Day: June 23, 2024

The 75th founding anniversary of Bangladesh Awami League was observed in Manikganj with festivity. On the occasion, a colourful rally was brought out in the district town with the participation of the leaders and activists of Awami League and its front organizations. The rally paraded the main streets of the district town. The special attraction of the rally was the participation of colourful horse carts and band party. After the rally a discussion was held at the Shahid Muktijoddha Smriti Stomvo. The discussion was chaired by President of district Awami League and also the Chairman of Manikganj District Council Freedom Fighter Advocate Golam Mohiuddin, its General Secretary also the Public Prosecutor(PP) Freedom Fighter Advocate Abdus Salam, Vice President and the former Mayor of Manikganj Municipality Freedom Fighter Gazi Quamrul Huda Selim, District Woman Awami League President Mridula Rahman, Organizing Secretary also the Chairman of Manikganj Sadar Upazila Sudeb Kumar Saha, Organizing Secretary Advo cate Badrul Islam Khan and Ghior Upazila Chairman Mahbubur Rahman Joni, among others, spoke on the occasion. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Minister for Urban Development, Dhan Bahadur Budha, has said sustainable economic and social progress could be achieved through urban management. The urban development programme was expanded to 132 municipalities in a bid to develop sustainable, inclusive and beautiful city, Minister Budha reminded while responding to the queries the lawmakers raised on his ministry issues in the appropriation bill. He shared that infrastructure building was continued at 27 places for establishing new cities across the country. The Minister, however, said development of integrated settlement could not achieve success as per expectation because it was related to people's emotion and livelihood. The ministry was mulling relocation of the settlements at risk, but the people's views were reverse, he added. The budget was allocated to establish a strong coordination among the federal, province and local levels for the relocation of settlements which are at imminent risk. Even the infrastructures could be set up, he added. According to the Minister, more than 42,000 houses were built under the People's Housing Programme which is enforced by the province governments. The cost spent on it was some Rs 18 billion. Similarly, under the Safe Citizen Housing Programme, 80,000 residential houses got new roofs of corrugated zinc sheet so far, which cost Rs 7 billion. Source: National News Agency RSS

Speakers in a function here today opined that concerted efforts of all relevant departments is crucial to ensure nutrition for all to build a healthy nation. As the district nutrition coordination committee (DNCC) is formed with the men of 22 departments working in the district, there is no alternative to joint efforts of the departments to proceed the nutritional activities towards desired goal, they also said. They made the comments while they were addressing a bimonthly meeting of DNCC held at the conference room of the deputy commissioner (DC) here this afternoon around 2 pm. District administration and Civil Surgeon (CS) Office jointly arranged the meeting in cooperation with Community Nutrition and Health Activity (CNHA) Funded by USAID. Md. Shariful Islam, deputy director, local Government Division here addressed the function as the chief guest on behalf of the DC Kazi Nahid Rasul. Presided over by CS Dr. Kaniz Sabiha, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by DD of the department of agric ultural extension Khorshed Alam Sarker, DD of Women affairs department Nargis Jahan and journalist Sarker Mohammad Shahiduzzaman. The speakers in the speeches underscored the need for ensuring nutrition for all to build a healthy nation through achieving sustainable development goals by 2030. The chief guest urged the officials and staff of the 22 departments, including the mass media, to work sincerely from the respective position to achieve the departmental targets regarding nutrition successfully. He also assured the concerned of providing help and assistance from the administration to make the project a grand success in the district. Almost all members of the DNCC, project officials, and invited persons took part in the meeting. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal has said that the government was preparing to implement the Returnee Entrepreneurship Programme to create employment opportunities at home for returnee migrant workers. During the discussion on Appropriation Bill, 2081 in the House of Representatives (HoR) meeting on Sunday, Minister Aryal said the government was working to create an environment conducive to retaining within the country to the returnee migrants. Minister Aryal was of the view that the Returnee Entrepreneurship Programme is aimed at harnessing the knowledge, skill and capital of returnee migrant workers within the country. He further shared that reintegration programmes targeting the returnees were being implemented at 20 local levels in Koshi and Madhesh provinces. Likewise, Minister Aryal said that provisions have been ensured to provide labour permit to the migrant workers within an hour by running the Labour Office in two shifts. Furthermore, he said that the Prime Minister Employment Programme would be restructured to link it with skill development and entrepreneurship. He also said that the National Employment Management Information System would be set up to work as an employment bank to bridge the employees and employers in the labour market. On the occasion, Minister Aryal said that the compensation amount to the families of dead persons while working in foreign countries has been proposed to make Rs 1 million by increasing Rs 300,000 and the provisions of other economic assistance and scholarships to the families of those injured or dead ones have been simplified. Similarly, Minister Aryal said the government was working to explore new labour destinations and also renew the labour agreements with different countries. Aryal stated that new labour agreements were signed with Germany and Romania and bilateral labour agreement (BLA) would be signed with three more destination countries as stated in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. In his response to the HoR members, Minister Aryal said as many as 4,000 Nepali died in the past four years while working abroad while 870 others were crucially injured. Source: National News Agency RSS

The 110th founding anniversary of Bangladesh Police Dhaka Range will be observed in the country tomorrow in a befitting manner with the slogan 'Sourovey Gourobey Dhaka Range Phirey Dekha 110 Bochor'. On the eve of the day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued a message greeting all members of Bangladesh Police Dhaka Range and wished the programmes of the day a success. 'I am glad to know that 110 years of Bangladesh Police Dhaka Range is being celebrated. On this occasion, I extend my sincere greetings to all the policemen working in 13 districts, 43 circles and 98 police stations under the range,' the premier said. In the reconstruction of war-torn Bangladesh after independence, the Father of the Nation gave special importance to the reconstruction and development of the Bangladesh Police Force, she said. Whenever the Awami League formed the government, it followed the footsteps of the Father of the Nation and developed the Bangladesh Police,' she added. During the 1996-2001 tenure, the Awami League (AL )-led government increased the police budget, introduced risk allowance, doubled the rate of ration and provided necessary vehicles. 'In 1998, we were the first to appoint a woman officer to the post of Superintendent of Police (SP). With the seed money of Taka 5 crore, we took multifaceted steps including formation of police welfare trust, establishment of police Staff College and increasing police manpower and infrastructure development,' said Sheikh Hasina. She said that the government has implemented extensive development activities in the last 15 and a half years. The number of Grade-I and Grade-II posts has also been increased, she said, adding that the government also provided promotions at various levels and created new posts in this range, she said. As a result of taking and implementing these timely initiatives, the police force today has become a modern, up-to-date, efficient, dynamic and pro-people force,' she said. The premier hoped that Bangladesh Police, Dhaka Range, which is enmeshed in t he memory of the Father of the Nation, will uphold the human values and carry out the assigned duties with honesty, devotion, professionalism, efficiency, impartiality, sacrifice, valor and patriotism. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Chief Secretary of the government, Dr Baikuntha Aryal, 11 employees and a company have been sued for their involvement in the corruption on a procurement related to printing of excise duty stickers. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed the corruption case at the Special Court on Sunday, claiming Rs 386 million in recovery from each of those involved in corruption, according to Dhan Bahadur Karki, Spokesperson at Special Court. Chief Secretary Dr Aryal, then chairman of the security printing development committee when he was the secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, then Director General of Inland Revenue Department and currently Joint Secretary at Finance Ministry, Ritesh Kumar Shakya, then Deputy Director General in the same department and currently Deputy Director General at Customs Department, Tanka Prasad Pande, and then Executive Director of Security Printing Centre, Bikal Paudel, have faced the corruption case. Bikal Paudel ha s already faced the charge. Others made defendants in the same case are the employees from Inland Revenue Department, General Administration Section and Procurement Unit, and National IT Centre- Ganesh Bikram Shahi, Rabindra Prasad Paudel, Safal Shrestha, Hari Ballav Ghimire, Bishnu Prasad Gautam and Shakti Prasad Shrestha. Another to face the corruption case in this connection is Director Keshav Sharma who got contract for printing excise duty sticker from his company, Print Sell. Source: National News Agency RSS

General Waker-Uz-Zaman took charge as the new Chief of Army Staff today. He took the charge from his predecessor General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, said an ISPR press release this afternoon. Afterwards, Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman was adorned with the new rank badge of General in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban here. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Nazmul Hassan and Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan adorned the Army Chief with the rank badge of General. Earlier in the evening, the new Chief of Army Staff paid a courtesy call on President Mohammed Shahbuddin at Bangabhaban. The Ministry of Defence in a gazette notification on June 11 said Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman was promoted to general post and appointed as the Chief of Army Staff for three years effective from the afternoon of June 23. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Hit Bahadur Tamang asserted that the Nepal Academy's role is important in preservation and promotion of all languages, literature and academic research. At the 67th anniversary of the Nepal Academy here Sunday, Minister Tamang acknowledged the Nepal Academy as the highest body that researches, explores all languages, literatures, cultures, philosophies and social sciences of Nepal and works on creation and translation. The Minister further lauded the role of Academy in honouring talents in literature and research fields and running academic activities at the national and international level. Reaffirming that the incumbent government was aware and committed towards development, protection and promotion of all languages, literatures and philosophies in the country, he viewed that the global economic recession had also adversely affected Nepal to this end. He shared, "I am making utmost efforts to support the development of language and literature t hrough Nepal Academy and to arrange the budget for that." The Academy aims to conduct research on oral history of Nepal, and to develop children literature, he added. He informed that they were preparing to publish a perspective after conducting research on geographical, social, cultural, historical, lingual and literary subjects of all provinces. On the occasion, a national poetry competition was held where over 600 participants had participated, it was shared. Source: National News Agency RSS

