The government plans to build a database on 3.50 crore households across the country to identify the real poor.

The complete database will help the government find out the real beneficiaries of the social safety net programmes, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said at a press meet yesterday.  

The survey for the National Household Database, the country's first universal poverty registry, is being conducted in three phases.

From January 14 to February 2, information will be collected directly from 1.60 crore households in 25 districts in Dhaka and Chittagong divisions and Netrokona district in Mymensingh.

The government has taken a Tk 727 crore project for the purpose where the World Bank will finance Tk 681 crore. As per the latest estimate, the rate of poverty is 23.9 percent while the rate of ultra-poor is 12.5 percent, the minister said. 

The government fund is transferred into 150 programmes under the safety net programmes and misuse occurs at the time of spending the money, State Minister for Finance MA Mannan said.

“The national database will stop the misuse.”

From the households, socio-economic data from each family will be collected and preserved digitally. A total of 23 ministries implement the safety net programmes.

In 2016-17, Bangladesh spent about $3.5 billion on social protection, which was about 1.4 percent of the country's gross domestic product, said the World Bank in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the database will be integrated with information systems of various ministries and agencies for beneficiary selection purposes.

For this, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has already completed data collection in Barisal, Rangpur and part of Mymensingh divisions, according to the statement.

The government also plans to take a new programme for insolvent freedom fighters, the planning minister also said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the officials concerned to place a project under which every insolvent freedom fighter will be provided with a dwelling house.

Hasina made the call in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.