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One country, two societies
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So, the voices of those people should be reflected in the national election. Voting in the election is the only way for establishing the voices of those people, he said.
Commitments should be made public before the election on not only development but its characteristics and how much each person will gain from those, he said.
The share of development for those lagging behind must be ensured and a bigger portion must be provided, otherwise it will not ensure equality, said Bhattacharya.
Chairing the briefing, Shaheen Anam, a core group member of the platform, said five years ago the platform started monitoring the progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
All United Nations member states, including Bangladesh, adopted 17 SDGs in 2015, a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
During the past five years, the platform wanted to know how marginalised people of the country were doing, their stories of deprivation, their challenges of life and livelihood, she said.
Most importantly, the platform wanted to know what they wanted, what kind of society they wanted and what were their positions in society, Shaheen Anam said.
Everyone knows about the development undergoing in the country, especially economic development, and it is globally recognised. However, the question remains over whether it was possible to form a humanistic society, she asked.
The humanistic society will be one whose foundation will be of justice, where everybody’s rights will be well protected, she said.
It is believed that many people are deprived of justice, of basic necessities and fundamental rights and the platform tried to highlight their voices, said Shaheen Anam.
The platform has 11 agendas which will be shared with journalists gradually, she said. Of them, four -- education, health, climate change and social safety -- were shared with journalists at the briefing yesterday, moderated by Mustifizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the CPD.
The remaining seven will be shared through two more media briefings on October 18 and October 31 in Dhaka, said Shaheen Anam, also executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation.
In case of health expenditure, 67 percent is borne by people of Bangladesh from their own pockets, while the rest by the state whereas the global average is 32 percent, said Yasmin H Ahmed, adviser to Bangladesh Health Watch.
This is the highest among South Asian countries, with most of the expenditure going behind medicine, she said.
Sixty four percent is spent for medicine, 14 percent for hospital services and 8 percent for diagnosis, said Ahmed while presenting a paper on “Reducing out-of-pocket expenditure to improve universal access to quality health care”.
In 2016, nine million people, which is 4.5 percent of the total population, went below the poverty line for meeting health expenditures, she said.

BGMEA seeks
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This vision aims to enhance the competitiveness of the RMG industry while simultaneously fostering sustainable growth, it added.
BGMEA President Hassan underlined the importance of NBR’s support and cooperation in the pursuit of this vision.
He said necessary support from the NBR is essential for the RMG industry to maintain its export competitiveness and growth momentum, particularly in the post-least developed country (LDC) era.
“LDC graduation brings with it a new set of realities for Bangladesh, with both opportunities and challenges, particularly in the context of changes in the tariff regime. Bangladesh must take strategic steps to retain the industry’s competitiveness in the post-LDC period,” he added.