The Daily Independent Bangladesh, 2010-05-10

Union Information Service Centres (UISC) will be set up in over 1,000 Union Parishad complexes in the country to help rural people get public information and connect with the globe through internet.

State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak said this while inaugurating a day-long national seminar on "Realizing Union level Coordination all over the country through Networking" here yesterday. "Every union will be a mini parliament after implementation of participatory rural development projects", he said adding that the present government wants to make the Union Parishads as the central point of development by strengthening the local government and administrative decentralisation.

Participatory Rural Development Project-2 (PRDP-2) of Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) jointly organised the seminar at BIAM auditorium.

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Tamotsu Shinotsuka and Chief Representative of JICA in Bangladesh Dr. Takao Toda attended the seminar as guests.
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Tamotsu Shinotsuka said rural development and agriculture are the keys to alleviating poverty and making Bangladesh a prosperous nation.
He said the PRDP, supported by JICA, is the real reflection of Japanese support towards rural development of Bangladesh.
Professor Salauddin M Aminuzzaman of Public Administration Department of Dhaka University presented a keynote paper on 'Achievement of Union Parishad (UP) Strengthening and Next Challenges".

While Secretary of Rural Development and Cooperative Division Rokeya Sultana was in the chair.
Director General of BRDB M Humayun Khaled and Project Director of PRDP-2 Aminur Rahman Khan spoke, among others, on the occasion.
Nanak said the present government has attached importance to strengthening local government and decentralisation of the administration.
In view of this, he said, the government has enacted the Local Government Act-2009 and Union Parishad Act-2009.

Union Parishads are getting direct fund from the government under the ongoing Local Government Support Project (LGSP), he said, adding that this fund helps UP chairman take and implement development projects in their areas.
The state minister said in pursuit of building a digital Bangladesh by 2021, all UPs would be brought under information network technology and thus these would play an important role in providing one-stop service to the people.
The Japanese envoy said rural development and agriculture are the keys to alleviating poverty and making Bangladesh a prosperous nation. He said the PRDP, supported by JICA, is the real reflection of Japanese support towards rural development of Bangladesh.
The JICA Chief laid importance on making the government services based on public demand to build up faith and confidence of people in the government. He said the PRDP is an effective tool to coordinate all government activities with the people.

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