News dt:29-01-2012.

1.Govt orders ban on rallies: BNP defers procession, AL postpones rally Staff Correspondent The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday deferred till Monday the procession it earlier planned to hold in Dhaka.
2.Govt. desperate to hide Padma bridge 'graft', says Khaleda: Staff Correspondent The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, on Saterday said the government was thinking of 'unusual ' and 'unrealistic' means for mobilising funds...
3.Govt. moves to float sovereingn bonds: Shakhawat Hossain The government has launched process of securing loans from the international capital market to overcome the foreign currency crunch which has already hit....
4.EC to replace national ID cards with smart cards: Taib Ahmed The Election Commission has begun implementation of a 195 million US dollar project, with assistance from the World Bank, to replace existing national....
5.WP says govt's performance frustrates people:  Staff Correspondent The Workers Party o Bangladesh , an ally of the Awami League, on Saturday said the performance of the government in last three years had...
6.Democracy to face debacle if BNP comes to power again (PM) :  Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. Dhaka The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Saturday made the Bangladesh Nationalists Party responsibl 
e for disturbing the country's demicratic system time and....
7.Deal on JVA for 1,320 MW plant with India today :  Staff Correspondent The state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board today signs a deal with the National Thermal Power Corporatin of India to set up a joint-venture....
8.Two remanded in Dhaka over question  leak : Food ministry forms probe body Staff Correspondent A Dhaka court on Saturday remanded two youths in police custody for two days each for interrogation over the food....
9.MP among 50 hurt at RMCH clash: United News of Bangladesh Rangpur A triangular clash between activists of the Jatiya Party, employees of Rangpur Medical College Hospital and police left 50 people,.....
10.Probe on to find civilians' link to coup attempt (Hanif) : Bd news 24.com. Dhaka An investigation is in progress to find out civilians who had a hand in the recent attempted military coup that was foiled by....
11.JCD factions clash over stalking in Nilphamari: Our Correspondent. Nilphamari Two local groups of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal clashed on Friday night in Nilphamari town allegedly over stalking a teenage schoolgirl. At lesat 10...
12.Pirates loot 40 trawlers, kidnap 110 fishermen: United News of Bangladesh Begerhat Pirates looted 40 fishing trawlers and kidnapped 110 fishermen from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday and Friday . Twenty fishermen were.....
13.Miscreants Cut fingers of medical student: United News of Bangladesh Saver A gang of miscreants cut two fingers of a student of Enam Medical College and snatched his cash and valuables...
14.Youth shot dead in city : Staff Correspondent Unidentified miscreants killed a young man in the early hours on Saturday and the police recovered the body from Azampur in the capital's....

