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The crop sector development is being hampered because of ‘too inadequate’ government allocation for agricultural research, sources in the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council said.
   Although the National Agriculture Policy emphasises a well-coordinated research plan, which is mandatory for the crop sector development, the government is yet to allocate adequate fund for conducting extensive research, they said.
   The government in 2004-05 allocated Tk 17.25 crore for agricultural research, only 0.2 per cent of the agricultural gross domestic product, which, according to them, is inadequate even for fundamental stage research.
   According to the sources, the 2004-05 allocation for seven research institutes under the agriculture ministry was Tk 77.71 crore, less than one per cent of the total agricultural allocation of Tk 1,777 crore.
   Of the amount, Tk 60.46 crore will be spent as salaries of the staff of the institutes and remaining Tk 17.25 crore for research activities, they said.
   The annual per capital research expenditure in Bangladesh is $0.15, which in developed countries is $12 and in developing countries is $2.6, the sources said.
   According to thumb rule, agricultural research expenditure for any developing country should be one per cent of the agricultural GDP, which in Bangladesh is only 0.2 per cent.
   They said Tk 6.69 crore or 9 per cent of the allocation had been sanctioned in 2004-05 for general operation costs, including electricity and water consumption bills, gas, lubricant, maintenance of vehicles, stationary, tax and VAT, which should to Tk 15 crore.
   Allocation for research operation, including labour, cultivation, seed, fertiliser, insecticides and irrigation or water management, chemical and other accessories, is Tk 7.15 crore or about 10 per cent of the allocation, which should be Tk 30 crore.
   Allocation for research equipments is now only Tk 3.41 crore or 4 per cent of the allocation which should be increased to 35 per cent.
   ‘There is no opportunity for the scientists to undergo extensive or basic research programme as the allocation for the research is too inadequate,’ claimed a researcher.
   Fund shortage is depriving agricultural scientists of taking higher trainings to go through fundamental research programmes, which are needed for the overall development of the agriculture sector, innovation of different variety of crops in particular, he said.
    ‘As the quantity of arable land in the country is shrinking very fast with the geometric progression of population, we need extensive research to innovate technology for sustainable agricultural growth and food sufficiency,’ Dr Jahangir Alam of the BARC told New Age.
   Earlier, the agricultural research activities were fully depended on the foreign aided projects, most of which have already been expired, said an official. ‘In this situation, there is no alternative other than increasing allocation for agricultural research.’
   A proposal has already been submitted to the finance ministry seeking Tk 152 core for agricultural research in 2005-06 and it likely to be sanctioned in the 2005-06 fiscal, another senior official said.

All opposition parties have to come in a platform for reforms in the Election Commission and in the caretaker government system, the Bikalpadhara Bangladesh president, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, said on Monday.
   ‘The reforms will make way for the honest and fair leaders to come in parliament as well as in power,’ he told the first founding anniversary function of his party at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
   Referring to the extra-judicial killings, Badruddoza said although the home
   ministry’s responsibility is to maintain law and order, it is doing ‘judicial works through RAB and other law enforcing agencies’.
   The Jatiya Oikya Mancha convenor and Gano Forum president, Dr Kamal Hossain, Krishak Sramik Janata League president, Kader Siddiq, president of a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Hasanul Haque Inu, Awami League organising secretary Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Abdur Rouf of Gano Forum, the Bikalpadhara secretary general, Abdul Mannan, and organising secretary, Mahi B Choudhury, and Oikya Mancha leader Mostafa Mohsin Mantu also spoke.
   Kamal said the country was heading towards a ‘critical situation that can endanger the national security and democratic system’.
   ‘The government is totally failed to check frequent grenade attacks, spread of corruption, rise of communalism and extreme fundamentalism, price hike of essential commodities and growing unemployment and poverty,’ he said.
   He also criticised the government for the closure of nationalised mills and factories, one of main reasons of growing unemployment.
   ‘The four-party alliance government has to resign within 17 days of united movement of all opposition political parties,’ Kader Siddiq said.
   The daylong programme started through the hoisting of the national and the party flags at the Bikalpadhara central office at Segunbagicha.
   Blood donation and a publication exhibition were also held as part of the programmes.

The family and employer of Mohammad Sohel, 30, killed in Sunday’s police firing at Kafrul in the capital, claimed him innocent and accused the police of labelling him a criminal to hide their misdeed.
   Sohel was the victim of a wrong-direction firing by the police, who are now trying to avoid their responsibilities labelling him a criminal, they said.
   The Kafrul police, who admitted that there was no case against Sohel with any station under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, however, claimed that he was one of the four to five whom they had chased while mugging in front of the China-Bangladesh Friendship Conference Centre.
   Sohel, son of Shamsul Haque of 17/E, Monipuripara in Mirpur, received bullets as the police fired shots at a group of muggers while snatching valuable from two rickshaw passengers in Kafrul area at about 9:00pm Sunday. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the attending doctors declared him dead.
   The victim’s father claimed that there was neither any case nor any complain against his son with any police station, but the police are trying to identify him as a criminal to hide their misdeed.
   He demanded proper investigation into the incident and punishment of the killers.
   ‘I know Sohel for more than two years and he was in no way a criminal. He was the victim of a conspiracy,’ Shafiqul Islam, a businessman and also the employer of Sohel, told newsmen at the hospital Monday.
   According to a witness, Sohel was passing through the road and came in line of the firing the police had opened at a gang of muggers.
   Meanwhile, Saiful Islam, one of the mugged rickshaw passengers, filed a case with the Kafrul police Sunday night accusing four unidentified persons in connection with the snatching.

Robbers looted Tk 15 lakh in cash, gold ornaments and other valuables, and injured three of the members of a businessman’s family in a house in a Savar village in Dhaka early Monday.
   The family members said the robbers sneaked into the two-storey building of Julhasuddin at Jainabari through the window grilles at about 3:00am.
   The robbers confined all the members to a room and assaulted the house owner, his wife Qamrunnahar and daughter Masama Akter, as they delayed to hand over the keys.
   The robbers then ransacked all the rooms and took away over Tk 2.6 lakh in cash, gold and silver ornaments and other valuables.

The BNP Parliamentary Party will meet on Thursday, when the parliament goes into its 16th session.
   The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, will preside over the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at 3:00pm, said a press release from chief whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain on Monday.
   Delwar requested members to attend the meeting in time.
   The last meeting of the BNPPP was held on September 13 last year.
   The 16th session of the eighth Jatiya Sangsad, which according to sources in the parliament secretariat and the law ministry, is likely to turn into the budget session, will begin at 5:00pm.
   The business advisory committee of the parliament will sit at 4:00pm on the day to finalise the length and business of the session, added sources.
   The parliament secretariat has completed all preparations for the 16th session.

Bandits injured 30 villagers in an attempt of robbery at Shastapur village of Fatullah in Narayanganj early Monday.
   Critically injured, Jewel, 27, and Masum, 30, were taken to Narayanganj Sadar Hospital.
   The police said a gang of robbers entered the house of Shahjahan, a local industrialist, near Shibu market and held him hostage at gunpoint.
   The villagers encircled the house, and the robbers opened fire on them. They fired at least 30 rounds.
   The police visited the place, but no case was filed with the Fatullah police and nobody was arrested till evening.
   Locals said another robbery had been committed at Shahjahan’s brother’s house a month ago and at least 10 robberies had taken place at Fatullah in the past week.

The Awami League president and leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, said on Monday if her party regains power, it will work for the welfare of the people.
   When in power the Awami League had worked for their welfare, she said addressing the party leaders and workers at her Sudha Sadan residence when they went there to congratulate Hasina on nominating Mosharrof Hossain as an advisory council member.
   Terming the BNP-Jamaat alliance government as an anti-people one, Hasina said they have seized the rights of the people, says a press release. She criticised the government for their failure to control price hike of the essentials and said during her rule prices of essentials were stable.
   Mosharrof earlier placed a wreath at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of Bangabandhu Museum. The party presidium member, Kazi Zafar Ullah MP, organising secretary Abdur Rahman and others were present.

The Ministry of Science, and Information and Communications Technology in association with the Austria-based International Centre for New Media announced a national contest for the econtent award 2005.
   The winners will participate in the World Summit Award 2005, scheduled to be held in Tunisia in November, a release said.
   The last date for sending in entries is May 30, 2005 and the results will be announced on June 25, 2005. The contest will be held in eight categories, comprising e-education, e-health, e-government, e-business, e-culture, e-inclusion, e-entertainment, and e-science.
   Entries can be in the forms of compact disks, video compact disks, digital versatile disks, software, multimedia, and web sites, web portals, and mobile phones incorporating etechnology, said the event coordinator Md Akteruzzaman.

A leading virologist on Sunday called for reforming the decade-old policy on HIV and AIDS in the country, saying the old policy had proved inadequate to ensure the care and treatment support to the people with the disease.
   ‘The policy of 1995 is focused only on prevention programmes, but it is time to look also into the rights of the people living with HIV and AIDS (PHAs) in the country,’ Professor Nazrul Islam of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University said at a meeting organised by Ashar Alo Society, for reviewing the five-year strategic planning to support the PHAs.
   Nazrul Islam said the development partners were focusing only on the HIV prevention, keeping their one eye closed towards the already-infected people, who needed immediate treatment and care supports, including drugs at free or cheaper rates to prolong their lives.
   ‘The treatment and care support is very poor in the country. The policymakers should come out of the thoughts of 1995 and introduce new policy of 2005,’ the renowned virologist said adding that 900 PHAs were supposed to get anti-retroviral from donors, but it had become uncertain.