Govt to collect data from 4.45 crore families by December, aims allowance for 40 lakh more women
Photo: Collected
The government will collect data from around 4.45 crore families across the country by December this year. Based on verification and screening of that data, a target has been set for 40 lakh new female heads of household to receive family cards and allowances in the current 2026-27 fiscal year. There are also plans to bring all eligible female heads of household under the programme in phases over the next four fiscal years.
Social Welfare Minister Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain disclosed the information at a press conference at the conference room of the Press Information Department at the Secretariat on Monday (12 October). The press conference was organised to brief the media on the nationwide collection of family-based data for the family card programme.
The minister said national development and the establishment of social justice are among the government’s pledges, which will be fulfilled by ensuring women’s rights, dignity, empowerment and economic independence. It is with that aim that the programme of issuing family cards in the name of the female head of the family is being implemented.
He said the work of collecting household or family-based data began simultaneously in all areas of the country today, 12 October. A total of 66,815 people have been engaged in the work as data collectors and 6,681 as supervisors.
According to the minister, the data collectors will visit every house with specialised tabs to collect information on the ground, and the data will be submitted directly to an online database through the mobile network. To run the activities smoothly, the setting up of a network operation centre, procurement of SIM cards and network-based cyber security arrangements have been completed.
Giving the database figures, Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain said the work of collecting data from around 4.45 crore families and including it in the database will be completed by December. The number of families has been calculated by counting one family for every five members.
The minister said families in the country have been classified into five categories under the family card programme, considering their socio-economic status. With the application of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ updated proxy means test (PMT) method, each family will fall into one of five categories: extreme poor, poor, vulnerable lower-income, middle-income and upper-income.
According to him, a female head of household with a PMT score of 860 or less will be considered eligible for the allowance. All female heads of household will get family cards, but only families in the first three categories will receive allowances. That means only female heads of extreme poor, poor and vulnerable lower-income families will be considered for the allowance.
To implement the programme, the government has formulated the ‘Family Card Implementation Policy, 2026’. And the ‘Family Card Household Database Data Collection Guidelines, 2026’ have been prepared to conduct the data collection.
The social welfare minister said Tk 14,500 crore has been allocated for the programme in the 2026-27 fiscal year, of which Tk 12,300 crore has been earmarked for allowances.
Earlier, on 10 March, the prime minister inaugurated the trial or piloting phase of the programme. During the piloting phase, which ran until June this year, data was collected from a total of 112,094 families in 55 upazilas of 44 districts and 57 units of city corporations across the country’s eight divisions.
The minister said 71,831 beneficiaries selected as eligible on the basis of their proxy means test (PMT) scores received family cards and allowances. The allocation for that phase was Tk 86.60 crore, against which spending stood at Tk 65.73 crore, of which Tk 57.20 crore went on allowances. The main implementation of the programme began in July 2026.
The minister further said the family cards given to beneficiaries will feature a QR code, dual chip and near field communication (NFC) technology. The card will be linked to the government payment system named TakaPay.
Using this card, beneficiaries will be able to withdraw their allowance through mobile financial services (MFS), point of sale (POS) terminals at shopping centres or bank ATM booths.
State Minister for Social Welfare Farzana Sharmin, Social Welfare Secretary Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf and Principal Information Officer Syed Abdal Ahmed were also present at the press conference.
