The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported that more than 90 percent of the work had been completed in Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ahead of the April 10 deadline for the country’s first digital census.
The data released by the government on Wednesday, Islamabad and Balochistan are considerably behind schedule, with 72 percent and 62 percent of the work completed, respectively.
The brief and sketchy details shared by the PBS also mentioned the contribution of 121,000 field enumerators, who made the exercise feasible within the allotted time frame, which was revised on Tuesday when the bureau extended the last date of field operations from April 4 to April 10.
The PBS statement did not clarify the reason for the subpar performance in Islamabad and Balochistan or how the remaining work would be completed in five days.
Balochistan is making abysmally slow progress; forty percent of the required labor must be completed within five days.
“The digital census is a tremendous success and a source of national pride,” the PBS said, adding that 40 million households had been counted and geotagged and 92 percent of the census work had been completed successfully, including 95 percent in KP, 95 percent in Punjab, 92 percent in Sindh, and 62 percent in Balochistan.
The data of nearly 10 million individuals are synchronized daily without any issues or technical glitches, according to the report. This is a monumental victory for Pakistan.
PBS officials did not respond to requests for clarification regarding the provincial data division provided by the federal agency. However, the statement lauded the role of provincial governments in assuring the coverage of territories under their respective administrations.
The provincial governments play a significant role in assuring 100 percent census coverage and the quality and credibility of the entire census process.
According to the report. “The real-time data monitoring dashboards that PBS provides to provincial and district administrations enable a completely transparent process and continuous oversight of field operations. The dashboard also aids provincial governments in identifying daily anomalies, overlooked areas, and any other emerging irregularities.”
