Army to produce national ID cards

In an ambitious plan that could change the way electoral battles are fought and criminals are chased in Bangladesh, the Army says it can produce a national identity card for all voters for as low as Tk 300 crore.

Senior officers, in a presentation Saturday, have told members of the Cabinet and the Election Commission the job can be done in about 12 months.

The proposed identity card will contain such information as name, father's name, sex, permanent address, personal identification number (PIN), date of birth, photograph, barcode of thumb impression, thumb impression/signature of individual, profession, signature of election officer and signature of local elected representative.

"It was well thought-out, all-encompassing and, above all, pragmatic," one of those who attended the briefing told reporters.

"It takes into account Bangladesh's very own conditions, relies heavily on support from armed forces, police, BDR, local teachers, and gives details of hardware and manpower requirement."

Among the audience was the army chief, Lieutenant General Moin U Ahmed.

The "immediate objective" will be to produce a database of roughly 100 million voting eligible citizens for national elections, but the plan, if implemented, will eventually create a national human resource database of all citizens.

The Bureau of Statistics has been proposed to be custodian of the database and will host the central data repository.

The army in its proposal says laminated paper card (laser printed) should be given to all users free of cost.

If anyone wants to have better versions of cards like plastic card or smart card with chips, they will get it if they are ready to pay the cost.

"The proposed national citizen identification database will contain PIN, bio-metric data for multi-purpose national use like national ID, voters' list, tax payment, different licensing, land registration, crime investigation, police verification etc,"

The army says the task will require a combined effort of the Election Commission, ministries of home and local government, the Bureau of Statistics and the defence forces.

Various committees – from national to upazila -- have been suggested to oversee implementation.

Civil servants will sit on the executive committees, but technical experts, politicians, civil society leaders and NGO officials will be part of the advisory bodies.

Welcome ... Welcome ......

Onek moja hobe........ 1 yr kono election hobe na :/

The way everything is going
erokom cholle joshila
desh onek saff hoye jabe

Its a very good step of Army ........ I do appreciate it ........ hope dey could able to make a fair List dis tym which is da most importent thing for da next election .......

But one Question eros bro ..... do dey use a normal card (as ID card) or a card wiv electronic micro chipz ?

Boiragi babu, tomar question er answer first post ei ache!

oh hooo .... yess ....... dhuro ..... age miss korlam kemon kore ? ....... anywayz .... tnkx eros bro



The army in its proposal says laminated paper card (laser printed) should be given to all users free of cost.

If anyone wants to have better versions of cards like plastic card or smart card with chips, they will get it if they are ready to pay the cost.


eta kemon kotha holo ? ......... jara payment korte parbe tader jonno E-ID r jara parbe na tader jonno (Laser printed) ID card ..... bepar ta complicated hoye gelo na ? ....... etaY ki hote jacche naki just ekta proposal typ dewa hoyeche ?


Jara Abroad e thake .... taraO ki National ID card pabe ?

Shob kothar ek kotha ... Plan successful hoilei hoilo ... Na hoile to chitkar chechamechi kore Luv nei ... Ei Caretaker Govt. onek Dream dekhaitese ... Ekhon True hoilei hoilo ...

aro akta podokhep hehe dekha jak aibar er tai kaj hoikina . asole amader deser politician rai thik nai sob guli ke change kora uchit. Eros vi thank u.

boiragi dada, "if they are ready to pay the cost. " means if govt approve it. either laminated paper card or smart card with chips. not us :P

I think, if govt let the army do this job, it'll be successful. at least army wont do any 'CHURI'. and they have the real time experience with thins kinda work in other country, where they go for peace mission.