Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammed Azam Khan has formally launched digital census in the province as part of the seventh national headcount in the country.
A ceremony to this effect was held here at the Chief Minister House Peshawar on Wednesday which was also attended by officials of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Azam Khan kicked off the census by writing enumeration numbers at the gate of the Chief Minister House.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that census is of vital importance with regard to comprehensive planning for national development, adding that equitable distribution of resources as well as development strategies are planned on the basis of statistics obtained through census.
He noted that census indicates increasing ratio of population and distribution of urban and rural population in addition to determining important socio-economic factors in society.
The chief minister said that digital census is being conducted for the first time in Pakistan’s history in which modern technology is being used unlike the traditional method of census, adding that under the digital census mechanism, citizens have been provided the facility of self-registration.
Muhammad Azam Khan remarked that it is the national obligation of every citizen to ensure accurate data entry of his family members during the census.
He appealed to the public to fully cooperate with the census teams to make the census a success.
The seventh population and housing census and first digital self-enumeration across the province will continue till April 7 like the rest of the country.
The department of education, police, army, and Bureau of Statistics would conduct the national census while the general public could also get themselves registered in the census by using the option of self-enumeration online.
Self-enumeration is a new concept that gives every resident of the country the option to register in the census.
Officials said that any household member can register all members of the family who live and eat together as a household.
According to Statistic Bureau, hostels, jails, seminaries, rehabilitation centers, orphanages, and old houses would be considered collective households and could not avail the facility of self-enumeration.
All the divisional commissioners, being chairmen of the Divisional Census Committees, are supervising the census and would ensure mutual coordination among the line departments besides monitoring the daily reports.
Under the digital census, the Peshawar division had been divided into eight circles where the relevant staff would visit door-to-door and verify the details of each household.
In Peshawar, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and Census staff listed the Chief Secretary House by allotting it a house number and the data was digitally recorded through an electronic device to start the census.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2023.
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