Bangladesh News

The Election Commission (EC) has asked the government to make a law for mandatory usage of national identity cards (NID), which will be prepared during the preparation of voter list, to get access to services and facilities in 22 fields.
Asking the caretaker government to initiate necessary steps, the EC on Wednesday sent the draft law to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, sources in the EC Secretariat said.

The EC has decided to simultaneously prepare the voter list with photographs and NIDs in a bid to encourage eligible people to register their names in the voter list by visiting voter registration centres and the NIDs will be issued only to voters at this moment.

Once the law is made, none will be allowed access to the specified facilities or services, of which most are related to people’s daily lives, unless they produce the NID or the government relaxes the related provisions of it.

According to the draft, one will have to show his NID for a new passport and driving licence or their renewal, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), admit cards to participate in public examinations including those at the secondary and higher secondary levels, applying for jobs, business identification number, opening a bank account, getting loan from bank and micro credit institutions, drawing government allowances, sale and purchase of land and properties, trade licence, identification as voter in different elections and participating in insurance schemes.

The NID will also be needed for admission to educational institutions, marriage registration, purchasing vehicles, connection of gas, electricity, water, telephone, mobile phone, internet and cable for satellite television channels, government facilities like subsidy and assistance, filing any case, appeal or petition with the court, applying for share and opening of BO account and other services and facilities, which will be fixed by the government time to time.

“Under the provision or the law every citizen will have to submit or show his national identity card to apply for having facilities and services or to sign an agreement,” said the draft, which was finalised by the National Steering Committee led by the CEC for preparing the voter list with photographs and NID.

People who are now not eligible to be registered as voters will have to wait for an indefinite time to get the cards as the EC did not take the responsibilities of preparing and issuing the NIDs to them.

The EC however proposed a provision authorising the government to relax the stringent conditions for the usage of the NIDs.

“The government will be authorised to exempt citizens of a particular range of ages from the compliance of the law. It can also exempt a particular section of people from compliance of the law to have the government services and facilities. Even the government can relax the provisions for showing the cards mandatory to have some facilities,” the draft law says.

The draft law also proposed making a provision for punishment with a maximum of six years imprisonment and a fine up to Tk 50,000 for providing false information to have the NIDs or misuse of the cards.

Regarding enforcement of the law, if it is made, the government will have to complete a massive task to change many of its official procedures and it may require a long time costing a good amount of money, information technology experts said.

According to the draft, the government will set up a National Registration and Database Authority (NRDA) to give the current task for preparing NIDs under the supervision of the EC.

The NRDA will remain as a permanent structure as it will keep continuing the tasks for collecting particulars of the country’s people to prepare and issue NID to the rest of the people.

“A national database containing particulars of the citizens of Bangladesh will be built. Different ministries, divisions and directorates will have to assist the NRDA to discharge its functions,” the draft law says.

The NRDA can form committees at different levels — central, divisional, district, city corporation, upazila, municipality, union parishad and wards — comprising local officials and other people for discharging its duties.

Different financial and commercial organisations as well as citizens can use the facilities of the national database by giving a prescribed fee for it.

Initially, temporary NIDs will be issued to citizens, but later they will have to pay a fixed amount of money to have a permanent card.

“Each citizen will be responsible for preserving his or her card. He or she will have to file a general diary with the local police station if his or her card is lost. Upon filing the diary, he will have to inform the local official of it. The local official will issue a new card taking a prescribed fee from him,” the draft law says.