50 cattle die of foot and mouth disease in Jessore

JESSORE At least 50 cattle died and about 2000 were attacked by foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Jessore recently. The disease broke out in Monirampur upazila of the district recently. But no medicine is available at the local hospital and markets. At least 10,000 doses of vaccine are needed but Animal Husbandry Office supplied only 96 doses of medicine.  Sources in the office said, about two thousand cattle were attacked by FMD in various places of the upazila within a week. Some owners of affected cattle are Atiar Rahman of Joypur village, Lutfor Rahman Shams Moulabi, Khalilur Rahman of the same village, Rashid of Chaluahati village and Rasul of Hogladanga village. Several other cows in Rohita village, Hanuar village, Rasulpur, Hazirhat, Dhakuria, Shomskati, Horidaskati, Maschana, Bagdanga, Nihalpur village and Gopulpur village were also attacked by the disease.
The affected cattle are being sold at lower price incurring loss to the farmers. Farmer Atiar Rahman said, his five cattle were attacked by the disease, among them two died and he sold the rest three at cheap price.

Savar tragedy, garments industry and Bangladesh

THE Savar tragedy is a symbol of our failure as a nation. The crack in Rana Plaza that caused the collapse of the building has only shown us that if we don’t face up to the cracks in our state systems, we as a nation will get lost in the debris of the collapse.

Today, the souls of those who lost their lives in Rana Plaza are watching our actions and listening to what we say. The last breath of those souls surrounds us.

Did we learn anything at all from this terrible massacre? Or will we have completed our duty by merely expressing our deep sympathy?

What should we do?
* Do everything to prevent such an incident from repeating in the future.

* What to do for those who have lost lives, their limbs or their livelihoods?

* What do we need to do to not only save our garments industry but make it stronger?

The collapse of the nine-storey building in Savar was not merely a collapse. It is just a precursor to the imminent collapse of all our state institutions. If we look closely at the collapse of the Savar building, we can read the symptoms of collapse of our state institutions. We will have to find ways to fix the institutions to protect them from complete collapse.

Citizens’ action group
I will discuss how we might be able to not just save, but also strengthen our garments industry.

Questions have been raised about the future of the garments industry. A very large foreign buyer has decided to pull out of Bangladesh because of the dangers in the garments industry here. Others may follow. If this happens, it will severely damage our social and economic future. This industry has not only increased our national income, but has also brought immense change in our society by transforming the lives of women in the country.

We cannot allow this industry to be destroyed. Rather, we have to be united as a nation to strengthen it.

The government, the leaders of the garments industry, the NGOs, and the civil society have to come forward in unity to do so.

We have to give complete reassurance to the foreign buyers that they will never again face this kind of situation, and that we are all united to take steps in order to achieve that, and will firmly carry out this commitment in the future.

Each of these actors (government, owners, civil society etc.) will work jointly and also work independently within their own spheres. Civil society will have to undertake programmes in its own way. Civil society can try to bring hope and trust in the minds of the foreign buyers on behalf of the country. They can immediately send jointly signed letters to the chairmen of the foreign companies as well as to the CEOs of those companies. The message will be to highlight the social and economic importance of the garments industry in Bangladesh, and to thank them for the role they have played in the empowerment of women and in bringing widespread transformation in Bangladesh.

It will inform them that the civil society is ready to work together with the government, as well as separately, to solve the problems being faced by the industry. It will let them know about the types of programmes that are being considered, express interest in meeting with the companies to discuss about these programmes, and let them know about the formation, structure and work of a citizens’ action group for “protecting garment workers and garment industry” (or something similar) that could take quick decisions etc. in support of these.

Another letter will go to the foreign organisations, international NGOs, and consulting firms that are already working to improve the quality of the garment industries in the third world, including on the issue of workers’ rights, monitoring and screening, and so on. This letter will let them know that the citizens’ action group would like to work and cooperate with them to improve the conditions of the workers. The letter will express the group’s interest in meeting and remaining connected with them.

We must also write letters to various government agencies in the countries of the foreign buyers to inform them that the citizens’ action group is determined to bring widespread change in the garments industry in Bangladesh.

Within the country, letters to the government, garments owners, BGMEA, BKMEA, labour organisations, NGOs, buying houses, and other affiliated organisations should be written and meeting arrangements should be made with them to elaborate the working procedures with them.

