Headlines

The finance minister, AMA Muhith, allocated Tk 21,367 crore for education, health and technology sectors in the proposed national budget for the 2009-10 financial year terming them integral part of total development planning. The amount is 19 per cent of the total budget. In current fiscal year, the allocation for education and technology was Tk ... Read more

Amnesty offered in form of investment upon 10pc tax The government yesterday proposed to allow whitening of black money in exchange for payment of 10 percent tax on the amount, with a caveat that the whitened money must be invested in any of prescribed 62 sectors. The 62 prescribed sectors are divided into three categories: ... Read more

Amnesty offered in form of investment upon 10pc tax The government yesterday proposed to allow whitening of black money in exchange for payment of 10 percent tax on the amount, with a caveat that the whitened money must be invested in any of prescribed 62 sectors. The 62 prescribed sectors are divided into three categories: ... Read more

Some consumer items will be costlier and some others cheaper due to the proposed taxes and duties in the budget for fiscal 2009-10. The new budget proposes an increase in supplementary duty on import of luxury vehicles, and tax on private cars at specific rates on the basis of their engine capacity (CC). Prices of ... Read more

Watching television in the afternoon is rare for Abidur Rahman. But keen to know what the new budget holds for a middle class family like his, he opted to upset his daily routine yesterday. He returned from work early and tuned in to hear Finance Minister AMA Muhith’s speech. Last year’s budget by the caretaker ... Read more

A shopkeeper was killed and two more people were injured when local union parishad chairman Munir Hossain opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Loharpool area of Kamrangirchar on the outskirts of the capital Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses said the incident took place at around 1:30pm when several hundred people of Loharpool, Ashrafabagh, Nizambagh and ... Read more

Army tells JS body about equipment dearth in UN missions; seeks urgent initiative Bangladeshi troops engaged in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions face a dearth of equipment, though their work abroad earns the country around Tk 1,200 crore a year. The crisis is acute in 19 contingents across Liberia, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Congo. ... Read more

He urges opposition to discuss everything in parliament Awami League spokesperson and LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam on Tuesday blasted the BNP’s remark ‘on midterm polls after dissolving the parliament’ terming it a daydream. Asked about the reaction about the comment of BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain – ‘the ruling Awami League has lost ... Read more

Law minister Shafique Ahmed on Tuesday said that the Anti-Corruption Commission was used against democracy by an influential quarter during the two-year tenure of the immediate past interim government. The army-led joint forces had arrested and sued political leaders in anti-graft drives under the commission during the period to prove that democracy was dysfunctional and ... Read more

As the new budget is going to be placed tomorrow, leaders of the apex-chamber FBCCI yesterday appealed to the government not to set ambitious tax-revenue target by expanding the tax net as it might hamper the smooth pace of domestic investment. They said it is speculated that the tax-revenue-earning target in the coming budget might ... Read more

Agency ups security for itself Security measures have been beefed up in and around the office of the Detective Branch (DB) of the police in the capital following threats issued to some officials of the intelligence agency allegedly by the men of the Dubai-based underworld mafia don Daud Ibrahim. ADC of the DB Mahbub Alam ... Read more

Samples could be sent to Denmark for lab test A committee constituted by the health ministry on Tuesday started investigation into the reported death and sickness of the children after taking Vitamin A capsules and deworming tablets as a third child died reportedly of complications from the medicines in Pirojpur on the day. Besides the ... Read more

Info, documents to go online Finance Minister AMA Muhith would place the Awami League-led grand-alliance government’s maiden budget in parliament on Thursday at 3pm amid wide publicity of all its information and documents online and offline. An official announcement yesterday said all the information and important documents of the new budget would be released on ... Read more

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday announced convening committees for its 71, out of 75 district units, dissolving the incumbent bodies and asked them to elect fully-fledged panels through council sessions by November 15. The convening committees for the Dhaka city, Dhaka district, Manikganj and Sunamganj were yet to be announced. The party’s office secretary, ... Read more

At least 352 students of Potkakhali Government Primary School under Sadar Upazila of Barguna reportedly fell sick after having biscuits distributed by World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday. The children were admitted to Barguna General Hospital where doctors declared them to be out of danger. Police had to be deployed to restrain the agitating guardians from ... Read more

Hordes of visitors, mostly small-time political leaders and activists, trickle into Bangladesh Secretariat each working day, disrupting normal function of the country’s main seat of administration. They come over from across the country as well as the capital. They get into the highly protected secretariat zone with valid passes issued by the authorities, or sometimes ... Read more

Polls to Zila Parishads by 2010: LGRD Minister Leaders of Upazila Chairmen’s Association alleged that UZ chairmen have become inactive due to indecision of government and non-cooperation of the UNOs. After a meeting with LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, association head Badiuzzaman Badsha said although they were elected several months ago but they cannot work ... Read more

Encroachment on khasland in the city and elsewhere in the country have been continuing una-bated for long many years. Even the riverbeds have been grabbed by landsharks. To our horror the waterbodies and wetlands, which are the lifeline in the city, have been illegally occupied. As a result, the city is dying gradually harming the ... Read more

The number of landless people in the country is growing steadily because of poverty, river erosion and legal disputes posing a grave threat to socioeconomic progress, according to experts and a government report. The Agriculture Census 2008 conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics revealed that out of 28.67 million households, 4.48 million or 15.62 per ... Read more

Another aide to the mafia don arrested Detectives have found some political leaders and influential people in Bangladesh to have close relations with international mafia don Daud Ibrahim. The police suspect the influential people maintain close link with Daud to get his support in expanding their businesses in Dubai, a stronghold of the Mumbai-based mafia ... Read more