Yunus in charge of 27 ministries including Civil Aviation and Tourism

Dhaka: Duties were distributed among the advisors to the interim government in a notice from the Cabinet Division on August 9. The Chief Advisor Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus is in charge of 27 portfolios including the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

The other 26 ministries or divisions that Prof Yunus will oversee are Cabinet Division, Defense Ministry, Armed Forces Division, Education Ministry, Roads, Highways and Bridges Ministry, Food Ministry, Housing and Public Works Ministry, Land Ministry, Textiles and Jute Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Science and Technology Ministry, Railways Ministry, Public Administration Ministry, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Shipping Ministry, Water Resources Ministry, Women and Children Affairs Ministry, Disaster Management and Relief Ministry, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, Commerce Ministry, Labour and Employment Ministry, Cultural Affairs Ministry, Liberation War Affairs Ministry, Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Ministry, and Primary and Mass Education Ministry.

On the other hand, Salehuddin Ahmed will lead the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning while Asif Nazrul will oversee the Ministry of Law, Judiciary and Parliamentary Affairs.

Former Deputy Attorney General Adilur Rahman Khan will oversee the Ministry of Industries and his former boss Hasan Ariff is in charge of the Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry.

Student protest leaders Md Nahid Islam will handle Telecommunications, Postal Services and ICT, and his mate Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain will lead the Youth and Sports Ministry.

Climate and Environment campaigner Syeda Rizwana Hasan is in charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Former Election Commissioner and retired army officer Shakhawat Hossain will oversee the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Former Foreign Service Officer Touhid Hossain is in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sharmeen Murshid, a civil rights campaigner, will lead the Social Welfare Ministry while Farida Akhter of UBINIG will be spearheading the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry.

Nurjahan Begum, a former Acting Managing Director of Grameen Bank, is in charge of the Health and Family Welfare ministry.

Dr AFM Khalid Hossain of Hifazat-e Islam will oversee the Religious Affairs Ministry.

The new interim cabinet led by the Nobel Prize-winning economist took oath of office on August 8 through a simple ceremony at Bangabhaban in the capital. However, only 13 of his 16 advisors had taken their oaths of office on August 8 as three others were absent from the ceremony.

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