The inspiration behind the project came from the students of the Computer Science and Engineering department (CSE) of North South University (NSU), who presented a preliminary plan to the government in April of this year. The objective is to provide an official document containing unique identification numbers to each and every citizen of the country.

Already such systems exist in most countries of the world, where the profile of a citizen is tagged to an ID number.

According to NSU's proposal, the identification numbers of each citizen can be keyed in at various registration centers throughout the country, which would automatically update a central database.

The comprehensive database system can be accessed by a number of governmental departments operating in various sectors through their respective portals.

It has been proposed that each department will have limited access to the main system and would be able to check only the data necessary for their purposes.

"In the initial stages of the experimental project, kicked off in 2002, CSE students mainly studied how the voter ID system worked throughout Bangladesh," says Professor M Abdul Awwal of the CSE department of NSU and a consultant for a number of government Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects already underway.

The national ID card system was designed after careful analysis of the existing voter ID system and shares some similarities. Renad Hakim, Hasibul Hasan and M Musabbir, three CSE students worked under Professor Awwal on the experimental project.

The final sample of the ID card was developed in April 2004. It includes the ID holder's name, picture, identification number, father's name, date of birth, permanent address, village, district and sub-district.

The identification number will be ten digits long, the first three identifying the cardholder's area of residence.

"This project, when finally implemented can aid concerned authorities in numerous ways towards better and efficient management of data," said Awwal.

The police department can use the system to obtain fingerprints and criminal and immigration records. The National Board of Revenue can use the records to find out about a citizen's tax history, current income, and assets, among other things.

In western countries, such ID systems help officials to identify counterfeit and multiple passports and fake voter IDs.

Businesses can also benefit from this system, which can help them retrieve credit history, asset information, insurance and transaction records, and other financial information of a client or associate.

It is expected that the administrative processes of hospitals, employers and educational institutions will become more efficient as well.

"With the implementation of such a system, we would be establishing the backbone for future projects, thus materializing the dream of an ICT revolution in Bangladesh," concludes Professor Awwal.

The home ministry told The Daily Star that the approved system is expected to be in operation from July 2005.