New's 28-01-2012

1.Question leaked, 10 held: Staff Correspondent Authorities conducted the examination for recruitment in the  food directorate amid reports of question leaks in several districts, including Dhaka, about 11 hour before...
2.Law to appoint EC should be enacted first citizens: Staff Correspondent Politicians , constitution experts and civic forums have said formation of the next election commission by a search committee constituted through...
3.Delhi shelves deal : Shakhawat Hossain New Delhi has shelved a proposal on currency swap among the countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation , sources at Bangladesh Bank........
4.EC goes ahead with EVM project: Taib Ahmed Despite stiff opposition from Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Election Commission has completed all necessary preparations to manufacture about three lakh electronic voting machines.......
5. Who's who in the search committee:Staff Correspondent Three of the four members of the search committee , formed to recommend people for appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners,....
6.Nat'l integrity strategy in the making: Mustafizur Rahman The government has drafted a national integrity strategy to strengthen anticorruption drives in both public and private institutions including political parties and to .....
7. ACC urges govt not to curb its freedom: Bd news 24.com. Dhaka The Anti-Corruption Commission has once again asked the government not to introduce laws that will hit it in the teeth as an independent.....
8.NASA's Kepler confirms 26 new planets: Agence France-Presse, Washington The US space agency said Thursday its Kepler space telescope mission has confirmed 26 new planets outside our solar syatem, all of....
9. CPB calls for unity of left democratic forces: Staff Correspondent Leaders of Communist Party of Bangladesh on Friday called upon all left democratic forces to unite to wage a strong movement against the two......
10.Suicide car bomb outside Bangladeah hospital kills 31: Agence France-Presse. Baghdad A suicide bomber set off an explosives -packed car outside a Baghdad hospital of Friday, killing 31 people in the capital's deadliest day ....
11.Hasina is conducting 'coup by stealth': Ishraq tell The Economist David Bergman Ishraq Ahmed, the man whom the army alleges was one of those involved in a foiled coup to overthrow the.....
12.'Coup plotter' travel companion of British comedian: David Bergman The man who the army now claims was involved in an attempted coup to oust the Awami League government, was seven years ago the.....
13.Manna's talk show stopped: Staff Correspondent Private television channel ATN News has stopped its talk show 'Samoyer Bhabna' hosted by Awami League leader Mahmudur Rahman Manna....
14.Cocaine cache gets diplomatic treatment at UN: Agence France-Presse, United Nations A 16 kilo consignment of cocaine lost by Mexican drug traffickers has turned up in an unlikely place- the United...
15.Rockets hit Pakistan military academy: Agence France-Presse. Peshawar Attackers on Friday fired rockets at Pakistan's top military academy, damaging its outer wall in a major security breach near the home...
16.Call for suspension of coal-fired power plant in Bagerhat: Staff Correspondent Twelve eminent citizens on Friday called for suspension of the government 's joint-venture initiative with India to install coal fired
17.BSTI gets Indian accreditation: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, New Delhi The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution , the national standards body of Bangladesh, has been granted accreditation for its product certification....

Eco-entrepreneurship in Jessore

     As I bound my breasts and put on men's  clothes, I remember thinking how crazy I was. In two years, I went from being an executive in the 'c-suite' of a large real estate finance company in New York to disguising myself as a Bangladeshi man so that I could go look for land in the rural areas of southern Bangladesh. So what made me give up a high-paying job at the top of the corporate ladder, donate everything I owned to charity, and move to a developing country that few people can locate on a map ? In a word: passion.
     I was making money in New York, but I wasn't maling a difference. I had reached the top of my chosen my career field by age thirty and was bored. I wanted to change my life so I could do something I loved, and make more of an impact on the world. But it was a lecture that I attended at the Cornell Club that really sounded the clarion call for me. Stuart Hart, a professor at the Cornell Johnson Business School, gave a lecture about alternative energy in developing countries; he threw out a statistic that I could not belive when I heard it: he said that of the 6 billion people in the world, 4 billion live in poverty. It shocked me to the core of my being. I considered myself a well-educated and well-known how most of the people in the world live made me question everything that I knew.
    That talk set in motion a series of events that led me to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship to Bangladesh where I did a year of service and spent some time examining my priorities. When my Fulbright ended , I realized that I could no longer return to my old life and that the time had finally come to spread my wings and jump. I had the idea to create sustainable boutique resorts before I left New York (it combined my interests in environmentalism, real estate, design, and travel), but I certainly never thought that I would start in Bangladesh! After living in the country for a year, however, I realized that there was a demand , among the foreigners and Bangladeshis already living in Dhaka, for the kind of high-end socially and environmentally responsible product that I wanted to create.
     I strategically chose the location for my resort and then started looking for a site . I flew to Jessorem put on a sari, and hired a rickshaw to take me around the countryside. Village tea stalls were the best source of information about the local area. Normally the exclusive domain of men, I was invited to sit, take tea, and share information about my country, my family, and what I was doing in Bangladesh. After the local leader had determined that my quest was worthwhile, he would take me around and show me several pieces of land that might be available. While the search was fun and the scenery breathtaking, I soon realized that I was getting the bideshir dam (foreigner price quote) for the land.

