Population survey in Bangladesh

Population survey in Bangladesh
  Population survey is a prominent aspect in the field
of counting through which actual strength and number of manpower can be
measured scientifically. There is no denying the fact that in Bangladesh such survey has been carried out in many times but
the criteria that have been used as performance indicators which have not
satisfied the targeted goals. After survey it is seen that many complaints have
been received from different regions where double counting, triple counting and
even forged people being fictitious have been explored. The word survey
originates from census which emanates from the Latin term censure, envisaging
‘assess’ and it by and large indicates the official complete counting of a
country’s population. Besides population survey, there are two other types of
surveys that are frequently conducted. These are agricultural survey or
counting of agricultural holdings and economic survey or counting of economic
units. All the three types of surveys-population, agricultural and economic-
are on a regular basis held in Bangladesh. However, as the population survey illustrates the
numerical universe of the country, all other surveys depend on population
survey as a concrete framework of data collection.
Considering total counts of population, household or
land sporadically in villages was ingredient of social life from early times in
the Indian subcontinent as well as the areas now comprising Bangladesh. The system sustained in the Mughal period
predominantly throughout their reigns but chopped in disuse after the decline
of the Mughal Empire. The first population survey for the whole country on
modern line following the one designed for the Belgian Survey of 1845, was
established by the British Government all the way through India counting the
present day Bangladesh territory in 1881as a decennial procedure. The 1881
populace survey was paved the way by a number of surveys of reinvestigation
nature taken during 1769-1855 by the East India Company and by the Crown during
1858-1869. However, as compared to up-to-the-minute surveys, these surveys were
disconnected, barely methodical and lacked standardization. The methodical
challenge to determine the entirety population of the complete countryside by
actually counting heads was made between 1867 and 1872.
Feedback form is the heart of survey taking and reflects the basic purpose for which
the survey is taken. Since 1981 survey, Bangladesh population survey have included two questionnaires-
the short or the main questionnaire that is universally canvassed and the long
questionnaire that is used in the sample survey. The sample survey is conducted
after the main count to collect detailed and supplementary information on the
basis of sampling a portion of the counted population. Since 1981 survey the
OPTICAL MARK READER questionnaire in completely pre-coded form has been
successfully used in the total count to collect the population and housing
information with considerable ease in field record, reduction in data capture time
and complete elimination of human error in data capture process. Specimen of
the OPTICAL MARK READER forms used in the main counts of 1981 and 1991 survey
are provided as appendices. Since the 2001 sample survey is planned to cover a
fairly large segment of the population , to reduce data capture
time and error free data entry, the sample survey questionnaire will also be in
OPTICAL MARK READER format.