United News of Bangladesh

Replying to a question about the news of US sanctions on former Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday said he has no information about it. “I have no comment on it. Why the US sanction has been imposed on the former Army Chief, I don't know. I just came to know about a notice and without knowing anything I can’t answer it,” he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat. The US government has imposed sanctions on a number of persons and it is not new, he added. The US Department of State on Monday imposed sanctions on Aziz Ahmed and his immediate family members due to “his involvement in significant corruption”. Responding to a question about the disappearance of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar, the minister said “He went to India after crossing our immigration. We were informed by his family that there was no trace of him. All government agencies are working on it. Our National Security Intelligence (NSI), Special Branch (SB) and police are working with the Indian police and detectives.” He also hoped that the information about the Jhenaidah-4 MP will be known soon through India. Asking about any update information about him, said “No update has been received about him, so far and the phone number of Anar was also found switched off.” Anwarul Azim Anar, the lawmaker from Jhenaidah-4 constituency, has been missing since at least May 14, having gone on a medical trip to India on May 11.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) will procure 1.26 lakh Spun Pre-stressed Concrete (SPC) poles and 140 km high voltage underground cables for its “Modernisation and Capacity Extension (Dhaka-Mymensingh Division)” distribution project. Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in a meeting on Tuesday, with Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in the chair, approved four separate proposals in this regard. Power Division moved the proposals on behalf of its subordinate body. As per the proposals, the BREB will procure 63, 178 SPC poles from Confidence Infrastructure Limited JV with Contech Construction Ltd, Dada Engineering Ltd, and Poles and Concrete Limited at a cost of Tk 213.10 crore under lot -1 of the tender for the project. Under lot -2 of the tender, the same 63,178 SPC poles will be procured by the REB from Bangladesh Army-owned Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Ltd, Gazipur, at Tk 212.97 crore. The BREB will procure 57 km 11 kV underground cables for the same project from Zhongtian Technology Submarine Cables Co. Ltd at a cost of Tk 83.81 crore under the lot-1 while 83 km 33 kV underground cables will be purchased from BRB Cable Industries Ltd at a cost of Tk 68.16 crore.

The per capita income of Bangladesh stands at US $2784 in the current fiscal year, slightly higher than the previous fiscal year. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released the periodic data on Monday. The end of the current fiscal year is just a few days away. The BBS prepared this projection from an existing trend of the economic situation. BBS says that by the end of FY 2023-24, the provisional GDP growth will stand at 5.82 percent, which was 5.78 percent in the previous FY2022-23. At present the per capita income in terms of taka is Tk3.61 lakh, which in the last financial year was Tk2.73 lakh. The amount of per capita income in the local currency increased due to the devaluation of taka.

Members of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) on Tuesday arrested four transport workers along with 5,435 Yaba pills worth Tk 20 lakh from a vehicle on Dhaka-Chattagram Highway near Dania College of Dhaka’s Jatrabari area. The arrestees were identified as Shawkat Ali Sikder, 54, Al Amin Kazi, 35, Hasan Chowdhury alias Kamruzzaman Hasan, 36 and Shyamal Datta, 45. All of them hail from Gopalganj district. Acting on secret information, a team of DNC, led by Abdul Matin Mia, inspector of NDC Sutrapur circle, intercepted a bus of ‘Ena Paribahan’ and arrested them while returning to Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar district, said assistant director of Dhaka Metropolitan (South) of DNC Subrata Sarkar Shuvo.

Buddha Purnima, the biggest religious festival of the Buddhist community, will be celebrated across the country on Wednesday. Buddha Purnima marks the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha. On this day in 563 BC, Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Kopilabostu at the foothill of the Himalayas. He attained supreme enlightenment at the age of 35 and finally departed into 'nirvana' at the age of 80 in 483 BC. The day is a public holiday. President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages greeting the Buddhist community on this occasion. President Shahabuddin said, “Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony. People of all religions have been celebrating their respective religious rituals with great enthusiasm, which is a bright tradition of our harmony.” He hoped that the Buddhist community will continue their efforts for the development of the country by practicing this tradition and holding the great ideals of Buddha, he said in his message. In her message, the Prime Minister said the Buddhists have been equally participating in the socio-economic development of Bangladesh for a long. “I hope that they will play a role in building Bangladesh as a peaceful country by upholding and nurturing the ideals of Gautam Buddha," she said.

