Population census hits snag

The next population census has hit a snag after a government-run company expressed its inability to timely provide equipment for conducting door-to-door headcount digitally, serving the first blow to the official plans of making the 7th census politically acceptable to all.

The last government had approved a roadmap to begin the pilot census from May 15 and the door-to-door census from August this year but these deadlines can no more be met, sources in the Ministry of Planning and Development told The Express Tribune.

But the plan suffered a major setback when the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) – a government-run organisation that manufactures telecommunication equipment and electronic systems – showed its inability to provide the equipment required for carrying out the census, the sources added.

The development comes on the heels of deepening political uncertainty in the country, which could further increase as Sindh-based political parties had refused to accept the next general elections on the basis of the last population census.

“The population census has been postponed because of a delay in procurement of hardware and software for conducting census digitally,” Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Chief Statistician Dr Naeemul Zafar confirmed. Dr Zafar is also the chief census commissioner.

The PTI government had planned to hold a new census digitally which was aimed at making it transparent and acceptable to all political parties. For the purpose, it arranged a limited competition between the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the NRTC. In its bid, the NRTC had offered to provide equipment at a cost of roughly Rs9.3 billion, which was 15% cheaper than the NADRA’s offer.

The PBS had accepted the NRTC’s offer and issued it a Letter of Intent on February 24. But on March 3, the NRTC showed its inability to provide the equipment.

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Zafar confirmed that the LoI had been issued to the NRTC but it did not timely accept the offer. Three days ago, the firm sought more time to respond, the chief statistician said.

“Even if we get the green signal from the vender today, the census will be delayed by at least two to two-and-a-half months against the original schedule,” Zafar said.

The sources said that the NADRA was lobbying to get the contract and using various tools to win over the PBS. However, the authorities had concerns that the NADRA may pouch its sensitive and crucial data.

Lately, the NADRA offered to do the job at roughly Rs9.5 billion – a task that it had earlier priced at Rs11 billion, the sources said.

However, a senior official said that the transparency demanded that the PBS should go for fresh bidding aimed at keeping the process transparent.

The census roadmap approved by the PBS Governing Council and the government suggested that the next census cannot be conducted without first procuring the equipment. The plan is based on tablet-based data collection, geo-tagging, real-time monitoring, extensive training through technological intervention, and time reduction in releasing results will lead the process towards transparency and reliability.

The chief statistician said that this is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a digital census is being conducted.

According to the approved roadmap, the acquisition of hardware that includes tablet, servers, laptops and allied accessories, and software would be completed between September 2021 to March 2022 – a deadline that lapsed.

On the basis of the initial 30,000 laptops, that the vendor was required to handover by March, the PBS had planned the training of the field staff for pilot survey from April 15 to 30 April – a task that now cannot be done.

The pilot census of 1% of the blocks or 2,000 blocks had been planned to begin from May 15 but cannot be initiated now. Without the pilot census, the main census in August cannot be held as the staff is not trained to conduct digital census, according to the PBS.

House Listing Operation had been planned from August 1 to 18 and headcount from August 19 to 31, which would not be possible any more.

The target was to hand over the census results by December 2022 to the Election Commission of Pakistan, which right now is delayed by at least two to two-and-a-half months, according to the chief statistician.

Former planning minister Asad Umar had said that only one to two per cent of the census would be paper-based, and 98 per cent of the process digital. He had vowed to announce the census results in December 2022.

The PBS officials had held meetings with the technical teams of NADRA and NRTC for the finalisation of the turnkey proposal. The sources said that the PBS had issued a letter to the NRTC on March 17 for the final reply and sent two other reminders on March 25 and 31, 2022 for the purpose.

The PBS has on its part completed digitisation of blocks, now standing at 182,180 and locked the frame.

The sources said that the delay in holding the next elections without fresh census could antagonise the MQM that had refused to accept the results of the last headcount.