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The government has taken up a five-year avian influenza preparedness and response project to step up bird flu surveillance and diagnosis, fisheries and livestock ministry sources said.
   The Executive Committee of National Economic Council in a meeting last week approved the Tk 154 crore project.
   The World Bank is coordinating the finance for the project likely to start next month, officials of the ministry said.
   Of its budget, Tk 112 crore will come as a soft loan from the International Development Agency and Tk 21 crore as a grant from the Avian Human Influenza Trust Fund, with the remaining Tk 21 crore to be provided in kind by the government.
   A 15-member steering committee headed by the secretary of the ministry will oversee the project activities, said Abdul Motaleb, administrative director of the Department of Livestock Services.
   The principal goals of the project are to strengthen the preventive measures, including the surveillance system, and preparedness to deal with the fatal disease, and upgrade diagnostic capacity, virus research and outbreak containment plan and control programme.
   The specific aims of the project are to improve the bio-security in poultry production and trade, providing assistance to disease surveillance of the migratory birds, and safeguarding people from any pandemic of the disease by keeping any outbreak of it under control.
   It will strengthen the laboratory surveillance and diagnostic capacity of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Central Disease Investigation Laboratory, and the seven field-level disease investigation labs in the country, the sources said.
   The government will spend Tk 11 crore under the project for renovation and maintenance of the laboratories.
   One of the project components is setting up a modern pre-fabricated laboratory, which will be the first of its kind in the country, under the BLRI at a cost of Tk 4.90 crore.
   Tk 14.35 crore has been allocated in the project for compensating poultry farmers whose birds will be culled. Conducting surveillance and collecting samples at the field level by DLS officials will cost Tk 6.83 crore while Tk 8.50 crore is earmarked for keeping the migratory birds at some 274 locations in the country under surveillance.
   Tk 14 crore has been allocated for holding training courses and awareness raising programmes on bird flu.
   Besides, Tk 10 crore will be spent to engage local and foreign consultants, Tk 3.50 crore for ensuring bio-security, Tk 3 crore to purchase 300 motorbikes for the upazila livestock officers, and Tk 11 crore to buy fuel and maintain vehicles used by the district livestock officials.

Around 13 per cent under-2 children in the country suffer from severe malnutrition and related diseases while 50 per cent of the same age group does not gain proper height, according to the National Nutrition Programme statistics.
   It also shows that half of the population of the country suffer from nutritional anaemia and more than 43 per cent people are in unsafe condition due to the scarcity of iodine in foods.
   The NNP statistics, presented at a workshop at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday, also shows that about 41 per cent women are the victims of long-term malnutrition.
   Between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the children are born underweighted due to the nutritional deficiency of the mothers, it added saying that the minimum weight of the newborns should be 2.5 kilogram.
   Apart from the malnutrition disorders, there are severe problems like children’s night blindness.
   The malnutrition problems occur due to the deficiency of protein, iodine, iron and vitamins in the food intake of people of all ages.
   The executive director of the National Nutrition Programme under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ranajit Kumar Bishwas, told the workshop on the NNP that Bangladesh had still a long way to go to achieve full nutrition and the millennium development goals in terms of reducing hunger and child and maternal mortality rate.
   He said the country, in terms of nutrition, achieved about 70 per cent of the optimum success since the NNP had been launched in 2004.
   The adviser in-charge of the health and family welfare ministry, ASM Matiur Rahman, was present as chief guest while the secretary of the ministry, Ehsan Ul Fattah, as special guest at the concluding session of the workshop.
   The NNP covers 105 upazilas in 34 districts where 164,965 community nutrition promoter, mainly women, work in the field-level.
   The health ministry is conducting the programme in cooperation with the ministries of agriculture, fisheries and livestock and women and child affairs and nine other non-governmental organisations.
   According to a survey conducted in the NNP areas, it has been found that in September 2004, the rate of severe malnutrition in under-2 children was 24 per cent while in February 2007 it came down to 14.7 per cent.
   In September 2004, the rate of birth of underweighted babies was 18 per cent and it came down to 8.2 per cent in February 2007, the survey finds.
   Ranajit said the target groups of the nutrition programme were adolescent girls, newly married couples, pregnant women and lactating mothers while the programme includes activities of behavioural changes, awareness building, and encouraging, supplementing and give training to the target group on nutritional knowledge.
   The NNP directors present at the workshop said the aims of the NNP are also to make the people aware of nutrition, protecting the mothers and children from severe malnutrition disorders and reducing the child and maternal mortality rate.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, Saturday asked government officials to work for implementing the caretaker government’s key objective of holding a free, fair and neutral election.
   He made the call while addressing the annual dinner of the Officers Club on Bailey Road in Dhaka in the evening.
   Fakhruddin also urged the civil bureaucrats to deliver service to people keeping in mind that government was a service-providing institution. ‘Government’s objective to serve the people would see a greater success if you imagine yourselves as service-seeker citizens,’ the head of the interim government told the officials.
   He said his government was working with some key objectives, including holding a free, fair and credible election for which some ancillary tasks will have to be accomplished.
   Already some successes have been achieved in the government’s task, he added. He said this government was also working to keep the wheels of economy moving.
   The chief adviser recalled his involvement in the officers club during his previous service life and said now he was witnessing many known faces.
   Taking a trip further down memory lane, he said he was general secretary of the club in the late 60s. Responding to some proposals regarding development of the club, the CA assured of doing whatever possible.
   Cabinet secretary and chairman of the officers club Ali Imam Majumdar and its general secretary Shajahan Majumdar, a former secretary, also spoke on the occasion.

