BB cuts cost of credit for onion import

The central bank yesterday asked all banks not to charge more than 12 percent on credit for onion import in an effort to ensure adequate supply and keep the prices of the cooking item stable.
Banks, in some cases, were charging more than 14 percent for such imports, Bangladesh Bank officials said.
The BB in a notice also advised the banks to keep the loan-margin ratio at the minimum level based on the banker-client relationship.
The central bank directive will remain effective till December 31.
The local market was destabilised of late due to a surge in prices in the international markets, the BB said.
The central bank move came a day after the commerce minister’s request for reducing the credit interest and LC margin for onion imports.
The prices of imported onion in Bangladesh soared 270 percent year-on-year to Tk 90 a kg yesterday after bad weather in India — the country’s main source of the vegetable — created a supply crunch. India hiked its export price to $900 a tonne on Saturday, from $250 a month ago.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh on Sunday started selling onion at Tk 55 a kilogram in open markets across the country to cool the prices.
However, consumers cannot buy more than a kg at one time from the state-owned TCB, which is selling the vegetable item through its dealers via trucks.

JCD men torch, vandalise 4 vehicles in Savar

The leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal went on a rampage torching and vandalising vehicles in Savar Tuesday protesting the submission of a charge-sheet against five JCD men in a case filed for blasting bombs at the information minister’s residence in June.

Bringing out a flash procession around 10:30am, at least 40 JCD men torched a Gazipur-bound bus of Titas Paribahan and vandalised at least three vehicles in the Dairy Farm Gate area.

No one was reported injured in the rampage, reports our correspondent in Savar.

The detectives Sunday pressed charges against five JCD leaders and activists in the case filed after four homemade crude bombs were hurled at the Mirpur residence of Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on June 9.

Confirming Tuesday’s vandalism, Farhad Hossain, a traffic police inspector, said traffic movement on the Dhaka-Aricha highway was disrupted for around 15 minutes following the vandalism.

The agitators however gave time to the passengers to get down from the bus before they set fire to the vehicle, witnesses said.

On information, firefighters from Savar Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot and doused the fire, said Khan Khalilur Rahman, station officer of the fire service.

Earlier, the group held a rally at the Dairy Farm gate around 10:00am.

The charge-sheeted accused are Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Jewel, 35, president of JCD; Sharifuddin Jewel, 35, senior vice-president of Dhaka city (north); Akil Mahmud, 32, a JCD central committee member; Firoz Miah, 30, senior vice-president of Mirpur thana unit; and Mahbubul Alam, 24, activist of Titumir College unit.

Of them, Akil and Mahbub were arrested on June 24 for their alleged involvement in the incident. They are now in jail custody while Kader, Sharif and Firoz remain absconding since the incident.

Stocks gain

The prices of the most shares on the country’s premier bourse increased during the first two hours of trading on Tuesday, shrugging off the downtrend of the last four days.

DSEX, the benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose 41 points to reach 4,062 points at 12:35pm when this report was filed.

Of the issues traded, 191 advanced, 69 declined and 23 remained unchanged.

A total of 69,452 trades were executed with Tk 260 crore changing hands.

On Monday, the trading at DSE reached 4021 points after dropping 15 points.

CPD proposes doubling salary

The Centre for Policy Dialogue has recommended TK 6,560 as the minimum wage for an entry-level worker of the country’s garment sector.

The CPD, a think-tank of the country’s civil society, made the recommendation when the country’s apparel sector has been witnessing a labour unrest for fixing workers’ minimum monthly salary of Tk 8,114.

At present, an entry-level worker gets Tk 3,000 as minimum monthly salary.

As per the recommendation, an entry-level worker will get basic Tk 4,300, house rent Tk 1,720 and medical allowance Tk 540.

“This salary structure will be followed for an entry-level worker during his/her first year at factory,” said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional director (research) of CPD during a dialogue on “Minimum Wage for Garment Workers” held at the Cirdap Auditorium in the capital.

The gross salary will stand up at Tk 8,200 following a 20 percent increase in the second year, he added.

The minimum wage was last raised to Tk 3,000 in November 2010, from Tk 1,662.5.

Three years later this year, as the garment workers demand that the minimum salary be revised, the factory owners have offered Tk 600 hike.

As the proposal came on the back of the workers’ demanded that authorities should set Tk 8,114 as minimum monthly wage, it fuelled demonstration.

The aggrieved workers took to highways and the demonstration spread in Dhaka and its outskirts.

In the face of demonstration, several hundred factories had to shut their production for one or two days.

Meanwhile, at an emergency meeting Monday night, garment makers decided to reopen the chaos-hit factories on government assurance of adequate security.

