Cash handout makes its modest start on Mar 10

PM launches safety-net scheme initially for 4 months in 15 upazilas

FE REPORT | Published: February 24, 2026 23:51:37

PM Tarique Rahman presided over a meeting on 'family card' at the Secretariat on Tuesday. — PID

Cash-assistance handout under the new government's 'Universal Family Card' scheme makes a modest start on March 10 for 15 upazilas on a pilot basis and then plays out as countrywide safety net, officials said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is set to inaugurate the pilot project that will last four months and then the government would go for implementing the universal family card gradually covering all upazilas across the country, they said.
This initiative, a key election pledge of the BNP-led government, aims at providing a robust social-safety net for the country's marginalized people ahead of this coming holy Eid-ul-Fitr festival.
The decision was made at a high-level meeting Tuesday at the Secretariat with the Prime Minister presiding.
"The PM will inaugurate the pilot scheme on March 10," Social Welfare Minister Dr. Abu Zafar Mohammad Zahid Hossain told journalists after the meeting.
"There will be no political or religious discrimination of any kind. It is a universal card and is being launched on a pilot basis," the minister said.
According to the government plan, each cardholder family will receive Tk 2,500 per month.
According to the government officials, the tentative selected upazilas are Nawabganj upazilla in Dhaka, Pangsha in Rajbari, Bancharampur in Brahmanbaria, Bhairab in Kishoreganj, Lama in Bandarban, Char Fasson in Bhola, Dirai in Sunamganj, Lalpur in Natore, Bogura Sadar and Gabtoli in Bogura, Nawabganj in Dinajpur, and Thakurgaon Sadar.
In addition to the rural upazilas, certain high-density urban or slum areas have been included in the pilot phase, including Dhaka's Korail Slum area, Khulna's Khalishpur Industrial area and Chittagong's Patenga area.
Priority will be given to extreme poor, poor, and low-income women, particularly female-headed households, the officials said.
To ensure women's financial independence, the cards will be issued under name of the mother or the female head of the household.
The programme will initially launch as a pilot in 15 selected areas across the country in this phase. One ward from one union in each of the 15 upazilas will be covered.
Following the piloting, the programme will be expanded step by step -- from ward to union, and eventually to every upazila in Bangladesh.
Explaining beneficiary-selection process, Minister Zahid Hossain said no household will be chosen from home-based records. "Selection will be done from the field level through door-to-door data collection. No one will be excluded, and there will be no involvement of intelligence agencies or party elements."