My first proposal is as follows:My two proposals regarding workers
I have from time to time given recommendations to foreign buyers about how to tackle the problems faced by the garments industry in Bangladesh. Under the present circumstances I find it all the more important that I raise this issue again, particularly because of the castigation by Pope Francis that buyers are treating the garment workers like slave labourers with $40 wage per month.

(a) A minimum wage law for the labour already exists in our country. If any company pays a salary below that minimum wage, that will be illegal.

My proposal is that the foreign buyers will jointly fix a minimum international wage level. For example, if the minimum wage is now 25 cents per hour in Bangladesh, then they will standardise minimum wage for garment industry as 50 cents per hour. No buyer will give any salary below this rate, and no industry/owner will fix salary below this limit. It would be an integral part of compliance.

Of course, we have to be prepared for a negative market reaction to this. As a result of this, some will argue that Bangladesh may overnight lose the competitiveness it had gained for being a country offering “the cheapest labour.” In order to retain its competitiveness, Bangladesh will have to increase its attractiveness in other ways. For example, increasing labour productivity, increasing specialised labour skills, regaining the trust of buying companies, giving assurance that no unfavourable situations will be created in future, ensuring the complete welfare of the workers, and so on. Until we are able to ensure this international minimum wage, we will not be able to pull out the workers from the grievous category of “slave labour” as mentioned by the Pope.

We have to gain support for the international minimum wage through discussions with politicians, business leaders, citizens, church groups, and media leaders in the countries of the foreign buyers. In the past, I had tried to convince the buyers, but have not yet succeeded. Now after the Savar tragedy, and in light of the castigation from the Pope, the issue has gained a new dimension. I want to mobilise my international and Bangladeshi friends to make my efforts stronger and more persistent this time.

We have to get the international business houses to understand that while the garment workers are physically working in Bangladesh, they are actually contributing their labour for their (international business houses) businesses. They are stakeholders of their businesses. Their business depends on the labour here. Mere physical separation should not be a ground for them to look away from the well-beings of this labour. That is the main message from the Pope. I hope the buying companies get the point.

It is not necessary for all the companies to agree on the minimum international wage at the same point in time. If some of the leading companies come forward on this issue, I think the process will start. Others will soon accept it.

(b) I have made my second proposal many times before, but it did not get any attention. There is now an opportunity for me to propose it again. This time I see a good chance for its adoption because of its relevance to the current situation.

Bangladesh garment factory produces and sells a piece of garment for five dollars, which is attractively packed and shipped to the New York port. This five dollars not only includes the production, packaging, shipment, profit and management but also indirectly covers the share that goes to the cotton-producing farmers, yarn mills for producing the yarn, cost of dyeing, and weaving as input cost.

When an American customer buys this item from a shop for $35, he feels happy he got a good bargain. The point to note is that everyone who was involved in the production collectively received $5. Another $30 was added within the US for reaching the product to the final consumer. I keep drawing attention to the fact that with just a little effort only we can achieve a huge impact in the lives of those so-called “slave labours.” My proposal relates to the little effort. I ask whether a consumer in a shopping mall would feel upset if he is asked to pay $35.50 instead of $35 for the item of clothing. My answer is: No, he will not even notice the little change. If we could create a “Grameen (or Brac) Garment Workers Welfare Trust” in Bangladesh with that additional $0.50, then we could resolve most of the problems faced by the workers — their physical safety, social safety, individual safety, work environment, pensions, healthcare, housing, their children’s health, education, childcare, retirement, old age, travel could all be taken care of through this Trust.

What do we need to do for this?
The international buying company will pay 10% of the amount that it has agreed to pay the garments factory owner (based on their negotiated price for the garments produced) against a particular order to the Trust. This money will be managed solely for the welfare of the workers in that particular factory.

There will be separate sub-funds in the Trust for each and every factory so that the workers in each factory benefit on the basis of their own production, if the buyers place this 10%.

Bangladesh now annually exports garments worth $18 billion. If all the garment buyers accept this proposal, then $1.8 billion would be received by the Trust each year. This would mean that an amount of $500 would be deposited in the Trust for each of the 3.6 million workers. If this amount of fund can be collected, the situation of the workers can be vastly improved. All we have to do is to sell the item of clothing for $35.50 instead of $35. A small, unnoticeable addition to the price can do wonders.

Of course, international buyers may argue that that extra 50 cents charged in the final price will reduce the demand for the product and that their profit would shrink. My answer to that will be that we will offer them an arrangement whereby their sales will go up, instead of down. We would give them a good marketing tool to make this product more attractive to the buyers by making the consumers feel they are getting more for this extra 50 cents. We would put a special tag on each piece of clothing to make them “special.” The tag would say: “From the happy workers of Bangladesh, with pleasure.” Workers’ well-being is managed by Grameen or Brac or any other internationally reputed organisation. There would be a beautiful logo that would go with it. This would immediately convey the message that the dress has been made with a lot of warmth and happiness by the factory workers in Bangladesh.

When consumers will see that a well known and trusted institution has taken responsibility to ensure both the present and the future of the workers who produce their garments, they won’t mind paying 50 cents extra. The retailers may say in their advertising that these products are made by well protected, well supported workers. Consumers would be proud to support the product and the company, rather than feel guilty about wearing a product made by “slave labour” under harsh working conditions. A consumer will be able to know from the company’s website and annual report what benefits the dress she wears are currently bringing to the workers, and what benefits their children are receiving.

Both the national and the international businesses should feel as though the workers are a part of their family. The days of slave labour have to come to an end. It is better to start the process now, before more ugly incidents occur.

I do not expect that all companies will immediately implement my proposal. I hope that a few would come forward to experiment with the proposal. Their country’s governments, the agencies, organisations who work to protect labour rights, citizens’ groups, church groups, media, will step forward to support it. This issue will attract attention more urgently now in light of the mass death in Savar, as well as for the Pope’s comments on the treatment of the poor labour in garment industry in Bangladesh.

I believe that for buying companies leaving Bangladesh is definitely not a solution. It would be as unfortunate for Bangladesh as it would be for the foreign buyers. There can be no sense of relief for them in leaving a country which has been highly benefited through their business, a country which could have gained continuing rapid and visible economic and social progress because of them, a country that would always remain grateful to them for their business.

Rather, if the Bangladesh government and citizens come forward to work together to remove all the difficulties being faced by the foreign buyers, and work shoulder to shoulder with them, it would bring joy for creating a new kind of business that takes pride in achieving something which is far beyond only business success — something which leads to a bright new future for a country.

I believe that they would rather like to remain in Bangladesh, face the challenges and take pride in creating a new society and a new economy. Not only will Disney, which left the country because of the recent problems, come back when they see big changes taking place because of the collective efforts of the government and the citizens, but more companies will also be interested to invest here.

Changes are taking place in the world of business. Even if they are tiny changes, they are coming nonetheless. We can accelerate that change. A citizen action group can prepare the ground for that.

Savar related programmes
The citizens’ action group can create a data-base of all those who lost their lives in Savar, lost their limbs or have had their livelihoods affected, and work to regularly update it. The primary work of this has already been initiated by Grameen with the help of other organisations. The citizens’ action group can take the responsibility to coordinate this work.

Many programmes have been announced and a lot of funds have been pledged for those who have been affected, and this is still ongoing. The citizens’ action group can provide advice on these programmes on how to best implement them. It can monitor the programmes and inform the relevant authorities accordingly. They can keep contact with the victims on an individual basis, and help them solve their problems by establishing links between them and the appropriate agencies.

The problems that are being faced by the victims of Savar range from the immediate to the long-term. The citizens’ action group should be ready to keep the people of the country engaged with the rehabilitation of the victims, and come up with effective measures to tackle the problems of different kinds (health, income, education etc.) and of different durations, faced by these victims.

When will we come to our senses?
Savar has created a huge wound and deep pain in the minds of the people of country. I pray that this deep pain compels us towards resolving the core of the problems in our national life. Savar is the creation of our dysfunctional politics. When we watched more than 600 helpless deaths, the loss of limbs of hundreds on our TV screen throughout the country, it made us aware of where our dysfunctional politics has led us to.

After all this, will we just keep on watching as it keeps happening again and again?

When will we come to our senses?

Bangladeshi farmer strangulated to death by BSF in Kushtia

KUSHTIA: A Bangla-deshi farmer was strangulated to death by some members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) near Mohammadpur frontier in Daulatpur upazila on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Bazlur Rashid, 30, son of late Azahar Ali of Mohammadpur village in the upazila.

Witnesses said the BSF members from Baushmari camp chased several Bangladeshi farmers while they were cutting grass in the bordering area. At one 

stage, they caught Rashid while the others managed to flee.

