Bangladesh has deployed 15,000 troops to distribute food to 30 million of its poorest people ahead of the annual harvest, the country's food minister said yesterday.
"It's the biggest ever vulnerable group feeding program in Bangladesh's history and we will do it only for the month of September and October when people in the rural areas don't have much work to do," minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Youssuf said.
The program will reach 6.5 million families or almost one-fifth of the population of 140 million people, Youssuf said, adding that the government expects food prices to drop by November with the new rice crop.
"The troops have started to move out to the districts and are making preparations for the vulnerable group feeding program," Youssuf said.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual per capita income of US$445, according to the government.
Under the program, ration cards will be given to the poorest 1,500 families in each of the country's 4,484 unions, the smallest administrative unit of the country, Youssuf said.
"The army men will screen out which families are fit for the program, distribute the ration cards to them and ensure efficient distribution of food," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nazrul Islam said.
The most vulnerable 1,000 families in each area will be given 10kg of rice free for this month and next month, while the remaining 500 families identified will get 10kg of rice but have to pay three taka (US$0.05) per kilogram, less than the going rate of 18 taka.
"Previously, we undertook vulnerable feeding programs mostly for the northern areas where the opportunity for work is very little. But this year we will cover the whole country," Youssuf said.
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS