Newspaper (April 24): ‘Election marred by serious irregularities’

‘Elections have been hampered by serious irregularities’, this is the front page news of Manabzamin newspaper. According to a report published by the United States, the recent elections held in Bangladesh were not free and fair. This is because the election has been marred by serious irregularities. National elections have been widely reported to have been free or without irregularities.

The Bangladesh part of the report entitled ‘2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ of the United States has highlighted various issues including extrajudicial killings, disappearances, independence of the judiciary, obstruction of free expression, censorship on the media.

The report was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country around 11:30 PM local time of Bangladesh. This report has been published on almost all countries of the world.

It is said that the chairperson of the main opposition party BNP and former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been transferred from jail and kept under house arrest. He is not allowed to go abroad for medical treatment even if it is essential.

It has also been said that dissident political leaders and activists are being detained and arrested arbitrarily.

At least 29 people have died in the heat wave in five days from last Friday to yesterday Tuesday, the media has reported. Deaths increased by 22 percent during extreme heatwave days.

According to the report, one crore seven million people in five major cities of the country are now at risk of severe heat.

Besides, people are getting sick and losing their performance due to over-exertion in intense heat. Dhaka city alone is losing about 60 thousand crores worth of labor productivity every year.

It also said that despite so much death and so much damage, the government still does not consider heat waves like floods and cyclones as ‘natural disasters’.

Also, the report states that the government has no significant program to reduce the temperature.

It is said here that seven people, including policemen, traders and farmers, died of heatstroke in Bogra, Khulna, Patuakhali, Jamalpur, Comilla’s Burichong and Natore on Tuesday due to intense heat. Also, the overall temperature may rise across the country on Wednesday as well.

Meteorologist Bajlur Rashid said that there is no possibility of any change in the current weather conditions before April 25. However, there may be some rain in Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chittagong divisions. Of course, the weather will not improve much, said the Meteorological Department.

Dhaka-Doha’s concerns about the Middle East, Kaler Kantha newspaper reports that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed the situation in the Middle East and expressed concern at a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka on Tuesday.

After the meeting, five agreements and memorandum of understanding (MOU) were signed between the two countries. The agreements are on: avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion, cooperation in legal matters, maritime transport, mutual investment promotion and protection and establishment of a joint trade council.

Apart from this, five MoUs have been signed including cooperation in manpower, higher education and scientific research and diplomatic training.

This is the first state visit from the Middle East since the formation of the new government in Bangladesh. The visit was held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Qatar.

This news about the Emir of Qatar’s visit to Bangladesh made headlines in Jugantar, The Daily Star, Manabzamin, Samakal and many other newspapers.

Load-shedding more frequent in villages – the main headline of Gramanchle New Age newspaper. It said loadshedding is more frequent in villages than in cities due to the intense heat wave that has been raging in Bangladesh for two weeks.

Global warming puts the poor at greater risk than the rich, the report says. The condition of the poor in countries like Bangladesh is even worse. Because senior officials of the country’s five power distribution companies say that city dwellers are given priority in the matter of electricity.

It added that the disparity between urban and rural areas came to the fore on Tuesday when the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) boasted about setting a record in power generation, saying that urban power distributors were getting as much power as they needed. But the villages of Bangladesh remain without electricity for up to eight hours.

Rail fares to rise by up to 30 percent, headlines Naya Diganta front page It has been said here that the fares of all types of passenger trains – intercity, mail, local and commuter – will increase from May 4. However, the fare will remain unchanged up to 100 km.

By doing this, the fare of Sobhan class from Dhaka to Chittagong will increase by Tk 60 and the fare of AC Snigdha class will increase by Tk 120. The fare for sleeping in an AC room will increase by Rs. 216. However, the fare will not increase in any short distance train from Dhaka including Narsingdi, Joydevpur, Faridpur.

Basically, due to revenue shortfall, the government has taken various initiatives to increase revenue from various sectors. In this, the losses of the railways have exceeded 2000 crore rupees annually. In such a situation, the issue of increase in railway fare comes to the fore. In this situation, the Railways took the initiative to increase the income by canceling the concession without increasing the fare. In this, the company has estimated that it will be able to earn an additional income of 300 crore rupees annually.