Charge hearing towards indictment of detained Awami
   League presidium member Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir in a graft case begins today at
   a special makeshift court at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban
   complex.
   The case against Alamgir, also former state minister for finance and planning, cites inconsistencies between his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission and the actual wealth he has.
   The anti-graft body found out that the accused did not declare in his wealth statement Tk 1.17 crore that he has in fixed-deposit accounts.
   Following the submission of a supplementary charge sheet by the ACC investigation officer before the court of Judge Shahed Nooruddin, his undisclosed and under-estimated assets currently stand at Tk 2.10 crore.
   Alamgir, arrested on February 4 by the army-led joint forces during the drive against suspected corrupt politicians, businessmen and bigwigs in high places, showed his bank balance to be Tk 90,000 whereas investigations found the figure as actually Tk 2.45 lakh.

The crisis arising out of the vested property act that has gradually marginalised the country’s Hindu community cannot be resolved without political commitment since the issue is not merely a legal one but entirely a creation of undemocratic politics.
   Rights activists and politicians came up with the observation at a seminar on Saturday, adding that politicians themselves had played bad games to perpetuate the land grabbing using the black law.
   The Association for Land Reform and Development, Nijera Kori and Samata jointly organised the seminar on ‘deprivation of affected million families: living with vested properties in Bangladesh’ at the LGED conference room in the city.
   Golam Rabbani, a former Supreme Court judge, said the problem surrounding the enemy property act of 1965 could have easily been solved by the court immediately after the independence in 1971. But, he pointed out, enactment of another law styled the Vested Property Act made the issue rather more complicated.
   Emphasising the need for reverting to secular character of the state, he suggested formation of a tribunal to return the properties to the original owners and proper compensation for ‘victims of circumstances.’
   ‘The situation will remain unchanged so long the state will continue its communal character and the provision of state religion will be there,’ he observed.
   Abul Barkat, an economics professor of Dhaka University, presented the findings of his research on the issue and recommended various measures to correct the situation in the greater interest of establishing a civilised society.
   Former caretaker government adviser Sultana Kamal, New Age editor Nurul Kabir, senior journalist Kamal Lohani, Workers’ Party president Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Huq Inu, Communist Party leader Morshed Ali, Supreme Court lawyer Subrata Chowdhury, and a number of lawyers including Rana Dasgupta, Tobarak Hossain, Purnendu Bikash Chowdhury and Syeda Rizwana Hasan took part in the discussion.
   Subrata Chowdhury said mentioned that the secular forces had earlier formed an alliance and it formulated a 23-point charter of demands. ‘But problems with vested property act is still there amid strong opposition from the major components of the alliance itself,’ he added.
   A committee was formed with Suranjit Sengupata as its chief during the Awami League regime of 1996-2001, but the committee chief himself was not allowed to attend a cabinet committee meeting in this regard, Chowdhury pointed out.
   The interim government issued a circular on March 15 announcing that it would implement the Vested Property Return Act which was enacted during the Awami League rule. ‘If the law is implemented with its present form, it will take us back to the era after 1965 because of loopholes and trickery that are deliberately done in the law,’ he said.
   Rashed Khan Menon said he tabled a proposal on the issue in the country’s second parliament in 1979 and surprisingly he got support from a Muslim League lawmaker. He expressed his disappointment at the fact that he had faced resistance from the people widely known to be secular while preparing the charter of demands of the 14-party alliance last year.
   Rana Dasgupta said he had initiated movement against the vested property act in the late 1970s but the obstacles came from the social elite and many of them tried to brand it as communal movement.
   Sutlana Kamal said existence of such laws raised questions on ‘whether the nation is civilised or not’. Even then a very few people are paying heed to the problem.
   ‘Once the situation was that leaders were vocal with secular slogans before polls but now the leaders get much communal before the polls,’ she said.
   Hasanul Huq Inu said all the misdeeds regarding the vested property act were done under patronisation and knowledge of the leaders.
   ‘If we do not change the trend of electing those leaders whom we criticise for their misdeeds, the situation will remain the same,’ said Morshed Ali.
   Nurul Kabir said the undemocratic polity and communal culture pursued and practiced by the ruling elite of the country since the independence are responsible for the perpetuation of an unjust law like vested property act.
   ‘A pervasive political struggle for democratising out society and state on the basis of secular principles would end such injustices against religious and ethnic minority groups of the country’, said the New Age editor.

Indigenous community people demanded punishment of individuals and organisations that swindled them out of lakhs of taka with false overseas job hopes.
   They alleged that Dolly
   Debi, a Singapore national, joined hand with former director of the Nangrima Church in the city’s Kalachanpur area Paster Monoj Chisim, Zerum Kosta and an NGO, Environment Awareness and Humanity Society to misappropriate their money in the name of religion and jobs in Singapore.
   They collected Tk 1 lakh each from 45 indigenous people, mostly of Garo tribe, pledging to bring them fortune by providing jobs in Singapore, the tribal community people alleged at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity auditorium Saturday.
   Bijoy Risil spoke on behalf of the victims, most of whom were present there.
   The victims were originally from Mymensingh, Sherpur, Netrokona, Tangail and Sunamganj districts, but were staying in the city’s Kalachanpur, Narda, Badda, Kuril and Shahajadpur areas under Gulshan police station.
   They alleged that Dolly, during a prayer session at the Kalachanpur church few
   years back proposed
   them that she would help them get jobs in Singapore and make fortunes.
   The victims believed in her promise and sold out their lands and belongings to collect the money for the lady,
   who disappeared with the money and set up another business in Gulshan with one Arif Hossain.
   A case was filed with Gulshan police station and investigation officer Jashim Uddin conducted several
   raids but failed to arrest the
   culprits.
   The tribal people alleged that they provided the address and details of Dolly and others, but the police failed to catch them. They appealed to the government to help them get their money back.

Former military top brasses, including former army chief Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Saturday welcomed the elevation of ranks of the three chiefs of the Armed Forces.
   ‘The decision should have been taken much earlier. This will not only enhance the image of our armed forces abroad, but also encourage them to further improve their professional excellence,’ Mahbubur Rahman told the news agency.
   Rahman, a military-turned politician, who was chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on Defence Ministry, said they had recommended upgrading the ranks of the three chiefs.
   He said although smaller military forces in some neighbouring countries, including Nepal, have four-star generals, Bangladesh having an expanding force and contribution to UN peacekeeping missions with reputation had no full General earlier.
   Even the strength of the British Army is less than that of Bangladesh, but they have several full Generals, said Rahman.
   He mentioned that Ziaur Rahman was made the army chief with rank of Lieutenant General in 1979 and since then there had not been any upgrading to the rank of army chief in last 27 years.
   He said the strength of Bangladesh army was about 50,000 in 1979, which has now expanded three times in both strength and dimension.
   Lt Gen (retd) Mir Showkat Ali termed the upgrading of the ranks of the three chiefs of the armed forces ‘a step in the right direction’.
   Echoing similar views, Major General (retd) M Subid Ali Bhuiyan said the decision was a milestone in the Bangladesh Army, which would boost their moral strength and enhance their image abroad.

