Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will officially launch the Family Card programme for the current fiscal year on August 16 at ward 8 of Latifabad union in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila, Social Welfare Minister Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain said today.

The announcement came after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Family Cards, chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury at the Secretariat.

A system of regular data updates and reviews have been introduced to ensure that no eligible person is left out and no ineligible individual is included in the programme, Dr Zahid said.

Describing it as a "Dynamic Social Registry" system, the minister said beneficiaries' information would be updated continuously to reflect changes in their socioeconomic conditions.

He added that verification would be conducted at the union level to eliminate flaws in the distribution process.

According to the minister, the current fiscal year's budget provides for 41 lakh beneficiaries. Subject to ongoing evaluations, the government plans to expand the programme to nearly 1.6 crore families over the next four years.