June 16, 2016

Bangladesh was elected as one of 21 vice-presidents (VP) of the United Nations General Assembly's 71st session. This achievement will elevate the country a step further to augment its active participation on the global stage. According to UN Bangladesh mission’s First Secretary Bijon Lal Deb, Bangladesh has been elected unanimously and will represent the Asia-Pacific region in the upcoming session. During the last session, HPM Sheikh Hasina with her high profile participation made a place for herself and earned Bangladesh the status of a country whose achievements are internationally recognised.

Over the last seven years, the present government has trained 1530,982 unemployed youths and helped 429,567 trained male and female youths attain self-dependence. Currently, training schemes to male and female youths are operational on 74 trades while the youth development department is allocating loan to youths for establishing and expanding self-employment projects. Moreover, a new five year scheme is introduced to enhance skills of 14,400 women under the poverty alleviation project in five northern districts at a cost of $41 million.

On last Wednesday, the power plants in Bangladesh have generated a record 8,776 megawatts of electricity, the highest in the country’s history, signifying a real and measurable improvement from eight years back when the generation capacity stood out at a mere 4,036MW. After assuming power in 2009, the government led by HPM Sheikh Hasina ensured the capacity was doubled as well as around 76% people brought under electricity coverage.

Given that Bangladesh has made out its name as a lucrative investment hub in South Asia, the Board of Investment (BoI) received proposals for local and foreign investment worth $12.72 billion in the last fiscal year, 45.46% up from the previous fiscal. Proposals for local, joint and 100% foreign investment of US$ 12.6 billion were registered with the BoI in the last fiscal year, while all the proposals amounted to $8.6 billion in last year.

A plan is set in motion to increase the number of the existing beneficiaries in the sector of insolvent disabled allowance by 25% and raising their allowance to US$ 8 from US$ 6 in the new fiscal year. During the last fiscal year, the government has allocated US$ 45.7 million for 6,00,000 insolvent disabled persons while that males over 65 years and females over 62 years are entitled to elderly allowance in Naogaon like other districts of the country.

A ship carrying 1,000 tonnes of steel and iron sheets, bound for Tripura, has reached Ashuganj river port on last Wednesday as Bangladesh and India launched formal transit trade and transportation. With this new move Bangladesh would get the authorization to use Indian territories for transporting goods to Nepal and Bhutan and similarly, India would access Myanmar by crossing over Bangladesh. Earlier this month, a Bangladeshi ship sailed from Kolkata and reached the port in Khulna's Angtihara.

People living in remote rural areas can now easily learn computer programming, as the government has launched an e-learning platform—www.eshikkha.net—that offers lessons on computer programming in Bangla. The site will get a complete look in six months with the inclusion of lessons in English and lessons on physics, mathematics, chemistry and basic science. According to experts, all the upazilas are now connected through fiber optic cables and all the unions will be covered soon, which will boost ICT use in the country.