<i>'Political will a must to achieve target’</i>

Political will is a must to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021, speakers at a view exchange meeting said yesterday.
They also suggested taking up development projects under different ministries in a planned way with a view to achieving the target.
Prattasha 2021 Forum and Hunger Free World jointly organised the meeting at the National Press Club in the city yesterday.
Presenting the keynote paper, Forum Secretary Ataur Rahman Miton said the country has achieved some progress in the socio-economic sector since independence, but quality education, healthcare, housing facilities and social security for all are yet to be achieved.
"No nation can survive for long depending on the foreign aid," he said, adding that the population must be turned into human resources to help realise the vision of a middle-income country.
He also called for steps to make the union parishad more active in order to alleviate poverty from the country.
Prof Dr Atiur Rahman, chairperson of Unnyan Samannay, Nitai Das, a development organiser, and Dr Lenin Chowdhury also spoke at the meeting.