“We assured garment factory owners of adequate security so that they can reopen the factories. We have also asked law enforcement agencies to strictly control the outsiders, as they instigate workers in resorting to vandalism,” said Mikail Shipar, secretary to labour and employment ministry.

Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association, after the meeting also confirmed that they would reopen the factories from Tuesday.

Two more decisions–submission of the wage structure within November by the minimum wage board, although the board has time up to December, and payment of workers’ salaries and bonus well ahead of Eid-ul Azha–were made in the emergency meeting.

Next polls to make Bangladesh democracy sustainable: PM

Expressing her firm confidence about holding the next election in a free, fair and neutral manner, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday said the upcoming polls in Bangladesh would make its democratic process and constitutional rule sustainable.

“We’ll have to uphold the constitution and to begin the practice of transferring power under a democratic process from a certain stage,” she said.

Hasina said this during a meeting with Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma Monday afternoon (local time) at Hotel Grand Hyatt in New York.

The prime minister arrived in New York earlier in the morning on an eight-day official visit to the USA to attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters after the meeting.

Hasina told the UN secretary general that nearly 6,000 elections at different tiers were held in Bangladesh during the tenure of the present government electing around 64,000 public representatives, and many from the opposition parties defeated the ruling party candidates in those polls.

The prime minister said no one could raise any question about the neutrality of those polls as the government played a very fair role in the elections and did not intervene in the duties of the Election Commission.

“The Election Commission in Bangladesh now totally independent and discharging its duties without any sort of government interference,” she added.

Hasina reiterated that the Election Commission would hold the next general election in a free, fair and fully neutral manner.

Abul Kalam Azad said the Commonwealth secretary general renewed his invitation to the prime minister to attend the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November next.

Kamalesh told the prime minister that her presence is important in the next CHOGM as the meeting will discuss the issue of climate financing for member countries, particularly for the LDCs.

Besides, the next CHOGM will give a special focus on poverty alleviation and the issue of inclusive development of the member states, Kamalesh told the prime minister.

In this connection, he recalled the role of Hasina that she played in the previous CHOGMs.

The premier hoped that Commonwealth would play a more effective role in strengthening democracy in its member countries and protecting the interests of the developing countries in the post-2015 Development Agenda.

PM’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, PM’s Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Ambassador at-Large M Ziauddin, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Dr AK Abdul Momen and Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Akramul Kader, were, among others, present during the meeting.

RMG workers go berserk

An Ansar camp was looted and more than 150 people, including law enforcers, were injured in Dhaka, Savar and Gazipur yesterday, during apparel workers’ agitation demanding a minimum monthly salary of around Tk 8,000.

The workers, on the third day of their agitation, also vandalised more than 120 vehicles and 10 garment factories in the capital and its outskirts, and blocked several roads, including Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Aricha highways, and Tejgaon-Gulshan link road in the capital causing severe traffic jams. Almost all the factories in Gazipur, around 15 in Dhaka and at least 17 in Savar were kept shut for the day fearing further vandalism.

Meanwhile, at an emergency meeting around 12:30am today, garment makers decided to reopen the chaos-hit factories on government assurance of adequate security.

“We assured garment factory owners of adequate security so that they can reopen the factories. We have also asked law enforcement agencies to strictly control the outsiders, as they instigate workers in resorting to vandalism,” said Mikail Shipar, secretary to labour and employment ministry. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufactures and Exporters Association, after the meeting also confirmed that they would reopen the factories from today.

Two more decisions, including submission of the wage structure within November by the minimum wage board, although the board has time up to December, and payment of workers’ salaries and bonus well ahead of Eid-ul Azha, were made in the emergency meeting.

Also attended by State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku, top officials of Rapid Action Battalion and industrial police, the meeting was chaired by Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan.

GAZIPUR

Workers of three garment factories attacked an Ansar camp in Bhogra by-pass area of Joydevpur upazila yesterday around 8:30am.

They looted eight rifles and 135 bullets, leaving eight Ansar members, including a commander, injured. They set fire to four of the rifles.

The other four rifles looted were recovered from roadside bushes after the attackers had left the scene. The bullets are yet to be found, said Noor Mohammad, officer of Ansar and Village Defence Party in sadar upazila. In the morning, workers of Rose Knitting and Sumon Textile Ltd went to adjacent Colossus Apparel Ltd and asked its employees to join them. Together, they attacked the nearby Ansar camp with sticks and bamboo.

Commander of the camp Apan Mollah, 40, and three of his colleagues — Alamgir Hossain, 28, Mahalam, 23, and Abu Raihan, 25, were injured in the attack and were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Uttara of the capital.

Garment workers also put barricades at different points of Chandona, Pagarh and Duttapara in Tongi upazila disrupting vehicular movement on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for four hours, said Sub-Inspector (SI) Moniruzzaman of Tongi Police Station.

He said it all started around 8:30am when more than 10,000 workers with sticks and bamboos gathered on the highway.

To disperse them, law enforcers used truncheons and fired from shotguns in which 50 workers were injured, including 18 bullet-hit, the SI said.

The injured were taken to Tongi Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, reports our Gazipur correspondent.

Fifty more people were hurt when agitating workers vandalised at least 15 vehicles and set fire to a roadside shed for Ansars at Chandona.

Gazipur police said a group of workers clashed with law enforcers on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Borobari area while another group vandalised at least six garment factories along the highway at Konabari.

More than 100 vehicles were vandalised in the demonstrations in Gazipur.

The authorities of almost all the garment factories in the district decided to keep their units closed for Monday due to the unrest, said Mosharraf Hossain, assistant superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police.

DHAKA

Around 1,000 workers of several garment factories in Tejgaon industrial zone took position on Tejgaon-Gulshan link road and began demonstrating around 9:30am.

They vandalised several vehicles creating traffic congestion. During the time, some workers hurled brick chips at roadside factories. They also broke the close circuit camera of a Ha-Meem Group unit. An employee of Ha-Meem Group, seeking anonymity, told The Daily Star that the unruly workers torched a microbus and two motorcycles parked in front of the factory.

Locals said the situation aggravated around 10:30am as the workers halted traffic on the road and adjacent areas for an hour and vandalised at least four more vehicles.

Police had used 20 shotgun bullets and seven to eight teargas canisters to bring the situation under control, said Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Moniruzzaman of Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station.

Meanwhile, several hundred workers from different garment factories in Badda area marched towards Rampura yesterday around 4:30pm, said Iqbal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Badda Police Station, adding that police had chased the workers away.

SAVAR

At least 40 people, including six policemen, were injured in clashes between apparel workers and law enforcers at Karnapara, Genda, Ulail and Savar Bus Stand areas along Dhaka-Aricha highway yesterday. The violence erupted around 9:30am as police tried to disperse more than 4,000 workers demonstrating on the highway halting vehicular movement for about two hours.

Confronted with resistance, the workers vandalised at least 10 vehicles and several garment factories there, reports our Savar correspondent. At one stage, police had charged truncheons and use rubber bullets and several canisters of teargas as the agitators retaliated with brick chips, said a witness. Following the agitation, the authorities of more than 10 ready-made garment factories kept their production suspended for yesterday, said SI Omar Faruk of Savar Industrial Police. In another incident around 12:30pm, at least 15 people were injured when more than 2,000 garment workers of GK Garments and Savar Textiles clashed with police in Savar Bus Stand area. Traffic movement on Dhaka-Aricha highway came to a halt, for the second time in the day, for one and a half hours due to the clash, said witnesses. This time the agitating workers vandalised at least five buses. Production at two more garment factories had been kept suspended for the day after the violence, said industrial police. In July 2010, the minimum salary for garment workers in Bangladesh was fixed at Tk 3,000, almost double the previous minimum salary. Three years later, as garment workers demand that the minimum salary be revised, factory owners have offered a 20 percent or Tk 600 hike 

More garment factories to be inspected

The group is also preparing a risk assessment parameter which would be provided to the International Labour Organisation later this month for making a common check list for factory inspection.
Under the accord, two funds will be formed with all the money coming from the retailers.
Each brand and retailer will finance its respective supplier for improvement, repairing and renovation of the factories and training for the workers, Azim said.
Eighty-seven brands and retailers, mostly European, have so far signed the accord, according to IndustriALL.
The accord aims to make the Bangladeshi garment industry safe and sustainable through comprehensive inspections, repairs of factories, training and involvement of workers.
It will cover all factories working for the signatories, opening them all up for safety inspections and further measures depending on the factory’s significance to the brand.
Azim also talked about the minimum wage for garment workers.
“We will accept whatever the Minimum Wage Board recommends.”

