Hasina takes oath as PM for fourth term

Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina formed her new government on Monday by taking oath of office of the Prime Minister for the fourth term, the third consecutive one.
President Abdul Hamid administered the oath of office and oath of secrecy to her in a gala ceremony at the jam-packed glittering Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban at 3:40 pm in presence of officials, dignitaries and envoys of different countries.
The President then administered the oath of office to the 47 members of the strong new Cabinet, comprising 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and three deputy ministers.
Earlier the new MPs of AL, with an overwhelming majority in the house, re-elected Hasina as leader of the House on Thursday at the maiden meeting of the party's Parliamentary Committee held after taking their oath on Thursday at the Parliament Complex of the Jatiya Sangsad.  
The AL-led Grand Alliance won the 11th general elections on December 30 by a landslide, securing 288 out 298 parliamentary seats, where results were announced.  
Hasina's career
Sheikh Hasina, the eldest child of the country's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was born on September 28 in 1947. She married Dr MA Wazed Miah in 1968. Her husband died on May 9 in 2009. She has one son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and one daughter, Saima Wazed Hossain Putul.
Her political career has spanned more than four decades. She previously served as opposition leader from 1986 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1995 and as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001. She is the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of Bangladesh.
She was elected to the leadership of AL, a 'left-of-centre' party, on February 16 in 1981, while she was in exile. Now she has become the longest serving top leader of the country's largest political party, which is rare for multiparty democracies across the world.
Hasina and her younger sister Rehana survived the massacre on August 15 in 1975, in which their father Sheikh Mujib and all other members of the family were assassinated, as they were abroad at that time.
She returned home on May 17 in 1981 and became a prominent and outspoken advocate of democracy, which resulted in her confinement under house arrest on numerous occasions throughout the 1980s.
The New Cabinet
The new Cabinet of Hasina is mostly made up of new faces within the party and none was included from among the partners of the grand alliance.
Thirty-one members of the new Cabinet are first-timers. The Jatiya Party, a key partner in the Alliance, on Friday decided to occupy the opposition benches in Parliament.
Several veterans were dropped from the Cabinet amid speculation about the inductions as major portfolios like defence were retained by Hasina herself.
The 24 ministers are Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzak, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haque, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Foreign Affairs Minister AK Abdul Momen, Planning Minister MA Mannan, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed, Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim, Environment, Forest and
Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin, CHT Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon, Science and Technology Affairs Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman and Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Mostafa Jabbar.
The 19 state ministers are Kamal Ahmed Majumder for Industries, Imran Ahmed for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, Zahid Ahsan Russell for Youth and Sports, Nasrul Hamid for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru for Fisheries and Livestock, Begum Munnujan Sufian for Labour and Employment, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury for Shipping, Md Zakir Hossain for Primary and Mass Education, Md Shahriar Alam for Foreign Affairs, Junaid Ahmed Palak for ICT Division, Farhad Hossain for Public Administration, Swapan Bhattacharya for LGRD and Cooperatives, Zahid Faruque for Water Resources, Md Murad Hasan for Health and Family Welfare, Sharif Ahmed for
Social Welfare, KM Khalid for Cultural Affairs, Dr Md Enamur Rahman for Disaster Management and Relief, Md Mahbub Ali for Civil Aviation and Tourism and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah for Religious Affairs.
Three deputy ministers are Begum Habibun Nahar for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, AKM Enamul Haque Shamim for Water Resources and Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury for Education.
Guests present at the ceremony included Prime Minister's family members including her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, former President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Chief Justice, Chief Election Commissioner, Judges of the Supreme Court, members of parliament, political leaders, chiefs of the three services, members of the diplomatic corps, journalists, elites and high civil and military officials.
Attired in a paste-colour Jamdani sari, Sheikh Hasina was looking confident and lively at the Darbar Hall. Sheikh Hasina was given a standing ovation when she entered the Darbar Hall at 3:30pm. Minutes later President Hamid entered the Darbar Hall.
At least three of the new Cabinet members are technocrats while the rest are elected members of parliament from the ruling AL.
The technocrats inducted in the Cabinet are former Science and Technology Minister Yafesh Osman, former Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar and AL Religious Affairs Secretary Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
Twenty-three senior members of the outgoing cabinet including finance minister AMA Muhith, industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury and health minister Mohammad Nasim have been dropped from the Cabinet.
Key alliance leaders including Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party, Hasanul Haq Inu of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Anwar Hossain Manju of Jatiya Party (JP) have also been excluded.
"The new Cabinet has been made strong combining new comers and old chaps eying to implement the electoral commitments of Awami League. It can be reorganized by including some other leaders and excluding the possible poor performers," AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader said Monday.