05 April 2014

Chaitra 22, 1420 Jamadiul Sani 4, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 7

SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

16 pages plus 24-page supplement Avenue-T | Price: Tk10

Biman tries to navigate out of losing streak With Tk118 crore loss estimated for 201314, MD expects profits by next year

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Dhaka Tribune April 4, 2014

Although Biman is yet to climb out of years of suffering losses, the national flag carrier is expected to reduce its annual losses by 38.86% from the previous year as a result of improved punctuality and enhanced customer service.

Officials at the Biman Bangladesh Airlines said the carrier would be able to overcome the massive losses suffered during the months of political unrest ahead of January’s parliamentary polls, and end the fiscal year with an estimated loss of Tk118 crore, much lower than the previous fiscal losses of Tk193 crore.

Claiming that the national flag carrier was offering better services than ever before, Biman officials however

added that the airlines was suffering major setbacks because of declining traffic of Middle East-bound labourers and expatriate passengers.

“In spite of all the problems with political unrest and losses in November and December 2013, Biman still expects to make its [improved] loss target for 2013-14, and be fully profitable in 201415,” Biman’s Managing Director Kevin Steele told the Dhaka Tribune recently.

He credited the upward trends to the successes achieved in “punctuality and customer services and product enhancements.”

Meanwhile, statistics show that the national flag carrier experienced an 18.49% drop in passenger numbers and 18.59% losses in gross revenue during the first eight months (July-February)  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

BIMAN’S PROFIT/LOSS CURVE (2007-2014) 100 0

Tk6cr profit

Tk15cr profit

Tk80cr loss

Tk118cr loss (estimated)

-100 Tk200cr loss

-200

Tk193cr loss

-300

-400

-500 Tk600cr loss

-600

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHICS

Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni celebrate India’s win over South Africa in yesterday’s T20 World Cup semifinal at the SBNS

MUMIT M

Kohli powers India to sub-continental World Cup T20 final n Mazhar Uddin India rode on the charismatic Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 72 to cruise to the final in the World Twenty20, beating South Africa by six wickets in the second semi-final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

India had the upper hand and was on top of the game in most of the situation with South Africa always trying to crawl back and win to end their drought of reaching a major tournament final. However, the day was a gloomy one for South Africa as both their men’s and women’s team tasted defeat in the semi-final of their respective World T20 tournaments.

The intent from the Indian openers chasing 173 was clear as Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane hit three fours in the first over bowled by JP Duminy to put on 14 runs followed by nine and 10 off the next two overs by Albie Morkel

and Dale Steyn respectively.

Dominant off the two Rohit, who also guided Steyn for a six off upper cut, hit four fours and a six before he skied Beuran Hendricks’ fifth ball in the fourth over to mid-on on 24 off 13 balls.

The man in form, Kohli joined Rahane and kept the required run rate under nine. Their brisk partnership of 38 was broken after Rahane (32) was dismissed by left-arm fast bowler Wayne Parnell with India needing 95 from the last 10 overs.

The dismissal, however, had no effect on Kohli who went all guns blazing with Yuvraj Singh at the other end. The

duo added 56 in 6.3 overs with Kohli already reaching his third 50 in the tournament, indicating the finisher’s intent. Yuvraj left on 18 as the game looked to go right down the wire with 40 off 24 balls required for the former champions.

Incoming batsman Suresh Raina eased the pressure off Kohli’s shoulders as the left-handed hammered Parnell for 16 in the 17th over. Though his 10-ball 21 ended in the penultimate over, Raina’s cameo had already ensured India were ahead in calculations for the first time needing five off just nine balls.

Kohli maintained his classy feature of remaining unbeaten during an India win and sealed his side’s clash with Sri Lanka in the final by hitting a four with five balls to spare. He faced just 44 deliveries to make 72 with the help of five fours and two sixes.

Imran H Sarker said: “We strongly protest and condemn the attack. Those who called the counter-programme yesterday used it as a political party against the Moncho activists.

“As we protested the government’s decision to take donation from the Islami Bank, we came under attack from the ruling party’s student wing.”

Officer-in-Charge Sirajul Islam of Shahbagh police station said: “Police dispersed Moncho activists to avert untoward incidents. We have also detained two members of Muktijuddha Sangsad Santan Command from the spot.”

A veteran Associated Press photographer who had covered wars around the world was shot dead and another reporter was wounded yesterday when an Afghan policeman opened fire on them in eastern Afghanistan.

The attack took place on the eve of a presidential election in Afghanistan that Taliban insurgents have pledged to disrupt through a campaign of bombings and assassinations.

The AP said photographer Anja Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and reporter Kathy Gannon, 60, wounded while they were sitting in the back of a car.

Niedringhaus, an acclaimed German photographer who had covered conflict zones including Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, Gaza and the West Bank, was killed instantly, according to an AP Television freelancer who witnessed the shooting.

Canadian reporter Kathy Gannon, who is based in Islamabad and has covered war and unrest in Afghanistan for 30 years, was shot twice and was receiving medical help, the AP said.

Gannon underwent surgery in the eastern city of Khost. The operation was described as successful and Gannon’s condition was stable, the AP said.

“Anja and Kathy together have spent years in Afghanistan covering the conflict and the people there. Anja was a vibrant, dynamic journalist well-loved for her insightful photographs, her warm heart and joy for life. We are heartbroken at her loss,” AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, speaking in New York, told the agency.

The two journalists were in a remote small town on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan when the attack took place.

Taliban attacks on security forces, civilians and Westerners have been on the rise since the start of the year ahead of the vote, when Afghans will elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai,

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Police foil Gonojagoron Moncho rally, 20 hurt n Tribune Report

Gonojagoron Moncho convener Imran H Sarker is being dragged by policemen while Moncho activists try to hold him back after the law enforcers foiled their rally at Shahbagh in the capital yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

Government bank borrowing may exceed Tk40,000cr this FY n Asif Showkat Kallol Concerns have been raised within the finance ministry that government bank borrowing might exceed Tk40,000 crore in the current fiscal year because of a shortfall of revenue earning and an increase in the revised ADP. The country fought all odds and prolonged political unrest to maintain a sound macro and fiscal economic situation during the last couple of years, but the strong position of the country

might be lost, said a senior official of the finance ministry.

Seeking anonymity, the official also said local businesses and trade might face hurdles in getting commercial bank loans over the next four months because of extra government borrowing of around Tk15,000 crore.

The release of three tranches of Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of International Monetary Fund might also be halted unless the government complied with a condition of bank bor-

rowing limit for the next nine months, sources said.

As per the IMF condition of ECF bank borrowing limit, the government will be able to borrow Tk24,000 crore until June 30, 2014, while an additional Tk10,000 crore may be borrowed from the banking system until December.

Sources said finance ministry officials tried to convince a visiting ECF review mission last week that the government would reduce the bank  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Around 20 activists of Gonojagoron Moncho were injured in a police action as it and another group named Muktijuddha Sangsad Sontan Command tried to hold rallies at the capital’s Shahbagh yesterday afternoon.

Police resorted to charging batons and detained Moncho men, including Badhon, Farid, Sohag, Dhiman, Tito and Joy, and activists of the Muktijuddha Sangsad Sontan Command, including its President Mehedi Hasan Prince.

Condemning the police action, Gonojagoron Moncho spokesperson

Afghan policeman shoots two foreign journos, one killed n Reuters, Afghanistan

INSIDE News

3 School-going children are now processing tobacco leaves in a village in Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat.

4 The country is set for an influx of doctors, after completing health exams and police verifications for over 6,000 BCS-passed doctors. visit our website @

www.dhakatribune.com

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Policemen beat up two activists of the Gonojagoron Moncho while dispersing activists of Moncho and Muktijuddha Sangsad Santan Command when they tried to hold rallies at Shahbagh yesterday

67 crude bombs seized in Feni n UNB Police seized 67 crude bombs from a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Rampur area of the district town yesterday night, just on the eve of the by-polls in Feni Municipality.

Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted the auto-rickshaw in the area around 8:30pm when it was coming to the district town from Madhuail village, said Feni Model Police Station Mohammad OC Mahbub Morshed.

Later, the law enforcers recovered the 67 crude bombs kept hidden in seven cartons after searching the three-wheeler, he added. Police also detained auto-rickshaw driver Mamun, 20, hailing from Madhuail village.

“The recovered crude bombs were defused at the police station in the presence of police super Paritosh Ghosh,” the OC said.

Police suspected that the bombs were being taken to the town to carry out subversive acts centring the municipality by-elections. l

Government plans training centres in upazilas to facilitate manpower export n UNB The government has taken up a plan to set up at least one training centre in each upazila of the country as it puts more emphasis on creating skilled manpower as this force proved more dependable in bringing foreign exchange compared to other exporting items.

The Awami League-led government has also fixed a target of sending 37 lakh manpower abroad during its current tenure as against 24.51 lakh manpower in its previous tenure.

Considering the high demand of skilled manpower around the globe, the government has decided to make some extra efforts to groom the outgoing manpower as skilled ones.

In this regard, the government has declared the manpower export sector as the thrust sector.

Currently, the training institutes across the country could train up to 74,000 persons a year. In a bid to double this number, the government has taken up a project to set up 27 more training institutes and five institutes of marine technology.

The five institutes of marine technologies will be set up in Faridpur, Munshiganj, Chandpur, Bagerhat and Sirajganj.

On completion of the project, each district of the country will have one training centre each.

At present, there are 37 training institutes in the country and one institute of marine technology in Narayanganj providing training in 48 employment eligible trades. In the last five years, these institutes trained 326,865 persons.

Now Bangladesh each year exports five lakh of manpower to various destinations across the globe.

The total training centres and marine institutes with 27 new training institutes and five institutes of marine technology will be able to train 150,000 persons each year. That means some 350,000 persons going abroad are unskilled.

Targeting these unskilled persons, the government adopted the plan to set up one training centre in each upazila where the outgoing manpower will be able to get training in their chosen trade.

Currently, some 87 lakh expatriate Bangladeshis in 159 countries around the world are sending valuable foreign exchanges, helping the country to stand on a strong base economically.

The remittance inflow increased year after year and it stood at $13.84 billion in 2013.

Apart from the traditional destinations, Bangladesh is now sending manpower to Mauritius, Poland, Sweden,

Belarus, Papua New Guinea, Sicily, Algeria, South Africa, Angola, Congo, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Romania, Australia, Canada, Russia, Sudan, Hong Kong, the Maldives and Thailand.

Recently, Malaysian Home Minister Dr Ahmed Zahid Hamidi expressed his government’s keen interest to recruit 150,000 Bangladeshi farm-workers for the development of its agriculture sector.

The Malaysian Minister while making a call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Parliament Bhaban office put emphasis on imparting training to the workers and said his country would recruit more skilled workers in different sectors.

Besides Malaysia, many countries also want only skilled manpower now whereas couple of years back these countries never mentioned the skilled manpower in their demand letters. l

BNP: Quit if you fail to bargain with India 1 arrested, part of looted n money recovered Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan yesterday asked the government to step down if it “does not have the courage” to bargain with India over power supply issue.

“We want to maintain relationship with our neighbouring country on the basis of mutual benefits and respect.

India will transmit power through Bangladesh. We are yet to get water from the Teesta River. What will Bangladesh get?” he questioned.

Dhaka has decided to allow India to transmit power from Assam to North

Western part of the country using three routs including Boropukuria of Dinajpur or Jamalpur.

The capacity of the transmission line would be 6,000mw.

The transmission line in Bangladesh land may be 100km if it is built in Boropukuria and 200km if in Jamalpur, according to a report submitted by the joint technical team formed to construct transmission line between Bangladesh and India.

Addressing a human chain programme at the National Press Club in the capital, demanding release of the senior leaders of the party, Nazrul also

Police foil Gonojagoron Moncho rally, 20 hurt  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

Shibli Noman, assistant commissioner of Ramna Zone of police, said they had not allowed any group to hold their rallies as they had no permission.

Meanwhile, both Gonojagoron Moncho and Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command filed separate cases with Shahbagh police station early yesterday against each other for the attack on Thursday night.

The cases were filed following their failures to reach any understanding at a meeting held at Shahbagh police station in the presence of some policemen.

Sub-Inspector Krishna Chandra Das of Shahbagh police station said a case

was filed by Gonojagoron Moncho activist Nabendra Saha Joy accusing several leaders and activists of Jubo League, Chhatra League and Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command.

The accused in the case include Jubo League leader Nasim Al Mamun alias Rupak, Chhatra League leaders Sheikh Asman, Shishir, Abir and Shahin, and Muktijuddha Santan Command leaders Mehedi Hasan Prince, Babul, Misbah and some other unidentified people.

Mehedi Hasan Prince, president of the Muktijuddha Santan Command, also filed a case, accusing some leaders of Gonojagoron Moncho, including its spokesperson Imran H Sarkar, Nabendra Saha Joy and Badhon. l

Kohli powers India  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

South Africa earlier looked to dominate the Indian attack despite losing Quinton de Cock for six in the very first over. Hashim Amla and captain Faf du Plessis kept the run rate around nine in their 35-run stand which was broken with Ashwin cleaning up Amla on 22.

However, it was the pair of du Plessis and Duminy that eventually propelled South Africa to the challenging total. The duo was fast between the wickets while the opportunity of the odd boundary was also not let go in the 72-run partnership.

Amit Mishra, who has been the most threatening Indian spinner in the tournament, was smashed for 36 off three

overs as du Plessis also registered his 50 in the process.

Ashwin was brought back to the attack and this time he rattled the stumps of the dangerous looking Proteas skipper who made 58 off 41 balls with five fours and two sixes.

AB Devilliers came in and hurried back with 10 runs, trying to accelerate the scorecard and it was again Ashwin the destroyer.

Duminy and south paw David Miller joined to exhibit some lusty blows in the death, adding 42 from 18 balls which carried South Africa to 172/4. Left-handed Duminy remained unbeaten on 45 off 40 balls (4x1, 6x3) while Miller was not out at 23 from 12 balls. l

slammed the government for extending the tenure of the speedy trial just to send the BNP and its front and associated body leaders and activists to jail.

The speedy trial act got a new lease of life for five more years as the 10th parliament passed its first bill yesterday without any opposition.

The House took around five minutes to enact the “Law and Order Disruption Offences (speedy trial) (amendment) Bill 2014.”

The BNP leader said dual rule of law has been prevailing in the country – one for the ruling party and the other for the opposition parties. l

n Our Correspondent, Barisal Police yesterday arrested one robber and recovered a portion of the money looted from bKash agents few months earlier in Barisal.

“Four people, including three bKash agents and one pedestrian, were injured when armed dacoits fired blanks and exploded bombs after snatched Tk60 lakh from the bKash agents near Hospital Road area of the city on February 24,” said Kotwali police station SI Chin-

moy, who is investigating the two cases lodged in connection with the robbery.

Locals chased and detained the car used by the gang and lynched its driver. After interrogating the driver, police tracked the whereabouts of one of the gang members, Selim, and arrested him from Brahmanbaria.

Selim revealed the name of Hasan Jamaddar. Later, police raided the house of Jamaddar at Bakerganj upazila early yesterday and recovered Tk2 lakh of the looted money. Jamaddar managed to flee. l

Afghan policeman shoots two foreign journos, 1 killed  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

barred by the constitution from running again. The assault on the AP journalists came just weeks after an Afghan journalist with the Agence FrancePresse news agency was killed alongside eight other people when Taliban gunmen opened fire inside a luxury hotel in the centre of the capital, Kabul.

Also in March, a gunman shot dead Swedish journalist Nils Horner, 51, outside a restaurant in Kabul.

AP President Gary Pruitt described Niedringhaus in a memo to staff as “spirited, intrepid and fearless, with a

raucous laugh that we will always remember”.

“Anja is the 32nd AP staffer to give their life in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846,” he wrote.

“This is a profession of the brave and the passionate, those committed to the mission of bringing to the world information that is fair, accurate and important. Anja Niedringhaus met that definition in every way.”

Shot by police

the AP said Niedringhaus and Gannon were travelling in a convoy of election

workers delivering ballots from the centre of Khost city to the outskirts, in Tani district. The area borders Pakistan’s lawless North Waziristan region where many al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked militants are based.

The two had arrived in a heavily guarded district compound. As they were sitting in the car waiting for the convoy to move, a unit commander walked up to the car, yelled “Allahu Akbar” - God is Great - and opened fire with his AK-47, the AP said.

He then surrendered to the other police and was arrested. l

Govt bank borrowing may exceed Tk40,000cr  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

borrowing target to Tk24,000 crore from the Tk25,993 crore target set under the budget.

On Thursday, a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) set the revised Annual Development Programme (ADP) amount at Tk60,000 crore from the original ADP of Tk65,870 crore. Earlier, the finance minister and planning minister took confronting stances after the Finance Division directed the Planning Commission that the revised ADP outlay should not exceed Tk55,000 crore.

Officials present at the meeting quoted Finance Minister AMA Muhith as saying that revenue collection would see a deficit of Tk11,000 crore this year, while the ADP implementation was also slow.

Muhith also criticised the ministries that demanded additional fund without considering the reality. The ministries were less interested in spending foreign funds and keener on spending from government funds, he claimed.

The revised ADP should be Tk55,000 crore, Muhith said, adding that if more allocation was made, the extra amount would have to be borrowed from the banking system.

A finance ministry official said the revised budget had fixed revenue target at Tk125,000 crore, which was unlikely to be met and the shortfall would be Tk10,000 crore to Tk11,000 crore . The overall credit-deposit ratio in the banking sector decreased to 70.8% in December 2013 from 71.91% in November 2013.

The credit-deposit ratio was 76.59% in December 2012 and 80.33% in June 2012.

If the slow revenue growth and the rising expenditure continued through to the second half, bank borrowing might cross the budgetary target of Tk25,993 crore, an National Board of Revenue official said.

Between July 1 last year and January 6 this year, bank borrowing stood at Tk5,931 crore, compared to Tk7,213 crore from the same period a year ago, according to central bank statistics.

In the first six months of the 2013-14 fiscal, the government received Tk3,857 crore from net sale of national savings certificate, which was only Tk177 crore in the same period of fiscal 2012-13 Former adviser to caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the increase of revised ADP was a political decision, adding that the private sector credit crowding out would definitely hamper the country’s growth target and the investment situation.

The issue should therefore be properly examined before going for borrowing from the banking system, he added.

Abdus Salam Murshedy, director of Premier Bank Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune that the idle money of banking sector should be used properly so that it was not difficult to supply funds through bank borrowing.

However, the government policy measures and the existing investment situation in the country were still not in favour of the investors, he also said. l

NASHIRUL ISLAM

18 ‘suspected’ Shibir men sent to jail n Kailash Sarkar Eighteen suspected leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, were sent to jail after they were produced before a Dhaka court yesterday.

The activists were arrested Thursday night from a building in the capital’s Azimpur in connection with their alleged involvement with vandalism and arson during hartals.

All the detainees were students of different educational institutions, including Dhaka University and Dhaka College, aged between 18 to 30 years.

Officer-in-Charge Nurul Muttakin of Lalbagh police station said they were shown arrested in a case linked to vandalism and arson to vehicles during the hartal period. “We have produced them before the court seeking their remand for different periods, and the court ordered to send all of them to the jail,” the OC said.

The OC said they were arrested while they had been holding a secret meeting at a mess building in Azimpur.

Sub-Inspector Mohammad Mahibullah of Lalbagh police station said: “A team of police raided a building named Hometek Tower at Azimpur and picked up 18 of them around 9pm.” l

Biman tries  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

of the ongoing fiscal, compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.

During July 2013-February 2014, Biman’s total revenue from passengers stood at Tk1,858 crore, which was 71.12% of its targeted earning for those eight months, compared to Tk2,282 crore revenue from the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Biman officials said the arrival of two brand new Boeing 777 aircraft in the past two months had helped the airlines slash its losses.

Biman’s MD Kevin Steele said the airlines’ board of directors had estimated its annual losses at Tk118 crore (around $15m).

Although Biman’s fiscal budget had estimated losses worth Tk156 crore for the July 2013-February 2014 period, the airlines suffered losses of Tk148 crore during the eight months.

Biman had suffered around $10m worth of losses during the political unrest of November and December last year, Steele added.

As the March-June period usually brings in profits for Biman, the airlines officials said the losses for the entire fiscal year were expected to come down to Tk118 crore.

Steele said they were confident in achieving the reduced loss target, as Biman was currently offering much improved services, especially in business class.

Mohammad Sha Newaz, Biman’s director for marketing and sales, said: “Movement from Bangladesh and inbound traffic declined massively for political unrest, and it affected our business.”

Biman had only a handful of business class passengers, with labourers and non-resident Bangladeshis making up most of the passengers, Sha Newaz said, adding that the trends were expected to change as the carrier acquired four brand new Boeing 777 aircraft during the last two years.

Earlier last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed on the need for profitability in order to ensure the survival of the national flag carrier.

Over the past seven years, Biman faced its biggest loss of Tk606 crore in 2011-12, while the last time it saw profits was in 2008-09. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Schoolgoers process tobacco leaves for extra money n Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat Schoolgoing children are now processing tobacco leaves – drying them in the sun and sorting them into bundles – in Pashchim Bhelabari, a village in Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat.

As many as 20 children were found working this job for the past two weeks as local traders hired them for minimum wage – each of them gets Tk3040 every day.

These children come from poor families and are eager to earn the money to support their families, or pay for their schooling.

On the weekdays, they work before and after schooltime, and on Fridays and Saturdays they work all day.

Mazidul Islam, 8, a second-grader at the local primary school, works in tobacco leaf processing so that he can pay for his education, as his parents are too poor to do it for him. “I work at least seven to eight hours drying and bundling tobacco leaves every day,” he said, adding he earned a daily wage of Tk30.

Hafizul Islam, 10, a fourth-grader at the same school, said: “There are 20 of us here, from two schools. We work before and after school for five days and all day on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We earn Tk30-40 every day, and spend it for our families. Some of us

have also bought new clothes with the money,” he added.

Liton Islam, a seventh-grader, said the smell of tobacco leaves were bad, but they were used to it now. He also said they worked this job every year, adding: “We do not want to work like this, but our poverty compels us to do it.”

Ashraful Islam, a local tobacco trader, said he hired school students to process tobacco leaves because they were from very poor families. However, he claimed he never allowed these children to work during school hours.

Taser Miah, another tobacco dealer, said children were hired for this job because it was easy work and they could be paid with much lower wages than the adults.

Sirazul Islam, a parent, said his third-grader son Habibur Rahman earned Tk35 every day, which is a good support for his family. “But I have told my son to not miss school and work before and after school hours,” he said, adding he was not aware of the health hazards associated with tobacco leaf processing.

Minhazul Islam, local primary schoolteacher, said he knew about this matter but there was nothing he could do to stop it, because these children came from impoverished families and needed to work in order to support their livelihoods. l

Correspondent, n Our Khagrachhari

The recent photo shows children in school uniforms processing tobacco leaves at Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat

BNP Dhaka city unit soon with Mintoo at the helm n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

RU BCL leader shot dead in his room n RU Correspondent Bangladesh Chhatra League Rajshahi University unit yesterday called an indefinite strike at the university, protesting the murder of one of its leaders by unidentified assailants.

The deceased was Rustom Ali Akond, acting general secretary of BCL RU Shaheed Suhrawardy Hall unit and a fourth-year student of Political Science Department of the university.

Claiming the involvement of Shibir activists with the murder, BCL activists also demanded immediate arrest and punishment of Rustom’s killers.

According to residential students of Suhrawardy Hall, gunshots were heard from inside the hall when most of the students were attending Jumma prayers at the hall’s mosque early afternoon.

Hearing the gunshots, some students rushed to Room 230 and found Rustom with bullet injuries on his chest. Later, he was rushed to the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where on-duty doctors declared him dead at around 1:30pm.

Following Rustom’s death, leaders and activists of Chhatra League, led by BCL RU unit President Mizanur Rahman Rana, brought out a protest rally on the campus.

Later, at a press briefing, Chhatra League called an indefinite strike on the campus in protest of the killing.

During the briefing, the BCL leaders blamed Jamaat-Shibir men for the murder and said no classes or examinations will be held at the university until the culprits were arrested.

They also alleged that Shibir activists had been threatening Rustom with death threats through text messages over the past few days.

When contacted, Shibir RU unit Organising Secretary Shoyeb Shahriar refuted the allegations and said Rustom was killed over an intra-party feud.

Meanwhile, sources at the BCL told the Dhaka Tribune that one Selim Ahmed, a third year student of history department, had been seen talking to Rustom at his room just hours before the incident. They were reportedly discussing over the upcoming hall unit council scheduled next Thursday. Both Selim and Rustom were president candidates for the council elections.

“Rustom might have been killed for contesting for the post of president at the council elections,” they said.

ABM Rejaul Haque, officer-in-charge of Motihar police station, said police was trying to identify the culprits involved with the murder. l

The BNP is likely to announce its Dhaka city unit convening committee soon putting Abdul Awal Mintoo and Habibun-Nabi Khan Sohel in charge of the committee, said party insiders.

At present Abdul Awal Mintoo is the adviser to the BNP chairperson and Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel is the president of the party’s volunteer organisation Swechchhasebak Dal. Apart from the convening committee there will be an 11-member advisory committee that will time to time advise the convening committee to form thana and ward level committees, senior leaders said.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia took

the decision on Tuesday night after a meeting with the senior leaders in presence of Mintoo at the party Chairperson’s Gulshan office.

The new convening committee will be assigned to form all thana and ward committees and hold council of the Dhaka city unit in three months.

A senior leader seeking anonymity said when the process of reconstituting the city committee was initiated Khaleda Zia asked Mintoo to take over the responsibility but he denied due to intra-party feud. Moreover, convener of the city unit Sadeque Hossain Khoka was behind bars at that time.

Again a few days ago Khaleda called Mintoo and asked him to take the charge of the convening committee of

the Dhaka city unit and Mintoo this time agreed but requested the chairperson to announce the new committee in presence of Khoka.

Khoka, who was in the helm of Dhaka city BNP for the last 17 years, tried his best to cling to the post and to this end he held a meeting with the BNP chairperson but eventually he failed to manage the party chief, sources said.

On March 12, Khoka at a sudden press conference said he did not want to stay in the committee and requested the BNP chairperson to reconstitute the city committee.

The city unit was formed on May 14, 2011 with Sadeque Hossain Khoka as its convener and Abdus Salam the member secretary. l

Hosne Ara Begum, wife of murdered labour leader Aminul Islam, left, breaks down in tears at a press conference in Dhaka Reporters Unity while demanding justice for her husband’s killing RAJIB DHAR

Bangladeshi origin London’s Tower Hamlet mayor under graft investigation n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Bangladeshi origin Mayor of London Borough of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman has been put under an investigation over allegations of governance failure, poor financial management and fraud.

British Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles yesterday appointed inspectors to look into the allegations at the Tower Hamlets, where Rahman was elected in 2010.

“It is a matter of public record that I have long been concerned about a worrying pattern of divisive community politics and alleged mismanagement of public money by the mayoral administration in Tower Hamlets,” Pickles said through a press release issued by UK Department for Communities and Local Government yesterday.

Following the receipt of a number

Case filed against five in Bharoti Chakma murder

of documents, the British government has taken legal steps in the public interest, by appointing inspectors to look into the allegations in respect of Tower Hamlets, the statement said.

BBC on April 1 broadcasted an investigative documentary, which alleged that Lutfur Rahman had more than doubled funding for Bengali and Somali-run charities The inspection, which will be carried out by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, will look into evidence of the authority’s payment of grants, the transfer of property, spending deci-

sions in relation to publicity, and other contractual processes from 25 October 2010 to the present day.

PricewaterhouseCoopers will report its findings to Pickles by June 30.

“I hope this sends a strong signal that robust processes are in place to investigate allegations of failures in financial management and governance in local government, under the new regime introduced by the Local Audit and Accountability Act which replaces the Audit Commission,” Pickles said in the statement.

Meanwhile, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on April 1 broadcasted an investigative documentary, which alleged that Lutfur Rahman had more than doubled funding for Bengali and Somali-run charities and cut funding for other organizations, The mayor of Tower Hamlets refuted the allegation and said the claims were driven by racism and Islamophobia. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Tension increased in Khagrachhari’s Mohalchhari as a case was filed accusing five Bangalees and one was arrested on Wednesday night in connection with the murder of Bharoti Chakma.

Shonchoy Chakma, younger brother of the deceased, filed the case against five on suspicion with Mohalchhari police station on April 2. A person named Zohur Ali was arrested in this connection that night.

Meanwhile, agitated Bangalees in the area barricaded the roads in Joysen Para and Kala Pahar areas protesting the “implication” of Bangalees in the case. Later, the barricades were withdrawn following assurances from army and police administration.

Meanwhile, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad’s (PBCP) Mohalchhari unit General Secretary Johirul Islam said if the case against the five Bangalees was not withdrawn and the Bangalee arrestee was not released, the PBCP would announce tough movement.

On March 29, the body of Bharoti Chakma - who went missing on March 26 - was recovered in Kala Pahar area. l

Owner, MD sued for deaths of four at shipyard n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The owner and managing director of the Arefin Enterprise, a ship-breaking yard, were sued in connection with the deaths of four people on Thursday in a scrap ship of the yard in Chittagong district’s Sitakunda upazila.

Police lodged the murder case with the Sitakunda police station early yesterday under section 304 (B) of Criminal Procedure Code, said Iftekhar Hasan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sitakunda police station.

At least four people – Faruk, 28, Jashim, 26, Arif, 28, and Gias Uddin, 30 – were killed and two others – Ramjan and Akbar – were poisoned to death after being exposed to toxic gas in a ship, MV Capital Lysenko, which had recently arrived at the yard.

The accused in the murder case are Abul Bashar, 46, brother and partner of the yard owner Kamal Uddin and Jashim Uddin, 45, managing director (MD) of the yard, said Aminul Islam, inspector (investigation) of Sitakunda police station.

The OC said the duo was sued for their negligence in supervising their workers in a risky scrap ship which caused the deadly incident.

With the Thursday incident the death toll rose to 101 at the ship-breaking yards in the port city since 2005.

A joint survey of the Greenpeace and International Federation for Human Rights in 2013 found that at least 1,000 workers have died in ship-breaking yards in last two decades.

According to the website of Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association (BSBA), a total of 179 ship-breaking yards are located in the Sitakunda coastal belt.

The ship-breaking industry in Sitakunda started operation in 1984. They

provide direct and indirect employment of several lakhs of people in the area.

But most of yards amongst 179 are running their operations ignoring all rules and regulations of the government that cause unexpected deaths of workers, the BSBA sources said.

The Directorate of Environment (DoE) sometimes fined the yards for their irregularities but there has been no improvement so far, added the sources.

Nazim Uddin, vice-president of the BSBA, said the accident happened on Thursday as the workers did not know how to handle a scrap ship with toxic elements.

“It is not possible to look after the huge number of workers who come to ships to purchase scrap materials,” he said adding that the association would take an initiative to train those who come to work at shipyards from outside.

The High Court in December 2010 asked the government to close down the unauthorised ship-breaking yards and ensure the safety of workers while the Supreme Court directed the government to formulate a set of rules by December 14, 2011 to free the ship-breaking industry from pollution and ensure workers’ safety.

Only two shipyards, S K Steel and S K Shipyard, owned by AKM Aminul Islam, which were set up destroying coastal forest at Sitakunda upazila’s Maddha Sonaichhari in Chittagong in 2009, were evicted on February 24 this year.

RSM Munirul Islam, deputy conservator of forests in Chittagong, said about 400 acres of land of forest department were occupied by 22 ship-breaking yards destroying huge coastal forest boundary, comprising mangrove and non-mangrove trees, built by the forest department in 199192 to protect the coastal belt. l

Dhaka-Doha mulls penning cooperation agreement n UNB Bangladesh and Qatar have initiated a move to sign an agreement with a view to further promote and encourage bilateral economic, commercial and technical cooperation.

The first round of negotiation on the draft agreement is likely to be held in the third week of April or the first week of May in Qatari capital Doha.

Talking to the UNB, an official at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) said tthe areas of cooperation featured in the draft agreement are economic,

commercial and technical areas, bilateral trade and investment, financial services, air services, energy, ICT, transport, construction, agriculture, industry, culture, sports, tourism promotion, and any other areas as may be mutually agreed upon by both the parties.

The draft instrument will also promote the participation of the business sectors of the respective parties.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exports to Qatar in the last fiscal year totaled only $13.55m against the huge import of $ 154.15 million. l

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News

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Mass recruitment of doctors soon n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The country is set to receive a much-needed influx of doctors in the health sector soon, following the recent completion of health examinations and police verifications for over 6,000 doctors who passed the 33rd BCS exam.

Several senior health ministry officials told the Dhaka Tribune that all medical officers (assistant surgeons and dental surgeons) – to be recruited through the 33rd BCS – would be appointed any time soon.

The medical board of the health directorate began conducting health examinations on the 6,240 Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) candidates from January, while police verification reports for the candidates were also submitted to the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The ministry officials added that the shortage of doctors, especially at the root level, would be largely alleviated through the fresh recruitments, as the country currently had around 8,000 vacant posts for medical officers.

Sources said the PSC would send the final list of selected doctors to the public administration ministry, which

would later hand over the doctors to the health ministry for their recruitments based on the PSC’s recommendations.

When asked about the possible deadline for recruitment, Dr Shah Newaz, director (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), could not confirm a date, but added that the issue would depend on the PSC and public administration ministry.

However, seeking anonymity, a senior ministry official said the recruitment process might be delayed because of faulty documents submitted by 133 doctors. Despite the ministry’s request to recruit the doctors, with the exception of the 133 candidates who were late in submitting BMDC registration certificate or handed in misspelled name and experience, the PSC refused to finish the hiring process without solving problems for all 6,240 doctors, the official added.

The PSC had earlier advertised for the recruitment of 2,442 doctors from the 33rd BCS examination, but later decided to allow the health ministry to fill up over 4,000 medical officer posts left vacant over the years under the freedom fighter quota. l

Members of Bangladesh Cycle Club take out a rally at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday, marking the World Autism Day

DPE for probe into teaching and learning practices at Ananda schools n Mushfique Wadud The Directorate of Primary Education in its internal report has recommended investigating the teaching and learning practices of “Reaching out of School Children” project.

As the pass rate at Ananda schools under the project is much lower compared to the overall success rate, an investigation is badly required, says the report released by the DPE recently.

Under the project financed by the World Bank, the government is providing second chance education to those schoolchildren who dropped out of schools or did not enrol in schools.

Freedom fighter killed in Chandpur n Our correspondent, Chandpur A freedom fighter was killed by his younger brother over land dispute in Faridganj upazila in Chandpur yesterday.

The diseased was identified as Lutfar Rahman, 62, son of late Nur Khan who was a navy commander during liberation war in 1971.

Hafizur Rahman, son of the victim told the Dhaka Tribune that his father and his uncle Maolana Mustafizur Rahman had a family dispute over 3.25 decimal of inherited land situated at the wireless market area in Chandpur town.

“My father had a heated argument with his younger brother around 1pm just before jumma prayer. At one stage, my uncle suddenly hit on my father’s head with his shoe and he fell off immediately on the spot.” Later he was rushed to the Chandpur Sadar General hospital where on duty doctor Shamima Sultana declared him dead at 3:30pm.

Chandpur police station OC Abdul Qaiyum, said the body was sent to the morgue for autopsy. l

It is providing education to nearly 780,000 poor children at 23,000 ROSC Learning Centres in 90 low-income upazilas.

ROSC reintegrates out-of-schoolchildren into education through learning centres, named Ananda schools, which give stipends to underprivileged children aiming to reduce the burden on their families as well as distribute books free of cost, stationery and school uniforms.

Even though the project helped these schoolchildren bring them out of themselves, there were allegations from the beginning that the students who are registered in those schools are not out of schools rather the current

students enrol for the second time for financial benefits.

In 2010, there were reports that many students who registered with Ananda schools to take Primary Terminal Examinations did not sat for the exams at all.

The schools have always the lowest pass rate. In 2009, the pass rate in Primary Terminal Examinations was 88.84%, but it was 43% at Ananda schools.

In 2012, the pass rate in PTE was 97.35% while 83% at Ananda schools.

According to Annual Sector Performance Report-2013, formal and non-formal schools have an overall pass rate of 90% in the Primary Terminal Examinations, but only 63% eligi-

SAAD MURDER

BAU students continue demo, demand arrest of killers n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh Students of Bangladesh Agricultural University continued staging demonstrations for the fourth consecutive day yesterday in protest at the killing of Saad Ibne Momtaz, a final year student of fisheries faculty at BAU. The agitating students brought out a procession on the campus yesterday and launched a “mass signature campaign”. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers and their expulsion from the university.

BCL men from different hall units also took out a procession on the campus involving general students and demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

Saad, also organising secretary of BCL Ashraful Haque hall unit, was killed in an attack by BCL men on Tuesday morning.

Addressing a rally, Md Saiful Islam, secretary of BCL BAU unit, said as they expressed their solidarity with the move-

ment of general students, BCL men organised the rally with the same demand.

“We suspended two accused — Sujoy Kumar Kundu, organising secretary of BCL Ashraful Haque Hall unit, and party activist Md Rukonuzzaman Rukon — from the organisation Thursday evening,” he said.

When contacted, BAU proctor Prof Dr Shahidur Rahman Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that he is yet to know about whether the general students were barred by BCL men or they were forced to join the rally.

He said the BAU authority on April 3 issued show cause notice to the two arrestees, asking them to reply to the notice by April 7.

“The authority will take final decision at its meeting scheduled to be held on April 8 with vice-chancellor Prof Dr Rafiqul Hoque in the chair,” he added.

Police on Wednesday night arrested Sujoy and Rukon at Patgudam in Mymensingh town. l

Villagers gather at a tap of supply water of the Barendra authorities to collect water in Mandumala Pachanda village of Tanore, Rajshahi yesterday as most water bodies in the country’s northern district have started to dry up ahead of the summer DHAKA TRIBUNE

ble students entered Ananda schools and only 73% of them passed. “Nonschool factors are probably important, but teaching and learning practices need to be investigated and improved as required.”

When contacted, ROSC project director Shawkat Akhbar told the Dhaka Tribune that they were trying hard to improve the quality of teaching and learning at Ananda schools.

“We are providing training to teachers and introducing a strict selection process for teachers’ recruitment,” he said, adding that the pass rate and the quality of teaching and learning practices are gradually increasing at Ananda schools. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Masked robbers loot valuables, 3 injured in city n Kailash Sarkar Masked, armed robbers looted gold jewelleries and cash money from the house of an RMG businessman at the capital’s Khilkhet area early yesterday. The businessman as well as two others in his family were also injured during the robbery.

The businessman Imdadul Huq, 48, his elder brother Nazir Uddin, 65, and nephew Abul Bashar Palash, 35 were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

Imdadul’s condition was stated to be critical as he had sustained indiscriminate stab wounds at different parts of his body. His brother and nephew, who also received stab wounds, were given primary treatment.

Nazir said a gang of 10 to 12 robbers broke into the tin-shed house by cutting the locks on the collapsible gate around 1:30am.

“The robbers held the family members hostage at gun point and took Tk90,000 in cash and 10 tolas of gold,” he said, “When Imdadul caught one of the robbers and cried for help, we went to help.

“But the rest of them came at us and stabbed us to free their partner,” he added.

Inspector Nazrul Islam, officer incharge of Khilkhet police station, said Palash had filed a case against the unidentified robbers.

“We are trying to arrest the robbers and recover the looted valuables,” the OC said. l

Feni municipality polls today n Our Correspondent, Feni

There will be a by-election for the mayoral post of Feni municipality today.

The local administration has declared all the 30 centres associated with the election as vulnerable.

The 14-party alliance backed candidate Jatiya party leader Haji Ala Uddin is contesting the election with the symbol of pineapple while he is challenged

by BNP led 18-party alliance backed candidate Alal Uddin Alal who is participating in the polls with ink-pen symbol. The two contesting candidate is the resident of the same household in

Rampur area of the town and they are uncle and nephew by relation.

BNP backed candidate Alal accused his rival of conspiring to occupy the election centres on the day of election under the auspices of ruling Awami League.

On the contrary, AL backed candidate Ala Uddin said he had the support of the resident of all walks of life of Feni municipality and had turned down his opposition’s claim terming them as bogus.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) and the Returning Officer Enamul Haque told the newsmen that

Suranjit comes down on CEC for vacationing during poll n Emran Hossain Shaikh Member of the ruling Awami League advisory body Suranjit Sengupta yesterday criticised Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad for spending a long vacation at the time of upazila election.

He said there was no justification for his being on long vacation during the poll.

“His presence was essential. His long absence made it difficult for us to defend him. People will also think that his action was not right,” Suranjit said this at a discussion arranged by the Bangabandhu Academy in the capital’s Diploma Engineers’ Institute.

The Awami League leader also criticised acting Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak for his comment about the BNP. Mobarak said the BNP joined the upazila poll, giving an undertaking.

“This kind of behaviour from a person of such an exalted status is unexpected. People expect sobriety from him,” said Suranjit.

The leader called upon the acting CEC to be more tolerant and shrewd at making comment.

About the BNP’s statement on the upazila poll, the former minister said many comments were made during the election by the party.

Pointing at the BNP, he said: “If you think some horrifying incidents took place during poll, you may reject the polls’ result, but you are not doing that.”

The Awami League leader said the upazila poll did not witness zero interference of the government, but the number of BNP-backed candidates that came out winners was an example that a free and fair election could be held under a political government.

Regarding the upazila poll, Suranjit said: “The BNP should participate in next election under the partisan government, forgetting its demand for the caretaker government.”

Regarding the Anti-Corruption Commission’s law amendment, Suranjit, also president of parliamentary standing committee on law and parliamentary affairs, said the cases which were possible to be settled by police stations were being transferred to the ACC. “I do not understand how the Law Ministry made an amendment to the law. I am drawing the law minister’s attention in this regard,” he said.