Later, the Indian border guards strangled Rashid and dumped the body in the area.

On information, members of Border Guard Bangladesh recovered the body.

Lieutenant Colonel Kazi Arman Hossain, commanding officer of BGB Battalion-32, confirmed the incident, saying they sent a letter to BSF protesting the killing. – UNB

Cabinet okays move against Prof Yunus for tax evasion

 The government has made a move to take legal action against embroiled Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus on a charge of financial irregularities and abuse of power while serving the Grameen Bank as managing director.

As discussed and decided in Monday’s cabinet meeting, the raft of gross allegations include tax dodge through claiming tax relief, foreign trip in clear violation of law and abuse of power.

Amid a long-running Yunus-government row, the cabinet Monday decided to take legal action against the banker to the poor at its routine meeting after he had clearly sided with a political party.

The meeting, held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, took the decision after it had received the joint investigation report from the National Board of Revenue and the Internal Resources Division.

Briefing reporters, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said action would be taken in line with the law of the land.

After he had to relinquish possession of Grameen Bank as its managing director, Prof Yunus had been criticising the government for its steps to revamp the bank.

Supported by the main opposition, Prof Yunus last month batted for the scrapped caretaker government provision for which BNP has long been waging a movement to restore it to oversee the next general election.

After bitterly criticised by the ruling-party leaders for his political stand, the government took the decision to bring him under the net.

The cabinet on August 2 last year asked the NBR to prepare a report on Prof Yunus, directing the body to look into how much money Prof Yunus brought as wage earner and whether he would be able to do so and how much amount he had evasion of tax as wage earner.

Based on the direction, the NBR and ERD ran investigation and prepared the report before the cabinet.

“The cabinet ran a discussion on the report and decided to take legal action against the irregularities,” the cabinet secretary said.

He said Prof Yunus visited abroad on various occasions since July 2004 to June 2011 and earned some Tk 56,185,588 as honorarium, reward and royalty and took Tk 126,546,397 as tax exemption.

“During the period, he took honorarium from 133 organisations, 10 awards and 13 royalties,” Bhuiyan added.

The ERD in its report said the way Prof Yunus took tax exemption was not appropriate under the eye of the law.

“In the Grameen Bank law, the bank has been given tax exemption but no other institutions of the bank,” he said, citing the report.

Mentioning Prof Yunus as a public servant, the report said, “Being a public servant, he did not take permission from the authorities concerned for going abroad.”

The secretary claimed the tax return papers were not furnished with true information.

“It’s a violation of law not to fill in the tax return paper with correct information. People who have prepared the reports are responsible. Being the in-charge, Prof Yunus shrugged off his responsibility,” he said.

The cabinet secretary said that Prof Yunus provided loan to his family organisation at a low interest, abusing power.

“He provided low-interest loan to his family organisation. There’s a conflict of interest. The NBR report finds abusing of power in providing the loan,” he said, adding that the fund transferred from GB to Grameen Kalyan Fund did not go by the regulations.

As per the BG rules, Bhuiyan said, Prof Yunus could function as MD till 60. According to his service contract for continuing the service after 60, he was not supposed to receive any other benefits other than the salary.

“But Prof Yunus enjoyed almost all privileges during that tenure,” he said, adding that NBR would initiate measures for the tax evasion while the Banking Division would take action against the bank related issues.

He said both the institution could take help of law ministry, if required.

On the possibility of government’s filing of cases against him, he did not specify any timeframe. “The decision for filing cases against him is yet to taken.”

Bengali Language Movement

The Bengali Language Movement, also known as the Language Movement Bhasha Andolon, was a political effort in bangladesh (then known as east pakistan), advocating the recognition of the bangali language as an official language of pakistan. Such recognition would allow Bengali to be used in government affairs.

When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East Pakistan (also called east pakistan) and west pakistan, were split along cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In 1948, the goverment of pakistan ordained urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the univercity of dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest led by the awami  muslim league, later renamed the awami league. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In 2000, unesco declared 21 February international mother language for the whole world to celebrate, in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.

The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the 6-point movement and subsequently the bangladesh liberation war in 1971. In Bangladesh, 21 February is observed as language movement day, a national holiday. The shaheed minar monument was constructed near Dhaka Medical College in memory of the movement and its victims.

