Bangladesh have named uncapped right-arm pacer Abu Jayed in their 15-man squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.

Jayed has played five Tests since making his debut in July 2018, but is yet to earn an ODI cap. Javed’s ability to swing the ball should make him handy, as he showed during the Tests in New Zealand, should the conditions in England provide enough assistance.

Jayed’s inclusion comes at the expense of fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who had missed the New Zealand tour with an ankle injury. Ahmed also doesn’t feature in the 17-member squad that has been announced for the tri-series against Ireland and West Indies that takes place before the World Cup.

“Taskin played his last ODI in October 2017 and it was a long break for him. When we thought about him again for the New Zealand series he sustained an injury once again. According to the reports we have, he is not fit. He represented (his domestic team) in one match but his fitness is still not up to the mark,” said Minhajul Abedin, the Bangladesh chief selector. On Jayed’s surprise selection, he said: “He can swing the ball and we felt that can add value to our bowling attack.”

The other big inclusion was that of Mosaddek Hossain. The middle-order batsman last played for Bangladesh in the 2018 Asia Cup. However, his poor performances in the tournament led to him getting dropped for the subsequent ODI series against Zimbabwe, although Steve Rhodes, the head coach, had said at the time that Hossain continued to figure prominently in Bangladesh’s plans for the World Cup.

Hossain will provide the back-up all-rounder option, with Mahmudullah still recovering from a shoulder injury that was aggravated during the New Zealand tour. “Mossadek did well in (recent) domestic tournaments,” said Abedin. “We want an all-rounder who can bowl off-spin. Mahmudullah has a shoulder injury, so he may not bowl over there (in the World Cup). As a back-up spin all-rounder, we included Mossadek.”

Although the squad features plenty of young players, Bangladesh will welcome the return of their core, with Shakib Al Hasan joining fellow senior players Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Mahmudullah.

Shakib had been through injury troubles that had kept him out of the ODI and Test series against New Zealand. He now returns to the squad as Mortaza’s deputy.

The rest of the squad is filled with young blood. Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Jayed are all aged 25 or younger.

In addition to the 15 travelling for the World Cup, Bangladesh have also picked uncapped players Nayeem Hasan and Yasir Ali for the tri-series in Ireland. Hasan made his Test debut late last year, but like Jayed, is uncapped at the ODI level. He was in the squad for the one-day internationals against New Zealand, but didn’t get a game. Ali, on the other hand, hasn’t played international cricket yet.

The United States marked April 2 as Equal Pay Day, which “symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”

In the past decade, Bangladesh has made strides in narrowing the gender pay gap, lifting the status of women, and ensuring easier and greater access for women to participate in the workplace. As a society, however, it still lags in terms of empowering women and balancing gender workloads.

Regardless of women’s participation in the professional workplace, societal norms are that the woman will be responsible for household work. This cultural expectation, coupled with Bangladesh’s dominant religious views, makes work-life balance for career women in Bangladesh even more difficult than their counterparts in Western societies.

Progress has been made

Over the past decade, government policies have pushed the country toward attaining and maintaining steady progress in gender equality. As a result, Bangladesh has been ranked No. 1 for gender equality among South Asian countries for two consecutive years in the Gender Gap Index.

The index, prepared by the World Economic Forum, considers education, economic participation, health and political empowerment to measure gender equality.

According to a 2018 report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), at 2.2% the gender wage gap in Bangladesh is the lowest in the world, where the average gender pay gap is 21.2%.

According to a report published in the Dhaka Tribune on July 12, 2018, the number of working women in Bangladesh was 18.6 million in 2016-17, a marked increase from 16.2 million in 2010.

According to The Global Gender Gap Report, Bangladesh was ranked 48th among 144 countries in wage equity in 2018. Other South Asian countries ranked much lower, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Pakistan, which were ranked 100, 105, 108, 122 and 148 positions, respectively.

Cultural expectations

A study by Action Aid Bangladesh, called “Incorporation of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Unpaid Care Work into regional polices: South Asia,” released in December 2017, found that a woman in a typical Bangladesh household spends on average six hours a day doing unpaid work in the household, including cooking, cleaning, caring for children and elders, while men spend just over an hour on such activities.

Farah Kabir, country director for Action Aid Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune that if men and women equally shared household work, women would be able to earn more because they would be able to work more hours or put in more effort at paying jobs.

While women have seen access to employment opportunities, education and health care grow, some say additional action is needed for on-the-job training, options for elder care and improvements in mass transportation. Because of the religious and cultural taboo in the country, many women do not drive, even though they are legally able to drive. Many women end up relying on mass transportation, where availability is limited.

Debate renewed

Many impediments remain that affect women’s work-life balance: The Bangladeshi culture expects women to cook, clean and look after their children, even if they have full-time jobs. The discussion around women’s unpaid household work were renewed by a speech made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that went viral on social media nearly two years ago.

Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Hiroyasu Izumi has said the Special Economic Zone for Japanese investors in Bangladesh—and the One Stop Service Act—are likely to attract more Japanese companies; especially in the fields of: food, commodity products, light industry, and ICT.

“Since the year 2008, the investment from Japan to Bangladesh has been expanding and the trend is getting stronger, especially after 2011,” he told UNB in an interview.

