National Statistics Office Faces Challenges in Economic Census Promotion Due to Government Advertising Policy

Kathmandu. The National Statistics Office has stated that it is facing problems in promoting the national economic census due to the government's advertising policy. 

In a discussion with radio journalists on Monday, Chief Statistics Officer Dr. Kamal Prasad Pokharel complained that due to the new government policy on advertising, it has not been possible to cooperate with private media as expected. 

Especially in rural areas where the demand for FM radio is still high, the lack of information flow has slowed down publicity at the local level, he said. In addition, due to the new policy of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, it has been difficult for enumerators in the field as they have not been able to spread public awareness through the color ring back tone of telecommunication service providers this time, Pokharel mentioned. 

However, he clarified that after discussions with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, a special request has been made to the media through the Advertising Board, and the enumerators are diligently collecting data. 

Despite the obstacles, the economic census, which started on April 2, has been 54 percent completed by the middle of its term. Providing information that data has been collected from about 800,000 establishments and organizations so far, Pokharel said that the goal is to include every establishment without missing any, compared to the 923,000 establishments covered in the 2075 economic census. 

This census will provide reliable information about the country's employment, economic activity trends, and overall economic progress, which will also support the government's goal of building an economy of 100 trillion rupees within the next five years and the process of upgrading Nepal from a Least Developed Country (LDC) after three years. 

Similarly, Deputy Chief Statistics Officer and Spokesperson of the office, Dhundiraj Lamichhane, said that due to the lack of publicity, it has become even more difficult to conduct the economic census work in rural areas. He mentioned that enumerators have repeatedly complained that it is difficult to work because many people in the villages are not aware of the economic census. Despite the lack of publicity, more than 800,000 paper questionnaires have been distributed to establishments so far, and more than 10,000 e-census tokens have been distributed. 

Offices have been established in all districts to carry out this economic census, which will run until June 7. The office has requested cooperation from all parties to make the census successful, as the support of local level chiefs and ward chairpersons has been effective in this work, and necessary coordination is being carried out with the Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, and provincial governments.