The government on Tuesday appointed Dr Sheikh Abdur Rashid as the cabinet secretary for the next two years on a contractual basis. A gazette notification, signed by Nilufa Yeasmin, senior assistant secretary of Contract and Foreign Employment Section of the Ministry of Public Administration, was issued in this regard. His two-year service will be counted from October 14 or the day when he will join, the notification says. Constitution reform commission: Cabinet Division issues gazette notification Dr Rashid was appointed following section-49 of the Public Service Act-2018, the release added. Rashid’s Journey in BCS Job   A senior secretary at the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Rashid joined the Bangladesh Civil Service as an admin cadre in 1982. He will join as the 25th cabinet secretary replacing Md Mahbub Hossain. The contractual tenure of the current Secretary Mahbub will end on October 13 but Wednesday will be his last working day as a four-day holiday will begin from Thursday. After the mass upsurge, the interim government appointed Dr Rashid as Secondary and Higher Education secretary and later he was made senior secretary. Completing honours and master’s degrees on Political Science from Dhaka University, he did MA degree on Public Policy and Administration from Hague’s Institute of Social Studies. Born in Satkhira on May 5, 1952, Rashid also did his PhD degree on Public Administration from Dhaka University. The cabinet secretary is entrusted with duties to coordinate among several ministries and divisions.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban.  President's press secretary Joynal Abedin told UNB that the cabinet secretary apprised the President of various aspects of the administrative activities at his office during the meeting. Also Read: Protect human rights in every area, President to National Human Rights Commission The cabinet secretary sought the direction and cooperation of the President in discharging his duties while the President wished the success of the cabinet secretary. Also Read: Thimpu to ink a hydropower cooperation deal with Dhaka soon: Bhutanese Envoy President's Office Secretary Sampad Barua, Military Secretary Major General SM Salah Uddin Islam, Press Secretary Joynal Abedin and Secretary (attachment) Md Wahidul Islam Khan were also present there.    

Senior secretary to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Md Mahbub Hossain has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary. The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Tuesday (January 03, 2023). Read More: Visiting foreign personalities to become Bangladesh’s goodwill envoys, ministry hopes Meanwhile, Dr. Md. Khairuzzaman Mozumder, additional secretary to the Finance Division, has been made secretary to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said another notification of the ministry.

New Cabinet Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar met with President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban in the capital Monday. The president congratulated him on his appointment as cabinet secretary. He also wished Kabir success in his new workplace, President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin said. Read: New Japanese Ambassador presents credentials to President During the meeting, the new cabinet secretary sought the president's guidance and cooperation in fulfilling his duties, he added.

There will be no food crisis till the next Ramadan in the country, said outgoing Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Tuesday. The food stock position up to next June shows that there will be no food crisis, he told  reporters after a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries at the Secretariat. Read more: IFC giving $32.5 million to ensure food security in Bangladesh The Agriculture Secretary has been coordinating for the last six months in this regard. “More than 16 lakh tonnes of food remains in stock. So we are in a good situation.” He said the yield of Aman paddy has been good this year as Aman has been cultivated  in the low lands as the drought has been prolonged. Besides, various food aid services including open market sale (OMS) will continue, he added. On November 27, all secretaries had a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a follow-up meeting was held today, said the cabinet secretary. “We have received a review from all our secretaries on the cost reduction efforts like how entertainment cost is reduced, how electricity bill is reduced, then how much is being reduced in petrol consuming,” he said. Read more: Russia wants to support countries in energy, food security: Ambassador It has been possible to reduce the cost of electricity by about 48 percent since June, he said adding that the Prime Minister's office has reduced it by more than 60 percent and 40 percent cost reduction in fuel consumption has been possible, he added. In the meeting of the secretaries with the Prime Minister, directive was given to get prepared for any possible crisis, he said . Asked about the crisis, he said, it is not a political issue. If the supply chain is stopped due to any reason, for one or two months, all have been asked to get prepared for that, added the cabinet secretary.

Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam has said that government employees won’t have to submit separate wealth statement while filing income tax returns from now on. The secretary said this during a press briefing after a meeting of the Secretaries at the Secretariat on Sunday. “The one-page wealth statement that government employees have to submit to the NBR while filing income tax return isn’t necessary anymore. From now on, the government officials will submit the statement to the Ministry of Public Administration,” said Anwarul. Read more: Tax lawyers seek 2 months more for filing income tax returns He added that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) hasn't expressed any objection to the new directive. “I sat with NBR officials and the Secretary of the Public Administration Ministry to discuss the issue and all of us have agreed on the new measure. A circular will be published soon in this regard and after that, the one-page wealth statement that was previously submitted to NBR will be given to the Ministry,” Anwarul added. According to the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1979, government officials are bound to submit wealth statements and take permission for buying or selling properties after every five years. But this rule has been neglected for long, and the government hasn't tried to implement it either. Read more: Govt struggles to lift tax-GDP ratio to double digits On June 24, 2021, the Ministry of Public Administration sent letters to all the ministries and their secretaries to immediately apply this rule on all the government employees following a directive from the Prime Minister herself. Although the ministries are trying to make the rule effective, government officials are yet to respond.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday instructed to inform her about the current situation of Bangladesh’s banking sector. She gave the instruction during the Secretaries’ Committee Meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told UNB. Read more: Complete ongoing prioritised projects: PM directs secretaries Regarding the banking sector, the Cabinet Secretary said the issue was discussed indirectly at the meeting and instructions were given to the Banking and Finance Division. “There’s a lot of talk (over the banking sector), let us know what the real scenario is soon,” the Cabinet Secretary  quoted the PM as saying. Read more: After Bangladesh assisted Sri Lanka with $200mn, many countries made similar requests: PM About recent events concerning Islami Bank, he said some “outsiders” are talking about the state of some banks on YouTube. “Yet, this was not neglected in the meeting. This issue will be looked into as well.”

Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Kaisar Khusru has been withdrawn from his post and made an officer on special duty (OSD) in a punitive administrative action for verbally abusing a local journalist over phone. Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said, “We’ve already instructed to withdraw him, making him OSD immediately. And then action will be taken against him as per the instructions to be given by the High Court.” He was replying to a question during a media briefing on Monday’s Cabinet meeting. Also read: HC calls Teknaf UNO ‘wrongheaded’ over verbal abuse of journalists The divisional commissioners have also been instructed to sit with field level officers to discuss their etiquette and behavior, said the Cabinet secretary. Meanwhile, the Cox’s Bazar district administration on Sunday issued a show-cause notice to Khosru asking for his explanation. On Thursday last, the accused UNO called journalist Saidul Farhad over phone and harassed him verbally questioning why he wrote a report against the houses constructed under the Ashrayan-2 project seen as the prime minister’s gift to the homeless people. As an audio record of the call that went viral on social media sparked huge criticism. Later on Friday Cox’s Bazar DC held a meeting with the journalist and UNO to resolve the issue. On Sunday, the High Court said that 'no one but a wrongheaded person can talk like this' as a lawyer brought its attention to a media report on the UNO’s act. Also read: 89.51pc Cabinet decisions implemented since January 2019 “It is sad and unacceptable to harass a journalist in such a language,” said the court. The higher court observed as the UNO has apologized he has accepted that his comment was not acceptable.

The government has decided not to extend the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions anymore from February 22, said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Sunday. "A clear instruction has been given to reopen schools (secondary and higher educational institutes) on the day after tomorrow (Feb 22) and primary schools on March 01 as no Covid-19 restriction will be imposed anymore from February 22. But all will have to be careful so that everyone must wear masks," he said while briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the virtual meeting from her official residence Ganobhaban, while others joined it from the Cabinet Division of Bangladesh Secretariat.     The Cabinet Secretary said the authorities concerned were instructed to ensure that everyone uses masks in any programme and gathering. Noting that a programme was taken to vaccinate one crore people on February 26 next across the country, he said the Cabinet requested the media to circulate its news massively. Read: NTAC suggests axing post-arrival Covid test for fully vaccinated He said the field administration including DCs, SPs and civil surgeons, as well as mayors, chairmen, other local government representatives and men of political parties were asked to campaign massively so that no one is left out of the vaccination coverage after February 26. Besides, the Health Ministry is mulling to vaccinate the under-12 children, gathering experiences from other countries. On January 13 last, the government imposed 11-point Covid-19 restrictions till February 7 amid the growing concerns over the transmission of Omicron, a new variant of coronavirus, in the country. Later, the restrictions were extended up to February 21.

All parties -- the field administration, law enforcement agencies and public representatives-- have been asked to communicate regularly to avoid misundetstanding and untoward incidents as recently seen in Barishal, said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Monday. The directive was issued  from the LGRD Ministry and the Cabinet Division, he said while briefing reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat. Read: Barishal clash: Two cases filed against UNO Munibur Rahman The Cabinet Secretary said the leaders of Bangladesh Administrative Service Association (BASA) admitted that they made a mistake by using inappropriate words in their statement over Barishal incident. He said they sat in a meeting on Sunday where the secretaries and officials differed with the BASA statement saying that such words should not have been used in it. “Those who were from the Administrative Service Association also agreed with it (the opinion) and said it was actually a mistake,” he said replying to a question. In response  to a separate question, the Cabinet Secretary said such embarrassing incidents mostly happen due to miscommunication. “This is why, an instruction has been given to all at the field level, including administration, law enforcement agencies and public representatives, to interact among themselves  regularly,” he said. Read:Barishal violence: 2 ruling party activists lose eyesight He said misunderstanding and untoward incidents occur for lack of interaction. Noting that they do not know what exactly was behind the Barishal incident, he said all parties –mayor, commissioner and law enforcement agency -- were asked to sit in a parley first to solve the problem by finding out as to why such an embarrassing situation occurred.