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Feb 14, 2021 NEWSLETTER |
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Bangladesh rolls out mass inoculation amid warm response, positivity rate falls below 3% The Covid vaccination kick-started across the country last week amid much fanfare with ministers, freedom fighters, bureaucrats and eminent citizens joining the inoculation campaign. Bangladesh with a population of over 170 million is the seventh most populous country in the world to join the global inoculation campaign against the highly contagious virus that has claimed 2.32 million lives across the globe. On the other hand, Bangladesh's daily coronavirus infection rate fell to 2.65% on the back of an array of policy measures, as put in place by the government, in its fight against the Covid 19. According to media reports, plans are underway to continue the vaccination drive round the year and all the people, except for those below 18 and pregnant women, will be gradually vaccinated. Bangladesh purchased 30 million doses of the Oxford vaccine called Covishield from Serum Institute of India. The first shipment of 5 million doses arrived on January 25 while the country received 2 million shots of Covishield as a gift from the Indian government. |
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HPM Sheikh Hasina’s safety net schemes turning around lives of millions 
A large number of rural marginal people across the country are getting benefits from the government's expanded social safety net programmes (SSNPs) through the G2P system opened by Honourable Prime Minister (HPM) Sheikh Hasina. As many as 8 million rural marginal people are leading a better life overcoming economic hardship, thanks to the assistance scheme under the SSNPs, one of the ten special initiatives envisaged by HPM Sheikh Hasina, through G2P system. On the other hand, the government is providing 100,000 more homeless families with concrete houses as HPM Sheikh Hasina’s gift in Mujib Year. |
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Bangladesh moves 4 notches up on democracy index 
According to the Democracy Index -2020, released recently by the Economic Intelligence Unit, Bangladesh has made significant gains, going four notches up to the 76th position, showing signs of further improvement in the country’s democratic practice. With HPM Sheikh Hasina at the helm of Bangladesh Awami League, the country has secured 76th position with scores of 7.42 in electoral process and pluralism category. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. This covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states. The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. |
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Bangladesh 2nd biggest source of online workers in Asia: ADB 
Bangladesh is the second biggest source of online workers in Asia followed by India, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released last week. The Asian Economic Integration (ACI) report 2021 said that, from 2017 to 2020, the share of workers in creative and multimedia has increased by 34% in Bangladesh. Another report, titled “Global Connectivity Index 2020”, launched by the global technology giant Huawei, stated that the country managed to ride on the trend of constant progress in the information and communication technology or ICT sector even during the Covid 19 epidemic crisis. Compared to the previous year, Bangladesh has advanced in the field of Broadband, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) last year, gaining three more points to the achievement in this sector. |
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Bangladesh, Maldives for further boosting ties 
During his recent visit to Bangladesh, Maldives foreign minister Abdullah Shahid pledged to add fresh impetus to the ties with Bangladesh and further improve the fraternal relations by exploring new avenues of cooperation. The two countries signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) having provisions for taking more doctors, teachers, and skilled manpower for other sectors in the Maldives in addition to the existing Bangladeshi workforce in the country. Another MoU was signed for cooperation between Foreign Service Academy of Bangladesh and the Foreign Service Institute of the Maldives to impart training to the young diplomats. |
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$21m USAID project to boost agriculture mechanization 
The USAID has started implementation of a $21.4 million project with the aim to support the mechanisation of agriculture and enable 243,000 farmers to adopt new mechanisation technology. The five-year project, which is scheduled to end in September 2024, looks to train manufacturers to develop and adopt new technology of agri-machinery, marketers and machinery service providers (MSPs) and facilitate the MSPs to get access to finance to buy farm machinery. Under the project, the agricultural machinery manufacturers will be supported to improve their capacity to manufacture competitively priced and high quality machines and spare parts. |
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BANGLADESH AWAMI LEAGUE |
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