Monthly Magazine of BGD e-GOV CIRT – January 2021

Mr N M Zeaul Alam, at present, the Senior Secretary of Information & Communication Technology Division. He is the immediate past the Secretary, Coordination & Reforms of the Cabinet Division (From  December 2015 to January 2019). Prior to that he was Director General of the Department of Immigration and Passport. He belongs to Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS Administration) 84 batch.

He obtained M.Sc. in Botany from the University of Chittagong after that he had got another Masters from the University of BRAC on Governance and Development. He served in all the core position in the field administration including Deputy Commissioner (Khulna) and Divisional Commissioner (Sylhet). He also served at Secretariat in different Ministries/Divisions at different position.

In his long career Mr. Alam actively participated in different meetings; workshops; seminars; regional, bi-lateral and multilateral meetings on trade negotiations in the country and abroad. He led Bangladesh delegation to SAFTA, BIMSTEC and APTA negotiation meeting and joined ministerial meetings of those regional trade agreements. He also joined international conference on G2P, Open Government Data (OGD), Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) abroad. He actively worked on the signing of trade agreement between Bangladesh and India on the export of apparel from Bangladesh in 2007. At the national level he is the Co-chair of GoB-DP LCG from the Cabinet Division. He participated a course on ‘Creating Collaborative Solution: Innovation in Governance’ in Harvard University of USA. He had also undergone a number of professional training at home and abroad. He visited several countries including Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, the UK, Sweden, Finland, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the USA, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

He has been rewarded with National Award named ‘Innovation Award’ for outstanding contribution in digitization activities of Sylhet Division in 2012 as Divisional Commissioner of Sylhet.

Mr Alam is Married and blessed with three daughters. His vision is to serve the people.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak was born on 17 May 1980 Singra under Natore dristrict. Mr. Faiz Uddin Ahmed and Ms. Zamila Ahmed are his parents. His father was an active political activist being inspired by the ideology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Being the then General Secretary of the Singra upazila unit of Bangladesh Awami League, he played an important role as one of the organizers of the great war of independence in the Chalan beel area.

Mr. Palak passed SSC examination from the Singra Damdama Pilot School and College in 1995 securing first division (with star marks and letter marks in five papers) and HSC examination from the Rajshahi Govenment College in 1997 securing first division (with letter marks in two papers). He obtained Bachelor degree, Master degree in Political Science and LLB from the National University of Bangladesh. Then, he started his career as a professional lawyer in the Natore District Judge’s Court and now he is a member of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Council. He successfully completed a Capstone course from the National Defense College (NDC) in Dhaka.

He was very conspicuous in different co-curricular activities, like debate, recitation, impromtouspreech and sports. He obtained several prestigious awards in different seasonal competitions held at the district and divisional levels. During his student life, he performed music on many occasions. He was simultaneously an efficient sports organizer and a talented sportsperson. While studying in class VI, he established “Durdom” (indomitable) club that was turned into a center of sports and socio-cultural activities of the children from his locality. He was greatly inspired by the scouting movement of Robert Baden-Powell during his school life. He participated in the 1st Asia Pacific Jamboree held in Mouchak, Gazipur in 1994 as the team leader. He is one of the advisers of BPL franchisee ‘Duronto Rajshahi’.

After passing HSC exam, he avoided the temptation to study in a famous institution. Instead, he got admitted in a local college with a view to stand by his community in their will and woe and commenced his political career by joining Bangladesh Students’ League, a forum with a very reach tradition in students’ movement and politics. He was elected VP of the Gol-e-Afroze Govt. College Students’ Union at the age of 18 years. Later on, he joined Bangladesh Awami League, a party that led the nation for its independence.

Mr. Palak got nomination from Bangladesh Awami League for the national election held in 2008 and was elected Member of Parliament by a huge margin at the age of 28 years. He was the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) in the ninth parliament. He played an active role as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on ICT Ministry. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Private Members’ Bill during the ninth parliament. Besides, he was a Co-convener of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change.

He became a member of the Executive Committee of central Awarmi League in 2012 at the age of 32 years. In the national election held on 5 January 2014, he contested in a participatory election and elected Member of Parliament for second consecutive term with overwhelming support from the people of his constituency. Afterwards, Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina included Mr. Palak in her new Cabinet. He was sworn in as a Minister of State on 12 January 2014 at the age of 33 years and 8 months. Now, he is the youngest member in the Cabinet.

Mr. Palak is happily married to Ms. Arifa Jesmin, who did her Master of Science in Psychology and is a lecturer. They are blessed with three sons: Apurbo Zunaid, Aarjan Zunaid and Anirban Zunaid. He participated in the UN General Assembly as a member of state delegation and visited several countries across the globe as part of different official visits, summits, seminar, workshops and training programs. All sorts of modern technologies, especially ICT, law and governance, environment, music and arts are among his fields of interest. He undertook a special campaign of aforestation in his constituency in 2010. As part of the campaign, he distributed more than five hundred thousand saplings among general people. In recognition, he has been given National Environment Award by the Honorable Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser to the Hon’ble Prime Minister

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, is a Bangladeshi-American ICT Consultant and political campaigner. He is the son of Sheikh Hasina, the Honorable Prime Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and the eldest grandson of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh. A member of the Awami League, He was a key figure in formulating the party’s vision 2012 manifesto. He is currently serving as the Honorable Prime Minister’s Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in the United States and attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he earned his Masters in Public Administration degree.

In 2007, Sajeeb Wazed Joy was selected by the World Economic Forum in Davos as one of the “250 Young Global Leaders of the World”. The forum cited his role as Advisor to the President of the Bangladesh Awami League.

On 25 February 2009, Sajeeb Wazed Joy officially joined the Awami League as a primary member of the Rangpur district unit of the party.

Within days of joining the Awami League as a primary member, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in his capacity as an IT policy analyst, unveiled the concept paper and action plan for the government’s ambitious “Digital Bangladesh” scheme; to develop a strong ICT industry in Bangladesh and initiate e-governance and IT education on a mass scale.