Bangladesh
Banks to operate from 10am to 1 pm for general transactions on Monday,Tuesday
Banks will operate from 10am to 1 pm for general transactions on April 12 (Monday) and 13 (Tuesday). If necessary, they can remain open up to 3pm for execution of other required activities.
Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on Sunday in this regard as follow-up of previous circular issued on April 4, saying that all other instructions will remain unchanged given in the previous one.
Earlier, the central bank instructed banks to operate from 10am to 12:30pm for general transactions during the lockdown period from April 5 to 11.
Also read: Worsening Covid crisis: Bangladesh resorting to full lockdown
It also said that during the banking transaction hours, the banks have to ensure different kinds of services including clearing of cheques, withdrawal and deposits of money, money transfer, release of remittance, encashment of different instruments and also receipt of the payments of bills of different utilities.
The banks can operate one branch where they have more than one branches within the radius of two kilometres in metropolitan and district headquarters through internal coordination, it said.
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.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records highest single-day deaths
They have to keep open branches designated as authorised dealers for facilitating the export-import business.
The banks have to ensure maintaining the health and safety instructions about the coronavirus in discussion with the local administration and other authorities, it said.They have to ensure operation of the ATM booths to facilitate transaction through cards by supply of adequate cash in the machines while the evening banking and weekly holiday banking activities will remain closed until further order, said the earlier circular issued on April 4.
'Accredited labs to be launched to ensure global standard of agricultural goods'
The government is going to launch accredited laboratories soon to ensure the quality of agricultural goods to face the competitive global market.
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said this on Sunday during an online discussion programme with vegetable and fruit exporters.
"The government aims to make the agriculture sector profitable through marketing and processing. For that, the agricultural export market must be expanded," he said.
Also read: Cabinet nods Agricultural Good Practices Policy to ensure safe food
Also, the government is working on reducing barriers to exports of agricultural goods and considering setting up the processing industry and finding ways to give more support to the entrepreneurs, Razzaque said.
"Those who are involved with the export and improving the quality of agricultural goods will get all the assistance," the minister added.
"Agriculture is vital for Bangladesh as it ensures food security and provides raw materials for different industries. We can export agricultural goods to the international market if we can produce safe vegetables and fruits and process them."
483 upazila health complexes get Tk 14.49 cr allocation
The Health Ministry has allocated a total of Tk 14.49 crore to the 483 upazila health complexes to ensure emergency health services across the country.
Each of the health complexes received Tk 3 lakh to provide health service for the people of grass level root, said a press statement of the Ministry on Sunday.
The allocated money will be utilized for machineries (logistic support), medicine, oxygen and other necessities for the patients of Covid-19 isolation hospital.
The ministry issued the notice signed by Senior Assistant Secretary of Health Ministry Sushil Kumar Pal.
Also read: Worsening Covid crisis: Bangladesh resorting to full lockdown
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has reported its highest single-day coronavirus fatalities on Sunday, surpassing Saturday’s figure.
The health authorities confirmed 78 deaths during the last 24 hours till morning. A day earlier, the country recorded 77 fatalities, the highest since coronavirus cases were first reported in March last year.
Fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,739 as the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the third consecutive day.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death on March 18 last year. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records highest single-day deaths
Meanwhile, 5,819 new cases were reported, pushing the local tally to 684,756, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The infection rate slipped to 19.81 percent from 20.49 percent of Saturday’s. So far, 5,002,865 samples, including 29,376 in the last 24 hours, have been tested.
F-commerce entrepreneurs rising significantly: Palak
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Sunday said the participation of young entrepreneurs in F-commerce (Facebook commerce) is on the rise significantly.
“At least 400,000 new entrepreneurs are engaged in F-commerce. Bangladesh Bank is going to arrange small loans at 4 percent interest for the entrepreneurs who are engaged in F-commerce and Startup business,” he said at a virtual conference.
Also read: Govt planning to formulate data privacy protection law: Palak
The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) arranged the virtual conference on Rural to Global E-commerce Policy Conference. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tazul Islam inaugurated the event.
Palak also highlighted different initiatives taken by the government for e-commerce and its entrepreneurs in the first session of the conference.
The LGRD minister said people are choosing e-commerce to sell and purchase goods, from food to luxurious products. “Though it (e-commerce) began small, now a sort of dependency (on e-commerce) has been created,” he said.
Also read: Palak unveils software to bridge jobseekers with disabilities ...
Addressing the function, Senior Secretary of Commerce Ministry Dr Jafar Uddin said the commerce ministry has formed a digital commerce cell to implement the digital commerce policy.
“The work is on to finalise the digital commerce operation guidelines 2021. We keep the matter of inclusion of social media commerce entrepreneurs in the guideline under the consideration of the Commerce Ministry,” he said.
Chief executive officer of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) Obaidul Azam, deputy governor of Bangladesh Abu Farah Md Nasser and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) Syed Almas Kabir, among others, spoke at the conference presided over by e-CAB president Shomi Kaiser, said a press release.
