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Keep up agri progress to ensure food security: PM

Human Rights Report
Putting emphasis on keeping up Bangladesh's progress in the agriculture sector, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said the government has been providing all sorts of assistance for ensuring food security amid the Covid-19 pandemic, reports UNB.
"This is true that coronavirus is pushing us back a lot. Even then, we'll have to keep up the progress in the agriculture sector so that our people don't suffer, at least from food shortage. We'll have to pay attention to it," she said.
The Prime Minister said this at the weekly meeting of the Executive Meeting of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).
The Ecnec meeting was held virtually with Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Prime Minister and Planning Minister MA Mannan joined the meeting from Ganobhaban through a videoconference, while other Ecnec members were connected from NEC Bhaban.
Describing the government's assistance to the agriculture sector, Hasina said, "We've been providing all sorts of assistance so that our food security is not affected."
She said the government reduced the prices of fertilizers, and has been distributing quality seeds and other agricultural inputs. The government also provided some 2 crore agriculture cards to avail of agricultural inputs and created scope for the farmers to open a bank account at Tk 10. Now more than one crore farmers have such bank accounts.
 

ILO to hold online quiz competition for vocational students

Human Rights Report:

International Labour Organization (ILO) is going to hold an online quiz competition for technical and vocational educational and training (TVET) students marking the World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) on July 15.
The ILO's European Union-funded project Skills-21 to mark the WYSD2020 has taken several initiatives to popularize TVET education and skills development, said a press release today.
The theme of this year's World Youth Skills Day is "Youth Skills to End the Epidemic and the Future."
The initiatives include online quiz competition for students in graphic design and electrical installation and maintenance trades from TVET institutes across the country, online webinars with experts on the theme of the day and publish stories of successful TVET students' through print and digital media, said the release.
The main purpose of the day declared by the United Nations is to call upon the youth of the world to become proficient in various skills and to highlight the important role of skilled youth in meeting the global challenges of the future.
 

Malaysian ex-PM Najib sentenced to 12 years' jail   
 

Human Rights Report:
Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in jail on corruption charges linked to the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal that led to the downfall of his government two years ago, reports AFP.
The ex-prime minister was also fined almost $50 million after being convicted on all seven charges in the first of several trials related to the looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund.
The 67-year-old is challenging the verdict and will be allowed to remain free on continued bail until a lengthy appeals process is complete.
Billions of dollars were stolen from Malaysia's main state investment vehicle and spent on everything from high-end real estate to pricey art.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs also became embroiled in the scandal and faces a series of hefty fines in both the US and Malaysia as a result.
Anger at the looting played a large part in the shock loss of Najib's long-ruling coalition at elections in 2018, and he was arrested and hit with dozens of charges following his defeat.
The verdict was welcomed as a boost for Malaysia's rule of law and came despite Najib's political allies returning to power earlier this as part of a coalition.
Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali at Kuala Lumpur's High Court found Najib guilty on seven charges regarding the transfer of 42 million ringgit ($9.9 million) from a former 1MDB unit to his bank accounts.
The blue-blood politician, whose father and uncle were both former Malaysian prime ministers, had vehemently denied any wrongdoing and looked calm as the verdict was handed down.
'Kleptocracy' -
After finding him guilty on a range of charges including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money-laundering, the judge sentenced Najib to between 10 and 12 years on each.
The sentences will run concurrently, however, meaning he will remain behind bars for 12 years. Addressing the court before sentence was passed, Najib read a Koranic verse and defend his record during nine years as Malaysian premier.

 

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Poland's conservative president Duda re-elected
 

Human Rights Report:
Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda has narrowly beaten challenger Rafal Trzaskowski in Sunday's presidential vote, reports BBC.
The National Electoral Commission said Duda had won 51.2% of the votes.
It is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of communism in 1989.
One of the major issues of the election was the future of the country's strained relations with the European Union. Duda is a social conservative allied with the government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, while Mr Trzaskowski is the socially liberal mayor of Warsaw.
Duda's win is expected to lead to further controversial reforms to the judiciary and continued opposition to abortion and gay rights.
 

BD migrant workers in Maldives pass inhuman life

Human Rights Report:

More than one lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers in Maldives are passing an extremely inhumane life as companies and employers of the Island nation kept them unpaid amid coronavirus lockdown.
Being financially crippled, the migrant workers are now living in teeming alleys that are a haven for the virus.
Maldives confirmed a community spread in mid-April, and while the greater Male region was immediately placed on lockdown, and authorities began lockdown easing in late May.
Sources said, companies and employers in Maldives stopped paying workers' wages since the authorities imposed lockdown to fight against the coronavirus.
Bangladeshi workers alleged that their employers are threatening to send them back if they want arrears.
Zakir Hossain, 39, who had worked in a Male restaurant until shutdown, said he has not been paid for more than three months.
"We are facing immense hardship as we are not paid for months," he told media.
He also said that all the Bangladeshi workers live in congested conditions and share rooms and even beds between shifts. "Now we are also worried about the disease." The Maldives is heavily depending on foreign labour, mostly covered from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, to run its resorts, hotels and restaurants.
As resorts and hotel chains shut down business following the government's declaration of an indefinite lockdown and a ban on incoming tourists, resort workers were forced to take unpaid leave.
Anwar Hosain, a 42-year-old Bangladeshi carpenter in Maldives, said his employer has held of his salary since the lockdown was imposed in the Island nation. I need money to survive and maintain my family at homeland. "My wife calls me every day and cries. What can I do?"


 

People are almost starving since govt failed to continue OMS support

Human Rights Report:

The government has suspended the special open market sale (OMS) of rice introduced to help the urban poor who were forced to cut food consumption after being hit by the coronavirus crisis. Though normalcy yet to be restored and nobody has a clear idea when the economy will resume in full scale, the suspension of special OMS rice sale will bound the urban poor to starve and half starve. The decision surprised many as evidence grew that millions remained half-fed in Bangladesh as they tried to make up for the drastic fall in their income caused by the coronavirus crisis. The situation is further worsened by a devastating flood that continued to wreak havoc across Bangladesh for over a month.
The government decided to shutdown special OMS shops, through which a limited number of ration card holders could buy a kilogram of rice at a subsidized price of Tk 10, which comes amid depleting government rice stock due to poor procurement. The government failed to stock up enough rice needed to run the special OMS rice scheme and was making the poor pay for its failure. It is a classic case of management failure when hungry people roam around, though there is no shortage of food in the country.

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