Govt moves to form national registration authority

Tue, Sep 4th, 2007 2:08 pm BdST
Dhaka, Sep 4 (bdnews24.com) – The government has moved to form a national registration authority for birth and voter registration and national identity cards (ID) preparation, a top government official said Tuesday.

"The process to form the national registration authority is at its initial stage. A final decision will be made taking everything into account," home secretary Abdul Karim told bdnews24.com over telephone.

The Chief Adviser's Office is monitoring the progress of a cell tasked to form the authority and the home secretary is one of the members of the cell.

Several inter-ministerial meetings have been held with suggestions that the national registration authority work under the home ministry.

Home ministry sources said the government would form the authority through an ordinance and a draft ordinance has been prepared.

A nine-member committee headed by the additional home secretary has also been formed to examine the draft ordinance. The government will base its next move on the report.

Birth registration proved the main obstacle to previous government attempts to make national and voter ID cards.

The local government ministry is running a project on birth registration and the Election Commission is preparing voter lists with the help of the army. National ID cards are also being distributed with voter ID cards.

The latest government initiative aims to bring all the things under one authority.

Most people do not have birth certificate since registering child birth is not mandatory. If necessary, anyone can collect the certificate from the city corporation, municipality and Union Parishad.

It leaves scope for people who are not Bangladeshi citizens to collect these certificates. The government is thinking to impose restrictions on birth registration.

Fees for national ID cards set

A person will have to pay fees to get permanent national ID cards, the home ministry has decided.

The ministry has also finalised the draft ordinance for mandatory use of the cards.
According to the rules, a citizen will have to pay Tk 30 for a permanent paper-laminated card and Tk 40 for a copy of that card, Tk 250 for a plastic card and Tk 500 for a smart card--a small plastic card on which information is electronically stored. The charge for correction of information on the cards has been fixed at Tk 20.

Officials involved said these rules will be formulated once the mandatory use of national ID card for getting services in 19 fields is made a law.

"We have finalised the draft ordinance for making the law for mandatory use of the identity cards. The draft will be sent to the advisory council soon for approval," a senior official told The Daily Star yesterday.

Earlier, the home ministry held a series of meetings with senior officials of other ministries concerned and the Election Commission (EC) Secretariat to discuss the draft ordinance proposed by the EC.

The home ministry formed a committee comprising officials of ministries concerned to finalise the rules. The committee headed by a senior home ministry official will sit on October 25 to finalise the draft rules, sources said.

Currently the EC is simultaneously preparing the voter list with photographs and national ID cards only for citizens eligible to be registered as voters. The registered voters will be given temporary national ID cards, which will be replaced by the permanent cards.

People ineligible now as voters will have to wait for an indefinite time to get the national ID card as the responsibility of preparing national ID cards for them does not lie with the EC.

According to the draft ordinance, the government will set up a national registration and database authority for preparing the national ID cards. The authority will remain as a permanent body and continue collecting particulars of those who could not have ID cards to prepare and issue national ID cards to them.

One will have to show national ID card for getting new passport and driving licence or for their renewal, Taxpayer Identification Number, business identification number, trade licence, admit cards of public examinations, applying for jobs, opening bank accounts and getting loan from banks and micro-credit institutions, drawing government allowances, sale and purchase of land and properties, voting in different elections and participating in insurance schemes, admission to educational institutions, marriage registration, purchasing vehicles, connection of gas, electricity, water, telephone, mobile phone, internet and cable for satellite TV channels, government facilities like subsidy and assistance, filing of cases, appeal or petition with the court, applying for share and opening of BO account and other services and facilities.

The draft ordinance has also proposed a provision authorising the government to relax the stringent conditions for the use of the national ID cards.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=8375

No fees for nat’l ID cards during voter registration

The Election Commission on Tuesday said that eligible voters would not have to pay fees to get national identity cards during the ongoing voter registration with photographs.
The people, however, will have to pay fees to get the cards after the end of the voter listing process. Currently the EC is preparing the voters’ roll with photographs and national identity cards simultaneously for citizens eligible to register as voters.
‘National identity cards which will be provided during the ongoing voter registration are free of cost. If anyone misses out on the chance this time and later wants to get the card, they will have to pay the fees,’ election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told reporters at his office on Tuesday.
The proposed fees a citizen will have to pay for getting the identity cards after the end of voter registration, are – Tk 30 for a paper-laminated card and Tk 40 for a copy of that card, Tk 250 for a plastic card and Tk 500 for a smart card – a small plastic card on which information is electronically stored. The charge for correction of information on the cards has been fixed at Tk 20.
A committee of the home ministry, formed for preparing a draft of ordinance making national identity cards mandatory for citizens to get 22 kinds of services and to set up a national registration and database authority, proposed the fees, sources said.
Identity cards will be issued only to voters for now to encourage eligible voters to be enlisted in the electoral roll at the registration centres. People who are not eligible now to register as voters will need to wait for the cards, as the commission has not taken the responsibilities of preparing and issuing the cards for them.
The EC expects the government to promulgate an ordinance making national identity cards mandatory for citizens to get 22 services and to set up the database authority before initiating voters’ roll job in Dhaka scheduled for a December start.
According to the draft ordinance, the government will set up a national registration and database authority for preparing the national identity cards. The authority will remain as a permanent body and continue collecting particulars of those who failed to have ID cards to prepare and issue national ID cards to them.
Once the ordinance is promulgated, no one will be allowed access to the specified facilities or services, mostly related to daily chores, unless they produce the identity cards or the government relaxes the related provisions.
The 22 services for which cards will be required are – issuance and renewal of passport, driving licence, trade licence, tax identification number, business identification number and bank account, and beneficiary owner’s account with stock exchanges.
The citizens will need to provide their identity card numbers for connections of gas, water and electricity, telephone, mobile, internet and cable television. The people will have to produce the card numbers for registration with public examinations, any public services, marriage registration and loans of any sort.
Nobody will get government subsidy facilities, allowance and relief if they do not have identity cards.
The cards will be mandatory for selling and buying lands and motor vehicles, admission of children to schools, lodging cases and appeal to court.

http://www.newagebd.com/2007/oct/24/front.html#4

Distribution of national ID cards begins in BCC

Distribution of national identity cards with photos of the 177,819 voters of Barisal City Corporation began on Monday.

