Bangladesh
3 BAEC officials among 6 killed in Savar road crash
Six people including three officials of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) were killed and 40 others injured as a bus rammed two vehicles at Boliarpur on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar Sunday morning.
Four of the deceased were identified as BAEC engineer Kawsar Hossain, 33, testing officer Arifuzzaman, 32, scientific officer Puja Sarkar, 33, and bus driver Rajib, 30, said SI Sabur Khan, in-charge of Aminbazar police outpost.
The identities of two other deceased couldn’t be known immediately, said he.
Of the injured, 15 are undergoing treatment in critical condition at Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar.
According to the police, a speeding bus ploughed through a road divider after its driver lost control over the steering and then crashed into a minibus carrying BAEC staff and a cattle-laden truck at the same time.
Also read:Truck driver held after engineer’s death in Bagerhat road crash
Three people died on the spot and 40 others sustained injuries, SI Sabur said.
On information, Savar Fire Service members and police reached the spot and rushed the injured to Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar.
Severely injured bus driver Rajib and the two unidentified people died while undergoing treatment there, said hospital sources.
Also read: Out on joyride to visit Padma Bridge, 5 killed in Keraniganj road crash
The bodies of the deceased were recovered by Savar Police, said the SI.
Derailment halts Dhaka’s rail link with northern districts
Rail communications between Dhaka and the northern parts of the country have remained suspended since Sunday noon due to the derailment of a train in Gazipur, officials said.
Also read: Commuter train derails in Dinajpur, loco master injured
In-charge of Joydebpur Railway Junction Police outpost Shahidul Islam said that four bogies of the freight train veered off the tracks near Joydebpur Railway Station at noon.
A number of trains got stranded due to the derailment.
Balance development with environment, PM tells at event on World Environment Day
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday underlined the need for protecting the environment to ensure sustainable development in the country.
“For sustainable development there should be coordination with environment and development. Otherwise, development cannot be sustainable,” she said.
The premier was speaking at the Tree Fair and Campaign for Tree Plantation programme to mark the World Environment Day at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).
Also read: PM: South Asia needs to boost cooperation to end poverty
Hasina virtually joined the event from her official residence Ganobhaban.
The theme for World Environment Day this year is “Only One Earth”, with focus on “living sustainably in harmony with nature”.
The PM said that while going for development that everyone has to adopt the nature based solution. “This is urgently needed,” she said.
She said that every development project in the country has to fulfill one condition: to plant at least five trees for each tree felled for it.
Bangladesh, she said, needs development for improving the people’s lives. But the development must be fairly balanced with the nature and environment, she observed.
She mentioned her government is setting up 100 economic zones across the country to prevent indiscriminate industrialization and preserve the arable lands.
She said these projects have provision of harvesting rain water to preserve the ground water.
The PM reiterated her call not to leave a single inch of arable land uncultivated as the world is under threat of scarcity of food grains due to Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.
“Our land is fertile and we have manpower, we have to produce our own crops, we will produce whatever we need, we will have to shun our dependency on others,” she said.
She said the manpower of Environment Ministry has been increased to 1133 from 265, the environment directorate office has been set up in 50 districts and gradually every district will get an office.
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin, Deputy Minister Habibun Nahar, chairman of parliamentary affairs committee on Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry Saber Hossain Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion while its Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed gave the address of welcome.
2 probe bodies form over Ctg deadly fire
Two committees have been formed to investigate the fire at BM Container Deport in Sitakunda in Chattogram.
The Directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defense formed a seven-member probe body to ascertain the cause of the fire and extent of damages.
Also read: PM shocked at loss of lives in Sitakunda fire
The committee has been asked to submit its report within five working days.
UNB Chattogram correspondent reports: Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments also formed a three-member committee to probe the incident.
The committee has been asked to submit its report within three working days.
Headed by Shipon Chowdhury, assistant director general of the department, the other members of the committee are—Shubhankar Datta, labour inspector (health) and Shamim Hossain, labour inspector (security).
Also read: Massive fire at Ctg container depot: Death toll climbs to 43, over 200 injured
Besides, the local administration will also form a probe body, said Mominur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Chattogram.
Forty-three people including seven fire service members have died so far and over 200 injured in the massive fire at BM Container Depot at Sitakunda in Chattogram.
RMG workers stage demo in city demanding wage hike
Hundreds of workers of different garment factories in Mirpur area of the city have been staging demonstrations demanding a hike in wages.
Abu Raihan Mohammad Saleh, joint commissioner of traffic (north), said workers of different garment factories took to the streets at Mirpur-10 Golchhatar area after 8 am.
Later, workers of garment workers from adjacent areas, including Kazipara, Shewrapar and Agargaon, also joined them to express their solidarity with them.
READ: RMG workers stage demonstrations for arrears in Gazipur
A number of garment factories were vandalised during the demonstrations.
Vehicular movement from Mirpur-1 to Agargaon remained halted for several hours, causing sufferings to the commuters especially the officer goers.
