Four advisers of the caretaker government resign, five new advisers sworn in; EC announces plan to redraw parliamentary constituencies
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    • Four advisers of the caretaker government resigned on January 7. These included Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein, Power and Energy Adviser Tapan Chowdhury, Industries Adviser Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury and Health and Family Welfare Adviser Maj. Gen. (retd) A.S.M. Matiur Rahman. Earlier on December 26, Education Adviser Ayub Quadri had resigned in the wake of the Paris-bound artefact scandal1. Five new advisers were sworn in on January 8, including former attorney general A.F. Hassan Ariff, planning expert Hossain Zillur Rahman, retired bureaucrat A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, former National Security Intelligence chief Golam Kader and NGO activist Rasheda K. Chowdhury2.

    The Election Commission on January 8 also announced a plan for redrawing the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies in 61 districts of the country based on densities of population. This was intended as an effort to maintain consistency in the number of voters for each seats. As a result, the number of parliamentary seats for urban areas would significantly increase, while rural areas would witness a decrease3.

    Bangladeshi foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury meanwhile expressed his satisfaction at the reported decision by the Indian government to lift the ban on Bangladeshi investments in India. Chowdhury noted that this would help Bangladeshi businessmen eager to invest in north-eastern India4.

    Among other developments, the first BIMSTEC ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation, scheduled to be held in Dhaka during January 9–10, was put off due to the lukewarm response from BIMSTEC members. The 9th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting was held in New Delhi on August 9, 2006

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