Jamil Mahmud

Bangladeshi migrant workers who returned home from Libya on Wednesday went through severe hardship as their livelihoods were hampered due to economic uncertainty and deterioration of law and order.

Mehedi Hasan took his weak and elderly mother to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University vaccination centre around noon yesterday.

Only the 10th and 12th graders have to attend classes in person every day while other secondary school and college students may visit their classrooms once a week when their educational institutions reopen during the pandemic.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated the handing-over of houses to some 66,189 beneficiary families all over the country via a video conferencing from the Gono Bhaban.

Asia Begum’s beaming face reflected her cherished dream of living in her own house, which may become a reality as the government pledged to provide land and houses to homeless and landless people to mark Mujib Borsho.

An estimated 30,000 undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers became regularised in Bahrain under an amnesty programme of the Gulf country’s government that ended on December 31 last year.

The coronavirus pandemic that brought global human mobility to a near standstill for most of last year hit the country’s vast labour migration sector hard.

The government is considering bringing informal grassroots service providers into the labour migration sector under a framework to tackle fraudulence.

Shahadat Hossain was all set to fly to Saudi Arabia in March as a date farm worker, dreaming of a better life for his family members. But before he could make his journey, came the deadly Covid-19, suspending air communications with the Gulf countries in mid-March.

After years of struggle, Mostakim Alam landed a job at a digital printing shop in Kuwait as a computer operator. With earnings of Tk 1.20 lakh a month, all was going well.

As Saudi Arabia announced a new labour reform initiative to ease foreign workers’ contractual restrictions, migrant rights activists and officials hope the move will improve the conditions of thousands of Bangladeshi workers in the oil-rich country.

Probashi Kallyan Bank, a specialised financial institution for migrant workers, is struggling to conduct its day-to-day activities due to manpower shortage.

After eight years of embargo, the Italian government will allow hiring workers from Bangladesh both in “seasonal” and “non-seasonal” categories starting from this year.

Undocumented Bangladeshis living in Peninsular Malaysia will get a chance to be regularised and recruited under a new programme.

About 1,200 returnees from Bahrain, who got stuck home for months amid the coronavirus pandemic, are facing uncertainty over going back to their workplaces as their visas expired.

Over 3,000 Bangladeshi expatriate workers have been stranded at home for several months as they cannot fly to Kuwait to rejoin work due to suspension of air communications between the two countries amid the pandemic.

Shahidul Islam of Cumilla returned home on September 10 from Saudi Arabia after losing a restaurant job there.

The migrant workers’ crisis, which emerged after the outbreak of novel coronavirus, further deepened with the government response marred by inappropriate decisions coupled with delayed and inadequate actions.

Italy-bound expatriates are facing challenges to get back to their workplaces as many are still waiting for air tickets.

Hundreds of Bangladeshi migrant workers employed by private companies in Qatar are facing difficulties returning to their workplaces as their online applications for re-entry permits, required due to the pandemic, have been rejected or are under process for an unduly long time.