Social Welfare Minister Prof. Dr. A Z M Zahid Hossain today said the government's Family Card programme will be officially launched on August 16 under the 2026–27 fiscal year.

He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will inaugurate the programme from ward no. 8 of Latifabad union in Kishoreganj Sadar Upazila.

The minister said the government plans to bring 4.1 million beneficiaries under the programme in its first phase. It is expected that this programme will be expanded over the next four years to cover approximately 16 million families across the country.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the Family Card programme, chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury at Bangladesh Secretariat here.

Briefing the reporters after the meeting, Prof. Dr. Zahid Hossain outlined various aspects of the initiative.

He said the primary objective of the Family Card programme is to ensure that government social protection benefits reach genuine beneficiaries while promoting transparency and accountability in the beneficiary selection process.

"No eligible person should be left out and no ineligible person should be included in the beneficiary list," the minister said, adding that the government is giving the matter highest priority.

To achieve this, beneficiary information will be updated and reviewed regularly. The database will be revised in line with changes in the socio-economic conditions of households. Families that rise above the poverty line will be removed from the list, while newly eligible households will be added accordingly.

The minister said the government intends to develop the Family Card into a dynamic social registry rather than maintaining it as a static database. Regular updates based on real-life changes will help to ensure the inclusion of eligible beneficiaries and reduce opportunities for irregularities in social protection programmes.

He also said strict verification procedures would be followed at the union level to prevent any errors or irregularities in the distribution process. Beneficiary information will be verified through local administration, public representatives and relevant officials. Fresh investigations will also be conducted where complaints are received.

According to the minister, the government's goal is to establish an accurate, technology-driven and modern social protection system that reflects changes in people's living conditions through continuous updates to the beneficiary database.

He said the current fiscal year's budget includes a plan to cover 4.1 million beneficiaries under the Family Card programme. Following an assessment of its effectiveness, the government aims to expand coverage to around 16 million families over the next four years.

Senior officials from the relevant ministries and divisions attended the Cabinet Committee meeting, where implementation strategies, beneficiary selection, data verification, database management and field-level monitoring of the Family Card programme were discussed in detail.