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Bangladesh suffered a drop in the 'Inclusive Internet Index 2021' among 120 countries compared to its position in 2020, according to a latest global report.

The country has ranked 82nd on the list this time while it ranked 79th in 2020, showed the index report, commissioned by Facebook and conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The World Bank has signed $74m in two financing deals for Bangladesh to improve the country’s e-governance services and air quality.

A total of $29 million was allocated for the Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance Project, which will be spent to develop a shared technology infrastructure for government agencies. The money will go to improving efficiency, reducing IT risks and promoting e-government efforts.

The Bangladeshi embassy in UAE is outsourcing services as it struggles to meet demand while introducing passports with biometric data.

Five Bangladeshi typing centres, Janata Bank and Al Ansari Exchange have been enlisted to help as the embassy tries to replace the passports of 800,000 of its nationals in the UAE before an international deadline, according to Abu Dhabi-based The National.

Bangladesh’s strong political support for digital health strategy has influenced the rapid proliferation of e-health initiatives in the country, says a World Bank report released Wednesday

Bangladesh is expected to be the next destination for global big tech investments in facilitating digital health services, thanks to the country's "strong tracking record in e-health policies and practices", says the World Bank.

Bangladesh has ranked 119th among 193 countries in the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) 2020, according to a new report.

Earlier, the country held a similar position in the EGDI published in 2018.

Bangladesh, however, emerged as one of the leaders in e-government development among the LDCs, according to the latest report.

Despite the expansion of the fourth generation (4G) telecom network, Bangladesh has scored low among digital societies in the Asia Pacific region, according to a global report.

It said Bangladesh outperformed only Pakistan among 11 nations studied in the report styled as 'Digital societies in Asia Pacific: Accelerating progress through collaboration' prepared by the GSMA.

Bangladesh is looking towards India's flagship schemes of national population registration (NPR) and Aadhaar card.

Wary of increasing threats to its internal security and to implement targeted subsidy schemes for the benefit of its poverty ridden population, Bangladesh is looking towards India's flagship schemes of national population registration (NPR) and Aadhaar card.

Bangladesh has slipped four notches down to 119th position in the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) that measures the position of a country in terms of provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity.

Despite a downward move in ranking of 193 countries, Bangladesh has scored 0.5189 in the index that is higher than 0.4862 secured in the 2018 edition of the EGDI, according to the report.

Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy inaugurated the process on Wednesday by registering a SIM for himself.

“Bangladesh is the second country in the world to introduce this and I am proud of it,” he told a ceremony at the telecoms ministry.

A SIM card by state-owned operator Teletalk was issued to Joy, the prime minister’s son and her adviser.

Those are ‘digital natives’ – those who have born in the age of internet, ‘digital adaptors’ – those who have increasingly adopted themselves with internet usage and ‘digital outliers’ – who remain outside of the internet domain and are uninterested to use the internet.

He said bringing those “outliers” within the internet service realm is the “biggest challenge for us”.

The government has launched a call centre to give health information to the people across Bangladesh.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim on Sunday formally opened a number, 16263, calling which people can get advice round the clock.

He said this was one more initiative of Prime minister Sheikh Hasina to reach health services to the doorsteps of the people.

Clean air is important for everyone’s health. Yet, studies show that many people are disproportionately impacted by air pollution, including those who live in low-income communities. Exposure to poor air quality has been found to cause short- and long-term health effects, especially for older adults, children and pregnant women. The health burden of air pollution is higher for those living in areas of poor air quality. Residents of low-income neighbourhoods and communities may be more vulnerable to air pollution because of their proximity to air pollution sources such as factories, major roadways and ports with diesel truck operations. They also may be more susceptible to air pollution because of social and economic factors. Air pollution in Bangladesh is the worst in the world, reducing the average Bangladeshi’s life expectancy by 6.7 years, as a study shows.

Bangladesh is a developing country and the concept of digital Bangladesh is a dream for us. Digital Bangladesh Day will be celebrated on 12th December and extensive preparations are being made for this.

In order to survive in this age of globalization, we must focus on information technology. It is almost impossible to keep pace with the current world without the development of information technology. Bangladesh is a developing country and the concept of digital Bangladesh is a dream for us.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also her son, broke the news at an event in New York on Sunday.

The award will be handed over on Sept 30 in Mexico’s Guadalajara during a conference of the World Congress on ICT.

Internet.org, a Facebook invention that allows free internet browsing through mobile gadgets, has been introduced in Bangladesh.

ICT Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, has launched the service at an event with Robi Axiata Limited on Sunday.

Through the service, Robi subscribers will now have access to more than two dozen free basic services ranging from health, news, jobs, and e-government services, according to the Facebook page of Internet.org

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Tuesday said the proposed Digital Security law will be the elaborate version of the previously enacted Cyber Security law.

“With increased digital services, the crimes are not occurred only through online services, rather through digital devices. Therefore, we are planning an elaborate act to tackle all sorts of digital crimes”, the state minister told reporters at ICT division conference room in Agargaon.

State minister for information and communication technology Junaid Ahmed Palak had said that the United Nations Development Program is formulating the ‘Digital Strategy 2022-25’, which will further strengthen the culture of innovation and boost the digital transformation of Bangladesh.

The state minister made the remark while attending a meeting with Robert Opp, chief digital officer of the UNDP, and Yolanda Jinxin Ma, head of digital policy and global partnerships of UNDP on Friday at the UNDP headquarters in New York, said a release on Saturday.

There is no alternative to learn and utilize the information and communication technologies (ICT) by ensuring easier access of the mass people to information, computers, internet and other digital devices to achieve the development goals, he said.

The PM's Vision-2021 in the present context of globalization will achieve goals of the government's pre-election pledges of Charter of Changes to turn Bangladesh into a corruption-free medium income nation by the year 2021, he said.

Bangladesh government’s Minister for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Abdul Latif Siddiqui said that considerable focus is on Indian companies for building “Digital Bangladesh.” They were addressing the gathering at the ICT (information and communication technology) East 2014 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Eastern Region.