Census continues in Kachin State with KIO
Play
The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and its armed wing Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are cooperating with the government to finish the national census in villages of Kachin State, as fighting continues.
A meeting between the Minister for Immigration and Population Khin Yi and the KIA’s General Gunmaw resulted in an agreement to complete the census in areas and villages under insurgent control.
As KIA will carry out the census by itself in the areas where there are land mines, the Kachin census committee is training census takers from the KIA while it continues in other, less dangerous areas.
“KIA soldiers will take the census by themselves in some dangerous areas while the census committee takes charge of some villages, so the committee and KIA are cooperating,” said Myint Kyaing, the director-general for the Ministry of Immigration and Population.
After the deadline of the national census on April 10, an eight-week extension was added due to technical delays. Up to 110 remote villages in Kachin State remained unregistered by the census committee, and at present only 90 villages remain.
Fighting between the Myanmar Army and KIA broke out on April 10 in Man Win Gyi in southern Kachin State. Security incidents have been reported regularly in the area since then.
In Rakhine State, some Muslim communities rejected being included in the national census because the government did not allow them to identify themselves as Rohingya. The government only recognises them as Bengalis.
Myint Kyaing said an extension will be given until mid-June for those who rejected to be counted and by the end of May they should have a clear number.
The initial census report will be declared in August this year while a more detailed account will be publicised in May 2015, the Ministry of Immigration and Population announced.
A total of 10.7 million families have been registered within the official period between March 30 and April 10, the central census commission announced.
The last comprehensive census was in 1931. The one in 1983 did not cover many areas where conflict raged between government troops and armed ethnic forces.
Of the current census, Khaing Khaing Soe, director of Myanmar’s department of population and a member of the Central Census Commission said: “It is very important for the government because they will use this census when they lay down their policy. When they undertake projects, they need to know the number of people in the project area.”
The questionnaire will yield basic data on things like birth and death rates, maternal mortality, household income, employment, sanitation and fuel sources.
