The first-ever digital census in Pakistan has become controversial after major political parties in Sindh including Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movemnet-Pakistan have raised reservations.
Foreign Minister, who is also PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has threatened to come out of the federal government’s coalition if PPP’s reservations are not addressed on the census. “I got to know that a digital census is underway when it was extended. If this is a census where you have to enter your information yourself on the internet and if I as a federal minister did not know, then it means the people must not know [about it] either.”
The PPP chairman said the party wanted a “just and right” census and not a “flawed” digital census being conducted in a similarly “flawed” manner.
Many countries around the world have digitized population counts to streamline and improve the accuracy of data, but the reservations raised by the political parties have questioned the future and results of the census.
This measure of socioeconomic status will inform public policymakers and improve public welfare. Not only this, an efficient map can be used to plan better for constituencies and rescue and relief operations. However, the task is to make sure that digital services and geotagging locations will lead to an accurate data collection mechanism, and this is possible if enumerators are trained in transparent collection.
The 2017 census faced many miscounts and underrepresentation of communities. Proof of this fact is the count of transgender people, which was reported as only 10,418 out of 208 million. This was a gross underestimation of the size of the community and exclusion of groups in a census can lead to their exclusion from social security plans, public services, and government socio-economic initiatives. A way to counter a misrepresentation is with a public that is aware of on-ground realities so that the results can be vetted.
This exercise has taken a great chunk of government funds, especially with tablets being provided to 126,000 enumerators. Hopefully, this investment will bring out a more transparent and truer picture of the country. The concerns of the stakeholders should be addressed to save the time and the funds of the government and produce transparent results.
