Culture & Society

Bangladesh begins doorstep Family Card data drive

Trained staff will visit homes to record family details for the Tk 2,500-a-month scheme, as the information state minister warns that anyone taking money to add a name to the beneficiary list will face action.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 08:33

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Yasser Khan Choudhury speaks at the launch of field-level data collection for the Family Card programme in Nandail, Mymensingh, on 17 October 2026. BSS (Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha)

Bangladesh has begun collecting household data door to door for its Family Card programme, with the state minister for information and broadcasting warning that anyone who takes money to add a name to the beneficiary list will face strict action.

State Minister Yasser Khan Choudhury launched the field-level data collection in Nandail upazila of Mymensingh on Saturday, after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman pledged the card before the election. Trained staff carrying official identity cards will visit every household to record families' social and economic conditions, he said, and beneficiaries will be chosen through verification rather than recommendation.

'There is no need to seek recommendations from anyone to obtain a Family Card,' the minister said. He said no one should pay money to anybody to be added to the list, and urged families to stay alert to fraudsters, keeping a second family member present when details are entered on government tablets.

Card holders will receive Tk 2,500 a month from the government through mobile financial services. The minister said the money is meant to help women meet medical costs, run small businesses and cover personal needs, and to help them become financially self-reliant.

The government is building a central database of households across the country as part of the rollout. Yasser said all those involved in the collection and verification must be careful that no eligible family is left out.

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File photo of the commercial district at Motijheel in Dhaka, where many businesses registered for VAT operate. Photo: ASaber91 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. ASaber91 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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Official portrait of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (2017). Photo: Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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