Cabinet approves draft of Rabindranath varsity act

The cabinet approved on Monday the draft Rabindranath University, Bangladesh Act, 2015 for carrying out research on the Nobel laureate's works and philosophy along with introducing other subjects.  
"Establishing the university was the prime minister's commitment. The ministry of education presented the draft to the cabinet," Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the regular weekly cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at the Cabinet Division at Bangladesh Secretariat on the day.
The cabinet secretary said the PM laid the foundation stone of the university at Shahajadpur in Sirajganj on Saturday last.
He said to open an university there should be a separate law. As the Rabindranath University is a public university so the cabinet gave approval to the draft of Rabindranath University, Bangladesh Act, 2015.
He said the university will not only carry out research on Tagore's works, his philosophy and vision on world culture but also offer other subjects that are needed for the present day.
There will be other faculties such as humanities, dance, fine arts, drama, social science, agriculture and cooperatives, business administration, law, science, engineering and technology.
The council of ministers also approved the draft Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015.
Meanwhile, the prime minister asked district officials, border guard, law-enforcing agencies and political leaders to remain careful against any ploy to create trouble in the enclaves along Indian border by any quarter at the time of execution of the Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).
She held the videoconference from the cabinet room of the Bangladesh Secretariat after weekly cabinet meeting.
The cabinet secretary was present at the time of video conference.  
She talked to the district development coordination committees of Panchagarh and Tangail while Jamalpur, Thakurgaon, Gaibandha, Kishoreganj and offices of the divisional commissioners of Dhaka and Rangpur remained connected.
During the videoconference with the District Development Coordination Committees of six districts and concerned divisional commissioners, Sheikh Hasina said, "Our main task is to implement the LBA properly".
She assured that the people of the enclaves would not face any trouble and none should be intimidated.
She gave the directives to district officials, border guard, law-enforcing agencies and political leaders to keep in touch with the people of the enclaves to resolve their problems.
"The people living in the enclaves have passed their days in a very painful and abject situation over the last 68 years.
"Now, it is our duty to take necessary steps for their overall development," she mentioned.  
In this regard, she mentioned that the government has taken some projects for building schools, hospitals and infrastructure, shelter and others for the overall development and welfare of the enclaves' people.
During the conversation, the PM discussed in detail with the officials about execution of development projects, performance of the government, law and order, local problems and gave necessary guidelines to the officials to bring dynamism in the activities of the local administration.
She said that her government envisaged reducing poverty by at least 10 per cent during the remaining time of the current tenure.
"So, the government officials have to work hard for implementation of the projects taken for development," she said.
The cabinet also discussed about the historic bill passed by the Indian parliament to ratify the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh, a cabinet member preferring anonymity said.
They (Cabinet) criticised the BNP chairperson as she did not give thanks to the government but conveyed thanks to the Indian government for passing the LBA bill in their parliament.  
The council of ministers also congratulated three Bangalee women for being elected  members of the British parliament.  
Some senior cabinet members suggested for sending an official team to Assam and Tripura to give thanks to the state governments there.
The cabinet was apprised about the industries minister's participation in the 10th North East Business Summit (Development through Partnership with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries) on March 13- 14 in New Delhi and participation of the state minister in Women in Parliaments (WIP) Annual Summit 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from March 23-25 last.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com