PM: South Asia needs to boost cooperation to end poverty
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged the South Asian countries to work together in the fight against povery, describing it as the main enemy in the region.
“We, the countries in this region, should cooperate with each other. Many problems can be solved bilaterally,” she said.
The PM made this remark when Secretary General of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Esala Ruwan Weerakun paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s official residence Ganobhaban.
He was accompanied by his wife.“The main enemy in South Asian countries is poverty. So, all will have to work for poverty alleviation,” Hasina was quoted as saying by her Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.
She said when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had visited Kolkata after the Liberation War, he in his speech floated the idea of regional cooperation there, she said.
The SAARC secretary general stressed the need for strengthening the SAARC food bank.
He highly praised Bangladesh for its contribution to SAARC Agriculture Centre.
Weerakun, a Sri Lankan national, said the pandemic is also responsible for the ongoing economic crisis in his country and appreciated the support Bangladesh has extended towards the island nation.
Sri Lanka now needs fertilizer as the rice production dropped by 50 per cent there, he added.
In this context, the premier said Bangladesh, despite being a country of huge population, may provide potatoes to Sri Lanka during this crisis.
She said Bangladesh has taken steps to grow more foods amid the global food problem following the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine-Russia war.
Bangladeshi researchers are making efforts to develop different saline- and drought-tolerant varieties of rice, said Hasina.
Earlier, the SAARC official visited Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and commended the great leader's legacy.
Ambassador at-large Mohammad Ziauddin and PMO senior secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present.
Yunus for creating social business pharm companies to bring vaccines, medicines to common people
Nobel Laureate Professor Yunus has proposed creating social business pharmaceutical companies to bring vaccines and medicines to all people at affordable prices.
He came up with the proposal when he was invited to a parliamentary breakfast at the Bundestag (German Parliament) recently by Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Research, Mario Brandenburg.
He moderated the hour-long discussion during the breakfast. The breakfast was attended by 10 parliament members from diverse political parties.
Yunus was invited to speak on the current trend in rise in poverty, impact of pandemic on the low income people, impact of Ukrainian war, and the experiences of application of social business concept in addressing these issues.
Prof Yunus pleaded with the parliament members to support the campaign to make vaccine a common good by withdrawing intellectual property right, said the Yunus Centre in a media release on Sunday.
READ: Yunus for creating social business pharm companies to bring vaccines, medicines to common people
He highlighted the collapse of the global system in bringing vaccines to the people of low income countries.
Parliamentary Secretary Mario Brandenburg told the participants that he has already submitted a proposal in which he called for a greater governmental support for social business entrepreneurship. All MPs present acknowledged that entrepreneurially driven social business can go a long way in solving social problems.
Among the MPs present were Dr. Holger Becker (SPD), MP Frank Muller-Rosentritt (FDP), MP Sandra Bubendorfer-Licht (FDP), MP Volkmar Klein (CDU), MP Dr. Christiane Schenderlein (CDU), MP Alexander Radwan (CSU) and MP Canan Bayram (Bundnis 90/Die Grunen).
Professor Yunus is visiting Berlin to attend the tenth anniversary celebration of Yunus Social Business (YSB) a company created in Berlin ten years back to promote social businesses around the world. The company headed by Saskia Bruyesten operates in Brazil, India, Colombia, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda help create social businesses in these countries. YSB has supported around 2070 social businesses in 5 countries with USD 18 million disbursed capital, creating employment of 1.3 million income earners and engaging atleast 17.8 million customers.
Tenth year celebration was held on June 2 attended by 150 people coming from all the countries where YSB operates, and supporters of YSB in Germany and other Europeans countries, corporate leaders, senior executives of YSBs in all countries where it operates, and media representatives. Yunus expressed his happiness that YSB which was initiated by two German young women fresh out of university in their late 20s with no funds, has reached so many people around the globe. YSB delegates shared their achievements and plans for the next decade.
Yunus left Berlin on June 3 for Trento, Italy to speak at the "Trento Festival of Economics", a global economic conference on social entrepreneurship for sustainable economic development.
Bangladesh a star of growth, says IFAD urging continued focus on rural areas
Terming Bangladesh a growth star in the region, Reehana Rifat Raza, the regional director of the Asia and Pacific Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has urged Bangladesh to keep the focus on rural development.
“The rural economy is very important. You know, that's where a large share of people lives. Despite having heavy urbanization, it's not a sustainable path in some sense. And we have to look at how we make rural areas attractive economic centers,” she told UNB in an interview.
The rural areas should be made 'attractive' for economic growth to keep the people resilient to different shocks both on climate change and poverty fronts, she said
The economist who visited Bangladesh recently, said their projects are doing very well and there is a real benefit on the ground as they do impact assessments.
She said the countries like Bangladesh which are moving towards the next level of development have a real challenge as they have a large number of populations that live in the rural areas.
“The real challenge is when the structural change happens, and it happens in all the economies as they develop. We move from agriculture to industry and to services,” Raza said, emphasizing that they need to think about looking at shifting people and see how they generate the income because agriculture no longer can serve as the primary means of livelihood.
Raza, who joined IFAD in May 2022 from the Urban Institute in Washington D.C., USA, said they are looking at resilience and offering multiple means of generating incomes and helping the people live in the rural areas as climate change is a big issue there.
Small-scale farmers produce one-third of the world’s food, but receive only 1.7 per cent of climate finance, according to the international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency based in Rome.
IFAD is stepping up its investments globally to build small-scale farmers’ long-term resilience to climate change by dedicating 40 per cent of its core resources to climate action over the next three years, up from 35 per cent (equivalent to US$1.2 billion) over the previous three-year period.
READ: It's a priority for IFAD to invest in Bangladesh, says its regional director
Responding to a question on the situation in Ukraine and its impact on food prices, Raza said these are very difficult times and she thinks in difficult times, it is the poorest of the poor, who struggle the most as the inflationary impact is huge.
“I think it's going to be a huge challenge and a huge challenge for organizations like the IFAD and others who work in these economies to work with the rural poor,” said the economist who visited activities implemented under IFAD’s Bangladesh portfolio.
It is composed of eight ongoing projects with a total investment of US$1.25 billion that includes $475 million of IFAD financing, making Bangladesh IFAD’s second-largest country programme overall.
“Bangladesh is very good at taking advantage of its allocation,” said the IFAD official.
Responding to a question on Bangladesh’s economic situation, she said, “I think Bangladesh is doing very well. We see that across the board in the region. I'm also from this region. We see Bangladesh as the start compared to the other countries at the moment.”
Raza said there is a sort of “sustainable” growth and it is “very inclusive growth” in Bangladesh. “And I think this is the real thing to really commend the government of Bangladesh.”
Responding to a question on Sri Lanka, Raza said, “I think you are the least vulnerable. I think in countries like Sri Lanka, and even in Pakistan, these are not just economic crises, but political crises as well.”
Explaining why Bangladesh seems less vulnerable, she said, “You have an inclusive growth and people are seeing the real change. The challenge often is when governments can't deliver. That becomes a big problem for the governments. And then once you add a macro-economic crisis to that, it becomes very complicated.”
The regional director was on a mission to Bangladesh recently, her first official visit to the region since she took up appointment on 9 May 2022.
She took the opportunity to personally praise the government of Bangladesh for pledging US$2 million to IFAD’s 2022-2024 replenishment cycle.
This is the highest amount that Bangladesh has pledged during its 42-year membership to the fund.
Raza who previously served as a Senior Economist at The World Bank also commended the robust implementing capacity of national partners, which has been key to the success of the large and complex development portfolio.
IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience.
No JSC, JDC exams this year: Education Minister
Like the previous year, Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations will not be held this year, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Sunday.
“Students will be promoted to the next class on the basis of the results of final exams in their respective schools. However, they will receive a certificate from their respective Board of Education,” she told reporters at the secretariat.
READ: No JSC, JDC exams this year, says Edu Minister
She said an announcement about the inclusion of new educational institutions under the government's monthly payment order (MPO) will be made within a week.
The online application for MPO inclusion began on October 10, 2021.
A total of 90,000 teachers and employees of 8500 institutions are waiting for MPO registration.
Global Covid cases surpass 535 million
The overall number of Covid cases has surpassed 535 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 535,171,130 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,319,945 on Sunday morning.
The US has recorded 86,503,057 cases so far and 1,033,571 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 43,178,080 on Sunday morning, showed the health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 15 deaths from the pandemic registered across the country since Saturday morning took the total death toll to 524,692.
Situation in Bangladesh
Dhaka, June 3 (UNB) - Bangladesh registered 31 new Covid cases in 24 hours till Saturday morning taking the country's total caseload to 1,953,623.
The country's total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,131 as no death was reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily test positivity rate increased to 0.75 per cent from Friday’s 0.60 percent as 4,124 samples were tested.
The country on Thursday saw 29 cases with zero death.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 percent. The recovery rate rose to 97.45 percent as 171 patients recovered during this period.
In May, the country reported only four Covid-linked deaths and 816 new cases, while 7,356 patients recovered from the disease, according to the DGHS.
Among the four deaths during the period, one was vaccinated with a single dose of Covid vaccine while three were vaccinated with two doses.
READ: Global Covid cases near 535 million
The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March, 2020.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest positivity rate of 33.37 per cent.
The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.
Vaccination Campaign
A week-long booster dose campaign kicked off on Saturday, aiming to inoculate over one crore people across the country.
"The campaign began at 9am on Saturday. It will continue till June 10," said Dr Shamsul Haque, director of the Corona Vaccination Campaign of the Health Services Division.
The government has taken this initiative to cover over one crore people though nearly four crore citizens are waiting to get the booster dose, he said.
Alongside the booster dose campaign, the regular activities of administering Covid jabs are on.