Census and the CCI

ISLAMABAD: Governments have viewed conducting population census as an important policy formulation tool since ancient times. A population census can prove to be important in the fair allocation of resources, health programmes, law enforcement and representation in government for various groups based on population sizes. But the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in Pakistan discusses this important issue only once a year. It did not provide any policy on the census in the year 2010-11, after the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, and we still don’t see any evidence of regulation and supervision of the institutions relevant to the census. The British government of India conducted various censuses of population over the years. After independence, Pakistan has conducted five censuses of its population, with the last population census being conducted in 1998. Census surveys are a constitutional obligation and it is mandatory for the federal government to conduct one every 10 years, but we have not seen one being conducted in the last 17 years. After the passage of the 18^th Amendment, the CCI has been responsible for formulating policies and regulating, supervising and exercising control over institutions relevant to the census. Let’s look at what the CCI has done to fulfil its constitutional obligations, as far as the census is concerned, by looking at CCI annual reports and other sources.

In the CCI Annual Report 2010-11, the CCI discusses the census as a non-agenda item where it asks for a briefing by the statistics division. That is the only information we have available related to a census in that report. In the CCI Annual Report 2011-12, the CCI does not discuss a census at all — not even a mention of a briefing from the statistics division this time around. In the CCI Annual Report 2012-13, there is, again, no discussion of a census. There is no evidence of any CCI member or bureaucrat demanding a census. After this report, the CCI did not publish any further annual reports, which is another violation of constitutional obligations.

We have not seen much evidence of the CCI taking steps to build its capacity to perform its duties with regard to conducting a census. Through newspapers, we have learnt that the body has decided to conduct a sixth population census in March 2016 with the support of our armed forces, as was done in 1998. Again, however, the CCI does not discuss this proposed census in detail. It does not talk about modern technology like digital maps, the internet, telephone interviews and hand-held terminals. It does not discuss cost-effective methods of holding a census or the techniques and methods that could improvise the conduct of the next census.

This lack of planning and coordination by the CCI is casting doubts over the possibilities of actually pulling off a census in 2016. According to a news report, funds have not yet been released for the year-long exercise. According to the same report, the federal government is considering dropping the idea of conducting a census next year altogether and is, instead, weighing the possibility of using population data from the NADRA database for planning and future resource distribution. This loss of interest in holding a census does not match well with constitutional obligations. We have seen that the CCI does not inform the public about details of its decisions. It has been designed to enable proactive federal and provincial coordination, but when the CCI does not even exercise its powers and responsibilities, it will not be able to fulfil its purposes.

Naseer Ahmed

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2015.

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