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 City

2 DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020

JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS 2020-2021 BUDGETIN-DEPTH
MOBILE IMPORTED COSMETICS CHARTERED VEHICLE IMPORTED
beware of ONION Expensive FLIGHT REGISTRATION FEE HONEY
talk time relief for local makeover pay more for costly ride tastes bitter
UP growers luxury

A budget not of
its time
Kamal fails to get his crisis priorities right as he unveils a normal-time, fatty budget
ZINA TASREEN
SOCIAL SAFETY NET
Any finance minister delivering a national budget wants,
ideally, to project three qualities: calm, authority and very
slight dullness.
He or she wants to give the sense that underneath the
Nothing
specific for
aspirational abstractions of populist politics is a solid grasp
of numbers; that right behind the sunniness of prime-
ministerial rhetoric there is a capable and hard-headed
person, armed with a pocket calculator.
And AHM Mustafa Kamal seems to have failed on all
three counts as he took the podium yesterday to deliver
the budget for fiscal 2020-21 -- against the backdrop
of potentially the biggest public health emergency and
new poor
economic downturn in generations. MOHAMMAD AL-MASUM MOLLA
He opted for salesmanship rather than expectation
There is no specific programme mentioned
management. He presented himself as a surgical mask-
in the budget for the urban poor who have
clad Santa Claus, doling out bountiful good news and
been hit the hardest during the shutdown
dispenser of goodies for all.
of the economy for over two months.
He delivered a budget that -- to anyone who doesn’t
It was partly because of the failure in
read the news closely -- will have made it sound as if the
providing food to the people in desperate
Bangladesh economy was flying on animal spirits: he
need that the government reopened
anchored this fiscal plan based on the irrational calculation
businesses, although the coronavirus
that the GDP growth next fiscal year would be a whopping
outbreak is showing no signs of slowing
8.2 percent.
down.
He maintained more or less the same allocations for
The government allocated Tk 95,574
sectors that would have been understandable were this a
crore in the social safety net programmes,
regular fiscal year, like energy and power, transport and
which is 16.83 percent of the entire budget
communication, public order and safety, defence, and
and 3.01 percent of the GDP. The allocation
local government and rural development.
was Tk 81,865 crore in last year’s revised
But the sectors that were crying out for sizeable boosts
budget.
in their budgets got nominal raises like health, social safety
“We have been increasing allocations
net, agriculture and education.
in the social security sector every year to
Nothing is more imperative for Bangladesh right now
improve the poor people’s condition. By
than taming the coronavirus, and for that, the health budget
SEE PAGE 5 COL 5 SEE PAGE 5 COL 3

PROPOSED TOTAL REVENUE NON-NBR REVENUE

Tk 48,000cr
BANK
BORROWING BLINDSIDED
BUDGET Tk 378,000cr
NBR REVENUE BUDGET
Tk 84,980cr BY COVID-19
SIZE
FY 2020-21 Tk 330,000cr FOREIGN SOURCE
Tk 568,000cr Tk 80,017cr
OPERATING AND DEVELOPMENT
BUDGET of Tk 568,000cr
In %
Domestic loan
DEVELOPMENT NON-BANK
19.4 (bank, non-bank
and savings tools)
EXPENDITURE BORROWING WAHIDUDDIN MAHMUD

GDP GROWTH 5.8 Non-tax revenue Tk 2,05,145cr Tk 25,003cr There is hardly any precedence of
preparing a national budget under

8.2% 2.6 Tax revenue

(Non-NBR)
NON-DEVELOPMENT
such extraordinary hard times
and with so much uncertainties
and dilemmas. There is yet no
clear direction on the public
58.1 Tax revenue (NBR)
INFLATION EXPENDITURE health front about how to cope
with the ongoing covid-19

5.4% 0.7 Foreign grants

13.4 Foreign loan Tk 3,62,855cr
pandemic, which makes any plan
for the rescue and recovery of the
SEE PAGE 5 COL 1

Not enough when Some are more
it’s a pandemic equal to govt
Health allocations rise by 13.66pc but still hover
below 1pc of GDP; Tk 10,000cr to combat corona
WASIM BIN HABIB and TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY
“Good decisions come from experience,
but experience comes from making bad
decisions.”
The words of wisdom of American writer
and humorist Mark Twain hardly fits when
it comes to setting priority in the budget of
Bangladesh, even in the aftermath of the
novel coronavirus outbreak.
With the Covid-19 pandemic posing
the biggest challenge to public health
in this generation, spending more on
the healthcare has been the call from
economists and medical experts.
But as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa
Kamal placed the proposed budget for
fiscal 2020-21 in parliament yesterday, the
call for prioritising healthcare failed to
elicit a strong response.
The minister earmarked Tk 29,247 crore
for the health ministry, an increase of 13.66
percent from the outgoing fiscal year’s
allocation.
“The health sector was given utmost
priority,” Mustafa Kamal said.
But his speech on giving priority does
not fully reflect the reality. Because, with
this allocation, the share of health budget
remains below one percent of the Gross
Domestic Product -- only 0.92 percent,
lowest compared to its peers in South Asia.
The country’s public spending on
healthcare has been hovering around
1 percent of the GDP for many years,
although the World Health Organization
recommends it to be at least 5 percent.
Bangladesh’s healthcare system has
already been struggling with the increasing
burden of diseases, low quality healthcare
coverage and an inadequate national
budget in this regard.
As the size of the budget increased every
year, the allocation for health sector rose
too. But in terms of percentage of the total
budget, it remained around 5 percent over
the years.
It is 5.14 percent of the total outlay this
time.
Unsurprisingly, out-of-pocket health
expenditure for households is very high.
About 65 percent of all health expenditure
in the country is borne privately by
households.
In the meantime, the Covid-19
pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and
systemic weaknesses in the health sector
-- from shortage of skilled personnel to
poor infrastructure, weak monitoring and
SEE PAGE 5 COL 3
INCOME TAX
Loads ease on
low income
SYED ASHFAQUL HAQUE
Protected and unprotected: an oblique line of the
government’s preference separated the two.
One group of people is the responsibility of the Extraordinary
groups
government and the other group isn’t. One group Black money holders poised to
of people is protected by the government and the times, ordinary reap ultimate benefits
other group of people left in the cold. Privileged
ones are the public servants and overlooked ones budget SOHEL PARVEZ
the private employees.
DEBAPRIYA BHATTACHARYA
The line of divide was always there, and it only Taxpayers in the low-income bracket have something to
got embarrassingly prominent in the onslaught of
The much-anticipated feel good about.
the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As budgetary national budget for fiscal They are going to pay less tax in the next fiscal year. This
measures were laid out yesterday, the discrimination
year 2020-21 turns out to means they will have more disposable income and be able
looks more prominent than ever. be a document trying to to spend more to meet the needs of their families amid
It’s a job that a very few in the world’s ivy league run on the momentum. Covid-19 pandemic.
of economists would have dared to do, announcing The mentioned four
The government will introduce a new tax rate of 5 percent
the budget of a country caught in the middle of a strategic stances involving
on annual income up to Tk 400,000. It has maintained the
pandemic that brought the economy down to its
increased public tax rate at 10 percent since fiscal 1997-98.
knees in the last four months. Mustafa Kamal is a
expenditure, special credit The limit of tax-free annual income will be raised to Tk
feisty finance minister in that sense, especially when
facilities, expansion of 300,000 from Tk 250,000 which remained unchanged for
every hand extended in his direction is for help.
safety net and liquidity the last five years.
No other finance minister in our living memory
faced a crisis of this magnitude. Everybody, rich and infusion are very much Rich taxpayers will also enjoy tax bill cuts as the highest
poor alike, is seeking help from the government, in the right direction. tax rate of 30 percent, introduced six years ago, for high-
which is also extending its hands for help from However, the numbers put income earners will be reduced to 25 percent.
foreign lenders, the central bank (by asking it to up in the fiscal framework But the ultimate gainers are the holders of undeclared
print taka) and black money-holders. are far from the reality. It money, known as black money, thanks to coronavirus-
If we analyse the government response to the is a justified apprehension induced economic crisis that has created an opportunity
health and financial security for all in the lead-up that the core budgetary for them to legalise untaxed money by paying a nominal
to the pandemic and beyond, we can see the line of numbers and ratios may 10 percent tax, much to the frustration of compliant
divide all too clearly. The government cared most, if become functionally taxpayers.
not only, for the public staff and least for the private obsolete within next Over the years, successive governments offered black
staff. three to six months. money holders the opportunity to whiten undisclosed
SEE PAGE 8 COL 3 This may also blunt the income or wealth.
SEE PAGE 8 COL 1 SEE PAGE 14 COL 4
 City

BUDGETIN-DEPTH 2020-2021
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020
JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS 3
SUGER GOLD FRIDGE AIR SANITARY LPG DOWN
Sweeter shining fresh and CONDITIONER NAPKIN CYLINDER
brighter colder time to chill out more affordable ditch kerosene

GOVT ALLOCATION BY SECTORS

FY 2020-21 In crore taka
No break for middle class
Industrial & Recreation, Culture &
Budget holds out little hope for them even when virus hits them hard
Economic Services Religious Affairs
ZYMA ISLAM
3,940 4,786
1% 9% Save for a slash in income tax, there is no
respite in this year’s budget for the penny-
pinching middle class. Their expenditures
Agriculture Energy & Power will continue going up even as the global
29,983 26,758 pandemic and resulting recession hits their
incomes and slashes their jobs.
6% -5% This January, two things happened for
Nabil*. He got married and started a new
job as a merchandiser at a large apparel
Housing company. This wasn’t his first job -- he has
6,936 Public Order five years’ professional experience and holds
5% & Safety a graduate degree in the field.
Three months later, he -- along with
28,668 dozens of others -- was terminated as
Transport &
4% the apparel company downsized amid
shrinking global demands.
communication While the number of people who have
64,587 become unemployed due to the pandemic
0% Education & is unavailable for Bangladesh, globally
Technology the number is one in six young people,
according to the International Labour
85,760 Organisation.
Defence 8% “Please don’t use my real name. I’m
Services newly married and I haven’t told my in-laws
34,882 that I’m unemployed already. Whatever
savings I had, I spent it all on my wedding,
7% Social Security knowing that I had a better paying job this
& Welfare year,” he said.
“Then the pandemic happened. I am
Health 32,166 now 30 years old and relying on my father
29,246 8% financially. My younger siblings are both
14% students, and my father is the only earner
once again, for our family of six.”
And so, Nabil’s aging father -- who is
Public smack in the middle of the age group most
Local Govt & Rural at risk for contracting coronavirus -- has to
Development Administration
go out to work and support the family.
39,573 180,715 One silver lining for middle-class
4% 17% families is that the income tax exempt
threshold has been raised to Tk 3 lakh for
NOTE: PERCENTAGE CHANGE BETWEEN FY18 AND REVISED FY17.
the next fiscal year, and the rates of taxation
SOURCE: MINISTRY OF FINANCE SEE PAGE 12 COL 2

Mobile bills Not so good news Thumbs-up

for black
NEWLY PRINTED MONEY

on the rise
once again
5pc point increase in
supplementary duty on
services; operators and
users frustrated
MUHAMMAD ZAHIDUL ISLAM
The cost of using a mobile phone
would go up by more than 5 percent as
the proposed budget looks to hike the
supplementary duty on all kinds of SIM
services to 15 percent from the previous 10
percent.
The carriers have already implemented
the greater supplementary duty from
12:00am today, which has taken the
customers’ total service tax to 33.25 per cent.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR)
yesterday evening issued a Statutory
Regulatory Order (SRO) to this effect,
shortly after Finance Ministaer AHM
Mustafa Kamal’s budget speech was over.
SEE PAGE 5 COL 3
for the jobless
Finance minister gives no specific guidelines on how
major challenges of employment creation to be resolved
WASIM BIN HABIB and MOHIUDDIN ALAMGIR
Ever since Belayat Ahmed completed his
graduation two years ago from a college
under the National University, he applied to
different private companies and submitted
his resume to a few job boards.
Yet, the youth from Khulna could not get
the “golden dear”.
In the meantime, the outbreak of novel
coronavirus disrupted everything, having
an impact on the employment landscape
and the job market.
With the number of job postings
dropping sharply of late, he doesn’t see any
possibility of getting a job anytime soon
as the pandemic and subsequent closures
rendered a large number of people jobless.
“I need a job to support my family. But I
don’t know what will be the situation after
the pandemic,” said the 24-year-old.
Belayat is among the thousands of
graduates who are now apprehending a
bleak future ahead as Covid-19 appears
to be one of the biggest destroyers of
employment in the history.
Hundreds of jobs could be lost
permanently and according to preliminary
estimates by the Asian Development Bank,
this number of jobless people could rise to
1.4 million.
Bangladesh was already struggling with
a huge number of unemployed population
-- nearly 26 lakh to be precise -- even before
the pandemic began in the country.
Though the government has been
saying job creation will be one of the main
priorities, yesterday’s budget speech did not
bring much good news for unemployed
youths like Belayet or returned migrant
workers, or those who have lost jobs or are
at the verge of losing earning sources as
fallout of pandemic.
SEE PAGE 12 COL 5
money
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Year after year,
opportunities given by the
government to whiten black
money has failed to attract
significant declaration, so
the new budget proposes a
new, lucrative offer -- invest
and nobody, not even the
income tax authority, will
be able to question its
source.
For the last five years,
black money-holders
have been able to whiten
their assets by investing in
residential buildings and
other similar properties.
This offer was mainly for
those who did not declare
their full income when
filing their taxes for a
number of years.
As per the existing law,
people with vast amounts
of undisclosed wealth
could only take advantage
SEE PAGE 5 COL 1
There’ll be crisis if
not used properly
AKM ZAMIR UDDIN
A good number of central banks across the globe have started printing
money to get a turnaround from the ongoing financial recession.
For instance, the US’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, has already
started printing money to implement the government stimulus packages
worth $3 trillion, a move that has boosted production and generated
employment.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has taken the same measure to revive the
economy as it has already decided to inject about Tk 50,000 crore in the
form of different refinance schemes.
Besides, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday has set a
borrowing target of Tk 84,980 crore from the banking sources.
The government traditionally borrows a major portion of its target from
banks. But it would be tricky for banks to provide this service as they are
now going through a cash crunch of their own due to the economic fallout
stemming from the ongoing pandemic.
This mean, the government will have to knock at the doors of the
central bank. The Bangladesh Bank will have to oblige, but by printing
money -- a move that can go on to pose stability risks.
In fact, the government is already heavily relying on the central bank’s
monetization power.
Between July last year and May this year, the government took out a
record Tk 64,296 crore from the banking sources and 49.56 percent of the
funds were footed by the BB.
SEE PAGE 5 COL 1

Nothing special
for small farmers
PINAKI ROY
Though farmers have been hit hard by the pandemic, no
special stimulus package for small farmers was announced
in the proposed budget, frustrating agriculture experts and
economists.
It has happened despite Finance Minister AHM Mustafa
Kamal’s announcement that agriculture was the second
highest priority after the health sector this year.
In his budget speech yesterday, Mustafa said the
pandemic has affected the agriculture sector in Bangladesh
and the government puts the highest emphasis on
addressing the adverse effects on domestic sectors.
“One of the key priorities in the post-Covid-19 economic
recovery plan is to keep the momentum of agricultural
production,” he said.
But how the government was going to put that “highest
emphasis” and how it was going to keep up the momentum
was not answered in the proposed budget.
Talking to The Daily Star, Dr Mustafizur Rahman, a
distinguished fellow at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD),
said, “The government is only going to continue all the
subsidies and incentives it provided in the agricultural
sector last year.
“Initiatives needed to be taken so that farmers get fair
prices for their produce. But we haven’t seen that in the
proposed budget. Maybe it was assumed that the agriculture
sector was not hit as hard as the SME and garment sectors
were,” he said, adding that it was necessary to ensure food
security in the country.
Abdus Sattar Mandal, former vice chancellor of
Bangladesh Agricultural University, said the government
should have announced a special stimulus package for
farmers, like Tk 1,000 for each farmer who owns at least
one acre of land.
Such an initiative would increase the cash flow in the
SEE PAGE 12 COL 2
 City Edition

4 DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020

JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS 2020-2021 BUDGETIN-DEPTH
ALLOCATIONS FOR MIGRANTS

Returnees
in distress
PORIMAL PALMA
Sabbir Hossain of Munshiganj returned home from
Malaysia in mid-March when the Southeast Asian country
was planning a lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus.
“I thought returning home instead of being trapped
there would be better. So, I came back. However, now
my employer is saying I cannot go back to work in
Malaysia because there is no work,” he told The Daily
Star yesterday.
Sabbir, 27, who worked in the construction sector in
Johor Baruh for four years, said it took him almost three
years to recoup the migration cost of Tk 3.5 lakh before he
saved some money to construct a house.
“I don’t have any savings now. If I get some loans, I may
start a small business,” he said without being sure what
business he can do.
Sabbir said most of his Bangladeshi colleagues in
Malaysia are now jobless and are worried about their future.
Migration experts and recruiting businesses fear
several lakh Bangladeshi migrants might return home in
the coming months after losing jobs as the economies
of destination countries, mostly in the Middle East and
Southeast Asia, are being badly affected because of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Against this backdrop, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa
Kamal has proposed the allocation of Tk 500 crore that
will be loaned to returnee migrants on easy terms for their
rehabilitation through the Probashi Kalyan Bank. The
Wage Earners’ Welfare Board will allocate another Tk 200
crore with a similar objective.
SEE PAGE 6 COL 1

Bailout package
bottleneck still
Growth, revenue TAXSLABS CORPORATE TAX
Non-listed companies

a concern
Business leaders say
targets too lofty FY 2020-21 32.5%

REFAYET ULLAH MIRDHA and JAGARAN CHAKMA

Economists say about proposed budget Listed companies

Trade body and business chamber leaders

said the economic recovery from the
coronavirus pandemic is largely dependent
on prompt implementation of the stimulus
package.
Over-borrowing by the government from
the banking sector will reduce fund flow to
private sector during this crisis. Businesses
said banks are not cooperating in quick
disbursement of money from bailout
packages.
The government will borrow Tk 84,980
crore from banks, which is 3.1 percent higher
than the previous fiscal. Such borrowing by
the government will create liquidity crisis for
SEE PAGE 14 COL 1
The rich to
feel the pinch
Inadequate measures Stock investors
MD FAZLUR RAHMAN mobilisation must also be unrealistic. So, the 25%
implementation of the budget will become
Economists said the government would not be
uncertain,” he said.
able to achieve the target of revenue mobilisation
“Secondly, the unrealistically high projection Listed banks and FIs
and economic growth this fiscal year.
“The target for growth and revenue collection is
of output growth may result in false expectations
about the employment and income situation
37.5%
sky-high and unrealistic,” said Ahsan H Mansur,
executive director of the Police Research Institute which, in turn, will create a sense of complacency.” PERSONAL INCOME TAX
(PRI) of Bangladesh. Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at Non-listed banks and FIs
the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said the assumption
The projected GDP growth of 8.2 percent is MINIMUM TAX
highly unrealistic and there are potential dangers that worked in formulating the budget for 2020-21
did not fully reflect the challenges brought on by Dhaka and Ctg city 40%
in taking such an approach, said Rizwanul Islam,
a former special adviser for employment sector at the coronavirus pandemic. Tk 5,000
the International Labour Office, Geneva. The budgetary proposals, ranging from resource Merchant banks
“First of all, it can result in practical problems mobilisation to expenditure, paint a business-as-
in managing the economy. With such unrealistic usual scenario and it seemed from the proposals
Other city corps
37.5%
projection of output growth, estimates of resource SEE PAGE 14 COL 1
Tk 4,000 Tobacco companies
45%
Other areas

Excise duty increased
for big balance holders
SOHEL PARVEZ
People with big bank
balances are going to
see up to a 60 percent
hike in excise duty rates
the next fiscal year, as
the government aims to
collect higher taxes from
relatively well-offs to attain
the target of increased
revenue collection for next
fiscal year, according to
the budget proposed by
Finance Minister AHM
Mustafa Kamal.
Any account holder
who has a bank balance
containing an amount
between Tk 10 lakh and
SEE PAGE 14 COL 4
for exporters with nothing
REFAYET ULLAH MIRDHA to cheer for
The stimulus packages and
measures announced by the
government are inadequate to
revive exports from the fallouts of
the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,
according to industry leaders.
“The government needs to go
beyond such measures if it wants
to boost exports and protect jobs of
thousands of workers,” they said.
Prompt implementation of the
Tk 5,000 crore, Tk 20,000 crore and
Tk 30,000 crore stimulus packages
announced by the government
would go a long way in safeguarding
export-oriented sectors, they said.
Cooperation from the banking
sector is needed to speed up
implementation of the stimulus
packages, they added.
Tk 3,000 Listed mobile operators
40%
Considering how the Covid-19 Up to Tk 3 lakh No tax
outbreak has negatively impacted AHSAN HABIB Next Tk 1 lakh to total
Bangladesh’s garment industry, 5% Mobile phone operators
income (Tk 4 lakh)
the country’s main export sector,
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa
The proposed budget has brought no cheers
for stock investors, who have been battered
45%
Kamal proposed the continuation by a prolonged slump in indices, but Next Tk 3 lakh 10%
of the 1 per cent additional cash promised measures to develop the country’s to total income TAX-FREE INCOME LIMIT FOR
bond market.
incentive scheme for the upcoming (Tk 4 lakh-Tk 7 lakh) Women and 65 years
fiscal year. Though the government wants to allow
investment of black money in the stock Next Tk 4 lakh 15% plus citizens
The government has been
market, investors say such a move barely
providing a 1 per cent additional to total income Tk 350,000
cash subsidy on apparel exports yielded good return in the past.
since the beginning of the outgoing Adding to their woes, Finance Minister (Tk 7 lakh- Tk 11 lakh)
AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed to reduce
fiscal year. Next Tk 5 lakh 20% Challenged persons
This means garment exporters the corporate tax gap between listed and
have enjoyed a 5 per cent cash non-listed companies which analysts think to total income Tk 450,000
would discourage non-listed firms to go (Tk 11 lakh-Tk 16 lakh)
incentive on all non-traditional
public.
export markets as well.
Other than the EU, the US and Corporate tax for non-listed companies Rest of the income 25% Wounded freedom fighters
might be brought down by 2.5 percentage (Tk 16 lakh-plus) Tk 475,000
Canada, Bangladesh considers all
points to 32.5 per cent, but the rate would
markets as non-traditional.
SEE PAGE 6 COL 1 SEE PAGE 6 COL 4

Poor power No lessons learnt

demand, poor from recessions
AKM Zamir Uddin

allocation The previous global financial recessions

gave a lesson that any economic fallout can
MD FAZLUR RAHMAN
be tackled smoothly if the health of banks
In the wake of a demand crunch for is protected from the crisis.
electricity and gas due to the pandemic, the But the issue was largely missed by
government has cut the spending on power Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
and energy for fiscal 2020-21 as it has in his yesterday’s budget speech despite
allocated Tk 26,758 crore for these sectors staring down a recession.
-- 4.6 percent down year on year. There has been no roadmap on how to
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal improve the financial health and corporate
in his budget speech yesterday said Tk governance of banks.
24,853 crore would be allocated for the The finance minister had committed
power sector while the energy sector would to forming a banking commission in the
receive Tk 1,905 crore. quickest possible time in his budget speech
The total allocation for power and energy for fiscal 2019-20, but he did not take any
move later.
in the current fiscal year is Tk 28,051 crore.
Had the government reformed the
The country currently has a power
banking sector then, the country would
generation capacity of 24,000 megawatts,
have been in better stead to tackle the
which is enough to bring the entire ongoing economic crisis, said Ahsan H
population under electricity coverage. Mansur, executive director of the Policy
But the government cannot utilise its Research Institute.
generation capacity to the fullest due to Although the habitual defaulters
the weak transmission and distribution are largely responsible for the existing
systems. vulnerable situation in the banking sector,
“More importance would be given to the finance minister did not declare
improve the transmission and distribution anything to bring the delinquent borrowers
systems,” Nasrul Hamid, state minister to book, he said.
for power and energy, told journalists on Defaulted loans in the banking sector hit
Wednesday, adding that the government Tk 94,313 crore at the end of 2019, up 0.42
were hoping to bring all households under percent year-on-year, according to data
electricity coverage by March next year. from the Bangladesh Bank.
Currently, about 96 percent of the Mansur fears the pandemic will
population have access to electricity, up asphyxiate some weak banks, so the finance
from 47 percent a decade ago. minister should have announced a merger
SEE PAGE 6 COL 4 SEE PAGE 6 COL 4

BUDGETIN-DEPTH
Blindsided by Covid-19
FROM PAGE 2
economy merely speculative. One cannot
but sympathise with the finance minister for
seeming to grope in the dark in preparing
a budget which he optimistically titled as
economic recovery and a road map for the
future. The reality is that one cannot at this
point even predict the extent and length
of the economic downturn, while the
immediate need is to find a balance between
policies for savings lives and livelihoods
as the pandemic scenario unfolds. The
budgetary allocations will play an important
role in all this, but not without a national
comprehensive strategy of surviving this
crisis, which still seems missing.
In allocating funds, as expected, the
budget has rightly focused on strengthening
public health facilities particularly to deal
with the pandemic, providing safety nets
including food security for the poor, and
providing various kinds of incentives and
subsidies to agriculture and enterprises of
various kinds who have incurred losses due
to the lockdown. The question is whether
these allocations will be enough to achieve
the intended goals, even if the usual misuses
and leakages of funds can be minimised.
More than ever, the effectiveness of
the budget will depend more on the
management of implementation than on
financial allocations, in respect of the relief,
rescue and recovery measures.
The budget has proposed increases in the
coverage of the social security programmes
and the allocations have been increased
to some extent; but these expanded
programmes may still fall short of the
need, particularly in terms of identifying
and supporting those who have lost their
livelihoods because of the economic
disruptions and have now joined the ranks
of the poor. Some studies have shown that
providing for the minimum subsistence of
the needy people including these new poor
may require minimum public spending of
up to 4 percent of GDP, depending on the
length and severity of the various social
distancing measures and the extent and
speed of economy recovery.
Incidentally, the challenge of managing
the expanded social security programmes
have exposed the problem of lack of
representative credible local governance.
This compels the government to rely on
the centralized bureaucracy with very little
local knowledge to manage things at such
times of crisis. It is no wonder that the
Indian state of Kerala, known for its strong
local governance, has proved a model for
coping with Covid-19, by implementing
effective lockdowns, infection tracing and
delivery of social security assistance.
The proposed budget has allocated
increased funds for the health sector,
perhaps equivalent to about 1 percent
of GDP, which would imply more than
a doubling of the proportion realised in
recent years; this proportion will still be
low by the standards of low-middle income
countries. The ongoing pandemic has
painfully unravelled the extremely poor
management of our public health system
which cannot be remedied overnight by
There will be crisis
FROM PAGE 3
In fiscal 2018-19, some Tk 26,446 crore was
borrowed by the government, where the
central bank gave out Tk 10,333 crore.
“Printing money is not a matter of concern
at this moment given the current economic
state of affairs,” said Ahsan H Mansur,
executive director of the Policy Research
Institute.
There is no risk of inflationary pressure
right now as the aggregate demand has
slumped.
But the printed money, generally known
as reserve money or base money, must be
used for productive purposes or else it would
give rise to stagflation -- a scenario of high
inflation and low GDP growth.
So Kamal needs to be mindful of this
consequence.
He suggested the government should
implement the labour-intensive projects
such as building highway and bridges
on a priority basis under its annual
development programmes such that jobs
are generated for the marginal people -- a
move the US resorted to to get out of the
Great Depression.
The authority concerned should think
about deferring the construction works of the
less labour-intensive projects like Rooppur
Nuclear Power Plant and Padma Bridge.
The government will have to check
both corruption and sluggishness for
implementation of projects under the ADP or
else the printed money will create inflationary
pressure.
Besides, the government should mobilise
Thumbs-up
FROM PAGE 3
of this opportunity if the money was not
from an illegitimate source or derived from
criminal activities.
An addition was made in the outgoing
fiscal year, stating that black money-holders
investing in economic zones and hi-tech
parks will not face any question about the
sources of their income if they invest in the
sectors.
For fiscal 2020-21, this amnesty has been
widened to cover just about any kind of
untaxed income.
Between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021
individual taxpayers will be allowed to
declare any type of undisclosed property
by paying a certain amount of tax for per
square foot of the asset.
They will be able to declare undisclosed
cash, bank deposits, savings certificates,
shares, bonds or any other securities by
paying a 10 percent tax.
And they can invest money in the capital
market by paying tax at a rate of 10 percent
on the value of the investment.
“Nobody, including the income tax
2020-2021
fund allocations alone. Yet, enough funds
must be made available for tackling the
endemic, by creating facilities for patients
who need hospital treatment, and for
largely increasing the numbers of testing
for detecting bot existing infections and
immunity acquired through past infection.
Epidemiologists agree that for devising
any meaningful strategy of containing the
pandemic, such tests on a very large scale
will need to be conducted, and this will
need funds even if some low-cost testing
procedures become available.
Of course, the budget has had to be
prepared under severe resource constraints.
The target of revenue collection at about
12 percent of projected GDP is unlikely to
be achieved, given the economic downturn
and an uncertain recovery. Although
there are already some commitments of
loans from the international financing
institutions, the projection of foreign loans
worth about 9 billion US dollars financing
of about 40 percent of the budget deficit,
is very unlikely to be realised. As it is, the
projected budgetary deficit amounting
to 6 percent of GDP is nearly double the
average ratio of the recent years. The deficit
may thus become even larger unless the
government resort to more borrowing
from the banking system, which is already
projected to cover about 45 percent of the
deficit, the rest being covered by a reduced
projection of earnings from the sale of
savings instruments.
A saving grace is that the debt burden of
the government from domestic and foreign
sources is not too high to pose any problem
of fiscal sustainability, so that there is
enough justification to go for a higher
budgetary deficit, particularly given the
needs for public spending in the current
crisis situation. Moreover, the public
demand for bank borrowing may not
pose much problem of meeting the credit
demand from the private sector, which
will likely to remain stymied depending
on the extent of economic recovery, and
also because the private sector enterprises
will be able to access subsidised bank
credit through the refinancing facilities
from Bangladesh Bank as part of the
government’s economic stimulus packages.
Given the resource crunch, extreme
austerity will be needed in public spending,
which may require not only weeding out
nonessential revenue expenditures, but also
cuts in spending on more than a thousand
on-going development projects. One may
argue that such cuts will create delays in the
completion of these projects; but if we could
have tolerated for years a culture of overruns
in time and cost in project implementation,
we can very well do so at such extraordinary
times. We need to prioritise the foreign
funded projects, a few strategic mega-
projects where delays will be costly,
and projects that will help employment
generation. But the allocations for spending
for the priority areas, such as public health,
social safety nets and food security, and
incentives for economic recovery, specially
for small enterprises, must be protected, ad
if possible, enhanced.
foreign loans and grants from donor
agencies and multilateral lenders in the days
ahead to offset the pressure stemming from
monetisation, said Mansur, also a former
economist of the International Monetary
Fund.
The government will set Tk 80,017 crore in
foreign loans and grants to manage its deficit
financing.
It is set to receive about $1.5 billion this
fiscal year from three organisations: the World
Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development
Bank.
But there is a scope to bag about $2 billion
to $3 billion in soft loans from the IMF if the
government reforms the financial sector.
Kamal also relaxed the rule to whiten the
black money hoping it would give a boost to
investment.
He proposed to whiten the black money if
the black money holders invest the amount
in residential buildings by paying a tax of
10 percent on the amount invested, which
for regular taxpayers is between 10 and 30
percent.
They will get the same facility if the black
money is invested in the capital market for
at least three years, a privilege not afforded
as part of the previous amnesty package for
unauthorised money holders.
But the black money-holders will not
respond to the relaxation considering the
previous instances, said Mustafizur Rahman,
distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy
Dialogue.
Besides, this will create a moral hazard and
put off honest taxpayers from compliance.
authority, can raise any question on such
declarations,” said Finance Minister AHM
Mustafa Kamal during his budget speech.
“Extraordinary times demand
extraordinary measures.”
These provisions will increase the flow
of money into the mainstream economy,
generate employment and enhance
collection of tax revenue, the minister said.
The 10 percent tax levied on black
money earned from all sources, including
criminal activities like human trafficking
and drug dealing, is the same rate that a
jobholder earning Tk 58,000 per month
will be paying as income tax this year.
The minister, however, is going hard
on those earning black money through
under-invoicing, over-invoicing or false
declarations of investments.
“I propose to insert a new section in the
income tax ordinance: 50 per cent tax will
be levied on the proven amount of over- or
under-invoicing, or on the proven amount
of false declaration of investment,” he said.
“Our government has zero-tolerance for
such misdeeds.”
City
Mobile bills on the rise
FROM PAGE 3
Carriers complied with the SRO and have
started updating their billing system and
sent text messages to all their customers
about it.
“Increasing supplementary duty on all
telecom related services is highly regrettable
and according to the SRO issued by NBR,
we are going to implement the new SD
[supplementary duty] rate from 12:00am
midnight. All preparations in this regard
has been completed,” said Shahed Alam,
chief corporate and regulatory officer at
Robi.
Apart from the supplementary duty,
mobile phone users also have to pay 15
percent VAT and one percent surcharge
on their bills, which takes the total tax for
mobile phone usage to 33.25 percent.
Therefore, to get service worth Tk 100
users will have to recharge Tk 133.25,
or against each Tk 100 topped up, a user
would get services of Tk 75.05.
Even before this proposed budget, Tk
53 out of every Tk 100 spent by customers
was going to the government exchequer in
different forms of taxation, Alam said.
“Hence, adding 5 per cent SD on
the already ultra-heavily taxed telecom
sector will only bring further misery for
customers,” he said.
Both operators and users expressed
dissatisfaction at the move and said in the
last few years, tax on mobile phone use has
increased, which has negatively affected
customers’ service-availing trends.
Usage and user numbers will certainly
not increase under this tax structure, said a
chief executive officer of a leading carrier.
He said in the last six years taxation
on users increased 122 percent, which
goes against the government’s digitisation
vision.
“We cannot accept this proposal as
it will increase our costs,” said Sarwar
Nothing specific
FROM PAGE 2
now, about one-fourth of the families in
the country have been brought under the
social security net programmes,” Finance
Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said in his
budget speech for 2020-21.
Contacted, Economist Hossain Zillur
Rahman said, “Due to the pandemic,
the number of poor people in the urban
areas has increased and they should be
the beneficiaries of the social safety net
programmes. Specific programmes are
needed for the people who slipped into
poverty during the shutdown.”
How the money allocated for the sector
is distributed among the poor people
determines the success of the social safety
net programmes, said the adviser to a
former caretaker government.
If civil pension spending is deducted
from the social safety net, then the 2020-
21 fiscal year’s allocation would be around
1.5 to 1.6 percent of total GDP, he said.
During the shutdown enforced on
March 26, there were widespread reports
of embezzlement of funds and hoarding
of relief material meant for the poor.
Hundreds of people in different parts of
the country demonstrated on the highways
Not enough even
FROM PAGE 2
governance to inadequate coordination
among key stakeholders.
There have been some recent instances
where patients with flu-like symptoms
and other illness were denied admission
at hospitals and subsequently they died
without treatment, which is a fundamental
right guaranteed by the constitution.
Lifesaving machines like ventilators --
critical to the management of Covid-19
cases -- remain elusive and a shortage
of oxygen in most of the hospitals have
become a matter of grave concern.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday,
experts said the allocation for the health
sector is not adequate in the wake of the
Covid-19 pandemic, which served as a
wake-up call to prioritise on the fragile
healthcare system.
Zahid Hussain, former lead economist
of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, said the
allocation has not increased sufficiently.
As the health sector is facing a crisis,
the government should have supported
it by allocating more but that has not
happened, he said in his reaction on a
private television.
Prof Dr Muzaherul Huq, former
regional adviser, WHO, South East Asia
Region, said, “The health sector has failed.
Despite past allocations of budget, the
sector still remains heavily under-utilised.
“As per the last five-year plan, which
is supposed to be completed this year,
the health budget is supposed to be 1.12
percent of the GDP,” he said told The
Daily Star.
Prof Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, former
president of Bangladesh Medical
Association, said, “The problem is quite
simple. The country’s health sector has
not been reformed even though the sector
itself has evolved over the last five to six
decades.”
Both the experts noted that only
increasing budgetary allocation would
never solve the problems. More emphasis
needs to be given on utilising the
budget efficiently with ensuring proper
accountability.
Management is the key issue in the
sector. Shortages of nurses and medical
technologists are acute at many public
hospitals while equipment is available but
positions of technicians are found to be
vacant, they said.
Recruitment and retention are
important and so are the training and
professional development of health
workers, they said.
Prof Muzaherul said, “As we have seen in
the last five-year plan, only 24 percent had
been implemented till 2019, which shows
the poor performance in management and
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020
JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
Shatil, a student of Daffodil International
University.
This process will increase all costs related
to mobile-phone services and that will be a
disaster, he also added.
Shahed Alam said a huge portion of the
population had started to rely on digital
communication during the shutdown and
social distancing measures enforced due to
the coronavirus pandemic. Raising SD will
certainly have an adverse impact on this
trend.
“We are very sad that even after making
significant contributions to the realisation
of the Digital Bangladesh vision by 2021,
the telecom sector’s problems have been
completely ignored in the proposed
budget,” he added.
As of March, there are 16.53 crore
active mobile connections in the country,
of which 9.52 crore are also connected
to the internet, according to Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission.
Total revenue in the market currently
stands at around Tk 25,000 crore.
Robi’s top brass also expressed their
dissatisfaction at the continuation of the 2
percent minimum tax which was imposed
on their revenue in the 2019-20 budget.
“Considering mobile operators’
contribution in fighting the current
Covid-19 pandemic and building the
digital ecosystem, we believe there is still
an opportunity to review this self-defeating
tax and hope that the government will take
positive decisions in this regard,” Alam
said.
In the upcoming budget, the finance
minister has also proposed a continuation
of the VAT exemption on mobile device
manufacturing, as well as the 5 percent tax
on assembling.
demanding food.
The new budget mentions that senior
citizens in need in 100 of the upazilas
hit the hardest by the pandemic will be
brought under the old-age allowance
scheme. It is expected that five lakh people
will be the beneficiaries.
Besides, widows and divorced women in
the 100 upazilas will be brought under the
social safety net coverage. This is likely to add
3.5 lakh new beneficiaries to the coverage.
Tk 100 crore for the Rural Social
Services Programme will be allocated to
keep the rural economy moving after the
pandemic, the minister said yesterday.
Mohsin Ali, general secretary of
Bangladesh Food Rights Network, said the
allocation for social safety net programmes
was not enough because the number of
poor people has increased a lot.
“We demanded six percent of the GDP.
It is insufficient and it will not meet the
demands. How the new poor will be
helped remains unclear,” Ali said.
The pandemic has shed light on the
lack of food security of working-class
people and brought to the fore the need
to ensure transparency in delivery of the
services, experts said.
lack of management skill.”
He said there is a lack of skilled workers
in the health management system of
Bangladesh -- both in the health ministry
and the Directorate General of Health
Service (DGHS). In many cases, skilled
people cannot be a part of the management
due to political issues.
Besides, the sector is riddled with
rampant corruption, he said.
Prof Rashid-E-Mahbub said, “The
health sector is now huge but its planning
and monitoring remain weak. As such,
concerned authorities cannot even utilise
money allocated by the government.”
Public hospitals lack necessary
manpower, equipment, medicine and
most importantly accountability of their
authorities. The general public, who have
no alternative but to go to public hospitals,
however, do not get proper health services,
he said, adding that private medical
services in the country were developed in
an unregulated manner.
“The problems in the health sector
cannot be solved overnight … The
government should prepare a five-to-ten-
year plan for the health sector considering
people’s expectation and can make an
outline from the National Health Policy
2011, which remains unutilised mostly,”
added Rashid-E-Mahbub.
TK 10,000 CR BULK ALLOCATION
The finance minister also proposed a bulk
allocation of Tk 10,000 crore to deal with
any special situation related to Covid-19.
“We have taken massive steps to improve
the health sector. To combat the Covid-19
pandemic, special programmes worth
Tk 5,500 crore are being implemented
under the Health Services Division. The
government will do whatever required to
address the pandemic. To fulfill emergency
requirements, I propose the allocation of
Tk 10,000 crore as a lump sum,” he said.
Zahid Hussain appreciated the
allocation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was much needed,” he said.
TK 100 CRORE HEALTH-RESEARCH
FUND PROPOSED
The finance minister also proposed the
formation of a Tk 100-crore Integrated
Health-Science Research and Development
Fund to finance the activities for the
development of research on health
education, and science and technology.
A high-powered committee comprising
experienced researchers in the health
sector, nutritionists, public health
experts, sociologists, economists,
environmentalists, civil society members
and other suitable representatives will be
formed to manage this fund efficiently
and effectively, he added.
5
A budget not of
its time
FROM PAGE 2
needed to have been increased by leaps and bounds. And
yet, that was increased by 13.63 percent from the current
fiscal year’s original allocation.
Hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients,
so much so that non-COVID-19 patients are denied
treatment.
Since we don’t know when the epidemic curve would
flatten out, there was an acute need to ramp up the health
services expenditure now. How long are people going
to live under the soul-crushing anxiety of being denied
medical treatment?
Also, perhaps, this was the occasion to right the
historically abysmal attention this sector got in the
national budget. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
The coronavirus rampage has magnified destitution
and stands to unravel the brilliant progress made in
poverty alleviation over the past decade. So, like health
services before, there was an acute need to ramp up
social protection to help poor households weather the
pandemic.
But it was increased from 2.58 percent of GDP this
fiscal year to 3 percent.
In a country of 160 million, about 35 percent are now
living in poverty, according to a recent study of the Centre
for Policy Dialogue. This begs the question, given the
uncertainty over how severe the impact may become, was
the increase in social safety net adequate?
Agriculture was another sector that deserved greater
focus, as the nation must be fed. But it was increased by
just 4.68 percent from the current fiscal year.
The education budget needed to be augmented seeing
that about 4 crore students would not be getting back to
the classrooms anytime soon.
Lessons would have to move to the virtual space and
for that equipment need to be bought at both ends. And
even if classes start physically, there needs to be more
sessions to give the same lesson to maintain the social
distancing rule.
In short, massive investment is needed, but the
education budget was increased about 8 percent.
There were so many areas where the expenditure could
have been scaled back to make room for a bigger budget
for the four overheads. When austerity was needed, he
chose to be profligate.
The allocation for public services was increased by a
staggering 54.70 percent.
What was more baffling was that he has earmarked Tk
16,148 crore for the upkeep of state-owned enterprises
when Tk 1,499 crore had sufficed for the purpose in the
revised budget for this fiscal year.
The amount is 61.5 percent more than the lump sum
amount set aside to fight the rogue virus during the course
of fiscal 2020-21.
Energy and power took up 4.7 per cent of the budget.
Unless a vaccine is widely available for COVID-19, which
would not be until 2021 at least, neither the factories
would be roaring nor the businesses would be bustling.
So what is the need for so much energy?
Then comes the trivial matter of where the money
would come from to fund the Tk 568,000 crore-
expenditure plan, and the pocket calculator was found
missing.
But Kamal did a first-rate job of sounding confident
and in control while jettisoning the years-long goal of
keeping the budget deficit to within 5 percent of GDP.
He has tasked the National Board of Revenue to collect
Tk 330,000 crore, up 9.82 percent from the current fiscal
year’s revised budget.
In a letter last month to Finance Secretary Abdur
Rouf Talukder, NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul
Muneem said the tax collectors would be able to manage
Tk 250,000 crore at best next fiscal year.
And yet, Kamal chose to have his blinkers on and set
the highest revenue target in the country’s history, when
the economic growth would possibly amongst the worst.
What would have helped in this challenging time was a
definitive move towards automation to stop evasion and
leakages. But, he was found dithering.
Whatever he said about automation in his budget
speech was a regurgitation of what he had penned last
year too -- and we all know how much we have achieved
on that front in fiscal 2019-20. Not much.
The only new move towards automation and
digitalisation of the tax administration is the rebate of
Tk 2,000 to all taxpayers who will file their income tax
returns online for the first time.
And then there is his naïve hope of generating revenue
by giving full amnesty to black money when past moves
have flopped spectacularly.
The move to slap 50 percent tax on the proven amount
of over- or under-invoicing, or on the proven amount
of false declaration of investment looks promising on
paper. But, there were no specifics on how that would be
enforced.
While it is laudable that he has given relief to individual
taxpayers by raising the tax-free threshold of income and
reducing the tax rate, his move to also bring down the rate
for those who earn in the highest slab is a proper head-
scratching one.
The wealthy do not need any tax relief. And when all
avenues of revenue collection are narrowing, why would
you extend aid to a faction that is not in need of one?
The increase in supplementary duty (SD) on mobile
phone usage when it has become an absolutely essential
service is a below-the-belt move.
The hikes in SD on chartered planes and helicopters,
air-conditioned launch fares, cars and jeep registration
and cosmetics and cigarettes and the 60 percent hike
in excise duty on the account balance of Tk 5 crore are
welcome though.
And so is his proposal to impose a small rate of
customs duty on onion import to encourage cultivation,
cut dependency imports.
The value-added tax has been asked to shoulder most
of the revenue collection target -- when most consumers
would be confined to their homes or cutting back on
spending given the looming threats of job losses or pay
cuts. Yet another unwise move by the finance minister.
The fact that the NBR would fail to power the budget is
a foregone conclusion. That means, the finance minister
would be relying more on external financing, bank
borrowing and printing money.
The latter two are risky propositions -- one could
crowd out private sector investment and the other would
escalate inflation -- as they can go on to pose stability
risks at the faintest signs of economic recovery.
Ah, economic recovery! The elephant in the budget.
Beyond a few small measures, there was no reassuring
demonstration that the government was determined to
push for an upturn.
Kamal said that next fiscal year, which begins on July
1, would see the prioritisation of “government spending
that creates jobs”. But, as has become a habit by now,
specifics have become notable by their absence. Was
this fiscal plan drafted entirely without any exercise in
econometrics?
All in all, he did not portray an image of calm
competence to navigate the economy during this
extraordinary time, but one crossing his fingers and
hoping for the best. Bit of a gamble, that.
 City Edition
6 CITY DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS

Inadequate measures for exporters Stock investors with nothing to cheer for
FROM PAGE 4
The finance minister also proposed
increasing tax deductions at source
from 0.25 per cent to 0.50 per cent.
The current 0.25 per cent source tax
levied on exporters was initially set to be
1 per cent but was later reduced through
a statutory regulatory order (SRO).
The reduced 12 per cent and 10 per
cent corporate tax rates for non-green
and green garment factories respectively
should remain the same for the next
two years, Kamal said.
The Export Development Fund was
topped up from $3.50 billion to $5
billion in the new budget while VAT on
the sale of synthetic and polyester yarn
was set at Tk 6 per kilogramme.
Meanwhile, VAT on yarn meant for
domestic markets was reduced by Tk 1
per kg.
At present, local yarn buyers have to
pay Tk 4 per kg as VAT but according to
the new proposal, they will have to pay
Tk 3 per kg in the upcoming fiscal year.
Kamal also proposed that VAT should
be waived altogether on the production
of personal protective equipment (PPE)
such as face masks.
PPE has become a major export
item for Bangladesh in the past few
months due to the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic.
As always, no taxes will be levied on
cotton imports for the upcoming year as
it is a vital raw material for the garment
sector. The finance minister went on to
propose a tax rebate on the import of
RFID tags, which are used in garment
factories, industrial rakes and cutting
tables.
In total, the government allocated Tk
6,825 crore as export incentives for 37
different sectors in the outgoing fiscal
year while it was Tk 4,000 crore in fiscal
2018-19.
“We expected that the 5 per cent tax
on cash incentives would be waived,”
said Rubana Huq, president of the
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers
and Exporters Association (BGMEA), in
her reaction to the budget.
She welcomed the budget but urged
the government to continue charging
0.25 per cent VAT at source for the
next five years instead of the proposed
0.50 per cent. Huq also lauded the
government’s intention to continue the
additional 1 per cent cash incentive for
the garment sector.
The BGMEA president also sought
the government’s cooperation for
launching e-commerce platforms like
Amazon or Alibaba.
The government should allocate
more funds for micro, cottage and small
enterprises as these sectors generate
employment, said Ahsan H Mansur,
executive director of the Policy Research
Institute.
“If we can implement the stimulus
packages, we can protect the jobs of
workers. New job creation might not be
possible if new funds are not injected,”
Mansur added.
The government should come up
with another Tk 5,000 crore stimulus
package to help export-oriented
businesses pay their workers’ wages in
July, August and September, said Saiful
Islam, president of the Leathergoods
and Footwear Manufacturer & Exporter’s
Association of Bangladesh.
Mohammad Ali Khokon, president
of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association,
demanded a 10 per cent increase in cash
incentives for using local yarn instead of
the proposed 4 per cent for at least the
next six months.
Bangladesh’s domestic market
for garment products suffered losses
of about Tk 20,000 crore due to the
Covid-19 outbreak while export-oriented
manufacturers lost around $1.4 billion
following work order cancellations by
international brands and retailers.
Mohammad Hatem, vice president
of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers
and Exporters Association, urged the
government to immediately implement
the stimulus packages to help bring
work orders back into the country.
FROM PAGE 4
remain unchanged for listed
companies at 25 per cent.
Although stock market analysts,
bourses and market intermediaries
have long been asking for widening
the tax gap to attract well-performing
companies into the market, the
finance minister has done just the
opposite.
“The shrink in the corporate tax gap
would discourage well-performing
companies to get listed whereas we
have long been trying to bring them
in,” said Khairul Bashar Abu Taher
Mohammed, chief executive officer of
MTB Capital.
“The government could have
reduced the rate for listed companies
in the same manner.”
Md Masudur Rahman, a stock
investor and a mid-level official of a
corporate house, echoed the same,
Poor power demand, poor allocation
FROM PAGE 4
“The government should prioritise
on expenditure, cut subsidies, focus
on transmission and distribution
network, and provide some immediate
benefit to the economy through a cut
in the fuel prices,” said Zahid Hussain,
former lead economist at the World
Bank in Dhaka.
saying the gap reduction would
obstruct the process of bringing good
companies to the stock market.
“We hoped that the government
would reduce the trading tax or
beneficiary owner’s account fee to give
small investors some respite amid the
pandemic. Investors will be benefitted
if the steps are taken,” said Rahman.
“From the budget we got only one
thing: a right direction to develop the
bond market. Other than that, there is
nothing for the stock investors.”
To make the bond market
attractive by abolishing the existing
provision of deduction of source tax
upfront on interest and discount
on bonds, the finance minister
proposed introducing the provision
of the tax at the time of payment of
interest and discount on bonds.
In addition, instead of the present
provision of deducting withholding
further following the outbreak, but
the subsidy allocations for power and
energy sectors -- Tk 9,500 crore and Tk
9,000 crore respectively -- remained
unchanged in the proposed budget.
Another way to get rid of the
rental power plants is not to renew
the contracts that would be up for
renewal in the upcoming fiscal year,
tax on the value of bond transactions,
he suggested introduction of
withholding tax deduction on the
commission fixed by the Bangladesh
Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is a positive step to make the
bond market vibrant along with the
proposal to allow undisclosed money
in the stock market, said Mohammed.
The investment of undisclosed
money may boost the cash-flow in
the market. However, there is doubt
whether the money would come to
the market at the end, he said.
An insignificant amount of money
was invested in the stock market
earlier when such an opportunity was
given in 2009-10, Mohammed added.
The finance minister said anyone
can invest their undisclosed money
in the stock market by paying a 10 per
cent tax and the lock-in period will be
three years.
million cubic feet of gas per day
(mmcfd), which was 1,744 mmcfd in
2009.
A major portion of the development
expenditure planned for the power
sector would involve import. But
spending foreign currencies in this
way is not consistent with the current
situation, said Prof M Shamsul Alam,

Returnees in distress
FROM PAGE 4 in economy. That means construction
Experts say the amounts are companies may cut jobs.
inadequate and also that the Probashi Abu Hayat, a migration researcher
Kalyan Bank has not been proved to be in Malaysia, said he knows a lot of
efficient enough in loan management Bangladeshis with no job prospects
and socio-economic reintegration of in Malaysia who are waiting to return
returnee migrants. home. They are just waiting for
Prof KAS Murshid, director the international flights to resume
general of the Bangladesh Institute of operation.
Development Studies, said many of “Those who are contractual day
the returnees will be totally penniless workers and undocumented are
or even in debt. Providing them with facing the real brunt,” he said.
economic and social rehabilitation A Bangladesh embassy official in
will be a very important task. Saudi Arabia too said the same. “Saudi
Bangladeshi migrants face more Arabia has been very strict over the
risks of slipping into poverty because last two years about undocumented
they pay hefty amounts for migration,
experts said.
Khurshid suggested that returnee
foreign workers. They have been
deporting such migrants in large
numbers,” he said.
migrants be incorporated into
the main stimulus or safety net
With the economy slowing down
amid drop in oil prices, undocumented
programme for the initial months. At and daily contractual migrants may
the same time, their skills should also find it difficult to find jobs even after
be updated based on their needs so the pandemic is over, he said.
they can find jobs at home or abroad According to recruiting businesses
or can start small business with loans. and migration experts, 15-20 percent
WHY THE WORRY of over one crore Bangladeshi
According to the civil aviation migrants are undocumented.
ministry, about 7 lakh Bangladeshis On the other hand, new jobs will
returned from abroad between also see a sharp decline. In January and
January and March this year. How February, 1.29 lakh workers had left
many of these are migrant workers for overseas jobs. Recruiting agencies
has not been separately counted yet. said some 1.5 lakh Bangladeshis, who
The Bureau of Manpower had visas, could not fly abroad for
Employment and Training (BMET) jobs in March and April. There’s sheer
says about 11,000 Bangladeshi uncertainty if they could fly even after
migrants were repatriated between the flights are in operation.
April 1 and June 8, while the foreign Economists say every year some 20
ministry said nearly 25,000 more will lakh jobseekers enter the job market,
be repatriated in the coming weeks. and nearly 40 percent of them (about
Officials of the Bangladesh 7 lakh) go abroad.
embassies concerned said jobs in “There’s already joblessness within
the construction and services sectors the country. We can see fresh job cuts
have been affected the most during amid the coronavirus pandemic. It
the pandemic. With oil prices seeing will be very difficult to manage the
a radical drop, Middle Eastern unemployment problem,” said Prof
countries will have a very slow growth ATM Nurul Amin, chairman of the
‘Robber’ killed in ‘gunfight’
STAFF CORRESPONDENT, Ctg
An alleged robber was killed in a gunfight
with members of Rapid Action Battalion
(Rab-7) at Mirsarai upazila of Chattogram
early yesterday.
However, identity of the deceased could
not be known, said Rab officials.
Rab-7 media wing’s Assistant
Superintendent of Police Mahmudul
Hasan Mamun said the incident took place
at Boro Takia area on Dhaka-Chattogram
Highway.
“The gunfight took place between a
group of robbers who gathered to commit
Department of Economics and Social
Sciences in BRAC University.
EXPERT SUGGESTIONS
He said employment of returnee
migrants will be a real challenge.
They find it very difficult to set up
a business at home. They need re-
skilling and easy loans. More than
those, they need a good condition for
doing business, but how that could be
ensured is the real question.
Prof Nurul Islam, former director
at the BMET, said authorities must
have a robust database of the returnee
migrants, and maintain their contacts
and skillsets. Based on that, they
could be re-skilled and provided with
easy loans for small businesses.
“Loan itself is not enough. They
should be equipped with business
strategies and modern technical
know-hows of businesses and
marketing,” he said.
Prof ATM Nurul Amin said there
should be strong institutions with
trusted individuals to make sure
there is an effective loan management
system for the migrants to facilitate
their businesses.
He said that agriculture is the
backbone of the country’s economy,
and the pandemic has again proved
farming is the saviour. With exports
sliding, boosting agriculture, agro-
industries, small and medium
enterprises is the need of the day.
Prof Syeda Rozana Rashid of
Dhaka University said the demand
for health professionals -- doctors,
nurses, medical technologists and
equipment technicians -- will be of
high demand globally.
“We should focus on this area now
as we talk of building skills, finding
markets and ensuring migration
governance,” said Rozana, a migration
researcher.
robbery and a patrol team of Rab in the
dead of the night,” said the Rab official.
“The 32-years old unidentified robber was
bullet-hit while other criminals managed to
escape. He was declared dead after being
rushed to an upazila health complex.”
Two firearms, eight rounds of bullets
and sharp weapons were recovered from
the spot, said the Rab official. The body
was sent to Chattogram Medical College
Hospital (CMCH) morgue for autopsy.
Earlier, Rab arrested three alleged
robbers in possession of firearms from
Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in Sitakunda
upazila’s on Wednesday.
It would help the government get
rid of the capacity charges, what he sees
no reason to continue as the country
Zahid said.
“The government should explore
ways to make savings from the
energy adviser of the Consumers
Association Bangladesh.
To meet the budget deficit, the
had an excess power generation in FY subsidies without raising electricity government increased the subsidies
2018-19 by using only 43 percent of prices. Any power price increase would and electricity tariff in the past, said
its capacity. hurt everybody, from the middle Prof Shamsul.
Even before the pandemic, the class to businesses and industries to “In the past, we were able to absorb
government used to pay Tk 9,000 households.” the additional burden because we
crore as capacity charges to the rental The gas sector has not been able to had the financial capability. Now,
power plants that remained idle due match the success of the power sector, we neither have the capacity to pay
to the low demand of electricity, largely because of fast-depleting taxes nor the bills for using gas and
causing a hike of electricity price for domestic reserves and a lack of electricity.”
consumers, said Ohio-based Institute major discoveries. The situation has At least Tk 10,000 crore can be saved
for Energy Economics and Financial prompted the government to shift its in the power sector and Tk 12,000 crore
Analysis in a study recently. focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG). in the gas sector by keeping a tight rein
The demand for power has fallen Bangladesh now produces 3,051 on unnecessary expenditures, he said.
No lessons learnt
from recessions
FROM PAGE 4
and acquisition policy in his budget speech.
The government should have drawn up a policy on how
to revise the existing bankruptcy act as many companies
would be in dire straits in the days ahead due to the fallout.
Lehman Brothers, a major American investment bank,
had collapsed on September 15, 2007, which deepened the
then financial crisis later to a great extent.
A good number of banks also faced the same dire
consequence during the previous economic slick.
“A vested quarter comprising of some private bank
directors is ruling the roost. They have swindled money
by way of giving loans to each other through what can be
termed mutual understanding,” said Mansur, also a former
official of the International Monetary Fund.
Besides, the Banks Companies Act 1991 has allowed
four members of a family to become directors.
Banks have been become a family asset due to the
provision of the act, Mansur said.
The finance minister should have addressed the issues
to protect banks from the ongoing precarious situation, he
said, adding that the corporate tax for the banking sector
should have been reduced given the declining trend of
profitability in lenders. But the issue has not been taken
into consideration as well, Mansur added.
Salehuddin Ahmed, a former BB governor, echoed the
same, saying revising the bankruptcy act and the M&A
policy were highly important considering the economy is
wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
Stimulus packages taken both by the government and
the central bank will not be effective if the financial health
of the banks cannot be improved, he said.
“The finance minister is highly cruel to the country’s
banking sector. He has already given a set of undue facilities
to the habitual defaulters,” said Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled,
a former deputy governor of the central bank.
The government should turn against the habitual
defaulters as well in the interest of banks and the financial
sector as a whole, he added.

TREATMENT OF JUDGES
Five officials
of SC asked
to remain on
duty round
the clock
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud

Hossain has directed five
Supreme Court officials,
including its Register
General Md Ali Akbar, to
discharge duties round
the clock, in order to take
necessary measures for
Covid-19 treatment to its
judges, during the ongoing
coronavirus pandemic.
The SC administration
has issued a notification to
this effect on Wednesday,
asking the five officials to
keep their cellphones active
at all times, every day of
the week.
The other four officials
are Appellate Division’s
Registrar Badrul Alam
Bhuiyan, High Court
Division’s Registrar Golam
Rabbani, its Additional
Registrar Mohammad
Osman Haider and its
Special Officer Mohammad
Saifur Rahman.
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
INSTANT REACTION TO BUDGET
Most political parties critical
RASHIDUL HASAN
Most political parties were critical
about the proposed budget in their
initial reaction yesterday, terming
it “as usual” and expressing doubts
whether it would be possible to
achieve the targets.
BNP standing committee member
Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury
in his reaction said people’s livelihood
and humanity were totally ignored in
this budget.
He also lambasted the government
keeping scope for “whitening black
money”,saying it is an effort to
continue corruption.
Jatiya Party, the main opposition
party in parliament, in its reaction
said it might not be possible to fulfill
the target set in the proposed budget
due to the global economic turmoil
following the coronavirus outbreak.
In a press conference at his office
in the capital’s Banani, JP Chairman
and Deputy Leader of the Opposition
GM Quader, however, said, the
government has tried to give a public
welfare-oriented budget.
“It is necessary to ensure that the
allocation is spent properly for the
welfare of people, by preventing
corruption and waste. Only then the
budget will be welfare-oriented,” the
JP chairman said.
Rashed Khan Menon, president of
Workers Party of Bangladesh and a top
leader of the AL-led 14-party alliance
said the finance minister’s budget
proposal is still growth-based.
“It’s not right to give priority to
growth before people’s lives,” he said.
“One must think how realistic it
was to set the target of GDP growth
at 8.2 percent in a Covid-19 affected
country amid the global economic
condition,” Menon said at a press
release.
He said reforms in the banking
sector, and pension scheme for
all -- which was promised by the
government -- remained absent in the
budget proposal.
He also expressed surprise at the
government not imposing tax on
wealth and profit. “How much relief
will we provide to the rich section of
people?” he questioned.
Gonoforum General Secretary Reza
Kibria in his reaction said the proposed
budget represents an unimaginative
response to an economic crisis, that
called for boldness and creativity. It
is an example of poorly-conceived
budgeting based on delusional
growth, revenue and financing
projections.
CITY 7
Restoring confidence will be one
of the most difficult challenges facing
those managing the economy, he said.
“The budgeted deficit of 190
thousand crores (6 percent of GDP)
is in itself not exceptionally high
under the circumstances and in
reference to comparable countries. If
the money could be spent in a cost-
effective manner with low levels of
misappropriation and waste, even a
higher deficit level would have been
acceptable,” he said.
“The problem is that at least one-
fifth, a conservative estimate, of
budget outlays in Bangladesh are lost
through corruption.”
He also said improving financial
governance and tackling corruption
are given lip-service in the budget
statement, but “people of Bangladesh
know whether such statements
from this government can be taken
seriously.”
Communist Party of Bangladesh
in its reaction said this budget is as
usual, and against the interest of 99
percent people.
Bangladesh National Awami Party
(NAP) in its reaction said people
will not get benefit of this budget With a DIY kite reel -- made out of a plastic bottle and a stick -- between his legs, a boy stands atop a concrete road
if the government fails to prevent divider block with his eyes fixed on the kite in the sky as he pulls the string, oblivious to the traffic moving past him.
corruption. This photo was taken in front of Bashuundhara City in the capital on Wednesday. PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

Salman Khan new COVID-19 PANDEMIC

brand ambassador The unseen plight of special-needs children
for Pepsi Bangladesh MD SHAHNAWAZ KHAN CHANDAN
Rozina Akhter, an 11-year-old child
“In April, Rozina hurt herself
twice by thumping on the wall
and by banging her head against
than children with autism, as the
latter are more resistant to change
in lifestyle. Besides online sessions,
legs. How can she exercise here?”
Her brother, who was a sales
representative, recently lost his job.
persons with disabilities, NDD
is widespread among children in
slums and in poor neighbourhoods
CITY DESK with autism, has stayed confined the door. She did that out of anger caregivers should also arrange play “We could not pay rent for two of Dhaka. In 2019, SEID enlisted
to her home at Mirpur for the as she could not go to school and activities at home so that they months. The landlord might evict
Leading beverage brand Pepsi 235 children with disorders as
last three months and her mother play with her tutor and friends,” don’t feel a sudden, drastic change us anytime. We cannot afford
yesterday announced its beneficiaries in Mohammadpur
is still struggling to make her said Shahana, Rozina’s mother. in their daily life,” added Razzak. medicine and healthy food to
collaboration with Bollywood Bihari Camp and Kamrangirchar.
superstar Salman Khan as brand understand why school is closed. Shahana took the initiative For children with NDD from Nilima. She is becoming weak in
“My school is not closed. You Karishma Ahmed, a director of
ambassador in Bangladesh. to arrange online sessions with impoverished backgrounds, front of our eyes,” said Taslima. SEID, said, “Most of these families
“As a youth centric brand, don’t want me to go to school and Rozina’s friends with support accessing online content is The pandemic has also shattered
that’s why you’re lying,” she insists. live in extremely congested
Pepsi has always had its finger from their parents, who were also difficult, as is arranging games and the dream of Sanzid, an autistic environments. Social distancing,
on the pulse of changing times Hundreds of children in struggling with their children. exercises at home. youth living in Mohammadpur’s
Bangladesh are diagnosed every exercising at home, visiting
and trends, and this summer, the “Thanks to these online meetups, Nilima, another child with Bihari camp, of becoming an doctors are impossible for them.”
brand, along with Salman Khan, is year with neuro-developmental she has started to cope a lot better.” Down syndrome, lives with her earning member of his family.
disorders (NDD) such as autism, Contacted, Dr Gopen Kumer
bringing to life the one word that Sarder A Razzak, chairman brother’s family in Kamrangirchar. Sanzid was a student of SEID Kundu, deputy director of the
defines the youth of today – swag,” says a press release. Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, of Down Syndrome Society of Due to reduced metabolism rate community therapy school at
and intellectual disability, and autism cell at the health ministry,
“Swag” is at the core of Pepsi’s new “Proti-Chumuk-e- Bangladesh, said, “Children and poor muscle tone, she has to Mohammdpur, where his talent
amidst the pandemic, the need to stressed the need for inclusive
Swag”campaign, at the centre of which is Salman Khan, with NDD can benefit a lot from take regular physiotherapy and in music was discovered. He was
stay indoors has hit them hard. education to reduce vulnerability
the release said. online physiotherapy classes check up. She used to get therapy offered a job of music teacher at
Many of these children’s lives at SEID (Society for Education and the school. However, as the school of children with NDD.
The campaign launched yesterday with a TVC featuring and meetups. Through these
are centered around exercise, sessions, they become conscious Inclusion of the Disabled) Summit is closed now, Sanzid’s future has “The government has taken
the actor, which shows him in his trademark confident and
play, outdoor activities, regular of the Covid-19 virus, its risks and Community Therapy School become uncertain. steps to establish at least one
striking avatar.
Speaking about his appointment and the TVC, therapy and training. These symptoms. On the other hand, at Kamrangirchar, free of cost. “My father is very ill, but he has inclusive school in every division
Salman Khan said, “I am very happy to come on board children, particularly those from they also get to retain a semblance However, Nilima cannot access to pull a rickshaw to provide for us. and gradually in every district.
as Pepsi’s brand ambassador in Bangladesh. The people impoverished families, have not of their regular lives.” their services now. I am doing household work, but I This pandemic has proved that we
of Bangladesh have shown me tremendous love over the been able to access their regular “Children with Down syndrome Her sister-in-law Taslima said, wish I could get a job,” Sanzid said. should speed up this project and
years, and I am sure that they will continue to do so as I life, and that is taking a toll on and intellectual disabilities cope “We live in a small house. We don’t According to SEID, a establish these schools as soon as
start this new journey with Pepsi.” them and their families alike. with situations like these better have enough space to stretch our development organisation for possible,” he said.

Petition seeks
lockdown of
entire Dhaka
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
A Supreme Court lawyer
yesterday filed a writ
petition with the High
Court, seeking its directive
on the government to
immediately put entire
Dhaka city in lockdown
excluding parliament
functions and other
necessary operations for at
least two weeks, to contain
the coronavirus pandemic.
Advocate Mahbubul
Islam submitted the
petition through email,
requesting the HC to
order authorities of the
government to ensure
that city dwellers stay
at home and to provide
food and medicine to
the poor through local
representatives.
Petitioner’s lawyer
Advocate Manzill Murshid
told The Daily Star that the
Roadside vendors are slowly coming back to the streets and alleys of the capital, after months of halted business. HC may hold hearing on
Seeing this man preparing fried food in Siddik Bazar must have been a relief for many low-income people living the writ petition virtually
on Sunday.
and working nearby, for who this is the only snack they can afford. PHOTO: PRABIR DAS
Sheer disregard for public health
Anti-tobacco campaign group Progga says in
their budget reaction
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Eleven thousand crore taka in additional
revenues could have been raised from
tobacco sector if the proposed tax and price
measures from the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare were adopted, anti-tobacco
campaigning organisation Progga said in
an instant budget reaction yesterday.
“The proposed budget not only ignored
WHO’s repeated health warnings but
also showed sheer indifference to the
opportunity of generating additional
revenues and saving lives. The four-
tier pricing of cigarettes has been kept
untouched, thus continuing the option
for consumers to just switch to a cheaper
tier. This will also encourage the youth to
take up smoking,” the group said in a press
statement.
The price for 10 sticks of low-tier cigarettes
has been increased by only Tk 2, setting the
price at Tk 39, which means the hike per stick
will be only 20 paisa or 5.4 percent. Such
increase is very negligible considering the
fact that during the same time the National
Income Per Capita (Nominal) has increased
by 11.60 percent. It should be noted that 72
percent of all cigarette smokers are users of
low-tier products. The supplementary duty
on this tier has been increased to 57 percent
from 55 percent.
“If the proposed budget is adopted,
it will eventually reduce the real price
of cigarettes and encourage its use,” the
statement said.
For bidi (local tobacco product), the
increase per stick is negligible 16 paisa. For
smokeless tobacco products, the price per
10 grams of jarda has increased by Tk 10,
setting the price at Tk 40, which is indeed a
satisfactory move, added the press release.
However, the increase is only Tk 5 per
10g of gul. As a result, the use of such
products among women and the poor will
not see any major decrease.
Overall, this proposed budget will have
zero effect in generating additional revenue,
preventing premature deaths and curbing
spread of coronavirus, the statement also
said.
The 37.8 million adults who consume
tobacco and 41 million people who fall
victim to secondhand smoke will remain
in grave health risk. Above all, the sheer
disregard for public health as evident
in this proposed budget will hinder the
realisation of a tobacco-free Bangladesh by
2040, Progga said in their reaction.

Ctg-8 MP, family

members test
Covid-19 positive
STAFF CORRESPONDENT, Ctg
Moslem Uddin
Chowdhury, lawmaker
for Chattogram-8
(Boalkhali-Chandgaon)
constituency, and nine of
his family members have
tested Covid-19 positive.
Sheikh Fazle Rabbi,
civil surgeon of
Chattogram, told The Daily Star they were
diagnosed on Wednesday.
The family members went to Dhaka to
avail better treatment, according to family
and party sources. Apart from Moslem,
who is also the president of Awami League
Chattogram district (south), his wife, two
daughters, son-in-law, three grandsons and
two house helps tested positive.
Earlier on June 2, lawmaker Mostafizur
Rahman of Chattogram-16 tested positive
for Covid-19, along with a number of his
family members. The affected include the
lawmaker’s wife, three daughters, one son
in-law, grandchild, his personal secretary
and three house helps.
Continue TCB sale
at upazilas: HC
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The High Court yesterday directed the government to continue selling
essential commodities through Trading Corporation Bangladesh (TCB) to
people at upazila level, beyond the city corporations and municipality
areas, until the coronavirus pandemic ends.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan passed the order after the
government yesterday submitted a report saying that it has already started
selling TCB’s essential goods to people at upazila level in line with this
court’s June 3 directive.
Deputy Attorney General Samarendranath Biswas placed the
compliance report on behalf of the government during holding a virtual
hearing on a writ petition.
Following the same writ petition, the HC bench on June 3 had
ordered the principal secretary to the prime minister’s office, commerce
secretary and chairman of TCB to take necessary measures in the next
seven days to sell the TCB’s essential goods to people at upazila level
beyond city corporations and municipality areas during the coronavirus
pandemic.
The court also asked them to submit a report to it yesterday after
complying with the directives.
The HC bench passed the order following a writ petition filed by rights
organisation Law and Life Foundation, seeking necessary directives.
Law and Life Foundation submitted the writ petition on May 31 to the Markets and malls across the country may have opened, but most of them, like the Shah Ali Market in the
HC saying that the TCB’s daily essentials are currently sold to people in capital’s Mirpur, is almost entirely devoid of customers. While their caution is justified in avoiding public places
city corporation and municipality areas at a minimum rate while those in like this where narrow alleys make social distancing a far cry, it has left shop owners worried about making a
upazila levels are deprived of the TCB goods. living for themselves and paying their staff on time, as there are little to no sales. PHOTO: AMRAN HOSSAIN
 City
8 INTERNATIONAL DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29 , 1427 BS

‘Modern-day UN General Assembly will

lynching’
must stop
Floyd’s brother tells
US Congress
REUTERS, Washington
George Floyd’s younger
brother took his grief to the
US Congress on Wednesday
with an impassioned plea
that lawmakers not let his
brother’s death be in vain,
lamenting that he “didn’t
deserve to die over $20” in
a what he called a lynching.
The House of
Representatives Judiciary
Committee held the first
congressional hearing to
examine racial injustice
and police brutality
following George Floyd’s
May 25 death after a
Minneapolis policeman
knelt on his neck for nearly
nine minutes.
“They lynched my
brother. That was a
modern-day lynching in
broad daylight,” Philonise
Floyd, 42, of Missouri City,
Texas, near Houston, told
the committee, his voice
be virtual for the first time
This year’s UN General Assembly will be held
virtually for the first time in history because
of the coronavirus pandemic, its president
announced Wednesday. The meeting is still
scheduled for September 22-29 but will be
carried out with previously recorded speeches
by world leaders. Member states must send
the UN an embargoed speech of up to 15
minutes by their president, prime minister, or
UN ambassador at least five days before the
assembly. And a diplomat from each mission
can attend a real life session during which the
speeches will be broadcast or read aloud from
the podium of the UN assembly hall.
Mask that can kill germs!
A team of scientists at India’s School of
Biomedical Engineering under the Indian
Institute of Technology in Varanasi has
developed an anti-microbial five-layered
face mask that it claims can kills pathogenic
microorganisms. Traditional masks acts only
as a filter to stop the entry of microbes to
oral and nasal airways but does not have any
effect on the microbe which get stuck to the
mask surface. But the Indian team came up
with a solution. The first layer of the mask can
The statue of Edward Colston, a colonial-era slave trader, being retrieved from the harbour in Bristol, southwest England yesterday after it was toppled by
degrade any type of Ribonucleic acid (RNA),
anti-racism protesters last weekend; a beheaded statue of Christopher Columbus is seen in Boston, Massachusetts; and a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the next layer is anti-microbial, the third one is
the founder of the Scout movement and who supported slavery, is pictured on the promenade in Bournemouth, southern England, yesterday, after the for air filtration and the fourth and fifth layers
council said it would remove the statue. are ‘comfortable layers’ which will remain close
PHOTO: AFP
to the nose and mouth, a lead scientist of the
project said. The mask has hydrophobic surface

They have ‘blood on their hands’

breaking with emotion.
The Democratic-led
House is moving forward
with sweeping reform
legislation that could come
to a vote by July 4, while
Senate Republicans are
crafting a rival plan.
George Floyd, 46, was
unarmed when taken
into custody outside a
market where an employee
had reported that a man
matching his description
tried to pay for cigarettes
with a counterfeit bill.
“George wasn’t hurting
anyone that day. He didn’t
deserve to die over $20. I’m
asking you, is that what a
black man’s worth? $20?
This is 2020. Enough is
enough,” his brother said.
“It is on you to make sure
his death is not in vain.”
“I’m here to ask you
to make it stop. Stop the
pain,” Philonise Floyd
testified. “George called for
help and he was ignored.
Please listen to the call I’m
making to you now, to the
calls of our family and the
calls ringing on the streets
of all the world.”
Colonizers’, slavers’ statues toppled, vandalised in US, UK amid anti-racism protests
AGENCIES
Statues of Christopher Columbus from Boston to Miami
have been beheaded and vandalized as calls to remove
sculptures commemorating colonizers and slavers sweep
America on the back of anti-racism protests sparked by
the death of George Floyd.
Italian explorer Columbus, long hailed by school
textbooks as the so-called discoverer of “The New
World,” is considered by many to have spurred years of
genocide against indigenous groups.
A statue of the navigator standing on a prominent
plinth in central Boston was beheaded overnight, police
said Wednesday.
Almost 2,400 kilometers away in Florida, another
memorial at a waterfront park in downtown Miami was
defaced, with red paint sprayed on its hands alongside
messages that read “Our streets,” “Black Lives Matter”
and “George Floyd”.
“That man literally has blood on his hands. Us
putting the fist on his chest and the blood on his hands
is symbolic,” one protester told the Miami Herald.
And in Minnesota -- where Floyd died in police
custody on May 25 -- protesters on Wednesday tied
ropes around the neck of a Columbus statue outside the
state Capitol and hauled it down to cheers and applause,
images from CBS affiliate WCCO showed.
Earlier in the week in Virginia, demonstrators used
ropes to pull down the eight-foot (2.44-meter) statue
Columbus statues vandalized from
Boston to Miami
Statue of scout founder Baden-
Powell to be taken down in Britain
Trump nixes idea of renaming
US bases honoring Confederate
heroes
Australian PM calls for racism
protesters to be charged
and then dumped it in a nearby lake, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch said.
The wave of attacks comes as pressure builds in the
United States to rid the country of monuments associated
with racism following massive demonstrations over the
killing of Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis
last month.
Statues of Columbus -- regularly denounced in a
similar way to Civil War generals of the pro-slavery
south -- have been controversial for years in parts of the
US, and many have been vandalized in the past.
A jogger running past the fallen Boston statue
Wednesday said she approved of the decapitation.
“Just like black people in this country, indigenous
people have also been wronged. I think this movement
on the outer layer to deflect water droplets
containing the viruses, he added.
Scientists unlock secret
to the perfect cuddle
is pretty powerful and this is very symbolic,” she said.
Dozens of American cities have over the years
replaced “Columbus Day” in October -- which
became a federal holiday in 1937 -- with a day of
tribute to indigenous peoples.
The attacks on Columbus and Confederate
memorials follow a similar incident in Bristol,
England, on Sunday when demonstrators toppled a
statue of a 17th Century slave trader Edward Colston
and dumped it in a harbor during anti-racism In this era of social distancing and depressing
news, we could all do with a good hug.
protests.
Yesterday, a local authority in southern England Now scientists have analysed what makes
the perfect cuddle -- just don’t squeeze too
said it would remove a statue of Robert Baden-Powell,
founder of the worldwide scouting movement.
tight. A team from Japan’s Toho University
measured the calming effect on infants of
Baden-Powell is widely hailed for setting up the
hugs of different pressures, and when given by
scout movement which boasts 54 million members
strangers compared to from parents. According
worldwide. In a poll in 2007, he was voted the 13th
most influential person in the United Kingdom in the
to the results, published in the journal Cell,
babies were soothed more by a medium-
20th century. But critics say he held racist views and
pressure hug than just being held but the
was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and fascism.
calming effect decreased during a “tight” hug.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said
The researchers kept the length of the hug to
Wednesday that US military bases honoring Civil War
20 seconds. Unsurprisingly perhaps, for infants
Confederate leaders will not be renamed, pushing older than 125 days, the calming effect was
back on pressure to rid public places of monuments greater when receiving a hug from a parent
glorifying the once pro-slavery South. than from a female stranger. So, the perfect
Ten bases honoring generals from the secessionist hug is considered to be medium pressure from
South, which lost the Civil War and its struggle to a parent, the scientists believe.
preserve slavery, are in the spotlight.
SOURCE: AFP, STAR REPORT

Man makes India denies visas

FROM PAGE 16
Since then, he continued posting
credible articles on the Facebook page.
In a report published on Monday,
The Straits Times lauded Shipon’s
inspiring act.
Shipon is one of the several migrant
workers who have managed to help
his fellows virtually, at a time when
their movement has been restricted
to limit virus transmission, the report
read.
A father of two, Shipon went to
Singapore after his honours final-year
exams under the National University
in 2009.
He said at his workplace, migrant
workers like him get lunch breaks for
an hour.
“At that time when everyone takes
rest, I spend time sorting out main
news articles which I could post on
my page. After the day’s work, I start
translating those from 7:00pm to
10:00pm,” he added.
Shipon said sometimes he also
posts his own articles and awareness
video messages.
He said after the “second wave” of
coronavirus outbreak hit Singapore
in late March, he and many other
migrants, who are involved in
essential services, were shifted to the
government-arranged accommodation
from their dormitories.
As a safety coordinator, Shipon has
to deal with many workers each day,
which gives him the opportunity to
know their sufferings.
This prompted him to create the
Facebook page. He has been running
the page for the last five to six years.
Initially, he would share and post
articles that he thought might inspire
migrants.
Shipon said as the page got several
thousand followers, he started
posting articles on migrant workers’
successes.
He ended up posting over 140
such articles, many published on
national dailies in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, The Straits Times
report also has an interview of
another Bangladeshi, Fazley Elahi
Rubel, 30, who has been in Singapore
for 11 years.
According to the report, Rubel
started the annual “Migrant Cultural
Show” in 2018 in Singapore, bringing
together migrant workers from India,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the
Philippines.
This year, he will organise the
show virtually on June 21 due to the
coronavirus pandemic, it said.
to US panel on
religious freedom
AGENCIES
India has turned
down a travel
request for
members of a
US government
panel seeking
to review
its religious
Jaishankar
freedom, saying foreign agencies
had no standing to assess the
constitutional rights of citizens.
The visa snub to the US
Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
on Wednesday came as the US
Congress released its own religious
freedom report while a top Trump
administration official said he was
“very concerned” about the South
Asian country’s situation.
India’s Foreign Minister
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said
the government firmly repudiated
the surveys of the USCIRF, which
had little knowledge of the rights
of Indian citizens, describing it as
biased and prejudiced.
‘Don’t call me Kalar’
BLM-inspired message reaches Myanmar
AFP, Yangon
Myanmar activists inspired
by the Black Lives Matter
movement have launched their
own anti-racism campaign in a
country where many Muslims
and people of Indian heritage
are made to feel like outsiders.
Buddhist-majority
Myanmar officially boasts
a patchwork of 135 ethnic
groups, but many have felt subjugated by
the dominant Bamar.
The “Don’t Call Me Kalar” campaign
launched on Facebook aims to stymie the
use of a term that historically refers to
people from the Indian subcontinent, but
today is often intended as a slur.
It has helped whip-up hatred against
the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim
minority barred from citizenship and
forced out in droves by the military.
But the term is also employed
against supposedly accepted minorities,
particularly those with darker skin.
Zay Linn Mon and his friends started
the campaign on Facebook after seeing
the Black Lives Matter protests reverberate
globally following the killing of an
unarmed black man in the US.
The 24-year-old turban-
wearing Sikh describes how Malaysia pulls out
online trolls have used the
word -- synonymous with
of hajj pilgrimage
“interlopers” or “invaders” AFP, Kuala Lumpur
-- against him, saying he does
not belong in Myanmar. Malaysia yesterday pulled
“The problem is privileged out of the annual Islamic
pilgrimage to Makkah over
people don’t see this as an
issue,” he explains, adding coronavirus fears days after
that parents often threaten neighbouring Indonesia,
misbehaving children saying that “big the world’s biggest
kalar” will come for them. Muslim-majority nation,
Some supporters have posted “I don’t also withdrew. Millions
call someone Kalar” across their profile travel from around the
pictures. world to Saudi Arabia
The campaign has also attracted a every year to perform the
wave of largely indignant reaction, with hajj, a ritual that every
thousands of comments, many laden with Muslim must do once in
obscenities against the activists. their lives if able. Saudi
“What should we call the Kalar if we Arabia is yet to announce
don’t use the word Kalar?” challenged Nay a decision on whether the
Lin, while another Facebook user asked if pilgrimage will be held
they want “what is happening in the US” to this year.
happen in Myanmar.
Activist Zay Linn Mon knows the word
OIC slams Israeli on
will not disappear overnight, but says the annexation plan
awareness campaign is a start.
AFP, Riyadh
“When we say we don’t like it, respect
that and don’t use it.” Israel’s plans to annex
parts of the occupied West
Bank mark a “serious

Extraordinary times
FROM PAGE 2
effectiveness of various useful policy
initiatives of the government.
The convention of preparing
government’s income-expenditure
balance based on numbers provided by
the Revised Budget has given us a set
of inflated benchmarks (2019-20) and
unreal target figures for 2020-21. This
particularly true for the revenue collection
amount which has to be one and a half
times more than the actual collection in
2019-20. This suggests that the revealed
budget deficit may very well be much
more than the projected 6 percent of the
GDP, if the full public expenditure outlay
has to hold.
The proposed sources of financing of
the fiscal deficit is also worrying. About
45 per cent of this deficit will be financed
through borrowing from a fragile banking
sector and may crowd out the ailing
private sector.
The budget needs to be read along with
the (incomplete) closing assessment of the
Seventh Five Year Plan (2015-20), which
shows that tax-GDP ratio is stuck at 2010
level and the public expenditure ratio
has improved marginally. But the most
miserable situation had been in the area of
private investment.
The issue of private investment
becomes quite vexing when we note that
the medium-term macro-framework
mentions that the estimated share of
domestic private investment in GDP in the
outgoing year is only 12.7 per cent, which
will be more than double (25.3 per cent of
GDP) in 2020-21! One wonders whether
there is an estimation error or this exposes
the dire state of private investment. Same
concern may be raised regarding the GDP
growth projection of 8.2 per cent for the
next year.
The pandemic related measures
mentioned in the budget speech are
essentially an extension of the already
existing schemes of the government and
have locked-in the stimulus packages
announced earlier. Given the existing
rigidities in revenue and development
expenditure structures, the allocative
priorities changed only at the margin. The
reform measures reiterated are run of the
mill.
I am afraid that the budget has shied
away from doing a hard introspection and
scoping of the evolving landscape. This
has deprived it from identifying innovative
sources of finance, imaginative spending
programme and taking a “whole of society”
approach in dealing with the scourge of
COVID19. Regrettably, it ended up being
an ordinary budget in an extraordinary
time.
Some are more equal to govt
FROM PAGE 2
Kamal deserved big kudos for
protecting public employees
financially four months into the crisis.
Proper medicare is understood to be
off the list under this circumstance
and with this sorry health system; but
he certainly did more than he could
have to ensure financial security for
14 lakh government employees (Tk
5,125cr in salaries and benefits a
month) and over 6,5 lakh pensioners
(Tk 1,917cr a month).
No austerity was called into
practice. Rather, he was found to be
ever obliging to the government’s
additional financial response to
contagion compensation for public
employees: up to Tk 50 lakh for death
and up to Tk 10 lakh for infection.
The police, the other frontline heroes
beside medicare staff in our fight
against the contagion, would get an
additional compensation up to Tk 15
lakh from the fund of IGP (Inspector
General of Police).
We all are grateful to the services of
our frontline warriors-- the doctors,
nurses and police; and the highest
possible compensation is what a good
government must make available
to them. Our government is doing
it, but only for those who serve the
government.
25 doctors are among over 1,000
dead in coronavirus disease so far. Of
the 25, eight doctors got themselves
infected and met the death while
treating patients at private hospitals.
Yet, they weren’t considered for
compensation, just because they
served the people from the other side
of the line of divide.
There are another group of
front-liners who remained in the
background of all the news they
generated for the nation, exposing
themselves daily to pandemic
risks. They kept the people and the
government informed, but went on
to leave their families in an uncertain
future. Seven journalists, four due to
coronavirus disease and three with
symptoms, died so far and 281 ended
up with infection. No government
compensation reached their families;
and payment of overdue salaries
wasn’t made by some of their
employers even after their deaths.
Some respite, however, came from an
unexpected source, with the chief of
police offering Tk one lakh for each
of the families from his personal fund.
The economy is reeling from the
shockwaves of the pandemic, which
is going to change the landscape of
businesses and job opportunities
for good. How the businesses would
restart and recover from the loss is a
billion-dollar question. So, bonus-
cut, salary-cut, privilege-cut and job-
cut are expected to be the Issues in
Bangladesh, at least for a year or two.
But the worries and uncertainties
to grapple with are only for the 75
lakh people who are serving on the
other side of the divide, in the private
sector. It should have been a huge
obligation for the government, the
finance minister to be precise, to take
extra care of the 22 lakh tax-payers, of
whom 86 percent is from the private
sector.
Isn’t it very unfair of the government
to shield the financial security of only
the public employees, of whom only
3 lakh are tax-payers. But those who
pay tax, working in the private sector
or running private businesses, are left
in a quagmire. They’re the ones who
would face the job-cut, salary-cut or
go out of the businesses.
No clear outline could be made
of the budget speech and documents
about Kamal’s tab on the employment
protection or creation, incentive or
support for private sector employers
to retain jobs and unemployment
benefits. Would not these tax-payers
get any COVID-19 respite from the
government? If the tax-payers don’t get
protection in their crisis, why would
they pay the tax at the first place?
A crisis like this demanded an
out-of-the-box, holistic policy from
Kamal. And, it wasn’t delivered, at
least not yet.
escalation” that threatens
the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process, the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation has
said. Following a virtual
meeting of OIC foreign
ministers, the pan-Islamic
body said it “warns against
the dangerous intention
of Israel”. Israel intends
to annex West Bank
settlements and the Jordan
Valley, as proposed by US
President Donald Trump,
with initial steps slated to
begin from July 1.
Turkey snubs Egypt’s
Libya peace initiative
AFP, Istanbul
Turkey yesterday rejected
an Egyptian peace
initiative in Libya after a
series of military victories
by forces loyal to Tripoli
against strongman Khalifa
Haftar and said it favoured
a binding ceasefire under
UN auspices. Egypt and
United Arab Emirates
support Haftar against
the UN-recognised
Government of National
Accord (GNA) which is
backed by Turkey.
 DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
staryouth@thedailystar.net 9

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DEADLINE: July 9, 2020 | Scholarships

180 students attend the Alokito Hridoy School in Tangail. PHOTOS: COURTESY

SUMAIYA KABIR
Alokito Hridoy Foundation (AHF), has
been working towards making Bangladesh’s
current education system more holistic,
through a model where children learn by
playing, problem solving and inquiring.
As of today, when the world is faced with a
pandemic, their research and efforts over the
years prove timely and highly relevant.
Following the inception of Alokito
Hridoy School in Tangail in 2016, 180 chil-
dren from pre-primary to the sixth grade are
receiving the kind of education that helps
them grow more social, moral, emotional
and cognitive skills, and makes them adap-
tive and innovative problem solvers. It not
only carries a supportive learning environ-
ment but also a design-thinking approach
to understand the real impact of education.
AHF’s aim is to extend this model from
their own school and government primary
schools to eventually all other mediums,
and fuel change at a systemic level.
In attempting to reinvent the education
system of Bangladesh, AHF recognises that
it is crucial for educators to be empowered
as well. “Every teacher has some unique
techniques they apply in their classroom.
I feel that the magic they work there is not
highlighted enough,” says Founder and
Chairperson Azwa Nayeem. “Our aim is to
develop the teachers as catalysts of change,
and teaching to be the most sought after
and respected profession.”
In line with that thought, AHF recently
launched the ‘Alokito Teachers’ web plat-
form, where these teachers from different
parts of Bangladesh can stay connected to
Founder and Chairperson Azwa Nayeem (5-L) with the teachers of the Alokito Hridoy
School
each other through learning and sharing
resources online, from home. Soon, it will
also include the option to explore job and
other growth opportunities.
The foundation recently announced
an idea challenge, sponsored by Daraz, to
inspire teachers to think creatively and con-
tribute towards minimising the challenges
rising from the education disruption we are
currently facing. It is a great opportunity for
the teachers to assume the role of leadership
in these unprecedented times. Any teach-
er may apply, and will be judged on how
much their idea ensures equity, and whether
it is applicable in all schools and inclusive
of all types of students or not. The winner
will be awarded with a gift voucher worth
BDT 20,000
AHF has also been closely working
with the ICT Ministry and their Access to
Information division team to create a digital
education platform that redirects to the
foundation’s website as well as that of 35
other esteemed organisations. Subsequent-
ly, it acts as a repository for all academic
resources. It hosts quizzes and lessons
through video content and e-workbooks.
This way, everyone involved can have an
inclusive learning and self-assessment expe-
rience. The core philosophy behind many
of their projects is that the quality education
they are trying to provide should include an
active partnership with the children’s par-
ents as well. “We want to ensure that both
the parents and their kids know about the
impacts of this virus right now so that they
can be aware, but do not have to panic,”
says Azwa.
Since March 28, 2020, teachers and
parents of the Alokito Hridoy School have
been connecting over live sessions online,
addressing issues that are emerging in the
current crisis, such as kids being difficult
to discipline during the lengthy period of
self-isolation, and their lack of focus during
World Bank Young
online classes. The discussions that have
taken place so far include parenting during
the pandemic, interactive online classes,
Professionals Program
social-emotional learning, and anxiety and
stress management for students, teachers
2021
and parents alike. The program is designed for highly qualified and
Majority of the students of the institu- motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to WBG
tion come from families of factory workers, technical/operations such as economics, finance,
who either are suffering from health risks education, public health, social sciences, engineering,
or damaged livelihoods due to the corona- urban planning, agriculture, natural resources to name
virus outbreak. AHF has stood beside these a few.
families not only academically, but also DEADLINE: June 30, 2020 | Miscellaneous
emotionally and financially. The foundation
initiated a virtual discussion series as well,
on reimagining education with COVID-19
and beyond. In the series, policymakers and
education experts come together online to
2020 Money Trail Grants
explore what challenges the aftermath of the
pandemic will bring, and their innovative for African, Asian and
solutions.
“We want to stir up the right conversa-
tions about all the issues that need to be
European Journalists
addressed, starting from the bottom to the In Money Trail, Journalismfund.eu offers working
top of the system, as everyone is in a very grants for mixed teams of African, Asian, and European
receptive mood right now. Everyone wants journalists to investigate cross-border illicit financial
to do something, and there is no better time flows, tax abuse, and corruption in Africa, Asia, and
than now to redefine our education system,” Europe. 
concludes Azwa. DEADLINE: September 14, 2020 | Grants

SPREADING JOY AMONGST

STREET CHILDREN
MAISHA ISLAM MONAMEE
Jhilimili is a social welfare organisation, formed
by some students from Institute of Business Ad-
ministration (IBA), University of Dhaka (DU),
that aims to support street children in different
ways. Founded in 2015, the organisation initial-
ly intended to help two children, who dropped
out of school and roamed around DU. The
founders, who were final-year students from
IBA at the time, soon realised that many other
children who roamed around the campus had
no access to formal education. Subsequently,
they started conducting classes for these chil-
dren regularly.
Over the years, the legacy of the original
founders was continued by other students from
IBA. However, since the children all had differ-
ent levels of knowledge and schedules, it soon
became challenging for the team to conduct the
classes in a structured way. Subsequently, they PHOTO: COURTESY
changed their mission to spreading joy amongst
the children. “Through Jhilimili, we hope to Jhilimili volunteers at their International Mother Language Day celebrations with the kids.
ease the daily struggles of these kids and make feedback, good publicity and greater funds, we pandemic. Through ‘Ashun, Ebar Ghure Darai
their childhoods a little happier. We bake cakes will make it an annual publication,” said Asif Ekshathe: Make the Comeback Easier’, they
for them, apply henna on their hands and Mahmud, Publication Secretary, Jhilimili. are collecting funds to provide groceries to
give them Eid gifts every year,” said Shabnam “We always try to communicate with the families in need and help them bear school
Sharmin Swarnali, the president of the organi- kids. We often play badminton with them, expenses, once things around us get better.
sation. tell them short stories and draw pictures with Their distribution project focuses on Kam-
The organisation also works to highlight them,” explained Shejuti Sharmin, Treasurer, rangir Char, as a large part of the destitute
the life stories of these children through their Jhilimili. Families of these kids reach out to children around DU live in that region. They
activism. In 2018, the team arranged an art the team whenever they need any sort of help. aim to collect BDT 60,000 for 40 families by
exhibition at EMK Centre, where drawings “Once, we came across two sisters who were this month. 
by the children were sold to raise funds. The searching for extra sources of income, as their For the campaign, the organisation asked
drawings showcased the children’s dreams, as educational fees had increased substantially. We people to make short videos, answering the
portrayed by them. The money collected from provided them with a sewing machine,” added question, ‘What influenced you the most as a
the exhibition was provided to the families of Shejuti. The organisation also tries to help the child?’ and post it on social media, following
the children, with a request to spend it behind children’s families with medical support, when their guidelines. Individuals from different
their education. Last year, the organisation host- necessary. backgrounds are participating in the cam-
ed the programme, ‘Jhilimili Eid Happiness’ to This year, they invited the children to accom- paign, by discussing recent events, and how
provide new clothes, food and stationeries to pany them to the Central Shaheed Minar on the pandemic is affecting the education sector.
over hundred children.  International Mother Language Day. This was The participants recited poems, sang songs,
Most children that Jhilimili is connected done to instill a sense of patriotism amongst painted pictures and shared their childhood
with have faced abuse. Bearing that in mind, the the children, while educating them about the stories and work experiences in the videos.
team intends to conduct partnered sessions to struggles that led to Bangladesh’s independence. Jhilimili has also started an auction, featuring
teach the kids about various forms of abuse and The team arranged an art competition to cele- paintings by the kids.
violence. They also plan to publish a magazine, brate the day and had lunch with the kids. With the aim of helping children with dis-
featuring rhymes, artworks and stories written Currently, Jhilimili is conducting a cam- advantaged backgrounds prosper, the organi-
by these children and the team members. “If paign to help marginalised communities that sation marches on with their selfless members
the magazine manages to generate positive have been harshly affected by the coronavirus and volunteers.
10
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
Budget 20-21 may
not take us out of
the woods
Allocations do not match the
need by some margin
T
HE finance minister on Thursday presented the 49th
annual budget of Tk 5,68,000 crore, up by a slight
8.6 percent from the previous budget of Tk 5,23,190
crore. These are our initial reactions to it and more detailed
analysis will follow.
Amidst an unprecedented global pandemic, it is
unsurprising to see only a mild increase in the size of the
budget, as concerns over government revenue continue to
linger. The revenue collection target for the coming fiscal
year has been set at Tk 3,78,000 crore, which is nearly the
same as last year’s target of Tk 3,77,810 crore. The National
Board of Revenue (NBR) has been tasked to collect Tk
3,30,000 crore of the amount, leaving the non-NBR revenue
collection target at Tk 15,000 crore and non-tax revenue
collection target at Tk 33,000 crore.
The NBR will have its work cut out to reach this target,
especially since the tax-free income limit has been increased
to Tk 3,00,000 from Tk 2,50,000 in the new budget,
which we wholeheartedly welcome. The budget further
proposes reducing the minimum tax rate from 10 percent
to 5 percent, and we again agree with this. However, the
proposal to bring down the maximum tax rate from
30 percent to 25 percent is something that we find
questionable, especially given the tremendous suffering the
poor have been enduring during the coronavirus-induced
lockdown, which has already increased inequality.
It is particularly due to this reason that we were expecting
to see a substantial increase in the allocation for social
safety net programmes, which has been set at Tk 95,574
crore—up from Tk 81,865 crore last year. Despite the fact
that this amounts to 3.01 percent of GDP, if civil pension is
excluded from the social safety net, then it would be around
1.5-1.6 percent of total GDP—which is extremely low.
Allocation for education too has remained subpar.
Despite education being dealt a major setback in recent
months, the government has kept the allocation to
this sector almost unchanged in terms of the size and
percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—at 2.09
percent of GDP—whereas UNESCO suggests it should be
6 percent.
It has been proposed that the health allocation be
increased from Tk 25,732 crore in the last fiscal year to
Tk 29,247 crore in the new budget. A lump sum of Tk
10,000 crore has also been proposed to fulfil emergency
requirements in response to the ongoing Covid-19
outbreak. However, having witnessed the appalling
shortcomings of the sector in the face of this crisis,
we cannot help but feel that this increase is woefully
inadequate. Our healthcare sector has proven itself to be in
a shambles, and the only way to improve it by a degree that
will make some difference is through massive government
investment.
We call on the government to urgently recognise this,
and to ensure that the quality of the expenditure in the
healthcare sector in particular, but in other sectors too, is
bumped up, as one of the biggest challenges we have right
now with all the constraints we face is to get good value for
money—something we have historically been bad at doing.
Budget allocations this year have to be more precise and
there is even less room for wastage and mistakes when it
comes to formulating the new budget, as we struggle to
recover from this crisis. Among other matters, it is in this
regard that the proposed budget falls most short.
Ensure oxygen supply
equipment in all
district hospitals
Immediately arrange for ICU beds
I
T is most unfortunate that three months into the
Covid-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, our district hospitals
could not yet take the required preparations to provide
treatment to Covid-19 patients. The hospitals are not
equipped to treat those in critical condition with breathing
difficulties—they have neither any oxygen supply system
nor ventilators, as a recent study by the DGHS found. While
most of the hospitals have oxygen cylinders, they lack the
vital equipment needed to ensure the supply of oxygen.
Moreover, 47 out of the 64 districts do not have ICU
facilities, according to a health ministry database.
In the absence of ICU and oxygen supply facilities in the
district hospitals, critically ill Covid-19 patients now have
to travel to the divisional headquarters to get treatment,
where the number of ICU beds is also limited. According
to DGHS, there are only 329 ICU beds dedicated to
coronavirus patients across the country, and 148 of them
are in Dhaka city.
Inadequate testing facilities are also another major
concern and have made it difficult to prevent the spread of
infection and challenged the success of lockdowns. In this
bleak scenario, there are examples of innovative initiatives
to tackle the pandemic. One such initiative has been taken
by the Kalihati upazila administration, Tangail. According
to a report published by The Daily Star yesterday, the
upazila administration has invested in a specialised vehicle
that is well-equipped to collect Covid-19 test samples and is
now going to the doorsteps of possible patients. Operating
under the upazila health complex, the vehicle can collect 50
samples every day.
We think this brilliant initiative should be emulated by
other upazlia administrations across the country, which
will not only relieve possible Covid-19 patients of the
struggle to get tested, but also will help reduce the risk of
further spreading the transmission. This should also be a
lesson for us that in such trying times, we cannot just wait
for the government’s intervention to provide us with all
the facilities we need. We also need to come forward, each
from our own position, with our own resources, to find
innovative solutions during a crisis.
The spread of Covid-19 across the country has exposed
the grim picture of our healthcare system. The lack of
preparation of the district and upazila level hospitals
to fight the pandemic is very worrying. While we would
request the health ministry and the DGHS to immediately
provide all the district hospitals with the life-saving
equipment such as ventilators and oxygen supply system,
we would also request the hospital management to be
proactive and play their part in getting their facilities ready
for Covid-19 patients. Only through our combined efforts
do we stand a chance to overcome this crisis.
‘I can’t breathe’: Curbing
police brutality
T
HE brutal
killing of
George Floyd
in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, where
a policeman placed
a knee on his neck
for 8 minutes
SYED SAAD
and 46 seconds,
has been viewed
ANDALEEB
globally in horror
as his life flowed
out in pain and agony. George called for his
mother and implored, “I can’t breathe,” but
there was no let-up. Shameful? The word
does not carry the weight for what was on
public display that day. But what word
would? Cruelty, ruthlessness, inhumanity,
malice, mercilessness, heartlessness?
Bystanders watched, some fervently
appealed to the policeman to let go, and
luckily, someone videotaped the episode
(otherwise the world would not know,
and George’s departure from a violent and
hateful world would go unnoticed as in
many previous cases).
Since the episode, a revolt was born
out of revulsion. A global resolve is now
taking shape to bring a stop to this kind
of atrocity. Millions (especially in the
developed world)—black, white, brown,
and all shades—marched in unison as their
numbers swelled. It must have crossed a
zillion minds that unless police brutality
is rooted out, it could come back to haunt
them personally.
To be sure, the violence committed was
not an isolated act. Just Google “police
brutality” or search YouTube across the
world—South East Asia, Middle East,
Africa, South America, Europe—and
you’ll see for yourself. Examples are not
Change will come
when everyone, across
the world, joins a
movement of this
magnitude to demand
change. A big part of
the desired change
must also come from
within the police force
and the nexus that
allows police brutality
to run unchecked.
Covid-19, cheaper labour and the
endless miseries of our children
C
HILDREN
A CLOSER are our
LOOK most
precious assets—
for some, in a
very literal sense.
For money, for
sustenance, for
survival, many
TASNEEM TAYEB parents unable to
bear poverty end
up pushing their precious little ones into
the wide open in search of subsistence.
Children as young as three-four end up in
the informal sector, doing menial jobs, for
a tiny sum of money.
According to The Alliance for Child
Protection in Humanitarian Action
(“The Alliance”)—a global network
of operational agencies, academic
institutions, policymakers, donors
and practitioners that facilitates inter-
agency technical collaboration on
child protection in all humanitarian
contexts—152 million children
worldwide are involved in child labour
and nearly half of them, around 73
million, are engaged in hazardous jobs.
Covid-19 is only going to exacerbate the
problem. A blog posted by Unicef suggests
that, “As global poverty rises, so too will
the prevalence of child labour. Increased
parental mortality due to Covid-19 will
force children into child labour, including
the worst forms such as work that
harms the health and safety of children.
Temporary school closures may have
permanent implications for the poorest
and most vulnerable. Limited budgets
and reductions in services for families and
children will compound the effects of the
health, economic, and social crisis.”
Even in case of a short-lived economic
crisis, “the consequences of this increase
in child labour can last generations.
We know that children who enter child
labour are unlikely to stop working
if their economic situation improves.
Instead, they will continue to experience
the consequences of child labour—
like less education overall and worse
employment opportunities—when they
are adults and start families of their own.
We also know that the younger children
are when they start working, the more
likely they will experience chronic health
issues as adults. Moreover, we have
ample evidence that stress and trauma in
EDITORIAL
necessary: there are far too many to select
from. North America’s guilt is also in plain
view; one is reminded of their oppression
since the days of slavery when public
lynching was attended in droves. In South
Asia, terms like “crossfire” have emerged to
evade accountability.
What gives policemen this sense of
entitlement to harm a human being with
such savagery and inhumanity? Something
is wrong with the incentive structure.
Networked with prosecutors, judges,
The pressure to change brutal police tactics must
be sustained across the capitals of the world.
reporters, coroners, medical personnel, and
relevant others, they must feel protected for
their wrongdoings and emboldened that
they can do no wrong. How else can they
display such impunity to “publicly” execute
someone? The audacity of power, protected
by a network of shameless collaborators,
makes such heinous acts possible.
However, painting all policemen as
wicked would be inconsiderate and
utterly out of place. If that were the case,
we would be living in a reign of terror of
unfathomable magnitude. Respect must
be given where it is due for those who take
their job seriously and protect society from
its other deep and diverse evils.
So, where do we go from here? Two
things are imperative: We must use (new)
laws and we must change the incentive
structures. The task ahead is indeed a
daunting one but it needs to begin.
Several laws must be considered with
utmost seriousness, for all nations of the
WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
adolescence lead to a lifetime of mental
health challenges,” the blog further
suggests.
While the possibility of a meteoric
rise in forced child labour is a concern
for the world community, for countries
like Bangladesh—where, according to
the UK-based Institute of Development
Studies (IDS), around 87 percent of the
population are involved in the informal
economy and around 1.2 million children
are already involved in the “worst forms
of child labour”—the challenges ahead
are manifold.
The Child Domestic Workers (CDW)
remain a major problem of the informal
employment sector. From toddlers to
juveniles, girls and boys of all ages are
A 12-year-old boy and his four-month-old brother sleep on the central reservation of
a street near Kamalapur Internal Container Depot in Dhaka. Their speech-impaired
mother left them there to look for food amid the Covid-19 lockdown, sometime in
March 2020.
employed in various households across the
country as domestic workers. And these
children are subjected to all forms of abuse
and exploitation, from meagre wages and
inhumane living conditions to sexual
assault by employers and battery, leading
to death in some cases. These are some of
the myriad problems facing these children.
Despite the government having formed
the Domestic Workers Protection and
Welfare Policy (DWPWP) 2015 and
world to adopt:
These should: 1) Protect the sanctity of
life (no violent action without exhausting
all other means) and limit the use of
weapons or force that can be physically
damaging, unless used in self-defence;
2) Stop all humiliating practices that can
be emotionally damaging (chokeholds,
grabbing by the hair or neck, making one
kneel, placing foot/knee on the neck,
etc.). Instead, effort must be devoted to
de-escalation tactics; 3) If both hands are
SOURCE:
REUTERS FILE PHOTO
raised, all subduing instruments must be
lowered; 4) Evidence-gathering instruments
must be used during a police engagement.
Body cameras or similar (locally
engineered) devices are recommended,
otherwise there is only one version of
the truth; 5) Duty to intervene (on-duty
policemen must be able to stop others in
the team from using excessive force); 6)
Require comprehensive reporting within
a few hours of the incident when force is
used against someone. This is to diminish
and eradicate report doctoring/tampering;
and 7) Require proper selection, training,
motivating, and evaluation of the police
force entrusted with the mission to protect
the public.
The incentive structures must also
be changed and consider: 1) Placing
names of errant policemen in a national
(computerised) registry to restrict their
access to jobs and other facilities if
removed from the force for egregious
amended the Labour Act 2013, the miseries
of Child Domestic Workers remain
unaddressed. The policymakers’ inability
to align the discrepancy of the age bar for
employability of these little workers in the
DWPWP and the Labour Act—according
to DWPWP, the minimum age is set at 12,
whereas as per Labour Act, the minimum
age is 14—is a manifestation of their
apathy towards this situation.
Then, there are boys and girls who
work in various other segments of
the informal economy: in factories,
workshops, shops, tanneries and other
small jobs. These children are not only
often exposed to hazardous materials
and chemicals, but they also fail to
access basic necessities such as nutrition,
PHOTO: MAHBUBUR RAHMAN KHAN
healthcare and education. And the wages
they are paid are more often than not
meagre and insufficient. The lucky ones
can enrol for afternoon, evening or even
at times weekend classes, and end up with
a basic diploma in polytechnics or a BA
pass course, but their prospect of a better,
prosperous future remains remote.
The street children—defined by Unicef
as “any girl or boy who has not reached
adulthood, for whom the street (in the
behaviour; 2) Penalising an entire unit
(to be defined) of which the offending
policeman is a part. This should
encourage the group to restrict/moderate
the behaviour of an individual from
committing excesses; 3) Punishing not just
the policeman and the unit, but the wider
network of prosecutors, public defenders,
judges, providers of evidence, medical
personnel, reporters, etc. involved with an
egregious offense, resulting in undue harm.
A random set of such cases may be selected
for review every year by an independent
(and upright) authority; and 4) For
perpetrators, abettors, and those involved
but disengaged, levels of consequences
must be determined including suspension,
stopping pay raises, stopping promotions
for extended periods, removal from the
force, incarceration, etc.
The above set of recommendations
represent a tall order. I suggest it as a basis
for future steps towards an ideal world.
Different countries may already have some
combination of the above provisions
on their books. Whether they are being
implemented is for the public to follow up
on and affirm. Where gaps exist, they must
be addressed.
A review of bad decisions “of the past”
that exonerated the crimes of wayward
policemen will be needed periodically to
rectify their wrongdoings. It will also help
bring closure to many families suffering
incomprehensible loss and injustice in
silence.
The pressure to change brutal police
tactics must be sustained across the capitals
of the world. Those who are entrusted with
protecting life, liberty, property, speech,
and human values, and paid from the
coffers of the taxpayer, must understand
the consequences of their action.
Oppressive tactics and injustice should not
be the way of the law enforcers. The public
must feel safe in their presence and not
run the other way instinctively. Trust in the
policemen must be revived when they are
seen as friend, not foe. Periodic surveys of
public perceptions can be instrumental in
this regard.
Change will come when everyone,
across the world, joins a movement of this
magnitude to demand change. A big part
of the desired change must also come from
within the police force and the nexus that
allows police brutality to run unchecked.
Will the present upheaval bring fresh
change to police tactics globally? The world
is watching. The world is waiting.
Syed Saad Andaleeb is Distinguished Professor
Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University; former
Vice Chancellor, BRAC University; and Distinguished
Visiting Professor, IBA, University of Dhaka.
Email: ssa4@psu.edu
broadest sense of the word, including
unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.)
has become her or his habitual abode
and/or sources of livelihood, and who
is inadequately protected, supervised or
directed by responsible adults”—remain
the most vulnerable group.
These children are often involved in
rag-picking, begging and other such tasks
and miserably exploited by the people
who employ them. Those involved in rag-
picking are the most vulnerable, because
they are prone to getting infected with
various infectious and communicable
diseases, thanks to the mismanagement
of medical waste. Especially in the current
situation, these children are at greater risk
of being infected with Covid-19 because
of the way we handle medical waste,
especially outside the capital.
And with the nation’s economic
wheels slowing down due to Covid-19,
these children are at a greater risk of
exploitation by unscrupulous employers.
Increasing poverty, loss of income, lack
of jobs, and death of wage earners in
the family are rending many of these
children—born into poverty—easy prey
for employers. With the equilibrium
in the demand-supply equation of
available child labour tilting towards the
employers, it is the little children who will
be the collateral damage.
The government must take appropriate
and effective economic, social and
legal measures to protect the children
from becoming the “other victims”
of Covid-19. The government, while
expanding the social safety schemes to
cover a wider group of people, can also
expand its education programmes to
properly accommodate the street children,
giving them a better chance at life. The
policies dealing with forced child labour
should also be implemented strongly so
that unscrupulous people are not able to
exploit our children. Crafting narratives
just one day a year—on the occasion of
World Day Against Child Labour—is easy;
what’s not is the political will and its
strong demonstration to truly eliminate
this socio-economic menace.
Our children need our attention,
especially in this unprecedented juncture
of life.
Tasneem Tayeb is a columnist for The Daily Star.
Her Twitter handle is: @TayebTasneem
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
“W
HEN
STRATEGICALLY written
SPEAKING in
Chinese, the word
‘crisis’ is composed
of two characters:
one represents
danger, and the
other represents
BRIG GEN opportunity.” I had
SHAHEDUL ANAM KHAN no doubt that the
NDC,PSC (RETD)
Chinese were people
with an abundance of
wisdom stemming from, and culled out of, the
tradition of more than 5,000 years of civilised
existence, but it is only a wise leader who can
internalise such profound thoughts, as did John
F Kennedy whose exact words I have quoted
above. He also added, “In a crisis, be aware of
the danger—but recognise the opportunity.”
Should all leaders worth the name not do so
as well? It would be well to remember that a
crisis reveals the true character and quality of a
country’s leaders, the business community and
the affluent section of society.
Apart from the death and destruction, a
crisis leaves many lessons in its wake. The good
points must be built upon further, without
indulging in celebratory beating of one’s chest
or coming out with outlandish and puerile
statements—such as that the number of deaths
would have been triple were it not for the
actions taken, or that we have combatted the
Covid-19 pandemic more efficiently than many
other countries in the world, etc.
What is important, alongside strengthening
the positives, is to address the weaknesses
revealed without wasting time on discovering
exculpatory circumstances. And that is possible
only by looking dispassionately and objectively
at what went wrong and why. Rectification
is possible if the administration is quick
to take action to plug the holes in terms of
the infrastructure, policies, and the process
of taking decisions or formulating policies.
The idea is to be prepared for an eventuality.
Although there would be many unpredictable
contingencies, a good plan must foresee
as many as those and formulate as many
alternatives as possible, so as not to be caught
off guard. The effort should not be merely to
manage things but to do the right things, and
do so on time.
A case in point is the way we have, over the
Work from home: More cons than pros
W
HILE
personally I
found more
positives than negatives
in working from
home, I realise that the
sudden shift to full-
time online work may
have affected others
differently. As I was
TASMIAH T RAHMAN curious to know what
others felt, the only
way to do so was to
ask my fellow development practitioners in
Desperately Seeking Development Experts
(DSDE), a Facebook group that was created
to bring development practitioners together.
It gives them a platform where they can reach
out and receive any support they need related
to the development sector. So, when I asked
the group members—“What are your thoughts
about working from home?”—there were,
interestingly, more cons than pros. I received
more than 30 responses in one night, and a
majority of them were negative. Let me first
highlight the negatives.
CONS:
Work-life balance disrupted
Most respondents complained about having
no work-life balance. Having to multitask at
home, the burden was double and even triple
for working mothers. With the children and the
elderly homebound 24/7, they had to take care
of them along with daily household chores. As
most homes are not equipped with sufficient
domestic appliances, people found it hard to
juggle between cooking, cleaning, washing
and then working longer hours. Women in
general had issues with the constant attention
demanded by toddlers at home, while parents
of school-going children tried balancing to help
out with online classes and homework. It was
even harder for single mothers, as they had to
take care of not only home management but
also home schooling and work deadlines.
While this scenario is slowly changing
as many men have opted to “help out” and
ON THIS DAY
IN HISTORY ACROSS
1 Circus worker
6 Forum figure
11 Muscular dog
12 Stand
13 Mideast region
14 “Divine Comedy”
author
15 Blasting stuff
16 Stiffly phrased
ELECTION OF BORIS YELTSIN 18 Series-ending
abbr.
June 12, 1991
19 Historic age
On this day in 1991, 20 Bellow
Boris Yeltsin was easily 21 London area
elected president of 23 Pop star John
Russia (then part of the 25 Sphere
Soviet Union) in the 27 Heir, often
republic’s first direct,
popular elections, and 28 Landslide
detritus
he was president of
independent Russia until
the eve of 2000.
The Upside of a Crisis
last two decades, developed our capability to
tackle natural disasters like cyclone and flood,
which are rather more predictable. But as far
as this pandemic is concerned, we were caught
completely off guard. And although the mission
to combat Covid-19 remains unfinished, it is
time for a mid-course assessment, or a post-
mortem on our actions taken so far. Here is my
tuppenny worth of suggestions.
The first is to take a hard look at our health
sector.
What Covid-19 has done is to expose,
very blatantly, our frail and poor healthcare
system. It is in a shambles. The 2.3 percent
of GDP expenditure on health is inadequate
if the state really wants to provide even basic
healthcare support to the vast majority of the
17 crore people who fall in the category of
indigents. True, the government has invested
considerably in providing the basic facilities
by establishing an extensive network of health
services. The number of public hospitals has
gone up considerably, but are they fully staffed
and equipped? What good is a hospital if
the ICU does not have a centralised oxygen
supply system? Except for Dhaka, very few
divisional headquarters—not to speak of
district headquarters—have specialised services
and few of those hospitals have ICU facilities,
if at all, not to speak of the upazilas. More than
50 percent of ICU beds are in the capital. This
is another example of everything becoming
Dhaka-centric. And only when the health
ministry scampered to induct thousands of
nurses and junior doctors after we were hit with
the full blast of the pandemic, did we come
to know about the state of manpower in our
private hospitals.
Private hospitals have mushroomed in
Bangladesh but they are highly commercial.
Healthcare service, for them, is an appendix;
churning out money is the prime motive. In any
case, most of those in the high-end category of
hospitals cost much more than some hospitals
abroad, and the quality of their service does
not quite measure up to the standard of service
of hospitals in the neighbouring countries. In
any case, a majority of the private hospitals
in Bangladesh are beyond the reach of those
in the middle rung of the economic ladder.
Moreover, the pandemic has helped many
of those producing or dealing in medicines
and equipment like oxygen cylinders to reap
whirlwind profit, which is quite unfortunate.
diligently shared the household work, a lot
remains to be done to change the mind-set that
household work is not women’s responsibility
alone—it is everyone’s! Hopefully, the new
normal caused by Covid-19 has created greater
awareness of the amount of work to be done on
a given day at home, which can’t be sidelined as
inferior in any way.
Etiquette 101
The Covid-19 crisis has caught many of us
off guard. Not being used to full-time online
work and associated norms, many people
accidentally turn on the camera with their
“sando genji” (sleeveless shirt) on, not knowing
that others in an online meeting can see
them! Or, someone just starts talking without
“unmuting” their microphone. While most
do not dress up and show their faces, less
efforts are required for “looking presentable”
in these meetings. One respondent was happy
to be able to attend meetings in his PJs and
someone joked about accidentally standing up
in a meeting wearing a decent shirt and a tie—
with shorts! Rules of social etiquette in online
meetings would have to be learnt by all as we
CROSSWORD BY THOMAS JOSEPH
30 Keenness
33 Not to mention
letter
5 Worker’s reward
34 – Lanka 6 Some tires
36 Charged particle 7 Test type
37 Bakery treats 8 Perfect shape
39 Young one 9 Toward the rear
40 Bring close to 10 Poor
boiling 17 Uno plus due
41 Tolerate 22 Bruins legend
43 Door holder’s 24 Sock part
words 26 Not to mention
44 Cheering loudly 28 Field game
45 Provinces 29 Go astray
46 Inclines 31 Skilled in
32 Comes in
DOWN 33 Physicist Nikola
1 Samples 35 Stern with a
2 Like bow
3 Candy flavor
38 – Mater
4 Seventh Greek 42 Lingerie buy
WRITE FOR US. SEND US YOUR OPINION PIECES TO
dsopinion@gmail.com.
OPINION
The second issue is the way we have
attempted to tackle the pandemic from the very
seminal stages of its onslaught. It could be said
that the appraisal of the likely impact of the
pandemic, particularly on public health, was
faulty as much as our confidence in developing
herd immunity—and belief in Nature taking
care of it—was in abundance. The euphoria
was stoked all the more by a few “experts” who
cited the example of SARS. And as the situation
developed, it appeared that the administration
We have selective lockdown now. Couldn’t the reverse—selective
reopening—be done?
was playing it by ear. Some of its decisions
seemed to be off-the-cuff reactions, and many
of them were not even implemented fully. Even
“the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men” may go
haywire, and so did ours in the very first weeks
of the pandemic stamping its footprint in the
country.
The government hospitals designated to
treat Covid-19 patients were not adequately set
up, despite the PM’s directives. The number of
testing booths remains pathetically inadequate.
And that justifies the demand for making quick
testing kits available on a large scale. It is hard
to reason the delay in passing verdict on the
fast testing kit one way or the other. It has been
more than a month since the ones produced
by Gonoshasthaya Kendra were handed over to
BSMMU.
go forward.
Too much screen time
It is true that due to the crisis, many offices were
working round the clock during the emergency
period. Especially in the development sector,
where NGOs and civil society organisations
were working on the ground, they had no
timetable at all. Other organisations also
had to go through restructuring, re-planning
and re-budgeting exercises. No one saw this
coming, so everything was a mess initially. As
such, working hours shot up, meaning more
meetings, e-mails and phone calls. Our social
media scrolling continued, regardless of the
gender, as we wanted to stay updated on not
only coronavirus-related developments, but
also socio-cultural activities that took place.
Some musicians sang live on Facebook, while
others including celebrities and social media
influencers came there to raise awareness of
different issues. All this meant that people were
exposed to too much screen time.
Less productive
There were mixed signals about productivity.
While some respondents said their meetings
YESTERDAY’S ANSWERS
In the midst of the pandemic, general
treatment in the hospitals seems to have
stopped. More than a hundred people have
reportedly died due to hospitals turning
away general patients, including pregnant
women. Many hospitals did not, and still do
not, have any facility for Covid-19 treatment.
It is an emergency without the government
declaring so. Under this circumstance, the
government can press in any facility to address
the emergency. Couldn’t a certain percentage
PHOTO:
FIROZ AHMED
of hospital beds in all the private hospitals
be requisitioned for Covid-19 patients?
Government instructions to private hospitals
were left at the discretion of their authorities: a
few complied, but most did not do so fully.
It seems that only one hospital in the
country, CMH Dhaka, is equipped adequately
to treat Covid-19 patients. For all VIP patients,
the road leads to CMH only. The demand for its
services is noticeable. While it makes me proud
that this one treatment facility of ours has
garnered confidence in the people, I wonder
why such confidence has not been created
by other hospitals. When senior government
functionaries reportedly choose CMH over
other government hospitals for Covid-19
treatment, what confidence will others have in
them? Why is that so? The answer is bitter: the
were more productive and time was better
utilised, others thought online meetings were
less productive. Some said work-from-home
was great for team spirit but most didn’t agree.
Some said online meetings are not a solution
for face-to-face interactions.
Stress and sleepless nights
Needless to say, the lockdown and the resulting
new normal have brought in uncertainties that
none of us were ready to cope with. Hence, all
the stressful days and sleepless nights. Another
reason for stress is too much family time; we are
not used to spending so much time with our
spouses, parents and children. Add this to the
pressure of full-time cooking, cleaning and no
access to outside food. Dhaka’s urban dwellers,
living in apartments, did feel trapped and bored
and frustrated with no solution in sight. Many
are emotionally distressed with reports of death
coming from all directions and thus in dire
need of psychological therapy.
PROS:
Flexible working hours
While most respondents complained about
the situations mentioned above, almost all
agreed that the flexible working hours have
given them immense freedom. Employees
would have to continue to work from home
for several months, keeping social distancing
intact, while some would have no option but to
start the field work (as the disadvantaged and
vulnerable communities continue to suffer with
no employment and no income). However,
the idea of conventional workplace may have
changed forever, as employers may now opt for
smaller office spaces, with less rent and utility
bills. However, it is important for employers
to give their employees a “choice” for working
from home and introduce effective digital tools
to get result-based outcome from employees
and not base their performance on time spent
in office hours.
Big save on commuting
Hours spent in unproductive traffic are gone.
This not only saves valuable time, but also
thousands of taka saved in fuel. It remains a
BEETLE BAILEY
BABY BLUES
11
military utilised the funds diligently, honestly
and wisely, and in a planned manner. The
military health service is led by a band of
highly efficient and dedicated officers and staff
who are, as it is, under tremendous strain even
in normal times.
In view of the prevailing state of the health
sector, it deserves much more than what it has
got in the past. We understand that there will
be an increase of 7.25 percent in the health
budget for next year. Given that our per capita
expenditure on health is the lowest in South
Asia, the proposed increase is not enough.
If the annual outlay on development in the
health sector has not been fully utilised, it
is the system that must be corrected, and
removing systemic flaws should start with
discarding the ones in the leadership of the
sector. Right to health is implicit in a citizen’s
right to life.
One wonders whether anyone is watching
the graphs. If so, how is it that the so-called
lockdown—if it was a lockdown at all—was
lifted at a time when both the numbers
of identified cases and deaths spiked
exponentially? And now, we have selective
lockdown. Couldn’t the reverse—selective
reopening—be done? Merely declaring a
“general holiday”, as the administration had
done, leaves too much to people’s discretion,
and given our economic condition, with the
informal economy being hit the hardest,
the poorest section of society had no other
alternative but to scrounge around for a living.
The long and short of it is that the health
sector should receive much more than what it
has been receiving in the past, and it should be
led by dynamic people. A permanent national
taskforce or committee on epidemics, as we
have for natural disasters, should be set up. The
shortcomings in all public hospitals should be
eliminated in light of the Covid-19 experience
and their facilities should be brought up to
par. Blatant commercialisation of the private
health service should be stopped. A strict
mechanism to enforce orders and instructions
should be put in place before issuing directives.
For a country like ours, this is a tall order, but
that has to be done, gradually of course, if
we want to be better prepared to face such an
eventuality in the future.
Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan, ndc, psc (Retd), is a
former Associate Editor of The Daily Star.
fascinating topic of study to understand the
reduction on carbon footprint ever since the
crisis began. A smarter way forward could
be to start a zoning system for office-goers
in the post-Covid-19 scenario, meaning that
Dhanmondi residents, for example, would
work from home for two days a week, reducing
the traffic load on streets. Perhaps these are the
days that children can go to school, balancing
the traffic on the road. Parents then will not
have to juggle between going to work and
picking children up; they could just go and pick
them up during a lunch break while working
from home.
Kids saw their parents more than ever
before
All parents have agreed that their children have
never spent this much time with them. These
times, if spent well, may turn out to be valuable
for the children’s lives. Going forward, there
need to be ways to spend more quality time
with children.
To conclude, the Covid-19 crisis, if nothing
else, has probably taught us to be humble.
Working from home is a privilege that most
citizens cannot afford. Those of us who can
have materialistic “wants” created to constantly
keep our minds occupied, to be part of a race
and to feel relevant. However, when our loved
ones are falling ill or dying, no amount of
money can help. The pandemic, if nothing
else, has helped us to open the doors of self-
reflection. While we adjust to this new life, we
should look within and reflect on our life, our
actions and their consequences. But for now,
a few materialistic investments may make life
easier. Investing in household appliances (like
a washing machine), a decent workstation
(equipped with a chair with proper lower
back support, sufficient lighting and fast
wi-fi connection) and, last but not the least,
investing in mental health may be helpful. If all
fails, we need to remember to breathe!
Tasmiah T Rahman is the Head of Strategy and Business
Development, Skills Development Programme, BRAC.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do
not reflect that of her organisation.
BY MORT WALKER
BY KIRKMAN & SCOTT

12
Zafrullah
FROM PAGE 16
Dr Zafrullah tested positive for
Covid-19 on May 25 through a test
using rapid testing kit-- GR Rapid
Dot Blot, which was invented by the
researchers at the Gonoshasthaya
Kendra.
Since then, he has been under
treatment at the Gonoshasthaya Nagar
Hospital. He has undergone plasma
therapy thrice.
Later, he tested positive for
Covid-19 in rt-PCR test at the
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University.
The 79-year old physician is
a kidney patient and has been
undergoing dialysis and also has a
pre-existing lung problem.
For nearly three months, Dr
Zafrullah and a team of scientists have
been working on the Gonoshasthaya
Kendra-developed rapid coronavirus
test kit -- GR Rapid Dot Blot – trying
to get it approved.
He has been calling for emergency
authorisation of the kit for large-
scale tests and isolation of the new
coronavirus patients -- the best way to
check its spread.
861 died showing
FROM PAGE 16
said they found recorded incidents
which took place between May 24
and 30, but those were reported in the
media the following week.
That’s way some incidents which
occurred between May 24 and 30 have
been recorded in the latest report,
Humayun told The Daily Star over the
phone.
The report stated that 83 incidents
of spreading rumour over Covid-19
were recorded in the country. At least
87 people, including the highest 35
from Dhaka division, were arrested in
connection with those incidents.
Furthermore, 473 people were
picked up and another 9,557 fined
between the second week of March
and June 6 for committing various
offences related to the virus outbreak,
including relief embezzlement,
violation of social distancing rules,
arranging social gatherings, and
opening businesses.
At least 448 people were reportedly
detained, fined and seven were
arrested across the country between
May 31 and June 6. Most of the fines
and penalties were imposed due to
the violation of health and safety
regulations in public transport and
business institutions after the general
holidays ended on May 30.
The report found that 138 protests
took place across the country between
April 26 and May 6. Some 45 percent
of the demonstrations was organised
demanding unpaid wages and Eid
bonuses and 33 percent demanding
relief, aid or food.
Eleven percent of the protests was
staged over shutdown rules, lay-offs,
and waiver of rents, while six percent
was organised against irregularities
in the distribution of relief, aid or
food and five percent against hike in
bus fares, the CGS said.Besides, 123
incidents of violence related to novel
coronavirus took place between March
1 and June 6, resulting in 13 deaths
and 541 injuries, the report added.
No break for middle class
FROM PAGE 3
for the first three slabs have been set at
five, 10 and 15 percent -- down from
10, 15 and 20 percent respectively.
As the government targets the ultra
poor with stipends and cash transfers,
there is nothing for those like Nabil’s
family during an unprecedented
crisis. No unemployment benefit
scheme like that in the United States,
no house rent assistance like in the
United Kingdom, no universal basic
income scheme like in Hong Kong.
Small businessmen in rural areas
will get microloans and high school
graduates will receive employment
training under the Skills for
Employment Investment Program --
but service-providing professionals hit
by the pandemic are left out.
It seems as if middle-class families
like Nabil’s are being told -- we have
nothing to give, but we’ll be taking
less of what you earn.
In addition, those with personal
cars will now have to pay 15 percent
(up from 10) in duties for services
by the Bangladesh Road Transport
Authority.
Nor is there any reduction in
Value Added Tax (VAT) of significant
consumer goods like infant milk and
oil that were hiked last year.
As the Finance Minister AHM
Mustafa Kamal himself stated in his
budget speech, “Although a large
section of our population can afford
Nothing special
FROM PAGE 3
rural economy and help marginal
farmers, he said.
The government could have
allocated a Tk 2,000 crore fund in this
regard. In India, the authorities have
already launched such programmes,
he said.
Currently, there are 2.8 crore
enlisted farmers with cards.
However, allocation of Tk
3,198 crore to promote farming
mechanisation and reducing custom
duty on importing parts of agriculture
machinery would reduce the price
of farming equipment and generate
employment, he said.
“Many small businesses related to
agriculture machinery will grow in the
rural areas and generate employment,”
Prof Sattar said.
About the allocation of Tk 5,000
crore for the agriculture refinancing
scheme through Bangladesh Bank
announced by the finance minister,
Sattar said only the farmers who deal
with banks would be able to avail the
service.
“But most of the small farmers are
illiterate and they would not be able
to avail it as they remain out of the
banking system,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prof Asaduzzaman,
senior researcher at Bangladesh
Institute of Development Studies
(BIDS), said the initiative of
mechanisation in the agriculture
sector would help farmers cultivate
and harvest crops, but it might
render thousands of farm labourers
unemployed.
“Only allocation for machinery
will not help small farmers as they
would not be able to buy the farming
machinery equipment,” said Prof
Asaduzzaman, adding that the
machinery would help only those
cultivating paddy.
“What about those cultivating
City
NEWS
to pay taxes, the number of taxpayers
is only 20-22 lakh.”
He also said, “VAT is the largest
contributor to the NBR [National
Board of Revenue] tax revenue.”
Meaning, while the government
fails to crack down on tax evasion
by the rich, the economy will be
bankrolled by the middle class and
even the low-income population.
This comes in a year when
consumption inequality, measured by
the Gini coefficient, is 0.35 -- up from
0.32 in 2016 -- according to the Centre
for Policy Dialogue’s latest review of
the economy.
Last month, Mosammat Sumaiya,
who runs a business doing house-calls
for beauty services, had to depend on
relief for the first time in her adult life.
The single mother could not bear
the thought of running after relief
trucks, and had been reaching out to
people she knew to connect her with
donors personally. She received a
month’s worth of food supplies from
a charitable organisation.
“I used to earn around Tk 25,000
per month but since the pandemic,
nobody wants to avail salon
services because of social distancing
guidelines,” said Sumaiya.
On a lighter note, locally produced
potato chips will be cheaper with the
VAT reduced from 15 percent to 10, so
the middle class can at least eat their
feelings.
vegetables and fish? How are
they going to benefit from those
equipment?” he asked.
Rather, it was necessary to create an
agriculture business linkage, storage
facilities for agro products and build
a supply chain.
“Actually it was necessary to think
about the whole agricultural sector
holistically,” he said.
Even though the finance minister
mentioned the prime minister’s
directive on ensuring that not even
an inch of land is left uncultivated,
he did not come up with any plans to
ensure it in the coming fiscal year.
The government is, however,
going to encourage onion farmers by
increasing import duty on onions,
so that local farmers get interested in
growing it.
Shykh Seraj, eminent agriculture
expert, said the government
emphasised on mechanisation of
agriculture in the proposed budget.
“But I think the government should
have emphasised on digitalisation of
agriculture by now,” he said.
We’re preparing
for the worst
Indian doctors says
AFP, New Delhi
Doctors in one of India’s top private
hospitals shuffle through the intensive
care unit wearing full protective suits.
Every bed is occupied by coronavirus
patients, and fear is building that the
worst is still to come.
“We don’t know when this is going
to peak,” Dr Deven Juneja told AFP
during a pause from his rounds at the
Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital
in New Delhi, as heart monitors
beeped throughout the ward.
Cars become
FROM PAGE 16
A car or jeep with the engine
capacity of 2,000-2,500cc
will have to pay 50 percent
more -- Tk 75,000. Similar
vehicles with an engine
capacity of 2,500-3,500cc
will have to pay 25 percent
more.
There is no increase at
all on the engine capacities
beyond 3,500cc. In
addition, microbus owners
will have to pay Tk 30,000
as tax, which 20,000 the
previous fiscal.
Tax paid during
registration and fitness
renewal is non-refundable.
The Bangladesh Road
Transport Authority (BRTA)
collected Tk 1,005.75
crore as advance tax from
vehicles in the fiscal 2018-
19, according to its annual
report.
This raise is worrisome
for middle-class families
with single family cars.
It comes at a time when
the number of private
car registrations has been
falling since 2017. BRTA
data shows that the number
fell from 19,573 in 2017 to
16,319 in 2018, and 15,016
in 2019.
While the increase will
amp up potential revenue
from the transport sector,
it will further disincentivise
the private ownership, even
as the public transport
sector sees no particular
improvement.
Virus deaths
FROM PAGE 16
Development revealed
yesterday that in the first
three months of 2020,
the G20 major economies
shrank by 3.4 percent.
This is the largest decline
since records began in 1998,
with the steepest decline in
China, where the economy
shrank by 9.8 percent.
Bangladesh
FROM PAGE 16
20 were from Dhaka, seven from
Chattogram, three from Sylhet, four
from Rajshahi, two from Barishal and
one was from Rangpur.
They were aged between 31 and
80, Prof Nasima added.
According to DGHS, the number
of daily infections used to remain
between 1,000 and 1,200 a month
ago. From the last week of May, the
number of cases started jumping over
2,000. Since June 9, the country has
seen over 3,000 cases daily.
Data show Bangladesh constantly
ranked the 10th position from June 6
in terms of detecting high number of
new cases.
During the period, the Covid-19
case growth factor (daily new cases
/ new cases on the previous day)
remained between 0.9 and 1.
According to WHO, the growth
factor between 0 and 1 indicates a
decline; when it is above 1 it signals
an increase, and if is persistently
above 1 this could signify exponential
growth.
On April 3, the growth factor
for Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh
reached the highest 2.5; on 12 April,
it was 2.3.
Since the beginning of May 2020,
the growth factor has been within
the range of 0.8–1.4, and on June 8
it was 1.0, reads the WHO Situation
Report.
Smuggling
FROM PAGE 16
India, the chief minister says that
a certain quarter is spreading such
propaganda to tarnish the image of
both governments. He asks people
to be aware of conspirators who are
trying to drive a wedge between the
friendly neighbours. He says that
friendship between the two countries
is forged in blood and sacrifice.
TAJUDDIN RETURNS FROM INDIA
Finance Minister Tajuddin Ahmed
returns today after successful
completion of his three-day visit
to India. In a press conference at
Tejgaon Airport he says that India
will provide all kinds of support to
rebuild the war-torn economy of
Bangladesh. Both governments are
committed to fully implement the
friendship treaty and strengthen trade
and industrial cooperation between
the two neighbours, he adds.
INDIA WILL BE ASKED TO HAND
OVER POWS
Bangladesh government has prepared
a list of war criminals. The list will
be sent to India, and the Indian
authority will be requested to hand
over the prisoners of war (POWs) to
Bangladesh.
TK 10 CRORE FOR REBUILDING
DAMAGED HOUESE
The government has allocated
Tk 10 crore to repair and rebuild
houses that were damaged during
the Liberation War, informs Relief
and Rehabilitation Minister AHM
Qamaruzzaman. The housing scheme
will be run by local administration
and relief committee, he adds.
SOURCES: June 13, 1972 issue of
Purbodesh.
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29 , 1427 BS
Not so good news
FROM PAGE 3
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
did not give any specific guidelines on
how the major challenges of creating
jobs will be resolved. He, however,
spoke of the initiatives that have
already been taken.
“We have announced a large
stimulus package of about Tk 1,03,117
crore to fight the economic fallout
from the coronavirus, one of the
main objectives of which is to remove
temporary job losses by revitalising
the economic activities,” the minister
said.
Experts and entrepreneurs,
however, said the government could
have taken a special measure to
address the employment problem.
“We already have a mismatch in the
skills and job market. Now amid the
coronavirus situation, the problem
will be more acute,” Brac University’s
Professor Emeritus Manzoor Ahmed
said.
“Employment creation is now
stagnant. Opportunities of job in
informal and many formal sectors
are shrinking in home and abroad.
Many migrant workers are returning
home and will return soon. They
[government] could have taken special
plan, but it remains a traditional
budget,” he added.
Rasheda K Choudhury, executive
director, Campaign for Popular
Education (CAMPE), said the
government should have given
priorities on economic recovery,
investment and allocation in human
resource capacity development
through education and health sector.
“Creating skilled human resources
is directly related with job market.”
ADB’s policy brief tilted “Covid-19
Impact on Job Postings: Real-Time
Assessment Using Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka Online Job Portals”, which
came out on May 29, said businesses
in Bangladesh stopped hiring workers
because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The number of job postings
decreased by 87 percent in April this
year, in comparison with same month
of 2019, according to ADB’s policy
brief.
The number of job postings in
April 2020 was down by 95 percent in
textile and education industries, and
by 92 percent in the manufacturing
industry. The sharp decline in the
textile industry could be related to the
pandemic affecting key export markets
such as Europe and the United States.
“This is the time to take new steps,”
said Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury,
president of Bangladesh Chamber of
Industries (BCI).
“Steps should be taken to
increase capacity in some sectors
like retail, cottage industry and SME.
Opportunities in light engineering,
blue ocean, agro process and IT sector
are opening up due to relation among
China, US and EU,” he said.
Anwarul suggested creating a
separate human resources ministry,
which will conduct research. This
ministry will make recommendations,
and the education ministry will
prepare curriculum along that line, he
said.
EDUCATION BUDGET NOT
ADEQUATE
The finance minister allocated Tk
66,400 crore for education sector for
2020-21. The amount makes up 11.69
percent of the total outlay and its share
in the GDP stands at 2.09 percent.
Bangladesh has committed in the
Dakar Declaration and other global
forums to spend 6 percent of GDP
or allocate at least 20 percent of the
national budget for education. Unesco
also stipulates a similar budgetary
allocation for education.
Educationists say the government
expenditure on education as a
proportion of GDP has been hovering
around 2 percent for the last several
years, which is lower than that in
many other South Asian countries.
The bulk share of the budget goes to
salaries and operational expenditure,
leaving little scope for ensuring a
quality education and skill human
resource development.
With this little education budget
country will not be able to reap
the benefit from the demographic
dividend, they added.
Demographic dividend is the
economic growth potential that can
result from shifts in a population’s
age structure, mainly when the share
of the working age population (15 to
64) is larger than the non-working
age share of the population (14 and
younger, and 65 and older).
About 65 percent of Bangladesh’s
population is between the age of 15
and 64 now.
STIMULUS PACKAGES
The stimulus packages include a
subsidised loan fund of Tk 5,000 crore
to enable payment of salaries and
allowances of workers and employees
in export-oriented industries,
including ready-made garments.
Two separate low interest loan
facilities -- Tk 30,000 crore low-
interest working capital loan to
affected large industries and service
sector organisations, and Tk 20,000
crore low interest working capital loan
to the micro, cottage and small and
medium enterprises.
“We will expand the system of
distribution of low interest loans
to poor village farmers, returned
expatriate workers and trained
and unemployed youths for their
engagement in business and self-
employment activities in the rural
areas in agriculture, agriculture
related production and services, small
businesses and small and cottage
industries,” said the finance minister.
To support this initiative, a low
interest loan facility of Tk 2,000
crore has been created, which will
be distributed through Palli Sanchay
Bank, Probashi Kallyan Bank,
Karmasangsthan Bank and Palli
Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).
Mustafa Kamal said the fourth
priority sector will be job creation and
rural development.
The objectives are to tackle
unemployment in the industry, SMEs
and services sector and the rural non-
formal sector due to partial closure
of overall economic activities, and
to create employment opportunities
for expatriate Bangladeshis who have
been forced to return from abroad, he
said.
 THE HISTORY OF BUDGET
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS

1 TAJUDDIN AHMAD 2 TAJUDDIN AHMAD 3 TAJUDDIN AHMAD 4 AR MALLICK

1972-73 786 (Taka in

crore) 1973-74 995 1974-75 1,084 1975-76 1,549

8 MN HUDA 7 UNDER MAJ GEN ZIA 6 UNDER MAJ GEN ZIA 5 UNDER MAJ GEN ZIA

1979-80 3,317 1978-79 2,499 1977-78 2,184 1976-77 1,989

9 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 10 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 11 AMA MUHITH 12 AMA MUHITH

1980-81 4,108 1981-82 4,677 1982-83 4,738 1983-84 5,896

16 M SYEDUZZAMAN 15 M SYEDUZZAMAN 14 M SYEDUZZAMAN 13 M SYEDUZZAMAN

1987-88 8,527 1986-87 8,504 1985-86 7,138 1984-85 6,699

17 MAJ GEN A MUNIM 18 MAJ GEN A MUNIM 19 M WAHIDUL HAQUE 20 M SAIFUR RAHMAN

1988-89 10,565 1989-90 12,703 1990-91 12,703 1991-92 15,584

24 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 23 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 22 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 21 M SAIFUR RAHMAN

1995-96 23,170 1994-95 20,948 1993-94 19,050 1992-93 17,607

25 SAMS KIBRIA 26 SAMS KIBRIA 27 SAMS KIBRIA 28 SAMS KIBRIA

1996-97 24,603 1997-98 27,786 1998-99 29,537 1999-2000 34,252

32 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 31 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 30 SAMS KIBRIA 29 SAMS KIBRIA

2003-04 51,980 2002-03 44,854 2001-02 42,306 2000-01 38,524

33 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 34 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 35 M SAIFUR RAHMAN 36 ABM AZIZUL ISLAM

2004-05 57,248 2005-06 61,058 2006-07 69,740 2007-08 87,137

40 AMA MUHITH 39 AMA MUHITH 38 AMA MUHITH 37 ABM AZIZUL ISLAM

2011-12 165,000 2010-11 132,170 2009-10 113,815 2008-09 99,962

41 AMA MUHITH 42 AMA MUHITH 43 AMA MUHITH 44 AMA MUHITH

2012-13 191,738 2013-14 222,491 2014-15 250,506 2015-16 295,100

48 AHM MUSTAFA KAMAL 47 AMA MUHITH 46 AMA MUHITH 45 AMA MUHITH

2019-20 523,190 2018-19 464,573 2017-18 400,266 2016-17 340,605

AMA MUHITH
49 AHM MUSTAFA KAMAL 12
2020-21 568,000 M SAIFUR RAHMAN
12
SAMS KIBRIA

Finance ministers, AMA Muhith and M Saifur Rahman delivered budget speech 12 times each and SAMS Kibria six times.
6
 City Edition
14 COUNTRY DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29 , 1427 BS

Bangladeshi expatriates show ray of hope

SHYKH SERAJ
It is in our thoughts that the Bangladeshi
expatriates who are living in abroad are doing
well and they have a great status in the society
and a wonderful livelihood. It is a common
thinking process. However, many of them
lead a life of uncertainty. They spend less
and save more to send some money to their
home. Many of them lead a terrible life that
we could ever imagine. These people left the
country in the hope of doing something bigger
and achieving something higher. We couldn’t
ensure their employment at home and thus
they went abroad to fetch a secured and
hard-earned life. Just to stay a bit well, they
work tremendously hard. I have witnessed
it with my eyes travelling to different parts
of the world where I got close to so many
Bangladeshi expatriates.
Recently 26 Bangladeshis were shot dead
in Libya’s Mizdah town. Many of us thought
of this and it has put a strong mark into our
hearts. These men left their homes in search
of a new life, but they turned into dead
bodies. As you all know, many Bangladeshis
travel to the Middle East countries for a better
life. And many of them also plot to illegally
enter the European countries crossing the
Mediterranean Sea with the full risk of life.
Human traffickers are everywhere and they are
very strong, particularly Libya to Europe route.
In 2016, I went to Germany and met some
Shykh Seraj is Bangladesh’s pioneer
development journalist. He received
country’s two highest civilian honours,
Swadhinata Puroshkar and Ekushey
Padak, respectively. He is a BIDS,
Ashoka and Bangla Academy Fellow.
He also received
highest award
for agricultural
journalism from
the United Nations,
FAO A.H. Boerma
Award, Gusi Peace
Prize (Philippines)
and many other
prestigious
accolades at home and abroad. At
Channel i, he’s the Founder Director
and Head of News. He’s also Director
and Host of Channel i’s popular agro-
documentary, Hridoye Mati O Manush.
Shykh Seraj poses for a photograph with some Bangladeshi expatriate workers in Qatar’s Um Ubaydia region.
agricultural workers. One of them was Ashraful
who first went from Bangladesh to Egypt and
then to Libya. When Gaddafi was killed he
was planning to leave the country and hence
contacted a trafficker.
That man promised Ashraful that he
would arrange him a clear entrance to Italy.
The journey through the Mediterranean
Sea to Italy would have taken them only 10
hours. He boarded on a small boat with 350
people and nothing went well for him. The
boat sunk and they were rescued by a ship
and later kept at a camp in Munich from
where Ashraful came to Lemgo in Germany
to start a new life. And this is why their hard-
earned money is so precious because these
desperate people put their life into risk. And
we all know how remittance is so important
for Bangladesh’s economy. When the other
economic sectors are going downwards, only
the remittance came as a ray of hope amid
the Covid-19 outbreak. However, during the
coronavirus outbreak, around 700 thousand
Bangladeshi expatriates have returned to
the country. This would certainly affect the
remittance flow. We are also hearing that
another 500 thousand will come back.
Hence, we should take the right measure for
their safeguard and find out a flow for the
economic mechanism.
Recently, the Italian government took a wise
and visionary decision that they will employ
the foreign workers in the agricultural sector,
instead of sending them back to their home.
Regarding the issue, I talked with the
Consul General, working at the Bangladesh
Consulate in Italy. Consul General Iqbal
PHOTO: HRIDOYE MATI O MANUSH
Mahmud told me that many Bangladeshi
expatriates in Italy have already applied
for the provision. I also talked with some
Bangladeshi expatriates in Italy. All of them
seemed very optimistic regarding this decision
from Italy’s government. We know that many
Middle Eastern countries are sending back
our Bangladeshi workers during the spread of
coronavirus. It would have been great, if they
employ our workers in their farm sector. This
skilled human resource can strengthen their
food security with a new prospect.
Regarding this issue, I talked with
Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul
Momen and recommended two vital issues
to be pursued. First: the foreign countries,
especially the Middle Eastern countries
shouldn’t return our workers; rather they
should employ them in their agricultural
sector. This would help the foreign countries
and our workers will be effectively and timely
employed during this coronavirus crisis.
Second one: livestock meat of Bangladesh has
a high demand. And if our livestock farmers
and entrepreneurs get the support they can
export the Halal meat at the Muslim countries.
This would boost up the meat sector.
‘I must say these two proposals are
wonderful, effective and very much timely
during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. I tell
you, we must pursue it and thank you very
much for your kind thoughts,’ said the Foreign
Minister, after listening to my proposals. This
definitely would help our workers and also
boost up the agricultural production. I have
also talked with the Agriculture Minister Dr
Abdur Razzaque and he has assured me that
he’ll work on this. I am sure Honourable
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will also
take it significantly to improve the lives of
Bangladeshi expatriates working in different
countries across the world.
I have watched all the progressive
agricultural ventures and effort from
Bangladeshi expatriates in Oman, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and many more
countries. These entrepreneurs and workers
have started the new dream economy in the
desert land. The stories of the Bangladeshi
expats are awesome and I have been closely
following them for quite a long time. The
Qatar government is already providing a 70
percent subsidy in the farming sector. Many
workers in Qatar have turned into agricultural
entrepreneurs. When I visited Qatar during
February this year, a couple of them shared
their thoughts and said they should be able
to import Bangladeshi seeds. The immigration
at Bangladesh airport causes different troubles
for them but when they reach Qatar, they
witness the opposite scenario.
I believe there can be a solid diplomatic
step to employ the Bangladeshi expatriate
workers in the farming initiatives taken across
the world, especially in the Middle East
countries. This huge number of more than 10
million can contribute to the economies of the
world and also can assist the remittance flow
in Bangladesh. The development thoughts
must focus on the working class where
bilateral objectives are well met. Assistance
from the Bangladesh government can trigger
our economy at a rapid speed.

Growth, revenue targets too lofty

FROM PAGE 4
that the country would quickly get rid
of Covid-19 and the economy would
regain its past trends, he said.
“But given the health risks we are
witnessing, we will not get any respite
from the Covid-19 very quickly.”
The resources mobilisation target
of Tk 378,000 crore is Tk 20,000 crore
higher than the revised budget of Tk
348,000 crore in 2019-20.
“This projection is not realistic,”
Mustafizur told a virtual media briefing.
According to Mustafizur, income and
consumption inequalities are widening.
But the income tax rates have been
slashed in a way that would benefit the
low income and high-income groups
equally.
The money whitening scheme has
been expanded, which he said was not
acceptable from a moral and economics
point of view.
Honest taxpayers would pay 25
percent in income taxes, whereas
untaxed money-holders would legalise
their money, paying just 10 percent.
This is not acceptable, he said.
The CPD welcomed the priorities
given to health, job creation, social
safety nets and agriculture.
Prof Selim Raihan, executive
director of the South Asian Network on
Economic Modeling, said the budget
assumed that economic activities would
quickly pick up the normal pace.
“However, the question remains
as to whether the reality corroborates
this assumption. As we are witnessing
increasing health hazards, rising cases
of infection, and deaths, when it will
be possible to resume full-fledged
Bailout package bottleneck still a concern
FROM PAGE 4
the private sector.
Shams Mahmud, president of Dhaka
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
recommended greater allocation for
the health sector under the annual
development programme (ADP) amid
the Covid-19 pandemic.
He suggested cutting corporate tax
a bit more so that entrepreneurs could
sustain through to the post-coronavirus
times. Mahmud said VAT calculation
should be based on the product’s value
addition or its profit. He also urged
for automated VAT return system,
simplification of refund system.
He welcomed the government’s
stimulus to the industries, but urged for
advance income tax waiver and waiver
of advance tax on RMG, leather, jute
and jute goods and agro-processing
sector.
Due to lower export orders, the
DCCI president said increasing source
tax on RMG export from 0.25 percent to
0.5 percent will increase the challenges
faced by the sector.
He requested that a reduction in
source tax on RMG export be considered,
and also welcomed the decision of one
percent cash incentive to RMG export.
Mahmud urged for the formation
of a high-powered advisory committee
for the financial sector under the
Bangladesh Bank, which will guide the
financial sector amid the pandemic.
He urged for better private sector
credit flow and easy access of loan
under the stimulus. The budget allows
investment of undisclosed money in
real estate, stock market, bank deposits
and national savings tools.
It will aid in flow of money to the
economy through private investment,
especially during this pandemic,
economic activities is a huge question,”
he said.
This budget has seen an increase
in allocation for the health sector. But
management of the health sector must
be improved. Otherwise, effective usage
of the increased allocation will be
uncertain, said Prof Selim.
The professor of economics at Dhaka
University welcomed the increasing
allocation for social protection.
In the current crisis, a large number of
people have slid below the poverty line
and in the coming days many more will
follow suit. Many people have lost their
jobs. Allocation for social protection as
well as the health sector should have
been increased more, he added.
The budget deficit might increase
in the coming days, especially if the
revenue target is not met and spending
increased, he said.
PRI’s Ahsan said the health budget
reflected the good intention of the
government. Allocation has been
increased and another Tk 10,000 crore
has been set aside to meet the future
needs. He welcomed the increased
spending for the social safety nets,
but pointed out that there was a lack
of setting goals. A temporary scheme
should have been taken for those who
have been laid off, he said.
The plan to borrow Tk 85,000 crore
from the banking sector would affect
the credit availability for the private
sector, Ahsan said.
The export sector is calling for the
depreciation of the taka but it has not
been addressed in the budget, Ahsan
said. The government can’t support
the export sector just by giving out
Mahmud added.
Syed Ershad Ahmed, president of
American Chamber of Commerce and
Industry in Bangladesh (AmCham)
appreciated the government’s allocation
of budget for technology, but said money
needs to be invested in automating the
National Board of revenue.
Ershad also said all ports in the
country need to be developed -- both
infrastructure and management -- for
attracting Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI). Railway and waterway services
for both goods and passengers need
to be modernised to ensure adequate
supply chain management as well.
Welcoming the decision to reduce
corporate tax for non-listed companies
from 35 percent to 32.5 percent, Rupali
Chowdhury, president of the Foreign
Investors Chamber of Commerce and
Industry said, “I hope the government
will also reduce corporate tax for listed
companies proportionately.”
The budget has also earned praise
from many. Chairman of Nitol Niloy
Group Abdul Matlub Ahmad said this
is an exceptional budget where the
government tried to protect both the
economy and low-income people.
Increasing the taxable income
ceiling from Tk 2.5 lakh to Tk 3 lakh
will help people as this will increase
their purchasing power, especially post-
coronavirus, Matlub said.
Alamgir Shamsul Alamin, president of
the Real Estate and Housing Association
of Bangladesh (REHAB) thanked the
government for allowing investment of
untaxed money in real estate and said it
will be a boost for the sector.
However, the budget had its fair
share of detractors.
Md Shahidullah, managing director
of Metrocem Cement and first vice-
subsidies.
“The devaluation would allow the
government to save thousands of crores
of taka from the budget because it
would give the incentive to the export
sector automatically.”
The debt servicing cost has risen
significantly to Tk 63,801 crore. The
government has to be careful about it,
he said.
“We have to make the debt
management proper and increase
revenue generation,” said Ahsan, also a
former economist of the International
Monetary Fund.
Given the situation arising from the
pandemic, the budget for 2020-21 has
rightly focused on addressing the twin
challenges of saving lives and attaining
economic recovery, said Rizwanul
Islam.
To aid economic recovery, the finance
minister seems to be relying on the
typical neo-liberal strategy of reducing
taxes, he said.
“But money saved in the form of lower
taxes are not immediately spent -- either
on consumption or for investment,
while money given to the poor is spent
immediately and contributes directly to
boosting demands and stimulating the
economy.”
In order to generate revenue, there is
heavy reliance on VAT and this is not a
smart strategy, because consumers are
not likely to open their wallets too often
to spend on goods and services that
carry the indirect tax.
Nothing has been mentioned
about the prime minister’s 2019
announcement of creating 1.5 crore
jobs in five years, he added.
president of Bangladesh Cement
Manufacturers Association (BCMA)
said the minimal reduction in the
corporate tax will not help businesses
much as they expected at least 10
percent corporate tax cut.
Manwar Hossain, group managing
director of Anwar Group and chairman
of Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers
Association (BSMA) said the reduction
in advance income tax in raw material
import – from 5 percent to 4.45 -- in
the proposed budget for the next fiscal
year was very nominal and will create a
burden on businesses.
He said the government could have
reduce corporate tax to 20 percent in the
next fiscal year, considering the impact
of the novel coronavirus. Instead, it
proposed to reduce it to 32.5 percent
from 35 percent.
Manwar also expressed concern over
the target in revenue collection as the
period following the Covid-19 outbreak
will be a difficult one for the economy.
But he also mentioned his appreciation
for the finance minister as he paid
attention to the agriculture sector amid
the crisis.
The targeted revenue of Tk 3,78,000
crores will be difficult to collect due to
the negative impact of the pandemic
on trade, commerce, industries,
import, export and other services, said
Muhammad Farooq, president of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Bangladesh.
But there is no doubt the proposed
budget is ambitious and involves many
challenges in the implementation
process. Impediments to on-time
implementation of ADP projects
should be addressed to achieve the
GDP growth target set in the proposed
budget, he said.
Loads ease on low income groups
FROM PAGE 2
However, a small amount of money
has been brought to the formal
channel. Fiscal 2007-08 saw the
legalisation of the highest amount of
undisclosed money -- Tk 8,900 crore.
Yet, policymakers seem to be
obsessed with the idea of offering
black money holders scope for
legalising their income.
The finance minister once again
came up with such a proposal.
Citing Covid-19 crisis and the
need for increased revenue, he
said, “Extraordinary time requires
extraordinary measures.”
He mentioned that taxpayers may
make mistakes while preparing and
submitting tax returns.
To offer them scope for “correcting
past mistakes and bringing funds
to mainstream of the economy”,
he proposed that the authorities,
including the income tax department,
would not ask holders of undisclosed
money and assets any questions
about their wealth to be disclosed in
income tax returns from July 1, 2020
to June 30, 2021.
His proposal for allowing
taxpayers to disclose their undeclared
land, buildings and apartments
on payment of a specific amount
of tax is likely to give a boost to
the coronavirus-hit real estate and
construction sectors.
The ailing stock market may
benefit too as he proposed giving
black money holders the scope for
investing in it.
Seeking anonymity, a senior tax
official said the proposal might
work if the law is strictly enforced to
compel the holders of undisclosed
income to declare assets and pay tax.
Otherwise, it is unlikely to bring
desired results, the official added.
Talking to The Daily Star, Syed
Aminul Karim, former member
(tax policy) of the National Board
of Revenue (NBR), said, “Irregular
taxpayers are going to be the main
beneficiaries. They will reap the
The rich to feel the pinch
FROM PAGE 4
Tk 1.0 crore at any time of the year,
irrespective of debit or credit, will
have to pay Tk 3,000 in excise duty
from the fiscal 2020-21, up 20 percent
from Tk 2,500 in the outgoing fiscal
year, said finance ministry officials.
A proposal has been made to
increase excise duty rates for bank
balances with more than Tk 1 crore
but less than Tk 5 crore by 25 percent
to Tk 15,000 per account for the next
fiscal year from Tk 12,000 per account
for the current fiscal year.
In case debit or credit balances in
the account exceeds Tk 5 crore at any
point of the year, the excise duty rate
is going to increase by 60 percent to
Tk 40,000 the next fiscal year from Tk
25,000 per account this fiscal year.
However, holders of accounts with
ultimate benefit of the new tax
measures.”
The proposal for offering amnesty
may help bring some money to the
formal channel and also encourage
people to bring back funds from
abroad, he pointed out.
If the money is invested, a lot of
jobs will be created and society will
benefit indirectly, he added.
TAX BENEFITS
Non-listed companies are going
to see a reduction in tax liability as
corporate tax has been slashed to
32.5 percent from 35 percent which
remained in place for the last six
years.
“I think it will give a lot of relief
to non-listed companies and enable
them to get through these tough
times,” said Aminul.
Tax from listed and non-listed
companies accounted for 64 percent
of the total revenue collection of Tk
56,700 crore in fiscal 2017-18. The
majority of it came from non-listed
companies which include various
multinational firms.
In the next fiscal year, the NBR
will lose out on a good amount of
revenue due to the tax cuts for firms
and individuals. It has been assigned
to collect Tk 330,000 crore, which is
10 percent higher than the revised
collection target of Tk 300,500 crore
in the outgoing fiscal year.
A large number of taxpayers will
also be out of the income tax net
because of the rise in the limit of tax-
free annual income.
Besides, minimum tax, wealth tax
surcharge and corporate tax rates
for companies other than non-listed
firms will remain unchanged.
To offset tax loss and curb scope
for evasion, the NBR sought to
make the submission of income tax
returns mandatory for holders of all
Taxpayers Identification Numbers
(TIN).
The number of TIN holders is
nearly 50 lakh but only 22 lakh
submit returns.
debit or credit balances up to Tk
10 lakh will not need to pay higher
excise duty rates the next fiscal year,
according to Kamal’s budget speech.
At present, mall ticket account
holders, who have up to Tk 1 lakh
balance at any time during a year, are
exempted from excise duty. Account
holders with a balance between Tk 1
lakh and Tk 5 lakh have to pay Tk 150
for excise duty a year.
Meanwhile, bankers will deduct Tk
500 as excise tax from accounts with
debit or credit balances above Tk 5
lakh to Tk 10 lakh.
NBR data showed that it collected
Tk 1,285 crore as excise tax from bank
balances in the fiscal 2017-18, down
from Tk 1,295 crore a year earlier. A
fresh hike came three years after the
government increased excise duty
Owning a car will be more
expensive as advance tax on
registration and fitness renewals of
vehicles will be hiked by up to 67
percent.
Also, exporters may have to pay
0.5pc tax at source on their export
earnings in the next fiscal year as
the existing 0.25pc tax benefit is
set to end this fiscal year, said a tax
official.
However, the existing tax benefits
for garment and knitwear sectors,
which now pay 12 percent corporate
tax, will be extended for the next two
years.
VAT MEASURES
Advance Tax on import of
industrial materials will be reduced
to 4 percent from 5 percent.
Besides, there will be VAT benefits
for manufacturers of automobile,
refrigerators, air conditioners, mobile
handsets, Covid-19 test kits, personal
protective equipment, surgical masks
and medicine for coronavirus.
However, mobile phone users will
have to bear heavier tax burden as
supplementary duty (SD) on mobile
phone usage has been increased to 15
percent from 10 percent.
SD on registration of cars as well
as service charges will be increased
to 15 percent from 10 percent. SD
on cigarettes and other tobacco items
will also be raised.
The tax measures will also sadden
any holder of a bank account with
more than Tk 10 lakh as the excise
duty will rise up to 60 percent.
Compliant businesses are likely
to face difficulties in seeking
remedy for higher-than-actual VAT
claims by field offices. Businesses
will have to pay 20 percent of the
VAT, claimed by the VAT authority,
to be able to appeal against the
claims. It was 10 percent in the
outgoing fiscal year.
Yet, there will be some relief for
businesses as the finance minister
proposed easing rules regarding VAT
rebate.
rates on bank balances to achieve
higher revenue goal.
Initially, the government wanted to
hike the duty rate on bank balances
containing Tk 1 lakh or above.
However, following public outcry, it
stepped back from increasing the tax on
account balances of up to Tk 10 lakh,
thus averting burdening people from the
lower-income group with higher taxes
and discouraging savings in banking
channels. Until December 31, last year,
there were 10.65 crore bank accounts
and Tk 12.14 lakh crore in balance.
Only one percent of the account
holders had more than Tk 10 lakh
deposited in their accounts. In terms
of balances, these accounts accounted
for 71 percent of the total deposits,
according to data from the Bangladesh
Bank.
 e-mail: sports@thedailystar.net
DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS

Nazmul looking within Italian season

resumes today T20 changed
Test batting
REUTERS, Milan

during downtime
RAMIN TALUKDER
In an interview
with The Daily
Star last month,
Bangladesh batting
consultant Neil
McKenzie stressed
the importance of players using
this coronavirus-induced break to
reflect on their careers. Cricket in
Bangladesh has been halted since
March and while cricketers have
been doing their bit to stay fit with
indoor workouts following BCB-
provided guidelines, the best thing
for them now would be to reflect on
their careers so far and analyse their
flaws.
It seems like Bangladesh batsman
Nazmul Hossain Shanto has taken
McKenzie’s words seriously, just
as any student should, as the left-
hander has been reflecting on his
fledgling career during the enforced
cricketing hiatus.
“I have watched the two innings
that I played against Pakistan [in
the Rawalpindi Test in February].
Also, I watched the T20 century I
scored [For Khulna Tigers against
Dhaka Platoon in the last BPL],”
said Nazmul.
Re-watching the highlights reel
was not just a way of relieving sweet
memories as Nazmul also analysed
his mistakes from his previous
matches.
“I have not made many big
scores. So, I was just trying to see
how I played shots and what I did
during my maiden T20 century.
But I watched the highlights of
the Pakistan game more. Everyone
knows how formidable Pakistan’s
bowling line-up is. So, I watch
how I survived during that game. I
realised that I should have scored at
least a century in that game. I was
actually wondering what I could
have done to handle the deliveries
better and was just trying to
understand what I should do when
I get similar chances in the future,”
explained Nazmul, who got starts
in Rawalpindi but failed to convert.
Having played only four Tests,
five ODIs and two T20Is since his
international debut in January,
2017, Nazmul was enjoying
seemingly the best time of his
career so far after a successful
BPL and domestic career that
was followed by some promising
sparks in the international arena.
However, instead of fearing a loss
in momentum, the 21-year-old
has held on to a more mature and
optimistic view.
“I am actually not interested in
worrying how things will go once
cricket resumes. I think it is better
not to think about cricket during
this crisis. I will think about cricket
once everything is normal and
hopefully we will get time for that.
It will be great if I could start the
way I left off. And even if I can’t do
well right away in the first or second
game, maybe I will pick it up in the
third game,” explained Nazmul.
Nazmul’s penchant for the
longer version of cricket was also
evident as the left-hander talked
about taking lessons from some
historical Test innings.
“During this break, I watched
highlights of Bangladesh’s maiden
Test and also a few Ashes games.
I have watched Brian Lara’s Test
400 a number of times. It is not
easy to score 400 in a game. I was
looking at the types of shots he
played. Aside from this, I also
watched Tamim Iqbal and Imrul
Kayes’s record opening Test stand
for the country when they put on
312 against Pakistan in the second
innings [in 2015]. Actually, I have
been trying to watch the matches
that had some incredible knocks. A
lot can be learned from these types
of games,” said Nazmul.
From Nazmul’s demeanour
during this break, it can be hoped
that the left-hander, having thus far
taken McKenzie’s advice to heart,
may also live up to the expectation of
the South African coach by returning
to cricket ‘hungrier than ever’.
The Italian season resumes
after a three-month break
due to the coronovirus
pandemic on Friday when
Juventus, still chasing a
possible league, cup and
Champions League treble,
host AC Milan in the return
leg of their Coppa Italia
semifinal.
Juventus are favourites
to reach next Wednesday’s
final after a 1-1 draw in the
first leg but coach Maurizio
Sarri said that his side were
venturing into the unknown
after such a long layoff.
“None of the staff at
this moment knows where
the preparation is because
we come off an abnormal
interruption,” he said,
adding that the stoppage was
completely different to the
usual close season.
“This is a unique
situation, which does
not give us certainty, also
because we have not played
friendlies. I am satisfied with
what I have seen during
these days in training, but
the response during a game
will be different.”
For AC Milan, the past
three months have been
a turbulent time with
incessant speculation that
the club wants to dismiss
coach Stefano Pioli at the
end of the season and
replace him with German
Ralf Rangnick.
The team will also be
missing 38-year-old Zlatan
Ibrahimovic with a calf
injury he suffered in training
last month.
Gazzetta dello Sport and
other media said there was a
tense meeting between chief
executive Ivan Gazidis and
the players on Wednesday
to discuss a wage reduction
related to the stoppage.
AFP, New Delhi
Asian cricket greats including Rahul Dravid
believe modern Test batting has become
a thrilling spectacle thanks to T20 smash-
and-wallop fests such as the Indian Premier
League.
“I actually believe Test batsmanship is a lot more exciting,
lot more positive now than ever,” Dravid said in chat with
Sanjay Manjrekar on ESPNcricinfo. “People are playing
more shots even in Test cricket which is great,” he said.
The 47-year-old Dravid was renowned as one of the most
technically correct batsman of his era and was nicknamed
the “The Wall” because of his robust defence.
“Of course I wouldn’t have survived today if I batted the
way I did in my days,” Dravid, who had a strike rate of
71.23 in ODIs, said. “Look at the strike rates today. One
of the great things for India is that Virat Kohli values Test
cricket so much. Players like Virat have shown how one
can excel in all three formats. Obviously I can’t compare
myself to Kohli or Rohit Sharma because they have blown
the ODI paradigm to an all new level.”
Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga
credits T20s for adding aggression to Test batting.
“Let’s say 10 or more years ago, batsmen in Test matches
waited for the perfect loose ball to hit, but today when they
see a half-good delivery they go for a shot,” the 56-year-old
said, adding that he will always find five-day cricket more
satisfying. “Test cricket is like a meal made by mother,
prepared with a lot of love, care and patience -- wholesome
food. T20 is like instant noodles,” he said.
Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar said T20-
style batting and flat wickets have contributed to a glut of
runs in the longer format.
“In the past team were satisfied with [scoring] 150 to 200
runs per day, now teams want at least 300. This is why we
were seeing more results in Tests,” Bashar told AFP. “Another
reason is flat wickets, rarely do we see green-top wickets. The
biggest reason is of course more limited-over matches.”

After a long shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia’s biggest spectator sport, Aussie Rules,
returned to action yesterday. But instead of the regular 100,000 packing the stands at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground, the stadium was empty. Players of Collingwood and reigning champions Richmond took a knee around
the centre in a gesture of solidarity against racism. PHOTO: COLLECTED

Fans welcome
at Djokovic’s
event
AFP, Belgrade
After being suspended for
three months due to the
coronavirus pandemic,
top-level international
tennis returns this weekend
in Belgrade with a charity
tournament hosted by
World No. 1 Novak
Djokovic and where fans
will be welcome.
Tickets sold out in seven
Injury fears loom
over restart
AFP, London
The Premier League will
return after a 100-day
stoppage on June 17,
cramming the remaining 92 games of the
season into just five-and-a-half weeks.
A deluge of football may be welcomed by
fans starved of live action for three months.
But it is expected to take a heavy toll on
players hit by the combination of a long
PHOTO: COLLECTED

minutes after they were
put on sale online last
Wednesday. The event will
be broadcast live in more
than 100 countries.
The matches will be
played at Novak Tennis
Centre, financed by
Djokovic’s family, with a
view of the Danube river.
Dominic Thiem,
Alexander Zverev and
Grigor Dimitrov will play
but giants Roger Federer, out
for the year following knee
surgery, and Rafael Nadal,
who recently resumed
training, will be absent.
“Taking the situation
into account, I didn’t have
the nerve to call and invite
them,” said Djokovic.
layoff, little training and fixture congestion.
“We are expecting more injuries at this
time,” Newcastle doctor Paul Catterson
told BBC. “We have had players asking if
they can have ice baths after training and
they can’t -- all we can do is give them ice
to take home. It’s like going back 15 years.”
The injury risk is of particular concern
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero
for players who are out of contract at the
is only four goals away from matching
end of the season.
Wayne Rooney as the player with the
Championship side Charlton will
be without top scorer Lyle Taylor as the most goals for a single club in the
30-year-old has decided not to play and put Premier League era, but his wait may go
a lucrative move at risk. on longer due to his spotty injury record
“It makes me think what would happen if
I had an injury now that threatened the rest
as he may may not be rushed back.
of my career,” Taylor told Sky. “I’ll be honest According to sports science specialist
with you, it scared the life out of me.” Joel Mason, Bundesliga injuries went from
However, the lesson from Germany’s a pre-lockdown average of 0.27 per game to
Bundesliga, which returned on May 16, is 0.88 in the first round of fixtures after the
that an increase in injuries is inevitable. competition resumed.
16 DHAKA FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2020, JAISHTHA 29, 1427 BS
City

3,187 78,052 1,049 16,748 421,863 7,548,669

New cases in 24hrs Total cases Deaths Recoveries Deaths Total cases
NASIM’S CONDITION
Bangladesh now His blood is
not clotting
10th worst-hit STAFF CORRESPONDENT

3,187 more infected, 37 die The condition of former

health minister and Awami
MAHBUBUR RAHMAN KHAN League MP Mohammad
Nasim deteriorated further
Bangladesh persistently remained on the 10th position on the global yesterday. He is now in a
ranking of the worst coronavirus-hit countries for five consecutive days “very critical state”.
from June 6 due to its high number of new cases. “Mohammad Nasmi’s
The country also ranked the 10th position in the ranking for its total condition has worsened
number of cases in seven days from June 4, according to the World Health today [yesterday] as we
Organisation. have carried out a test
Between June 4 and 10, Bangladesh recorded 19,725 cases. that says his blood is not
Other countries that had witnessed the highest number of cumulative clotting,” Raziul Haque, a
cases in the seven days are: the US, Brazil, India, Russia, Chile, Pakistan, renowned neurosurgeon at
Peru, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. the Bangladesh Specialised
The Directorate General of Health Services yesterday said 3,187 more
Hospital where the AL
new cases were recorded.
senior leader is being
Until yesterday, a total of 78,052 Covid-19 cases were recorded across
the country. treated, told The Daily Star
Meanwhile, 37 more people died from coronavirus infections on over phone.
a single day, said Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general He also said Nasim’s
(administration) of DGHS, during a briefing. blood pressure was stable
Some 15,772 samples were tested in 55 labs across the country in the in the last two days. “But
last 24 hours, she added. today [yesterday] his blood
A total of 1,049 people have so far died from the deadly virus in the pressure is fluctuating.”
country. Asked about the
Meanwhile, 848 Covid-19 patients have recovered until yesterday, possibility of sending
taking the total number of recoveries to 16,747 and the recovery rate to Nasim abroad for better
21.46 percent, the DGHS official added. treatment, Raziul said he
Some 671 people were put under isolation in the last 24 hours, she said. was not in a position to be
Among the dead, 30 were male and seven female, she said, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, wearing masks and maintaining PHOTO: taken abroad.
PID
SEE PAGE 12 COL 4 social distancing, enter parliament yesterday to place the budget for the fiscal year 20-21. Dr Kanak Kanti
Barua, vice-chancellor
of Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujib Medical University
861 died showing MIGRANTS IN SINGAPORE Cars become FIRST YEAR OF BANGLADESH
BANGABANDHU’S NATION-BUILDING CHALLENGES
and also the chief of
medical board formed to
more costly
virus symptoms
Finds DU research between
Man makes it his to keep SMUGGLING WILL BE
oversee treatment of Nasim,
told this correspondent that
Nasim was in a “very critical

March 22 and June 6

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
mission to help STAFF CORRESPONDENT
In a scenario where the STOPPED AT ANY COST
state” now.
Infected with Covid-19
and later suffering from a
JAMIL MAHMUD stroke, Nasim has been in
public transport sector Elected members
At least 861 people have died after cannot cater to the massive a “deep coma” since June 5.
After a day’s hard work, Omar Faruque Shipon spends time from evening of Mymensingh His son Tanvir Shakil
showing Covid-19-like symptoms from to night raising awareness about coronavirus, which greatly helps his volume of commuters,
owners of cars or jeeps
Agricultural Joy, also a former AL
March 22 to June 6, said a report of Dhaka fellow Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore. University
University’s Centre for Genocide Studies. Shipon, 32, a senior safety coordinator in Singapore’s marine sector, will have to pay up to 67 lawmaker, told the media
The country saw 124 such deaths percent more as advanced Central Students’ on June 5 that his father
translates different news articles on the virus into Bangla, including those
between May 31 and June 6, up from 73 in published by Singapore’s leading English daily -- The Straits Times. income tax or commonly Union call on had undergone a successful
the previous week, it added. Later, he posts the translated items on his Facebook page -- Singapore-e known as “road tax” -- Bangabandhu surgery after suffering a
The study, however, said all the deaths Amra Probashi Bangladeshi. required to be paid during at his official stroke.
might not have been related to Covid-19 Besides, he regularly translates Singapore health ministry’s Covid-19 the registration and fitness residence on June On June 1, Nasim was
as many of the deceased tested negative for updates into Bangla and uploads those in the page. renewal of motor vehicles. 14, 1972. admitted to the Bangladesh
the virus. This is how he raises awareness about the virus among the Bangladeshi Until this fiscal year, Specialised Hospital in
migrants who are unable to read and understand English well and also owners of cars or jeeps June 12, 1972 the capital’s Shyamoli as
The CGS presented the report styled
helps them avoid being influenced by rumours and misinformation. with up to 1,500cc engine he was feeling unwell.
“Covid-19 Graphics” before the media SHAMSUDDOZA SAJEN
Until January this year, the page had 12,000-odd followers. Now, the capacity had to pay Tk Later, he tested positive for
yesterday. It is the ninth edition of a series
number has increased to nearly 52,000. 15,000, while those with coronavirus.
of such reports prepared by Bangladesh SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR
Shipon said many started to follow the page because of the coronavirus up to 2,000cc engine
Peace Observatory (BPO), an initiative of LEAVES DHAKA
pandemic. capacity paid Tk 30,000.
CGS. West Bengal Chief Minister
Talking to The Daily Star via WhatsApp on Monday, the migrant from The rates of taxes for
The report was prepared based on news these vehicles are going to Siddhartha Shankar Roy leaves today for Kolkata
reports published or aired by 25 media Chandpur said after Singapore first reported Covid-19 cases in January, after successfully completing his three-day visit
various rumours began to run rife among the Bangladeshi migrant increase to Tk 25,000 and
outlets, including national and local dailies, Tk 50,000 respectively in to Bangladesh. In a press conference organised at
online news sites, and television channels. community. Bangabhaban today the chief minister says that
At one stage, people in the community started to spread rumors that the next fiscal year.
According to the latest report, some 737 While the advance India and Bangladesh will take strong measures to
people died of Covid-19-like symptoms many Bangladeshi migrants had died, but the media in Singapore tried stop smuggling in the border areas. Government
to hide it. income tax on motor
from March 22 to May 30. However, the vehicles have increased officials of both countries will hold meetings on a
But the Bangladeshi migrants seemed less careful about the virus’s effect regular basis and formulate a joint action plan. West
previous report of CGS said the number across all categories of
and were not avoiding public gatherings. Bengal government has already set up check-posts
was 720. “So, I thought about doing something and posted an article which engines, the higher the PRAYER TIMING JUNE 12
Asked about the difference, Humayun engine capacity, the lesser along the India-Bangladesh border, he adds. Fazr Juma Asr Maghrib Esha
describes what the coronavirus is. It got about 1,000 shares within a short
Kabir, assistant research manager at BPO, the increase in tax. Referring to the allegation of fish smuggling into AZAN 4-05 12-30 5-006-50 8-15
time,” he said.
SEE PAGE 12 COL 1 SEE PAGE 8 COL 1 SEE PAGE 12 COL 3 SEE PAGE 12 COL 4 JAMAAT 4-40 1-15 5-15 6-55 8-45
SOURCE: ISLAMIC FOUNDATION

Zafrullah Virus deaths top

recovering
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Gonoshasthaya Kendra
Founder and Trustee Dr
Zafrullah Chowdhury is
gradually recovering from
pneumonia, an official of
the Gonoshasthaya Nagar
Hospital said yesterday.
“The severe lungs
pneumonia of Dr Zafrullah
Chowdhury is being cured
slowly and his amount
of oxygen intake is
decreasing,” Brig Gen (retd)
Professor Mamun Mustafi,
a physician at the hospital,
told The Daily Star.
Mustafi said that
Dr Zafrullah is being
given regular dialysis,
measured antibiotics and
physiotherapy.
“He [Dr Zafrullah] has
thanked everybody and
asked everyone to pray for
him,” Prof Mustafi added.
Mohammad Forhad,
public relations officer of
Gonoshasthaya Kendra,
told The Daily Star,
“After waking up today
[Thursday], Dr Zafrullah
walked inside the room for
a while and had breakfast
by himself. [His] physical
condition seems better
than yesterday.”
SEE PAGE 12 COL 1
70,000 in LatAm
US, Russia mark grim new
milestone of cases
AGENCIES
Brussels set out plans to reopen the EU’s internal borders
yesterday, even as the global coronavirus outbreak hit
worrying new landmarks in the United States, Latin
America and Russia.
The European Commission recommended that the 27
EU members fully reopen their frontiers with each other
on June 15 and with the western Balkans from July 1.
Europe’s borders with the world beyond will open more
gradually after that -- and only to countries where the
pandemic is seen as under control.
The United States, which has the world’s highest number
of deaths and infections, marked a grim new milestone as
recorded cases surged past two million yesterday.
Russia meanwhile passed the symbolic milestone of
500,000 confirmed cases, and Iran said 180,000 have been
infected there.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Latin America passed
70,000 fatalities on Wednesday. Brazil, the region’s worst-
hit country, accounts for more than half of the total deaths
in the region.
In all, the novel coronavirus has killed at least 417,000
people since the outbreak emerged in China last December,
according to an AFP tally of official sources.
At least 7.4 million cases of coronavirus have been
registered in 196 countries and territories.
ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE
The epidemic, along with economic and social lockdowns
imposed by governments to contain its spread, has also left
Doctors clad in PPEs enter the Covid-19 unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Despite fears of infection, they economic devastation in its wake.
PHOTO:
have been treating patients for around two months, staying at a city hospital far from home. The photo was taken AMRAN HOSSAIN The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
recently. SEE PAGE 12 COL 3

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