Agency to Innovate (A2i) Bill passed in parliament

The Agency to Innovate (A2i) Bill 2023 was passed in the parliament on Wednesday (5 July) to form an agency to encourage innovation in the information technology sector and help the government to take programmes in establishing a knowledge-based society and its implementation.

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak moved the Bill and it was passed by voice vote with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

The agency will be formed with a 15-member board of directors and the Information and Communication Technology Minister will be the board's chairman, which will be autonomous.

Besides, the agency will form a policy that will help create an environment to encourage innovation.

As per the Bill, the agency, if necessary, would form a Company to materialise the objective of this law.

Participating in the discussion of the bill, opposition Jatiya Party and Gonoforum MPs came down heavily on the government for harassing common people and journalists under the Digital Security Act.

The lawmakers said that common people and journalists are being abused by this law. The government has enacted this law to create an atmosphere of fear and panic, they also said.

In response, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, however, didn't say anything in this regard.

Participating in the discussion on the bill, JP MP Pir Fazlur Rahman said that the digital security law is being used to harass journalists.

Common people are also being victimised and tortured while expressing their opinion. Influential quarters are using this law. People's right to freedom of speech is being taken away. This law needs to be amended urgently, better if it is repealed.

Gonoforum MP Mokabbir Khan said, "If we cannot prevent the misuse of digital technology, the law will be of no use. Again, if the law is misused, the goal cannot be achieved. We saw this with the Digital Security Act.

"Digital Security Act has now become digital panics. Around 7,001 cases were filed under this law till January 2023. Journalist community has suffered the most due to this law," he said.

He also said that in the last four and a half years, this law has been applied to suppress dissent or criticism of the government party and suppress free thought.

The freedom of expression of journalists has been severely curtailed due to this law. This law has given unlimited powers to the police. They were not given so much power even under the police law, he said.

Mokabbir also mentioned the harassment of Prothom Alo journalist Shamsuzzaman under this law.

"The government created this law to create an environment of fear and panic. Common people are not getting their benefits. As a result, the law minister is talking about amending it in the face of strong objections from civil society, human rights activists and journalists. Hopefully, the law minister will take the initiative in this regard quickly," he said.