B'desh's interim govt announces portfolios of council of advisors

Dhaka, NT Bureau: Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is leading an interim government of 17 people, many strident opponents of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina.

Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering microfinance work, has taken a super-portfolio encompassing transport, land, defence, aviation and energy.

His cabinet, who began work on Friday, have been given the official title of advisers, not ministers. Psychiatrist Bidhan Ranjan Roy is the sole member from Bangladesh's minority Hindu community, while former diplomat Supradip Chakma represents the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Here are the men and women tasked with steering democratic reforms after the end of Hasina's autocratic 15- year tenure.

The students

Sociology graduate Nahid Islam, 26, put in charge of the telecoms ministry, is credited with leading the student movement whose July protests against civil service job quotas culminated in Hasina's hurried resignation.

The central banker

In charge of the finance ministry will be Saleh Uddin Ahmed, a widely respected central bank governor during the 2001-06 government led by Hasina's key rivals, the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP).