Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Thursday chaired an inaugural meeting of the National Census Apex Committee. The meeting was attended by all the members including Secretary Interior Division, Acting Secretary Defence Secretary IT Division, Acting Secretary Finance, Additional Secretary EAD and representatives from Provincial governments, Nadra, Manpower Institute, NIPS, ECP, Capital Administration, Survey of Pakistan and others to discuss preparations regarding the 6th Population and Housing Census scheduled to be held in March 2016.
Addressing the meeting, the finance minister emphasised the importance of the census exercise and stated that all efforts should be made to conduct the census in precise, accurate and transparent manner. The Chief Statistician, Asif Bajwa gave a comprehensive presentation on preparations made by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) for conduct of census in the country. He highlighted its methodology, structure, appointment of field staff, activity calendar and role of stakeholders at federal and provincial levels.
He informed the participants that Population and Housing census will be held in March 2016 under the supervision of armed forces in accordance with the decisions of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). He gave a detailed rundown on the preparatory activities which involved finalisation of modalities with Federal and Provincial governments and the Armed Forces for the nation-wide exercise.
While explaining the census methodology, the Chief Statistician informed that census would be conducted in one go, ie house listing and main census would take place simultaneously. The country has been divided into 1,62,921 Census Blocks which cover the four countries as well as Fata, AJ&K and GB. A field force of 2,05,372 will be required as enumerators and supervisors. After detailed deliberations, the chair directed that a meeting may be held with the experts of Interior Division, Survey of Pakistan and IT Division to share their experiences in preparation of maps and assessment of IT equipment before taking up the all important census exercise.