Time for a count

On December 1, the Supreme Court demanded a schedule from the government to conduct national census. The government has been making a lame excuse that the army is not available to conduct the census. It is surprising that for the last 15 years no census has been conducted. The only infrastructure available in the country to determine the strength of a household is the database collected by polio teams. During polio campaigns, these teams collect data from almost all households.

If the unavailability of the army is the prime concern, polio teams could be trained for carrying out national census. They can extract accurate data as they know the areas well. The supervisors of polio teams can supervise national census as well. However, in troubled areas like Fata, the army’s help should be taken. Polio teams should be given extrinsic rewards for carrying out this additional work.

M Q Yaaser

Rawalpindi