If this practice continued, it would weaken the importance of the ACC as well as the police stations, he said, adding that those cases should be brought back to the penal court before the closure of the parliament session on April 10. l

all the required preparations had been made and BGB personnel along with police and Rab would remain deployed to avert any untoward incident.

A total of 77,508 voters of 18 wards of the municipality are expected to cast their votes in this election. Among them, the number of male voters is 40,021 while the number of female voters is 37,487.

It is to be noted that the mayoral post became vacant when Haji Nizam Uddin Hazari, the outgoing mayor of the Feni municipality had been elected uncontested as the Member of the Parliament in January 5 general election. l

Tofail: International trade vital for LDCs’ growth

n UNB Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has observed that the international community needs to recognise and emphasise the role of international trade in fostering transformative growth in LDCs (least developed countries), including Bangladesh.

He said the post-Bali work programme and ultimate conclusion of the Doha Development Round can provide trade facilitating environment and trade opportunities for LDCs only if the Post-2015 Development Agenda strengthens the capacities of LDCs to gainfully avail these opportunities and hence reduce their vulnerabilities to external shocks.

The Commerce Minister was speaking at the second Geneva dialogue titled “From Bali to the Post 2015 Development Agenda: LDCs perspective” in Geneva yesterday, said a Commerce Ministry media note.

Tofail said LDCs have enormous potential in terms of both human and natural resources that can be harnessed for world economic growth and development.

“In achieving sustainable development goals for the coming decade, we must ensure that attainment of social objectives do not come at the expense of economic objectives/priorities,” he said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Shahbagh underpass remains a distant dream n Abu Hayat Mahmud The construction of the much-awaited underpass at the capital’s Shahbagh intersection hangs in a limbo as the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) failed to start the project due to insufficient funds.

The project, which had long been demanded by the students of Dhaka University following frequent accidents at the intersection, had been reportedly shelved as the government plans to build a footbridge at the crossing to save money.

After a series of violent protests by the university’s students following the death of a student crushed under the wheel of a bus at the intersection in August 2012, the DSCC took the initiative to build an underpass at the crossing and the foundation stone of the project was laid on November 26, 2012 by the then state minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanok.

The former state minister also said the underpass construction would start from December 15 of the same year and was to be finished within the next six months. The 50-metre proposed underpass was expected to connect the road between Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the National Museum.

A DSCC official, seeking anonymity, said during a meeting between Local Government Department (LGD) and DSCC officials held few months back, the LGD directed DSCC officials to conduct a pre-feasibility study for a

foot-over bridge at same location of the proposed underpass.

When contacted, DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md Ansar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “The government has changed its decision to build an overpass instead of an underpass.”

He said the total budget for the project was estimated at Tk40 million, but the cost of the project hiked when Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) and Titas Gas demanded some Tk 200 million for replacing their utility lines under the road.

“It is not possible to meet the demands of utility agencies under the budget this project.”

Another senior DSCC official said: “Noting the additional funds demanded by other state agencies, the LGD directed the city corporation to visit the project area and plan for an over bridge. Final decision will be taken by the LGD.” When contacted, LGD Additional Secretary Ashok Madhav Roy told the Dhaka Tribune: “We already discussed on taking steps to build an underpass during a meeting.”

Responding to a question, he said the LGD only directed the DSCC authority to visit the project area and report to them scope of an over-bridge for the same location of the proposed underpass.

“We had not changed our decision on the underpass project. The final decision will be taken after the city corporation report,” he added. l

Fire destroys house, furniture shop n Tribune Report

‘Announce Rana Plaza disaster day as national garment workers mourning day’

Six rooms of a house in Ashulia’s Kurgaon area were gutted in a fire yesterday morning.

According to fire service sources, the fire had originated around 11:30am from an electric short-circuit in a room of the house which soon engulfed rest of the rooms of the house owned by Jasim Uddin, reports our correspondent.

Senior Station Officer Abdul Hamid Mia of Ashulia EPZ fire station said two units of fire service went to the scene after being informed by the locals and doused the fire. He said the fire could have been contained if they were informed earlier.

No casualties were reported in the incident. Meanwhile in Chittagong, a fire gutted a furniture shop at Aturar Dipo of Baizid area in the port city in the morning, reports our correspondent.

However, no causality was reported in this incident, said fire brigade sources.

Agrabad Fire Service and Civil Defense Station sources said a fire originated from an electric short circuit at the semi pucca shop around 8am, burning all valuables.

Being informed, fire fighters from Baizid Fire Service Station went to the spot and extinguished the fire after one and half hour of frantic efforts. l

n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj

WEATHER

RAIN LIKELY SATURDAY, APRIL 5 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:16PM SUN RISES 5:46AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

33

24

Chittagong

32

24

Rajshahi

36

23

Rangpur

35

22

Khulna

37

22

Barisal

34

24

Sylhet

35

21

32

25

Cox’s Bazar

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

34.8ºC Rajshahi

17.8ºC Madaripur

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

4:32am 5:49am 12:02am 4:30pm 6:15pm 7:32pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

Members of Garment Workers Front of Narayanganj chapter demanded that the government announce April 24 as the national garment workers mourning day.

The garment workers made the demand at a protest rally held at Narayanganj Press Club yesterday.

Speakers at the rally said the government should announce the day as a mourning day because hundreds of garment workers had died and got heavily injured on the day in the Rana Plaza disaster.

A total of 1,132 workers died and 2,500 workers were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse incident, they said, adding that 300 workers are still missing.

The world has not seen such a big disaster ever because of the negligence of the building owner.

“Although one year of the incident has almost passed, the government is yet to ensure punishment for those

Taking risk of life, pedestrians cross Shahbagh intersection in the city yesterday

people, who are responsible for the disaster,” said a garment worker, who preferred to be unnamed.

He also demanded compensations for all Rana Plaza victims and urged the government to publish the complete list of dead and missing workers as soon as possible. He also demanded punishment of the Rana Plaza owner.

Other speakers said although different organisations had donated over Tk100 crore for Rana Plaza victims, but the government had provided only Tk18 crore to them.

Later, protesters brought out a procession from the press club premises that paraded different roads.

Selim Mahmud, president of the front, Nikhil Dash, member of district Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (Basad), Abu Naim Khan Biplob, leader of Basad, Jahangir Alam Golok, general secretary of the front, Saiful Islam Sharif and vice-president of the organisation addressed the programme. l

Scout Jamboree starts today n Our Correspondent, Gazipur The 9th Bangladesh and 1st South Asian Association of National Scout Organisation (SAANSO) Scout Jamboree will start at National Scout Training Centre in Mouchak under Kaliakoir upazila of Gazipur today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the function organised by Bangladesh Scout at 10am.

Member of National Scout in Bangladesh and Co-ordinator for Publications and Publicity Shamimul Haque Shameem confirmed the news. A press briefing was also held at the Gazipur deputy commissioner’s office yesterday at 5pm.

Around nine thousand scouts will participate at the Jamboree this year and 27 of them will be participating from Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

A total of 13 exciting, educative and competitive adventures and central events will take place at the Jamboree.

All the activities of the Jamboree will be conducted at the Village and SubCamp basis and the adventures will be coordinated by skilled directors. The Jamboree will end on April 11. l

ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

‘Residential buildings will be built on abandoned government land’ n Tribune Report Multi storied residential buildings would be built on abandoned government lands in Gulshan, Banani and Dhanmondi areas of the capital, Housing Minister Mosharrof Hossain said yesterday.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of REHAB Fair 2014 organised by the Real Estate and Housing Association (REHAB) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, the minister made the comment.

Mentioning that there was an acute housing crisis for the government officials and that only 7% government officials were getting housing facilities, the minister said the buildings would be used as quarters for government officials. These buildings would be built by private construction firms under supervision of the Public Works Ministry, he added.

Youth dies taking ayurvedic medicine in Natore

Fire at Motijheel commercial building n Tribune Report A fire broke out at a building that houses a bank in the city’s Motijheel commercial area yesterday.

Fire service sources said the fire erupted on the first floor of the 3-storey building of City Bank Bhaban at about 10:20 am and spread soon.

Four firefighting units rushed to the spot and managed to bring the blaze under control. Neither the origin of the fire nor how much damage it caused could be known as yet. l

n Our correspondent, Natore A newlywed youth died after taking sexuality stimulant ayurvedic medicine in Gurudaspur upazila in Natore early yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Eusuf Rehman, 24, son of Ershad Ali of village Chandrapur of Nazirpur union of the upazila. The ayurvedic practitioner went into hiding after the incident. A case was lodged with Gurudaspur police station in this connection.

Family sources and police said Eusuf went to seek advice from the ayurvedic practitioner named Kobiraz Ashraf Ali Pramanik of village Holaigari under Chamari union of Singra upazila of the district after his marriage. Ashraf advised him to take sexuality stimulant medicine.

Following the practitioner’s direction, he took the prescribed medicine early yesterday. After some time, he started to feel uneasiness and his body was sweating. Observing his situation, his family members rushed him to Natore Adhunik Sadar Hospital but he died on the way.

Faridul Islam,officer-in-charge of Gurudaspur police station confirmed the matter and said the deceased’s elder brother Abdul Gafur lodged a case accusing the ayurvedic practitioner with the police station in this connection.

Sub inspector Ekramul, the investigating officer of the case said they were trying to arrest the practitioner. l

Meanwhile, residential buildings would also be built in other areas of the capital under public-private partnership to sell flats among general citizens, Mosharrof said. Besides planned housings were also being built across the country for ensuring citizens’ rights, he added.

Such housings would be built in every upazilas of the country so that people did not feel necessary to come to the capital to enjoy their rights as a citizen, the minister said, and added that at present a total of 46 housing projects were under process across the country.

Saying that the government was alert about the problems of housing business, Mosharrof informed that the committee of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) had been reorganised. Alongside the government, the REHAB should come forward in solving the housing crisis of the people, the housing minister said. l

Youth held with lethal weapons in Narayanganj n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj Firefighters as well as neighbouring people gather in front of a building that houses a bank at Motijheel in the city yesterday after a fire broke out there DHAKA TRIBUNE

BCL gives ultimatum to arrest Rustom’s killers n DU Correspondent Bangladesh Chhatra League gave a 24hour ultimatum to arrest the killers of Rustom Ali, a Chhatra League leader of Rajshahi University who shot dead yesterday.

From a rally at the Shahbagh intersection in the capital, Chhatra League central President Badiuzzaman Shohag issued the ultimatum and warned that if the killers were not arrested by the dead line, the Chhatra League along

with the general students would wage a non-violent movement across the country.

Rustom Ali, joint secretary of Shaheed Shuhwardy Hall unit Chhatra League of RU, was shot dead by miscreants. He was a fourth year student of Political Science Department of the university.

Shohag blamed the law enforcers’ negligence for the killing, saying: “Rustom was being threatened by RU unit Chhatra Shibir president repeatedly

and Rajshahi law enforcers failed to provide security to him.”

If police took proper steps against Shibir leader Emon, he would not get killed, Shohag added.

Earlier, DU Chhatra League activists brought out the procession from the Teachers-Students Centre.

Chaired by DU unit Chhatra League President Mehedi Hasan, the rally was attended by among others central General Secretary Siddique Nazul alam and DU unit General Secretary Omar Sharif. l

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a youth and recovered huge amount of lethal weapon from his possession in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj on Thursday night.

The detainee is identified as Arman, 28, son of Ali Akkas Ali and nephew of Kolagachia Union Parishad Chairman Delwar Hossain Dulu. He was arrested from his house in Madhobpasha area under Kolagachia union of the upazila.

AkterMurshed, officer-in-charge of Bandar police station said: “We have seized one big knife, two rounds of bullet, two Chinese axes, one machete, one kris, and one cleaver from the arrestee.”

Habibur Rahman, sub-inspector of Rab 11, filed a case as a plaintiff under the arms act with the Bandar police station. l

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Nation

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Late blight shatters sunflower growers’ hope Production declines by 60% in Lalmonirhat n Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat Sunflower growers in Lalmonirhat are in anxiety as late blight disease has attacked their oil-seed plants on a vast tract of land, taking a toll of its production which declined by 60%.

Farmers in the district are apprehending that they would have to suffer heavy losses because of the fall in production.

This year, farmers of Fulgachh village under Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila have brought their land under sunflower cultivation as Brac, a non-government organisation, has provided them agri-inputs and technical assistance.

Farmers said one year ago they did not even know how to cultivate sunflowers. Being advised by Brac officials, they feel encouraged to nurture the sunflower on their land.

“Brac officials assured us that we will get at least 20kg production of sunflower from each decimal of land and the NGO will purchase one maund (40kg) of sunflower seed at Tk1,500 from us,” said a farmer.

He said they were very upset as their sunflower fields had been affected by late blight, an unhealthy condition of plants in which parts of them dry up and die.

“Brac provides us seed free of cost and provides 50% support for fertiliser,” he said, adding that they got only 8kg of seed from each decimal of land

while it was supposed to be 20kg.

Nur Islam Nuru, a farmer of Fulgachh village, said he had cultivated sunflower on 14 decimals of land after getting input supports.

“I hoped that I would earn good profit but late blight is now playing with our fate,” he said, adding that he had harvested only six kilograms of oil seed from his field. He said farmers, who had brought their land under sunflower cultivation, tried their level best to save sunflower plants from the attack.

“I have cultivated sunflower on 20 decimals of land, but my entire field was affected by the disease. I may not achieve 40% of production which I expected earlier,” said another farmer Ramzan Ali. “I spent Tk3,500 to bring 20 decimals of land under cultivation. Now, I am much tensed about how I could recoup the loss.” He urged Brac officials to come forward to help them.

Lalmonirhat BRAC officials’ sources, however, said as sunflower farming was profitable crop and it had high demand in the market, so Barc encouraged some farmers under its “Agriculture and Food Security” project for farming this crop.

The Regional Manager RM of Brac’s Agriculture and Food Security Programme Biplob Kumar Nath said Brac would take measures so that farmers would get fair prices of the agri-produces. l

Road crash kills three in Sylhet n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Police-workers clash injures 25 in Kishoreganj

Three people were killed and 10 others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a human haulier in South Surma Parairchak area in Sylhet yesterday.

One of the deceased was identified as Rakib Ali, 75 and Zahur Ali, residents of Mohammadpur village under Surma upazila. But the identity of another could not be known immediately.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police Jidan-AlMusa said: “A bus of Shyamaly transportation had collided head-on with a human haulier coming from the opposite direction around 12:30pm, leaving one people dead on the spot and injuring 12 people.

The injured were taken to Osmani Medical College Hospital where onduty doctor declared two of them dead.

Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital Assistant Director Tanmoy Bhattacharia said: “The injured are under treatments at the hospital.” l

Workers halt bus movement on Dhaka-Kishoreganj route

n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj At least 25 people, including seven police members, were injured in a clash between transport workers and law enforcers over boarding a bus without ticket at the Police Line area in Kishoreganj yesterday morning.

Kanchan Mia, general secretary of Kishoreganj Zilla Motorjan Sramik Union, said some police members beat up the conductor of a passenger bus when he stopped them from boarding it without tickets.

“They also beat Kaiyum, organising secretary of District Labour Union, Dwin Islam Dinu, executive member, and Babul Mia when they went to rescue the conductor,” he added.

He demanded for quick action from the authorities in this regard and warned of tougher movement.

A farmer collects sunflower from a field at Fulgachh village under Lalmonirhat upazila yesterday

Osman Ali, general secretary of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation, said bus movement had been suspended on Dhaka-Kishoreganj route from Mohakhali and Saidabad bus stands following the incident.

Meanwhile, transport workers halted bus movement in Gaital interdistrict bus terminal in Kishoreganj around 11am.

The workers claimed that the law enforcers had vandalised around 10 buses in the area.

Abdul Malek, officer in-charge of Kishoreganj Sadar police station, said: “Police fired rubber bullets and charged batons to disperse the workers.” The situation was now under control, he added.

Police also detained two bus drivers named Hira and Masum from the scene. l

ATTACK ON TITUMIR EXPRESS

Police file case against Jatiya Party activists n Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Local people form a human chain at Tabirchar village in Jamalpur yesterday, demanding arrest and exemplary punishment of the killers of schoolboy Seju DHAKA TRIBUNE

One killed as nor’wester lashes Naogoan village 4 die in lightning strikes in 3 districts The deceased was identified as Durn Tribune Report gadhon Tripura, 55 and his son was At least one person was killed and over 100 houses were damaged as a nor’wester swept over Patnitala village in Naogoan in the early hours of yesterday.

Local people said all of a sudden the nor’wester swept through the village at 1am. During the storm, three people were injured as a wall collapsed on them.

Of the injured, Shahidul Islam, 35, was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, where he died.

In the storm, over 100 thatched houses have been damaged, several trees were uprooted, paddy, vegetables and mango, betel leaf gardens were damaged. The electricity service had remained suspended till yesterday morning.

Our Khagrachhari correspondent reports: A man was killed and his son injured as a thunder bolt struck them in Garitana area under Manikchhari upazila in Khagrachhari yesterday morning.

Mankumar Tripura, 25.

Officer-in-charge of Manikchhari police station Keshob Chakraborty said the thunder bolt fell on them while they were working at their tea stall. Durgadhon died on the spot and Mankumar is undergoing treatment at Manikchhari Upazila Health Complex, the OC added.

In Cox’s Bazar, two salt growers were killed when a thunderbolt struck them in Chhanua area under Pekua upazila yesterday morning.

Officer-in-Charge of Pekua police station Habibur Rahman said Jamal Hossen and Mohammad Taufiq had died on the spot after they were struck by lightning. They were working at a field.

In Mirsarai, Siddiq Ahmed, 42, was killed after being hit by a thunderbolt in Charsarat area.

Locals said he was critically injured as a lightning struck him when he was at a cow-shed. l

Santahar police filed a case against 25 Jatiya Party activists, including 13 named in connection with an attack on Inter-City Titumir Express of the Nilfamari-Rajshahi route.

ASI Mizanur Rahman of Santahar GRP police station filed the case on Thursday midnight and arrested two accused Mohammad Nupur, 28, and Shahjahan Ali, 30.

Sources said activists of ruling Awami League and Jatiya Party had been bargaining with police last few days to take control of smuggling through rail route, adding that police came to a mutual understanding with ruling party activists on Wednesday night in this regard. When the news spread out, Jatiya Party activists allegedly carried out an attack on Titumir Express at Santahar Junction on Thursday night.

Police said tention beefed up in the area following the incident, but the situation was brought control. Addition law enforcers were deployed in the area and drives were on to arrest the criminals.

Locomotive driver Abdul Malek, who lost his two fingers in the attack, said the attackers swooped on the train around 8pm and started looting the passengers.

At one stage of the attack, local activists of Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League rushed to Santahar Junction with sticks, and took control of the station area by chasing the attackers.

Jatiya Party President of Adamdighi upazila unit Nazir Hossain claimed that no Jatiya Party activist was involved in the attack, adding that he did not have any idea on who carried out the attack.

He and his fellows were talking to police personnel at the GRP police station while the attack was carried out, Nazir also claimed. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Mother commits suicide after killing daughter n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh A woman committed suicide after slaughtering her two children at Purahata village under Ishwarganj upazila in Mymensingh yesterday.

Of the kids, Shaila Akhtar, 2, died while Minal Miah, 7, is undergoing treatment in critical condition at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH).

Police arrested the “killer” mother in this regard.

Police said Hasna had attacked her two children Shaila and Minal with a sharp knife in their back, chest and neck around 11:45pm on Thursday night, killing Shaila on the spot and injuring Minal critically.

Later, Hasna took her life by hanging herself with a rope from the ceiling of her house, police said.

Sensing the incident, locals rushed to the spot and informed police immediately about the matter.

Then, police took Minal to the MMCH. Quoting Anwar Hossain, brother of Hasna, Officer-in-Charge of Iswarganj police station Md Kamrul Islam said, Hasna got had married with Marfat Ali 10 years back and the couple had two children in their conjugal life but Hasna had been suffering from mental disorders in recent months. l

Government of the people’s Republic of Bangladesh Office of the Principal Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur

INVITATION FOR TENDER 2013-2014 1

Ministry/ Division

Ministry of Education, Bangladesh.

2

Agency

Directorate of Technical Education.

3

Procuring Entity District

Principal, Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur.

4

Procuring Entity District

Laxmipur.

5

Invitation for

Procurement of Machineries & Other Equipments, Office Furnishing, Learning Materials and Furniture.

6

Invitation Reference. No & Date

LPI/Admin-04/Procurement/2014/368, Date: 29-03-2014

KEY INFORMATION 7

Procurement Method

Open Tendering Method as per PPA-2008 & PPR-2008

FUNDING INFORMATION 8

Budget and Source of funds

GoB

PARTICULAR INFORMATION 9

Tender Package No

LPI-1401

10

Tender Package Name

Package No. LPI-1401 (i) Machineries & Other Equipments (ii) Office Furnishing (iii) Learning Materials (iv) Furniture.

