Census 2016: Dar calls for coordination, assistance of armed forces

Also chairs meeting to review public welfare programmes including BISP, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and PM’s Youth Loan Scheme among others

Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar on Friday directed to ensure transparent, smooth and secure conduct of the census and stressed the need for assistance and coordination from the armed forces.

Presiding over a meeting which was held to review arrangements for the Population and Housing census scheduled for 2016, the finance minister directed the chief statistician to coordinate with the relevant authorities in this regard and submit a complete action plan for his consideration within three days.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and Bureau of Statistics attended the meeting.

Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa briefed the meeting about the preparations for the census being undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Statistics in coordination with other federal and provincial institutions. He said that regular meetings of all the concerned officials and experts were being held to fine tune the arrangements.

The finance minister said that all efforts should be made to ensure that census activities are carried out as per schedule.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMES:

A meeting to review government’s initiatives for promoting financial inclusion in the country with Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar in the chair was held on Friday; matters relating to Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Prime Minister’s Youth Loan Scheme, Micro-finance and expansion of electronic banking services were discussed during the meeting.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, briefed Ishaq Dar on the progress of various initiatives. The meeting reviewed the targets set for various programmes and the achievement made so far. The way forward on each program was also discussed.

The finance minister stated that it was the aim of the government to expand the outreach of banking services to maximum number of people especially the under-served and underprivileged sections of the society. He said that government programmes should make maximum use of the latest developments in information technology to expand the coverage of financial services to remote parts of the country.

The meeting also reviewed arrangements for the visit of World Bank President Dr Jim Yong Kim and Queen Maxima of Netherlands.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, EAD, BISP, Microfinance institutions and other relevant departments attended the meeting.