THE 100 MILLION MISSING WOMEN IN ASIA DOCTRINE

Owen has pointed me to an article which discusses the above misleading doctrine.
It all started when the Nobel laureate and economist Amartya Sen claimed in an essay that there were some 100 million "missing women" in Asia. Amartya Sen meant that the mistreatment of girl Childs and selective abortions in populous countries like China, India, Pakistan & Bangladesh lead to this unequal ratio of women and men comparing to the West. Sen might be true in some extent but I do not agree to the figures which seems highly hypothetical.

The biggest surprise is Emily Oster's (an economics graduate student at Harvard)
Hypothesis that the regions with the most hepatitis B were the regions with the most "missing" women. Researchers had found that a pregnant woman with hepatitis B is far more likely to have a baby boy than a baby girl. This soon-to-be-published paper try to establish the fate of roughly 50 million of Amartya Sen's missing women.

This doctrine is misleading according to me as there has never been instances of Hepatitis B epidemic in the regions specified (at least I know in Bangladesh). It is still a sexually transmitted disease like AIDS and in a closed society it is most unlikely to spread in a panic speed without others noticing.

Moreover, the government Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) provides the costly Hepatitis B vaccination to all infants in Bangladesh free of charge. Even my daughter has completed the course within first 6 months. So I hope only future can tell that Emily Oster's hypothesis is wrong.

Selective abortion is not encouraged in India now-a-days. The law has forbidden the clinics to tell the sex of a child in an ultrasonography scan which I think is a bold move and extremely effective in rural population. I think this should be introduced in rural areas of Bangladesh too to be on the safer side.

I hope these measures will turn around the current trend of imbalance of men-women ratio in Asia.

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HEALTH UPDATE II

I usually do not give much importance to my health. But this time I really was sick. The food poisoning thing got me bed-ridden for a couple of days. Because of diarrhea & vomiting, I dehydrated too much in a night and was suffering from electrolyte imbalance. Lucky for me that I started the ORSaline intakes much earlier and could continue to have fluids in during the treatment. Otherwise the physician said there was no alternative to transfer me to a hospital. I am glad ICDDR'B invented this handy treatment for such fluid losses.

Lucky for me there were these two consecutive holidays (one day courtesy of Awami League's hartal) followed by the weekend. I could really rest and recuperate.

The land phone was out of order. So I was completely out of the reach of the internet. It felt great to spend some days on the other side of the digital divide. Thanks to everybody who expressed concern over my health. My daughter recuperated much earlier but her mother has caught viral fever. The demon did not stop hunting us.

Back to the hectic life. Pending works...list of unread mails...catching up with the world. Regular blogging will resume shortly.

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HEALTH UPDATE

We are having a hell of a busy time as our eight month old daughter has become sick with food poisoning. Her mother suspects probably it is from a new cereal she introduced to her. Its very sad to watch a kid vomiting the meager intakes and all activities reduced due to fever and dehydration. She is under ORS medication and primary investigation reports show no sign of bacteria infection.

On the other hand I have become sick from yesterday night too. The signs are the same - food poisoning. Probably the extreme heat and the excess labor got me down.

Please pray for us.

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GALLOWAY GALLS THE US SENATE COMMITTEE WHICH HAD ACCUSED HIM

George Galloway, the British MP, charged with profiteering from the Oil-for-food program in Iraq during Saddam regime has blasted the US senate committee, which had accused him earlier. In a rhetoric speech apart from boldly claiming that he is innocent, he accused the legitimacy of the accuser of reaching a verdict without proper evidence and without giving a chance for self-defense.

From the Guardian:

He told Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who chaired the senate investigations committee "I know that standards have slipped in Washington in recent years, but for a lawyer, you're remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice. I'm here today, but last week you already found me guilty. You traduced my name around the world without ever having asked me a single question,"

"I met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him," Mr Galloway went on. "The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns, and to give him maps the better to target those guns."

To hear these and more, click here. Also view the 47 minute video clip (Real Media) if you have sufficient bandwidth. Here is a transcript of the speech.

It is surprising that besides the BBC and some Reuters reports, not much coverage of this hearing was seen. However I watched it in CNN which brought it live.

Jeanne says in her blog:

If you want to disentangle yourself from the wrapping the opposition has put you in, that's how you do it. No cheap shots and bitch slaps. Just truth upon truth.

Yes that is how Galloway did it. Inflicted truth upon truth on the US senators about the legitimacy of US invasion of Iraq and mocked that the real profit makers of the oil-for-food program was the US oil companies.

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SMS IN BANGLA AND THE MOBILE WAR

আমি বাঙলায় কথা বলি, আমি বাঙলার কথা বলি ।

For the first time in Bangladesh Bangla SMS is offered by the cell phone provider Citycell. Kudos to the four students of Computer Science & Engineering Department of BUET and part time programmers who developed the conversion software. The system they implemented converts Bangla Messages in English alphabet into Bangla Messages in Bangla alphabet and then transforms it into a compatible picture message. I hope the other mobile phone operators also join the race soon with better and simpler technology to give more value to their customers.

With the introduction of Teletalk, the government entered into the celluler phone market, which is very lucrative considering the meager teledensity of Bangladesh. Orascom's Bangla Link started the war offering mobile connections at down-to-earth rate. Now AKTEL and the pioneer GrameenPhone are also offering connections/SIMs at unbelievable rates (as low as $3). However the call rates (incoming and outgoing) are not reducing much. There is a fierce competition for giving reduced pulse as low as 10 seconds, but in the end the providers will reap from the stagnant high call charges. If we consider economies of scale, the rate should drop along with acquiring more customers. Hope to see some change in this once Teletalk gets fully operational.

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SHORT TAKES

* After numerous protests and deaths around the world Newsweek says that their report of Koran desecration at Guantanamo Bay was wrong. Roger L. Simon says that Newsweek quoted the news from anonymous source. Some say that the Newsweek incident should not pass unpunished. Chapati Mystery posts his views regarding this in the context of the Indian sub-continent.

* According to this poll, 76% given verdict that the Awami Leagues boycott of the Bangladesh Parliament is not a right policy. Does AL read the statistics?

* Nabil al-Wazer, a prominent Journalist in Yemen was kidnapped Tuesday for a ransom of approximately $50,000 U.S. dollars. Jane reports that he has been released.

* For MP3 music hunters The Tofu Hut has an extensive list of MP3 sites.

* Ennis says it is illegal to be a homosexual in India.

* Technocrati now indexes more than 10 million blogs. It has grown five folds since December 2003 says Tigerhawk.

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BANGLADESH FERRY DISASTER

Yet another passenger ferry disaster in Bangladesh leaving more than 100 persons feared dead. If you look at the chronology of the disasters from 1986, you will see that the disasters are happening every year. The problem lies in licensing the makeshift ferries, which have poor structural designs and do not meet the safety standard. Although life-jackets are prescribed, they cannot be found in these ferries. Poor warning systems and overcrowding of ferries are also to blame.

Bangladesh has one of the largest water network in the world with a total number of about 700 rivers including tributaries with a total length of about 24,140 km. The ferries plying in these rivers provide cheap transportation to many villagers and poor people who live in remote areas, not accessible by road.

The transportation minister has been able to do nothing except giving compensation of a goat each for the poor victims families. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has a development project for preventing the ferry (called launch) accidents. The project duration is from July 2004 -June 2006. But from the website it is evident that allocation for money is yet to been given for that project. How many more lives will it take for these people to take any action?

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