The 14th anniversary of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s release from prison was observed on Saturday.
On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from the special sub-jail set up on the premises of the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) Building after remaining captive there for nearly 11 months.
The Awami League president was arrested from her Sudha Sadan residence at Dhanmondi on July 16, 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government, which assumed power in the political changeover of 1/11 in 2007.
As Sheikh Hasina fell sick during her captivity, demands were raised then from different quarters including the Awami League and its associate bodies to send her abroad for better medical treatment after releasing her from jail.
Conceding to the people’s spontaneous and repeated demands and pressure from different quarters, the caretaker government was compelled to release Sheikh Hasina from jail.
In the national election of December 29 in 2008, the Awami League-led grand alliance registered a landslide victory with a two-thirds majority in the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second term.
On the occasion of the day, special prayers, milad-mahfil, discussion and food distribution among the distressed people were arranged wishing long life and good health to the premier.
Marking the day, the leaders of Awami League and its associate bodies greeted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by presenting her with bouquets.
Senior AL leaders led by the party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader first greeted Sheikh Hasina by handing over a bouquet to her followed by the leaders of associate organisations of the party.
Senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office also greeted the premier by handing over a bouquet.
Later, leaders of Dhaka North City AL, Dhaka South City AL, Awami Jubo League, Chhatra League, Sechchhasebak League, Jatiya Sramik League, Krishak League, Mohila Awami League, Jubo Mohila League and Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad greeted the prime minister by presenting her with bouquets separately.
A milad and prayer mahfil was held at the party’s central office at 23 Bangabandhu Avenue here in the afternoon on the initiative of Awami League.
It was attended, among others, by the party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader, presidium members Kazi Zafarullah, Dr Abdur Razzaque, Shahjahan Khan, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Joint General Secretaries Mahabub-ul-Alam Hanif and Dr Dipu Moni, Organizing Secretaries Ahmed Hossain and SM Kamal Hossain, Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap, Industries and Commerce Secretary Siddiqur Rahman, Liberation War Affairs Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, Labor and Manpower Affairs Secretary Habibur Rahman Siraj, Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, Office Secretary Barrister Biplob Barua and Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka South City unit of Awami League organized a milad and doa-mahfil at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque here after Asr prayers on the occasion.
Dhaka South City unit of Awami League President Abu Ahmed Mannafi, Vice-presidents Sharfuddin Ahmed Sentu and Hedayetul Islam Swapan, Joint general secretaries Md Miraj Hossain and Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi and Organizing Secretaries Md Akhter Hossain and Golam Sarwar Kabir attended it, among others.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed a Taka 6,78,064 crore proposed budget for FY23 at Jatiya Sangsad considering recovery from the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and also keeping ahead six key challenges with containing inflation as the major one.
“Certainly, we shall be able to transform Bangladesh into a hunger and poverty-free society by achieving SDG in 2030, a higher-middle income country by 2031, a knowledge-based, happy and prosperous developed country by 2041 and a secured delta by 2100,” said Kamal while placing his 208-page budget speech for FY23 lasting over two hours from 3:05 pm.
The Finance Minister also placed the supplementary budget for the fiscal year FY22.
Considering the lagged effects of the COVID-19 and the protracted crisis arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Kamal set up a GDP growth target of 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year while to contain inflation at 5.6 percent.
“You are well aware that Bangladesh has changed a lot over the last five decades. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the everlasting ideals of the Father of the Nation and his robust presence in all the spheres,” noted Kamal.
The title of the budget for the next fiscal year is “Return to the Path of Development; Leaving the COVID-19 Behind”.
The Finance Minister, wearing white Panjabi and Pajama with “Mujib Coat” placed his 4th budget in a row and also the overall 51st budget of the country.
Split in 11 chapters before the concluding remarks, Kamal dedicated a special chapter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the title “Sheikh Hasina: The Story of a Phoenix” where he depicted the life-long dedication of the Premier in taking Bangladesh into a respectable position in the global arena.
President Abdul Hamid witnessed the deliberation of budget speech from the gallery at the Jatiya Sangsad.
Besides, Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also present at the August House.
Kamal said the on the whole, the budget of FY23 has been prepared keeping in mind the recovery of country’s economy from the economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, implementation of the incentive packages provided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, timely implementation of priority projects, expansion of social safety nets, ensuring education and training, creation of massive employment, providing agricultural subsidies, and above all sustaining the economic development of the country.
However, he said at least three important issues have been carefully considered in preparing the budget structure for the next year.
“We have been working on ways to deal with the direct and indirect negative effects of the second wave of the corona pandemic in different parts of the world that are posing challenges on various sectors of our economy,” he added.
Kamal said the government crafted strategies for the coming days considering the potential economic risks posed by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
Besides, he said the likelihood of the occurrence of ‘imported inflation’ due to the rise in global prices of all major imported commodities including petroleum oil, and the disruption in the supply chain worldwide has also been carefully considered.
“Meeting the public demand, satisfying the needs created in the health sector and bringing the population under the vaccine coverage have also been considered,” he added.
The Finance Minister outlined that the major challenges for the next fiscal year would be: 1) containing inflation and enhancing domestic investment; 2) financing additional subsidy required for the increased price of gas, power and fertilizer in international markets; 3) utilizing funds available through foreign assistance and ensuring timely completion of high priority projects of ministries/divisions; 4) ensuring timely completion of projects in education and health sectors; 5) increasing collection of local Value Added Tax and raising the number of individual tax-payers and 6) maintaining stability in the exchange rate of taka and keeping foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable level.
Out of the total budget size of Taka 6,78,064 crore, the total revenue earnings for the FY23 has been estimated at Taka 4,33,000 crore. Of this, NBR will collect Taka 3,70,000 crore and another Taka 63,000 crore will be collected from other sources.
The total size of the expenditure budget has been estimated at Taka 6,78,064 crore, which is 15.2 percent of GDP. For the operating and other expenditures an allocation of Taka 4,31,998 crore, while for Annual Development Programme an allocation of Taka 2,46,066 crore has been proposed.
The overall budget deficit for the proposed budget will be Taka 2,45,064 crore which is 5.5 percent of GDP. In the last budget, the deficit was 6.2 percent of GDP. The deficit will be financed from domestic and external sources.
He said the estimates of subsidy and incentives expenditure on the revised budget of FY22 had to be increased to Taka 66,825 crore (1.70 percent of GDP). This expenditure has been increased to Taka 82,745 crore (1.90 percent of GDP) in the initial estimate of the budget for FY23.
However, considering the price trend of oil, gas, and fertilizer in the international market, the estimated subsidy/incentives spending can be 15-20 percent higher than the initial estimates, which may pose a challenge in the budget management for the next fiscal year, he cited.
The tax-free income ceiling for the individual taxpayers in the next fiscal year will remain unchanged at Taka 3 lakh.
In the proposed budget, the allocation for the social infrastructure is Taka 1,83,425 crore which is 27.05 percent of the total allocation; out of this, allocation for the human resources sector (education, health and other related sectors) is Taka 1,67,524 crore.
For the physical infrastructure sector an allocation of Taka 2,00,860 crore has been proposed which is 29.62 percent of the total allocation.
Out of this Taka 86,798 crore will go to overall agriculture and rural development sub-sector, Taka 79,026 crore will go to the communication infrastructure sub-sector, and Taka 26,065 crore allocation has been proposed for power and energy sub-sector.
An allocation of Taka 1,53,208 crore has been proposed for general services sector which is 22.59 percent of the total allocation. For public-private partnership (PPP), financial assistance to different industries, subsidies, equity investments in state-owned, commercial and financial institutions, a total of Taka 53,155 crore has been proposed which is 7.84 percent of the total allocation.
Besides, an allocation of Taka 80,375 crore has been allocated for the payments of interest; which is 11.85 percent of the total allocation. For net lending and other expenses, Taka 7,041 crore has been proposed which is 1.04 percent of the total allocation.
The Finance Minister said one of the priorities of the government is to provide emergency financial assistance to the low-income people who become jobless or their income is reduced due to natural disasters like floods, flash- floods, storm surges, hail storms, cyclones or other financial crisis.
In FY22, the government established a fund called ‘Fund for Managing the Shocks of Natural Disasters’ where an allocation of Taka 5,000 crore has been proposed for this fund.
Highlighting the government’s success in the vaccine drive, he said so far, a total of 12.9 crore first doses, 11.8 crore second doses and 1.5 crore booster doses have been administered.
In the budget, the government offered Bangladeshis a scope for legalising their unreported assets outside the country without facing any questions in the next fiscal year.
They will have to pay taxes ranging from only 7-15 percent in order to avail of this opportunity.
The opportunity will be in force starting from the first day of the new fiscal and will end on June 30, next year.
The Finance Minister also revealed that the universal pension scheme would take off in July next fiscal year.
All citizens aged between 18 and 50 will be entitled to the benefits of the move.
About the country’s efforts in ensuring smooth transition from the LDC’s, he said Bangladesh will have to utilise with farsightedness the period from 2022 to 2026 for its preparation to the graduation from LDCs so that Bangladesh can move forward even after graduation and sustain its position as a graduated country.
“To that end, the ongoing development process must continue to ensure smooth graduation. The Government of Bangladesh is fully committed to make this graduation smooth and sustainable. In this context, various policies, strategies, programs, and measures have been adopted,” he added.
Kamal said due to the courageous leadership, patriotism, commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the people of the country alongside her far-sighted economic philosophy, Bangladesh is now the 41st largest economy in the world.
According to the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), a British economic research organization, Bangladesh will become the 25th largest economy in the world by 2035 if economic growth continues.
“Bangladesh has emerged as the world’s wonder in the journey towards development and prosperity.
The world leaders today are now in all praise for what Bangladesh has achieved. Indeed, the role of the Awami League and the people’s leader Sheikh Hasina are at the heart of these remarkable achievements,” he noted.
To offset the COVID-19, he informed that the government has so far launched 28 financial and incentive packages worth Tk 1 lakh 87 thousand 679 crore and are successfully implementing them.
Meanwhile, the implementation of these 28 incentive packages by the government has so far directly benefited about 73 million people and about 1,72,000 organisations.
In this regard, the Finance Minister assured that the government would continue the initiatives taken to address COVID-19 and economic recovery in the coming fiscal year.
“Now, in the third year of the pandemic, our priority will be to sustain the economic recovery by maintaining the trend of income generation and job creation and thus put the economy on a solid foundation.
Therefore, we will continue to implement incentive programmes in the next fiscal year,” he added.
He also told the House that the next fiscal year would be the last year to overcome the effects of pandemic.
“Thus we shall touch the fringe of golden Bangla that was ingrained in the heart and soul of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Insha Allah.” Kamal expressed his strong resolve in concluding remarks.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said the Six-Point Demand raised by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the “Magna Carta” of Bangalees as it had prepared the people for independence of the country.
“The Six-Point Demand prepared the people fully for Independence and propelled them to the War of Liberation. Actually, it (Six-Point) was the “Magna Carta”, through which people of the country had prepared themselves for Independence,” she said.
The premier was addressing a discussion marking the Six-Point Day organized by Bangladesh Awami League at its central office in the city’s 23 Bangabandhu Avenue.
She chaired the event, joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban here.
Sheikh Hasina, also President of the ruling Awami League (AL), said the Six-Point later turned into one-point and Bangladesh attained Independence.
She said, “It was achieved through our blood, Manu Miah’s blood, and in the letters of the blood of the Six-Point.”
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had firm confidence which actually came from his courage, honesty, belief and foresight, she said, adding: “That is why we have attained independence.”
Mentioning that Bangabandhu himself formulated the Six-Point Demand, she said ex-mayor Mohammad Hanif, the then personal assistant of Bangabandhu during his service life in Alfa Insurance, had written it using typewriting machine in both Bangla and English as Bangabandhu by his own verbally telling him to compose it.
AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, MP delivered the introductory address at the function.
Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr. Abdus Sobhan Golap, MP moderated the discussion from Ganabhaban end.
At the outset of the event, one minute silence was observed to pay tribute to the martyrs of six-point and other movements as well as deceased in Sitakunda fire.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday warned that action would be taken against the people, who will be found guilt for the fire incident at BM Container Depot in Sitakunda.
“If anyone’s negligence is found in the investigation into the fire incident at BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, action will also be taken against them irrespective of party affiliation,” he said while talking to journalists after the namaz-e-janaza of firefighter Shakil Tarafdar, who was killed in Sitakunda fire, at Fulbaria Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters.
The minister said, “Our high-powered investigation team is working in Chattogram....something might have happened there, investigation will reveal the reason behind the fire.”
He said that the firefighters have always proved that they are fearless, adding, “You have seen that a firefighter gave his life in an operation against militants in Sylhet. You have also seen it in FR Tower of Banani. They know that there are risks, but they rush to the spot of occurrence to save lives. In Chattogram, nine firefighters had sacrificed their lives while saving fire victims. We could not identify three others ... their bodies were not found.”
Kamal said, “So far we have found 41 bodies. We still don’t know how much damage has happened there. Several injured persons are now undergoing treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH). We sought blessings for their early recovery.”
Replying to a question, the minister said, “We have transformed the firefighting service into a modern one from the bell ringing service. Today, firefighters arrive immediately after the fire incident.”
“We have been able to turn it into a competent fire service at the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We will continue to increase their capacity,” Kamal added.
In response to a question regarding the involvement of any influential person in the incident, the minister said, “The message is clear that if anyone’s involvement and negligence is found, they must face the music.”