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An inter-ministerial committee at a meeting at the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management on Wednesday recommended that one million tonnes of IRRI-boro rice and paddy should be procured this season, the ministry sources said.
   The food planning and monitoring unit at the meeting chaired by the food and disaster management minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, also suggested that the food-grain procurement drive should begin on April 25 and last for two months — April and May, the harvesting season for IRRI-Boro crop.
   The LGRD and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, agriculture minister, MK Anwar, deputy minister for food and disaster management, Asadul Habib Dulu, and the secretaries concerned attended the meeting and discussed the overall production situation of foodgrains, the prospective level of market price and government stock.
   It primarily decided to procure nine lakh tonnes of rice at Tk 14.50 per kilogram and one lakh tonnes of paddy at Tk 9.25 per kilogram, which are Tk 1.25 and Tk 0.85 higher than the procurement rate of the previous year.
   Although an increased rate was proposed in Wednesday’s meeting, it is still lower than the production cost of paddy, which the ministry has recently estimated at Tk 9.83 per kg.
   Another meeting of the ministry, scheduled for April 11, however, will take the final decision on the recommendations and send it for cabinet approval, the sources said.
   In the last aman season, the government had virtually failed to procure rice for yield shortfall due to prolonged flood and rainfall, and the government-fixed procurement price was less than the market price.
   Less than one per cent aman rice, out of the procurement target of two lakh tonnes, was collected during the drive between November 15, 2004 and February 2005.
   In 2003-2004, the government had procured 38,000 tonnes of paddy and 747,000 tonnes of rice against the target of 54,000 tonnes of paddy and 800,000 tonnes of rice respectively.
   This season, the production target of boro has been fixed at 134.46 lakh tonnes considering boro cultivation on 40.23 lakh hectares. The yield is expected to be 4.75 per cent higher than that of the previous year.
   The meeting also discussed the production situation of wheat, which has decreased significantly in the last few years. Its production is expected to be 11.30 lakh tonnes this season, compared to 15.06 lakh tonnes in 2002-2003 and 12.53 lakh tonnes in 2003-2004.
   The government currently has an estimated stock of about 6.5 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat, which is shrinking on account of the open market sale of rice.

Potential bidders for the 450-megawatt Sirajganj power plant have sought inclusion of penalty provisions in the final deal to get remedy from unusual delay in the project implementation process.
   According to official sources, representatives of three bidders, primarily selected earlier, made various queries at a pre-bid meeting in Dhaka Wednesday on the practice of unusual delay by government agencies.
   The three bidders — Genting Power Barhad of Malaysia, PHP-Eassar Power of India and Siemens-Summit, a joint venture of a local and a German firm — attended the meeting at the Power Cell office.
   The three companies have received Request for Proposal to submit their technical
   and financial offers for the project.
   Any infrastructure project faces unusual delay due to dilly-dally tactics of different government agencies at different stages of the implementation process and this has been a general practice.
   The unusual delay makes projects costlier and creates troubles for investors.
   In the case of power-related project, the state-run Power Development Board, state-owned hydrocarbon agency Petrobangla and some other agencies are usually directly involved in providing support and taking decisions on such projects.
   According to the sources, responding to the queries the Power Cell officials assured that such provisions would be included in the final deal so that the bidder could be compensated for any unusual delay by the government agencies concerned.
   The 450-megawatt Sirajganj power project would be implemented on the Build-Own-Operate basis under the private sector power generation policy.
   The government will purchase electricity from the project to meet its growing power demand.

