An interactive session with media to share the details of digital system established to gather census data in a transparent way was held at N3C, PBS, Head office. The purpose of the session was to share the details of digital system established by PBS to gather census data in a transparent way. During the session details of 7th Population and housing census were shared with the media. The session was attended by media persons from Islamabad in person while those from rest of the country through zoom link. Senior management of PBS including Chief Census Commissioner, Dr Naeem uz Zafar, Member Support Services and Resource Management, Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member Census and Surveys, Mr. Ayazuddin and other Senior officers were also present at the occasion.
The event covered Keynote speech, Presentation on 7th Population and Housing Census-First Ever Digital census and discussion session. Chief Statistician, Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, welcomed all the participants and highlighted the importance of the first ever digital census in the country. He emphasized that media plays a very vital role in transmitting the true information to the general public and this interactive session will help the media persons to understand and communicate salient features of the 7th population and housing census. He also assured that PBS will keep an interaction with media on regular basis during the whole census exercise.
Member (Support Services/Resource management),Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal,in his presentation emphasized that the main purpose of census is data collection for evidence based Policy making, Planning and allocation of funds for development projects and media has to play a role of Ambassador of PBS by communicating positive image of Digital Census in the country. He further added that on the recommendations of the CCI, PBS has a designed a system of conducting first ever Digital Census with the consensus of allthe stakeholders. Latest digital technology has been used in this census which includes geo tagging of structures, swift data collection through specifically designed Tablets, centralized role based monitoring and management system, real time dashboards, and rapid availability of results. The participants were informed that PBS has hired 121,000 field enumerators from provincial governments for this task. 992 training centers have been established throughout the country and second round of training is underway in these centers. In 628 Tehsils, 495 census support centers have been established for the technical support of the district administration in the field. The participants were also informed that PBS has already tested all the softwares and hardware working in a pilot survey conducted in 33 districts which was conducted during 17th July to 4th August.
