Staff Reporter:
Data collection at the household level has begun yesterday across the country under the government’s priority ‘Family Card’ program, aimed at ensuring women’s empowerment, their economic emancipation and self-reliance.
Through this initiative, data on approximately 45 million families across the country will be integrated into a single digital database.
Professor Dr. AZM Zahid Hossain, Minister for Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs, dis-closed this information yesterday at a press conference at the Press Information Department (PID) at Bangladesh Secretariat here.
State Minister for Social Welfare Farzana Sharmin Putul, Ministry’s Secretary Dr. Mohammad Abu Yousuf and Principal Information Officer (PIO) Syed Abdal Ahmad, along with officials concerned from the ministry and the Department of Social Services, were present at the conference.
During the briefing, the Social Welfare Minister stated that as part of the Family Card initiative, the process of collecting data through direct door-to-door visits began nationwide yesterday.
A total of 66,815 trained data collectors and 6,681 supervisors have been deployed for this task. The data collection process is scheduled to conclude by November 30 and it will be ready by December.
Dr. Zahid Hossain said, “Ordinary citizens need not to run after government offices or individuals to obtain a Family Card, government data collectors will visit the doorstep of every family directly. Eligi-ble families will automatically be identified from the database using a fully scientific Proxy Means Test (PMT) method.”
In this context, he said, “There is no scope for political influence, nepotism or the use of unfair means to get a family card.”
