Zero to 10-year olds will be given ID cards with unique numbers – National – observerbd.com
Brigadier General Saidul Islam, Director General of the National Identity Registration (NID) Wing of the Election Commission (EC).
From zero to 10-year old all Bangladeshi citizens will be given identity cards with unique numbers when the second phase of the IDEA (ldentification System for Enhancing Access to Services) Project will be implemented, said Brigadier General Saidul Islam, Director General of the National Identity Registration (NID) Wing of the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday evening.
Besides, biometric information of 10 to 18 years old citizens will be accommodated in their smart national identity cards, he said.
Earlier in the morning, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the IDEA, Phase 2 project with Tk 1,805.09 crore mainly to provide all citizens aged above 14 years with smart national identity cards.
Commenting on the project, Planning Commission member Abul Kalam Azad said the Election Commission Secretariat will implement the project by November 2025.
He said the project has been undertaken as the period for ongoing IDEA project will expire in December.
Under the new project, Azad said all citizens above 14 years will get smart NID cards. Besides, the Election Commission will send its teams to 40 largest host countries of expatriate Bangladeshis to enroll them in the voter list and provide them with NID services.
The major operations of the project include production and personalization of smart cards.
He said the old equipments and technologies of the existing project will be used in the new project. “So, the project cost will go down substantially.”
The Planning Commission member said they have placed a recommendation in the meeting so that the NID services could be brought under the revenue budget instead of running it under project.
He said the government is considering whether all data registration activities including NID registration, birth and death registration and the registration activities carried out by the Directorate General of Family Planning could be brought under a single entity.
The ECNEC meeting was held with its Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The premier joined the meeting virtually from her official Ganobhaban residence, while ministers, state ministers and secretaries concerned joined the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.