The government will enact a new law on private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres shortly to regulate those organisations as they do not provide proper healthcare for general people, said the health and family welfare minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.
   He unveils the government plan at a press briefing held in the ministry’s conference room in Dhaka on Wednesday marking the World Health Day. The day will be observed today.
   The minister said the health sector would be modernised to cater to the needs of the people seeking medical treatment.
   ‘We will set up three 500-bed hospitals in Dhaka’s Mirpur, Kurmitula and Khilgaon areas to reduce overload of patients in the city’s hospitals’, he told journalists, adding that the government was committed to reducing such overload in other hospitals across the country.
   Mosharraf said the construction work on the Kurmitola Hospital has already begun while construction of other two will start soon.
   Three thousand four hundred MBBS doctors will immediately be recruited to ensure proper healthcare from urban to remote areas, he said.
   Replying to a question, the minister said per capita budgetary allocation for health in Bangladesh is $7 when the World Health Organisation has recommended to expense $34 for a person.
   The minister, however, admitted the government’s inability of implementing the WHO recommendations to ensure
   adequate health services in the country.
   The ministry of health and family welfare organised the briefing on the eve of the World Health Day. The day’s theme is Make Every Mother and Child Count.
   The state minister for health and family welfare,
   Mizanur Rahman Sinha, the health secretary, AFM Sarwar Kamal, and the newly
   appointed WHO country representative, Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol, were present at the briefing.
   Three in every 1,000 mothers die in the country for childbirth-related complications while some 40 lakh mothers become pregnant every year, the minister said.
   According to the UNICEF report 2005, around 46 in every 1,000 children of one-year-old die while the mortality rate of the five-year-old children is 62.
   Some 43 lakh children are born in the country every year, the health minister informed the press meet.

The Anti-Corruption Commission, which is still inoperative due to delay in the framing of rules, on Wednesday came down heavily on the media and decided not to talk to reporters.
   The decision was made at a meeting of the commission, held on Wednesday with its chairman, Justice Sultan Hossain Khan, in the chair. Justice Sultan refused to talk to the media people who had gone to cover the meeting.
   Director of the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, Abdul Hannan Mridha, however, briefed reporters about the outcome of the meeting. He claimed that the commission has empowered him to brief the media as it will not talk to reporters.
   A commissioner of the three-member commission, Manir-uzzaman Miah, told reporters that the commission did not assign Mridha to talk to the media.
   After a telephone conversation with the chairman, Miah told reporters that the chairman also had not assigned Mridha to tackle the media. Miah said that the commission has decided that none of the commissioners would talk to the media and the decisions of the commission would be made public through press releases.
   Mridha, however, claimed that he had briefed the reporters after being asked by the chairman to do so.
   Replying to a question whether he was nominated as the spokesman of the commission, Mridha said, ‘It is immaterial.’
   According to him, the commission, at the meeting, discussed four out of 16 agenda, and the rest would be taken up at its next meeting on Saturday.
   The commission decided again to appoint some officials, on deputation, of different departments of the government including the National Board of Revenue, customs and finance, said Mridha.
   The commission took the same decision in February but it is yet to be implemented. The commission asked the defunct bureau to submit a report on its assets to the commission.
   The commission decided to submit charge-sheets in a number of graft cases, which were filed by the defunct bureau.
   According to Mridha, the commission also decided not to deal with the money-laundering cases, as the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004 excluded this offence from its jurisdiction.
   On March 6, the commission decided to seek the law ministry’s opinion on the Bangladesh Bank’s proposal asking the commission to deal with money-laundering cases.

Various welfare and development organisations working for the disabled Wednesday observed the seventh national disabled day in Rajshahi.
   The Action on Disability and Development, an NGO, took out a rally in the Lakshmipur area and held a discussion at its office. Fazlur Rahman, the member secretary of the Dhaka district disabled convening committee, was in the chair.
   Similar rallies were brought out at Mohanpur, Tanore, Godagari and Paba apazilas in Rajshahi by grassroots disabled organisations. Jatiya Protibandhi Forum, another NNGO, organised various programmes including rally, discussion and cultural function in observance of the day.
   Held at the Padma Rangamancha, the discussion was chaired by Professor Kamrul Bahar Arif and attended by the deputy commissioner, Syed Ahsanul Haque, as the chief guest.

