Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - The ‘Sylhet Medical University Bill, 2018’ was passed in Parliament on Thursday to set up a medical university in Sylhet division for expanding higher education and research on medical education and medicare.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim moved the bill and it was passed by voice vote in the House.

Nasim said the proposed medical university will be a full-fledged one and it will be established as part of the government’s plan to set up one medical university in each division in phases.

According to the proposed law, all the medical and dental colleges and nursing institutes in Sylhet division will get affiliated with Sylhet Medical University.

Earlier on July 9, the bill was placed in Parliament and it was sent to the respective parliamentary standing committee for further scrutiny.
 

Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in partnership with Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, has invited young choreographers and dancers to participate in a call for applications for the upcoming “Young Choreographers’ Platform 2018”. 

The event will be held from October 20 to November 30.

The platform will be provided to promising young dancers and choreographer to express themselves, their themes, visions and dreams by contemporary dance movements, said a press release on Thursday.

In an initial workshop in late October, choreographers will confirm their teams of dancers and have a chance to attend screenings of contemporary dance performances at Goethe-Institut.

Throughout the month of November, the choreographies will then be developed in close mentorship with the German dancer and choreographer Tomas Bünger of TanzKollektivBremen. 

The 2018 Platform closes with public performances on stage.

The deadline for applications is October 6, 2018. 

Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - The tests for admission into first year honours courses at Dhaka University under session 2018-19 begin on Friday with entry test of ‘Ga’ unit.

The one-hour admission test will be held from 10 am to 11 am at 54 centres on the university campus and outside the campus. 

A total of 26,960 students applied against 1,250 seats in departments under the Business Studies faculty, said a DU press release on Thursday.

The admission test of ‘Cha’ unit (General Knowledge part) under the Faculty of
Fine Art will be held at 10 am to 11 am on September 15 (Saturday) while that of its Drawing part on September 22.

No electronic device, including calculator, mobile phone and electronic watch, will be allowed into the exam halls, the release added.
 

Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) – The much-anticipated ‘Road Transport Bill, 2018’ was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday. 

The Bill has a provision of maximum 5 years’ jail for any death or serious injuries caused by reckless or negligent driving while death penalty for intentional murder by driving.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader placed the bill in the House and it was sent to the respective scrutiny committee for further examination. The committee was asked to submit its report within seven days.

As per the clause 105 of the bill, “If anyone sustains serious injuries or loses life in any motor transport driving-related accident, such offenses will be considered as crimes under the relevant provisions of the Penal Code 1860.”

“But provided that no matter whatever punishment is in the provision 304 (B) of the Penal Code, whoever causes the serious injuries or death of any person by rash or negligent driving of any motorised vehicle shall be punished with imprisonment of maximum five-year term or with Tk 5 lakh as fine or both,” the same clause continues.

The maximum punishment for this offence was seven-year imprisonment in the past, which was later reduced to three-year imprisonment through bringing an amendment to the law. But the punishment has again been proposed to be increased to five-year jail.

The Cabinet on August 6 last approved the bill to replace the existing Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983 in the wake of student movement for road safety after two students of Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College were killed in a road accident.

After that Cabinet meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam had said the maximum punishment would be death penalty in case of intentional murder by driving as per the bill.  
He said if it proved through investigation that the death in the road accidents is deliberate, it will be regarded as punishable offence under section 302 of the Penal Code. The section 302 of the Penal Code stipulates: “Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or [imprisonment] for life, and shall also be liable to fine”.

The Cabinet Secretary said if any serious injury and death occur, it will be decided following investigation whether the accused will be charged under the clause 302 of the Penal Code. If it’s attempt to murder or culpable homicide will be tried under the penal code… it’ll depend on evidence and the investigation will define whether it is murder or accident.

As per the Clause 11 of the bill, there will be point system against each driving license. A total of 12 points will remain allocated against each driving license and the points will be curtailed for every offence such as violating red light signal and reckless overtaking.

In case of zero point the license will be cancelled, he said adding that the point system is there in many developed countries.

The driving licence can be cancelled, withdrawn or suspended in case of illness, insanity, physical and mental incapability, taking alcohol, habitual crimes or any other reason under the clause-12 of the proposed law.

The minimum educational qualification for having a driving licence is class-VIII in the clause-6 of the proposed law.

As per the clause 53 of the bill, a financial assistance fund will be formed to provide compensation or medical treatment cost to the victims or victim families of road accidents.

A trusty board, led by a chairman, will maintain the fund. The victims will get compensation or medical treatment costs as fixed by the trusty board.

According to the clause 39, the working hours for drivers, helpers-cum-cleaners and conductors will be fixed through the government gazette notification keeping consistency with the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and the employers will have to follow it.
 
As per the proposed law, the maximum punishment for driving without driving licence or driving motorized vehicle without fitness are six-month imprisonment or Tk 25,000 as fine or both.

According to the bill, the maximum punishment for driving unregistered motorized vehicles is six-month imprisonment or Tk 50,000 as fine or both.
 

Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - State Minister for Information Tarana Halim on Thursday told Parliament that the BNP-Jamaat clique is operating around 300 Facebook pages from abroad to spread rumours and false information to tarnish the image of the government, ministers and MPs ahead of the national election.

“We know the BNP-Jamaat vested group has opened 300 Facebook pages which are being operated from abroad with an aim to spread rumours and misguide people with false information to dent the image of the government and assassinate the characters of each minister and MPs ahead of the election,” she said.

The junior minister came up with the remarks while replying to a supplementary question by Awami League MP Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan.

Under the circumstances, she said, the government is going to set up a ‘Rumour identification and prevention cell’ which will be functional at the end of this month.

About the function of the cell, Tarana said it will remain in operation round the clock and continuously monitor different social networking sites to inform media within three hours if any rumour is found.

She alleged that a vested quarter using the logos of different noted online portals and newspapers has been spreading rumours on the social media.

During the recent safe road movement by students, Tarana said, such rumours were spread using the BBC logo. “BNP-Jamaat is conducting such false propaganda and circulating false news.”

She called upon the MPs to take steps to have their Facebook pages verified through Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission so that no one can spread false information through using their fake IDs.

The state minister said the government will give the electronic media necessary directions to stop the use of indecent and indecent languages during their live programmes.