DHAKA, Sept 27, 2019 (BSS) – The International Right to Information Day will be observed tomorrow in the country as elsewhere across the world.
This year’s theme of the day is “Information everyone’s right: None will be left behind”.
The International Right to Information Day was proposed on September 28, 2002 at a meeting of freedom of information organizations from around the world in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Marking the day, different programmes have been taken by the government across the country.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the day.
President Abdul Hamid, in his message, said, “Access to information is the human rights of every citizen.”
The Constitution of Bangladesh has enshrined the right to information as an indispensible part of freedom of thought and conscience, he added.
The government, he said, has formulated the Right to Information Act, 2009 giving priority to people’s right to know and constituted Information Commission to implement the act.
In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said information is an important component for empowerment of people.
“Showing respect to citizens’ right to information, we passed the Right to Information Act 2009 in the first session of 9th Jatiya Sangsad. Our government has constituted Information Commission under the act,” she added.
As a result, the prime minister said, the right of people and the mass media to get information has been established and it accelerates the empowerment of people.
The government has played a pioneering role in ensuring information services of people by optimum utilization of modern technology, she added.
“We approved private satellite television for the first time during our 1996-2001 tenure,” the premier said, adding alongside BTV, BTV World and Sangsad Television, her government granted licenses to 45 private TV channels, 28 FM radios and 32 community radio stations to operate in the country.
The establishment of Sangsad Television has made it easier to reach the activities of the National Parliament to the people, she said.
“We have launched 4G and have taken initiative to launch 5G,” she said.
“Today ‘Digital Bangladesh’ is not a dream it is reality. Bangladesh will be a middle-income country by 2021 and within 2041 the country would be a developed one and ‘Sonar Bangla’ dreamt by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman before 2041, Inshallah,” she added.
The President and the Prime Minister wished all programmes of the day a success.