Zunaid Ahmed Palak

Zunaid Ahmed Palak (born 17 May 1980) is a Bangladesh Awami League Politician and Lawyer. He is the Minister of state for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and incumbent Member of Parliament for Natore-3.

Early life and education
Palak was born on 17 May 1980, to a Bengali Muslim family in the village of Serkol-Teligram in Singra, Natore District, Bangladesh. His father Fayez Ahmed was a prominent Politician and Telephone Exchange Operator, and mother Zamila Ahmed is a housewife.

After completing his primary education from Singra Damdama Primary School, he received his SSC from Singra Damdama Pilot High School in 1995, and his HSC from Rajshahi College in 1997. He then studied political science at Dhaka College and gained an LLB from Gol-E-Afroz Govt. College under the National University, Bangladesh. Palak also completed the Capstone Course from National Defence College.

Career
Palak was appointed Minister of State for Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Bangladesh on 12 January 2014, at the age of 34 years, making him the youngest Minister of Bangladesh. He is also the first minister ever to be born in the independent Bangladesh. He was nominaas a "Young Global Leader" in 2016 by the World Economic Forum. Also nominated as "World's 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government" 2018 by Apolitical, a London based international organization.At the age of 36, he got the nomination from the Bangladesh Awami League, in 2006 the National Elections of 2006. In 2008, he was nominated again, and was elected by a large margin, becoming the youngest member of the ninth National Assembly of Bangladesh. In June 2017, he was nominated as chairman of the Advisory Committee of International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC), Bangladesh chapter. In his early twenties, he followed his father's footsteps in politics and became a member of the Bangladesh Awami League party.

Ahmed also was a committee member where he planned to incorporate "Green Technologies" into its office building principles, to reduce carbon emissions into the environment. He said that the building of offices and residences using green technology would not release any carbon in the environment, while the wastes would be recycled and produce energy. He also expressed that a delegation from India was on their way to discuss different technological issues including the building of zero carbon emitting buildings. He further added:

"We asked the ministry concerned to take a pilot project to build its office building using green technology as part of the initiative. Several other lawmakers and I shared our experience of recent visit to the southern state of Karnataka and West Bengal of India where we saw offices and houses were built using green technology."

Palak has been president of the Bangladesh Carrom Federation since 2009, and vice president of the International Carrom Federation since 2011.