Social Welfare Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain on Wednesday told Parliament that 60,286 voluntary social welfare agencies are actively operating in the country.

“As many as 71,591 voluntary social welfare agencies are registered by the Social Services Department. Out of these, 60,286 agencies are currently listed as active and 11,305 agencies are defunct,” he said while replying to a scripted question from treasury bench lawmaker Md Showkatul Islam (Maulvibazar-2) in the House.

The voluntary agencies were registered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961, he said.

The minister said one-time grants are provided from the Bangladesh National Social Welfare Council in favour of registered and active voluntary social welfare organisations.

He said Tk 11 crore was allocated annually for such grants in 2020-2021 to 2023-2024 fiscal years and Tk 12 crore in 2024-2025 fiscal year.

According to the statistics placed by the minister, 4,445 organisations received grants in 2020-2021 fiscal year, 4,502 in 2021-2022 FY, 4,481 in 2022-2023 FY, 4,533 in 2023-2024 FY, and 4,221 in 2024-2025 FY.

In reply to a tabled question from treasury bench lawmaker Sk Md Rejaul Islam (Naogaon-6), Zahid Hossain said the government has set a target to distribute a total of 4 million family cards across the country by June , 2027.

The family cards will be issued gradually to women who take care of the families while ultra-poor, poor and lower-middle-income households will receive Tk 2,500 in monthly cash assistance under the family card programme, he said.

The minister said the number of beneficiaries will be increased in the 2026-2027 fiscal year in line with the government’s action plan. “There is a target to distribute a total of 4 million family cards throughout the country by June 2027,” he said.

However, the final number of family cards will be determined based on field-level data collection and socio-economic conditions of households, using Proxy Means Test (PMT) scoring.