Population census should be conducted with no further delay

The sixth population census of the country is set to see further delays as the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has failed to conduct it as per schedule, although three years have passed since drawing up a master plan for this. The statistical agency prepared a master plan in 2018 to carry out the census from January 2-8 this year. It was supposed to publish a preliminary report on the exercise by July. In October 2019, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved a Tk 1,761 crore project for the population and housing census. However the BBS could not hold the census as per the schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. In January 2021, it shifted the date to October 25-31.
The latest reason for the delay is stated to be the rejection of tender by the cabinet committee on purchases. The tender was floated on June 23 to buy 3.95 lakh tabs for the digital census, and the technical evaluation committee of the BBS chose the second-lowest bidder after the lowest bidder was disqualified over specifications. When the matter came to its table for final approval, the cabinet committee on purchases shot it down for some procedural flaws in the tender, not for flaws in the technical evaluation. The cabinet committee on August 25, rejected the proposal for buying tabs, citing non-compliance.
The census, which is conducted once every decade, provides complete data on the overall population, its composition, workforce, density, housing and other socio-economic indicators are vital for formulating economic and other policies. We call the cabinet committee to speed up the process as lack of commissioned data often hamper designing social and economic development programmes. The BBS will spend two-thirds of the budget on data collection and other ancillary activities and the rest on devices and software purchases. But the agency should accelerate the process of starting data collection with no further delay.