Bangladesh
Climate Change to get priority in Bangladesh alongside Covid support:ADB
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) must now prioritise climate change, while continuing to support economic recovery and the COVID-19 vaccination program in Bangladesh, says a report released by ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department (IED).
The review recommends that climate change and environment should be the leading strategic priorities in the forthcoming 5-year country partnership strategy for Bangladesh.
Other recommendations aim targeting policy-based lending at the most critical and relevant policy issues where government reform commitment is strong, and where governance can be strengthened, and increasing support for Bangladesh's national health and social protection systems to mitigate the exposure of the population to systemic shocks, including those related to natural hazards, climate change, and disease outbreaks such as COVID-19.
The Bank support for energy and transport infrastructure over the past decade has made a significant contribution to Bangladesh’s economic growth, it added.
Also read: Covid fallout: ADB lowers Bangladesh's FY21 growth forecast
ADB’s program in Bangladesh amounted to nearly $18 billion over the evaluation period, 2011–2020, with two-thirds invested in energy, transport, and water infrastructure.
Impressive results were achieved in the energy sector where ADB has provided nearly 50 years of consistent support.
While access to energy has skyrocketed, more attention must now be paid to the sector’s decarbonization.
The economy grew 8.2% in 2019, the highest in Asia and the Pacific. Until the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, poverty had fallen for over 3 decades.
Also Read: IMF upgrades global growth forecast to 6 pct in 2021
Bangladesh now requires immediate assistance to finance COVID-19 vaccination delivery and logistics, and strong support for economic recovery.
“Investment over the short- to medium-term will need to pay attention to recovery from the pandemic and aim to strengthen national health care services and social protection systems to build Bangladesh’s resilience to shocks,” IED Director General Marvin Taylor-Dormond said.
“ADB has had success in providing essential health care services to poor communities in city slums, especially women and children, and there is an urgent need to build on this success, including through working collaboratively with other development partners.”
The evaluation found evidence that where ADB works differently, and where government initiative and leadership is supported, impressive results are possible.
ADB’s support for inclusion, education and skills development, and greater gender equity achieved good results.
Also Read: ADB to provide $5.9 bn firm, $5.2 bn standby project assistance
In education, for example, ADB worked with other development partners to support a sector-wide education program that over time has seen education offered to almost all children of primary school age.
A larger proportion of the students completed schooling, with near gender parity, and narrowed socioeconomic differences on key education indicators, although there is still a need to improve education quality.
On the environmental front, ADB did not take a proactive, holistic, or multisector approach to helping Bangladesh tackle climate change, the report says.
Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world and is very vulnerable to climate change-related events.
Results were slow to materialize in public sector management, transport, and private sector development. “Reforms in public sector management (PSM) require long-term engagement” IED Director Joanne Asquith said.
“ADB support for PSM and good governance needs to have a stronger analytical base, engage more deeply with civil society, and increase collaboration with the wider development partner community.”
ADB investment in the railway subsector did not deliver results as quickly as anticipated because sector reforms are taking longer to implement than envisaged.
Global caseload above 173mn; UK wants to vaccinate the world in 18 months
With new variants of Covid-19 spreading rapidly, the global Covid-19 caseload on Monday crossed the grim milestone of 173 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities now stand at 173,197, 944 and 3,726, 107, respectively.
The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, have recorded 33,362,471 cases with 597,627 fatalities to date, as per the JHU data.
Read: Indian cities unlocking after declining COVID-19 infections
Brazil continues to rank second in the world in number of deaths from the pandemic behind the United States and third in number of confirmed cases following the United States and India.
Brazil on Sunday registered another 873 deaths from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 473,404, Brazil's Ministry of Health reported.
It also reported a total of 39,637 new cases on Sunday, bring the total number of confirmed cases to 16,947,062.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 28,809,339 on Sunday with 114,460 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, the lowest single-day increase in the past two-months, said the federal health ministry.
A total of 2,677 deaths since Saturday morning took the overall death toll to 346,759.
Meanwhile British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will use the Group of Seven wealthy democracies’ summit next week to urge world leaders to commit to vaccinating the global population by the end of 2022.
Read: Increase in Covid-19 vaccine production in India to be 'game changer' beyond borders: US
Johnson is expected to stress the importance of a global vaccination drive when he meets with fellow world leaders on Friday in Cornwall, reports AP.
The meeting on England's southwestern coast will be the first face-to-face G-7 summit since the pandemic hit.
“The world is looking to us to rise to the greatest challenge of the postwar era: defeating COVID and leading a global recovery driven by our shared values,” he said in a statement Sunday. “Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history.”
Situation in Bangladesh
Amid the growing concern over the spread of the Delta variant, formerly known as the India variant, 38 more people died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Sunday, putting the death toll at 12,839.
Besides, 1,676 more people were found positive for the virus after testing 15,613 samples during the period, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 38 more deaths, 1,676 new cases
Bangladesh reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Lockdown extended
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown until June 16 as there has been no substantial improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
Keeping all the earlier directives and restrictions effective, the government has added some new restrictions, the circular says.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India's Serum Institute.
