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Govt scraps purchase of 2 lakh EVMs

The government has decided to scrap the purchase of 2 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) citing the global economic recession. In October last year, the EC sent a proposal to the planning ministry to purchase two lakh electronic voting machines and their management with Tk 8,711.44 crore. With the national elections likely to be held in early January 2024, the EVM issue came to the fore especially after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at an AL meeting on May 7 said voting machines would be used in all 300 constituencies.

Students protest peer's death

Students of Northern University took to the streets in Kawla area on the capital's Airport road today to protest the death of Nadia, a student of the institution, who died after a Victor Paribahan bus hit a motorcycle yesterday. They blocked the roads around 12:15pm to press home their four-point demand -- arrest of the driver and helper, cancellation of route permit of the bus company, compensation to the victim's family, and stoppage of all buses at Kawla bus stand area. The students removed their blockade around 1:30pm.

Patient Referral System: Still elusive after all these years

Under a referral system, a patient first goes to a nearby primary healthcare centre, public or private. If need be, that healthcare centre will send the patient to hospitals that are better equipped to treat them.In 2014, then health minister Mohammad Nasim at an event officially announced the inception of a patient referral system for Rangpur division. However, the system fell flat due to inadequate logistic support and unavailability of qualified physicians and auxiliary workforce at primary healthcare centres.

RMG export to Russia drops sharply

Shipment of garment items to Russia declined sharply by 47.06 per cent year-on-year to reach $180.64 million in the July-December period of the current fiscal year. Bangladesh shipped apparel items worth $593.66 million to Russia in the last fiscal year of 2021-22, which comprised $373.25 million worth of knitwear items and $220.41 million worth of woven items. According to Rajiv Chowdhury, managing director of Young4ever Textiles, almost all major retailers and brands primarily have left the Russian markets and the Western countries have put a ban on the use of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) by Russian banks.

After energy, LC opening crisis now cripples businesses

In the middle of 2022, power and gas crisis came, forcing the countrymen to suffer power cuts and factories to run below capacity. Amid the worsening energy and power crisis, the winter emerges as a saviour as electricity demand fell. Still, load-shedding remains while factories are yet to receive an adequate supply of gas amid insufficient local production and the pause in buying liquefied natural gas from international spot markets.