Twenty-one more people were hospitalised with dengue in 24 hours till Tuesday morning. Of the new patients, six were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka city and the rest outside it, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Currently, 134 patients are receiving treatment at several hospitals across the country. So far, 2,676 dengue cases have been reported since January 1, 2024, said DGHS. Last year, a total of 1,705 people lost their lives due to dengue, making it the deadliest year on record. The DGHS recorded 321,179 dengue cases and 3, 18,749 recoveries last year. Last year’s September was the deadliest month for the dengue outbreak, with 396 fatalities and 79,598 cases, according to DGHS data.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed deep concern over the theft and online sale of citizens' confidential information and demanded severe punishment for those responsible. The anti-graft watchdog highlighted the alarming nature of this data theft, involving the misuse of IDs of law enforcement officials responsible for protecting sensitive citizen information including call data records (CDRs), national identity card details, and mobile numbers from the National Telecommunication Monitoring Center (NTMC). This breach violates constitutional commitments to safeguard personal data, it said. TIB also urged swift enactment of the Personal Data Protection Act, 2024, Referring to media sources, it said the NTMC system was exploited using the IDs of two law enforcement officers to collect and sell confidential information, including National Identity Card (NID) details and mobile call data records (CDR), for financial gain. Terming it ‘alarming’ TIB Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “Repeated incidents of theft involving personal and sensitive information like national identity cards and call data records are not new. Previously, Bangladeshi citizens experienced thefts of various confidential documents such as birth certificates and national identity cards at different times. Recent events have seen a surge in such breaches, with personal data being pilfered by law enforcement organizations tasked with safeguarding it. “ “The process and technical infrastructure used by the govt to protect citizens' sensitive information raises questions regarding its integrity and capability.” He further said that it appears the government lacks the commitment and investment required to establish robust data protection mechanisms compared to the ill motive and activities of the groups who want to misuse them in the digital world. Consequently, its efforts in this regard seem insufficient and ineffective, he said adding , “Therefore, it's not an overstatement to say that the government's legal and institutional initiatives to ensure data protection are nothing but superficial and appallingly risky.” Dr. Zaman highlighted the recurring incidents of theft involving personal confidential information of Bangladeshi citizens, noting the absence of preventative measures. While welcoming the decision by law enforcement agencies to suspend the user IDs of the implicated parties, he stressed the importance of identifying all individuals involved in the data trafficking and ensuring they face exemplary punishment through thorough investigation. Mentioning not to see the incident as a separate event Dr. Zaman said that TIB’s review of the draft Personal Data Protection Act, 2024, identified a concerning risk of granting government agencies unchecked authority over personal data under the guise of national security and public interest. Allowing such agencies unrestricted access to data servers without judicial oversight could lead to potential abuse of data without accountability, undermining the principles of the rule of law, he said.

The voter turnout in the second phase of upazila elections on Tuesday was estimated to be above 30 percent, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said. He revealed the figure while talking to reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon in the afternoon. The CEC said the election was held in a fair and peaceful manner. Where there has been an attempt to rig the vote, the EC has taken action immediately. A total of 25 people have been arrested and 10 were sentenced to various terms instantly.  Awal said the exact figure of vote cast would be known Wednesday. He said there no major violence was reported except a few separate incidents where several people were injured. When asked about low voter turnout, CEC said that he never considered 30 per cent voter turnout as significant. According to CEC’s observation the main factor behind low voter turnout is the boycott of the polls by a large opposition political party which distributed leaflets to discourage people from going to the polling centres. It can happen in a democratic political system, he said adding there are may be pros and cons.  Awal said there is no crisis in “our voting system but it exists in our politics.”  “I think if our politics returns to right track then the crisis regarding voter presence will be solved.” Starting at 8:00 am the voting continued till 4:00 pm without any break. Balloting was held in 156 upazilas of the country.  In the second phase of the elections the voting centres saw poor turnout of voters. Besides, some stray incidents violence happened in different places across the country. EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam told the media that voter turnout was approximately 17 per cent within the first four hours of the second phase of upazila elections. More than 3.52 crore voters – 1,79,05,464 males, 1,72,99,047 females and 237 transgender persons -- are registered under 13,016 polling stations in the 156 upazilas, according to the factsheet provided by the Election Commission on Sunday. Some 1,824 candidates, including 603 chairman contenders are in the electoral race in the 156 upazila parishads, against a total of 468 posts –-chairman, vice chairman and women vice chairman in each upazila. The electronic voting machines were used at 24 upazilas in nine districts, while the traditional ballot papers in the rest of the upazilas.

The newly elected Executive Council (2024-2026) of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) was formally inaugurated with the oath to achieve self-sufficiency and establish sovereignty of indigenous software in the ICT sector to implement Smart Bangladesh.A. Towhid, Founder president of BASIS, administered the oath to the newly elected executive council at an event held at HotelRadisson Blu in the capital. Various distinguished guests, including Salman F Rahman, MP, and adviser to the Prime Minister on Private Industry and Investment, State Ministers for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology, and Commerce, along with representatives from BASIS member companies and foreign embassies in Bangladesh, were present at the ceremony. As Russell T. Ahmed re-elected as the President of BASIS, outgoing Vice-President (Admin) Abu Daud Khan and Vice President (Finance) Fahim Ahmed handed over the BASIS flag to him at the ceremony. Samira Zuberi Himika, the outgoing Senior Vice-President of BASIS, delivered the welcome address on the occasion. State Minister for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “BASIS's 2500 ICT service providers and software development companies have created employment for around 3 lakh youth, we want to increase it to 10 lakh.” “We want to increase the export earnings of this sector to 5 billion dollars by 2029. Our IT sector is growing and so are the possibilities. We have requested the Prime Minister for tax exemption for another 5 years in this promising ICT sector. Now we have to be interested in making the youth skilled in things like startups, machine learning, blockchain, artificial intelligence and moving the country towards a technology-based economy, in addition to software development. “ State Minister for Commerce Ahasanul Islam (Titu), said, “Considering the country's ICT sector seriously, we have helped its expansion in the international market and will continue to support it in the future. Of course, the ICT sector of Bangladesh will one day become a big sector like the garment sector.”The BASIS President highlighted the need for tax exemptions in the IT sector, emphasizing the importance of self-sufficiency and development in the local market to achieve the goals set for the sector in the coming years. FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam and government officials expressed their optimism regarding the role of BASIS in nurturing the indigenous software industry and contributing to the growth of the ICT sector in Bangladesh. Plans for further expansion, support for startups, and skill development in emerging technologies were also discussed by various speakers at the inauguration ceremony. In the speech Salman F Rahman gave a positive indication that the tax holiday facility in the ICT sector of the country will remain in force this year as well. He said, “I had an opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister about the issue of tax exemption. The Prime Minister assured to consider the proposal in view of the request to impose taxes consistently and rationally in different periods. This time the budget will inform how long the tax exemption can be.”However, on May 8, 2024, the Executive Council Election for the 2024-2026 term of BASIS was held. Later, an 11-member executive council was formed.

Police foiled the attempt of the leaders and activists of Ganosamhati Andolon to besiege Bangladesh Bank in Dhaka’s Motijheel area on Tuesday.As part of their scheduled programme, the leaders and activists of the party led by its Chief coordinator Junaid Saki marched towards Bangladesh Bank around 11 am to lay siege to it demanding the government to publish the list of loan defaulter and money launderers.When they reached the Shapla Chattar area, a team of police obstructed them, said Assistant Commissioner of Motijheel Zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Golam Rahman. 37 arrested for vandalising vehicles, setting fire to police boxes in Dhaka's MirpurBeing obstructed, they later held a brief rally in front of Shapla Chattar foot over bridge and then left the place.IGP in Sylhet: 'We are working to become Smart Police'