The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is stepping today (Friday) into the fifth and the last year of its successive second term in office with steering the nation toward achieving a significant progress in economy, infrastructure, diplomacy, national security and overall development.
On January 12 in 2014, the Awami League that led the nation’s War of Independence in 1971 under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, formed the government for the second consecutive term after a landslide victory in the election to the 10th Jatiya Sangsad.
Marking the auspicious day, the prime minister will address the nation in the evening, which will be aired simultaneously on Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and different private television channels and radio stations.
Like previous years, the premier is expected to highlight the major achievements of the government and draw the priority agenda for the next year toward her ceaseless and strong endeavor to make Bangladesh a prosperous country.
In the past four years, the leadership and achievements of Sheikh Hasina drew many prestigious global accolades like “Mother of Humanity” and “New Star of the East” for setting up a unique example of humanity and peace by providing shelter to thousands of Rohingya who fled the “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” in their homeland Myanmar.
Under the premier’s dynamic stewardship, Bangladesh last year witnessed significant successes in infrastructure development, poverty alleviation, power generation, nutrition, maternal and child health, primary education and women empowerment.
In every aspect of socioeconomic indicator, the country has earned impressive achievements and is now marching ahead with attaining continuous growth, raising per capita income, implementing mega projects.
Academics of renowned universities of the world described Sheikh Hasina as an “ambassador of global peace” and the “main leader of the humanitarian world”.
David Hampton, the dean of the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University, believes that Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina has given new dimensions to peace on the Rohingya issue.
Dr. Henrik Urdal, the head of Peace and Research Institute under the Australian National University in Canberra, said Sheikh Hasina should be the leader of world peace for her contribution to the establishment of world peace.
The international community highly praised the Bangladesh prime minister’s address to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on September 21 where she placed a five-point proposal to solve the protracted Rohingya crisis.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s economy
posted a GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate of 7.28 percent, a foreign
currency reserve of $32.1 billion, and exports worth $38.50 billion in 2016-
17 fiscal year.
Per capita income has surged to $1,610 when the inflation was 5.03 percent
in December, the lowest in past 53 months. Poverty has been slashed from 57
percent to 22 percent in less than two decades, while life expectancy
increased to 72 years.
The lives of 162 million people are being transformed into a digitalized
knowledge-based society thanks to the present government’s ‘Digital
Bangladesh’ vision.
Economist and former Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of
Development Studies (BIDS) Dr Mustafa K Mujeri told BSS that the present
government wants to turn Bangladesh into a mid-income country by 2021 and a
prosperous developed one by 2041.
The country’s agriculture sector witnessed major development in the recent
years with attaining self-reliance in meeting demand of staple food-grain.
“The agriculture sector is now in a better position due to some effective
policy measures and timely support by the government,” Director General of
Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) Abul Kalam Azad told BSS.
The government expanded the coverage of its safety-net programme and
increased allocation for it to provide financial support to 57.67 lakh people
helping them come out of poverty.
As many as 83 percent people of the country are now getting electricity as
Bangladesh’s total electricity generation capacity has reached nearly 16,000
megawatts.
Bangladesh tops the South Asian countries in gender parity and ranks 7th
globally in political empowerment of women, according to the Global Gender
Gap Report 2016.
The work on the mega projects like Padma Bridge, Rooppur Nuclear Power
Plant, the Metro Rail, the Rampal Power Plant, Payra Seaport, Matarbari Power
Plant, Padma Bridge Rail Link and Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum Rail Line got a
momentum last year.
The country entered the global nuclear club as Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina inaugurated the main construction work on the much-awaited Rooppur
Nuclear Power Plant, the maiden nuclear plant of the country, on November 30
last year.
The work on the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, a dream project of the prime
minister, and the biggest in the country’s physical infrastructure sector, is
progressing fast as its 50 percent work has already been completed.
The country’s first ever six-lane flyover, which was completed ahead of
its schedule, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 4 at
Mohipal in Feni district.
The premier on December 10 inaugurated the newly-built ‘Sheikh Hasina
Software Technology Park’ in Jessore opening a new horizon of potentiality in
the country’s ICT sector.
