Cabinet approves BINA Research Law, 2016

The approval came at the weekly regular cabinet meeting on Monday, held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Md Shafiul Alam said the aim of the law is to innovate new varieties of crops that are suitable to climate and environment through research as well as using nuclear tools and techniques and modern technologies.

He said that the BINA was established through an ordinance promulgated during the martial law regime in 1984, and the ordinance was turned into an act through an amendment in 1996.

Alam said the draft of the proposed "The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Research Law, 2016" was placed before the cabinet today translating the ordinance and its amended version into Bangla following the directives of the Supreme Court that had earlier declared all martial law regime ordinances illegal.

According to the draft law, he said, the headquarters of the BINA would remain in Mymensingh as per the original law, while the government could set up its sub-centres or offices in other parts of the country.

Under the draft law, there will be a 14-member Board of Governors with Director General of the institute as its Chairman, the cabinet secretary said, adding that the tenure of the board will be three years.

Representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture not below the post of Deputy Secretary, representative from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) not below a Director and the Dean of Agriculture Faculty under the Bangladesh Agriculture University will be the members of the board.

Besides, Directors of the Institute, a representative from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) as well as a representative from the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) to be nominated by the Ministry of Agriculture and two senior scientists nominated by the Ministry of Agriculture will also be members of the board.

The cabinet secretary said the other tasks of the institute are to ensure sustainable agriculture management as well as to ensure modern land and water management and productivity.

Besides, improvement of quality of the crops using appropriate technologies, controlling of diseases as well as pest management are also under the mandate of the institute, he added.

Alam said as per the draft law, the authorities of the institute would submit its report to the government at the end of every year.

The cabinet secretary said the meeting was apprised of the participation of a Bangladesh delegation led by the public administration minister in Fourth World Government Summit held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on February 8-10.

Besides, the visit of a Bangladesh delegation headed by the fisheries and livestock minister to Vietnam on March 15-20 and the participation of a Bangladesh team led by the food minister in the 33rd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held in Malaysia on March 7-11 were apprised.

Ministers and state ministers concerned attended the meeting, while secretaries concerned were present.