The proposed budget, placed before parliament just two days before World Environment Day, shows the government is hardly concerned about the country’s environmental degradation.

On Thursday, the authorities of Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital increased the number of beds for Covid-19 patients to 30 from 20 to tackle the rush of patients.

Expectations were high that the proposed budget for fiscal 2021-22 would address the hardships of the sizeable population of new poor created by the pandemic. But it failed on that count, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue yesterday.

The controversial move to legalise untaxed money with ease, which was absent in Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s proposed fiscal measures for the incoming financial year, might continue, after all.

China has expressed annoyance over making public its offered selling price of Sinopharm vaccine to Bangladesh.

Several mills and factories with dyeing and printing units have long been polluting rivers and other water bodies in Tangail by dumping industrial waste into them.

Sixteen people died at the Covid unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in 24 hours until 8:00am yesterday. The surge in deaths and positive cases was also reported in other bordering districts.

Leading business associations yesterday lauded the government’s proposed budgetary measures, but pointed out that implementing those would be a major challenge.

The budget has not proposed any direct cash support to revive the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) sector, where millions of workers lost jobs, though the government proposed some short tax-relief measures.

All eyes were on how Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal would plan to revamp the country’s ill-equipped and Covid-battered health sector when he presented the 50th budget yesterday.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has stuck to his strategy of making higher allocation for the health sector to combat the pandemic, protect the poor and businesses, and speed up economic recovery.

The mega projects, whose completion are expected to raise Bangladesh’s GDP by as much as 4 percent, got about 48 percent more allocation in the upcoming fiscal year, as part of the government’s push to ensure their timely implementation.

Amidst a clamour to ensure digitalisation of all educational institutions and to get digital devices in the hands of all students, yesterday’s proposed budget for a Covid-battered education sector appeared to have glossed over those needs.

In a surprising move, the government has reduced the internal procurement target of food grains for the coming year, even though it had reached its lowest just two months ago in the current year.

Migrant worker Shahidul Islam, 38, returned home in January this year after injuring his right leg in a workplace accident while employed as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh.

Poverty steadily reduced for 30 years until 2019. Then came the pandemic.

One story that went viral last month was that of Narayanganj’s Farid Ahmed, who had called the national hotline seeking relief but was deemed “too rich” to get any government aid.

By the time you pick up this newspaper, you might have already been aware of the major changes in personal and corporate tax rates proposed for the next fiscal year.

Money is not a problem, and the government too intends to support the poor in their dire need. What’s the problem then? The government does not know who to help out!

The History of Budget