Less than 20pc contraceptives
used since 2003
Govt reluctant to use ECPs on
‘religious’ grounds
Alpha Arzu
The government has refrained from encouraging use of ‘emergency contraceptive pills’, supplied by the United Nations Population Fund to check unwanted pregnancy and abortion and to thus reduce maternal mortality.
Sources in the Directorate of Family Planning told New Age that only 1.37 lakh such pills have been used in the last three years, although the UN body provided the government with a total of 19 lakh pills in two phases. Now, some 2.63 lakh pills are set to expire by September 2007.
Though the UN agency supplied the pills in view of the high rate of maternal mortality in Bangladesh, the government is hesitant in promoting their use on religious grounds, the sources added.
In Bangladesh, at least 20 per cent of the pregnancies are considered to be ‘unwanted’, be they marital or extra-marital. Official statistics also show that 24 per cent of the maternal deaths are caused by abortion-related complications. Also, because of unexpected pregnancy, some 1.20 lakh mothers every year have to undergo risky ‘menstrual regulation’.
However, the emergency contraceptive pills are not considered a method of abortion. They are rather a safe way of avoiding abortion and resultant health hazards, said the project director of the ECP Service in Bangladesh, Zafar Ahmed Hakim. He claimed that emergency contraception has the potential to considerably reduce unwanted pregnancy.
According to a source in UNFPA, Dhaka office, 19 lakh ECPs were distributed to the government in two phases. Four lakh pills were distributed in 2003 and 15 lakh pills in 2005 for 17.9l lakh field workers to give to the consumers who are victims of unwanted pregnancy, said the source.
The four lakh pills crossed their expiry date in September 2007 and 15 lakh pills ‘expired’ in March 2009, said the source.
A high official of the health and family welfare ministry said that the government still thinks of using the pills to reduce maternal deaths and achieve some of the Millennium Development Goals.
OMS yet to start in Ctg, no
impact in Barisal
Our Correspondents . Chittagong and Barisal
Open market sale programme, undertaken by the government to keep the prices of essential commodities stable during Ramadan, is yet to start in the Chittagong city even one week after the scheduled time.
Sources in the food department said the government had appointed the Chittagong mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, as the chairman of a committee formed to carry out the programme.
The government also asked the authorities concerned to initiate the programme by September 20, and issued a circular to conduct OMS activities with 100 dealers who were appointed by the deputy commissioner in 2005.
The date fixed for initiating the programme had been deferred as the mayor had expressed reluctance to sell essential commodities through the dealers appointed earlier.
The mayor told New Age that all the 100 dealers were appointed on the basis of their affiliations to the ruling alliance who committed massive irregularities in OMS activities during Ramadan last year.
‘The common people will be much benefited, if the OMS programme is conducted by the ward commissioners of the city corporation,’ the mayor said.
As the party men who were appointed as dealers earlier had no accountability, they would commit more irregularities, the mayor claimed.
Meanwhile, some 101 dealers started open market sale at Sandwip, Mirsharai, Sitakunda, Raujan, Rangunia, Chandanaish, Boalkhali and Anwara upazilas, but the programme had not been initiated yet in the other upazilas, the sources said.
The New Age Barisal correspondent reported that the food department had already allocated 873 tonnes of rice among 593 dealers in the Barisal division for open market sale.
But open market sale of rice had a little impact on the market. Rice was selling between Tk 15 and Tk 26 per kilogram in the market while OMS rice was selling at Tk 13 per kilogram.
Sukumar Chandra Roy, regional food controller, said the OMS programme started across the country on September 20, but in Barisal on September 24.
Of the total, 167 tonnes of rice were allocated for 131 dealers in Barisal, 68 tonnes for 38 dealers in Jhalakati, 220 tonnes for 112 dealers in Bhola, 130 tonnes for 117 dealers in Pirojpur, 200 tonnes for 115 dealers in Patuakhali, 80 tonnes for 88 dealers in Barguna.
The local people alleged that a section of unscrupulous dealers were selling rice in the black market as the market price is much higher than that of the open market sale.
The quality rice was supplied at Tk 12 per kg under the OMS, but its market value is between Tk 20 and Tk 22 per kg.
Lower income group people are not getting OMS rice as the dealers were distributing an amount of rice saying that their stocks were exhausted. The dealers were selling the rest amount in the black market, the locals alleged.
Businessmen at the wholesale rice market said the amount of rice distributed under OMS programme was very scanty as against the demand. As OMS rice was not distributed properly, it failed to make any impact on the rice market, they added.