An April way hotter than 30-year average. This is a front page news headline in The Daily Star. According to the data of the Meteorological Department, it is said here that in the last seven days, the temperature in the heatwave prone areas of the country, including the capital, has been seen four to five degrees Celsius higher than the same seven days in the last 30 years.

For example, the average temperature of Dhaka on April 23 for the past three decades was 33.6 degrees Celsius. But yesterday the maximum temperature of Dhaka rose up to 38.4 degrees Celsius.

The mercury is now rising to 42 degrees or more in different parts of Bangladesh. Hence, such a high level of humidity in such conditions is becoming uncomfortable for the public.

‘The bus was 43 years old, running without fitness’ — this is the main headline of Prothom Alo magazine. It is said here that two students of Chittagong University of Engineering (CHUET) were killed on Monday after being hit by a 43-year-old ‘Lakkar Jhakkar’ bus.

The wrecked car was bought and repaired and brought down on the Chittagong-Kaptai road under the name of Shah Amanat Paribahan. Shah Amanat Paribahan Service has been started with 30 such broken cars on Chittagong-Kaptai road a year ago.

Meanwhile, according to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), there are more than 70,000 unfit vehicles among the total number of registered vehicles plying in Chittagong city and district, which are mostly plying on roads. Also, 261 people were killed in 322 accidents in Chittagong division in the last three months. Meanwhile, in April alone, 60 people died in accidents in Chittagong during Eid.

Most of the banks are borrowing from the central bank, this is the front page news of Vanik Barta newspaper. It is said here that even after Eid-ul-Fitr, the liquidity situation in the banking sector of the country has not stabilized. Rather, cash crunch has increased in most of the banks. Two-thirds of the banks are borrowing money from the central bank to meet daily transactions.

Last Monday also, the amount borrowed from the central bank was 18 thousand 612 crores. On the same day, more than three and a half thousand crore rupees were borrowed from the interbank currency market (Kalmani). As the demand is intense, the interest rate of Kolmani market is still more than nine and a half percent.

There is a liquidity crisis in the country’s banking sector for more than a year. The crisis intensified before Eid-ul-Fitr. On March 27, more than 40 banks borrowed a record Tk 28,867 crore from the central bank. At that time, Bangladesh Bank and commercial banks said that before Eid, cash transactions increased in the country, so the pressure to withdraw cash from banks increased. After Eid, the cash left in the hands of traders and customers will return to the bank. Then the liquidity situation will also be normal.

Although the liquidity situation in the banking sector has not normalized in the last one week after Eid. Rather, the cash crisis in some banks has become more acute at this time.

6,000 crores in interest expense before moving on, this is the main headline of the Desh Parvant newspaper. The report said that Asia’s most expensive metro rail was Bangladesh’s MRT-6. Now it is being overtaken by MRT-5 (Southern). It will cost more than 3 thousand 175 crore rupees per kilometer. Compared to the metro rail projects implemented in different cities of India, this project in Bangladesh is going to be implemented at least six times more cost.

After the launch of MRT-6, the government has undertaken the most expensive project of the metro rail. The project named MRT-5 (Southern) will cost 54 thousand 619 crores.

The project of 17.2 kilometers is in the final stage of approval with the loan of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Korean Exim Bank. 6000 crore rupees will be spent on interest and loan repayment during this project, which the Planning Commission feels is against financial and planning discipline.

5 hours to stay in exam hall, today’s newspaper front page headline. Here it is stated that the Madhyamik School Certificate and Equivalent Examination (SSC) of 2025 will be as per the new syllabus. Students will be evaluated on a total of 10 subjects in this exam.

It will also have a written test. Students will be required to stay at the examination center for five hours including breaks for the assessment of each subject. Students will take part in the assessment at separate examination centers as at present.

This information is known from the report on ‘Public Assessment/Examination at the end of 10th standard 2025’ prepared by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).