Perform duties with honesty, sincerity

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked on Monday the new cabinet to work with sincerity and honesty to fulfill the hopes and aspiration of the countrymen who reelected Awami League with huge mandate, report agencies.

"You'll have to work with utmost honesty and sincerity to achieve our goal of establishing Bangladesh as a hunger-and-poverty-free developed and prosperous country," she said in her introductory speech of the maiden meeting of the new cabinet held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at Tejgaon in the city.

At the outset of the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam greeted the Prime Minister by presenting her with a bouquet, meeting sources said.

Sheikh Hasina said the pace of progress and development that the Awami League initiated in its two past terms have to be advanced in the coming days.

She said her previous governments successfully finished many projects, while many mega schemes are under implementation. "The new cabinet will maintain the continuation of those works," she said.

The cabinet approved a proposal for reconstituting the cabinet committee on reviewing the report of the Ninth Wage Board for journalists and employees working in newspapers and news agencies.

"Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader will head the seven-member committee," the cabinet secretary said.

Briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said other members of the committee are Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Industries Minister Nurul Mazid Mahmud Humayun, State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid and State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Munnujan Sufian.

The cabinet secretary said the committee has been changed, but its terms of reference remain the same.

If the committee cannot submit its report by January 28, Alam said, it can take time for placing the report.

Mr Alam said the cabinet has done away with the quota system for government jobs, but has kept the quota for people with disabilities unchanged.

The law cannot be changed by administrative order, he said, and the various quotas for people with disabilities 'will remain as before'.

It was not clear from his remarks how the quota for people with disabilities will be implemented.

The cabinet approved a national action plan on disabilities based on the 'Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act 2013' and the 'Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2015.

Asked what percentage quota was being implemented for people with disabilities, Shafiul said: "There were various quotas in various sectors."

Asked how the quota for disabilities has remained, the cabinet secretary said: "The quota is as it was before."

The cabinet approved the draft speech of President Abdul Hamid to be delivered at the inaugural session of the 11th Parliament, which will begin on January 30 next.

The full speech, having some 75,000 words, will be placed in the House at the maiden session of the new parliament.

But the President will read out the short version of his written speech having 6,000 words in Parliament.

The speech will focus on the country's overall scenario, including economic development and activities, the government's measures taken to establish good governance, the activities taken for implementing the Vision 2021 and the Vision 2041, and the government's measures and successes in improvement of the country's socio-economic status, said the Cabinet Secretary.

Besides, the Cabinet gave the final approval to the drafts of three bills-the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kilns Establishment (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the National Social Welfare Association Bill, 2018 and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Land Acquisition) Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019.