Diseased Indian cattle on sale at border markets

Indian cattle infected with different diseases, especially anthrax, dominate 12 cattle markets in border areas of the district ahead of Eid-ul-Azha as those are selling for much lower prices than local ones.
These cattle, especially the large-sized ones, are also sent to the capital and other parts of the country, cattle traders said.
Around 90 to 95 thousand Indian cattle are selling in Durarkuti Haat, Kulaghatghat Haat, Nayar Haat, Barabari Haat in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, Durgapur Haat, Mohishkhocha Haat of Aditmari upazila, Chapar Haat, Bhotmari Haat, Chandrapur Haat under Kaliganj upazila, Doikhawa Haat and Barakhata Haat of Hatibandha upazila and Patgram Haat in Patgram upazila under Lalmonirhat district every week.
Only ten percent of the cattle are brought through legal ways by giving revenue of Tk 500 at par through the corridor, while the rest are brought illegally through different border points, traders said.
“Many of the Indian cattle that are smuggled through different border areas are infected with diseases especially anthrax but these are selling in the market without any examination by the livestock officials,” said Abu Hasnath Rana, a college teacher in Patgram upazila.
Many people are purchasing diseased Indian cattle ignoring the risk of serious health hazard, he said.
“We bring Indian cattle illegally during the night. We sell these cattle at different haats (markets) in the district. We never get these cattle examined in the local livestock office,” said a cattle trader at Durakuti Haat in Lalmonirhat Sadar, seeking anonymity.
Admitting that Indian cattle infected with different diseases including anthrax are selling in the local cattle markets, Lalmonirhat District Livestock Officer Dr Abu Hossain Sarker said, “Livestock officials can’t check these Indian cattle in the markets due to shortage of manpower.”
Commanding Officer of Lalmonirhat 15 BGB Battalion Lt Col Mahbubur Rahman expressed deep concern at the large-scale influx of diseased Indian cattle into Bangladesh markets.
Vowing urgent steps, he, however, said BGB shows a bit laxity in vigilance on Indian cattle trading in the border area, considering ‘greater interest’ of the people.

Shadow over Sundarbans

SINCE 1974, because of the diversion of fresh water from Ganges through Farakka Barrage, the salinity of water and in the soil has increased in a large part of Bangladesh. This has already impacted on the growing stocks of the Sundarbans.
Inventories of the Department of Forests (1996) showed that there were 144 trees per hectare in 1996 compared to 296 trees per hectare in 1959 (report by Forestal). Trend analysis estimated a further decrease to 109 total trees per hectare in 2020.
Now, there is a possibility of “the black carbon” (soot) appearing near Sundarbans. The black carbon forms a layer on leaves and other parts of a plant and becomes sticky within a few days, resulting in decreased light penetration to the leaves that will obviously reduce photosynthesis and growth of plants.
An expert of the CEGIS is trying to justify the building of a power plant by quoting that by buying electricity for Tk.1 taka the people will get benefit between Tk.39 and Tk.45. This may look beneficial in the short run, however, in the long run, the forest will be destroyed. It is just to mention that at present, the Sundarbans (at least the Bangladesh part) has a carbon reserve of about 120 million tons (an estimate of 2010).
The shrinking of the Sundarbans is not mainly due to anthropogenic effects, but the salinity intrusion as mentioned before. The expert also mentioned that the disasters in the region are making people in the area poor, and salinity is hampering the growth of crops. Why have the frequency of disasters and the salinity of soil and water increased? Why have the natural disasters increased? Because of climate change.
To my mind, another climate change factor will be introduced by installing a coal-operated power plant near Sundarbans.

War crimes trial and failure of our politics

WE are a severe critic of this government on many issues. But on the issue of holding war crimes trial we have no hesitation in saying that without the AL in power, and without Sheikh Hasina’s determined leadership, it would have never happened. For this we express our heartfelt gratitude, as we have done in the past, to the AL chief’s single minded focus and unwavering resolve to hold the trial and then see it through to the very end.
For those of us who remember the immediate post-Bangabandhu assassination period, we distinctly recall how the memories of our Liberation War and that of the leaders of those momentous days, especially the role of Bangabandhu and that of Awami League, were either gradually obliterated or made questionable by selective, incomplete, and sometimes fabricated history of the period.
Bangabandhu was the founder of Baksal and Awami League the party that killed democracy were the two oft-repeated narrative of that period. The former’s role in leading to the independence struggle — how he united a divided people, how he forged an ironclad unity behind Bengali nationalism, how he emboldened us all to first demand and then fight for our rights-were swept under the carpet, and only the fact that he formed Baksal (no doubt his biggest blunder) was grilled into the public mind.
All the narratives of the Liberation War were usurped by one sentence, that Maj. Zia declared independence, and hearing his announcement over the radio, people just spontaneously started the armed struggle.
There was no political struggle from 1947 to 1970, there were no movements for provincial autonomy — six points and eleven points — there was no anti-martial law movement, there were no anti-Ayub and anti-Yahya movements, there was no Agartala Conspiracy case, there were no student or mass movements. There was just Zia’s announcement, and like magic our Liberation War started.
Without going into the nitty-gritty of the trial and its real and imagined shortcomings, the question we need to ask is that why did it need the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina in power to bring it about? There is not a single Bangalee–save perhaps the perpetrators themselves–who will deny that genocide did take place on our soil during 1971. In that genocide millions were killed and hundreds and thousands of our women raped and thousands of our villages burnt. Even today one would not find a single family that did not have one or several of its family members killed, either by the Pakistani army or their local collaborators, including the dreaded Al-Badrs, Al-Shams, etc.
When such is the collective memory, then why is that it is only the AL and Sheikh Hasina who pursue the war crimes trials, and the rest of us, at best, watch like spectators and, at worst, pass sneering remarks about its so-called flawed process and legal lacunae.
Herein lies one of the biggest failures of our politics. It is so blinded by mutual hatred, jealousy, suspicion, and driven by vulgar opportunism, that we are willing to sacrifice everything, including facts relating to the Liberation War atrocities, just to suit our political convenience. We are among a few countries in the post Second World War history, which had the rare good fortune of fighting and creating a free and independent state of our own. In gaining that freedom we had to undergo tremendous sacrifices, immense sufferings, almost endless prison terms of many of our leaders, including, and especially, Sheikh Mujib.
In the final chapter of that struggle we had to face genocide. The state machinery of Pakistan and its formidable and highly trained and equipped armed forces — armed, by the way, by our tax and jute money — used their full might to quell our struggle for freedom. The idea was that they would kill everyone who demanded freedom and when sufficient numbers would be dead the rest would become silent.
What made our genocide different was that it was being perpetrated by “our own” army. In almost all other cases of genocide, the actor was an invading army. But in our case the army that we clothed, fed, trained, brought equipment for and housed in ideally located areas of the country, wanted a “pure Pakistani” people and wanted to eliminate the “impure Bengalis” from amongst them.
The above narrative was just to nudge the memory of those of us Muktijoddhas who seem to have forgotten how our Liberation War narrative was hijacked till Awami League and Sheikh Hasina retrieved it. (With a new fault of their own, that of excluding everybody from the narrative save Bangabandhu.) We hope to address that issue on a separate occasion)
We need to remember the atrocities of 1971 and the brutality perpetrated on our people, in order to fully understand the relevance of the war crimes trials. Yes, we wish we were a bit more efficient in going about it, more tech-savvy, more up to the international standard, etc. But all the shortcomings notwithstanding — all of which were eminently avoidable — the fundamental legal, moral and historical foundation of the process remains unshaken.
There is an urgent need for the nation to be united behind the war crimes trial. The present political process that shows a divided polity on the issue is an insult to the millions who laid down their lives so that we can live in freedom. This is not revenge, nor retribution, but only justice. There is no way we, as a self-respecting people, can and should forget what happened in 1971. Those who say why hang on to the past, the answer is simple. There are “pasts” whose value is so immense, whose significance in our national ethos so fundamental, and whose energising capacity to drive towards the future is so powerful, that giving it up is like giving up our very dream of building a nation of prosperity, freedom, and above all, DIGNITY.

