Commemorating the historic 1971-Concert for Bangladesh, the ICT Ministry organized, at the same Madison Square Garden, another concert, evoking the precedence of 'melody for humanity' set by the world's all-time best musicians, said Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Sharing the vibe of the concert, Joy, who was singing and cheering as part of the crowd, wrote from his verified Facebook account, "This weekend I relived that moment as we paid tribute to that melody-for-humanity event through another concert on the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh". Read: Dhaka, Seoul to work together for their prosperity Reminiscing the unforgettable lyric by George Harrison on war-torn Bangladesh, 'My friend came to me/ With sadness in his eyes/ He told me that he wanted help/ Before his country dies', he wrote, "Beatles' star George Harrison didn't just write and compose the song but also went on to think about doing something that might help the people of Bangladesh, a victim of one of history's worst genocides. He reached out to maestros like Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, who also agreed to drum up support for the cause. Rest is history. Concert for Bangladesh set the precedence of helping a victim-of-war nation through a concert." "Whenever I watch it on YouTube, it takes me back to a golden moment - George Harrison singing the song Bangladesh, Bob Dylan rendering 'How many roads a man must walk down', and Pundit Ravi Shankar playing his fingers on his sitar like a storm. They are sharing the same stage!" he added. "The dream for Bangladesh, as the world's all-time greatest rock stars and musical masters had seen, came true as the war-torn country back in 1971 is now an epitome of sustained progress and development. From the engineering masterpiece Padma Bridge to the technological feat Bangabandhu Satellite, Bangladesh has made inspiring history. Still, no success story goes unchallenged by a few people with wrong intentions," he mentioned. Calling upon the country’s people to stand vigilant against the peddlers of religion and supporters of war criminals, he said, "We must be careful so that the ghosts of war criminals cannot bring the dark chapters back." Read: Current geopolitical situation creating more opportunities for closer Dhaka-Seoul ties: Envoy Joy said they must show zero tolerance to the peddlers of religion. "We must stand united on our promise for Golden Bengal on this Golden Jubilee. Let's sing Harrison's Bangladesh together once more and let the world hear it. This time the promise on this Golden Jubilee is to build Golden Bangla, the dream of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman." Scorpions rocked the stage on Sunday while Bangladeshi band Chirkutt appeared there as a guest performer.

Despite the Covid-induced disruptions in the global labor market with millions of job losses, Bangladesh managed to prevent employment shrinkage and retain its  growth levels owing to its rapid digitalisation, said Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy. He made this observation in an article, carried by The Washington Times headlined 'Digital leaps helped Bangladesh navigate the pandemic'. "Many industries and governments are struggling to adapt. But in Bangladesh, a government plan to modernize and digitize its economy, education sector, and health care has provided some answers," he observed. Also read:Bangladesh has no strong opposition due to conspiracies of dictators: Joy Reflecting on benefits of the country's digital transformation, Joy said, "The Digital Bangladesh initiative, which started to be implemented 2009, quickly increased internet access and paved the way for multifaceted economic development. In short order, Digital Bangladesh replaced slow, paper-based government services with easy-to-use internet and smartphone-based programs." "The plan worked. The government created a network of more than 8,500 Digital Centers that provided online services from cradle to grave. In 2008, those services were all but inaccessible; only 800,000 people in Bangladesh had access to the internet. Now, Bangladesh boasts more than 120,000,000 internet users. The internet covers 98% of the country," he added. Referring to a gamut of government initiatives in the virtual sphere, including 86000 digital classrooms and training for 1.5 million students in information and communications technology (ICT), he mentioned that information technology exports have soared from about $25 million in 2008 to $2 billion in 2021. "Indeed, freelancing is booming in Bangladesh. The country is the world’s second-largest supplier of online freelancers. According to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, 50,000 Facebook-based entrepreneurs live in Bangladesh. With about 43 million Facebook accounts in Bangladesh, the platform provides business opportunities on a broad scale. It also proved to be a resilient employment model during the pandemic as work shifted away from an in-person office environment," he further said. Also read:History says religion card cannot be played on Bengali people for long: Joy Appreciating the government initiative to launch Bangabandhu-I satellite, he remarked that Bangladesh’s first geostationary communication satellite, Bangabandhu-1, has accelerated digital work. The satellite, which was launched in 2018, extends Bangladesh’s internet coverage to its remotest regions, allowing even rural Bangladeshis to receive telemedicine support, e-learning, and e-banking. "Freelance jobs include computer programming, web design, tax preparation, search engine optimization, and marketing. Asia has become the number-one region for providing outsourcing services to the rest of the world," he added. Bangladesh’s youthful population (nearly 65% are under the age of 25) is well-positioned to take advantage of Digital Bangladesh and the new types of employment it affords. Bangladesh retooled its educational system and now graduates 500,000 digital workers annually, Joy further said. "The fruit borne by Digital Bangladesh ripened at just the right time to address the economic ravages of COVID-19. As the world was still trying to figure out what the new workplace looked like, Bangladesh provided a model because of its rapid digitization and the transition to remote work that it enabled," he concluded.

Condemning the people who capitalize on religion to serve their interests, Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy has said the religion card, as history suggests, cannot be played on Bengalis for long. Wishing everyone Shuvo Noboborsho (Happy New Year) from his verified Facebook account on Thursday, he urged the countrymen to uphold the non-communal spirit and peaceful coexistence of all castes and creeds. "The majority of our population are practicing Muslims, but not fundamentalists. To protect the Bengali language and culture, our ancestors once heavily resisted the people who capitalized on religion to serve their interests," he wrote. Also read: Joy blasts BNP-Jamaat rule for corruption Consequently, Joy said, Awami League secured 223 out of 237 Muslim seats in the 1954-Jukto Front election while religion peddlers got only nine seats. "Traditionally, the people of Bangla are simple and religious but neither outwardly showy of religiousness nor peddlers of religion," Sajeeb added.

While the scorching heat of Kartik caused unbearable sufferings of people during the Ramadan in 2005, incessant power outage worsened by the corruption of BNP leader Tarique Rahman in the power sector sent people to their breaking point, said Prime Minister's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy on Sunday.Referring to the 2005-Ramadan period, he mentioned that Dhaka city was badly suffering from load-shedding, let alone the other parts of the country. Read:Bangabandhu's birthday evokes his dream: Joy"People, finally, got agitated amid acute power crisis even during Iftar, Tarabi and Sehri. But at that time, Tarique Rahman, son of then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, embezzled thousands of crores of money in name of putting up electric poles – plunging the country into the darkness of power and gas crisis during the BNP rule," Joy wrote in a Facebook post.While the Awami League government increased the power generation capacity to 4,300 MW after assuming power in 1996, rampant corruption of Tarique Rahman during BNP rule brought the capacity down to only 3,200 MW – half of which was supplied to some elite areas of Dhaka, and the other half was allocated for the whole country, he added."As a result, the country witnessed unprecedented power shortages even in winter from 2001 to 2006, affecting the agricultural and industrial sectors of the country.""During the BNP-Jamaat misrule, teachers in Dhaka had to take school classes by lighting candles during the day regularly. Lack of electricity also disrupted water extraction in the city, causing unbearable public suffering that led to protests in the capital." Read:Joy shares video report on ‘BNP’s money laundering’ Twenty villagers were shot dead all because of protesting in demand of electricity in Kansat of Chapainawabganj in January, 2006, he further said."Farmers became dependent on diesel-powered irrigation pumps for cultivation due to the lack of electricity in the rural areas then. Taking the chance, the 'Hawa Bhavan' syndicate also hiked the price of diesel and fertilizer. However, people started waging protests in different parts of the country against the corruption and anomalies of the Tarique-Mamun gang."

Some of them reached out to the homeless, to the distressed with help when everyone was supposed to stay home during the coronavirus outbreak.