Current Affairs

Organized by:
Profile of Bengal & Dhaka university management club

1.Poverty
2.Energy and Power Supply
3.Health
4.Budget Deficit
5.Climate Change
6.Employment

1. Poverty

A) 3-pronged long-term approach
I) ensure good health
(1) Enhance quality of public healthcare system
II) Provide quality education
(1) Enhance quality of public education (primary & secondary)
(2) Emphasize vocational/technical education

III) Create proper employment opportunity
(1) Public investment in industries - builds new factories and mills, resume operation in
closed factories

B) Set up surveillance and monitoring framework for ensuring proper distribution of social
benefits

C) Increase compatibility with prsp-2

D) Bangladesh bank should take expansionary monetary policy to match the fiscal policy
I) do not heed the self-serving advice of if and web

E) Remittances should be encouraged to go through legal channels so that they can be
efficiently invested

F) Strengthen and empower local governments to ensure proper distribution of benefits, like
the panchayet of India

G) Reduce duty on primary and intermediary goods

H) Make endowment fund to increase skills of industry workers

2. Energy and power supply

A) Invest hugely in energy infrastructure - increase allocation in real terms adjusting for
inflation
B) Immediate import arrangement to avoid inefficiency and closure of industries
C) Visionary energy policy
I) increase prices to reduce wastage
II) Consider handing over distribution channels to private sector
III) Consider nuclear energy as an extremely cost-efficient, non-gig-generating energy
source
IV) Seriously drive renewable energy like solar, biogas, etc.

D) Depict implementation mechanism clearly

E) Prioritize industrial sector rather than households for electricity

F) Take public-private joint venture initiatives

G) Regional collaboration for energy production can be considered

H) Corporatization of state-owned enterprises might increase efficiency

I) allocation in bpc should be increased

3. Health

A) Channel the revenue from taxes on cigarettes directly into the health sector

B) Increase allocation drastically, not only in nominal terms, but in percentage terms after
adjusting for inflation
I) divert resources from defense if need be

C) Allocate greater proportion of budget on hr development - we need many more doctors,
nurses and health professionals

D) Increase incentive for doctors posted in rural areas

4. Budget deficit

A) Reduce the total budget amount so that we don’t need fresh loans
I) interest and loan repayments are already the biggest chunks of our national budget -
we are in a vicious cycle of debt which we cannot get out of

B) Do not emphasize local banks as source of domestic financing
I) crowding out of private investment
II) Lending rate may rise
III) Unemployment may increase
IV) Price level may go up

C) Govt. Can urge banks to raise the paid up capitals

D) Use capital market instruments

5. Climate change

A) Employment guarantee scheme can be used for forestation

B) We are not contributors but victims - we should put primary focus on disaster management
rather than prevention oriented research
I) investment needed to reduce harms to agriculture
(1)Increase storage capacity for agricultural goods in the face of imminent natural
disasters
(2) use of gene sub-1, a new variety produced by irri, which can survive under water

C) Increase capacity of dealing with cc
I) scholarships for students studying on issues relating to climate change

D) Research needs to happen on local varieties of crops which do not harm the environment,
unlike irri’s hybrid/gm varieties

E) Research is important to determine the true implications of cc on Bangladesh, and to voice
those concerns to the international community such as ipcc

F) We should demand compensation from rich countries

G) Environment and ecology friendly industrialization is necessary, and the research money
needs to be invested in this

6. Employment

A) 100 days employment must be defined clearly
I) forestation can be a way of employing the labor to fruitful use

B) Private sector employs the most people, so it must be emphasized

C) Export of manpower can be a good source of employment - long term strategies must be
identified

D) Projects need to be defined clearly

E) If remittance is channeled properly, more employment will be created

F) Strategic geographic mapping