Smart card launch slated for October

These cards will give the holders a platform to avail 25 services like passport, old age allowance and opening of a bank account

The Election Commission (EC) is going to start distributing highly secure “smart cards” to replace the existing National Identity (NID) cards from next month. On their part, citizens have to give their fingerprints and iris scans to avail of the new cards.

EC secretary Md Sirajul Islam told The Independent yesterday that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would inaugurate the distribution programme at Osmany Auditorium on October 2. The commission would then launch the full programme at Kurigram the next day.
The EC secretary said the new cards would be distributed gradually and all voters would receive them by December 2017. “Those citizens who were registered as voters till 2014 will get these cards gradually. But those who became voters in 2015 will get them later,” he added.
On the distribution process, Sirajul Islam said, “Initially, residents of the two city corporations of Dhaka would get the new smart cards. There will be a camp in each ward of the city for this purpose. The voters would have to return their NID cards, and they have to give their fingerprints as well as iris scans to get the new cards.”
He said the fingerprints and iris scans would be used for verification. “At present, we've the prints of four fingers, but the standard is to take the prints of all the fingers. Such data will be preserved in a server,” he added.
The EC secretary said at least 75 teams would be deployed for distributing the cards across the country. “They will start with Dhaka and then gradually move to different parts of the country. One camp will be set up in each union in the rural areas, and one or two camps will be established in each municipality area, depending on the size of the voting population,” he added.
Sirajul said after completion of smart card distribution on December 2017, the EC would decide whether to go for another project or if it should be handed over to the revenue department.
Director general (DG) of the National Identity Registration Wing, Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin, told The Independent that the smart cards will have both online and offline verification systems along with in-built security system, and it would be tough to duplicate them. 
“The present NID cards can be easily duplicated as the security system is not so strong. But the smart cards will be highly secure with 25 types of security measures in three layers,” he added.
“These cards will give the holder a platform to avail of at least 25 services like passport, old age allowance, opening of a bank account, among others,” he said.
He said over 50 lakh voters of the two city corporations of Dhaka would get the smart cards initially. Moreover, over 16,000 voters of Panchgachhi union of Kurigram Sadar will get the cards as part of the inauguration programme.
“We've the capacity to distribute 50-60 lakh smart cards per month,” he added.
According to sources, the EC has signed an agreement with the French company Oberthur Technology for manufacturing and distributing nine crore digital smart cards at a cost of Tk. 796.27 crore.
Initially, the smart cards will be distributed free. But people will have to pay Tk. 200 to renew a lost or damaged card. The charge for a second renewal has been fixed at Tk. 300, and it will cost Tk. 500 the next time.

If anyone wants to obtain a smart card on an emergency basis, the applicant will have to pay Tk. 300 to Tk. 1,000, according to the National Identity Registration Rules, 2014.
According to EC data, there were 99,898,553 registered voters in the country till January 31 this year. Of them 50,320,362 were men and 49,578,191 women.

Smart card launch slated for October

These cards will give the holders a platform to avail 25 services like passport, old age allowance and opening of a bank account

The Election Commission (EC) is going to start distributing highly secure smart cards to replace the existing National Identity (NID) cards from next month. On their part, citizens have to give their fingerprints and iris scans to avail of the new cards. EC secretary Md Sirajul Islam told The Independent yesterday that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would inaugurate the distribution programme at Osmany Auditorium on October 2. The commission would then launch the full programme at Kurigram the next day. The EC secretary said the new cards would be distributed gradually and all voters would receive them by December 2017. Those citizens who were registered as voters till 2014 will get these cards gradually. But those who became voters in 2015 will get them later, he added. On the distribution process, Sirajul Islam said, Initially, residents of the two city corporations of Dhaka would get the new smart cards. There will be a camp in each ward of the city for this purpose. The voters would have to return their NID cards, and they have to give their fingerprints as well as iris scans to get the new cards. He said the fingerprints and iris scans would be used for verification. At present, weve the prints of four fingers, but the standard is to take the prints of all the fingers. Such data will be preserved in a server, he added. The EC secretary said at least 75 teams would be deployed for distributing the cards across the country. They will start with Dhaka and then gradually move to different parts of the country. One camp will be set up in each union in the rural areas, and one or two camps will be established in each municipality area, depending on the size of the voting population, he added. Sirajul said after completion of smart card distribution on December 2017, the EC would decide whether to go for another project or if it should be handed over to the revenue department. Director general (DG) of the National Identity Registration Wing, Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin, told The Independent that the smart cards will have both online and offline verification systems along with in-built security system, and it would be tough to duplicate them. The present NID cards can be easily duplicated as the security system is not so strong. But the smart cards will be highly secure with 25 types of security measures in three layers, he added. These cards will give the holder a platform to avail of at least 25 services like passport, old age allowance, opening of a bank account, among others, he said. He said over 50 lakh voters of the two city corporations of Dhaka would get the smart cards initially. Moreover, over 16,000 voters of Panchgachhi union of Kurigram Sadar will get the cards as part of the inauguration programme. Weve the capacity to distribute 50-60 lakh smart cards per month, he added. According to sources, the EC has signed an agreement with the French company Oberthur Technology for manufacturing and distributing nine crore digital smart cards at a cost of Tk. 796.27 crore. Initially, the smart cards will be distributed free.But people will have to pay Tk. 200 to renew a lost or damaged card. The charge for a second renewal has been fixed at Tk. 300, and it will cost Tk. 500 the next time. If anyone wants to obtain a smart card on an emergency basis, the applicant will have to pay Tk. 300 to Tk. 1,000, according to the National Identity Registration Rules, 2014. According to EC data, there were 99,898,553 registered voters in the country till January 31 this year. Of them 50,320,362 were men and 49,578,191 women.