11

Tender Selling Date & Time

04/04/2014 to 15/04/2014, 10:00am to 1:00pm

12

Tender Dropping Last Date & Time

16/04/2014 up to 12:00pm

13

Tender Opening Date & Time

16/04/2014 at 12:30am

14

Name & Address of the Office(S)

Address

Selling Tender Documents

Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur.

Receiving Tender Documents

SP Office Laxmipur.

Venue of Opening Tender

Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur.

INFORMATION FOR TENDER 15

Eligibility of Tender

1. The Tenderer shall have a minimum 01 (One) year experience in supply of goods and related service.

2. The Tenderer shall be required to submit certified photocopies of latest documents related to valid Trade License, Tax Identification Number (TIN), Vat Registration number and financial solvency certificate from any schedule bank.

3. All other terms and condition will be available in the tender document.

16

Brief Description of Goods

Mentioned in the Tender document.

17

Price of the Tender document Tk

Lot-1. TK 500/-, Lot-2. TK400/-, Lot-3. Tk 400/-, Lot-4. TK 400/-

18

Tender Validity Period

60 days

Package No. LPI 1401 (Stated at SL No-10) 19

Lot No

Identification of lot

Location

Tender Security Amount (TK)

Time for Supply of Goods

Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur

5500/-

3 Weeks

1

Machineries & Other Equipments

2

Office Furnishing

-do-

4500/-

3 Weeks

3

Learning Materials

-do-

5000/-

3 Weeks

4

Furniture

-do-

4500/-

3 Weeks

PROCURING ENTITY DETAILS 20

Name of official Inviting Tender

Engr. Md. Alauddin

21

Designation of official Inviting Tender

Principal (In-charge)

22

Address of official Inviting Tender

Laxmipur Polytechnic Institute, Laxmipur

23

Contact details of official Inviting Tender

Tel. No- 038162316

24

The Procuring Entity reserves the right to accept or reject any/All tender (Wholly/Partly). In all cases of tender PPA-2008 and PPR-2008 would be followed.

GC-41/14 (13″×4)

(Engr. Md. Alauddin) Principal (In-charge)

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Prescription

7

Saturday, April 5, 2014

How to cope with summer heat stress

Heat stroke

Heat stroke, a severe form of hyperthermia, occurs when the human body absorbs more heat than it can dissipate.

This is a serious condition and needs immediate medical attention.

Remedy: It is important to lower the temperature of the body. Move the sick person to a cool, shaded area, soaking their clothes in water. Spraying, sponging, or showering them with water and fanning their body.

You can prevent heat stroke by wearing loose and light clothes, drinking water, and not exerting yourself.

Heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, fainting, muscle cramps, fainting are symptoms of heat exhaustion Home remedies: Rest. Have cool non-alcoholic beverages, a cool shower, bath or sponge bath. Wear light clothing.

Dry mouth and eyes, dry skin, a condition where sweating nearly stops, muscle cramps, nausea, heart palpitations and light headedness are symptoms of dehydration.

Prevention: Re-hydration with water, clear broths, and any other water replacements that contain electrolytes, like Gatorade.

Home remedies: Fluid replacement and control through diet and medication. Fever medication.

Rosacea

Rosacea symptoms include your skin

The writer is Professor and Dean of faculty of medicine in BSMMU

Water therapy for weight loss

Start each day with a glass of water as soon as you get up in the morning. Water helps rehydrate the body of fluids lost during the night.

Drink a glass of water 10 minutes before you sit down to eat. Water will naturally make you feel fuller so you don’t have to eat as much food. Quite often we confuse our feelings of hunger with that of first so have a glass of water first and see how you feel.

Brace for better smile

Braces are not just for children. Many adults are also enjoying the benefits of orthodontics and straighter teeth later in life. Twenty percent of all orthodontic patients are over 18 years of age. It’s never too late to improve your smile.

Sunscreen protects your skin

n Dr. Sajol Ashfaq

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may be slightly more complicated.

Smoking could have been causing changes in the brain’s blood supply that is not measurable. Alternatively, chemicals in cigarette smoke could also damage the brain directly, researchers said.

some of the most popular fruit contains the highest levels of pesticides.

According to researchers at Purdue University in Indiana, apples now top the list as the most contaminated by pesticides, even after they are peeled and washed. Strawberries round out the top of the most contaminated list, with grapes and blueberries. The list followed at number three by pineapple, number four orange, and watermelon at number 12. In comparison to other fruits, apples gained the top spot after pesticides.

Pesticides are toxic, they keep both bugs and bacteria at bay from crops and ingestion of it also linked to various health problems, from nervous

The Painkillers increas risk of heart attack and stroke Research shows that taking the painkiller “diclofenac” increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 63%.

General Ppactitioners (GP) are writing millions of prescriptions a year for a painkiller that is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes, a study has warned. Diclofenac is Prescriben by GPs to ease the pain of arthritis, backache, gout and other common conditions. A review of existing research showed the drug is one of the riskiest of its type, raising the danger of heart attacks and strokes – including fatal incidents – by up to 63 per cent. This risk is almost identical to that of the painkiller Rofecoxib, which was withdrawn from worldwide sales in 2004 because of cardiovascular risk. The study’s authors are calling for diclofenac to be banned or severely

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Prickly heat affects everyone; it is a result of sweat and humidity that causes bacterial infection on the skin.

Remedy: Teking cold showers, wearing loose clothes, putting talcum powder after a bath, applying calamine lotion on the rashes.

Apply medicated talcum powder. Keep the area dry and clean.

One must eat cold foods such as watermelon, yogurt, berries and the like. Such foods are low in calories and require very little energy for digestion.

Usually such foods taste better when chilled. Naturally, eating such chilled low calorie foods feels good in the summer months.

Importance of including a variety of foods in your diet: All essential nutrients are required in the summer months, particularly the minerals that are lost in sweat.

It is possible to replenish these micro-nutrients only if the diet includes varied food groups such as fruits, vegetables, milk, cereals, meat, pulse and fats.

Importance of choosing fats carefully: In the summer months, a number of people who want to lose weight switch to a zero fat diet. This is not a health sted trend. The essential fats that the body needs are available through diet alone. It is therefore sensible to limit the fat intake to just the essential requirement but to avoid any extras.

Drinking very chilled liquids is not advisable: Food consumed at extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold, is not appropriate for the body. The body has to work extra in order to get the temperature close to the body temperature. Drinking warm or cool (as opposed to hot and cold) liquids is best suited for the body. l

Tonsillectomy doesn’t decrease body defense mechanism

Pesticide-laden fruit, apple on the top list!

The old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away may need an asterisk, in the wake of a new report says

Prickly heat

Dehydration

Smoking speeds up your memory loss

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The ultra violet radi-

Heat exhaustion

HEALTH NEWS

Researchers found that smokers showed a faster decline in their scores on tests of word memory, relative to non-smokers. Furthermore, people who smoked in their 40s did worse on tests that measure how fast they could pick out certain letters from a page than non-smokers of the same age.

The relationship between smoking and memory loss appeared strongest in people who smoked more than 20 cigarettes each day. Why smoking may speed up age-related memory loss is not yet clear. It is suspected that smoking may accelerate memory loss by increasing the risk of high blood pressure, which can damage the brain. However, the relationship between smoking and brain function

Sunburn

Summer diet

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Heat cramps usually affect people who sweat a lot during strenuous activity.

This sweating depletes the body’s salt and moisture levels. Low salt levels in muscles causes painful cramps. Heat cramps may also be a symptom of heat exhaustion.

Home remedies: Rest in a cool place. Drink clear juice or electrolyteenriched drinks. Do not go back to strenuous activities even after cramps subside since it may lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

ation burns the skin when you spend long hours under direct sun.

Sunburn symptoms are patches of darkened skin peeling away.

Remedy: It is recommended to stay indoors during 10am to 4pm when sun light is at it peak.

Home remedies: Mix together the juice of six peeled cucumbers, two cups powdered milk and two teaspoons dried lavender flowers. Apply the above paste directly on the affected areas of the skin. One cup of the mixture added to lukewarm water can be used as a skin smoothening balm

A tonsillectomy is a 3,000-year-old surgical procedure. Now it remains one of the most common surgical procedures in children DID YOU in the United States. In KNOW? reality, there are approximately 600,000 tonsillectomies performed each year on children and adults. The AAO-HNS identifies tonsillectomy as the second most common childhood surgery.

Palatine tonsils are secondary lymphoid organ involved with body defense mechanism. Because of this conception people, even physicians used to think the removal of tonsils may have hampered the immunity or body defense mechanism.

But this is not true in case of repeated infected tonsils & the tonsils which are someway making the children derailed from their normal living. You must have known, big tonsils cause breathing problems, sleep apnea, and block the food passage. In these ways it makes the children’s harder lives.

When tonsils itself get infected or make the children sick for getting back healthy, tonsillectomy should be performed. Tonsils are known as the guard of mouth gate. Just like a sick guard cannot perform his duty, infected tonsils cannot be a part of immunity. Despite, it causes the patient more trouble.

Moreover, If tonsillitis caused by Group A Beta-haemolytic Streptococcus (GABS) or another strain of streptococcal bacteria isn’t treated or

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Babies and small children are particularly susceptible. Children, who are left in a car, even on a day that doesn’t seem excessiveHEAT STRESS ly hot, are at risk of overheating very quickly.

This can result in heat stroke, which is a medical emergency.

Most people feel comfortable when the air temperature is between 20°C and 27°C and the when relative humidity ranges from 35 to 60%.

When air temperature or humidity is higher, people start to feel uncomfortable. Such situations do not cause harm as long as the body can adjust and cope with the additional heat. Very hot environments can overwhelm the body’s coping mechanisms, leading to a variety of serious and possibly fatal conditions.

will turning red due to over exposure to the sun. The redness appears as the excess heat causes the blood vessels to dilate.

Remedy: Avoid direct sunlight. Always use a good sunscreen with SPF 30+.

There are 300 lymph nodes around the neck.

These are also providing immunity to the body.

So, removing tonsils will not put an affect if antibiotic treatment is incomplete, has an increased risk of dangerous disorders such as; Rheumatic fever, an inflammatory disorder that affects the heart, joints and other tissues and Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, an inflammatory disorder of the kidneys that results in inadequate removal of waste and excess fluids from blood.

There are 300 lymph nodes around the neck. These are also providing immunity to the body. So, removing tonsils will not put an affect effectively in body defense.

There are many studies performed

to search any relation with immunity and tonsillectomy.

But most of authentic studies showed body immunity is not affected by removal of tonsils. Moreover, the effectiveness of Tonsillectomy or Adenotonsillectomy is proven by scientific research.

Adenotonsillectomy improves cognitive function, intelligence, memory, attention, quality of sleep, behavior, moods, emotions, and daytime functioning. Sleep disordered breathing affects growth hormone production, appetite, and physical development.

Adenotonsillectomy corrects these defects. And tonsillectomy gives you an infection-free healthy living. But before tonsillectomy, it’s indication should be justified through proper history, clinical examinations and investigations. l The writer is an Associate Professor, ENT Department, Holy Family Red Crescent medical College Hospital, Dhaka.

Diet secrets of world’s oldest person n Prescription desk

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restricted in use.

Despite this, it was the most used – meaning it was prescribed more often than safer alternatives such as the painkiller naproxen.

| Dr Kazi Mahbuba Akhtar

We eat to live. We need food for the basics of everyday life. But we can also eat to live well and to live lonHEALTH ger. What makes FLASH some people live longer than others? Studies suggest that diet is one of the important contributors to longevity and a healthy life.

The world’s oldest person has revealed the lifestyle secrets behind her longevity and they have nothing to do with exercise.

Misao Okawa, a Japanese woman born in 1898, who turns 116

years on March 5 of this year, says a diet of sushi and oily fish such as mackerel has helped her live a life spanning three centuries. The Japanese great-grandmother eats three meals a day and sleeps eight hours a night.

Sushi is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients, seafood, vegetables and sometimes tropical fruits.

Her favourite meal is mackerel on vinegar-steamed rice, which she eats least once every month. Mrs Okawa became the world’s oldest person following the death of another Japanese person, Jiroemon Kimura, who died last year at the age of 116. l

Be careful with your skin. Not only you should apply your sunscreen a half an hour before going outside to allow it to absorb into the skin, you should also reapply every three to four hours or whenever you get out of the water. Sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which causes premature aging of the skin, wrinkles, and skin cancer. The amount of damage from UV exposure depends on the strength of the light, the length of exposure, and whether the skin is protected.

Shape your Nose

BIGSTOCK

n Prof ABM Abdullah

Heat cramps

QUICK TIPS

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Summer comes with a few health problems like sunstroke, skin rash, and heat boils. Summer also calls for a change in diet and other healthy living tips. Over-exposure to heat can cause heat exhaustion or even heat stroke

The nose is a very prominent facial feature. If you are not happy with its appearance, you may want to consider having a rhinoplasty procedure performed. A board-certified plastic surgeon or facial plastic surgeon can explain how cosmetic surgery may help to enhance your looks.

| Compiled by: Shirsho Saaeadat

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Saturday, April 5, 2014

US to review Mideast peace push n AFP, Jerusalem Washington said Friday it was reviewing its push for a Middle East peace agreement as a spiral of tit-for tat moves by Israel and the Palestinians brought hard-won talks close to collapse.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has invested more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy in the talks process, said there were “limits” to the time Washington could devote to it.

“This is not open-ended,” Kerry said on a visit to Morocco, adding that it was “reality check” time and he would evaluate with President Barack Obama what Washington does next.

“There are limits to the amount of time and effort that the United States can spend if the parties themselves are unwilling to take constructive steps,” he said.

The US top diplomat spoke to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Thursday in a desperate bid to bring the two sides back from the brink.

But Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas rejected his appeals to withdraw the applications he signed on Tuesday to adhere to 15 international treaties, a

Palestinian official told AFP. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored appeals to refrain from “unhelpful” tit-for-tat moves and asked officials to draw up a range of tough reprisals, Israeli media reported.

Kerry said Washington currently had an “enormous amount on the plate,” highlighting negotiations with the Russians over Ukraine, negotiations with Iran on its nuclear programme and the conflict in Syria, as other US priorities.

“Both parties say they want to continue, neither party has said they want to call it off; but we’re not going to sit there indefinitely, this is not an open-ended effort,” he said.

Israel says Tuesday’s move by Abbas was a clear breach of the undertakings the Palestinians gave when the talks were relaunched last July to pursue no other avenues for recognition of their promised state.

The Palestinians say Israel had already reneged on its own commitments when it failed to release a fourth and final batch of veteran Arab prisoners as scheduled at the weekend, and that the treaty move was their response. l

Palestinian protesters throw stones toward Israeli police close to the Israeli Ofer military prison in West Bank town of Betunia on April 4, 2014, during clashes after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas rejected appeals from US Secretary of State John Kerry to halt applications to join international treaties to salvage peace talks with Israel AFP

Signs of argument before US base shooting: commander

Hunt for Malaysian plane heads underwater

n AFP, Washington

n Reuters

A troubled US soldier who shot dead three people and wounded 16 more at Fort Hood may have argued with one or more colleagues before his rampage, his base commander said Thursday.

Lieutenant General Mark Milley told reporters that investigators were combing through the records of the gunman, Army specialist Ivan Lopez, to determine his mental state before Wednesday’s incident, which ended when he fatally shot himself.

“We’re trying to figure out what the trigger event was,” Milley told a press

conference at the sprawling Texas base, which is home to 70,000 people including more than 40,000 military personnel.

“There may have been a verbal altercation” with one or more soldiers immediately before the 34-year-old opened fire, he said.

“We do not have that definitively at this point but we have strong indications of that.”

The shooting revived memories of an Al-Qaeda inspired gun attack at the base in 2009 by Major Nidal Hasan, who is awaiting execution for killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others.

Military officials however have said Lopez – who served in Iraq in 2011 but did not see combat – was simply thought to have been a troubled individual.

“We have very strong evidence that he has a medical history that indicates an unstable psychiatric or psychological condition,” Milley said.

“We believe that to be the fundamental underlying causal factor.”

The commanding general said investigators were looking at “everything from finance to medical, personal relationships, marital issues, family health issues” to figure out why Lopez opened fire. l

Spike in Iran executions seen politically motivated n Reuters Within the small community of minority Arabs where he lived in southwest Iran, Hashem Shaabani was known as a teacher, an advocate for civil rights and a poet. But to the Islamic Republic he was seen as a threat.

Shaabani, 32, was arrested in February 2011 and accused of belonging to an armed separatist group. His family had minimal contact with him after his arrest, and in late January this year they

received shocking news: Shaabani had been executed.

“It made me question why we live in a society where something like this can happen,” said a friend who asked not to be identified for personal security reasons. “It also made me think that we have a long road ahead before we can reach democracy and freedom.”

Since president Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate in Iran, took office last August, there has been a surge in executions: at least 537 people have been ex-

ecuted in the past eight months, nearly 200 of them since the beginning of this year, according to figures compiled by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. That compares with a total for 2013 of 624, according to data gathered by the United Nations.

Some human rights activists and others fear that those who oppose Rouhani and his negotiations with Western powers over the country’s nuclear program are pushing the executions to weaken him. l

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in remote seas off Australia headed underwater on Friday, with a US Navy high tech “black box” locator deployed for the first time as the battery life of the cockpit data recorder dwindles.

Australian authorities said the so-called Towed Pinger Locator will be pulled behind navy ship HMAS Ocean Shield, searching a converging course on a 240 km (150 miles) track with British hydrographic survey ship HMS Echo.

“The area of highest probability as to where the aircraft might have entered the water is the area where the underwater search will commence,” Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told reporters in Perth.

“On best advice the locator beacon will last about a month before it ceases its transmissions so we’re now getting pretty close to the time when it might expire.”

On Monday it will be 30 days since the jetliner lost communications and disappeared from civilian radar less than an hour into an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

The Boeing 777 was briefly picked up on military radar on the other side of Malaysia and analysis of subse-

quent hourly electronic “handshakes” exchanged with a satellite led investigators to conclude the plane crashed far off the west Australian coast hours later.

Sonar may help find the plane’s black box voice and data recorders that are key to unlocking what happened on the flight. The black box is equipped with a locator beacon that transmits “pings” when underwater, but which only has an expected battery life of around 30 days.

Experts have warned the Towed Pinger Locator may be of little use unless investigators can get a much better idea of exactly where the plane went into water, because its limited range and the slow speed at which it must be pulled behind the ship mean it cannot cover large areas of ocean quickly.

Houston said the start of the underwater search in earnest did not override the need to keep searching for surface wreckage of the plane, as a find would be the most effective way to pinpoint a sub-sea hunt.

“This is a vast area, an area that’s quite remote. We will continue the surface search for a good deal more time,” he said.

“I think there’s still a great possibility of finding something on the surface,” he said. “There’s lots of things in aircraft that float. In previous searches life jackets have appeared which can be connected to the aircraft that was lost.” l

US presses Japan to make good on trade promises n Reuters, Washington The United States pressed Japan on Thursday to open its farm and auto markets to overseas competition and said it could not expect special treatment in a Pacific trade pact covering one-third of global imports and exports.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman told US lawmakers that Japan’s reluctance to lower trade barriers was holding up agreement on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would stretch from Asia to Latin America.

Despite intense talks between the United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the negotiations, Japan has yet to come forward with an offer to close the gaps on trade in farm goods and autos.

“It’s time for Japan to step up to the plate,” Froman told the House Ways and Means Committee during a threehour hearing on the US trade policy agenda.

Washington’s frustration at the slow progress in formal negotiations on the TPP, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s push to expand the United States’ presence in Asia, is growing as talks enter their fifth year.

Japan was the last to join in 2013. The move raised the stakes for all participants given the size of Japan’s economy, but some say it was premature given the country’s desire to protect its rice, wheat, beef, pork, dairy and sugar sectors. l

Pakistani baby India presses Sri Lanka to accused of attempted murder share power with Tamils as a way of deflecting mounting intern AFP, Lahore n AFP, Colombo national pressure on Colombo.

This NASA image obtained April 4, 2014 , shows a diagram that illustrates the possible interior of Saturn’s moon Enceladus based on a gravity investigation by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network, reported in April 2014. The gravity measurements suggest an ice outer shell and a low density, rocky core with a regional water ocean sandwiched in between at high southern latitudes.

Views from Cassini’s imaging science subsystem were used to depict the surface geology of Enceladus and the plume of water jets gushing from fractures near the moon’s south pole. Enceladus is 313 miles (504 kilometers) in diameter AFP

While many children his age are still learning how to crawl, a nine-monthold boy in Pakistan has been accused of attempted murder in a case observers say highlights endemic flaws in the country’s legal system.

Baby Mohammad Musa along with his father and other family members was booked for throwing rocks at gas company officials in the working-class Ahata Thanedaran neighbourhood on February 1, the family’s lawyer Chaudhry Irfan Sadiq told AFP Friday.

Inspector Kashif Muhammad, who attended the alleged crime scene and has since been suspended, wrote in his report that it was a case of attempted murder.

Appearing in a packed court room with others accused in the case on Thursday, Musa was seen crying as his grandfather Muhammad Yasin held him on his shoulder.

Yasin later fed him milk from a bottle while fielding questions from reporters.

“Everyone in the court was saying ‘How can such a small child be implicated in any case’? What kind of police do we have?” the 50-year-old labourer said.

The charge is in direct contradiction with Pakistan’s minimum age of criminal responsibility, which was raised from seven to 12 years in 2013 except in terrorism cases. l

India has asked Sri Lanka to grant limited autonomy to its ethnic Tamil minority and ensure “genuine reconciliation” five years after crushing Tamil guerrillas, New Delhi’s top envoy said Friday.

Indian High Commissioner (ambassador) Y K Sinha said New Delhi had also urged Colombo to probe allegations that its troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting in 2009.

“Our emphasis has been to encourage the government of Sri Lanka to show concrete movement towards a meaningful devolution of powers,” Sinha told the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Sri Lanka.

“It is our hope that the government of Sri Lanka, recognising the critical importance of genuine reconciliation, acts with vision and sagacity.”

Sinha’s remarks came after New Delhi abstained from voting on a US-initiated resolution censuring Colombo at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and approving establishment of an international probe into war crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels toward the end of the conflict.

Sinha made it clear that despite its abstention, India wanted Sri Lanka to address war crime accountability issues and ensure devolution of powers

Sri Lanka’s constitution stipulates power-sharing with the minority Tamil population but the provisions have never been fully implemented.

Sinha said New Delhi also wanted Colombo to reduce “high security zones” of the military which occupy private land in the island’s former war zones and address the issue of thousands of people said to have gone missing during and after the war.

The Indian envoy’s remarks came a day after the US ambassador in Colombo, Michele Sison, asked Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN-ordered international probe into war crimes, although President Mahinda Rajapakse told AFP last week his government rejected the latest UNHRC censure motion.

The latest resolution asked UN rights chief Navi Pillay to investigate actions of both government forces and Tamil rebels during a seven-year period leading up to the end of Sri Lanka’s nearly four-decade-long separatist war.

Pillay told the council last week that it was crucial to recall the “magnitude and gravity” of the violations allegedly committed by both the government and the rebels, notorious for their suicide bombings.

The 1972-2009 conflict claimed 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates. l

World

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Saturday, April 5, 2014

The CNN-IBN Loksabha election tracker poll: Statewise results n Tribune desk The final statewise results of the CNN-IBN-LoknitiCSDS opinion polls on the upcoming Indian loksabha elections to be held from April 7 - May 12. Results are due to be announced on May 16. The graphs compare last elections numbers(blue) with this years projections(red), and in selected states, give the prospective numbers of seats to be won by the various parties.

To collect the data for the polls, Lokniti at the CSDS conducted face to face interviews with 20,957 voters spread across 21 states between March 18 - 25

ASSAM: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

ANDHRA PRADESH : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS 4-8 39%

44%

35%

19% 16%

Congress

BJP

16%

15%

10%

11%

AUDF

AGP

DELHI: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

CHHATTISGARH : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

18%

21%

13%

Congress

TDP

YSR

TRS

0-3

24%

25%

16% JD(U)

21%

28%

BJP

Congress

13% others

HARYANA: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

55%

42%

0-4

3-4 40%

43%

36%

2-3

37% 5% 4%

TDP

13% 13%

YSR

TRS

22%

Congress

35% 29%

BJP

AAP

47%

5% 4%

BSP

Congress

JHARKHAND : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

HIMACHAL : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES 46%

4-8

25%

43%

2-5

9-15

7-13 30%

20-26

57%

Congress

13-19 29%

6%

39%

44%

21-29

GUJARAT : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

0-1

45%

BIHAR: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

31% TDP

0-2

0 10%

10%

8%

YSR

TRS

KARNATAKA : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

50%

7-13

22% 16%

6% 7%

Congress

BJP

INLD

AAP

4% Others

KERALA : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS 11-17 48%

12-18 46%

42%

30%

4-8 42%

44% 45%

45%

28%

30%

11%

7% Congrss

BJP

AAP

MADHYA PRADESH: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

36%

13%

BJP

JMM

MAHARASHTRA : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

36%

12%

6% Congress

45%

1-4

38%

BJP

Congress

JDS

UDF

38%

52%

16-22 39%

30%

43%

28%

42%

TDP

YSR

TRS

RAJASTHAN: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS 21-25 0-2 47%

34%

11%

5% Congress

13%

15%

6%

4%

5% Congress

TDP

5%

3%

YSR

TRS

TAMIL NADU : PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

BJD

17%

26%

BJP

Congress

6%

Others

14%

10% 5%

AAP

Others

5% Congress

BJP

BSP

WEST BENGAL: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

42-50

10-16 32%

55%

28%

11-17

6-10

36% 4-8

37%

16%

23%

23%

22%

BJP

Others

15%

BJD

BJP

Congress

23%

Others

38%

43%

28%

21% 22%

12%

13% Congress

29%

10%

UTTAR PRADESH: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES AND SEATS

15-21

0-2 32%

Others

45%

33% 43%

BJP

44%

37% 33%

1-5 30%

LDF

8%

4%

PUNJAB: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

ODISHA: PREDICTED VOTE-SHARES

24-30 24-28

11% 6%

16%

18%

18%

10-16 10%

31%

25%

14%

8% Congress

BJP

SP

BSP

16% 12% 6%

9% 6%

Others

Man and myth collide as Modi eyes final ascent to power n Reuters, Vadnagar, India Narendra Modi spent his childhood in a modest three-room dwelling made of mud and brick nestled in a narrow, crowded lane in the western Indian town of Vadnagar.

The tea stall his father ran with the help of his sons is just as it was then, a small shed of patched blue-grey tin on the platform of the ramshackle railway station nearby.

Fast forward nearly 60 years and Modi stands on the cusp of leading the world’s biggest democracy, after an election beginning on Monday that looks set to make his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the country’s biggest.

Family members, friends and ordinary people interviewed by Reuters in Modi’s native state of Gujarat put his remarkable journey down to single-minded ambition, an eye for opponents’ weaknesses and his grasp of economic management.

Underlining how he divides opinion, critics also speak of an authoritarian who at times rides roughshod over the democratic process and espouses moderation while concealing an agenda less benign.

One of the defining moments of Modi’s career was in 2002, shortly after he became Gujarat’s chief minister, when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were slaughtered in mob violence.

Modi has always vehemently denied that he allowed, or even encouraged, the bloodshed, driven by a Hindu nationalist agenda, and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him.

Throughout the election campaign he has sought to project himself as moderate, not a champion of the Hindu majority.

An analysis of 68 Modi speeches for the weekly magazine Outlook found that he did not utter the word “Hindu” once and “development” came up more than 500 times.

But suspicion lingers, particularly within India’s sizeable Muslim minority, many of whom fear a rise in communal tensions.

“He talks in several tongues,” said M. Hasan Jowher, a rights activist in Gujarat. “He can be a rabid fundamentalist. I hope Indians make the right choice.”

Modi’s aides did not respond to a request for comment for this article. A spokeswoman for the BJP, Nirmala Sitaraman, said Modi had “nothing to be defensive about” over the 2002 slaughter in Gujarat, and she rejected as “fear mongering” attempts to brand him as a fundamentalist.

Man or myth?

Man and myth often collide when it comes to Modi. His presence is ubiquitous after a meticulously stage-managed election campaign that has electrified the country and dominated the media, yet little is known about his personal life.

Narendra Damodardas Modi, now 63, was born and brought up in Vadnagar, a town built on a hill in rural Gujarat.

The third child in a family of eight that struggled to make ends meet, he ended his education after school and abruptly left home, only returning years later for his father’s funeral.

One of his brothers, Prahlad Modi, who sells car tyres in Gujarat’s commercial capital Ahmedabad, said that as boys they would carry kettles up and down trains standing at the station, offering passengers cups of tea.

Several people at the station said the tea story had been embellished for Modi’s election campaign to depict him as a man of the people, and in fact his father’s main business was a salt-grinding shop at the entrance to the station.

“This whole thing about Modi and his brothers selling tea is wrong. I have been here all my life and I know it’s false,” said Bhagwaji Diwanji, a rickshaw driver.

But Prahlad Modi said his version of events was “100 percent true,” and that the salt business came much later.

The BJP’s Sitaraman said doubts about the tea-boy narrative merely reflected a struggle by opponents to accept his humble birth.

Since he rose to fame, breathless stories about the heroic exploits of young Modi have become folklore in Gujarat.

One has it that, for a wager, he swam alone to reach a submerged temple in the middle of a lake - and some say the water was infested at the time with crocodiles.

But at the small Bhagavatacharya Narayanacharya school, principal A.P. Goswami said there was nothing exceptional in Modi’s records: he was an average student, an all-rounder.

He did take a shine to drama, Goswami said, pulling a black-and-white photograph from a dog-eared 1966 album showing Modi with a spear in his hand as he performed in a school play about a bandit fighting rapacious landlords.

As a teenager, Modi joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a voluntary right-wing group that serves both as the ideological incubator for “Hindutva,” a brand of Hindu nationalism, and as the philosophical parent of the BJP.

A friend from those days, Chandubhai Rami, used to spar with Modi using rattan sticks at RSS self-defence classes. He recounted how Modi figured out early that his opponent was weak when attacked from the left side.

“He is good at picking up the weakness in an adversary and then he attacks it until he wins,” said Rami.

After Modi left home, he adopted an ascetic lifestyle and dedicated himself to winning recruits to the RSS, virtually cutting ties with his family, they said.

Today he still lives alone, and only occasionally sees his mother and siblings.

“We’ve come to accept it,” Prahlad explained. “Narendrabhai believes family ties have to be kept at a distance once he went into public life.”

Common touch

Modi’s humble roots are key to his popularity.

Hundreds of millions of people live in poverty and there is anger at the ruling Congress party led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, whose 10 years in power have coincided with a slump in economic growth and a spate of corruption scandals.

Across Gujarat, and India, people admire Modi’s pursuit of industrial development in a state that, on a raft of measures, is an economic powerhouse relative to the rest of the country.

Business leaders, both Indian and foreign, flock to a biennial gathering called “Vibrant Gujarat” that Modi launched in 2003 to attract investment to his coastal state.

Anil Ambani, a prominent billionaire industrialist, told the throng at last year’s event that their host was “a lord of men, a leader among leaders, and a king among kings.”

A stocky but dapper figure who wears tailor-made traditional Indian clothes and sports a neatly trimmed white beard, Modi sat passively as accolades flew.

For Jentibhai Thacker, who farms land outside the western Gujarati town of Bhuj, that glowing endorsement hits the mark.

Fifteen years ago his family worked on less than five acres: today, they grow fruit on 1,300 acres thanks to generous state subsidies, technical help with irrigation and reliable power supplies. Thacker is now selling his produce overseas as well as at home, he is building a helipad to spray his crops with pesticide from the air, and he is looking to buy more land.

Bhuj and the vast surrounding swamplands of Kutch were devastated by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in January 2001 that killed more than 20,000 people and toppled some 400,000 homes.

Modi, who became chief minister of the state later that year, went all out to rebuild the region, introducing tax concessions to encourage development and lure entrepreneurs.

“For us, Modi has created a revolution,” said Thacker, who campaigns for a BJP victory when he isn’t tending to his bananas, strawberries and papayas.

On a new four-lane expressway connecting Ahmedabad to Kutch signs of change are everywhere. The toll road is being widened, wind turbines dot the countryside and factories belch out smoke.

Fierce critics

For all his popularity, Modi has critics. Ajitsinh Jadeja, a village chief near Bhuj, bemoans the onslaught of heavy industry in a region whose farmlands

and traditional handicrafts he says are now under threat.

“We wanted development, but not like this. This is like a bull in a china shop,” Jadeja sighed.

He said a proposed steel plant in the area would further deplete water and land available for families to pursue the centuries-old craft of block printing on fabric.

The BJP’s spokeswoman rejected the criticism, saying the party always seeks to balance growth and environmental impact.

Detractors also pick holes in Gujarat’s economic report card and Modi’s reputation as an efficient administrator, arguing that the state was already doing well before he came to power.

Opposing political parties have used different statistics to make their cases, although the consensus among independent experts is that Gujarat’s growth did accelerate under Modi.

Claiming that he cares little for democracy, Modi critics quote research showing Gujarat’s assembly has one of the lowest number of sittings among India’s state legislatures since 2005 and tends to rush through new laws.

Gujarat’s minister of parliamentary affairs, Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, said the assembly meets for as long as is needed. “There is no question of subverting democracy,” he said.

Modi himself says he is first and foremost a team player.

“I listen to everyone, that is the reason for my success,” he told the private Indian ETV channel. “Once we have consulted and taken a decision, then I make sure it is implemented. That has been my training in the RSS ... They used to teach us to forget all the gods.

Just think of Mother India.” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

Co-operate and invest to plug infrastructure gap

B

angladesh has agreed to allow India to transmit 6,000MW of power from Assam to Bihar via a new electricity network through Dinajpur.

The agreement includes providing Bangladesh with a rental wheeling charge for hosting around 100km of transmission lines on its soil and will give the country access to a further 500-1,000MW of power.

Directly imported electricity from India has cost advantages over more expensive power from quick rental plants, so fits in with short-term policy goals.

More significantly for the longer term, this type of grid interconnection can encourage the type of regional energy co-operation which is necessary to facilitate potential major cross-border hydropower projects, which would enable Bangladesh to import clean electricity from Bhutan and Nepal.

Such co-operation is vital in order to maximise the country’s ability to improve essential infrastructure. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh needs to invest $74bn in infrastructure by 2020 to bring its power grids, roads and water supplies up to global standards.

This level of investment amounts to 7.38% of the country’s GDP per year and is at least three to five times the levels which the country has managed in the last decade.

Bangladesh is not alone in the region in needing to invest at such levels to improve living standards and create a better economic climate. With lack of access to electricity being one of the biggest challenges for Saarc, cross-border co-operation on energy is an important way in which neighbouring countries should work together to plug their infrastructure gap.

Bangladesh needs to invest $74bn in infrastructure by 2020. Cross-border co-operation on energy can help

Use state land to develop industrial zones

B

usiness leaders meeting with ministers at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry have rightly called on the government to do more to set up special economic zones.

With growing demand both within the country and internationally, for the development of better infrastructure and communications links to support industrial zones, the government needs to do more to help the private sector create jobs and grow exports.

Making better use of state-owned land and resources, which are in many cases poorly or unprofitably utilised, by leasing or selling it to develop modern export processing and industrial zones, is one of the most effective ways available, by which the government can help the private sector to attract investment and grow the economy.

The government has a responsibility to ensure the public and private sectors work better together on long-term planning and can greatly help long-term development, by facilitating land to attract investment. The statement by the industries minister that the government will give more priority to developing land for industrial purposes and is looking to set up five new SEZs is a welcome one, but now needs to be followed up and implemented.

With competitor nations such as Cambodia, India and Myanmar undertaking considerable efforts to attract investment, Bangladesh must make better use of its resources and potential. The private sector has a proven track record in creating employment and generating growth so its leaders’ call for the government to facilitate industrial development should be heeded.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

Independence does not a citizen make

Disaster preparedness March 28

Disaster survivors in particular are in jeopardy, although the general public needs to have access to fundamental insurance consumer protection from the start. No matter how fair insurance companies imagine themselves to be, they have a separate interest, self-interest. The more they pay, the less they keep.

Disaster survivors need all the help they can get and consumer protection is the missing link. antonebraga

Flying the flag March 28

Mohammad Munshi The BCB has overturned the earlier idiotic decision and is allowing Bangladeshis to brandish the flags of other nations. If there is indeed a law on the matter of flag-waving then it would appear to contradict the constitutional provision on freedom of expression. Of course that is responding to the original bureaucratic officious decision with an equally bureaucratic officious answer.

The better we just repeal all these meaningless and offensive rules and laws and live by the simple principle that one can do whatever one wants but without harming another. The “harm to other” principle provides some basis on what should be laws and what should not be. It would probably also be less contentious than solely relying on a utilitarian principle.

People Why not also ban the Pakistani cricket team from playing in Bangladesh? Such a crazy law. I totally agree with Mr Munshi: The better we just repeal all these meaningless and offensive rules and laws and live by the simple principle that one can do whatever one wants but without harming another.

Sam Mr Sobhan’s courage and unshakeable fidelity to the principles of liberty are simply astonishing and unparalleled in our sycophantic culture. This man is of a caliber that would make his father and late mother proud. God bless him.

Ronnie Another customarily compelling piece by Mr Sobhan. Leaning quite a lot toward libertarianism myself, I’ve always stridently opposed the piling of petty, pesky regulations on the public by overly officious governments and other bodies of authority. It’s irksome and intolerable. I had earlier stated my own dismay at the sight of idiots waving Pakistani flags at our stadiums during cricket matches. This has gone on for years. I, too, don’t back an outright ban, by BCB decree.

Let the fans self-regulate their behaviour. On this

particular issue, Mr Sobhan is right; it’s indeed a fair trade-off. nds Ronnie: Self-regulated behavior in this society is a pipe dream. Had it been attained our life would have been heavenly. Unfortunately, our genetic inheritance of animal instinct continues to guide us in all spheres of life. We may give a trial of our level of self-regulating capacity by suspending all traffic rules and withdrawing all traffic police and traffic signal from this metro city for just a single day and see the result.

Osmania nds: I’m confused, which metro city are you talking about exactly? Dhaka’s drivers are dreadful whether there are traffic police about or not. Yet, the same people follow rules if they drive or ride in other countries.

Mr Sobhan’s article makes perfect sense to me. When people go to weddings and festivals, I see plenty of self-regulation. Simple things like courtesy, humour and queuing are more common than you suggest.

March 28

Ropu Very eloquently written. Totally agreed on the issue. Just wanted to add that as far as I know, shouldn’t the rights and responsibilities be defined and documented in the citizen’s charter? Or do we even have one?

Morshed Ropu Do we need a citizen’s charter when our rights (and to an extent our responsibilities) are so voluminously detailed in the Constitution? We don’t need more documents, we need better implementation – each individual at a time.

Minister Latif allegedly beatup PDB engineer March 30

What a lawless jungle the country has become.

DispassionateObserver

A regrettable debate about facts March 30

Hope this well-written editorial drops the curtain on the unwarranted drama!

WaliulHaqueKhondker

Quazi Zulquarnain Aye aye captain. Said with aplomb. Point made.

PR Rules are rules whether they are petty or themebased. A lot of things do not make logical sense in third world countries like Bangladesh. By denouncing all the unnecessary rules in your writing you are only making the bureaucrats angry.

People have accepted their destiny and this one-man crusade is not going to make a dent.

For your points to be noticed do you think the bureaucrats are willing to amend such rules or dismiss them?

Sam PR: Your point about bureaucrats is well-argued.

Beyond that, you just sound like an angry person who has to vent.

Be Heard Write to us at: Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email us at: letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com Visit our website: www.dhakatribune.com Come join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Help the private sector create jobs and grow exports

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Biblical character (5) 4 Result of addition (3) 6 Support (4) 8 Banishment (5) 9 Commotion (4) 11 Gratis (4) 12 Kind of wheat (5) 15 Annoying children (5) 18 Deep sleep (4) 20 Country (4) 21 Combine (5) 22 Floating structure (4) 23 Female sheep (3) 24 Cast out (5)

DOWN 1 Encounters (5) 2 Glisten (5) 3 Used up (5) 4 Goading device (4) 5 Meditate (4) 7 Tender (5) 10 Religious denomination (4) 13 Needy (4) 14 Climbing plant (5) 15 Cruel man (5) 16 Nimble (5) 17 Cloying (5) 18 Quote (4) 19 Female horse (4)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS Crossword

How to solve Sudoku: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

Sudoku

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Op-Ed L

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Saturday, April 5, 2014

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And the first Bangladeshi fund to sign UNPRI is ...

A

n Niaz Alam

pologies to any readers who dislike acronyms and business buzzwords. But the six UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), or PRI for short, simply consist of what they state on the label.

The initiative aims to help investors integrate the consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into their decision-making and ownership practices. The goal is that by addressing these issues across the businesses in which they invest, PRI members will improve the long-term value of their investments and encourage a sustainable financial system.

Although its membership includes specialist ethical investors, UNPRI is aimed at and includes all types of investment institutions among its members, from large asset owners such as pension funds, to banks, fund managers, research houses, and actuaries. Signatories include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and household names such as HSBC and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Annan in April 2006, have now been signed by over 1,200 organisations, who between them manage or own $34 trillion, or 15% of the world’s investable assets.

Presently, in the whole of South Asia, there are only three signatories (all in India). This is the same number as in China and Indonesia, meaning that Hong Kong (11) and Luxembourg (14) each have more UNPRI signatories than China, Indonesia, and Saarc put together. While the low sign up rate to UNPRI outside G8 and OECD nations, reflects the organisation’s evolution around the global financial centres of Europe and North America, there are three key reasons why a number of Bangladeshi banks and financial institutions, should already be signatories and active members.