Read Startup Bangladesh Ltd to invest Tk 100 crore for 50 startups marking birth centennial of Bangabandhu and Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh
Stabilise prices ahead of Ramadan: Home Minister
Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, MP, on Sunday called upon businesses to stabilise the prices of essential commodities during the holy month of Ramadan as people's incomes have been hit hard by Covid-19 in the country.
“The prices of daily essentials come down in all Muslim countries in the world during the month of Ramadan but the prices go up in Bangladesh in this time. So, we need assistance from businesses,” the minister said in a webinar of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) on “Law and order situation and keeping prices of essentials stable in the upcoming Ramadan.”
The minister said Bangladesh will go for a hard lockdown to save lives from April 14. “We will take necessary steps for the sake of the countrymen. The extortion is under control now. We could not control it hundred percent but we are tough against it,” he added.
He urged all to maintain health advisories and instructions from the government. “We want the help of businessmen to keep the prices stable not only in the month of Ramadan but also all the year round. Law enforcement agencies are now largely capable and expert so you are requested to take their help any time,” he also added.
Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said, “We have to be united and work together to stabilise the market. DSCC has already formed a committee comprising nine councillors for market monitoring. We regularly conduct mobile courts. DSCC is a business friendly service organization. We will work for the greater interest of city dwellers.”
The mayor stressed on awareness for Covid-19. “We sometimes see negligence in terms of obeying health advisories. Coordinated efforts will help us to come out of this pandemic. Extortions are now very low and our fight against extortionists will continue,” he added.
DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said when the economy was in the way of recovery, at that moment the second wave of Covid 19 comes back. The worldwide supply chain and production are hampered and are responsible for inflation.
“Price hike in the international market and volatility in supply chain have an impact on price hike in Bangladesh. Besides, the issue of international market, creating artificial crisis by hoarding, lack of market monitoring, extortion in the transportation sector, increased transportation cost are some of the reasons of price spiral especially in the month of Ramadan,” he added.
Mentioning SANEM survey, he said poverty rate rose to 42% due to pandemic which was 20.5% a year ago. In this scenario, if prices of essential commodities increased people will suffer a lot in the month of Ramadan.
To keep prices under control Rizwan suggested releasing essential goods from the port considering it as a priority. “Law enforcement agencies should take stern action against the extortionists in the transportation sector. We have adequate laws, but we need to execute the rules and laws.”
The Vice President of Consumer Association of Bangladesh S M Nazer Hossain said the essential market is unstable every year due to lack of market monitoring. There is also blame game between large and small businessmen.
He urged for a coordinated market monitoring system and also called upon the businessmen to accept lower profit margin in the pandemic crisis.
Govt urged to keep factories open to 'avoid grave consequences'
South Korea based global conglomerate Youngone Corporation Chairman and CEO Kihak Sung has made an urgent call to the Bangladesh government not to shut the factories down to "avoid grave consequences."
If the factories are kept open, workers will remain in a disciplined environment and can be better supported against infections, he said.
The Youngone chairman also said the country's readymade garment (RMG) sector, the major foreign currency earner, has not yet recovered from the damaging effects of the first wave of Covid-19 and it now has to cope with the second wave.
Sung said the apparel factories had to operate with lots of difficulties and suffer huge financial losses last year.
The unplanned closure of the factories extending up to nine weeks made things worse. It hurt the country's image and undermined the confidence of some of the major buyers, he continued.
While the factories were in operations, they strictly followed proper health care measures and were successful in ensuring that their workers were well protected, the Youngone chairman said.
"And this was certainly true of all the Youngone factories. Compared to the situation outside, we only had to deal with a few Covid-19, thanks to the precautionary measures taken."
The Youngone chairman also said the situation was normal in the factories and Covid-19 positive cases were minimal.
Even affected workers, being relatively young, could come back to work in good health after two-three weeks of quarantine and healing, he added.
"This normalcy may be maintained if we can avoid closure of factories and long holiday. It may be mentioned that after every long holiday and extended closures, there has been an upswing in the number of Covid-19 cases."
He said if the factories are closed, workers will have to go back to their villages with every likelihood of either spreading the virus or getting infected by it.
Such a situation will add to the difficulties of the workers, the factory owners, the government and the country, Sung, also the chairman of the Korean Federation of Textile Industries, said.
When the RMG factories are trying their best to recover and survive in a highly competitive global market, any further closure of the factories will be extremely damaging to the economy, whereas, appropriate measures will help avoid the impending disaster, he said.
In Vietnam, where Youngone has a large number of factories, at no stage did the authorities order the closure of factories.
Ever since the Covid-19 outbreak, Vietnam restricted the movement of its citizens and meticulously enforced health safety measures instead of shutting down factories. This enabled the country to control the pandemic and minimise the damage to the export economy, Sung continued.
"The example of South Korea may also be taken into consideration. Public places like restaurants and shopping malls were opened for shorter hours but all factories and business organisations were functioning as usual, which is continuing till now," the Youngone chairman said.
He also requested the Bangladesh government to take appropriate measures which will be beneficial to the country and save the RMG sector from suffering another blow at a time when it is still reeling from the impact of extended factory closures last year.
Sanskrit learning App "Little Guru" to be launched Monday
Keeping pace with changing technology in both access as well as teaching methods, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has tied up with Gamapp Sportswizz Tech. Pvt. Ltd. to launch "Little Guru," a specialized app for learning Sanskrit.
In Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, High Commission of India, Dhaka will launch the same on Monday (Apri 12, 2021) in the Facebook handle of IGCC- www.facebook.com/IndiraGandhiCulturalCentre/
Little Guru will be a gamified app based on an interactive platform which will make Sanskrit learning easy, entertaining and fun, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
ICCR is launching a campaign to promote Sanskrit language among students, religious scholars, Indologists, historians across the world.
As a part of its mandate to promote the vibrant cultural heritage of India, ICCR promotes Sanskrit through providing books and material to Sanskrit institutes all over the world.
ICCR deputes teachers and professors to universities and institutes teaching Sanskrit.
This app will help people who are already learning Sanskrit or those who are desirous to learn Sanskrit to do so in an easy manner based on games, competition, rewards, peer to peer interactions, etc.
This unique App combines education with entertainment thereby helping keep attention of the learner as well as encourage him/her to advance further.
ICCR is confident that the launch of this App 'Little Guru' will go a long way in popularizing Sanskrit. Sanskrit continues to be a living language, being used by scholars accessing literary texts.
This App would help create awareness not only about language but also open the doors for people to access the rich cultural heritage of India.
Covid-19: Bangladesh records highest single-day deaths
Bangladesh has reported its highest single-day coronavirus fatalities on Sunday, surpassing Saturday’s figure.
The health authorities confirmed 78 deaths during the last 24 hours till morning. A day earlier, the country recorded 77 fatalities, the highest since coronavirus cases were first reported in March last year.
Fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,739 as the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the third consecutive day.
Also read: Worsening Covid crisis: Bangladesh resorting to full lockdown
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death on March 18 last year. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Meanwhile, 5,819 new cases were reported, pushing the local tally to 684,756, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The infection rate slipped to 19.81 percent from 20.49 percent of Saturday’s. So far, 5,002,865 samples, including 29,376 in the last 24 hours, have been tested.
After reporting over 7,000 cases between April 4 and April 9, the daily case count fell significantly in the last 48 hours.
Also read: Ongoing lockdown extended upto Apr 13: Quader
During the 24-hour period, 4,212 patients recovered, raising the number of recoveries to 576,590, the DGHS said.
Hefazat leader Mamunul’s ‘2nd wife’ goes missing; GD filed
A general diary has been lodged with Paltan Police Station over the reported missing of the ‘second wife’ of Hefazat-e-Islam’s Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque.
Abdur Rahman, son of Mamunul’s ‘2nd wife’ Jharna, lodged the GD with Paltan Police Station on Saturday night, said officer-in-charge of the police station AB Siddique.
According to the GD, Abdur went to his mother’s Dhanmondi house on Saturday and did not find her.
Also read: Sonargaon resort furore: Mamunul among 600 sued in 3 cases
When he inquired about his mother, someone told him that she went out of the house on April 3 and since then she did not return home.
However, he found three diaries of his mother and he deposited those to the police station.
Hefazat-e-Islam’s Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque, who has been the loudest voice in the organisation in a number of recent controversies, was detained with a woman he claims as his second wife from a resort in Sonargaon on April 3.
Also read: Journalist assaulted, house ransacked ‘for not apologising to Mamunul’
Mahanagar Hefazat’s secretary said Mamunul went to the resort with his second wife where the locals confined and harassed him, before calling in the police.
The woman detained with him was his second wife as claimed by Mamunul Haque.
Also read: Hefazat's Mamunul detained with woman from resort
Bullet wounded Indian youth admitted to Kurigram hospital
An Indian young man who enteted Bangladesh after sustaining bullet wound during the election violence in Cooch Bihar state of India was admitted to Kurigram General Hospital.
The Indian youth was identified as Milon Mia, son of Jagu Alam of Shahidal Kuthi village of Sahebganj in Cooch Behar.
Also read:Flood, erosion leave 500 families homeless in Kurigram
Border Guard Bangladesh Battalion captain Lieutenant Colonel Towhidul Alam said Milon was shot as he went out during a curfew enforced by the Indian government.
He has been admitted to Kurigram General Hospital, said Officer-in-Charge of Nageshwari Police Station Rowshan Kabir.
Dr Pulok Kumar Sarkar, Residential Medical Officer, said the boy sustained bullet injury on the right side of his chest.
Also read:Turbulent Teesta wreaking havoc in Kurigram, Gaibndha
“He was brought to the emergency unit at 4 am, now his condition is stable," thw phusician said.