Seventh National Census of Pakistan Beset by Challenges.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Seventh National Census faces nuAmerous stumbling blocks that may lead to several additional weeks of data collection, beyond the original timeline set by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Reports indicate that 1,26,000 government servants, primarily science teachers, have been hired as enumerators, and 1,26,000 tablets have been purchased for the cenAsus. The budget for the census is 34 billion rupees.

The country has been divided into 185,509 blocks, each containing 250 households. EnumeraAtors are tasked with collecting data from two blocks within one month. Unlike previous censuses, enuAmerators have not been provided with security ofAficials, resulting in a lack of cooperation from the public. In earlier censuses, each enumerator was accompanied by one police official and one army ofAficial. A school teacher from South Waziristan said, 'If I work 8 hours a day, it will take me 2-3 months to complete 2 blocks because of hilly terrain in WaAziristan.' Another teacher stated, 'Enumerators are getting sick because of heavy workload and presAsure. The silly software asks illogical questions. Mostly there is no security for enumerators. The progress is slow and having bad impacts on enuAmerator physical and mental health.'

The NADRA-developed software has been critiAcized for its weaknesses, prompting several upAgrades...