Modified brinjal gets go-ahead

The High Court yesterday cleared the way for the government to release a genetically modified (GM) crop, Bt Brinjal, in Bangladesh.The court rejected two separate writ petitions that challenged the legality of a government move to release the crop for the first time in the country.A division bench of the HC rejected the petitions, considering that those were not placed before it with adequate information.Farida Akhter, organiser of Naya Krishi Andolon, a rights body, and Sakiul Millat Morshed, executive director of Shishuk, an NGO, filed the writ petitions on July 29, claiming that the modified brinjal is harmful to public health and environment.They prayed to the court to issue an order on the government not to produce the crop in the country.Additional Attorney General Momtajuddin Fakir opposed the writ petitions, arguing that Bt Brinjal is not harmful, but is a high-yielding crop that does not need insecticides.Lawyers from both the prosecution and the defence told The Daily Star that the HC order means there is no legal bar to releasing the crop.Advocate Shahidul Islam, lawyer for Sakiul Millat, said he would move the same petition before another HC bench.On July 15, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) applied to the National Technical Committee for Crop Biotechnology (NTCCB), seeking commercial release of Bt Brinjal, and the NTCCB referred it to its expert committee for review.Bt Brinjal is infused with pest-resistant genes that will see a drastic fall in the use of harmful pesticides in the crop, scientists who developed the variety at BARI had earlier said.The committee at a meeting reviewed the reports provided by BARI.“According to the reports we reviewed, the Bt Gene has been expressed well in our home-grown brinjals and results have been found to be homogeneous,” said Prof Rakha Hari Sarker, a member of the committee.

Too much, too little

A 20 percent rise in wages is too minimal, while a 170 percent hike is too high. It begs the question: Why this huge disparity between the garment workers’ expectations and the reality?
The workers’ representative on the wage board called for raising the minimum wage to Tk 8,114 a month from the current Tk 3,000, but the owners are willing to increase it only by Tk 600.“An industry that operates in a competitive global landscape will simply not be able to sustain the pay rise that the workers are demanding,” said Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).He singled out the small and medium factories, which would be hit hard by the 170.5 percent wage rise “given the local and global trends of business”.In an industry of 4,000, there are 2,200 small and medium factories, according to Arshad Jamal Dipu, owners’ representative on the wage board. “That is more than 50 percent of the industry would be unable to bear the huge hike in salary.”“But then again, a 20 percent wage rise that the owners are pushing for would not make much difference in the workers’ living conditions,” said Mustafizur of the CPD.He, therefore, called for a median pay rise, one that allows the industry to maintain competitiveness and profitability and at once affords the workers “a decent life”.The CPD executive director, however, has declined to give a figure as the think-tank is scheduled to present a paper on the matter in a seminar today at the Cirdap auditorium.Sirajul Islam Rony, workers’ representative on the wage board, said that the Tk 8,114 figure was arrived at after taking the workers’ basic needs into consideration.Their proposed minimum wage makes monthly allowance for: food Tk 2,189, rent Tk 3,000 and medical Tk 500. But the owners are only willing to cover for food Tk 2,400, rent Tk 960 and medical allowance Tk 240.The workers also want allowance for clothing, conveyance, recreation, personal grooming, festivals and refreshment, but the owners refuse to give any.The proposal that roused the workers to take to the streets is now seen as a source of all troubles.Sadiq Ahmed, vice-chairman of Policy Research Institute (PRI), said the impact of salary hike by such margins on the cost of production had to be considered.“The production cost has already been increasing by nearly 13 percent every year — incorporating that salary hike would send the cost through the roof.”Moreover, the pay rise is likely to shut the door for the currently unemployed pool of workers, the PRI vice-chairman says.“If the garment owners increase the salary to a large extent for a limited number of workers, would they be able to afford any new hires? That has to be considered too when bargaining for a higher minimum wage.”The country’s main advantage is its surplus labour, so the wage should be fixed in such a way that it makes the best use of the boon. “As things stand, we can divert much surplus labour from the agricultural sector to manufacturing.”Sadiq cited the case of China, whose undisputed position as the number one apparel supplier in the world is dissipating due to rising costs of production by way of high wages.“The safety and security of the workers should also be taken into cognisance while fixing the salaries of the workers,” he added.After extensive criticism from around the globe, the government in May announced a new wage board to fix the salaries of the 3.6 million garment workers.The minimum wage for the garment workers was first fixed at Tk 627 in 1985, which was increased to Tk 930 in 1994. Then in 2006, the garment workers were handed out a 78.79 percent pay rise, which was raised to the current level of Tk 3,000 in 2010.

Global warming pause ‘central’ to IPCC climate report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meets this week in Sweden to thrash out a critical report on global warming.Scientists will underline, with greater certainty than ever, the role of human activities in rising temperatures.But many governments are demanding a clearer explanation of the slowdown in temperature increases since 1998.One participant told BBC News that this pause will be a “central piece” of the summary.Researchers from all over the world work with the IPCC to pore over thousands of peer-reviewed studies and produce a summary representing the current state of climate science.Its previous report in 2007 was instrumental in helping the panel share the Nobel Peace Prize that year.A new Summary for Policymakers on the physical sciences, the first of three parts that make up a report to be released over the next 12 months, will be published in Stockholm on Friday.It will focus on the science underlying changes in temperature in the atmosphere, the oceans and at the poles.New estimates will be given for the scale of global warming and its impact on sea levels, glaciers and ice sheets.