All set for Pindi’s digital population census

Preparations for the country's 7th digital population and household census have been completed in the Rawalpindi district. The training of the officers and field staff has been started for the digital census starting next month, February 7. The census will be completed by February 28.

Sources said, in the census, a three-storied house will be declared as three houses. Transpersons and trans-children will also be counted during the census.

According to sources, it will be a fully computerised census for which computer tablets, having internet facility, have been provided to the staff.

The Rawalpindi district has been divided into different blocks and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has appointed a separate in-charge for each block.

At least 3,000 teachers and clerks have been recruited for field staff duty.

In this census, the data related to houses including bungalows and huts, rooms, kitchens, washrooms, fuel such as gas cylinders, wood, coal, kerosene, energy-related items like electricity, solar panels or lamps, vehicles including cars motorcycles and bicycles will be collected.

Meanwhile, data related to citizens having none of these articles will also be collected during the census.

The houses owned or rented by a family and the amount of rent it collects including other sources of income will also be collected. Further, data related to religion and language will also be collected.

Data regarding children’s education such as whether the children attend a school or have dropped out, their school fees etc will also be collected.

In this regard, the chief census commissioner has issued directives, saying the citizens should provide accurate information, all of which will be kept confidential.

“The development schemes will be launched based on this data,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the district census officer said that the training of the officers and staff for the census will be completed in January.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2023.