Firstly, some local institutions are already following overlapping or related principles. Indeed, since 2008, via its directive on Mainstreaming Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and through its policies on green banking, the Bangladesh Bank has been officially encouraging banks and financial institutions to adopt or follow similar principles.

There is a huge amount of international interest in ethical and responsible business issues within Bangladesh

Members take as common ground the view that while the market economy has emerged as the most efficient system for allocating economic resources, it is increasingly material for companies and shareholders to address the environmental impacts, social inequalities, and other negative externalities which affect or interact with their business activities.

It asks investors to review and report on the ESG impacts of all the different assets and businesses in which they invest, and to work collaboratively as shareholders to encourage companies to improve their ESG performance and hence, long-term value.

There are sound reasons why UNPRI deserves more attention in Bangladesh. Not least, the principles which were formally launched by Kofi

As an aspirational and voluntary code, with relatively low mandatory fees, there is nothing to stop Bangladeshi financial institutions from signing up to PRI. In fact, its potential benefits in terms of gaining recognition and networking far outweigh the costs involved.

Secondly, Bangladesh can claim a part of one of Luxembourg’s 14 current signatories, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Microcredit Foundation. This not-for-profit organisation registered in Luxembourg, was set up in 2008 by an endowment of 50m euros donated by the French bank Crédit Agricole SA, which is invested to help the foundation encourage microfinance and social businesses around the world.

Thirdly, and most significantly, there is a huge amount of internation-

How socially responsible is your money? al interest in ethical and responsible business issues within Bangladesh.

While policymakers can’t fail to clearly appreciate this in relation to companies and brands directly involved in the RMG industry, it is less widely noticed that many large institutional investors are similarly interested in the country’s development.

After the Rana Plaza disaster for instance, the US-based Interfaith Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) issued its Bangladesh Investor Statement which by September 2013, had been signed by over 200 other organisations who between them have $3 trillion of assets under management.

The statement appealed to the brands and companies in which signatories invest to, among other steps, join the Accord on Fire and Building Safety stating that: “As investors, we also bear responsibility to enhance the power of the private sector to effect positive change by engaging companies to ensure that human rights remain at the core of their business models.”

An obvious conflict n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

I

t is heartening to see that the Awami League-led parliament on Tuesday formed all parliamentary standing committees and legislative watchdog bodies in the first session of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad. This is the second time the standing committees were constituted in the first sessions of the new parliaments. For the first time in history, all watchdog bodies were constituted in the AL-led 9th parliament in the first session.

This demonstrates the party’s conviction to advancing the parliamentary system, aimed at making the executive accountable to the people’s representatives through the legislative mechanism.

Out of the total 50 watchdog bodies, 39 standing committees on each of the ministries are tasked to review the activities of the respective ministries to make them accountable to the MPs. Standing committees have the authority to inquire into any alleged corruption or rules violation by any minister or ministry official, no matter how powerful or assertive they are.

Twelve former ministers of the immediate-past AL government formed through the 9th parliamentary polls had been made chairmen of the parliamentary standing committees.

This sounds like a good move from the AL leadership in order to make the parliamentary bodies vibrant under the leadership of the former ministers, as they know the government mechanism, including the bureaucracy.

Former Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has been elected chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry she headed just five months ago. That was also the case for former minister Hasan Mahmud, elected chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the environment ministry.

Former civil aviation minister Faruk Khan, ex-land minister Rezaul Karim Hira, former water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, former state minister for labour and employment Monnuzan Sufian, former state minister for primary and mass education Motahar Hossain, and former state minister for liberation war affairs AB Tajul Islam were elected chairmen of the watchdog bodies on the ministries they once headed.

In the 9th parliament, Sheikh Hasina made her previous cabinet colleague Tofail Ahmed, who was industries minister between 1996 and 2001, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the industries ministry.

Would the standing committee chairmen allow the members to discuss issues they find unpleasant?

Tofail Ahmed played a key role in making Industries Minister Dilip Barua and his officials accountable. He used to include in the meeting agenda the performance of the previous and immediate past governments, and give necessary policy directives to the ministry.

But making the ministers of the immediate past government the chairmen of the standing committees is almost sure to stand in way of the noble cause for which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made the decision.

Why is that so? Because the standing committees are supposed to discuss the activities of the immediate past government in which these standing committee chairmen were the ministers. According to the Rules of Procedure, the chairmen are the sole

Supporters of the Bangladesh Investor statement, who overlap with many of the UNPRI’s 1245 signatories, include large insurance companies and Swedish government pension funds, as well as the core ethical and religious investors which ICCR represents.

For the most part, it can be assumed the analysts who signed this statement are interested primarily in the reputation and supply chains of a few large western brands and retailers in which they hold shares. But to take a flight of fancy, what if it was an equal world, and as global investors these signatories invested assets according to population, so that over 2% of their assets (over $60 billion) were in Bangladesh?

Or 2% of the PRI’s $34 trillion ...

That’s plenty more reasons for Bangladeshi institutions to sit up and take notice, right? Bangladeshi businesses and financial institutions should be playing just as big a part in participating in developing and shaping international standards of good practice, as they do in trying to meet such standards.

Now, I’ve been around codes of ethics long enough to be ultra conscious that good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes. Or that a business might be responsible in, say, reducing its greenhouse emissions or improving labour conditions, without having a code of practice on its website, or being signed up to a multi-stakeholder initiative or pressured by its shareholders.

But being realistic is not the same as cynicism. If UNPRI members collectively can’t make a difference by working together on what are after all the key issues of our day, then who can? All the more reason, then, to join them.

The code of practice for opinionmongers states that one shouldn’t plug a race without tipping a winner. So, I’m going to point people trying to guess which will be the first Bangladeshi financial institution to sign UNPRI, towards reading the annual reports of BRAC Bank or one of the sharia-compliant institutions.

Brac Bank’s report for example sets as a mission for the organisation to operate under a “triple bottom line” agenda where profit and social responsibility shake hands as it strives towards a poverty-free, enlightened Bangladesh,’’ while the related Brac EPL Investments Ltd was a pioneer in first publishing a Sustainability Report, according to the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines in 2011.

But actually, that’s not the answer.

The ultimate answer is actually down to every reader with a bank account, insurance policy or investment fund.

As customers, it is up to us to write as consumers to ask our financial institutions to adopt and follow ethical and responsible investment principles.

It’s your money after all. You can influence it. And that includes suggesting that Bangladeshi financial institutions should sign up to UNPRI. l Niaz Alam has worked on ethical business issues since 1992 and is a former vice-chair of War on Want.

Don’t bash the messenger authorities to set the agenda of every meeting. Would the newly elected standing committee chairmen allow the members to discuss the issues they find unpleasant?

The most likely answer: No. For instance, would the chairman of the committee on water resources, Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, allow the committee members to discuss the alleged lapses of the ministry for the signing of the Teesta Treaty with India? Again, will Hasan Mahmud make the alleged misuse of climate change adaptation funds the agenda of the meeting of the standing committee? Of course, contradictions will surface in such cases.

The Rules of Procedure clearly oppose making the MPs chairmen or members of the committees on the ministries, having their financial involvements.

There is no rule to restrict ex-ministers of the immediate past government to head the parliamentary watchdog bodies on the ministries they just quit. The AL leadership should think carefully about this issue and reconstruct the committees referred to. It should also insert a section in the Rules of Procedure restricting the ministers of the immediate past to head the chairmen of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministries they just left.

The AL leadership deserves praise for its decision to make the immediate-past health minister AFM Ruhul Haque the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology. The former minister can play his due role to make the ministry accountable, as there is no contradiction or conflict of interest, with regards to the science and technology ministry. l Kamran Reza Chowdhury is a journalist at the Dhaka Tribune.

n MH Bari

Q

uorum crisis in the ninth parliament caused the country a waste of more than Tk104 crore, according to Transparency International Bangladesh – over 222 hours were wasted. In the eighth parliament during 2001-2006, when the BNP-led four-party alliance was in power, 227 hours were wasted. TIB, in its observation, said as there was no opposition party in a “real sense” in the 10th Jatiya Sangsad, there was no opportunity for holding the government accountable.

According to TIB, people’s participation in the lawmaking process in the ninth parliament was not ensured. The number of businessmen-turned-MPs was increasing. In the ninth parliament, it was 57%, compared to the 17.5% of the first parliament. On the other hand, the number of lawyerturned-MPs is decreasing. It was 14% during the last parliament. Although the budget session is the best opportunity for lawmakers to speak in the House, many MPs did not take part in the budget discussion during the last parliament.

On a positive note, TIB said the attendance of lawmakers in the ninth parliament rose to 63% from 55% in the previous one. The formation of all parliamentary committees in the first session is another positive side of the ninth Sangsad. But the culture of parliament boycotts and poor participation of female MPs in the lawmaking process are among its other negatives.

They suggested that the parliament could pass a law banning the boycott of the House. It also said the House can make rules against an MP being absent from more than 30 consecutive sittings.

It also demanded that the Sangsad sit at least 130 days in a year. The figure was 84 days on average in

the ninth parliament. Additionally, it recommended that every sitting continue for at least six hours, which was around three hours in the last parliament, including the 32 minutes wasted due to the quorum crisis.

This is a unique report to which the government can pay attention to. This time the TIB report has revealed that, among other things, performance of the 9th Parliament, in terms of participation of the opposition, lack of quorum, and time spent on the discussion and passage of a bill, putting them into monetary terms. The report has been critical of the performance of the opposition and the ruling party, simultaneously.

TIB has only stated the obvious and has indeed reflected the mind of the vast majority

We are astonished that the MPs and even the law minister started shooting down TIB for giving data which is open, and the source of which is the parliament secretariat itself. TIB simply made it public knowledge.

The ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance alleged that TIB and Shushashoner Janney Nagorik (Shujan) were trying to make the country unstable. Casting doubts on the motives of the two organisations, the government observed that they are echoing what Khaleda Zia and her party had said.

In his reaction, Law Minister Anisul Huq told reporters that the TIB report was “biased and unexpected,” whereas

the reports are based on facts and the data collected from the parliament secretariat.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said TIB and Shujan had been showing signs of their “existence,” and were trying to incite an unstable situation in the country. “TIB and Shujan want to bring unconstitutional forces to state power; which is why they are demanding a mid-term election.”

Nasim demanded that the government trace the sources of income and power for these organisations. Meanwhile, TIB claimed that it never received any funds or spent them without approval from the government.

Some senior lawmakers in the parliament also blasted TIB for its recent study. Taking part in an unscheduled discussion in the House, they also questioned whether TIB had any right to talk about parliament and the constitution.

Such condemnatory reaction from some of the members of the parliament on the recently published report does not surprise us at all. In fact, it has been the lot of the corruption watchdogs during every regime to abrade by the ruling party for publishing reports that did not meet their approval. The BNP did the same while it was in power and it is now the AL’s turn.

We wonder what rationale the AL has to have caused the quorum crisis in spite of having more than a twothirds majority.

Stating that the parliament is presently bereft of an opposition in the real sense, TIB has only stated the obvious and has indeed reflected the mind of the vast majority of the people of the country. It would be wise for the ruling echelon to absorb the underlying message of the report, instead of bashing the messenger. l MH Bari works in the global marketing of seafood from Bangladesh.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

I don’t want to be a hero only: Arifin Shuvoo

n Mahbub Hassan Joti

Arifin Shuvoo has already made a niche for himself in the action genre and the audience appreciates him in varied roles. The model turned actor has made his debut on silver screen three years back. But his performance in Agnee, one of the most successful films in the history of Dhallywood made his position strong enough to compete with any of the mega heroes of the industry.

Dhaka Tribune caught up with the talented actor who is now busy with his upcoming films titled Tarkanta and Kistimat.

Tell us about your roles in Kistimat and Tarkanta.

In Kistimaat, I have played the role of a police officer. But the character is not of a stereotypical “police officer” of Bangladeshi cinema. My female counterpart in the movie is the talented Achol. On the other hand, Tarkanta is a movie about humour, action, romance and drama. I am playing the role of a don. Here, I have paired up with Mim.

It took you a while to gain popularity among the audience of the silver screen. What is your point of view regarding this?

Like in nature, a hill takes its time to grow and form a strong foundation which cannot be demolished easily. I want to be like that hill which is not fragile. It is a fact that it took time to establish myself. But I want to create a solid ground in this filmdom.

Tell us about your experience of working with veteran actors?

I feel fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to work with many talented

and experienced actors. Every time, they worked as a tutorial guide in my acting skills. I am sure these learning prospect would work in my favour in the future.

dustry needs more young talents to satisfy the demand of the new generation.

Do you feel lucky to be in Dhallywood?

The role in Purno Doirgho Prem Kahini is close to my heart. In the future, I want to explore a wide range of characters.

Luck and effort both work hand in hand. Another factor is my strong will to succeed, without which I don’t believe I would have reached so far.

What is your X factor to sustain in this film industry?

I try to deal smartly with the industry people. Side by side, honesty plays a very important role. Whatever I am doing, my passion and commitment are required in every film.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Dhaka Theatre presents play Outsider

Among the characters you played so far, which one is close to your heart?

Do you want to be a mainstream actor?

I want to create an image of a superstar like Uttam Kumar, who was not only a hero, but also an excellent actor.

What more is waiting on the cards?

What drives you the most?

There is no easy path for anyone. However, there are people who inspire and welcome the new comers. Their encouragement drives me to develop myself each and every day.

I have signed for six more films. But you have to wait for a while to know the details. l

What is your opinion about the films of the current time?

n Entertainment Desk Noted theatre troupe Dhaka Theatre is going to stage a premiere show Outsider at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 7pm today.

The 39th production of the play Outsider has been directed by Nasiruddin Yousuf Bacchu and modified

by Rubayet Ahmed, which has been produced from the famous novel The

Stranger subtitled in French L’Étranger by Albert Camus.

The plot of the story is on a French Algerian Meursault who received the news of his mother’s demise on a telegram. And in an incident, he kills an Arab and the story takes a turn to crime and punishment.

Camus explored the nakedness of a man faced with absurdness in his trial.

The play focuses on humanity, justice, love and politics.

The play is a tribute on the occasion of the playwright’s birthday, who died in a tragic road accident at the age of only 46. Camus was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

Dhaka Theatre emphasises classical plays which has gained a remarkable position in the international cultural arena and it also represents the culture and art of Bangladesh featuring music and dance, reflecting the traditional forms with modern ideas. l

Bangladeshi and Indian artists come together at No Man’s Land

The era is about technological advancement.

If there is a lacking somewhere, advancement in technology will help to resolve it. But, the films have good scripts and stories. The in-

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Tareque Masud Cultural Centre commenced its journey through the premiere of the play titled Ashchorjo Sundor Ei Beche Thaka, directed by Rubayet Ahmed, on April 3 at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. The play is developed with an anti-suicide theme adapted from American journalist Louise Bryant’s belief. Tareque Masud Cultural Centre is a cultural organisation in the memory of late filmmaker Tareque Masud SADIA MARIUM

Baby Spider-Man dances for Evian

n Entertainment Desk Evian has followed up its wildly successful Baby & Me online campaign with one that stars Spider-Man and a miniature version of himself mimicking his every move in the streets of New York City.

The French water brand generated more than 75 million views with its first Roller Babies video in 2009, and scored with a sequel, Baby Inside, in 2011.

But it was last year’s Baby & Me video

that took off, with over 135 million people watching the short that had people dancing with baby versions of themselves in 2013, making it last year’s most watched ad on YouTube (see below).

Evian is a promotional partner on The Amazing Spider-Man, which Sony releases in theaters around the world on April 16, and in the US on May 2.

Agency BETC Paris produced the baby Spidey video that was directed by Tomas Skoging. l

With research and process based art workshop using various mediums, Bangladeshi and Indian artists come together through a historical occasion at the space of no man’s land, S Pillar No: 1242/3.S on March 27, 2014. The art project titled No Man’s Land was organised by Britto Arts Trust, Bangladesh and Shelter Promotion Council, India from March 21 to 27 is based on installation, performance, sound, photography, video and film.

The participating artists from both Bangladesh and India met with each other without any passport in cooperation with the BGB and the BSF. The S pillar is located at the borderlines of Dhonitila of Monipur Para in Sunamgonj, Bangladesh and Kalibari village in Cherapunji, India.

The workshop of the Bangladesh part started on March 21 near the border with the participating artists. Then with the outcome, Britto Arts Trust demonstrated a public exhibition at the no man’s land.

Numerous visitors from the nearby locality were the prime spectators of the array. Border based arts and few works based on the surrounding of the location were installed in the exhibition. Although the Indian artists were not able to present at the public

exhibition on the no man’s land, they finally met at a nearby location popularly known as zero point, on March 27. Mostly border based art installations and performances were focused in the exhibition at the zero point. A number of community based projects were made by both parts as well and few artworks were exchanged between the correspondents of the two neighbouring countries. A documentary is made on the complication of the assembly and the diverse aspects of the art exhibition.

Mahbubur Rahman, the founding

Na Bola Kothati airs today n Entertainment Desk

Apurba and Nawshin will be seen as ex-lovers reminiscing old times in the single-episode play Na Bola Kothati to be aired on NTV tonight at 9pm.

After five long years of their break-up, Apurba and Nawshin meet one day. Apurba, who is now settled in Chittagong comes to Dhaka only to see Nawshin who is married. But Apurba is still single and is least bothered about getting married at this point in life.

After meeting up, Apurba starts talking about their golden time together and takes a walk down the memory lane. But Nawshin shows reluctance at the beginning. However, later they both talk about why their relationship did not work out.

And finally, they reveal the main reason behind their break-up and they find that it was actually a misunderstanding. l

member of Britto Arts Trust shared the challenges of the event with the Dhaka Tribune: “To exhibit arts at the border is a sensitive issue. Firstly, we applied to the home ministry to gain permission for performing there and we didn’t get any written permission from them. Then BGB officials give us opportunity to perform as they were convinced that it was going to be a peaceful demonstration.”

The organisers are planning to showcase the artworks publicly in Bangladesh and in a tour in India in the near future. l

New single of Nemesis makes wave

n Shadma Malik Popular band Nemesis has released their single track Ghuri under the label of Qinetic Music on March 26. The song was first played at the Rock Nation concert last year. About the song, lyricist Zohad told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ghuri is a metaphorical song. We see kite flying high in the sky. But, there is a string which controls the kite. Ghuri signifies the freedom of an individual’s ideology. To respect someone’s perception is the message of the song. However, the string of the kite depicts the social structure. The song has criticised the social values and customs which restrain the freedom of mind.”

“We are planning to produce a music video of Ghuri after one or two months,” the lyricist adds. Zohad expresses his gratitude to the fans for showing their love by downloading the song which is now available at qineticmusic.com and iTunes. l

Did you know?

AB de Villiers yesterday has become the 16th player to score 1,000 T20I runs

Sport

Saturday, April 5, 2014

14 Creaking Chelsea

look to halt slide

15 KP in for Lord’s

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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15 Inspired Siddikur

bicentenary, CPL

looks forward

Barbados Tridents retain Shakib SCORECARD

Bangladesh’s star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been retained by Barbados Tridents for the 2014 season of the Caribbean Premier League. The talented southpaw was roped in from the players’ draft being slated on Thursday in Jamaica. Shakib was chosen by Barbados in the second round of the players’ draft for US$70,000.

However, opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, the other Bangladesh cricketer to take part in the players’ draft failed to get a call from any of the franchises.

The left-handed hard hitting batsman played for the St Lucia Zouks in the last edition of the tournament.

South Africa Q. de Kock c Dhoni b Kumar 6 Hashim Amla b Ashwin 22 F. du Plessis b Ashwin 58 JP Duminy not out 45 AB de Villiers c R. Sharma b Ashwin 10 D. Miller not out 23 Extras: (b1, lb3, w3, nb1) 8 Total (for four wickets, 20 overs) 172 Fall of wickets 1-9 (de Kock), 2-44 (Amla), 3-115 (du Plessis), 4-129 (de Villiers).

Bowling Kumar 4-0-33-1 (w1), M. Sharma 3-034-0, Ashwin 4-0-22-3 (w1), Jadeja 2-0-8-0, Raina 4-0-35-0 (w1), Mishra 3-0-36-0 (nb1) India R. Sharma c du Plessis b Hendricks 24 A. Rahane c de Villiers b Parnell 32 V. Kohli not out 72 Y. Singh c de Villiers b Tahir 18 S. Raina c du Plessis b Hendricks 21 M. Dhoni not out 0 Extras: (w9) 9 Total (for four wickets, 19.1 overs) 176 Fall of wickets 1-39 (R. Sharma), 2-77 (Rahane), 3-133 (Singh), 4-167 (Raina).

Bowling Duminy 3-0-29-0 (w1), A. Morkel 2-017-0, Steyn 3.1-0-36-0 (w2), Hendricks 4-0-31-2 (w3), Parnell 3-0-33-1 (w2), Tahir 4-0-30-1 (w1).

India won by six wickets

Sri Lanka offers $1m bonus to win World T20 The Sri Lankan team will be handed a million dollar bonus if they can shake off their reputation as chokers in the final of the World Twenty20 this weekend, the country’s cricket board announced Friday.

The day after the players won a rainaffected semi-final against the West Indies, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said it would treble the money it had previously promised if they return home from Bangladesh with the trophy.

“The Executive Committee of SLC which met at an emergency meeting this morning decided to offer $ 1.5 million (including the original fee of $500,000) to the national team players in the event that they win the final,” the board said in a statement.

Sri Lanka – who will meet either South Africa or India in Sunday’s final in Dhaka – were the beaten finalists last time round when they lost to the West Indies even though they were the tournament hosts. l

Tamim Iqbal, the other Bangladesh cricketer to take part in the players’ draft failed to get a call from any of the franchises

South African captain Fap du Plessis plays drives the ball through the covers in his 58 run innings against India at the SBNS yesterday

‘It was a gift from Dhoni’ Shrubsole hails English WOMEN’S WORLD T20

Letting Virat Kohli score the winning runs in the World Twenty20 semifinal against South Africa was Indian captain MS Dhoni’s gift to the 25-year-old. Dhoni declined a single off the last ball off the 19th over which could have sealed India’s win chasing 173, rather the wicketkeeperbatsman let Kohli score the runs in the next over with a boundary.

“He (Dhoni) gave me the chance. I told him to finish the game but he told me that he could not give me anything else from the game. As because I had batted well this was his gift to me. I accepted the gift and why not it is always special to hit the winning runs and I am thankful to him,” said man of the match Kohli at the post match conference yesterday.

“I can call this the best innings seeing the importance of the game but I think I have played better innings than this in Twenty20 where I got five to six boundaries right after I went in to bat.

Today it was difficult. I had to work to build the innings,” he said.

Kohli’s unbeaten 72 off 44 might have looked effortless to those sitting in the stands or in front of the television set, but the man himself informed of being under pressure.

“Happy to play a knock like today’s for the team in the semifinal. I was in form and wanted to stay in the middle till the end as it will make the chase easy for us. The innings was not east to play and it is not right that there was no pressure. There was pressure on me when I was batting but it was important not to show that to the opponent. They are world class bowling attack so even the slightest mistake and a little space will allow them to change the game. I tried to keep myself calm,” said Kohli.

The most impressive feature of his inning was he was not dependent on runs from the boundaries, as often he is, and he pushed the fielders to their limits – sometimes for an easy single while other times stealing one.

“Singles are also as important as

England Women power past South Africa to set Aussie date A collaborative effort helped England women’s team cruise to the final of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 by defeating South Africa women’s side by nine wickets in the second semifinal at Shere-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

This is the second consecutive time the English women, champion of the maiden Women’s World Twenty20 held in 2009, have made it to the final of the tournament. Even more coincidental is the fact that this will be the second successive they will face Australia in the final of a World T20.

England and Australia faced each other in the title decider in the last edition of the tournament held in Sri Lanka in 2012. Australia bagged the championship on that occasion for the second time in a row by defeating England by four runs in Colombo.

England had things going their way right from the beginning in this crucial fixture against South Africa. They

MUMIT M

Shakib played eight games for Barbados Tridents last season. He was poor with the bat scoring only 22 runs in the whole tournament but contributed handsomely with the ball by picking up 13 wickets for only 134 runs. This, of course, includes the incredible figures of 6-6 in four overs in the game against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel.

The players’ draft this season includes 32 Australian, 26 Pakistani, 23 South African, 11 Sri Lankan and 13 New Zealand cricketers. The six franchises are allowed to have a maximum of 19 players each. The tournament is set to begin on July 5. l

won the toss and knew exactly what needed to be done after sending their opponents to bat first. English opening bowler, Anya Shrubsole justified her captain’s decision by dismissing two South African batters in her first two overs. Shrubsole’s first victim was opener Lizelle Lee in the third ball of

BRIEF SCORE South Africa Women 101 all out in 19.5 overs (C Tyron 40, M du Preez 23; Shrubsole 2-12, Grundy 2-22) England Women 102/1 in 16.5 overs ( S Taylor 44*, C Edwards 36; S Luus 1-15) England Women won by 9 wickets her first over while the second was Trisha Shetty in the second over to leave England struggling at 7 for 2. Seven balls later South Africa lost their third wicket, Yolandi this time to Becky Grundy.

These early dismissals mounted pressure on the South African batters which resulted in a drop in the run rate. Running between the wickets was

never on song with five run-outs. The most horrible dismissal was the way Sune Luus got out. Luus pushed the ball over extra-cover in the last ball of the 16th over but only to collide while she and her partner Chloe Tryon tried to take a second run which resulted in a bizarre run out. South Africa lost their last wicket with a ball to spare after posting 101 runs on the board. Tryon’s 31-ball 40 was the savior for the South Africans. She slammed three fours and two sixes during her innings. Shrubsole and Grundy picked up two wickets each for England.

England, riding on the opening partnership of 67 runs between Sarah Taylor and Charlotte Edwards, chased down the target comfortably with 19 balls to spare. The partnership was finally broken in the first ball of the 12th over by right-arm spinner Luus who took a return catch from Edwards. Edwards scored 36 off 40 with five boundaries. Later, Taylor and Heather Knight cruised to the target with an unbeaten 35 runs stand for the second wicket.

Taylor was unbeaten on 44 while Knight was unbeaten on 21. l

a six. That’s something I always believed. As I said I was 20 not out off 17 balls I think without hitting a boundary. If you can do that your opposition knows that two boundaries will take your strike rate up to 150. It’s very important to keep rotating the strike.

“In rush of blood you always look for boundaries but as long as you are rotating the strike and not losing wickets, the opposition captain will have to think a lot for that. I think it is important to know that importance of singles and doubles in Twenty20 as well,” said Kohli.

On the other hand, South Africa skipper Faf du Plesis said they were an indiscipline side on the day which eventually cost them. The basics went wrong and against a team like India it would always be cost, he said.

“If you are looking to win a World Cup you have to do the small things and the basics well. Nine extra balls, it’s not just the extra runs you give away but you also have to consider the runs they scored off those nine balls,” said du Plessis. l

teamwork

Anya Shrubsole’s magical form in the Women’s World Twenty20 continued to rotate on as it was her two beautiful inswingers that set up the foundation of England’s comfortable nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the second semifinal yesterday.

With two wickets that cracked South Africa’s top-order, the England medium pacer made sure she had taken more than one wicket in each game of the meet that kept her at the top of most wicket-takers list with 12. “The conditions have been quite good. The ball swung; probably to do with the humidity. But I think keeping it simple is what I have tried to do. Getting enough balls in the right areas and at the moment it’s working for me,” said Shrubsole after the game where she was adjudged the best player.

The 22-year-old also hailed the fielding of the side and its importance as well that saw them picking up five runouts yesterday. “Our fielding is something on what we work really hard.

Today it really showed and I think we were excellent in the field and I think it has contributed in us keeping them down to a total that we could chase down,” said Shrubsole who is also known to her teammates as “Hoof”.

Meanwhile for South Africa, it was their first semifinal of World T20 and despite their huge defeat against England, captain Mignon du Preez was proud of her side, calling the achievement as being of a “stepping stone” for country’s women’s cricket.

“Coming into this we were definitely underdogs. I think we have done exceptionally well over the past few weeks, we have shown a lot of character and grown as a team,” she said. “So I am very proud of what we have done and I do think that this is like a stepping stone for women’s cricket in South Africa,” “It’s nice to give something back to all the people who have been behind us all the way, whether we were winning or losing. I think this is going to open up doors and be the start of great things for women’s cricket in South Africa,” she added. l

England openers Sarah Taylor and Charlotte Edwards changes their ends in their 67 run opening partnership against South Africa at the SBNS yesterday MUMIT M

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Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Benteke to miss WC with injury

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Thunder halt streaking Spurs

Belgium’s Christian Benteke will miss the World Cup after Aston Villa confirmed their star striker has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. Benteke sustained the injury in training on Thursday and is expected to be sidelined for at least six months following imminent surgery. Villa manager Paul Lambert had been uncertain of the full extent of the problem when he attended his weekly press conference on Thursday. But a scan revealed the severity of the damage and the likely length of Benteke’s rehabilitation.

–AFP

Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder denied San Antonio a 20th straight NBA victory on Thursday, beating the Spurs 106-94 in a battle of Western Conference powers. The Spurs arrived in Oklahoma City with a chance to extend their club-record winning streak and strengthen their grasp on the top seed in the West. But Durant kept a run of his own alive as he scored 28 points with seven rebounds to lift the Thunder. Durant has now scored 25 or more points in 39 successive games.

–AFP

Button reaches 250 GP landmark Jenson Button will become only the fifth driver in history to rack up 250 grands prix on Sunday, but the 2009 world champion insists he is still learning his trade. The 34-year-old Briton follows Rubens Barrichello (326 races), Michael Schumacher (308), Riccardo Patrese (257) and Jarno Trulli (256) into Formula One’s long service club with no sign of his powers declining with age. After two races of the 2014 season, where he has finished third in Australia and sixth in Malaysia, Button says the secret to his longevity is to watch, listen and learn. –AFP

Juventus grab Europa League advantage Serie A champions-elect Juventus remained on course for the Europa League title with a 1-0 win at Lyon in a forgettable quarter-final first leg on Thursday.

After losing their 14-match unbeaten run in a 2-0 loss at Napoli at the weekend, Juve continued to labour in France.

They were heading for a scoreless stalemate until Leonardo Bonucci broke the deadlock five minutes from time.

Andrea Pirlo’s corner fell to Paul Pogba whose powerful close-range drive was blocked but Bonucci was on hand to blast the ball home past Anthony Lopes in the Lyon goal.

Moments earlier, an unmarked Mirko Vucinic had managed to fire over the crossbar from just six yards out in a crude snapshot of the lack of quality involved.

Lyon struggled to carve out a meaningful chance while Juventus’s Argentine star Carlos Tevez had headed wide in the first half.

Portuguese giants Benfica and Porto both came out of their first legs with 1-0 wins. Last season’s runners-up Benfica, who put out Tottenham in the last-16, won at Alkmaar in the Netherlands thanks to a 48th-minute goal from Eduardo Salvio.

He was first to a rebound after Alkmaar’s Costa Rican goalkeeper Esteban had saved from Oscar Cardozo.

Porto, the 2011 champions, edged

Sevilla 1-0 with stand-in captain Eliaquim Mangala scoring on the half-hour.

Steven Defour and Ricardo Quaresma both saw efforts come off the post for Porto but they ended the game with 10men after Fernando was red-carded.

Argentine playmaker Matias Delgado scored twice in the space of four first-half minutes to help Basel on the way to a 3-0 win over Valencia.

However, there were few on hand to witness the action after Basel, who were

RESULTS

FC Porto

Mangala 31

AZ Alkmaar Lyon FC Basel

1 0 0 1 0 1 3 0

Sevilla Benfica Salvio 48

Juventus Bonucci 85

Valencia

Delgado 34, 38, Stocker 90+1 2nd legs: April 10

semi-finalists last season, were ordered to play behind closed doors following fan violence in the last-16 tie at Salzburg.

The 31-year-old Delgado opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a calm finish into the corner after being afforded too much space on the edge of the area.

He added a second in the 38th minute with Valentin Stocker creating the opportunity. Stocker grabbed the third in injury time at the end of the match when he cut across Juan Bernat and lifted the ball over Vicente Guaita in the Valencia goal. l

Porto forward Jackson Martinez (L) kicks the ball next to Sevilla defender Fernando Navarro during the Uefa Europa League quarter-finals first leg match at the Dragao Stadium in Porto on Thursday AFP

expecting surprises Creaking Chelsea look to halt slide Alonso in La Liga title race After a damaging loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Chelsea will seek to resurrect their creaking title challenge in the Premier League against Stoke City on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho’s side went down 3-1 at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their quarter-final on Wednesday and they have also conceded the initiative in the Premier League after two defeats in their last three games.

Last weekend’s shock 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace saw them knocked off the league summit by Liverpool, who they now trail by two points, while third-place Manchester City are two points behind with two games in hand.

Mourinho declared Chelsea’s title challenge over after their defeat at Selhurst Park, but with Liverpool not in

action until Sunday, victory over Stoke would at least take the London club back to the top of the table.

Stoke, however, are in excellent form, having taken 13 points from a possible 15 to climb to 10th place, and manager Mark Hughes has challenged his players to maintain their momentum until the end of the campaign.

“Now we have put ourselves in a really strong position to achieve what we set out to do at the start of the year,” the Welshman said on Thursday.

“It is about making sure we capitalise on the position we have put ourselves in for these last six games.”

While top spot remains within reach for Chelsea, the closeness of the title race means that they could kick off against Stoke in third place if City win at home to Southampton earlier on Saturday.

Last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal brought a run of four straight victories to an end for Pellegrini’s side, but they

remain favourites for the title ahead of next weekend’s showdown at Liverpool.

City could have top scorer Sergio Aguero back from a hamstring injury for the game at the Etihad Stadium, but Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino says that his side will not be cowed.

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“We always have the belief that we are going to win,” said the Argentine, who has not lost against the 2012 champions in two previous encounters.

“We know we are going to be facing

a very tough side in Manchester City, a side that is definitely a candidate to win in the Premier League and are one of the best teams in England and Europe.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Manchester United travel to Newcastle United buoyed by a vastly improved performance in their 1-1 draw at home to defending champions Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Bayern remain the favourites to reach the semi-finals ahead of next week’s return leg in Munich, but manager David Moyes has urged his players to build on their performance against Pep Guardiola’s side.

“We are hoping we will continue,” said the Scot, whose team go into the weekend 10 points below the top four.

“We have shown some good form at times and some inconsistent form.

There have been some good signs in games and hopefully we will see that in the next game at Newcastle.” l

Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso believes his side still have every chance of claiming the La Liga title this year despite falling into third place with just seven games remaining.

Los Blancos’ city rivals Atletico Madrid lead the way on 76 points, one ahead of Barcelona in second with Real a further two points behind the Catalans.

Things are further complicated for Carlo Ancelotti’s men because they have an inferior head-to-head record against both Atletico and Barca meaning they can’t afford to even finish level on points with either of their title rivals.

Two defeats in consecutive games to Barcelona and Sevilla last month

Bayern aim to return to winning ways Brazil defender Dante has targeted three Bundesliga points at Augsburg on Saturday to get Bayern Munich back to winning ways ahead of next week’s Champions League clash with Manchester United.

Bayern have drawn their last two matches - an unusual state of affairs for the Bavarian giants this season. Having won the title with a record seven games to spare following their 3-1 win at Hertha Berlin ten days ago, Dante admits

Sunderland fined over Ji mistake

A fan embraces Brazil's Atletico de Mineiro Ronaldinho (R) during the Libertadores Cup match against Colombian Santa Fe at the El Campin stadium in Bogota on Thursday AFP

Sunderland have been fined by the Premier League after South Korea’s Ji Dong-Won was selected for four matches even though he was an ineligible player, according to British media reports on Thursday.

Ji, 22, played for Sunderland against Fulham, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Manchester United this season before the Black Cats realised they had made a mistake, the BBC and Daily Mail both reported. The reports says the Premier League were informed of the administrative error in December and Sunderland paid what is believed to be a substantial fine earlier this year. l

Bayern have suffered a slight dip.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund host VfL Wolfsburg needing a confidence-boosting win ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final

FIXTURES VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen v Nuremberg v Augsburg v Frankfurt v Dortmund v

Freiburg Schalke 04 M'gladbach Bayern Munich Mainz 05 VfL Wolfsburg

second leg clash against Real Madrid having lost 3-0 in Spain in the first-leg.

Dortmund will welcome back Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, who was suspended for the first leg in Madrid.

Sami Hyypia’s Leverkusen are at relegation-threatened Hamburg on Friday with the hosts second from bottom and with just six games left to avoid an historic first relegation from Germany’s top flight.

Third-placed Schalke 04 head to Werder Bremen looking to close the two-point gap behind Dortmund. l

Uruguay will play World Cup despite crisis: Blatter Uruguay will play at the World Cup despite its crisis-hit national football federation having been kicked out of the South American confederation (Conmebol), FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted on Thursday.

The entire board of the Uruguayan football federation (UAF) resigned en masse on Monday following the decision by the country’s president Jose Mujica to withdraw police cover from matches in the face of escalating stadium violence.

“Do you think Uruguay will be sanctioned? No, Uruguay is going to play in

the World Cup and will remain in their group,” said Blatter.

Uruguay, semi-finalists at the 2010 World Cup, are in Group D at this year’s tournament in Brazil where they will meet Italy, England and Costa Rica.

Mujica ordered police to withdraw their presence from the Centenario stadium and the Parque Central, where the country’s two biggest clubs, Penarol and Nacional, play their home games in Montevideo. The moved came after incidents marred Nacional’s meeting with Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s leading club competition. l

have cost Real dearly, but they have bounced back with two comprehensive wins over Rayo Vallecano and Borussia Dortmund and Alonso is hoping there will be more surprises to come in the final few weeks of the season.

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Villarreal Real Betis Real Madrid Celta Vigo

“The teams that beat us were in great form, we didn’t play well in two games and we committed errors that we paid very heavily for,” he told the club’s website.

“In the league we have lost the advantage that we had, but we need to keep fighting because there could be surprises. l

PSG look for Cavani in Ibra absence Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain will hope that record signing Edinson Cavani can fill the void left by the absence of injured top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic as they prepare to host Reims on Saturday.

The meeting with the club from the Champagne country comes in between the two legs of the Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea, with Laurent Blanc’s side leading 3-1 ahead

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Reims Sochaux Rennes Montpellier Evian Lille

of Tuesday’s return at Stamford Bridge.

One man who will definitely miss the game is Ibrahimovic, who is set for a spell on the sidelines after coming off in the second half against Chelsea with an injury to the back of his right thigh.

However, one man who stands to benefit from Ibrahimovic’s misfortune is Cavani. He has scored 21 goals altogether in his debut season in France, but he has only three in an injury-hit 2014 and earlier this week he admitted his displeasure at having to play on the wing in a 4-3-3 formation. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Inspired Siddikur looks forward

QUICK BYTES

PM Pilot and Al Hikmah School reach semis Zinjira PM Pilot High School and Al Hikmah School of Rajshahi moved into the semifinals of the First Security Islami Bank National School Hockey winning their respective quarterfinals at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

In the first quarterfinal PM Pilot High School beat Jubilee School, Potuakhali by 1-0 goal with Aktar Hossain scoring the winner. Al Hikmah pulled out an upset beating Armanitola High School, Dhaka by 4-0 goals. Ismail, Abid Shahriar, Sadekul and Ahsan Habib Ridoy scored one goal each for Al Hikmah.

Jessore Municipal High School and Khanjanpur School, Joypurhat will face off in the first semifinal today.

–RM

Shahid Anwar Girls win seven gold Bir Uttam Lt Shahid Anwar Girls School and College won seven gold medals in the opening day of the National School and College Taekwondo in the Sultana Kamal Women’s Sports Complex yesterday. Muslim Modern Academy won four gold medals to be positioned second in the medal table while Shahid Ramizuddin Cantonment School was placed third with three gold medals.

A total four hundred participants of 12 schools across the capital are participating in the two day meet. Brig Gen ASM Musfiqur Rahman, the director (education) of Bangladesh Army inaugurated the meet as the chief guest.

Mahmudul Islam Rana, the general secretary of Bangladesh Taekwondo Federation was also present on the occasion.

–RM

Ferguson to teach at Harvard Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is to take up a teaching post at Harvard, the prestigious US university said Friday. Ferguson, 72, whose coruscating “hairdryer” rants at players were infamous in the football world, will lecture senior executives at the Ivy League university’s business school.

The gruff Scot, the most successful manager in British football history, will teach on a programme called “The Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports” from May 7-10. “I’m delighted to have the opportunity and privilege to contribute to such a respected centre of excellence,” said Ferguson.

He said that a previous lecture he gave on his management style at Harvard Business School had been a “stimulating experience” and he looked forward to more. Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse, who wrote a case study on Ferguson’s management skills, said they wanted to “share his remarkable leadership journey”.

–AFP

BOA secretary general Syed Shahed Reza hands over a crest to honour Bangladesh golf legend Siddikur Rahman at the KGC yesterday

Star Sports 1 La Liga 8:00PM Atletico Madrid v Villarreal 10:00PM Barcelona v Real Betis 12:00AM Real Sociedad v Real Madrid 2:00AM Rayo v Celta Vigo Star Sports 4 9:00PM Bahrain GP Qualifying 12:45AM Italian Serie A Inter Milan v Bologna Ten Action 12:00AM French Ligue 1 2013/14 Toulouse FC v Lille Sony Six NBA 2013-14 5:30AM Miami v Minnesota 8:00AM Portland v Phoenix 2:30PM Yonex Sunrise India Open 2014 Semi Finals 09:45PM WBA World Light HWC Braehmer v Maccarinelli 3:40AM Major League Soccer 2014 Columbus Crew v Toronto FC

From Brunei Open triumph in 2010 to Hero Indian Open last year, Siddikur Rahman extended his supremacy to EurAsia this year. Being among the top 10 golfers in Asia, the Bangladesh golfing ace not only made his country proud by playing a major role in his side’s achievement of becoming joint champion, but also carved his name among Asia’s apex golfers.

As always, Siddikur was honoured with a reception yesterday arranged by Bangladesh Golf Federation, Kurmitola Golf Club and his sponsor Grameenphone after he returned from Malaysia taking part in the EurAsia Cup Golf tournament that was held from March 27 to March 29.

The 29-year-old golfer said the

achievement made a place for him in Asia and it will inspire him more in future.

“Thai golfers have made a place of their own in Asia so did the Indian golfers. This time I also occupied a place for my own among them after playing EurAsia,” said Siddkiur. “I am sure they will now give me more value in any tournaments and I think it will inspire me more.”

Siddikur was part of the Asian team that drew with the powerful European squad. His skill helped Team Asia secure the draw despite trailing by 5-0.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Olympics Association (BOA) and former Ambassador Syed Shahed Reza was the chief guest at the reception. Senior vicepresident of Bangladesh Golf Federation Major General Mizanur Rahman Khan was also present at the programme held at Kurmitola Golf Club. l

Suares stuns Jamal on debut KP in for Lord’s Abahani Ltd pulled the high-flying Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd down to earth with a 2-1 victory in the 4th quarterfinal of the Modhumoti Club Independence Cup Football at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Leonildo Suares, the new Portuguese forward for the men in traditional sky-blue outfit made a memorable debut by scoring both the goals for Abahani which ended Jamal’s 10 month winning run.

Jamal last tasted defeat against Mohammedan in a Super Cup encounter on 16th June 2013 and the score in that match was 1-0. Since then Sheikh Jamal has won the Federation Cup unbeaten and continued their unbeaten streak in the first phase of the Bangladesh Premier League also.

This unbeaten run, however, doesn’t include The IFA Shield. Yesterday’s win

by Abahani now ensures a high-voltage semifinal clash against their arch-rival

Dhaka Mohammedan.

The new recruit, Suares, was involved in almost all the attacks Abahani initiated throughout the match.

His positional sense and cool headed approach were well appreciated by the few hundred Abahani supporters present in the stadium.

Sheikh Jamal, on the other hand, maybe was a little bit complacent and seemed slow in their approach. Their star forward Sony Norde was seen trying his best after Jamal conceded the second goal.

However, his attacking partners Wedson Ansleme and Emeka Darlington were not up to their mark and the exit of skipper Mamunul Islam in the second half with a strain left them demotivated perhaps.

Abahani could have taken the lead in the very first minute after Jamal goalie Ziaur Rahman lost the grip of an easy shot by Abahani’s Portuguese forward Leonildo Suares but Osie Morrison failed to score from the rebound.

He hit the side post from a very close range. In the 22nd minute Suares cut a

square pass to Shahedul Alam Shahed but the Abahani midfielder‘s effort was too tame to bother Zia. Sheikh Jamal took the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute when substitute midfielder Sohel Rana sent a neat through pass to the Haitian forward Wedson who chipped the ball into the net.

Abahani equalized in the 57th minute in controversial fashion as Suares converted from a spot kick. However, the cause of the penalty remained dubious as Jamal players protested against referee’s decision. It appeared that Awudu Ibrahim’s header on a cross from Suares actually hit the shoulder of Jamal’s defender Raihan Hasan, not his hand.

Suares put Abahani ahead for the first time in the match in the 67th minute when he went past his marker and shot the ball into the far post from the middle of the box after Osie Morrison sent him a through pass.

The rest of match saw Jamal trying hard to score an equalizer but Abahani held on to win and book a place in the semis. l

bicentenary, CPL

Former England star Kevin Pietersen was on Friday confirmed for the Lord’s bicentenary celebration match between the MCC and the Rest of the World at the famous London ground on July 5.

The announcement comes after he was drafted by the St Lucia Zouks to take part in this year’s Caribbean Premier League, and the 33-year-old will turn out for the Rest of the World XI

alongside captain Shane Warne and Sri Lanka spin star Muttiah Muralitharan.

Australian fast bowler Brett Lee will play for the MCC, who will be led by India legend Sachin Tendulkar and will also call upon Rahul Dravid and Paul Collingwood.

Pietersen said: “I was very pleased to be asked to be involved in this game and the chance to share the Lord’s pitch with some of the best players in the world is one I was delighted to accept.

“Playing at Lord’s is always very special and I’m looking forward to celebrating the 200th anniversary of what is a fantastic ground.”

Pietersen, who scored 1,520 runs in 26 international matches at Lord’s, was sensationally axed by England in the aftermath of their 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia.

But England’s record run scorer will play county cricket for Surrey this season and has already agreed to captain the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League. l

Hope for Schumacher as he has ‘moments of consciousness’

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports HD1 English Premier League 5:30PM Man City v Southampton 8:00PM Newcastle v Man United 10:30PM Chelsea v Stoke City

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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Switzerland's Wawrinka reacts after missing a point during his match against Kazakhstan's Golubev at the tennis Davis Cup World Group quarter-final match in Genevan yesterday AFP

Wawrinka stunned in Davis Cup, Czechs on course for semis Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka suffered a shock defeat to unheralded Kazakh Andrey Golubev in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Friday.

The world number three was stunned 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) by 64th ranked Golubev as Kazakhstan took an early 1-0 lead over the Swiss in Geneva.

The result, achieved in just under three and a quarter hours, revived bad memories for Wawrinka who lost both his matches – a singles and a doubles rubber – in a 5-0 whitewash victory for Kazakhstan over Switzerland in Astana in 2010.

It means the pressure is squarely on 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, the world number four, ahead of his opening rubber against Kukushkin.

The pair have met once before, in the first round of Wimbledon in 2011 when Federer won in straight sets.

Title-holders Czech Republic took a 2-0 lead over Japan in Tokyo.

Despite missing world number five Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol claimed battling victories over a weakened Japan team, who are without talisman Kei Nishikori due to injury while Go Soeda has a virus.

Stepanek beat Tatsuma Ito 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-1, 7-5 in the opening rubber while Rosol then overcame Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.

Stepanek was in trouble early on against Ito and needed to make a diving volley to avoid going down two sets to love. But having won the second set tie-break, the world 47 took control against an opponent ranked almost 100 places lower than him.

Rosol blew a two-set lead against a player ranked 150 places below him before pulling it together to win his first ever five set match.

Italy took a 1-0 lead over Great Britain in Naples as clay-court specialist Fabio Fognini overcame a disjointed start to beat James Ward 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

After a two-hour rain delay, Fognini took his time to get into his stride before eventually running away with it.

Andy Murray takes on Andreas Seppi in the second rubber looking to bring Britain back into the tie. The winners will face either the Czechs or Japan in the semi-finals. In the other quarterfinal, Germany took a 1-0 lead over France in Nancy as Tobias Kamke beat Julien Benneteau 7-6 (10/8), 6-3, 6-2 ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s meeting with Peter Gojowczyk. l

Michael Schumacher has “moments of consciousness and awakening”, his spokeswoman said Friday, in a sign of progress months after the Formula One legend suffered devastating brain injuries in a ski accident.

Doctors put Schumacher in a medically induced coma after the December 29 accident in which he slammed his head on a rock while skiing at the French resort of Meribel with his son and friends, and little has filtered through since about his condition.

“Michael is making progress.... He shows moments of consciousness and

Vettel resigned to Mercedes’ Bahrain power World champion Sebastian Vettel admitted Thursday he was braced for another weekend of Mercedes domination at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The German driver, who has seen Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton sweep to opening wins in Australia and Malaysia in the dominant Mercedes, believes the Sakhir circuit will also suit his rivals.

“Here the track is a quite tricky one, as you have got a lot of straights, and therefore we have got to save quite a lot of fuel on Sunday compared to Malaysia,” said four-time world champion Vettel.

“And already in testing, and for sure at the first two races, we have seen that Mercedes has the strongest package. They are way quicker than us on the straights, so it will be difficult to keep up with them.”

Mercedes set two of the three quickest times in testing at the Gulf track last month while Vettel was down in 18th and teammate Daniel Ricciardo made 10th.

The Red Bull men were two seconds and four seconds slower than the Mercedes pair respectively in that winter test.

But Vettel, who retired on the fifth lap in Melbourne before claiming third place in Malaysia, is confident that Red Bull are making progress after their winter and early-season setbacks. l

awakening,” Sabine Kehm said in a statement.

The 45-year-old remains in hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble, where he underwent two operations to remove life-threatening blood clots before being placed into a coma.

His family said at the end of January that drugs used to keep him in his deep sleep were being reduced with a view to bringing him back to consciousness.

“We are on his side during his long and difficult fight, together with the team of the hospital in Grenoble, and we keep remaining confident,” Kehm said Friday.

There have already been signs of

hope for the seven-time world champion. In February, his friend and former Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa was quoted as saying that Schumacher seemed to respond to him during a visit.

“He is sleeping, he looks normal and he showed a few responses with his mouth,” Massa told German tabloid Bild.

And last month, Schumacher’s family said they were confident that the racing legend who defied death more than once on the track would pull through.

“There sometimes are small, encouraging signs, but we also know that this is the time to be very patient”, Kehm said at the time in a statement. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Saturday, April 5, 2014

New tech power plant to save costs, reduce emissions n Aminur Rahman Rasel

As part of the government’s plan to turn Cox’s Bazar into the country’s biggest energy hub, the Power Development Board (PDB) has decided to construct a 1,400MW coal-fired ultra supercritical thermal power plant at the district’s Maheshkhali upazila.

“We have already invited international tender from reputed firms to construct the new power plant,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. The last date for tender submission is July 8 this year.

“It is the first power plant where PDB is going to adopt the latest ultra supercritical technology for setting up coalbased thermal power plants,” he said.

Currently, the 250MW Barapukuria plant is the only coal-fired power plant running on subcritical technology in the country.

“The plant [in Maheshkhali] will reduce carbon emissions, generation costs will be minimised and generation efficiency will be increased,” Abduhu Ruhulla added.

The proposed plant will be set up as a turnkey project, where an organisa-

tion or company performs all the activities from design to operational testing, before the project is turned over to another enterprise for operation.

According to the tender document, the selected contractor would have to install the plant on a turnkey basis through providing the services including engineering, design, manufacturing, inspection, testing, supply and delivery of the plant.

The selected contractor would also arrange the required finance for the project and execute it on a turnkey basis.

The eligible company also has to provide $20m in the form of an irrevocable and unconditional bank guarantee issued by any scheduled Bangladeshi bank, or by a foreign bank duly endorsed by a scheduled bank in Bangladesh, payable in favour of the secretary as tender security of the PDB. The government, through the PDB, plans to set up separate ultra supercritical coal-based thermal power plants with total capacities of 6,000MW in different phases at Maheshkhali, as well as constructing liquefied natural gas (LNG)-based combined cycle power plants of 3,000MW capacities in different phases.l

The Dhaka Tribune photographer followed the BRTC double-decker from Paltan to Paribagh yesterday to understand the role of these two children dangerously standing on the bus’ doors. It was found that the boys were calling for passengers, apparently working as a help to the driver. The driver of the state-operated bus did not seem to object RAJIB DHAR

India court orders first death sentences for multiple rapes n

AFP, Mumbai

An Indian judge yesterday ordered three men to hang after they were convicted of two gang-rapes, the first death sentences to be handed down for multiple sex attacks since the law was toughened last year.

The sentences were announced at a court in Mumbai on the same day that a judge jailed 24 men in the southern state of Kerala over the gang-rape of a schoolgirl who was repeatedly sexually assaulted over a 40-day period in 1996.

A series of mass protests over the levels of sexual violence prompted the government to amend the law last year and allow for harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty for repeat offenders.

The three who were sentenced had been found guilty of two attacks in July and August last year at the same abandoned mill compound in Mumbai, including an attack on a photographer

Saturn’s Enceladus moon hides ‘great lake’ of water n BBC The evidence for an “ocean” of water under the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus appears to be overwhelming.

The little world has excited scientists ever since jets of icy material were seen squirting into space from a striped region at its south pole.

Now, exquisite measurements using Nasa’s Cassini probe as it flew over the moon have allowed researchers to detect the water’s gravitational signal.

Science magazine reports the details.

“The measurements that we have done are consistent with the existence of a large water reservoir about the size (volume) of Lake Superior in North America,” Prof Luciano Iess told BBC News.

A European comparison would be 245 times the water mass of Lake Garda in Italy.

The findings of Prof Iess and his team will boost the view that the 500km-wide moon would be one of the best places beyond Earth to go look for the existence of microbial life.

Cassini’s data suggests the liquid volume lies about 40km under Enceladus’s ice crust.

This would put it directly on top of the moon’s layered, rocky interior.

The case for a subglacial ocean has been growing ever since Cassini first sensed a diffuse atmosphere at the moon in 2005.

Subsequent observations pinned the source of this atmosphere to mineral-rich streams of water vapour flowing away from surface fractures dubbed “tiger stripes” for their resemblance to the markings on a big cat. l

that made global headlines.

Mohammed Salim Ansari, 28, Vijay Mohan Jadhav, 19, and Mohammed Kasim Hafeez Shaikh, 21, were convicted last month after a fast-track trial.

They were subsequently handed life sentences for one of those assaults, the gang-rape of an 18-year-old phone operator. But they were also convicted this week under a new section of the law for being repeat rape offenders, which carries the death penalty.

“There needs to be zero tolerance for such incidents,” Judge Shalini Phansalkar Joshi said as she announced the sentences.

“A loud and clear message needs to be sent to society.”

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam confirmed to AFP that this was the first conviction for repeat rape under the modified law.

The men, dressed in jeans, bowed their heads as they learnt their fate, while one of their mothers was re-

moved from the court for swearing.

The 22-year-old photographer was gang-raped while on assignment with a male colleague in the overgrown mill compound, close to an upscale neighbourhood as well as slums from which most of the rapists hailed.

The phone operator, attacked in the same place, came forward after reading about the photographer’s ordeal.

Two other men have been jailed for life over the attacks: Mohammed Ashwaq Sheikh in the telephone operator case and Siraj Rehmat Khan in the case of the photographer.

A juvenile is being separately tried over the attack on the photographer, which sparked widespread anger in Mumbai, a city usually considered safer than the capital New Delhi.

Police described the photographer’s attackers as unemployed school dropouts, while neighbours say they were a gang of youths known for petty theft and drinking in the area. l

Govt sticks to imposing high fare for new taxicabs n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Communications Ministry and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) are still determined to impose high rates of fare for new taxicabs to be pressed into service in the capital from Pahela Baishakh.

An inter-ministerial meeting held at the ministry on March 23 took the decision upon requests from the Bangladesh Army Welfare Trust and Toma Construction and Company Ltd. The meeting fixed Tk100 for the first two kilometres, Tk34 for each kilometre next and Tk8.5 for one-minute wait during traffic jam for air-conditioned cabs. For non-AC cabs, the rates are Tk50, Tk20 and Tk5 respectively.

“We have not taken any new decision on new fare rates. It may be reviewed if cab operators fail to ensure quality service,” Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said at his ministry yesterday after a meeting with CNG-run Auto-rickshaw Owners’ Association.

Earlier, he said new taxicabs would start running in Dhaka this month with superb taxicabs manufactured in Japan, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would inaugurate the taxicab service in the month of Baishakh.

At least 60 new taxicabs are on way to Bangladesh from Japan which will be pressed into service in the capital on Pahela Baishakh that falls on April 14.

The Army Welfare Trust and Toma Construction Ltd got contracts to import 30 taxicabs each, said BRTA officials.

The Army Welfare Trust on August 1 last year sought permission from the communications ministry to press 400 cabs into service on streets in Dhaka and Chittagong within four months.

The same year on July 14, the ministry allowed Toma Construction Ltd to press 250 more cabs into service in the capital.

Toma Construction Ltd had called for increasing the fares for the first two kilometres for AC cabs from Tk60 to Tk130. l

A rickshaw puller who never gave up

Khokan poses with his child and wife in front of his Mohammadpur residence yesterday. Although two of his legs were amputated following a train accident, he refused to live the life of a beggar MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

n Ahmed Zayeef Khokan is among one of hundreds of rickshaw pullers in the city but a closer look at him leaves one in a state of deep shock.

He is scrawny and pretty tall with almost an angular face. As this correspondent boarded his rickshaw from Nilkhet intersection to reach the TSC area of the Dhaka University he found the rickshaw jerking forward.

As this correspondent peered at the rickshaw puller, he was flabbergasted and

speechless. The man was paddling the rickshaw with his left leg that too was missing its ankle.

As for the right leg, it was cut off its knee but still the man always has a friendly grin across his face. His smiling face under such hardship and hostile life reminds one that he is not among those who gives up easily with a sigh.

He belongs to a very few of those who face life with stoic endurance and never gives up. To Khokan begging was the best option but he wanted to lead a dignified life and

which is why he began to paddle rickshaw.

Khokon came to Dhaka from Mymensingh in his childhood to forage for food. One day he thought if he could bring his sister to the city it would help their family to lead a better life.

“That was the beginning of holy Ramadan.

I went Kamalapur Railway Station to catch a train to get to Mymensingh. I was a little boy then and did not have any idea about which train would take me home. Unfortunately I boarded a Chittagong-bound train.”

By the time he came to his sense that he boarded a wrong train he reached

Chittagong Railway Station. He boarded another Dhaka-bound train and on his way back to the capital he faced the most dreadful experience in his life.

“I did not have enough money left to buy a ticket. So, I was sitting at the entrance of a compartment. When the train started to run I saw a boy running to catch the train and got into my compartment. A few minutes later the boy demanded everything I had.”

As Khokan refused to give money the ruffian pushed him off the train. His right leg was cut from the knee under the train wheels. As he tried to lift himself his other leg too went under the wheels severing it from the ankle.

That was not the end of his misfortune as: “When misfortune comes it never comes alone,” said Khokan releasing a deep sigh.

He started his life anew with a renewed vow. He started selling vegetable in Malibagh with a loan at a high interest. He managed to pay off the loan but little did he know that another misfortune was going to befall him.

One day when he was going to Karwan Bazar to buy vegetable snatchers robbed him off everything he had. He again became flat broke.

This time he started to pull rickshaw as this profession doesn’t involve much capital.

“It was really hard to paddle a rickshaw with only one leg and that too without ankle. Rickshaw owners did not want to rent out their rickshaws to a crippled man. By the grace of Almighty, now I am not different from other drivers who have two legs,” he said with a big smile across his face.

Khokon now lives in his small room of a slum at Mohammadpur with his wife Renu and two children.

“I am not sure how long I can pull rickshaw with one leg. If I can educate my children, I think, one day they will bring happiness to our little family,” he said with a resigned voice.l

Finally government going to introduce bio-fertiliser n Abu Bakar Siddique After a long delay, the government is finally going to introduce bio-fertiliser as a substitute for urea fertiliser to be used for pulse crops.

It will sharply reduce the use of urea fertiliser in the country, officials concerned said.

Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (Bina) has invented the bio-fertiliser containing living microorganism that promotes the growth of the plants by increasing the supply of primary nutrients through the natural process of nitrogen fixation.

Bina has already launched its selection procedure to choose a producer of the environment-friendly bio-fertiliser for pulse crops, said AHM Razzaque, director general of Bina.

“We have recently advertised a circular to get expression of interest (EoI) from the possible producers from which an eligible producer will be selected,” he said, adding that the farmers can get the bio-fertiliser by next winter.

According to agriculture ministry, the country produced 7.67 lakh tonnes of pulses in the fiscal year 2012-13 from around 7.08 lakh hectares of arable land.

Bina invented the bio-fertiliser around 15 years ago and took a move to produce it on trial basis and distribute to the farmers on a small scale during the period between 2001 and 2005.

Later in 2012, it also took a move to reach the benefit of the invention to the farmers by selecting a producer, but it was halted for last two years.

Even Bina had selected one of the bidders named Safe Agriculture (BD) Ltd to give it the production authority in that year, although the process had not finally seen the light.

Bina has recently circulated another EoI to find out possible producer of the bio-fertiliser after getting the directives from agriculture ministry on March 9.

About a delay in production for two years, the Bina DG said that the selection process was halted somehow, although he sent the selection results to then DG MA Sattar on May 12 in 2012 while he (incumbent DG) was the director of administration wing.

MA Sattar told the Dhaka Tribune that the move did not proceed as the selected producer, Safe Agro, later refused to sign the production agreement with Bina by showing personal grounds.

Monowar Karim Khan, chief scientific officer of Bina, informed that bio-fertiliser will reduce the use of urea fertiliser remarkably as the plants will get adequate nitrogen from it.

Around 20-30kgs of urea fertiliser are required to cultivate pulse on one hectare of land while bio-fertilizer will meet the demand for nitrogen with only 2kgs for the same acreage of land, he said, adding that bio-fertiliser is cheaper than that of the chemical one.

According to Bangladesh Fertiliser Association, around 24 lakh tonnes of urea fertiliser are currently used to grow different types of crops and meet the demand for nitrogen. l

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