So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got the authorisation for emergency use in the country.
Read:7 cases of Indian Covid variant detected in Nawabganj: Doctor
Meanwhile, seven million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine reached Bangladesh, and the governments of India and China gave 3.2 million doses and 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine as gifts.
However, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.
Over 100 shanties gutted in Mohakhali slum fire
Over 100 shanties were gutted in a fierce fire at a slum in the city’s Mohakhali area early Monday.
Quamrul Ahsan, duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters control room, said the fire broke out at ‘Sat Tala Slum’ around 3:57 am and it soon engulfed the entire slum area.
On information, 18 firefighting units rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze around 6:35 am.
While briefing reporters on Monday morning, Brig Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit or any illegal gas connection.
Also read: Mohakhali slum fire extinguished
Shougat Nazbin wins GREEN Prize 2021
Bangladesh's Shougat Nazbin Khan has won the "GREEN Prize 2021" for her environmental activities.Nazbin is serving as Climate Ambassador at World Bank's Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN) and as Young Ambassador of ‘The Earth Project’ supported by UNESCO.
Nazbin is also a United Nations Young Leader for SDGs, Asia 21 Young Leader Fellow, Commonwealth Youth Awardee, Green Talent Awardee, and Forbes 30 under 30 honouree.
Read Global Youth Climate Summit 2021 urges pressing actions to combat climate change
The Grassroots Rising Environmental Education Network (GREEN) Prize honours leaders and educators who step up to address environmental issues, lead environmental education initiatives, or shine a light on environmental injustice within their communities.
Ten finalists from across the globe were selected based on their excellence in environmental initiatives and the quality of their proposed environmental projects. Then the competition was open for public voting for a very short period.
Freezing bank accounts of ex-AL MP Awal, wife: HC questions legality of order
The High Court on questioned a lower court's order, that asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to sieze properties and freeze bank accounts of former lawmaker and Pirojpur Awami League President AKM Awal and his wife Laila Parveen in two graft cases.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir issued the rules after hearing separate petitions filed by the couple.
The court issued rules asking the ACC to show cause in four weeks why the lower court's order should not be declared illegal.
Also read: Former MP Awal placed on 2-day remand in extortion case
On January 17, Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka asked the ACC to freeze bank accounts and seize properties of Awal, who was elected from Awami League from the Pirojpur-1 constituency in the 2008 and 2014 national polls, and Laila in the two corruption cases.
On May 25, the court rejected two separate appeals filed by them, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam said.
Also read: Former MP Awal taken to jail
On September 29 last year, the ACC filed two separate cases with its Integrated District Office-1 of Dhaka where Awal was sued for amassing illegal wealth over Tk33.27 crore, and Laila Tk10.98 crore.
Also, on December 30, 2019, the ACC filed three cases against Awal and one against Laila for grabbing a piece of government land in Pirojpur Sadar upazila and setting up a two-story building on it.
9 killed by lightning strikes in Feni, Chattogram, Manikganj, Magura
At least nine people were killed and two others sustained injuries from lightning strikes in Chattogram, Feni, Manikganj and Magura districts on Sunday.
In Chattogram, four people including two women were killed and two others injured as thunderbolt struck them in Fatikchhari, Boalkhali and Mirsarai upazilas of the district in the morning.
Lucky Das, 38, wife of Banuswar Das and Bhanu Sheel, 40, wife of Jugendra Sheel of Kanchannagar Dulurpara in Fatikchhari upazila, were killed and two others injured being hit by lightning while they were working at a field during rain around 11 am, said Kanchannagar union parishad member Afsar Uddin.
The injured women identified as Maloti rani Das, 50, wife of Mantosh Dash and Shobha Rani Dey, 45, wife of Bhuban Dey were taken to Abdul Monayem General Hospital.
Also read: Lightning strikes kill four in Dhaka amid rain
Besides, Sazzad Hossain, 16, son of Mosharraf Hossain of East Domkhali village in Mirsarai upazila was killed by lightning strike while he was working at a field with his father.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Jahangir, 39, a day labourer, was killed by lightning strike in Boalkhali upazila in the morning.
In Feni, two people including a minor boy were killed when a thunderbolt struck them at Alampur village in Sonagazi upazila in the morning.
The deceased were identified as Sazeda Akter Sathi, 15, a madrasha student and daughter of Soleman of Alampur village and Al Amin, 6, and son of Mohammad Bahar of Charsahabikari village in the upazila.
Also read: Lightning strikes to kill 3 in Chapainawabganj
In Manikganj, two people, including a college student were killed by lightning strikes in Ghior and Daulatpur upazila.
The deceased were identified as Shahin,18 and Mostofa, 40.
Meanwhile in Magura’s Mohammadpur upazila, a housewife named Sakiron Nesa, 50 was killed by a streak of lightning as she was doing household chores.
Officer-in-Charge of Mohammadpur police station, Tarak Nath Bishwash said a case of unnatural death was filed in this connection.
Lightning safety tips
Lightning strikes claim hundreds of lives in Bangladesh every year. The deaths mostly occur in the warmer period of the year from April to June, as hailstorms occur most frequently during this time.
Also read: 6 killed by lightning strikes in Sirajganj, Cumilla
The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in a guideline says lightning usually continues for 30-45 minutes and urged people to stay indoors or take cover during the period.
Installing lightning insulation bars in every building in lightning prone regions is an essential long term safety measure, according to the ministry.
Recommended safety tips while outdoors during lightning include finding shelter immediately, wearing shoes with rubber sole, sitting down on toes, shutting ears while in open field, staying away from each other, avoiding using electric instruments, staying away from tall trees, electric poles and mobile towers.
Checking the weather forecast before participating in any outdoor activities is essential to be safe from lightning in the stormy season.
Stimulus packages: Experts, stakeholders for speedy disbursement to CMSMEs
The cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) need more attention and speedy disbursement of funds from the stimulus packages to ensure their sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also, the process will have to be digitised through the formulation of a database.
There is also a need for expanding and making the credit guarantee scheme flexible so that the entrepreneurs can maximize its benefits.
An alternate source or mechanism, apart from the banking system for distributing stimulus funds to the CMSMEs, has to be developed so that the unbanked entrepreneurs could get benefitted.
Stakeholders and experts came up with the observations at the webinar "Impact of Covid-19 on CMSMEs and Understanding their Recovery: Evidence from BSCIC Industrial Estates" organised jointly by Economic Reporters' Forum and PRISM Programme.
ERF President Sharmeen Rinvy chaired the event while General Secretary S M Rashidul Islam moderated it.
Dr Monzur Hossain, the research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and also a consultant of PRISM, said: "Around 96% number of firms were affected during the lockdown owing to the pandemic while the CMSMEs recovered up to 80% of their production by December last year."
Bangabandhu killers' gallantry awards revoked
The government issued a gazette notification Sunday revoking the state gallantry awards of four convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The gazette issued from the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs mentioned the absconding murderers- Noor Chowdhury, Shariful Haque Dalim, Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan.
Also read: Executed Bangabandhu killer Majed buried in Narayanganj
For their contributions in the 1971 Liberation War, Noor was awarded the title Bir Bikram, Dalim with Bir Uttam, and Rashed and Moslehuddin were awarded the title Bir Protik.
Earlier the High Court ordered the government to suspend the state gallantry awards of the four convicted killers of the Father of the Nation.
Also read: Bangabandhu killer Rashid's son-in-law held under ICT act
Aslam Chowdhury's bail order stayed
The Appellate Division on Sunday stayed the High Court bail orders for BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury, in two sabotage cases filed in 2013, until June 20.
The virtual bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the orders following petitions filed by the state, seeking stay on the High Court orders.
The court also asked the state to file a leave to appeal petition against the High Court orders by June 20.
On May 30, the High Court granted bail to BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury, a joint secretary general of BNP, in two sabotage cases filed against him with the capital's Kotwali and Shahbag police stations, following two bail petitions filed by him.
The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the orders, granting him ad-interim bail for six months, Deputy Attorney General Dr Md Bashir Ullah said.
Aslam's lawyer Hasibur Rahman said the High Court orders cleared the way for his client to walk out of jail.
On May 15, 2016, Aslam was arrested from Dhaka's Khilkhet for allegedly hatching a conspiracy with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to overthrow the government.
On May 26 that year, he was sued for the alleged sedition and then shown arrested in two sedition cases.
Next, Aslam was accused in other cases including sabotage and cheque fraud. However, he secured bail in all the cases, Hasibur said.
Banks to transact from 10 am to 3 pm from until June 16
Banks will continue their existing limited hour- transactions from 10 am to 3 pm on workdays until June 16.
Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on Sunday for all banks in compliance with the Cabinet Division’s latest directives on the countrywide restrictions to contain the Coronavirus transmission.
The banks can keep open offices until 4:30 pm to do their necessary activities, said the BB circular.
In the normal situation, banks operate from 10 pm to 4 pm.
The BB circular said all other instructions will remain unchanged as per the circular of April 13.
In that circular it said banks can keep one non-AD branch open within 2km radius in the city corporation areas and at Upazila level one branch of each bank can remain open on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday.
READ: Banks can open during local lockdown, says central bank
Banks have to take measures to provide transport facilities for the staff during the period.
The BB circular said during the banking transaction hours, banks have to ensure different kinds of services including clearing of cheques, withdrawal and deposits of money, money transfer, the release of remittance, encashment of different instruments and also receipt of the payments of bills of different utilities.
BB said banks have to continue services like disbursement of loans, incentives, payment of salaries of different industries and also the purchase of export bills, loan sanction and distribution.
Banks have to follow instructions in keeping the branches located in the port areas in discussion with the local administration and other authorities, as per the circular issued on August 5 last year, it said.
READ: Banks to operate from 10 am to 2 pm from Thursday
Banks have to operate with limited staff under a roster system.
They have to ensure operation of ATM booths to facilitate transaction through cards by supplying adequate cash in the machines while the evening banking and weekly holiday banking activities will remain closed until further order, said the circular issued on April 13.