Day: June 3, 2023

The Community Seed Bank at Kawasoti of Nawalpur is helping in preserving the indigenous seeds of cereals, legumes and vegetables.

The Bank was established to preserve the seeds of endangered rice, vegetables and fruits as the native crops are disappearing rapidly.

The facility situated at Tribhuvantar of Kawasoti-14 currently has seeds of 45 species of rice, informed Parbati Bhandari, President of the Seed Bank. "Many species of rice that our ancestors planted and harvested are now on the verge of extinction. We, thus, have been producing seeds of those endangered rice to prevent them from becoming extinct," said Bhandari.

She further informed that the conserved species of rice are Kanak Jeera, Bakulle Anadi, Magar Anadi, Thapa Chini, Aam Jyoti, Pahelo Dhan, Gheupuri Jhinuwa, Kalo Nuniya, Basmati, Dhudhraj among others.

A total of 953 households of local farmers are engaged in the Seed Bank at present. "The preserved seeds of grains such as legumes, pulses, cereal and are distributed to farmers season-wise," added Bhandari.

The native crops are highly nutritious and produce higher yields and fetch higher prices besides being more adapted to the local climate. Hence, the local farmers are becoming more interested in farming native crops, according to Dan Bahadur Mahato, secretary of the Seed Bank.

The Seed Bank was set up with the support of Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD). "The Bank now receives support from the local, provincial and federal governments as well," gushed secretary Mahato.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

Planning Minister MA Mannan today said that the proposed budget for FY24 has been largely rural-friendly.

"The number of beneficiaries and the amounts has been increased under the social safety nets for the rural communities. Besides, the rural economy will be strengthened further since there will be steps for boosting agricultural production," he said.

The Planning Minister was addressing the MCCI-PRI Post Budget 2023-2024 Discussion titled "Bangladesh from Vulnerability to Resilience and Rapid Inclusive Development" held at the conference hall of the Chamber Building in the capital today.

The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Policy Research Institute (PRI) jointly organized this discussion.

Moderated by MCCI vice president Habibullah N Karim, PRI vice chairman Dr Sadiq Ahmed, MCCI director Adeeb H Khan, MCCI former president Anis Ud Dowla and former ICAB president Shahadat Hossain took part in the discussion.

PRI chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar made a presentation titled "Setting the Tone on the Budget 2023-24 and the World Economy".

Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, the Planning Minister said that Bangladesh was lauded across the globe while facing the COVID-19 pandemic. "But, when the budget has been delivered this time, we're a passing a tough time. There are uncertainties in supply of food grains globally due to the Russia-Ukraine War. The global supply chain has lost its stability due to the imposition of vice versa sanctions. Despite this, we're trying hard to give people comfort."

The Planning Minister noted that rural areas or villages are still at the center of economy in overall consideration. So, steps are being taken on how to energize the economy, he added.

Turning to the issue of containing inflation, he said that his personal opinion was to keep the market system smooth or flawless while there should be no intervention. "But, the main thing is that it's not possible to contain inflation without strengthening the supply side," Mannan added.

About the move for appointing income Tax Return Prepare (TRP) agents in the next fiscal year to help the valued taxpayers in preparing and thus submitting their returns, Mannan acknowledged that it is a progressive system. "But, none should be appointed without proper scrutiny and the entire process should run cautiously."

He also opined for appointing the TRP agents on pilot basis in each division instead of throughout the country.

Mentioning that the economy of Bangladesh is standing tall on three sectors like agriculture, industry and remittance, the Planning Minister said the country's agriculture is now on the "take off" stage for which the government ensured all necessary things including fertilizer and seeds to boost farm production.

Economists Dr Sadiq Ahmed and Adeeb H Khan urged the government to reconsider the move by the NBR which will make mandatory payment of Taka 2,000 as tax for the TIN holders despite having the income below the taxable level.

The speakers at the discussion lauded the government for raising the ceiling of the individual taxpayers.

Earlier on June 1, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed a Taka 7,61,785 crore budget for the next fiscal year (FY24) eyeing for a 7.5 percent GDP growth and to contain inflation at around 6 percent.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Offerings made by devotees paying obeisance at the Pathibhara temple has led to a collection of Rs. 6.6 million in a span of three months.

The income was made public by the new committee formed by Rong Rural Municipality of Ilam to oversee the financial affairs of the temple.

According to the committee, 2.17 million was collected in the month of Falgun, 2.64million in Chait and 1.8 million in Baisakh. Similarly, more than five hundred rupees have been collected so far in the month of Jetha.

It may be noted that a complaint had been filed at the district administration office regarding the non-transparency of the funds collected as donations offered by devotees.

Chairperson of the rural municipality, Manikumar Syangbo Subas, said that after the new committee came into being the funds have been made public. "In 100 days since the change in ownership of Pathibhara temple management, Rs 6.66 million has been collected in offerings made by the people visiting the temple," he said.

The previous committee had not disclosed the income and expenditure of the temple for the last six years.

Chief District Officer of Ilam, Shravan Kumar Pokhrel, said that based on the letter sent by the rural municipality the previous committee will be asked to hold a general meeting and come up with its audit report. If any irregularities are found then the legal process will be initiated.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) has observed that the size of the proposed budget for the fiscal 2023-24 (FY24) is realistic.

"In the current scenario, this size of the budget is not unrealistic for implementing the government's commitment by meeting the needs and aspirations of the people. Along with the growth of the infrastructure of the country's economy, the size of the budget is also increasing every year," said FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin at a post-budget media conference at FBCCI conference room in the city.

FBCCI organised the media briefing to share its reactions on the Taka 7,61,785 crore proposed national budget for fiscal year 2023-24 beginning from July.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed the national budget in the Jatiya Sangsad eyeing a 7.5 percent GDP growth rate with an expectation of keeping annual inflation at around 6.0 percent.

Greeting the Prime Minister for the rare achievement of giving the 15th consecutive national budget, Md Jashim Uddin said the government has set targets to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and become a developed country by 2041.

"For achieving the goals, the size of the country's economy will naturally increase and therefore, the size of the country's budget will also increase. The budget size in the fiscal 2007-08 (FY08) was Taka 79,614 crore. But in FY24, the size of budget has increased by nine and a half times from FY08 to Taka 7,61,785 crore. The proposed budget is 12.34 percent higher than the current budget," he added.

Md Jashim Uddin, however, expressed concerns about the challenges associated with attaining the revenue target.

"The target of revenue collection has been fixed at Taka 5,00,000 crore. Out of that, the tax revenue will be 4.5 lakh crore. Out of this, National Board of Revenue's share is Taka 4.30 lakh crore. Other revenue is 70 thousand crore," he mentioned.

He said, "Collecting this huge revenue is a big challenge for the government. Already, the country's macroeconomic indicators and the revenue collection process are under pressure due to the difficult situation prevailing worldwide. In this situation, the shortfall in revenue collection in the first ten months of the current fiscal is about Tk 35 thousand crore."

He stressed the importance of capacity building within the NBR to increase revenue earnings.

Jashim Uddin identified some challenges in the economy in implementing the budget.

The challenges includes improvement in overall inflation rate, balance of trade situation, stabilization of foreign currency exchange rate, increase in reserves, crude oil accumulation, and increase in prices of fuel, electricity, gas and commodities, he added.

To meet the challenges of budget implementation, he said, good governance, proper monitoring, increased investment and production, business-friendly revenue management and effective revenue collection are essential.

Among others, FBCCI Vice President Md Amin Helaly and Director Syed Moazzam Hossain and President of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Barrister Md Sameer Sattar were present on the occasion.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha