Month: September 2013

Tk 2,500 crore spent on adult literacy since 1991 Almost a half of the population continue to remain illiterate although successive governments have always talked about giving utmost priority to the sector and spent at least Tk 2,500 crore in last two decade, official statistics show. Officials and education rights activists blamed poor planning,

The acquittal of the lone accused in the Felani Khatun killing case by a special court of Indian border forces has drawn strong criticism from all quarters and the people in general in Bangladesh. A number of cabinet members already expressed their resentment at the verdict that acquitted BSF constable Amiya Ghosh of killing Felani,

Bid to Change Info Tech Law Worries abound Govt move decried; opposition’s silence criticised The government should not enact the recent amendment to the Information and Communication Technology Law, 2006 and its section 57, speakers at a roundtable observed yesterday. Present in the discussion, Shahdeen Malik said the government should eliminate section 57 from the ... Read more

Int’l Literacy Day today Bangladesh will observe International Literacy Day today as elsewhere in the world amid confusion about the actual number of literate people in the country. According to the Literacy Survey 2011 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, published in July 2013, the functional literacy rate is 53.7 for

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday again urged people to vote for Awami League in the next general election to ensure food security. “The overall condition of the people always improves while Awami League is in power,” she said, addressing a rally, organised by the Lalbagh Thana unit of AL,

Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Khaleda Zia, will kick off her grassroots-level tour from Narsingdi on Sunday with a view to strengthening the ongoing movement for restoration of a non-partisan caretaker government by generating public support for the demand. She will also seek the people’s mandate in favour of candidates of the 18-Party

The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) is going to carry out drug tests among its officials and students of universities and English-medium schools and colleges from this month to prevent drug abuse. Even government officials and employees will be included, if necessary, sources in the DNC and the home ministry said. The DNC director, Nazmul Ahsan ... Read more

Transplants being done abroad, two arrested An organised gang trading in human organs has returned to Kalai upazila of Jaipurhat where they are luring poor people into selling their kidneys for handsome amount of money. The police on Thursday night arrested two alleged members of the gang. The arrested persons were identified as Abdus Sattar,

Unidentified miscreants attacked and indiscriminately stabbed an organiser of Ganojagaran Mancha at Paribagh area in the city early Saturday while he was returning home at around 12:15am. Moniruzzaman Akash, a central committee member of cultural organisation Udichi, told The Independent, “Arif Noor, also a member of Udichi central committee,

A high-power delegation of the European Union (EU) will meet the Election Commission (EC) to examine the challenges of holding the 10th parliamentary election in Bangladesh. The delegation will particularly want to know measures taken by the EC to ensure a level playing field for all political parties. The delegation, now in Dhaka, will also ... Read more

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Saturday said that the BNP wanted transfer of power through elections and by no other means. He made the remarks at a discussion on ‘Freedom of Mass Media and release of Mahmudur Rahman’ at the Institution of Engineers organised by

Protests Over Rampal Plant Admin bans gathering The National Committee to Protect Sundarban on Saturday could not hold its demonstrations against the installation of a coal-fired power plant near the mangrove forest at Rampal in Bagerhat as the local administration imposted restrictions. The upazila administration banned all sorts

Bangladesh Biman’s hajj flight schedules fell apart at the very beginning of hajj flight operations yesterday, causing immense sufferings to pilgrims. A total of 1,432 passengers were scheduled to fly to Jeddah on three Biman flights at 1:40pm, 4:30pm and 7:40pm. The first flight was supposed to

Children Under 5 36pc underweight Discussion told Almost 36 percent of the children under the age of five in Bangladesh are underweight, said speakers at a discussion at The Daily Star Centre in the capital yesterday. Citing data from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2011 they further said 41 percent of all children under the ... Read more

The Indian Border Security Force shot a Bangladesh national in Molani border at Haripur upzilla in Thakurgaon on early Saturday. The victim was identified as Anowar Hossain, 28, a cattle trader and son of Mohammad Shakil of Moradhor village of Haripur upzilla.