Manikganj, May 13 (UNB) – Police arrested a Chhatra League leader with contraband yaba pills from Dorgram area in Saturia upazila on Monday. 

The arrestee was identified as Aminul Islam, convener of Dorgram Union Chhatra League Unit, of Tebaria village in the upazila. 

Md Motiar Rahman, officer-in-charge of Saturia Police Station, said Aminul had been selling and taking drugs for long and a video of his activities spread on social media Facebook. 

Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy inspector general of police (Dhaka Range) noticed the matter and directed Rifat Rahman Shamim, superintendent of Manikganj police, to investigate the matter. 

Police, however, identified three Chhatra League leaders after examining the video and arrested main accused Aminul with five pieces of yaba pills.  

Saturia upazila Chhatra League General Secretary Golam Maula said necessary measures would be taken if any leader gets involved in drug business. 

Aminul would be removed from the party if his involvement is found in this connection, he added. 

Savar, May 13 (UNB) – A schoolgirl was reportedly raped by an elderly man in Genda area here on Monday noon. 

Locals caught the alleged rapist, Alam Mia, 65, a security guard hailing from Radha Krishna village in Sadar upazila of Gaibandha district, and handed him over to police.

Locals said the girl, 15, came to visit her brother’s rented house from Jhenaidah nine days ago.  

When she was staying at the house alone today noon, Alam Mia stormed the house and raped her.

Hearing the victim’s screams, locals rushed in and caught him. Later, he was handed over to police after a good thrashing, they added. 

Police sent the victim to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for medical test, said AFM Sayed, officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station.

Dhaka, May 13 (UNB) – Projections by Standard Chartered Bank estimate that Bangladeshis will be better off than their neighbouring Indians on a per capita basis by 2030. 

The 2020s are set to be the Asian decade, with the continent dominating an exclusive list of economies expected to sustain growth rates of around 7 percent.

India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines should all meet that benchmark, according to a research note Sunday from Madhur Jha, Standard Chartered’s India-based head of thematic research, and Global Chief Economist David Mann. 

Their research projects GDP per capita in Bangladesh surging to $5,700 in 2030 (from $1600 in 2018). At the same time, India’s GDP per capita is projected to be slightly lower at $5,400 (from $1900 in 2018). 

Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire are also likely to reach the 7% growth pace, which typically means a doubling of gross domestic product every 10 years. That’ll be a boon to per-capita incomes, with Vietnam’s soaring to $10,400 in 2030 from about $2,500 last year, they estimate.

The South Asian members of the group should be GDP standouts as they’ll together account for about one-fifth of the world’s population by 2030, Standard Chartered reckons. The demographic dividend will be a boon for India, while Bangladesh’s investments in health and education should juice productivity.

The Asian dominance of the list is a change from 2010, when the bank first started tracking the economies it expected to grow by around 7%. Back then, there were 10 members evenly split between Asia and Africa: China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique.

China is a notable absence from the latest ranking after being a member of the club for almost four decades — reflecting both a slowdown in economic growth and a progression toward higher per-capita incomes that makes faster growth rates more difficult to sustain. Standard Chartered estimates the world’s No. 2 economy will keep up a 5.5% economic growth pace in the 2020s.

Sub-Saharan African countries also have faded, which the analysts attribute to “waning reform momentum, despite a slowdown in commodity prices.”

While faster economic growth isn’t a panacea — think income inequality, crime, pollution — it tends to come with a lot of positive knock-on effects, Jha and Mann wrote.

“Faster growth not only helps to lift people more quickly out of absolute poverty, but is also usually accompanied by better health and education, as well as a wider range of — and better access to — goods and services,” they say in the report. “Higher incomes resulting from faster growth also usually reduce socio-political instability and make it easier to introduce structural reforms, creating a virtuous cycle.”

In addition, 7% club members tend to have savings and investment rates of at least 20-25% of GDP, according to the report.

Dhaka, May 13 (UNB) – The country’s poverty rate came down to 21.8 percent while the extreme poverty rate to 11.3 percent in 2018, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The rates were calculated based on the findings of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES)-2016.

BBS Director General Dr Krishna Gayen said this while unveiling the final data of the survey at a press conference at the BBS Bhaban on Monday afternoon.

The HIES 2016 findings showed that the country’s poverty rate decreased to 24.3 percent in 2016 from 40 percent in 2005 as per the upper poverty line.

The (extreme) poverty rate, as per the lower poverty line, came down to 12.9 percent in 2016 from 25.1 percent in 2005.

“According to the growth elasticity model, the poverty rate as per upper poverty line was 21.8 percent while the poverty rate as per lower poverty line was 11.3 percent in 2018,” said the BBS Director General.

Bangladesh will be able to attain the related SDG target by 2030 through eradicating poverty, she hoped.

In October 2017, the preliminary data of the HIES 2016 was published.

Dhaka, May 13 (UNB) - State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian on Monday urged owners of factories, including the RMG ones, to pay the wages and festival bonus of their workers before the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation starts.

She made the call while talking to reporters after a meeting of the Crisis Management Core Committee at the ministry.

The state minister said the garment owners can play the major role in workers’ smooth celebrations of the largest religious festival of Muslims. “The government wants everyone to celebrate Eid with their near and dear ones happily.”

As lakhs of people will leave Dhaka during the festival, she called upon the owners to arrange holidays of their workers in phases to avoid traffic jam and negative impacts on the 100 percent export-oriented industry.

A total of 29 bodies formed with the members of law enforcement agencies, industrial police, Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments and Department of Labour, are working to monitor the labour condition across the country, Monnujan Sufian said.