Desk Report
Publish: 27 Sep 2021, 03:39 pm
Prime Minister and Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina || Photo: Collected
The 75th birthday of
Prime Minister and Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina is being celebrated
across the country today.
Sheikh Hasina, the
eldest among the five children of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, was born at Tungipara in
Gopalganj on September 28 in 1947.
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina is now in the USA as she went there to join the 76th United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA). Following the footprint of Bangabandhu, she also
delivered speech in Bangla at the UNGA like the previous years.
This year the
UN-sponsored Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has conferred
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with "SDG Progress Award" for Bangladesh's
steady course in responding to the universal call to take action to end
poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all.
The event's moderator
introduced Sheikh Hasina as the "jewel in the crown of the day" while
appreciating her leadership in spearheading the SDG campaign even during the
global COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the previous years,
Awami League (AL) and its affiliated and like-minded bodies will celebrate the
day through various programmes highlighting the life and achievements of Sheikh
Hasina, who is driving the nation towards prosperity following the footstep of her
father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
On the occasion,
discussions, milad and doa mahfils and special prayers are being organized in the
capital and across the country, with maintaining health guidelines in view of
the coronavirus pandemic.
Sheikh Hasina spent much
of her childhood in the small hamlet where she was born. She started her
schooling there. When Bangabandhu was elected a legislator, his family moved to
Dhaka in 1954.
She was admitted to what
is now Sher-e-Bangla Girls' School and College and later to Azimpur Girls' High
School from where she completed her secondary education in 1965. She was then
admitted to Badrunnessa Government Girls' College.
During her bachelor
course, she was elected as the vice-president of the students' union of Eden
Girls' College (Badrunnessa and Eden Girls' College was a single entity during
the period).
Later, she enrolled in
her Masters' programme at Bengali Department of Dhaka University.
As a student leader,
Sheikh Hasina actively took part in the six-point movement of 1966 and the
student movement of 1969 which saw the abdication of General Ayub Khan.
In 1968, with the
blessings of her imprisoned father, Sheikh Hasina who is leading the country as
the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term, got married to nuclear
scientist Dr Wazed Miah.
During the Liberation
War, Sheikh Hasina and her family were interned in a house in Dhaka. On July 27
in 1971, her first child Sajeeb Wazed Joy was born. Her second child Saima
Wazed Hossain was born on December 9, 1972.
After the assassination
of her parents in 1975, Sheikh Hasina and her family were offered political
asylum in India, where she stayed till 1981 when she was elected as the
president of the Awami League in her absence.
Sheikh Hasina returned
home on May 17, 1981 when she was greeted by a mammoth crowd that extended from
the Airport to Farm Gate and Manik Miah Avenue and she addressed a public
rally.
In the 1986
parliamentary election, Sheikh Hasina was elected as parliament member from
three different constituencies. After the overthrow of autocracy in 1990, she
was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the House.
In 1996, 21 years after
her father was assassinated, Sheikh Hasina led the Awami League and helped the
party assume power and became the Prime Minister for the first time.
On August 21, 2004,
Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader, barely escaped an attempt on her
life as grenades were lobbed at an AL rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the
capital.
Although she survived
the attack, at least 24 people were killed and over 200 others injured. Most of
them were Awami League leaders and supporters.
In 2008, she led the
Grand Alliance to an overwhelming victory acquiring 90 percent of parliament
seats in the general elections. She was elected the Prime Minister on January
5, 2014 for the second time in a row.
Sheikh Hasina assumed
office of the Prime Minister for third consecutive term with a thumping victory
in general elections in December 2018.
Under her leadership,
Bangladesh has become a role model for development, attaining steady economic
growth, becoming self-sufficient in food and attaining a marked progress in the
fields of women empowerment, agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, communication,
energy and power, trade and commerce, ICT and the SME sectors.
Her most recent role in
extending humanitarian support to over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas
from Myanmar, who have taken shelter in Cox's Bazar, drew accolade from global
leaders, institutions and eminent personalities.
Asiatic Society of
Kolkata honoured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the prestigious "Tagore
Peace Award-2018" in recognition of her contribution to maintaining
regional peace and prosperity.
President of Kolkata
Asiatic Society Professor Isha Mohammed handed over the award to Sheikh Hasina
at a function at Taj Mahal Hotel in the Indian capital on October 5, 2019.
She also received the
prestigious 'Vaccine Hero' award given in recognition of Bangladesh's
outstanding success in vaccination. Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunizations
(GAVI) handed over the award to the Premier at a ceremony at the Conference
Room of the UN Headquarters in New York during the 74th United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA) in 2019.
The Premier was
conferred with the award 'Champion of Skill Development for Youth' for
Bangladesh's great success in youth skill development.
The United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) conferred the award on the Premier at a ceremony at
Labouisse Hall of UNICEF House in the UN Plaza on September 26 in 2019.
UNICEF Executive
Director Henrietta Fore handed over the award to the Prime Minister amid
thunderous clapping of the audience.
Sheikh Hasina also
received the Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Awards-2019, introduced
in memory of eminent scientist and former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
The award was conferred
upon Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in recognition of her commitment to a close
and mutually satisfying India-Bangladesh relations, welfare of her people,
particularly women and children, and international peace and cooperation.
Chief Adviser of the Dr
Kalam Smriti International Advisory Council Ambassador TP Sreenivasan handed
over the accolade through a ceremony at the Prime Minister's Office here on
September 16, 2019.
Sheikh Hasina was also
conferred with various honourary degrees, accolades and awards in recognition
of her leadership excellence and intellectual flair.
These include: honorary
Doctor of Laws by the Waseda University of Japan, honorary Doctorate of
Philosophy in Liberal Arts by University of Abertay Dundee, UK, honorary Degree
of Desikottama by Visva-Bharati University of West Bengal, India, honorary
Doctor of Laws by the Australian National University, honorary Doctor of Humane
Letters by the Bridgeport University, USA, honorary Doctor of Laws by the University
of Dhaka, Paul Haris Fellowship by the Rotary International, UNESCO's
Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize in 1998, M K Gandhi Award in 1998, Mother Teresa
Award in 1998 and 2006,
Pearl S. Buck Award by
Randolph Macon Women's College of USA in 1999, CERES Medal in 1999, UN Award
for MDG achievement (child mortality) in 2010, Indira Gandhi Peace Prize in
2009, South-South Award in 2011, UN Award for MDG Achievement in 2013, Rotary
Peace Prize in 2013, Tree of Peace in 2014, ICT Sustainable Development Award
in 2015, Champions of the Earth in 2015,
Agent of Change Award in 2016 and Planet 50-50 Champion in 2016. (BSS)
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