Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said Bangladesh would be fully free from hunger by 2030.
“The country would turn into a completely hunger-free Bangladesh by 2030,” he said while addressing a function marking the distribution of awards to 469 census workers in various levels for their contributions in the main census work of Economic Census-2013.
Mustafa Kamal said that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is playing a vital role to help take proper planning to this end.
State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan spoke as the special guest at the function at the BBS auditorium. Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary M Nojibur Rahman presided.
Mentioning that there is no alternative to accurate statistics for undertaking any quality decision, the Planning Minister said that the BBS has been doing this work.
Bangladesh is gradually turning into an industry-based economy from an agriculture-based country, he added.
Lauding the government’s success in poverty alleviation, Mustafa Kamal said that the poverty rate has now come down to 26 percent from 41 percent when the previous Awami League-led Grand Alliance government assumed office in 2009.
He also noted with satisfaction that Bangladesh is doing better in social development indexes, ahead of India and, in some cases, ahead of even China.
State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan said dynamism has been infused in the activities of the BBS in recent times while the base year of the GDP has been changed to 2005-06, which is also very encouraging.
Mentioning that the present government is pledge-bound to develop the country’s statistical system, he said that the government has formed the Statistics and Informatics Division replacing the now defunct Statistics Division to bring more dynamism in the statistical system.
Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary M Nojibur Rahman said that the government has already enacted the Statistics Act-2013 and also formulated the National Strategy for Statistical Development.
He also informed that steps have been taken to expand the offices of the BBS to the union level in a bid to improve qualitative standard of statistics.
BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal said that the Economic Census-2013 was conducted across the country from 31 March-30 May 2013 where some 81,370 census workers were engaged.
He said now the work for coding and editing are undergoing and by June 2015 some 66 reports would be published. This will included 64 district reports, one administrative report and one national report.
Earlier, the Planning Minister and the State Minister for Finance and Planning visited the BBS museum.
Planning Commission members and high officials of the BBS were, among others, present on the occasion.
Source: UNB Connect
