ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has initiated the pilot test of the digital solution which will be used to conduct first-ever digital census in the country.

The pilot test — which is underway in 429 census blocks of 83 tehsils across the four provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir — was preceded by an initial testing.

The development came to light in a meeting of the Census Monitoring Committee presided by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), finance ministry, Nadra, Council of Common Interests (CCI), National Telecom Corporation and all provinces including AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Nadra chairman Tariq Malik told the meeting that the digital solution was developed using modern agile methodology in just three weeks.

He added that during the ongoing pilot phase, 59,569 structures, 58,882 households and 74,536 people have been enumerated.

Mr Malik briefed the committee that the solution included deployment of android-based house listings and enumeration application synchronised with global positioning system (GPS) and geographical information system (GIS), data centre and call centre services and establishment of technical support centres at tehsil level, along with an online web portal for the public.

The system will ensure accuracy, accountability and transparency throughout the process, the Nadra chairman added.

The android-based digital applications have online and offline support with seamless data synchronisation feature. The system will support the PBS in all three stages of the census i.e., pre census stage, census stage and post census stage.

Nadra was extending data centre services for a centralised repository of census data, along with digital imageries at the PBS.

Furthermore, a user-friendly web portal has been developed to enable people register the cases of their non-availability at the time of census exercise.

Earlier in January, the CCI approved the conduct of Seventh Population and Housing Census and the establishment of the census monitoring committee. Subsequently, the PBS signed an agreement with Nadra in June to develop a comprehensive digital solution to carry out the census.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2022