This is with regards to the news reports, ‘Govt forms Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ published on 24th December. The re-structuring of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), was a long-awaited issue and has now has been settled by the present government. But it is still to be seen whether establishment of an autonomous body will prove to be a pre-requisite in the availability of reliable official statistics or not? It can also be noted that the officials of FBS, while collecting official statistics through different kinds of surveys, etc, did not have any kind of authority or force, like the one vested in Police, military and judiciary, except that they were employees of the government. To an enumerator, being the focal person who collects data and restructuring of the department is not quite an issue. But for the respondent, being the member of a more or less conservative society, it matters too much that the person who wants to get certain important information, which can lead him to face taxation on his income, belongs to either a government owned body or private.
OMER FAROOQ
PAKISTAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS
islamabad