Lines of Poetry

Against the vast stillness of water, a cluster of dinghies are moored; the horizon where the sky meets the water is bleached-out: this luminous watercolour, typical of the exhibits of the present show, conveys a calm beauty. Anisuzzaman, who is known almost exclusively for his delicate and intricately balanced woodcut prints of buildings or construction materials, has recently been drawn to traditional boats of Bengal of various shapes and sizes. But in his depiction of them they are invariably moored and blended with the riverscape.
Born in Pabna, Anis grew up admiring the beauty and gloom of the mighty river Meghna and its tributaries. The images of rivers and common dinghies that ply on them were etched deep in his subconscious. When he was trying to liberate himself from the rigors of many years of printmaking, he found watercolour and images of boats as key to opening doors to a new horizon. The harvest of his new found language forms the contents of the current show.
Anis loves to capture boats in close-ups. Typically, the muddy banks where the boats are anchored and the horizon in the distance appear to dissolve into each other, rendering a painting almost two dimensional. Most paintings exhibited are thinly painted, intensely observed, sometimes surrealistic, and often they exude an eerie glow. There is a kind of magic about them too —the paintings are poetic, haunting and distinctive.
In an age of virtual reality and cyberculture, Anisuzzaman’s pace is unhurried. His dinghies in rows or huddled in groups, seem like a world unto themselves. They are anchored there with almost no reference to the surrounding environment. At first they look like a monochromatic and photo realistic depiction of boats. A closer look reveals a richly nuanced palette, shimmering with the glow of the twilight. But their message is not ‘less is more.’ It is ‘less is everything.’
Anis’s quest for a new language of expression began in 2012 and in the past two years he seems to have found watercolour the most suitable medium to express himself. His watercolours still display the unmistakable draughtsmanship of his prints. The wetness of traditional watercolour is also absent in his neatly executed works.
But the geometric balance of his earlier work gives way to poetic, amusing and occasionally ominous paintings of the boat series. ‘Verses Written Through Water-18′ is particularly arresting. Done in cool tones and enveloped in a neutral background, the boats appear to exist in a complete vacuum. A sense of mystery pervades a simple and intimately reproduced scene. He seeks to express the pure, poetic beauty of these dinghies in his powerfully simple, contemplative compositions.
A sense of calm meditation pervades Anis’s paintings. He plays with shadows, scale and light. He has an exploratory gaze. He is searching for truth in expression–for pattern, a delicate balance of abstract and representational imagery, and the interplay between and control of understated hues of exquisite colour and form. The spare, minimalist and listless boats also evoke a sense of timelessness.
For him the quality of art is inextricably bound up with emotional honesty. In a Tagorean sense he also feels that a work of art is a mirror image of something that is taking place within one’s consciousness.
In the course of the rediscovery of his self, Anis is enthralled by the poetry and lyricism of the riverine Bangladesh and he has enthralled us too as we leave his exhibition.

Maksud Hossain An Oscar

Maksud Hossain – in short ‘Mak’ – won 33rd Student Academy Awards on documentary category. His non-fiction, ‘Three Beauties’ was shot with a handy cam and edited in a dorm room of Purdue University. Winning an Oscar at only 23, Mak doesn’t want it to be the peak of his career. He talked to Zia Nazmul ISLAM about Oscars and his aspirations…

