong understanding redressal of the issue.