A Chattogram court today sentenced three drug traders including two women to life-term imprisonment for trading drugs in 2021. The court of Fourth Chattogram Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Shariful Alam Bhuiyan handed down the verdict. The convicts are Md Ayub, Zohara Khatun and Nur Nahar Begum, hailed from Lohagara sadar area of the district. The court also fined Taka 10,000 to him, in default, to suffer one year more in jail. The prosecution story, in brief, is that acting on a tip-off a team of Bakalia thana police detained the drug traders with 15,000 pieces of contraband Yaba tablets from Drump Potti area under Bakalia thana on June 15, 2021. A case was filed with Bakalia Thana against the three alleged drug traders on the day. Police submitted the charge-sheet before the court on September 1 in 2021 while the court framed charges against him on March 16, 2022. After examining a total of six prosecution witnesses out of 11, the court announced the verdict today in absence of th e convicted persons. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: The government has proposed the programmes on forest management to be enforced through province governments. A national standard on sustainable forest management was endorsed as a forest promotion system. This information was shared by Minister for Forest and Environment Nawalkisor Sah Sudi while responding to the lawmakers' queries in the ongoing deliberation on appropriation bill, 2081. He was furnishing replies to the lawmakers' queries in the headings under his ministry during the deliberation on Sunday. He reminded that the government was for reducing wood import through sustainable forest management. Community-based forest management has been prioritized by the government, he said, adding that wood and timbers could be produced with sustainable forest management and people ensured employment. According to him, government has recently enforced the Forest Regulation (2nd amendment), 2081 to facilitate production and sale of firewood and logs. The firewood and logs would be produced from the forests managed by the community. He shared the information that while Nepal was producing some 35 million cubic feet of wood, some 200 thousand cubic feet of round log (less than a percent of the gross national product) was imported in a year. Huge chunk of import is used for furniture, Sudi added. Budget was allocated for provinces to establish 105 green gardens in a bid to develop green and healthy cities. Minister Sudi further said crime relating to forest is a criminal offense, but there are constitutional and legal intricacies to this regard. Source: National News Agency RSS

The US Embassy in Dhaka has announced 18,430 US dollars as grant for four pioneering projects, developed by journalism students and young journalists, to advance media literacy and combating misinformation in Bangladesh. The awarded four projects were selected from a TechCamp titled "Empowering Journalists, Ensuring Truth," that was held from February 6 to 8 last, a US embassy press release said here today. Fifty journalism students and young journalists across Bangladesh had participated at the tech camp, organised under a collaborative effort between the US Embassy Dhaka, the Global Youth Leadership Center (GYLC) Inc. and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the US Department of State. These young journalists received specialized training from international experts on critical topics such as media literacy, fact-checking methodologies, cyber security and the integration of artificial intelligence in journalism. US embassy's Public Affairs Counselor Stephen Ibelli, at an event today, commended the winners for their dedication to the objectives of TechCamp, emphasizing their pivotal role in promoting media literacy and countering misinformation. He encouraged them to utilize their newfound skills to effect positive change within their communities. The awarded projects included coastal voices, empowering media students to identify news sources and eliminating misinformation and disinformation, media literacy Beyond the Screen: bridging gaps, building minds and voice for voiceless." Each project aims to address pressing issues within Bangladeshi society through innovative journalistic approaches. This grant initiative underscored the U.S. Embassy Dhaka's ongoing commitment to empower young journalists and nurturing a culture rooted in truth and media literacy across Bangladesh, said the release. It marked a significant milestone following the successful TechCamp, highlighting the potential of youth-led initiatives in shaping the future of journalism and informat ion dissemination, it added. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Minister for Education, Science and Technology Sumana Shrestha has said that sufficient budget for a large number of new plans and programmes could not be unveiled in the upcoming fiscal year's budget to bring about reforms in education due to the high volume of compulsory liability of the government. "This cannot be amended massively and there is a resource crunch for new plans and programmes," according to Minister Shrestha. Responding to the lawmakers' queries in today's meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR), Minister Shrestha said the Ministry's most of the budget goes to the local levels through compulsory liability and fiscal transfer. "More than Rs 200 billion or 10.95 per cent of the total budget has been allocated to Education Ministry. Of that, 70 per cent amount goes to the local level for fiscal transfer," she said adding that around 93 per cent of the total budget allocated for the Education Ministry is the compulsory liability. "Only 0.4 per cent amount is allocated for new programmes," Minister Shrestha said. Under the Ministry's allocation, 6.6 per cent is allocated for capital expenditure, the Education Minister said. The government has allocated Rs 203.74 billion for the upcoming fiscal year for the Ministry of Education. She argued that efforts were made how structural reforms could be made in the education sector and added that geography, economic condition and other indicators were analyzed in determining the budget's priorities. Minister Shrestha argued that a new Education Act was needed to resolve the policy issues in the education sector and urged the parliament to advance the education bill. Source: National News Agency RSS