Islamabad, 4th April, 2018; 5th meeting of the Standing Committee on Statistics was held today under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, MNA.
 
2.The meeting started with the recitation from the Holy Quran. Then, the Committee decided to proceed with the agenda.
 
3.The Committee confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting held on 20th March, 2018.

4.The Federal Secretary, Ministry of Statistics, Ms. Rukhsana Yasmeen gave a briefing regarding the compliance report on the recommendations of the previous meeting of the Committee. The positive response of the Ministry on the said recommendations was appreciated by the Chair. The Committee discussed in detail the issues pertaining to the collection and compilation of the Census of Manufacturing Industries (CMI) 2015-2016, especially with regards to the Sindh Province. The Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Government of Sindh and the Director General, Sindh Bureau of Statistics briefed the Committee on their respective roles and strategies to conduct CMI 2015-2016 in Sindh. It was told that the retrieval of duly filled survey forms had become the biggest hurdle in collection of data as the manufacturing industries were reluctant to provide the requisite information due to misperceived apprehensions about government taxation policies. However, the Director General Sindh Bureau of Statistics assured the Committee that a new strategy had been developed to collect the requisite data by taking the District Administration and Environment Protection Agency on board. The Committee appreciated the efforts being made by the Sindh Bureau of Statistics. The Committee also directed to take appropriate steps in creating awareness amongst the manufacturing industries regarding the importance of statistical data required by the government for developing resultant policy and projects for the betterment of people.

5.The Ministry also gave a detailed briefing on Population Census-2017 and the problems related to its validation. It was told that the validation process of Census had remained in a state of limbo due to the difference between the directions issued by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and the decisions of Monitoring & Oversight Committee of Senators regarding the mechanism to be adopted for the audit of the Census-2017. It was also told that the matter had again been presented before the CCI in its meeting held on 27th March, 2018. However, a concrete decision in that regard was awaited. The Ministry also expressed its concern over the misconceived controversies being created over the exhaustive exercise of the recently held Census. It was told that the whole process was done according to the best of the Ministry’s abilities. The Committee supported the Ministry’s view point in that regard.

6.The meeting was attended by the Honorable MNA/Members Dr. Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharral, Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, Ms. Sabiha Nazir, Mr. Sarzameen Khan, Mr. Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan and Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub MNA and senior officers from the Ministry of Statistics and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics