By IANS,
Dhaka: The Bangladesh government Wednesday introduced a Family Savings Certificate, allowing investment up to Taka three million, aimed at making women economically self-reliant.
Family Savings Certificate of Taka 10,000, Taka 20,000, Taka 50,000, Taka 100,000, Taka 200,000 and Taka 500,000 will be on sale at all bureaux of the National Savings Directorate.
$1 is equal to Taka 69.5.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, who formally inaugurated the scheme, said women are a much neglected lot as they have to depend on the father in their childhood, on the husband in their youth and on their children in old age.
Family Savings Certificates, which offer monthly benefit, were first launched in 1997 but the government withdrew the facility in 2002, The Daily Star said.
Women’s empowerment is a major issue in Bangladesh where Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus launched Grameen, a rural credit scheme exclusive for women, in the 1970s.