A student of South East University drowned in the water of Madhabkunda waterfall under Baralekha upazila in Moulvibazar on Friday afternoon.
   The victim was identified as 23-year-old Anisur Rahman, a fourth year BBA student of the university.
   His body was recovered from the ditch on Saturday and handed over to his guardian.
   The police said 12 students of the 11th batch of BBA fourth year at South East University went to visit the Madhabkunda waterfall on Friday. The students were taking bath in the water. At one stage, Anisur drowned in the ditch water.
   Later local people, police and firefighters started searching him but had failed to trace till Friday night. On Saturday morning firefighters recovered his dead body of Anisur Rahman and handed over to Moshiul Azam, uncle of the deceased.

The Bangladeshi Rifles arrested four Indian nationals from the Montala bordering area under Madhabpur in Habiganj Saturday noon for illegal intrusion.
   The arrested were identified as Dulal, 35, Bajan Das, 32, Narayan Das, 40, and Sreekant, 24, of village Kamarghat under Lebung thana in Tripura.
   BDR sources said they also recovered 500 Indian rupee and Tk 1,100 from the possessions of the arrested persons.
   A case was filed with the Madhabpur police.

Indian conglomerate Tata’s proposed investment in Bangladesh would be harmful for the economy and threat to the country’s energy security, warned speakers at a seminar on investment in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Tata is interested in setting up a steel mill, a fertiliser factory and a power plant besides an open pit coal mine, and has come up with a proposal for investing about $3 billion for which it demanded a guaranteed gas supply.
   ‘We have very little national resources and the gas reserve can be used for domestic purpose for ten years at most,’ reminded the convener of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah.
   The Dhaka University unit of the national committee organised the seminar, ‘The political implication of Tata investment in Bangladesh’ at the auditorium of the commerce faculty.
   The proposed establishments will require 7,000 acres which will make thousands of people homeless while the open pit mine would also pollute the environment, said economist MM Akash at the seminar.
   Luvana Tabassum, a student of economics at Dhaka University, during her keynote presentation noted that the proposed projects were export oriented and thus would not be favourable for the economy.
   Chaired by professor Akmal Hossain, convener of the Dhaka University unit of the national committee, professor Mikaddam Hossain and Biplob Mandol took part in the discussion.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Teachers’ Association opposed the government’s move to form a search committee for bringing transparency in the appointment of vice-chancellor, pro vice-chancellor and treasurer in public universities.
   ‘It is a clear violation of BUET Ordinance and there is no need for such committee, the teacher leaders said in a press release on Saturday, adding ‘The students’ admission and teachers appointment system of BUET is unquestionable and praiseworthy from its beginning which can be milestone for others.’
   The BUET Teachers Association also opposed any change in the BUET Order of 1962 (amended 1972) saying, ‘BUET is an autonomous body and the appointment procedures is being included in the ordinance.’
   They also said it should not fair to use same committee for all public universities.
   Demanding immediate repeal of the search committee BUET Teachers Association said any search committee of BUET should be formed comprising of persons engaged in engineering education.