In the beginning…
When I was 11, my uncle brought Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’. After the movie, they discussed about it. It struck me; a movie is not merely about entertainment, it evokes people to think. I suppose, that was the moment I realized I wanted to express my thoughts through the lens.
…to the land of opportunity
I went to study business at Purdue University and continued making short films with my friends. On one summer vacation, I came to Bangladesh and shot a documentary called ‘Three Beauties’. Professors and lecturers of film department loved it and encouraged me to send it to Student Academy Awards. I wasn’t interested at the beginning. Then, came Spike Lee to Purdue! He began his speech saying that he won Student Academy Awards. I found that Robert Zemeckis, Bob Saget, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and John Lasseter on the list of recipients of the award. So, I sent them a copy of ‘Three Beauties’.
When scripts go berserk…
On the summer vacation of 2005, I got myself a handy cam, a laptop and a script and landed on Dhaka. My script was a neo-realist ‘Bicycle Thieves’ type fiction. Unfortunately, going to the poor locations of the city that most men were away for work during the day. There were women though. Talking to the women, I found a ‘cycle’ – not the type my script I had prepared. It was the lifecycle of the girls and women living there. So, I had to change my script; it became a non-fiction of three women. Yes! There were similarities between my original script and the new one. I shot there for almost 3 months. I took the footage to USA and used to edit at night in my room at Purdue. I completed ‘Three Beauties’ in December, 2005.
Walking thru’ the walk of fame…
I went to Los Angeles to pick up my award. I stayed for a week at a hotel beside Sunset Boulevard. I met with famous directors and cinematographers from all over the world. Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) was the host of the event. I decided to move to LA to study film-making. There, I worked as script doctor at Weinstein Brothers and an assistant at crossroads films.
…to the land of three beauties
I grew up in UAE but used to visit Bangladesh 2/3 times a year. I always had a yearning to work and live here. In 2009, I came to Bangladesh. For the first one and half years I was a lecturer at ULAB.
Pulling hair off, underwater…
I was a regular at shooting locations of Rashed Zaman who worked as a cinematographer in one my short film in USA, ‘Status’. Rashed introduced me to Nurul Alam Atique. Rashed shot 36 hours of footage of Dub Shatar, directed by Atique. Everyone was pulling their hair off editing Dub Shathar. Rashed gave me the footage to edit. I was one of the final editors of the film.
…and now
My first fiction in Bangladesh, ‘Bahattor Ghonta’, was aired on Eid. It received good response from all. Later, I made TVCs for Navana Real Estate, Otobi, Meena Herbal, close Up… I enjoy being able tell a short story through TVC. Now, I am focused on making TV commercials.

Bangladesh possible tourist destination for Australians

Bangladesh with its unique cultural wealth and local crafts can emerge as a tourism destination for Australians, said six award-winning Australian journalists, who recently concluded a five-day visit to the country.

There is no need for discotheques, pubs or star-rated hotels to attract tourists to Bangladesh, they said at a press conference hosted by Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Greg Wilcock at his residence on Monday evening.

Paul Sheehan, a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald, said, “Bangladesh's traditional textile alone is enough to drive foreign women crazy.”

The six-member celebrity journalists' team from different Australian newspapers arrived in Bangladesh on February 14 and visited Dhaka, Tangail and the Sundarbans.

Mark Dapin, also from The Sydney Morning Herald, while describing a song that a farmer sang in Tangail, said, “I saw one of the best and most fascinating cultural performances in any country of the world.”

Helen Anderson, from The Australian, said, "In my writing I will be reflecting the rural life and ideas of sustainability with emphasis on colour, warmth and resilience and textile products."

Bangladesh's wonderful village life, resilient women and traditional festivals make the country a goldmine for foreign tourists, said Sarah Siddiqi, chief executive of Experience Bangladesh, a tourism management company that sponsored the tour along with other co-hosts.

Joanna Tovia, Gillian Cumming and Kelly Irving were the other journalists.

3G in bangladesh

AFTER years of waiting, third generation (3G) mobile technology finally comes to Bangladesh in full swing with the auctioning of spectrum to four operators.

The technology will not only drastically increase internet speed, but with it the number of internet users in the country, which is currently at only eight million, most of whom use narrowband mobile internet. The service in particular and digitisation of the nation in general will, it is hoped, contribute significantly to socio-economic development, not to mention the opening up of a wider, brighter world of infotainment for users.

Accompanying our excitement, however, are some practical concerns. The existing infrastructure is less than reliable and must be improved if it is to keep up with the service. Internet access is still limited, especially in rural areas, and must be made to reach the widest network of users. The costs, which are already on the high end, should not be allowed to soar with this new service. Considering the bidding price, the stakes are high, and so are expectations of users, operators and the government alike.

We hope that efficient and affordable 3G services will be launched not only ‘in the fastest time possible’ as promised by mobile operators, but that it will also reach divisional cities within the given timeframe as is a condition of the licence, so as to benefit the greatest number of people with high-quality service in today’s increasingly digital world.

Up on the competitive index

WITH all the things Bangladesh might be doing wrong, one cannot deny that there a few things we are doing right. Bangladesh moving eight notches up in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) is a clear indication of that.

Improvement in two key areas—macro-economic management and infrastructure—helped Bangladesh make progress in the index for 2013-14, according to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) to be released by the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Bangladesh.

With the political unrest in Bangladesh for most of 2013 the infrastructure, and economy were both obviously affected. But it is commendable that given those factors Bangladesh still rose up from 118th to 108th place in the GCI.

This goes to show that given a productive and progressive environment Bangladesh can improve in all sides, let it be economy, policy or climate change mitigation.

