Dwaipayan Barua

As a part of its aggressive push to increase the country’s food stock, the government yesterday approved three proposals to import a total of 3.5 lakh tonnes of rice from India, Thailand and Vietnam under state-to-state arrangements.

To replenish the country’s fast-depleting food stock, the government has approved a proposal to lessen the time of bidding process by over a month for ensuring a faster import of rice.

The government has slashed the development budget for the current fiscal year by 3.26 per cent, keeping the local portion of the fund almost unchanged while trimming the foreign part.

As commodities start to be imported in increasing quantities ahead of Ramadan, containers have started piling up at the Chattogram port as traders are not promptly receiving consignments.

The allocation to the revised annual development programme may trim by only Tk 7 lakh although the government had decided to put low-priority projects on hold in the beginning of the fiscal year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has set an ambitious target of earning $150 billion through remittance between July 2020 and June 2025, according to a document on the 8th Five-Year Plan.

Drinking tea is increasingly becoming a part of family, social and professional life in Bangladesh as young, grownups and even kids alike like to take a sip at the world’s most popular beverage.

The government is going to amend procurement rules to import rice, wheat and other commodities in the fastest possible time.

Defeated BNP mayoral candidate Shahadat Hossain didn’t get any vote in at least seven polling centres and bagged single-digit votes at 80 centres in the Chattogram City Corporation Polls, said a top official at the Returning Office in the port city.

For the first time in the Chattogram City Corporation polls history, none of the BNP or Jamaat-supported councillor candidates won in any of the 41 general and 14 reserved wards in Wednesday’s election.

Three The Daily Star correspondents visited six centres of the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) polls, housed in two schools in the port city.

More than 19 lakh voters are going to decide today the outcome of a high-voltage contest between the ruling Awami League and its archrival BNP in the Chattogram City Corporation election amid tight security.

Almost half the complaints filed by mayor and councillor candidates in the Chattogram City Corporation elections, to be held tomorrow, are yet to be addressed.

Women make up 48.83 percent of the electorate in the Chattogram City Corporation polls, but they feel neglected in the pledges made by the two major candidates. Women voters of Chattogram feel that the candidates did not place enough importance in tackling gender-based issues.

BNP nominated mayoral candidate Dr Shahadat Hossain yesterday pledged to make Chattogram city safe, clean and tourist-friendly, keeping international standards and communal harmony in mind.

Tea production in Bangladesh dropped 10.01 per cent year-on-year in 2020 because of adverse weather.

Both import and export costs have risen after the sea freight rate trebled in two months because of an acute shortage of empty containers and a rise in demand on the Asia-Europe and transpacific routes.

The cabinet committee on government purchase yesterday approved a proposal to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat.

The government in June last year granted a blanket immunity for whitening black money in a bid to bring them into the mainstream economy and generate more revenues and jobs.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said that black money whitening has increased in the country as the government has given the scope to invest untaxed income in the housing sector.