The National University vice-chancellor, Professor Aftab Ahmad, was on Wednesday accused of sexually harassing a deputy registrar of the university.
   The suspended deputy registrar, Begum Sultana Razia Jui, filed a case against him with the second special tribunal for prevention of repression on women and children.
   After hearing, Justice Monowara Begum recorded the statement of the complainant and scheduled an order on the issue for Thursday.
   In her complaint, Jui said Aftab persistently proposed her to visit his residence on almost every Saturday and the hartal days. As she refused to oblige Aftab got angry and threatened her to dismiss from the job.
   She had joined the university as a deputy registrar temporarily on May 5, 2004. Her job was confirmed on October 7 the same year.
   She alleged that the VC had been trying to keep contact with her since she joined.
   On February this year, Aftab over telephone asked Jui to go to his residence at Dhanmondi in Dhaka for an urgent matter.
   Reaching the house, Jui found his wife was not at home and he rebuked her for not going to see him wearing a sari.
   At one point, Aftab closed the door and sexually harassed her, she alleged. She somehow managed to leave the house later, she said.
   Jui also alleged that Aftab had suspended her on a false allegation on March 17 and hired goons to threaten her so that she would not proceed further with the matter.
   On April 4, Jui went to the Dhanmondi police to file a case, but the police refused to register it.
   Meanwhile, tension rose on the university campus on Wednesday when Aftab’s supporters were barred by some officers from marching in his support.
   Earlier they had demonstrated on the university premises at Board Bazar after the publication of some news reports in the media about his alleged corruptions and scandals.

The youth wing of the Awami League has lodged a case with the court against the managing director of the state-run news agency, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, and its Delhi correspondent in protest against creating ‘false and motivated’ news involving Sajib Wajed Joy, son of the AL chief, Sheikh Hasina.
   The law affairs secretary of the Dhaka city unit of the Awami Juba League (north), Hemayetuddin Molla, filed the case Wednesday with the chief metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka.
   Hemayet said the two – Gaziul Hasan Khan and Jahangir Hossain of the news agency — intentionally presented the false and motivated news to serve the political interest of ruling party.
   The respondents did not even regret for the false news although Joy, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, political advisor to Hasina, and the defence minister of India, Pranab Mukhejee, gave statements protesting against the news.
   It actually reflects the criminal mentality of the respondents, the plaintiff said.
   The news published in different dailies on March 18 created by the BSS said Joy and Saber met Pranab at his office in Delhi.

THE candidate of ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Abu Lais Muhammad Mubin Chowdhury, is poised to be elected lawmaker from Habiganj-3 constituency unopposed as all his rivals have petitioned for withdrawing from the race.
   The by-election to fill in the vacancy following the killing of opposition Awami League member and former finance minister, SAMS Kibria, is scheduled for April 25.
   According to a source in the District Election Office, Habiganj the final decision will be declared today.
   Five candidates, including Mubin Chowdhury, submitted their nomination papers on March 29 and all the papers were declared valid the day after.
   Of the candidates, Sayed Mamun Mia (independent) withdrew his candidature on March 31. Later Abdul Moktadir Chowdhury (independent), Krishak Mohammad Sadek (Krishak Sramik Mukti Andolan) and Moqbul Hossain (independent) applied withdrawal.

