Tk4,540 sought to help 14.7 million poverty-stricken families

To strengthen social security, the Citizens Platform has recommended providing Tk4,540 per month to 14.7 million poverty-stricken families in the country, along with national health cards and credit cards for youth for education.

The proposal was unveiled at a media briefing titled "National Election 2026: Citizen's Recommendations for the Next Government," held at the Lakeshore Hotel in the capital this morning (January 15).

The platform suggested a three-stage rollout for the cash support initiative, beginning with 2.8 million families in the 11 most poverty-prone districts. The second phase would expand the reach to 8 million families across 36 districts, while the final stage aims to include all 14.7 million impoverished families nationwide.

To ensure accuracy and transparency, they proposed re-evaluating the list of beneficiary families every two years using a "Poverty Scorecard".

According to the platform's estimates, implementing the programme across 36 districts would cost the state exchequer Tk40,600 crore per year, equivalent to 0.73% of the country's GDP.

Proponents of the plan argued that such a safety net would prevent vulnerable populations — currently struggling with job insecurity, natural disasters, and limited access to credit — from falling further behind.

Towfiqul Islam Khan, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), presented the details on behalf of the platform. The briefing was chaired by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, convener of the platform, while CPD Distinguished Fellow Mustafizur Rahman also addressed the event.

Additionally, the cash aid proposal is part of a broader ten-point recommendation list put forth by the platform to guide the upcoming government.

These recommendations include introducing universal mid-day meals in government primary schools to combat malnutrition and high dropout rates, as well as launching youth credit cards to facilitate easier access to credit for young entrepreneurs.

The platform also advocated for the introduction of national health cards and farmer smart cards to streamline social protection and agricultural subsidies. Other key proposals include establishing a national labour market information exchange platform to bridge the gap between job seekers and employers and setting up community-based daycare centres to support working women.

Regarding the national health card, the platform has proposed to introduce an opportunity to receive medical treatment up to Tk1 lakh per family each year. In the first phase, it proposed to bring 6.1 million elderly people covered by the old age allowance under this facility.

For this, Towfiqul said the total annual expenditure will be Tk 61,000 crore, which is 1% of the GDP.

The platform proposed to introduce interest and collateral-free loans up to Tk1 lakh per year to build the future of disadvantaged youth through the introduction of a youth credit card.

The distribution of smart card services to all real farmers across the country has been recommended. All types of services can be provided to the farmers under this facility to

Some 1.65 crore farmer families of both men and women are recipients of this facility, which,

Towfiqul said will be possible by revising the government-run 'Partner' project.

According to him, no additional allocation will be required for the implementation. The annual allocation for the implementation of digital agricultural extension services and e-voucher subsidies is about Tk159 crore.