Cabinet approves draft law for nuke research on crops
UNB
The Cabinet yesterday approved in principle a draft bill for setting up an institute, aiming at innovating new varieties of crops through research and applying nuclear techniques, reports UNB.
The approval to The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Research Bill, 2016 came from the weekly regular meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the aim of setting up the institute is to innovate new varieties of crops that are suitable to climate and environment of the country through conducting research as well as using nuclear tools and techniques and modern technologies.
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 said.
The cabinet secretary said the original law on establishing BINA was an ordinance promulgated during the martial law regime in 1984 and it was later amended in 1996.
The draft law was placed before the Cabinet yesterday 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, Shafiul Alam said the BINA headquarters will be in Mymensingh while the government could set up its sub-centres or offices in other parts of the country.
Under the draft law, he said, there will be a 14-member board of governors with director general of the institute as its chairman. The tenure of the board will be of three years.
The other members of the noard include, representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Agriculture not below the post of Deputy Secretary, representative from the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) not below a Director while the Dean of Agriculture Faculty under the Bangladesh Agriculture University will also 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.
Mohammad Shafiul Alam said as per the draft law, the authority of the institute would submit its report to the government at the end of every year.
Ministers and state ministers concerned attended the meeting.