Bilateral investment treaties affect and limit Bangladesh’s interests and negotiating options at multilateral forums. The conditions of such treaties often conflict with the provisions of multilateral forums and negate the privileges accorded to Bangladesh as a least developed country.
   The observations were made at a media briefing on a report, ‘Crippled Multilateral Interests: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Effect on Bangladeshi Multilateral Interests,’ organised by ActionAid Bangladesh, a non-governmental organisation, at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
   The speakers discussed how national interests and far-reaching implications for the local economy were overlooked in a race to attract foreign investments.
   ‘Developing and least developed countries resort to liberalising their investment regimes and bilateral treaties to attract foreign investments,’ said Tanim Ahmed, author of the report, also a staff correspondent of New Age.
   He said such measures were seldom successful in attracting foreign investments and cited examples of other countries of East Asia with stricter regimes that have enjoyed consistently increasing levels of foreign investments.
   ‘Foreign investment does not necessarily lead to the development of the country unless proper policies are in place,’ said Tanim. He said successive governments had failed to expand foreign exchange earning sectors, because there must be a consistent inflow of foreign exchange to be able to repatriate the foreign investments, which related policy guarantees.
   Tanim said the government does not require foreign investors to use local contents and allows them to import their raw material for manufacturing. ‘Barring Petrobangla, there are no technology transfer requirements for foreign investors in Bangladesh.’
   The report observes that bilateral treaties consider standards at the multilateral level to be the minimum and strive towards stricter regimes. It points out that the proposed Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between Bangladesh and the United States includes a paragraph where both parties recognise the importance of intellectual property rights and other such conventions.
   According to the provisions of the WTO, Bangladesh will not be required to implement any laws dealing with intellectual property rights till 2016.
   But US interests, especially software applications, might pressure the government by way of the agreement to fully implement property rights laws to the same extent as in the United States much before 2016, the report observed.
   ‘The developed countries, by way of these bilateral treaties, are able to exact concessions from developing and least developed countries, which conflict with their stand at the multilateral level,’ said Tanim.
   He said the investment agreement, one of the four Singapore issues, has long been vehemently opposed at the WTO but developed countries impose similar requirements and conditions through bilateral treaties.
   ‘Most of the countries Bangladesh has signed bilateral treaties with are rich and Bangladesh always lost at the negotiations table because of lack of negotiation skills, information and adequate research,’ said Tanim.
   He said as far as US investment is concerned, Bangladesh will not be able to resort to any of the special and differential treatments accorded to it as a least development country in the WTO.
   The report observed multilateral treaties are more suitable for poorer countries than bilateral treaties although the developed countries are more interested in bilateral treaties as they give them the opportunity to realise their interests by dominating the weaker countries.
   ‘Although there is still much room for development of the WTO system, there is at least some special provisions for least developed countries,’ said Tanim. He said at the WTO, there is a large group of poor countries whose collective voice becomes formidable, but at the bilateral level, those same voices naturally become silent.
   Quoting statistics, Tanim said, ‘Despite growing levels of foreign investment, there is still large-scale poverty in Bangladesh. About 49.8 per cent of the population still suffer from poverty and about 20 per cent from hard-core poverty.’
   In 30 years between 1974 and 2004, inequality has increased, he said. Citing a news report, he said in 1974, the poorest five per cent of the population enjoyed 1.2 per cent of the national income while the richest five per cent had 16.4 per cent.
   In 2004, the poorest five per cent earned only .67 per cent of the national income while the share of the richest five per cent increased to 30.66 per cent.
   The report recommended that the government, lawmakers both in the government and in the opposition and stakeholders should be made aware of the implications of bilateral treaties and that such issues should be discussed in public forums.
   ‘The government must be made more accountable and the public more aware of the precarious implications of the treaties imposed on least developed countries,’ said the report.
   The report recommended that the stakeholders concerned should be allowed to give more inputs and the government should allow its representation in some form or another during negotiation.
   The government should also dedicate more resources to strengthen Bangladesh’s negotiating skills at multilateral forums, the report recommended.
   Among others, Ziaul Hoque Mukta, theme leader for natural resources and services of ActionAid Bangladesh, also spoke.

At least three students of the University of Science and Technology, Chittagong were injured Wednesday morning when a group of students attacked them.
   The police said a students’ group with some outsiders entered the campus at about 11:00am and vandalised the office of the university’s Students’ Welfare Council, demanding immediate holding of election to the council.
   They also attacked the council leaders with sticks in which three, including vice-president Kamanashish Barua, were injured.