Automobiles made in Bangladesh

    This is a rebuttal to an article published in a local English-language financial daily on January 21, which in my view, was misleading and not based on proper analysis of the circumstances. It postulated that Bangladesh should also manufacture and export automobiles, like sea-going vessels. Possibly, the writer did not have adequate technical or industrial background of engineering industries in Bangladesh and hence the conclusions drawn by him were not pragmatic. First, for both the shipbuilding and automobile industry, the engine providing the source of motive power, as well as all the auxiliaries, including even simple equipment associated with it like the ventilation and air exhaust fans, etc are all imported. The writer states in the article: 'Bangladesh has made significant progress in exporting ocean liners to many developed countries.' However, the reality is that except for the fabrication of the main structural frame , and the hull and its welding, most of which is labour-intensive , almost everything on the ship is imported and installed for re-export. Even the steel plates and various rolled sections for the hull frame for the ship, and even most of the electrodes for welding, are imported.
     The same also applies to the vehicles 'manufactured' at Progoti Industries in Bangladesh. In this case, however, the labour component is very little; hence,'manufacturing' motor vehicles which is only an assembly of imported components in Bangladesh is not financially viable.In shipbuilding industry, the labour component in fabrication, welding and assembly of the ship is significantly large, and with all equipment brought in on import-cum-re-export basis, our shipbuilding industry is profitable. Basically, the profit comes from the difference in the cost of skilled and unskilled labour overseas, compared to Bangladesh.
     Actually our engineering industries are very basic, like foundry and simple machining mostly. Even for this industry, almost all raw materials have to be imported. Even the fans and all other household utility goods that we have in our homes which are usually locally assembled are imported. This acute lack of all types of raw materials and components, essential for engineering industries, is the basic reason for our backwardness in that sector because most of the cost is material and machinery related.
  

Rural medical doctor cadre

   People in Bangladesh have been deprived of adequate medical services, especially in rural areas, because of a dearth of qualified doctors. Most graduate and post-graduate doctors seem reluctant to work in rural health centers. Sometimes, even after accepting government jobs, under the prevailing salary structure, some doctors make most of the limitations in administrative rules, regulations and orders, and stay away from their posting in rural health centers. Most of these truant doctors are either members of the doctors' association or have links with it . Suffice it to say, the association is invariably led by pro-government faction of doctors, who generally behave like unruly union leaders. They exert pressure on the government so as to remain above and beyond service rules and regulations, office orders.
     Meanwhile, many students at secondary and higher secondary levels seem to be losing interest in science subjects. It is the age of professionalism. After studying science subjects, students get very limited scope to pursue further studies in these disciplines. Setting up of more medical collages can encourage students to study science subjects at secondary and higher secondary levels. The elected government is committed to providing health services in rural as well as urban areas. But it is proving increasingly difficult to keep the doctors in rural areas. To address this problem, it is necessary to set up and run 64 medical collages in 64 districts to impart undergraduate medical courses and create a rural medical doctor cadre. Students who will successfully come out of such collages should be recruited by the government. The government has to create adequate number of posts for doctors at union and upazila government healthcare centres and hospitals.
       Seven medical collages can be set up and run at seven divisional cities for those doctors who desire to study  postgraduate medical courses. The scope for higher studies needs to be created. Bangladesh has enough teachers to impart medical courses at undergraduate and graduate levels . It is a great advantage. We need to utilise this opportunity . We only need to invest a large sum of money to set up and run these collages. Therefore, the elected government needs to take a comprehensive plan to set up undergraduate medical collage in each district to impart undergraduate medical courses and set up and run postgraduate medical colleges in each divisional city to impart higher medical courses.
      

A separate TV channel for children

      I applaud for highlighting the importance of good television programmers for children Developed countries invest heavily in quality programmers for children. We are seeing innovative programmers for children in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The lack of quality programmers for children in Bangladesh tells us a lot about our priorities and our condition.
     We are proud to have many television channels but we don't even notice the disgraceful lack of quality programmers for children. The existing programmers are designed to prop up the status quo, to promote conformity and to stifle courageous individuality. Our channels are busy promoting their owners, getting commercial sponsorship for news broadcasts, selling advertising time to anyone for anything and passing off cheap cookery and discussion programmers as high culture. The passionate analysis of real information on real subjects to better our children and our society simply does not exist. It is high time we adults grow up and take a fresh look at our children and our society.

Healthcare delivery

       That healthcare delivery in Bangladesh is in need of a major overhaul has been underlined by numerous studies beside observations on the ground. The poor continue to die of completely preventable diseases, and infant and maternal mortality rates in Bangladesh remain high. Adding new insights to the assessment is a recent study by the donor agencies which once again emphasises that the funds and schemes meant for the poor in Bangladesh do not always reach them . Evidence shows that health services are primarily accessed by the comparatively better off rather than the poor. The study which looked at 11 programmes worldwide, discovered initiatives that have ensured that 30 to 40 per cent of benefits reached the population's poorest 20 per cent . For instance, three projects run by non-governmental organisations in Bangladesh, especially in remote rural areas, demonstrated greater success in reaching the poorest in the community. Some of the reasons for this were that the services were convenient for the poorest preoccupied with their own livelihood concerns, mobile vans delivered health at the doorsteps, and the delivery was through women who are seen as having a greater reach among poor women. The study also found that specific programmes in countries as diverse as Argentina, Cambodia, Ghana, Zambia, and Nepal were more effective in their reach because of innovative approaches in delivery. For example, some strategies that effectively reduced inequalities in health services delivery in these countries envisaged contracting with NGOs to provide primary care and using immunisation programmes to distribute insecticide-treated bed nets.
   None of the government's well -intentioned plans will be effective unless the grossly inadequate budgetary allocations to the health sector are increased, and more importantly, mechanisms of monitoring and accountability are firmly put in place. Real change can only occur when there is strong political will and recognition, particularly among interventions are not effectively addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged.

India, the neme is cruelty

    The image of the dead body of felani tangled in the barbed-wire fence on the Bangladesh-India border after she had been killed by the Border Security force is still fresh in our memory. and now we see another Bangladeshi being inhumanly tortured by the Indian border guards. The continuous killing and torture of     
Bangladeshis by the BSF Shows how India treats us. India has violated all international norms and human          Right conventions while dealing with Bangladesh India, it seems, does not want us to be a vibrant independent     county. it took from us all it wished for but in return she gave us nothing but humiliation, killing, torture and          exploitation. we are humiliation at the gate of tin bigha corridor and at the boarder fence cordoning us off like a face a 'karbala' scenario for want of water but India does not give them water poets and writers have written  
umpteen elegies on the death of our rivers and water bodies but the heart of India has not melted Rather she is planning construction of another barrage like Farakka. 

Misusing private cars

      One of the great perks about living in Bangladesh is , perhaps, that one will never have a dull moment in his life. So much is happening around us that sometimes we become overwhelmed by all these. A few days beck, early in the morning , I was going to my office when I saw a girl asking a driver of a private car if he would take her to her destination . In reply , the driver nodded his head, and within no time the girl with a few others hopped into the car. I was curious to see a private car being used as public transport. I am sure the owner of that car didn't know about his driver misusing the car and earning some quick bucks for himself. This kind of practice is widely prevalent nowadays. It has a flipside . Sometimes group of muggers, act as passenger and mug unsuspecting passengers . One of my colleagues lost his mobile and wallet to such a group . Sometimes muggers pretending to passengers  steel the car from the greedy driver who was out to make some quick bucks. So I request car owner to keep a close eyes on their drivers so that their hard-earned vehicles are not misused . Noways, technology is so advanced that by the help of car-tracking equipment the owner of a car can keep a track of his or her car's record which prevents the driver from misusing the car.

Patients being fleeced at cardiac clinics

      It is a great relief that treatment of heart diseases is now done pretty well here in Dhaka . As we know , a patient with heart pain or heart related complaints is always advised to consult a cardiologist. If after investigations and angiogram, a patient is found to have blocks, one , two or more, the cardiologist is supposed to advise the patient what treatment she can undergo within his ability. But our cardiologists outright suggest implantation of 'ring' indicating nothing of the other method which is also widely available and he can follow. The cost of each ring is 1.20 or 1.40 lac and it is alleged that a hefty sum of commission is paid to the cardiologist by the ring-maketing coterie. Usually most of the patients need two rings and with other charges (hospital stay, medicines and cardiologists' fees, etc.) the cost of implantation of two rings come to between Tk. 3.50 and 4.00 lacs.
    Implement transer system
According to a report in The Daily Star, BRTA has been gripped with broker activities for decades; due to non-transfer of personal at rigular intervals ( the same problem exists in Rajuk & DCC).