The government on Sunday moved a bill in the parliament seeking that terrestrial broadcasting facilities to be reserved only for the state-run Bangladesh Television. The information minister, Abdul Kalam Azad, piloted the bill, Reservation of Terrestrial Broadcasting for Bangladesh Television Bill 2009, which the house sent for further scrutiny by the parliamentary standing committee on ... Read more
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Ahmadinejad defends vote as ‘real and free’
June 14: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday his re-election was “real and free” and cannot be questioned – despite accusations of mass voter fraud. Ahmadinejad made the comments on Sunday during a press conference – his first since the government announced that he was re-elected to a second term in a landslide victory during ... Read more
Child labour laws to be updated
Child labour laws to be updated Says law minister The government will update the existing labour laws to stop children doing hazardous jobs, said Law Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday. Since many families depend on the incomes of their children, child labour should not be stopped straightaway enacting any law, he said, adding that the government ... Read more
Sahara warns law enforcers, asks them to check crimes
Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday warned officials of law enforcement agencies that they would be held accountable for failing to improve law and order in the country soon. “I have ordered the law enforcement agencies to work for improving law and order immediately although they have acute shortage of manpower,” Sahara told the press after ... Read more
Black money legalising is against polls pledge: TIB
The government’s proposal to allow legalise black money is against its election pledge, said the Transparency International Bangladesh in a post-budget reaction on Friday. In a press release, TIB’s executive director Iftekharuzzaman said it was incompatible with good governance and prevention of corruption, the campaign promises of the ruling party. In an unprecedented measure, finance ... Read more
Plan to appoint 13 judges to SC
The government will appoint at least three judges to the Appellate Division and 10 judges to the High Court (HC) Division of the Supreme Court (SC) by June this year as a number of judges of both the divisions will retire this year and next year. The present government appointed 11 judges to the HC ... Read more
Left parties sceptical of budget implementation
Critical of money whitening provision Some left-leaning political parties and organisations on Friday termed the proposed budget for the 2009–2010 financial year ambitious and doubted if whether it could be implemented. They criticized the finance minister, AMA Muhith, for allowing black money to be whitened, saying criminals, looters and plunderers of national resources have been ... Read more
Hill women demand white paper on repression in CHT
Kalpana Chakma abduction anniv observed A section of ethnic minority women staged demonstrations in Rangamati Friday asking the government to publish a white paper on repression carried out in its different forms allegedly by the security forces on the ethnic minority groups. They made the demand along with a few others at a rally organised ... Read more
BMDA implements various need-based development projects
The Barind Multipurpose Development Authorities (BMDA) have been implementing various need-based projects to improve the socio-economic conditions and protect the environment in the vast Barind area in northern Bangladesh. Officials said here on Friday that implementation of some projects during the last nearly two decades came out with desired crop production side by side with ... Read more
1065 posts of teachers in govt primary schools lying vacant in Barisal division
Posts of 1065 teachers of government primary schools have been lying vacant in Barisal division for long, hampering primary education of the region. Barisal divisional education office sources said there are 5,597, including 3,479 government and 2,118 non-government primary schools in the division. Posts of 241 out of 3,479 headmasters and 824 out of 14,256 ... Read more
VC Arefin Siddiq urges colleges to ensure quality education
Vice chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddiq yesterday said quality education must be ensured at all colleges to enable the students to compete in the higher education. He urged all concerned to see that the curriculum of the board is not only confined to book based education, he said while addressing as the chief ... Read more
Realistic decision to be taken to reform national university
The National University will take realistic decision to reform the university through establishment of good administration in a bid to brighten the image of the university and increase the quality of education in college level. University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Nazrul Islam said this while speaking at a seminar on ‘Bangladesh’s environment and foreign aggressive ... Read more
Political interest keeps black money alive
We have to satisfy everyone: Muhith Finance minister AMA Muhith on Friday said he did not favour whitening of black money, but was forced to incorporate the provision in the proposed 2009-10 budget for political reasons. ‘Politics is the highest form of the art of compromise…..We have to satisfy everyone,’ Muhith said while defending his ... Read more
Country caught in ‘debt trap’: UO
Huge govt borrowings will jack up inflation, it says The proposed budgetary measures will not help achieve the poverty reduction target as mentioned in the election manifesto of the present grand alliance government, local development think-tank Unnayan Onneshawn (UO) said in its budget response released yesterday. It said that huge government borrowing will create adverse ... Read more
MP injured after scuffle with cope: Mohiuddin, Afsarul prohibit Latif’s entry to WTCC office
Water Transport Coordination Cell began operations on Friday after dropping MP and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mohammed Abdul Latif from the post of adviser and convenor. Shipping minister Afsarul Amin and Chittagong City Corporation Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury attended the launching programme as chief guest and special guest respectively. The WTCC was ... Read more
Budget implementation to be tougher than resource mobilization: Muhith
The budgetary provision for whitening black money has been the outcome of political compromise, rather than ethical considerations, by the political leadership of Awami League-led ruling alliance. “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and I myself do not ethically support allowing the black money,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the post-budget press conference at the NEC auditorium ... Read more
Budget conservative, rather than ambitious: CPD, Dream of middle-income country can’t be achieved
Civil society think tank the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday termed the proposed national budget for fiscal year 2009-10 conservative rather than ambitious one in terms of growth-target achievement. Briefing media to express CPD’s view on the budget, its Research Fellow and former Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said, “The country achieve 5.9 per ... Read more
Money-whitening scope in budget sparks debate
CPD, MCCI strongly oppose; finance minister terms it ‘political compromise’ The provision for whitening undisclosed money in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2009-’10 is ‘a political compromise’, said the finance minister yesterday, after several organisations scathingly criticised the government’s move. Every year during budget time, the issue of whitening black money becomes a ... Read more
Labour migration to go costlier
Recruiting agencies decry proposal to scrap VAT exemption facility The government’s move to revoke the VAT exemption facility for manpower exporters will ultimately hurt migrant workers, as it will increase the cost of going abroad for work, recruitment agents and migration analysts said yesterday. “At a time when manpower export is suffering from the fallout ... Read more
Mystery shrouds death of AL MP’s son at Uttara
Awami League lawmaker Tipu Munshi’s son Apu Munshi (25) died at a city hospital soon after his admission there on Friday night with bullet wounds. Police quoting family sources said Apu has been suffering from mental depression and he might have shot himself with his father’s revolver. Bullet hit Apu was taken to the United ... Read more