Little ones enthrall audience in Chittagong

Students from Sonar Tari, a cultural platform for young minds of renowned educational institute Fulki, enthralled music enthusiasts of the port city with their splendid performances on Saturday evening.
On this occasion, Sonar Tari — where children are taught songs, visual arts, recitations and paintings, organised the cultural event styled “Bajra-manik Diye Gantha” at Theatre Institute, Chittagong (TIC).
The programme started with a choral ‘tarana’ rendition with a Kathak dance performance. Seven little dance artistes took part in the performance.
The programme — supervised by Fulki principal Shila Momen, saw a total of 15 solos and chorus being presented. Following the recitation “Oi Ashe Oi Oti”, the choral rendition “Esho Hey Esho Sajalo Ghono” was performed. The rendition “Eso Neepo Boney” kept the audience captive followed by two solos “Kadombero Kanano Gheri” and “Aj Rangin Megher Sur Legechhe”.
With the recitation of the popular Tagore’s rhyme “Brishti Pore Tapur Tupur”, the songs “Puub Sagorer Par Hotey” and “Ekla Boshey Badal Sheshe” presented by the children received plaudits from the audience.
The programme concluded with the choral rendition “Ganer Pala Shesh Kore De Jabo Onek Dur”.
Noted flautist Captain Azizul Islam said, “I thoroughly enjoyed the songs presented by the children.” He thanked Fulki and the teachers of Sonar Tari for the arrangement.
“Practice is a must for music and Sonar Tari is creating a platform for the children to practice real music which is praiseworthy,” said veteran artiste Hasina Zakaria Bela.

Bangladeshi photography exhibition on Tagore in Kolkata

The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, India recently organised a solo photography exhibition titled “Remembrance: Tagore through Lens”, featuring images by Shamsunnahar Lovely. The exhibition was held at Bangladesh Gallery in Kolkata. Renowned Indian filmmaker Goutam Ghosh inaugurated the exhibition as chief guest. Cultural Affairs Secretary of Bangladesh, Dr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas; Abida Islam, Bangladeshi Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata and Indian Nazrul singer Sushmita Goswami were present as special guests at the inauguration. Earlier, exhibitions by the photographer were held at Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Bangkok and England.
Around 43 photographs on display demonstrated the places where Tagore lived, wrote and visited on varied occasions. The exhibition mainly highlighted places like Shilaidaha Kuthibari, Shahjadpur, Patishar, Shantiniketan, Thakur Bari of Jorashako, Dakkhin Dihi, Fultola, Jessore; Tagore Lodge, Kushtia and other significant places.
The photographer has caught the Shilaidaha Kuthibari a number of times at different angles to capture its architectural excellence and artistic beauty. In the photographs, it is seen as a red, sprawling building surrounded by a wide expanse of greenery, open space and blooming flowers. She has snapped the Dakkhin Dihi in Jessore that the bard visited several times and used to sit in the balcony and enjoy the picturesque beauty of the Rupsha river. The images of the exhibition also focused on household articles and furniture, including bed, chairs, bookshelf, writing table, boat, private car and kitchen ware.
“As a Tagore enthusiast, I have been researching his work and working places for a long time. I visited different locations in Bangladesh and India to capture significant sites where the poet lived, wrote and engaged himself in different activities. Browsing through history, I took photographs of the sites with great enthusiasm. Varieties of articles of his day to day use still exist in places. I believe that my images will give you a new idea about Tagore,” said photographer Shamsunnahar Lovely.

BCB’s director Akram hopes for the best

Bangladesh Cricket Board’s director-elect Akram Khan said he expects his new job as a director to be more challenging than his previous experiences as a player, captain and chief selector.
Speaking to reporters at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Akram said, “It was my dream to become a director. One can’t talk about it much right now. The result of my work can only be seen in four years time and hopefully it will be a good period.”
“There are high expectations on me. I feel that this might be a bigger challenge than when I played or was the selector, or captain. I will have to work with everyone together and will need their cooperation,” he added.

