Mizan Rahman

PM for 6-month maternity leave
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said maternity leave should be increased to six months from the present four months.
“Maternity leave should be increased to six months. I think four months' maternity leave is not enough for the mothers to take best care of their new born babies,” the premier said while speaking at a function at Osmani Memorial auditorium in the capital.
Bangladesh government and Unicef jointly arranged the function marking the Safe Motherhood Day observed on May 28.
A total of 27 health facilities from seven divisions have received best performance awards. The prime minister distributed the awards among the recipients.
On maternity leave, Hasina said her previous government had increased maternity leave to four months.
“Nowadays the mothers usually take one or two babies. So I think if they are given six months leave, it will not hamper anything,” she said.
Justifying her stand for increasing the maternity leave, she said after six months, a baby attains the capacity to take hard foods.
The PM also called for setting up Mothers' Corner and Day-care centres at all government and non-government offices, shopping malls, buses, rail stations and all other public places.
“A working mother, having a new born baby, has to attend office keeping her baby at home. That's why mothers cannot be attentive at office while the baby also does not get the best care of mother,” she said.
On the Mothers' Corner, the PM said mothers must be given an ideal environment for breast-feeding while she stays in office.
Hasina also suggested the young mothers to live in joint families instead of going for single family.
“Unfortunately, young generation are becoming materialistic. They want to get their own single family. But if the young mothers stay in joint family, their children can get better care,” she said.
Drawing attention to gender discrimination in the society, Hasina requested guardians of the families including mother-in-laws, neighbours, husbands and all relatives to be more careful to the expecting women.
Hasina revealed that the government in a fresh move is going to appoint 13,500 community health providers in a bid to provide mothers and children with more quality services.
Besides, 13,500 skilled birth attendants will be created by 2,015 to ensure safe child delivery at home, Hasina revealed.
Moreover, the government is giving 6 months' training to women field health workers on midwifery activities, she said.
Apart from the field workers, senior family members like grandmothers and aunts can be given training on midwifery, she added.
“If we can train the grandmothers, then pressure on the field workers will be reduced,” the premier said.
The premier also said the present government is strongly committed to providing all citizens of the country with modern and quality health services.
She said the government is working with an aim of reducing maternal mortality rate to 1.5 percent from the present rate of 3.8 percent by the year 2021.
Hasina said the last Awami League government had taken steps to set up one community health clinic for each 6,000 persons and 10,723 clinics were established under the project.
But the next BNP-Jamaat government had dropped the project. “However, we again have started giving services at 9,722 community health clinics,” she said.
Health Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali presided over the function while Health Minister A F M Ruhal Haque and State Minister for Health Affairs Captain (retd) Mojibar Rahman Fakir, among others, addressed in the meeting.


Telecom law amendment bill placed
A bill was placed in parliament yesterday for amending the telecommunication law with a provision of stern action against individuals using telecom or radio apparatus for malicious purposes.
An individual could face imprisonment of up to five years, or a maximum fine of Tk 300 crore or both for "activities against national harmony, public security and friendly relations with neighbouring countries" through use of telecom or radio apparatus, said the bill.
If any posting or exchange of message against national harmony appears on the web, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) would ask the telecom service provider to remove it before taking any tough action.
But if the directive is not complied with, stern actions would be taken against individuals or organisations responsible, it said.
The bill proposed that the authority to issue licences, and make financial and policy decisions should rest with the government, not the BTRC, which now enjoys the privileges exclusively.
The BTRC would issue licences on prior approval of the government, it said.
Another proposal was made for awarding punishment to telecom operators for wrongdoings without giving them scope for challenging the decision on cancellation and suspension of licences.
The bill placed by the post and telecommunications minister suggested a fine up to Tk 300 crore for violation of the provisions of the law.
It contains a few clauses outlining the means to bring the VoIP (voice over internet protocol) business under a legal framework.
The bill suggesting scaling up the punishment up to five years' imprisonment from six months or a maximum fine of Tk 5 crore from Tk 50,000 or both for posting obscene, indecent, threatening and grossly insulting message through use of telecom or radio apparatus.
Once the bill gets through, a "Social Obligation Fund" will be raised for expansion of telecom network in remote areas.
In defence of the proposed changes, Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu said the amendments are required to materialise the vision to have a "digital Bangladesh".
In a brief statement tagged with a copy of the bill, he said the bill contains a provision for legalising VoIP business and issuing VoIP call termination operator licences to generate employment.
The minister said if the bill gets through, it would help curb illegal use of telecom technology and increase revenue income.
The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry for scrutiny. The committee was asked to turn in a report in the House within 15 days.