Conduct of surveys, population census discussed: Dar chairs seventh meeting of PBS Council

The seventh meeting of the Governing Council of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), chaired by Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar here on Saturday, dilated at length on the overall functioning of the Council as well as activities of PBS regarding conduct of surveys/censuses on matters of national significance including population census which was of prime importance.
The Member Secretary of the Council briefed the meeting about the performance of the PBS and apprised all members about the implementation status of the decisions taken in the 6th meeting. The meeting was informed about the progress made on the decisions regarding change of base year for the purpose of GDP estimation, Gross Fixed Capital Formation from 2005 to 2015-16 and similarly, the change of base year for computation of price indices from 2007-8 to 2015-16.
The meeting thereafter discussed updating of sampling frame for urban and rural areas of the country for conducting of sample surveys and censuses. The Member-Secretary briefed about the process of updation and use of GPS devices for the purpose. He explained that after completion of this exercise, PBS will be able to give complete digitised maps showing detailed information and land marks in the concerned area. The meeting was informed that the entire urban area comprising 48,052 enumeration blocks have already been updated from PBS resources whereas updation of rural area frame is being planned for which PC-1 amounting to Rs 306 million has been prepared and submitted to Planning Division for approval.
The meeting was informed that PBS has initiated updating work in the rural areas with the financial support of UNFPA and updated 8,718 enumeration blocks so far. The chair appreciated the efforts made by the PBS in this regard. Conduct of Agriculture Census was another focal item in the meeting. The Secretary/ Chief Statistician informed the meeting that in the past PBS was conducting three censuses in the area of agriculture ie Agriculture Census, Agriculture Machinery Census and Livestock Census with different time frame. It was noticed that same segment of population was being approached for collecting information thrice which consumed huge financial and human resources as well as placed undue burden on the respondents. It was felt that the three exercises could be combined into a single exercise to save the resources. It was also an international practice. The Chair was requested to approve the proposal. The Chair after soliciting the suggestions from members of the Governing Council, approved the proposal and took decided that agriculture census, agri machinery census and livestock census be merged into single exercise and Census may be conducted after every five years.
Conduct of Population Census was another important matter discussed at the meeting. The Member/Secretary informed the House that summary for conduct of population census was on the agenda of the CCI meeting which needed to be prioritized and Members of the CCI need to be sensitized on the issue as considerable time has passed and availability of census data is a dire need of the hour. Other members also emphasized the importance of the census data and suggested to the Chair to that this issue be submitted to the next meeting of the CCI. The Chair opined that CCI is the proper forum to decide about the matter and that he will take necessary steps to bring up the issue in the next meeting of CCI.
The Chair was informed that PBS has been conducting PSLM survey under different names as development project since 1995 and providing data to policy makers on various key areas which is going to end on June 30, 2015. The Member/Secretary informed that nine rounds of the survey have been conducted so far. PSLM collects data on household income and expenditure which is used for computation of poverty indicators. It also provides data on 8 MDG Goals, 16 targets and 37 indicators. The Chair was informed that 263 staff members ie 18 officers and 245 officials have also been working on the project on contract basis since 1995. These staff members have been employed since long and have vast experience in collection of data in the field. The Member Secretary put forth the idea for regularization of the staff shifting activities of the PSLM project to the Regular side keeping in view its importance. Staff of the project may be regularized after fulfilling codal formalities, he suggested.
The Chair in this regard sought opinion from the members who recommended for continuation of PSLM survey in any format and also suggested to enhance the scope of the survey by including more areas of policy issues like data on fertility, agriculture etc. The Chair directed the Member Secretary to discuss this issue with the Secretary Finance and EAD to find a way for its continuation whereas project staff could be adjusted accordingly after fulfilling the regularization procedure.
The meeting was also briefed about the digitization of Manual Maps prepared for use in different censuses/ surveys. It was informed that a number of meetings have been held with the Provincial Revenue Depts to collect Massavies of the Mauza maps for digitization process. In all there are 141 districts in the country out of which Massavies of villages of 53 districts have been scanned and data has been digitized for 3,770 Mauzas.
The chair was informed that PBS was assigned the responsibility of developing SAARCSTAT Database and Web Portal for all the Member States. PBS has successfully achieved the target and in recognition of the services provided by PBS, it has been asked to maintain and update the same in future which is a sense of satisfaction on the work done by PBS. The Chair appreciated achievement of PBS and congratulated the staff who worked on this assignment.-PR