Cabinet panel directs ICT ministry to re-launch tender

The cabinet committee on economic affairs yesterday directed the ICT ministry to relaunch a tender to select a bidder for development of the Kaliakoir hi-tech park.The directive came from a meeting of the committee, chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.The ministry of Information Communication and Technology was in a dilemma about appointing a bidder as a partner of the winning firm was found to be a loan defaulter.
The ministry at yesterday’s meeting placed some alternative proposals.The law ministry also turned down a proposal to award the job to the winning bidder, a consortium of Malaysia-based Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC) and its local partners: SPL-IOE-KHL.The moves came as the central bank informed the ministry that a member of KTPC Consortium—Khansons Holdings Ltd—was not a loan defaulter as an institution. But Khansons Textiles, where two directors of Khansons Holdings have interests, was a defaulter, according to the ICT ministry.Among the alternative proposals of the ICT ministry were to sign an agreement with the successful bidder, or cancel the entire bidding and start the process afresh.The government can also build the hi-tech park under its own supervision, according to another option put up by the ministry.The winning bidder was supposed to spend Tk 1,000 crore in the next eight years to construct infrastructure in the hi-tech park, the first of its kind in the country.The completion of the project will be further delayed as work needs to start afresh, an ICT ministry official said.Another official said the ministry should have first settled the matter of loan default by the successful bidder, and then proceeded with the bidding process.The decision to build the park on 232 acres was taken in 1999.

Govt employees to get 20pc DA

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government had decided to provide public servants with 20 percent dearness allowance apart from forming a permanent pay commission.
“We have decided to give 20 percent dearness allowance (to public servants),” she said while addressing the National Grand Rally of Professionals at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
The premier, however, said the maximum pay rise for the government officials and employees would be around Tk 6,000.
After taking office in early 2009, she said, her government increased salaries and allowances for government officials and employees.
“We will now go for forming a permanent pay commission so that there is no need to constitute the pay commission time and again … we will take necessary steps in this regard,” she told her audience.
As part of the government’s bid to bring about dynamism in the administration, she said, a total of 35 posts of 26 cadres had been upgraded to grade-I.
Hasina also said the retirement age limit of government service holders had already been increased to 59.
The 8th wage board has been constituted for journalists with the announcement of a 75 percent increase in their salaries and allowances, she added.
PM’s Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Professionals Coordination Council President Justice AFM Mesbahuddin, Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Disastrous for Sundarbans

Eminent citizens yesterday said unveiling the foundation plaque for Rampal power plant was actually the beginning of a process disastrous for the unique biodiversity of the Sundarbans.
With the construction of this coal-fired plant, both Bangladesh and India are violating some of their national laws, policies, bilateral treaty and international conventions.
The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also Ramsar site, they said in a statement. It not only protects the country like a wall from natural disasters, it works as the national resource upon which thousands of people’s livelihoods depend.
The statement added the plant would ruin the reputation Bangladesh earned for its role in climate change adaptation.
Coal is now worldwide known as “dirty fuel” and its use is being reduced.
According to experts, coal is not the only source of power.  Natural resources like strong wind, sunlight and bio wastes could generate as much as 35 thousand megawatt (MW) of electricity.
Another two thousand megawatt electricity could be arranged by repairing the rundown machinery of Bangladesh Power Development Board, it adds.
The statement was signed by Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Professor Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, Farah Kabir, country director of Action Aid Bangladesh; Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra; Dr MA Matin, secretary general of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA); and member secretary of National Committee for the Protection of the Sundarbans;  Abu Naser, chairman of Paribesh Andolon; Aroma Dutta, executive director of Pip Trust; Khushi  Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori; Badiul Alam Mazumder, executive director of Sujan, and Dr Iftekharuzzaman,  executive director of TIB.
They strongly condemned the project terming it anti-environment and demanded the plant’s relocation at a safe distance.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart opened the foundation plaque yesterday, amid public concern that the power plant, only 14km off the Sundarbans, will wreak havoc on the largest mangrove forest of the world.
Manmohan joined the ceremony through video conference from his New Delhi office.
Though the project site is in Bagerhat, the unveiling took place at Bheramara in Kushtia, where the two prime ministers also inaugurated the Bangladesh-India Power Transmission Centre.

