Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy on Tuesday called upon the youths to make their all-out strides to take ahead the country following the fundamental principles of the country’s Liberation War.
“I request the young generation to never forget the fundamental principles on which Bangladesh was born. You should work for the betterment of the nation by your own initiatives without depending on others,” he said this while announcing the winners of the Joy Bangla Youth Award 2020.
Joy, also the son of the prime minister and chairperson of Centre for Research and Information (CRI), joined the ceremony virtually from the US.
Mentioning secularism as one of the fundamental principles of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he said: “We all are Bengalis. Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians…we all are Bengalis and we are equal.”
The young generation, he said, will lead the nation in future and it is their duty to work for the nation without making only complaints.
“In our country, there is a culture of making only complaints and a group of people are doing so. They never find any solutions but always make complaints,” he said.
He said the recipients of Joy Bangla Youth Award 2020 are making their all-out strides for the betterment of the downtrodden people and finding solutions of different social problems without only making complaints.
“This is a very positive aspect. I myself get inspiration from the organizations and individuals of the event as they are doing outstanding activities in different sectors,” he said.
Joy said: “I want to see the problem-solvers, not the complainers,” he said, adding that without any support, these young people are solving the problems of their localities on their own.
He expressed his gratitude to them as they are helping people with their noble services. “They do it by their own merits, by their own efforts. This is our country,” he said.
Turning on coronavirus situation, Joy said different developed nations including the US and different European countries are witnessing troubles in facing the Covid-19 pandemic but Bangladesh is doing comparatively well to this end.
“We don’t want any death in the pandemic but I would like to say we are doing better than different developed countries,” he said.
Since virus outbreak, the Awami League government has been taking different measures to face the pandemic following the instructions of experts and physicians, he said.
Joy said defying the negative aspects of Covid-19, Bangladesh’s economy remains in the right track. It has been possible due to the country’s outstanding progress in the sector of information and commutation technology, he said.
Had the country not made such progress in the ICT sector, it would not have possible to keep the economy in the right track during the pandemic situation.
CRI Trustee and State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid delivered the welcome speech in the virtual ceremony which was moderated by Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury, daughter of martyred intellectual Dr AFM Alim Choudhury.
In his speech, Nasrul Hamid said that the Joy Bangla Youth Award recognizes the efforts of young visionaries to make a turnaround their communities and encourage them to step forward to change the course of progress in their respective societies.
Mentioning that some recipients of the award have already got international recognition, Joy said, International Children’s Peace Prize 2020 winner Sadat Rahman was the recipient of Joy Bangla Youth Award 2018.
This year, as many as 30 organizations have been given the award and attached to the network of Young Bangla
Since its inception in November 2014, Joy Bangla Youth Award, named after the historical pro-liberation slogan “Joy Bangla,” Young Bangla, the youth front of CRI, has been awarding the youth of the country for their vision and initiatives for the betterment of the society.