Emphasizing the protection of information, Planning Minister MA Mannan said, “The privacy of information of every person in the country has become a serious issue. This has created a terrible situation in many countries. And there is a worldwide debate about it. So we have to take care of the matter. There are companies that know all the news about my house. It has a tremendous commercial value. They are making money with technology. Backward countries like ours are missing out on this opportunity. We are lagging behind as we are not able to invest heavily due to low revenue.”
He was speaking as the chief guest at a workshop and exchange of views at the NEC conference room in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Sunday. State Minister for Planning Professor Shamsul Alam was also present on the occasion.
It was informed on the occasion that Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has taken initiative to create a self-contained database of 29 types of information including demographic and biometric of citizens of all ages in the country. This database will have a unique identification number for each citizen of the country, with which each and every citizen can be identified separately. Through this, it will be possible to store all kinds of data including demographic statistics of the country like arrival-departure, occupation, religion, caste, birth-death, marriage-divorce and so on.
These activities will be implemented at the initiative of the National Population Registrar section of BBS.
Asked why the Bureau of Statistics took up the project despite having a database of national identity cards, the planning minister said the country currently has a large database of citizens. But there is no information for all ages in the country. In the proposed project, this database will be created with the information of 100% citizens of the country. However, he suggested that there should be no overlapping (duplication) in data collection in the proposed project. “Overlapping is a waste of time, energy and state money,” he said.
The Minister said, “The BBS database will contain information from generation to generation. That’s why, we have to be careful, so that the information of our citizens does not go in a wrong hand and they fall in troubles”
On the other hand, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam said the proposed database would be more extensive than the census. There will be 29 types of citizen information. The government will use this information for its own needs. However, this information will not be open to anyone else.
BBS director Shahadat Hossain presented the main article of the workshop. He said that at present, there is a national identity card for the citizens above 18 years of age in the country but the information of the younger ones is not stored anywhere. The proposed database will include demographic and biometric data on people of all ages, including newborns. This database will have an identification number for everyone, which will provide real-time data on the person, his religion, caste, gender, occupation, immigration, birth-death, marriage-divorce, etc.
Secretary of the Information Management Department of the Ministry of Planning Yamin Chowdhury presided over the workshop while Md. Shahadat Hossain, Director, National population Registrar of BBS presented the keynote address.
