2008 census to ensure gender equity, says CCC

Pakistan Government has planned to hold population census in 2008 in a transparent manner, to ensure the gender equity in the country, said Karam Elahi, Chief Census Commissioner, at the sensitisation workshop on 'Census and Gender Equity' on Saturday.
He inaugurated the workshop, which was organised by 'Population Census Organisation' of the Statistics Department, in collaboration with UNFPA, at a local hotel, in the absence of Sindh Chief Secretary Shakeel Durrani, who was supposed to inaugurate the workshop.
According to official statement issued during the workshop, Durrani could not attend the workshop due to unavoidable reasons. On this occasion, Muhammad Saeed, Census Commissioner, Abdul Hameed Khan, Joint Census Commissioner, Ahmed Sultan Deputy Census Commissioner, Dr Shahnaz Shelwani, UNFPA-Sindh representative and Fatima Surayabajya were present, while a large number of participants from different walks of life attended the workshop.
Karam Elahi said that census helps in continuing the development process in the country, and through census statistics the government collected taxes in the country. "Census will also help the government formulate the 'long term' development policies," he added.
He said that technological development on a vast level had taken place in the world that could be used to hold a transparent, accurate and credible census in the country. He said that women were integral part of all developments in the country and expressed hope that the workshop would help ensure credibility of the census.
Muhammad Saeed said that the Cabinet in its April meeting had decided to hold the Sixth Population and Housing Census in the country in 2008. He said the census would be held from October 10 to October 30, 2008, by involving armed forces, and added that before holding census no nation-wide activity would undertaken six months before or after the completion of census process.
"Statistics are essential for realistic planning, better management, good governance and effective administration," he remarked. According to him, population and housing census provides basic data on demographic, social and economic characteristics of all persons living in the country and their living conditions. He said that census primarily provides basis for all administrative activities and projection of population to meet future requirements.
Saeed said that census would provide basis for political representation to the National Assembly under Article 51 (3) of the constitution. He quoted the said article of the constitution, "the seats in National Assembly shall be allocated to each province, the Fata and Federal Capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published".
Population base issued for distribution of funds to the federating units by the National Finance Commission formed under article 160 (2) of the constitution, he added.
He recalled that the first census in the areas now comprising Pakistan was held in 1881, adding that since then censuses had regularly been conducted after every ten years in the year ending at one. Since independence, five censuses have been held in the country, in 1951, 1961, 1972, 1981, and in 1998, he maintained.
Stressing the need of free, fair and transparent census, the Census Commissioner said that next census in 2008 were needed to be carried out in a smooth manner in the larger interests of the country. "Entire Pakistan including tribal areas (Fata) and (Pata) will be covered besides Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Northern Areas," he added.
He said that Afghan refugees and special population groups living in camps would be excluded from census process, he noted. "Several topics will be covered in census 2008, including age, sex, relationship to the head, marital status, religion, mother tongue (language) and nationality," he added.
Earlier, Dr Shahnaz Shelwani highlighted UNFPA's activities in various countries including Afghanistan and Bhutan in carrying out censuses there in collaboration with the respective state functionaries.