Social Welfare Minister A Z M Zahid Hussain told reporters that the government will formally launch the Family Card program on 16 August after a pilot phase, with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurating it in Ward 8 of Latifabad Union in Kishoreganj Sadar.
The minister spoke after a cabinet committee meeting on the Family Card chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury at the Secretariat.
He said the aim is to bring about 16 million families into the program over four years, and the number may increase depending on data collection and assessment.
From 16 August, data collection will be fully online using a new questionnaire, and the registry will be updated monthly so that deaths and changes in economic status are reflected quickly.
Union-level verification is intended to ensure genuine beneficiaries are not excluded and ineligible people are not included, and the minister said benefits will not be granted or denied on the basis of religion, ethnicity or political identity.
The minister said a pilot in 56 areas produced positive results, with an error rate below 3 percent, and that data collection problems in two areas in Jashore and Netrokona had been corrected.
Oversight will include committees at upazila, district and divisional levels, a national committee chaired by the finance minister, and regular monitoring by the prime minister.
He also said directing support through women in beneficiary families would aid children's education, nutrition and health, as well as poultry raising, tree planting, cottage industry, tailoring and small ventures, supporting women's empowerment.