Bangladesh’s social safety net has always carried two truths at once. On paper, it is large, diverse and politically significant. In practice, however, it is often complex, fragmented and at times inequitable. The government’s new Family Card initiative has once again brought that long-standing tension to the centre of debate. It is being launched as a four-month pilot programme. In the first phase, 6,500 families in 14 upazilas will be included, and each family will receive Tk 2,500 per month through a mobile wallet or bank account.

Supporters see this as a bold, even historic, step. Critics fear it may simply add another large programme to an already crowded social safety net. The core question is not whether the Family Card is inherently good or bad in policy terms. The question is whether Bangladesh can use this opportunity to address the long-standing design and governance weaknesses that characterise its social safety sector.

Two aspects make the initiative politically and economically significant. First, the proposed scale is unprecedented. If the government eventually brings 20 million families under monthly assistance, the potential cost would reach roughly Tk 50 billion per month, or nearly Tk 600 billion annually. This is not an ordinary budget item. It is a macroeconomic commitment that will shape revenue and expenditure priorities for many years.