GCI reported, corruption, inadequate supply of infrastructure, access of financing to poor work ethics and unstable policy to be the main problems of doing business with Bangladesh. As there are no wild cards here and these are the same problems experts in Bangladesh would identify as key issues in our country we hope that our government and people are paying attention to these factors and taking small and big actions for change.

The progress of Bangladesh is for everyone, it does not leave out any community or background. So we hope we can think for the greater good and keep moving forward.

Bangladesh may host IPL

Bangladesh may host the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) or at least some matches of the T20 tournament that overlap dates of Indian parliamentary elections due early next year, an Indian English daily reported on Tuesday.

Quoting a top Indian cricket board official, The Indian Express reported that some of the matches may be held outside of India and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could be the likely hosts.

When contacted, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, acting chief executive officer of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), expressed his ignorance about the development.

“We haven’t got any thing official from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),” the BCB official told The Daily Star over phone.

“We will have an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Chennai on September 14. In that meeting, there might be possibility of any such development,” he added.

The reason for this is the same as in 2009, when the second season of IPL was played in South Africa due to Lok Sabha elections, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The election dates are not known yet but the BCCI has begun preparation for avoiding possible overlapping with the IPL, which is scheduled to take place in April and May.

“A clear picture will emerge only after the dates for the Lok Sabha elections are announced. Until then, we are considering whether to have a few games in India and then move abroad, or vice versa. Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are short journeys, so logistically, it won’t be much of a problem,” the BCCI official said.

The current tenure of the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Indian parliament, ends in May 2014 and if the election is not brought forward, the IPL will coincide with campaigning and voting, and severely stretch security forces.

Dhaka seeks clarification from Delhi

The government has sought clarification from India regarding the neighbour's plan to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), popularly known as drones, on the skylines over Bangladesh frontiers. The move came in the wake of news reports in some Indian newspapers which said the country's Border Security Force (BSF) would soon deploy the UAVs along the border with Pakistan to maintain heightened vigil and planned to enforce identical aerial vigil in

Corruption returns as main hurdle to business

Bangladesh has made progress in global competitiveness, but corruption has taken over infrastructure deficit as the main deterrent to doing business, according to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR).
Government instability is a rising concern, which came up to the 5th spot from 7th in 2012 and 12th in 2011 in the Executive Opinion Survey.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue conducted the survey between February and April this year, based on a questionnaire developed by Geneva-based World Economic Forum.
The findings of the survey were absorbed into WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14, in which Bangladesh came in 110 out of 148. The position is an improvement over the previous year’s 118th spot.
The survey found inadequate supply of infrastructure, inefficient government bureaucracy, access to financing and government instability were the other significant problematic factors besides corruption to doing business.
The respondents, which comprise 71 large and medium companies, identified undocumented extra payments or bribes on tax payment and export-import related issues, government’s failure to combat corruption, bribes on public utilities and illegal payment on awarding of public contracts and licences as the major elements of corruption.

They also said the corporate ethics of firms were not “good enough”.
“These indicate that Bangladesh is still struggling with structural and governance weakness,” said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of CPD, said yesterday, while calling for “highest efforts” from the government to improving these bottlenecks.
“The existence of these weaknesses is pulling down the economy from attaining a higher level of competitiveness.”
Although Bangladesh’s competitiveness has made some progress, it was not adequate to facilitate the targeted levels of growth and investment, Moazzem said.
The constraining factors of corruption, infrastructure deficiency, inefficient government bureaucracy and limited access to finance have remained the same over the years, he said.
“Banks are now cautious in trade financing after the scams of Hall-Mark and Bismillah groups,” he said, adding that implementation of Financial Reporting Act is urgently needed.
However, few specific policies such as the monetary policy and initiatives like the public-private investment in the energy and power sectors have helped made positive changes in competitiveness, he said.
Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of CPD, said Vietnam, one of Bangladesh’s main competitors, is growing very fast.
“To compete, Bangladesh needs to make progress in areas of innovation, technology, skilled human resource and new market creation, apart from improvement in administration and good governance,” he added.
Moazzem also said the government’s intervention in the media industry was a big concern for the businessmen, who considered it to be “a threat to freedom of media”.
The GCR is one of the world’s most comprehensive and respected assessments of country competitiveness, offering insight into policies, institutions and factors driving productivity and then, enabling sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity.