THE POWER POLITICS
The prime minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia recently told his party leaders that "all development activities would be stopped if the BNP could not return to power in the next election."
I wonder whether it is a statement or a threat. Below is a list of the recent developments of the government:
* Poor utilization of external assistance.
* Poor start of the ambitious Annual development program ('05)
* Failure to nab the criminals behind the August 21 grenade attacks against Sheikh Hasina. The Daily Star receives...
October 31, 2004
IRAQ HOSTAGE SITUATION: TERRORISM HAS NO IDEAL
Abul Kashem Faruk, 43, a Bangladeshi lorry driver was abducted in Iraq along with his Sri Lankan colleague. He has been living in Iraq for the last seven years and worked for a Kuwaiti firm, Joshim Transport Company. The news has been broken by the Arabic channel Al-Jazeera. The abductors are yet to communicate any demand to Bangladesh.
It is hard to bear for the family members including his...
October 26, 2004
WHEN CROSSFIRE CROSSES ALL LIMITS
In Bangladesh the death under police custody has been risen tremendously, which is dubbed by police as killed in "cross fire". This has been occurring ever since the government has established the RAB (RAT), the 'Cobra' and the 'Cheetah' etc. Earlier when the Army carried out the "operation clean heart" in 2002, there were more than 50 custodial deaths (heart attacks as they dubbed) of so called criminals (pending trial). One journalist writes that after one such custodial death, he went to the police station...
October 25, 2004
RIANNA UPDATEHello everybody. I am a month old now. You can not imagine how many visits I have got in the past month. I received a lot of gifts from kin, mostly dresses. The best one I liked is a baby penguin doll from one and a half year old Saran.I am adapting myself to the changing season and have caught cold once. Baba & Ma panicked and took me to a pediatrician. He was a bad man and gave me a lot of medicine. I cried in protest but nobody...
October 21, 2004
WE ARE THE CHAMPION
I am writing the post with much discomfort. According to the Transparency International's (TI) corruption perception index (CPI) published recently, Bangladesh has for the fourth time in a row topped the index of the most corrupt countries. In 2004 Bangladesh shares the top position with Haiti where corruption is rampant in more than 60 countries. But how can Bangladesh be equal to Haiti? Surely there must be something wrong somewhere. TI Bangladesh (TIB) Treasurer Prof. Muzaffer Ahmad tells that "labeling a country as the...
October 20, 2004
EKUSH OS, A BRAVE MICROSOFT WINDOWS CLONE VENTURE
Those who want an alternative to Microsoft Windows OS, really have no full-functional alternatives. The daily star reports that EKUSH Operating System (OS), a projected alternative to Microsoft Windows monopoly and a clone to Windows NT, is in its early stages of development. Named after Bengali of 21, which is a symbol of Bangla language movement, the OS will come with several Bangla fonts in...
October 18, 2004
THE DOWNFALL OF BANGLADESHI CINEMA
Nobody thought this would happen although there were some warning calls. In a country where cinema viewer ship hangs below 20% of the population cinema is not a big industry. About 300 cinemas across the country have closed down with the Bangladesh film industry shrinking to half in terms of investment and revenue in the last three years (source). This has caused thousands of job losses and more to go.
The number of cinema-goers in the capital declined to 250,000 a week from 900,000 half a decade ago. Some cinemas...
October 14, 2004
QUOTES OF THE DAY
* We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. - Henri Frederic Amiel 1821-1881, Swiss Philosopher, Poet, Critic* Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships... the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world, at peace. - Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882-1945, Thirty-second President of the ...
INDIA –BANGLADESH RELATIONSHIP
The India-Bangladesh relation is really an enigma to many. You would be surprised to know how diverse people’s opinions and feelings of love and hatred are which constitutes the bond, which is slowly becoming distrust. Since 1947, after the divide of India & Pakistan on the basis of religion, millions of Hindu Bengalis migrated to West Bengal and other parts of India and many Muslim Bengalis migrated to Bangladesh (former East Pakistan). Memories of their roots are still afresh in many migrants and their descendents....
October 13, 2004
MORE JOBS NEEDED IN BANGLADESH
Last year the country's population stood at about 138 million and its labor force 68 million including child labor (+10). Out of which about 27 million people (39.9% of total workforce) are either unemployed or unemployed. For reference, the members of the labor force not doing any work at all or working less than 15 hours are considered unemployed and one working less than 35 hours considered underemployed. About one million job seekers are added to the statistics every year.
According to World Bank, to achieve...
October 12, 2004
BLOG QUOTES
* "Never a dull moment. This is the phrase that most aptly describes Bangladesh" :- Michael
* Path to national unity - It is us to blame : - Asif Imtiaz in context of Bangladesh
* Muhammad Yunus deserves a nobel prize : - Niraj
* Your service was really good : - Zahir
* Taboo on sex before marriage is a reason behind the strong family bond of the Indian subcontinent : - Rif...
October 10, 2004
AROUND THE COUNTRY
* You don't need ballz to play football and its not unislamic at all as the bigots say. They just can't keep politics and religion away from sports.
* 693 tigers were counted in Sundarban forests, out of which 419 are in the Bangladesh part.
* A latest survey by National Democratic Foundation (NDF) shows:
a) The government should not step down before term : 59%
The government should step down immediately: 32%
b) Do not support Hartal: 73%
Support Hartal: 18%
More surveys are needed...
BIMAN GOES DOWN IN PROTEST
There were much apprehensions of all quarters on whether Biman should continue with its current fleet of F-28s. The pilots specially raised concerns that these are not safe enough to fly and only 139 out of 243 built are operational around the world. A couple of days ago another F-28 took a nose-dive into a ditch after skidding off the runway at Sylhet in a domestic flight. Luckily none of the 82 passengers on-board...
October 05, 2004
THE EVER ELUSIVE ELECTION PROMISES
The four party alliance plans to celebrate its 3 year rule; "success" as termed by them. Surely they have succeeded in curbing the pressure of the opposition. The current politics of Bangladesh is centered to the throne. The Awami League is demanding immediate resignation of the government and the BNP's reply is "We will not step down even a minute ahead of the expiry of our five-year tenure". The both party's...
PRESS FREEDOM THREATENED BY OUTLAWS
The killing of yet another journalist in the southwestern town Bogra remarks the deterioration in law and order situation. Journalist Dipankar Chakrabarty, Executive Editor of Durjoy Bangla, fell victim to a brutal attack by unknown assailants. The news caption highlighted that he was beheaded, which left Jane guessing whether this incident relates to the threats by some radical islamists against the daily Prothom Alo. The southwestern Bangladesh has witnessed the brutal killings of at least 13 prominent journalists...
October 03, 2004
THE BATTLE OF THE BEGUMS CONTINUES
The antagonism between the two Bangladeshi leaders (Begum Khaleda Zia & Sheikh Hasina) is not all political rather personal. Since long the two have not been in a common table to discuss. Their public speeches usually contain malicious words against each other and each others' parties. Sheikh Hasina and her party Awami League is opposing government in every aspect and is demanding the immediate resignation of the Govt and to hold fresh election. But her actions are seen to common people as her hunger for...
QUALITY OF LIFE: CAN WE MEASURE EFFECTIVELY?
Yet another grim news: Bangladesh ranks 164th among 173 countries and fifth in South Asia in the Quality of Life Index (QLI), according to a report of Social Watch, an international network of citizens from different countries across the world. (reports the Daily Star). Among the South Asian countries, Sri Lanka ranks the highest but it has been placed in 85th position among all the countries surveyed. Sri Lanka is followed by the Maldives (107th), India (163rd), Bhutan (142) and Bangladesh. The Social...
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