NA body briefed on audit of 6th Population Census

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly's, Standing Committee on Statistics was briefed Tuesday on the process for hiring third-party services to conduct audit of the Population and Housing Census as per the directions issued by the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

The said audit process of the 6th Census conducted during 2017 was expected to be completed in April 2018, according to press release issued here.

Meeting of the Standing Committee on Statistics was held Tuesday under the Chairmanship of MNA, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, here at Parliament house.

The Federal Secretary, Ministry of Statistics, Ms. Rukhsana Yasmeen gave a briefing on the compliance of recommendations of the previous meeting to the Standing Committee.

It was told that the collection and preparation of the statistical data was being given due importance by the Ministry.

Discussing the credibility of the statistical data being prepared and provided the ministry, it was informed that as Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) had the most comprehensive scale to conduct any given survey, therefore national and international institutions usually seek its assistance to obtain sampling data in the country when they conduct independent surveys.

The Standing Committee praised the performance of PBS and stressed on its projection at national and international level. The Standing Committee also recommended that in order to evade any doubts regarding data, the survey teams while conducting their surveys should also meet with representatives of the people such as Member of National or Provincial Assembly or Nazim of the area concerned area.

The Standing Committee scrutinized and approved the Public Sector Development Project (PSDP) for the Financial Year 2018-19 of the Ministry of Statistics.

The meeting was attended by the MNAs Dr. Shezra Mansab, Ali Khan Kharral, Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, Ms. Sabiha Nazir, Lal Chand Malhi, Aqib Ullah Khan, S.A. Iqbal Qadri, MNA and senior officers from the Ministry of Statistics and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.