Farmers frown at jute prices

Jute farmers walk a tightrope this season. So does Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation.
The BJMC, the biggest purchaser of raw jute in public sector, is running out of cash and is struggling to buy jute from the farmers and traders during the peak season now.
With the BJMC-run mills remaining cash-strapped, jute market has lost competitiveness, and a depressed market is forcing growers to sell jute at a lower price.
As against Tk 1,400 -1,500 a maund last year, farmers get only Tk 950-1,100 this season from the sale of raw jute, market sources and field reports say.
“This really acts as a disincentive for the farmers, who grew jute with a high hope this year against the backdrop of increasing demand for the natural fibre both at home and abroad. But we are failing to go to jute market in a big way because of a serious cash crisis,” said a BJMC official, wishing not to be named.
A sluggish market is dictating the prices at a time when breakthroughs in jute genomics opened up new avenues for further growth of the “golden fibre”, and jute has been made mandatory in manufacturing many packaging products.
Asked, BJMC Chairman Humayun Khaled admitted the fund crisis, saying, “We sought Tk 500 crore from the government for jute purchase but to no avail. Now we’re trying to line up loans from banks.”
The biggest employer in industrial sector with nearly 90,000 people on its payroll, the BJMC operates 23 jute mills and buys nearly 1.5 million bales of raw jute annually through 174 purchasing centres across the country.
BJMC sources said since December last year, the corporation had to pay an extra Tk 400 crore to its mill workers in arrears, thanks to a government-announced wage increase last year and that also with retrospective effect from 2009.
“Otherwise we wouldn’t have walked a tightrope,” said a BJMC official. The corporation paid the arrears in two instalments in December last year and March this year while another instalment became due in July. But it could not be paid till date due to non-availability of fund.
Yet, BJMC Secretary Abdun Noor Muhammad Al Firoz claimed that the mills under the corporation had purchased 35 percent of their targets till last week. But he could not provide the quantity of jute already purchased.
Contacted, Firoz said had they been provided with the fund they sought from the government, they could have gone to the jute market more vigorously, thereby minimising the farmers’ woes due to the dull market.
This season, said sources, the BJMC purchase centres are mostly buying jute from traders on credit as the mills are not able to pay the cash readily for the procurements. In the process, jute farmers are being deprived of good price as they simply cannot afford selling their produce on credit and they are being forced to sell it to the middlemen at lower prices, said the sources.
At Mohimaganj jute purchase centre in Gobindaganj upazila of Gaibandha recently, farmers burnt jute to vent their wrath over the dull market.
The centre that procures jute for the BJMC-run Alim Jute Mills could procure 8,000 maunds of jute till last week as against its targeted purchase of 30,000 maunds, and then again an overwhelming volume of it on credit.
Reached over the phone, centre-in-charge M Khairul Islam told this correspondent, “I got only Tk 10 lakh from BJMC but I purchased jute worth over Tk 1 crore, most of it on credit. Farmers cannot sell jute to our centre as we cannot make payment readily. The traders, who have so far sold jute to us on credit, are also becoming impatient.”
Khairul feared if the BJMC failed to provide the jute mills and their jute purchase centres with enough cash immediately, the mills would run short of raw jute supply and jute prices may drop further.
An official of Star Jute Mill, another BJMC entity in Khulna, also admitted that farmers and traders were returning with unsold truckloads of jute as they were “unable to procure enough because of fund crisis.”
Without providing any specific figure, the Star Jute Mill official told this correspondent that they had carryover debt, and if they still continued to ask the traders to sell jute to them on credit, how long they (traders) could do so.
Rezaul Islam, a farmer of Auria village in Sadar upazila of Narail, said, “I sold 37 maunds of jute at Tk 1,000 per maund. The price is disappointing compared to the  production cost.”
Besides the BJMC’s fund crunch, devaluation of the Indian currency, and Syria situation that has affected jute export to the Middle East have some impact as local and international jute buyers are taking time before they go in a big way for procuring jute, explained M Rashedul Karim Munna, General Secretary of Bangladesh Jute Diversified Product Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Munna, also chief executive officer of Creation Private Limited, said that in any case, jute growers should get price incentives so they do not get discouraged to grow jute, specially at a time when demand for the natural fibre is expected to rise in the world market.