The format of the census form could have been floated in the public domain for valuable feedback
KARACHI: Census 2017 is being carried out in the country after a gap of 19 years with the help of civilian volunteers and the army. A week before the counting exercise could begin, one political party expressed its concern about the census details ordered to be filled in pencil in Sindh province. The political party used social media and other means of communication to make people aware of this and urged them not to let the census staff fill any detail in pencil.
This was followed by another objection raised by certain quarters that the census form excluded transgender persons. Last but not the least, members of the Sikh community pointed out that their community’s name was mentioned in the religion column of the census form. In the first place, I would like to know who was assigned the task of preparing the census form. Next, I would like to know who is responsible for the omissions. Why were transgender persons and Sikh community members ignored? Also why was the census form not discussed in parliament or brought before the media for discussion?
The format of the census form could have been floated in the public domain for valuable feedback. The government will be spending billions of rupees of public money to conduct the census — only to yield questionable results. A job half done is a job not done at all.
Rafique Zakaria
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2017.
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