REJAUL KARIM BYRON
The social welfare ministry has drawn up an ambitious plan to implement the Family Card programme, a major electoral pledge of the new government, involving an outlay of Tk 1,34,000 crore over four years.
As per the plan, 2 crore families would be brought under the Family Card scheme within four years by surveying 4.1 crore households. To run the programme, the ministry has proposed recruiting 4,061 additional staff and appointing two social workers in each union.
For fiscal 2026–27, the ministry plans to distribute 41 lakh Family Cards and has sought Tk 13,740 crore.
At a meeting chaired by the finance minister on April 28, concerns were raised about distributing 41 lakh Family Cards in the upcoming fiscal year before preparations are complete.
Pilot testing of 35,000 cardholders revealed anomalies of up to 18.1 percent. Beneficiaries of TCB smart cards, the Food-Friendly programme, or the Vulnerable Women Benefit scheme are not eligible for Family Cards, yet some were found among pilot beneficiaries.
Feedback on the social welfare ministry’s plan is expected in today’s meeting of the cabinet committee on social safety net.
The committee will also decide whether to include five other electoral pledges -- monthly honorariums for families of martyrs and the injured in the July uprising, Farmers’ Card, allowances for mosque and other religious institution workers, canal excavation, and tree plantation programmes -- in social safety net programmes.
However, questions have been raised about whether canal excavation and tree plantation, both development projects, should fall under social security.
Currently, the social security budget covers 95 programmes, of which 39 are identified as pro-poor, benefiting nearly 8 crore people.
About Tk 117,000 crore has been allocated for social net programmes this fiscal year.
Questions remain over whether certain programmes should be included in the safety net budget, with issues such as non-poor beneficiaries and mistargeting persisting.
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