Aftab buried with state honours
Staff Correspondent
Professor Aftab Ahmad, one of the organisers of the 1969 uprising and valiant freedom fighter, was laid to rest with state honours in the Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard at Mirpur in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Hundreds of mourners, from ministers to students and his colleagues, paid their tribute to Aftab, also a senior teacher of political science in the University of Dhaka, before the namaz-e-janaza at the university mosque.
Aftab, an outspoken figure who was always vocal in favour of his own opinions, died in Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday three days after he had been shot at in his house Saturday night.
Three unidentified young men shot at him after entering his Fuller Road house, near the British Council, on the university campus.
The body of the 57-year-old professor was first taken to his Fuller Road house at 10:00am where his colleagues, students and relatives paid tribute.
Aftab’s widow Noorjahan Aftab urged the government to find out who masterminded the attack.
The namaz-e-janaza was delayed by more than an hour, as Noorjahan demanded that the authorities should bury Aftab at the place designated for freedom fighters in the Martyred Intellectuals’ Graveyard.
Before the namaz-e-janaza, the body was also kept at the foot of Aparajeya Bangla for well-wishers to show respect to him.
Hundreds of mourners joined the funeral at the central mosque of the university. The law minister, Moudud Ahmed, education minister M Osman Farruk, jute minister Shahjahan Siraj, state minister for civil aviation Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, women’s affairs adviser Barkatullah Bulu, JSD president ASM Abdur Rab, Dhaka University vice-chancellor SMA Faiz, former vice-chancellors Maniruzzaman Miah, AK Azad Chowdhury and Anwarullah Chowdhury, the teachers’ association leaders Sharif Ullah Bhuiyan and Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, and AAMS Arefin Siddique, National University vice-chancellor Waqil Ahmed, and Jai Jai Din editor Shafik Rehman were among mourners.
After the namz-e-janaza, the coffin was draped with the national flag and the Muktijoddha Sangsad flag. A contingent of police paid guard of honour to the coffin when the Last Post was sounded.
Aftab was the founding executive editor of the now-defunct Ganakantha, mouthpiece of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, in the post-independence period.
Aftab joined the University of Chittagong as teacher in 1976 and worked there until he became a professor of the University of Dhaka in 1995. He obtained his PhD degree from London University in the 1980s.
A radical in his early life, Aftab was the one of those who chanted the historic slogan, Jai Bangla, for the first time on September 15, 1969, which eventually became a national slogan, leading to the war of independence in 1971.
After independence, Aftab was abducted twice by his political opponents in the Awami League. He was detained in the Dhaka Central Jail without any trial by the government of Sheik Mujibur Rahman. He was released from the jail during the rule of Ziaur Rahman. Aftab later became a protagonist of the pro-BNP teachers’ camp.
He once became vocal about changing the national anthem, terming it an alien product. He was criticised by the men of his own party and his room on the campus was burnt by activists of the Awami League-backed Chhatra League.
Aftab was made vice-chancellor of the National University on July 5, 2003 and removed from the position on July 20, 2005.
After his removal from the National University, he became critical of the government policies and expressed strong anti-government opinions in different talk shows on television.
‘State of Agriculture in
Bangladesh’ launched
MK Anwar sees sustainability of
economy in farm sector
Staff Correspondent
Agriculture will remain a key sector for sustenance of the Bangladesh economy despite a gradual decline in its proportional contribution to the gross domestic product, the agriculture minister, MK Anwar, said on Wednesday.
‘It will not be possible to feed a population of 150 million, neglecting agriculture. We have to depend on it since no alternative to food grains has been innovated,’ he told the launch ceremony of a publication at the National Press Club.
The Forum for Information Dissemination on Agriculture published the book, Journalists’ Views: State of Agriculture in Bangladesh, containing 10 articles on critical issues of the farm sector, under a fellowship programme sponsored by agriculture marketing company Syngenta.
Anwar said the gross output in overall agriculture increased manifold from the 1960s, but its share in the gross domestic product came down to about 25 per cent from more than 60 per cent.
The forum president, Professor M Golam Rahman, chairing the session, said other sectors flourished, but ‘agriculture should remain the backbone of the national economy.’
Anwar, however, stressed the need for reducing the costs of production in agriculture, citing an example that it took 3,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of rice. At the same time, he stressed the need for providing the farmers with fair price of their produces to make farming commercially viable.
The Syngenta managing director, Sarwar Ahmed, lauded the government for not manipulating the market forces resulting in better pricing of agricultural commodities.