The deputy commissioner, Manjur-e-Ilahi, inaugurated distribution of the cards at a function organised to hand over cards among 150 members of manta tribe at Rasulpur slum on the bank of the River Kirtankhola.

Distribution of the cards will be completed by January 31, sources at the Election Commission, Barisal said. Manirul Islam, deputy election commissioner, Moniruzzaman, election officer of Barisal Sadar upazila, Lieutenant Colonel Abu Sayeed Muhammad Ali, commander of the army-led joint forces in Barisal, were also present.

http://www.newagebd.com/met.html

Of all the things CTG has done this is the best. They have been clueless on the economy but are making an honest effort to clear up voter lists and reduce election fraud. Some time back they visited my extended family home to make lists. There were so many people that they had to go back for more forms :D

lol tanzirian, typical size of Bangladeshi family mines included.

lol tanzirian, typical size of Bangladeshi family mines included.

:) The better part of ten siblings plus spouses plus over twenty children, most of them voting age by now.

4.16 cr voters registered, 34 lakh ID cards distributed

News Report

The Election Commission has so far registered 4.16 crore voters across the country and distributed around 34 lakh national identity cards among them.
"We''ve enrolled 4,14,60,400 people as voters until February 29 in 290 areas out of total 521 voter listing areas," said voter listing Project Director Brig Gen Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury.
He told The News Today that until February 29 around 90 lakh national ID cards were printed and 34 lakh distributed among the voters.
According to him, voter registration has been completed in 98 areas and registration processes are going on in 192 areas.
The country has been divided into 512 voter listing areas, considering every upazila of the country, thana of metropolis and district towns, and union parisad of cities'' suburb a single area.
Chwodhury said voter-listing work is progressing well and it would be completed by June-end, the deadline for the work set in the election roadmap announced by the Election Commission.
"We''ll insallah maintain the deadline and complete the registration within June 30 this year."
The commission announced the election roadmap on July 15 last year setting August 2007- June 2008 the timeframe for collection and entry of data of the voters.
Chwodhury denied any problem in preparing and distribution of national ID cards. "Everything is going fine.
We''re not facing any problem," he said when asked what problems they are facing in ID card distribution.
The roadmap set December 2008 the deadline for holding the parliamentary election.
According to it, printing and publication of draft voter list and correction will go on throughout November 2007 to mid-August 2008 and printing and distribution of the final list will be completed during mid-August and October.

http://www.newstoday-bd.com/frontpage.asp?newsdate=#11288

"We''ll insallah maintain the deadline and complete the registration within June 30 this year."

.................................................
"Everything is going fine.

This is what we want to hear.

The national ID card should be used for all job positions by employers. I just read the news today that Bangladesh is one of the top 5 destination for INdian workers. Wondering how many of them are registered..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_worlds_largest_remittance_recipient/articleshow/3146808.cms

"The top 10 destination countries for Indians include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, US, Bangladesh..."

^^ Wonder how much they remit out of BD.

Most of these workers are illegal in BD and pay no taxes.

Good luck getting a job in India and even getting away with paying no taxes. :)

Nat'l ID card allowed for BO account maintenance

Star Business Report


From now on national identity (ID) card can be used as an alternative to the mandatory bank certificate for maintaining beneficiary owner's (BO) accounts.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Dhaka yesterday following allegation that the banks impose extra charge on the account holders for the certificate.

The stock market regulator also extended the deadline for submitting bank certificates or national ID card to the depository participants for existing BO accounts until September 30 of this year.

After the meeting, SEC Executive Director Farhad Ahmed said instead of a bank certificate a BO account holder could submit attested photocopies of both sides of his/her national ID card.

The commission in October of last year made submission of a bank certificate for opening a BO account mandatory, while asking the existing BO account holders to submit the bank certificate, which verifies personal information, within June 30 of this year.

Banks charge extra fees for providing the account holders with the certificate, which would enable them to continue with their BO accounts. It was found that different banks charge different fees for providing the certificate, ranging from Tk 100 to Tk 500.

Shafiqul Islam, an account holder at the Motijheel branch of Sonali Bank, said the branch management charged him Tk 500 for a statement and a certificate that he needed to keep his BO account.

Shafiqul is not the only one facing this problem of extra charge; there are hundreds of others who would have to pay the extra money as more and more people are inclined to invest in the stock market.

“Banks are exploiting the situation,” another account holder at the AB Bank's Motijheel branch said. AB Bank has taken Tk 230 from him for the certificate, he said.

Bangladesh Bank said they have nothing to do with this, as they don't control the banks' charges and fees.

“We have received complaints from our colleagues, friends and relatives regarding imposition of extra charges by the banks on certificates for BO accounts,” a senior official of BB's Banking Regulations and Provision Department, said.

Meanwhile, the SEC has extended the deadline for submitting bank certificate for the existing BO account to September 30 from June 30 of this year.

SEC Executive Director Farhad Ahmed said as the deadline expires BO accounts that do not accompany bank certificate or photocopies of national ID card of the account holders will be closed down.

Presently, there are around 15 lakh BO account holders in the country.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43012

if national id is not misused, it can make a lot of things much easier.