Online Desk  :   The United States has canceled a $29 million assistance fund allocated to strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh. This was confirmed in a post on the social media platform X by the US administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Saturday, February 15. In addition to Bangladesh, DOGE under Elon Musk’s leadership also canceled significant assistance funds for several other countries on the same day. Among them was a $21 million voter-turnout programme for India. The new administration under US President Donald Trump has been implementing significant cuts to international aid, including the cancellation of funds allocated to various countries. In the X post, DOGE wrote: “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all of which have been canceled:”

– $10M for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”. – $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills”. – $2.3M for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia”. – $32M to the Prague Civil Society Centre. – $40M for “gender equality and women empowerment hub”. – $14M for “improving public procurement” in Serbia. – $486M to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22M for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India. – $29M to “strenghening political landscape in Bangladesh”. – $20M for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal. – $19M for “biodiversity conversation” in Nepal. – $1.5M for “voter confidence” in Liberia. – $14M for “social cohesion” in Mali. – $2.5M for “inclusive democracies in Southern Africa”. – $47M for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”. – $2M to develop “sustainable recycling models” to “increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt”