ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has directed the authorities to ensure a transparent and smooth population census and sought the help of the armed forces for this purpose. He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting here on Friday that reviewed arrangements for the population and housing census, which is scheduled to take place this year. 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 made by the Federal Bureau of Statistics and other federal and provincial institutions. He said that regular meetings of the officials concerned and experts were being convened to fine-tune the arrangements for the census. The finance minister directed the chief statistician to coordinate with the relevant authorities and submit a complete action plan for his consideration within three days. He said that all efforts should be made to ensure that census activities are carried out as per the schedule. Separately, Dar chaired a meeting here on Friday that discussed matters relating to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Prime Minister’s Youth Loan Scheme, micro finance and expansion of electronic banking services. Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance briefed Dar about the progress on various initiatives. The meeting reviewed the targets set for various programmes and the achievements made so far. The way forward on each programme was also discussed. The finance minister stated that it was the aim of the government to expand the outreach of banking services to the 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 the remotest parts of the country. The meeting also reviewed arrangements for the visit of Dr Jim Yong Kim, president of World Bank, and Queen Maxima of Netherlands. Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, EAD, BISP, micro finance institutions and other relevant departments were also present.