This trend, Ambassador Izumi said, is likely to continue for the coming years; considering the competitive labour force and the size of the market of Bangladesh with its large, young population.

He, however, said the investment climate and doing business in Bangladesh “are not very favourable” for foreign companies.

The time-consuming process of applying to launch businesses and registration, as well as a lack of sufficient infrastructure, an intricate process of applying for work visas, and a complicated tax system— including retroactive taxation—could be named as the main bottlenecks to start businesses in Bangladesh, he said.

In particular, Ambassador Izumi said, the insufficiencies in logistics and taxation systems, such as “too-heavy tariffs,” need to be addressed.

“They are not only the hindrances for FDI from Japan but also cause drawbacks to the growth of the local economy in Bangladesh,” he said.

Analysing the current situation of the foreign companies, and listening to their requests, are essential to make the overall investment environment more attractive, said Ambassador Izumi.

Responding to a question, the Japanese envoy said that surrounded on all sides by the sea, Japan is also deeply rooted in the blue economy and has a long history of using marine resources.

“I, therefore, believe Japan and Bangladesh can exchange knowledge and expertise in blue economy and marine resources,” he said.

A conference was co-organised in March by the Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock and Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the envoy said adding, “‘Bangladesh Blue Economy Dialogue on Fisheries and Marine Culture’” was quite suggestive and meaningful.”

“We would like to consider future cooperation in the field of blue economy with the government of Bangladesh,” said the Ambassador.

When asked about Bangladesh’s exports to Japan, he said in Japan they are seeing more and more clothes manufactured in Bangladesh, but Japanese people are not very aware that they are made in Bangladesh.

“To further encourage exports from Bangladesh to Japan, I believe it is very important for Bangladesh’s companies to conduct thorough market research in Japan, especially focusing on the quality-oriented tendency of the Japanese consumers,” said the Japanese envoy.

Other potential exports from Bangladesh to Japan, he thinks, could be medicine, leather goods or agricultural (marine) products.

“For any product, however, creating additional value that attracts Japanese consumer is the key to expand and boost exports to Japan from Bangladesh,” said the Ambassador.

To do so, he suggested having more opportunities to introduce Bangladeshi products in Japan, such as organising trade fairs or exhibitions, to make them familiar to Japanese consumers.

Responding to a question on people-to-people contact, he said friendship between Japan and Bangladesh started immediately after the independence of Bangladesh. “Since then, the two nations have always been very close friends.”

For example, the Ambassador said, Japan has provided scholarships for more than 4,000 Bangladeshi students over decades.

Last year, more than 120 students received this scholarship and went to Japan from Bangladesh. Also in the field of business, there are currently more than 260 Japanese companies operating their businesses in Bangladesh, and interaction through business is also growing rapidly.

Dhaka, Tokyo plan big for 2022

The year 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Japan.

“The coming years will be very important for our two countries. Toward this anniversary, we are working hard to enhance our bilateral relations even further,” said the Japanese Ambassador.

In celebration of this anniversary, Bangladesh and Japan are expecting to see more and more interaction between the two countries, including cultural and people-to-people exchanges in the years to come.

The Ambassador said several cooperation projects were launched with the successful mutual visits by the two Prime Ministers— Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—in 2014.

“Apart from bridges, we are working on other projects like the Dhaka International Airport Terminal, Dhaka Metro lines, and Matarbari port and power plant, and all these projects are going well as planned with high quality. It is my tremendous joy to celebrate this anniversary with the people of Bangladesh based on this ever-growing relationship,” he said.

Since his arrival in 2017, Ambassador Izumi said he has been witnessing an increasing number of visits both at ministerial and other levels. “I expect our bilateral relationship to grow even closer and stronger in the years to come.”

He said Japan has been the single biggest bilateral development partner for Bangladesh and the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Bangladesh from Japan last year marked $1.8 billion.

“This figure was a record, the largest-ever Japanese ODA support to Bangladesh for one year. I am pleased to inform you that Bangladesh is now the second-largest recipient of Japan’s ODA in the world,” he said.

The USA has issued yet another travel advisory, within seven days of the previous alert, warning its nationals to exercise increased caution while travelling across Bangladesh.

The travel advisory warned US citizens to employ extreme level of caution in Dhaka and Southeast Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts, due to “crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.”

Earlier on April 4, the embassy had issued a travel alert “in light of calls for revenge in the wake of” the March 15 terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand where five Bangladeshis were among 40 Muslims was killed during prayers.

The US move drew stark criticism from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who requested the Americans to share any related information they had with Bangladesh.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had also said issuing security alerts across different countries has become a US “practice.”

“We have not received any information on security threats to foreign nationals in our country,” the minister had said. “There are no threats. I do not know why the US has issued a security alert.”

US travel advisory

The US travel advisory warned: “Violent crime, such as armed robbery, assault, and rape, is widespread. Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Bangladesh.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, restaurants, places of worship, and local government facilities. There is a possibility of terrorist attacks in urban areas despite the heavy police presence,” the advisory said

The US government has also directed its personnel stationed in Bangladesh to live, work, and travel under strict security guidelines.

Know More –
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/2019/04/11/us-issues-another-travel-advisory-for-bangladesh-within-7-days