Nearly 60 per cent or 36 million people, though classified non-poor by the government, suffer from food poverty, according to a joint study by Dhaka University and International Development Research Center released Saturday.
   The survey also found variations in food poverty rates for male and female members of households in both rural and urban areas.
   It said that 59.51 per cent of female members were food poor compared to 58.71 per cent male members.
   It drew the findings calculating calorie requirement of every individual member of a household arguing that the method - cost of basic needs method, followed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank, measured incidences of poverty at household level, rather than at the individual level.
   The findings of the study — ‘capturing intra-household distribution and poverty incidence: a study on Bangladesh’ was revealed at a seminar at BRAC Center. The Bureau of Economic Research of DU and the IDRC, Canada organised the programme.
   ‘The BBS method does not properly reflect the calorie requirement of individual members of a household. It should employ intra-household distribution method as part of its present method to get a fair picture of the incidence of poverty,’ said Selim Raihan, who teaches economics at DU.
   He said that they conducted the survey on 1039 households across the country.
   According to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2006, based on the CBN method, a total of 40 per cent or 54.8 million people out of 137 million were poor in 2005. The remaining 60 per cent or 82.2 million people were classified as non-poor.
   However, the latest study shows that 36 million people out of 82.2 million non-poor people are living in food poverty.
   ‘Poverty rate has declined rapidly in the period between the years 2000-2005. However, the rate of calorie intake has declined. When you take into account intra-household distribution, there might be serious misallocation of resources,’ said Professor MA Taslim, chairman of the BER of DU.
   Experts from BBS and WB, however, differed on the findings, saying the sample size was too small to get a proper picture of food poverty in the country.
   ‘The sample size should be at least ten times higher to get a fair picture of incidence of poverty in a country with an about 140 million population,’ said Dr Hassan Zaman, senior economist of the World Bank, Dhaka.
   ‘But it is helpful to understand the dimensions of resource allocations at the individual level,’ he said.
   Dr Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, former member of the Planning Commission, suggested changing the old-age food baskets for measurement of poverty.
   ‘A new food basket for calculating poverty is needed. There remains suspicion on poverty rate if it is counted based on the old consumption pattern,’ he said, suggesting that the study be brought to the notice of the government for policy intervention.
   Among others, DU economics professor Farid Uddin Ahmed, Bazlul Haque Khondker, and Ismail Hossain, professor of economics at Janhangir Nagar University, also spoke on the occasion.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal chairman Hasanul Huq Inu has said Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia ditched their allies once they rode on them to power and this tendency has led to their ‘downfall’.
   ‘The chiefs of the Awami League and the BNP would take allies by their side to launch anti-incumbency movements,’ he said Friday in an exclusive interview with the news agency in his Darussalam residence in Dhaka.
   ‘But once in power, both these leaders tended to discard their allies and remain the sole proprietors of power,’ said Inu, whose JSD was part of the Awami League-led ‘mega alliance’ that had launched a street movement against Khaleda’s coalition government.
   The veteran leader was all praises for the military-backed interim government headed by Fakhruddin Ahmed and had a few advices for it.
   He emphasised a coordinated political strategy between the government, armed forces, Election Commission and political parties.
   ‘The caretaker government should be careful about patronising any group, political party or individual at the moment.
   ‘Instead, it should leave no stone unturned in its drive to root out corruption and terrorism to promote democratic practices and establish rule of law in the country.’
   Inu said the interim government had better initiate all-party deliberations on issues of coordination to end misunderstandings and misconceptions among the cardinal actors in governance.
   The JSD leader said elected lawmakers should lead the nation properly once the interim administration presented free, transparent and credible elections.
   He lauded the 120 days of emergency rule by the government and the armed forces that have saved the country from conspiracy and misrule.
   The government’s efforts to punish militants and communal elements, arrest the corrupt in a bid to free society from the all-pervading influence of black money and reform the Election Commission reflect the spirit of the former ‘greater political alliance’, Inu said.
   The JSD leader said many of the political alliances, including the two leading political parties, tend to be upholding dynastic governance that should be done away with.
   On the possible emergence of new political parties now, he said, ‘Any third front is not what our people want or need today. We must all try to ensure free and fair elections first, which will pave the way to promoting new leadership, which is necessary.’
   The JSD supreme said the ongoing reform programmes must meaningfully change the corrupt modes, but such changes should be based on national harmony and not on discord.
   ‘And that much desired accord may be achieved through a unified ‘national government’ and the 14-party will be a party of it,’ he concluded.