MA Hamid Miah, IRRI liaison scientist for Bangladesh, spoke about different aspects of the agriculture and research in Bangladesh while the forum’s general secretary Reaz Ahmed moderated the meeting.
Rallies, get-together mark
World Tourism Day
Staff Correspondent
World Tourism Day-2006 was observed in the country Wednesday as elsewhere in the world to promote tourism and make people aware of its social, cultural, political and economic importance.
Different government and non-government organisations including tour and adventure clubs arranged colourful rallies, discussions and cultural programmes to mark the day, themed this year on ‘Tourism Enriches.’
Dhaka University Tourist Society brought out a colourful rally in cooperation with Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation from the university campus in the morning.
The state minister for civil aviation and tourism, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, inaugurated the rally, while the secretary of the ministry, Mohammad Sahid Alam, and the parjatan corporation chairman, Mahfujul Huq, also spoke.
The IBAIS University vice-chancellor, Haripad Banarjee, and the Dhaka University Tourist Society advisor, Akhter Hossain Khan, were present, among others.
Speakers said that travelling for leisure and business increased all over the world and now it is a fastest-growing industry.
They stressed public-private partnership for development of tourism industry.
Tourist society entertainers acted scenes of marriage of different religious and ethnic societies, highlighting traditional and cultural diversities.
Bangladesh Tourism Expansion Forum and Bangladesh Adventure Club also organised a discussion and get-together of local tourists at the lawn Curzon Hall to mark the day.
Ashraful Gani, a member of the Bangladesh Tourism Expansion Forum, said, ‘We have organised this get-together so that regular tourists can share their thrills and joyous experiences with the audience, and encourage others to travel.’
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation secretary general, Francesco Frangialli, said in a message that tourism is now well-recognised as one of the key ways to bring wealth and experience from the richest to the poorest countries.
‘Thus, it will help to achieve the millennium development goals,’ he believed.
Opposition differs on Hafiz’s
comment on commodity prices
Staff Correspondent
The leaders of the opposition combine led by the Awami League on Wednesday differed on the comment of the commerce minister, Hafiz Uddin, regarding the prices of essential commodities.
The leaders said the finance minister told a lie when he said the commodity market was under control.
Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak at a rally at Muktangan said the prices of essential commodities were beyond reach of the people.
But Hafiz Uddin said the prices were under control and the prices of essential commodities had not increased in Ramadan.
The prices of some essential commodities increased several times during Ramadan and therefore the minister told a lie, Razzak said.
The city unit of the combine held the rally to protest against the price increase of essential commodities during Ramadan.
‘We wanted to discuss the price increase and power outage issues in Jatiya Sangsad, but the speaker did not give us floor,’ Razzak said.
Another Awami League presidium member Tofail Ahmed said during the five-year rule of the Awami League government, the prices of essential commodities had not increased.
‘We took some effective measures to check the prices increase during Ramadan, but the alliance government was patronising the hoarders, responsible for price increase,’ Tofail said.
The combine coordinator, Abdul Jalil, also Awami League general secretary, said the prime minister and her family members earned a huge amount of money by patronising the hoarders.
The people must stop the plunder by the alliance government through mandate in the next elections, Jalil said.
Chaired by the city unit combine coordinator Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, the rally was also addressed by Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction president Hasanul Haq Inu, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Nurul Islam and Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua .
The rally was followed by a procession ended at the Nightingale crossing.
The opposition alliance will hold rallies in all districts today against the increase in the prices of essential commodities.
One killed during bus robbery
Staff Correspondent
One person was killed and another injured critically in attack by robbers inside a passenger bus on Mirpur Road in the Dhaka city early Wednesday.
The deceased was identified as Tajul Islam alias Tajuddin, 35, of Kalshi Mosque area in Mirpur. Tajul was an employee of Dhaka Super Hair Cutting Salon at Hotel Garden in Gulistan.
The injured was identified as Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain, 35, son of Abdus Samad, of Pirerbagh, and also a service holder of a private organisation.
Witnesses said a gang of robbers attacked the passengers at about 1:00am at Agargaon area when they were returning home by a bus from Gulistan. The robbers indiscriminately stabbed the passengers as they tried to resist them.
The gang committed the robbery with the help of the bus employees who managed to flee the scene along with the robbers, they said.
4 AL men hurt in bomb attack
United News of Bangladesh . Meherpur
Four Awami League leaders were injured in a bomb attack by terrorists at Chakshyamnagar on Meherpur-Mujibnagar road Tuesday night.
The police said the criminals threw two bombs on the AL men while they were going to Meherpur town from Dariapur village in an auto-rickshaw at about 10pm.
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