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Declining trends in exports and investment, coupled with higher inflation driven by soaring fuel oil and food prices, are set to affect the economic growth in the coming years, a seminar was told on Saturday.
   Painting a bleak prospect of the country’s economy, experts there stressed the need for a national consensus through political dialogue to resolve critical economic issues.
   They cautioned the government against any increase in domestic fuel price before the coming Boro cultivation season to check food prices from further spiralling.
   They also stressed the need for urgent measures to revive rural economy and widen the social safety net to support the vulnerable groups.
   ‘Measures like demolition of local infrastructures, including bazars, following the changeover in January have severely affected the rural economy. As an immediate step to overcome possible crisis, we have to fully capitalise the potentials of Boro harvest,’ economist Mahbub Ullah said.
   Bangladesh Policy Forum organised the seminar on trends of macro-economy at the National Press Club.
   Mahmudur Rahman, former executive chairman of Board of Investment, insisted that farmers should not be ‘disturbed’ by any increase in diesel price ahead of the Boro season in the pretext of adjusting to global petroleum price hike.
   ‘All achievements of the present government — be it reforms or anti-corruption drives — will be overshadowed if the living standard of commoners does not improve,’ he said.
   Shafayet Ahmed, a retired brigadier general, viewed that activities of the interim government in the last 11 months had been limited to arrests of some corruption suspects and demolition of business establishments, rather than bringing basic reforms to get rid of all social evils.
   Without mentioning any name, he and Mahbub regretted that those ‘devils’ who were responsible for economic debacle immediately after the independence were being given upper hands in determining economic policies and taking decisions such as planned business forum.
   In his keynote on ‘Macroeconomic Trend and Challenges’, Mahmudur Rahman listed seven challenges — low investment, unemployment, high inflation, jump in fuel price, reduction in export trends, crop shortage locally and internationally and forecast of lower GDP growth.
   Exports fell 26 per cent short of the target in the first two months of the current fiscal and also marked negative growth by 11.7 per cent against the corresponding period of the previous year — for the first time after the decline in 2001-02 fiscal as a result of terrorist attacks in the USA.
   More alarmingly, he pointed out, import of capital machinery declined by 25 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared to 25 per cent growth during the same period of the previous year.
   Inflation hovers around 10 per cent in recent times while trends of investment show decline. ‘The economy is in stagflation,’ he said adding that the only positive sector was remittance which continued to increase.
   Mahmud, energy adviser to the previous BNP government, urged the government to initiate negotiation with the multilateral lending agencies for financial assistance to offset the shocks of soaring oil price, now nearing $100 a barrel.
   ‘Only about 10 multinational oil companies are reaping benefits of oil price-hike in the international market. Let us approach the World Bank and the IMF to help us take the share of such profits. They (WB-IMF) should talk about that as well,’ he said.
   Sadeq Khan, a senior journalist, drew attention to the proposal for floating a mitigation fund for absorbing shocks of oil price these days and said the government must employ all efforts to increase production and productivity.
   ‘We need to hold political dialogue to reach consensus on national issue to resolve all issues of the national economy,’ he added.

Disparity and inequality of wealth distribution should be considered the decisive indicators to assess development or the lack thereof, instead of economic growth.
   The observation was made by economists, on Saturday, at a discussion on land and agrarian reform and empowerment of women and marginalised peoples.
   In order to reduce disparity the poor must be ensured access to land, which is the primary means of production in an agrarian economy like Bangladesh, suggested the economists.
   ‘The contemporary progressive discourses in development have rejected GDP growth as a primary indicator in the context of the East Asian experience, and the state of abject poverty and disparity in the South despite their phenomenal growth,’ said Anisur Rahman, a former vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University and a noted economist, as he presented his paper.
   He regretted the fact that Bangladesh’s development strategy was still being driven in line with the directives of the World Bank.
   He said that despite the anti-corruption drive and its efforts to ensure good government, the current interim government would still fail to remove the systemic flaws that inherently favoured the moneyed class.
   Abul Barakat, general secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association, mentioned in his paper that there were sceptics who questioned whether there was enough land available in Bangladesh to conduct a meaningful land reform initiative. ‘From the available statistics, it is clear that there is indeed adequate khas land available,’ he asserted.
   Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of the Bangladesh Economic Association, suggested formation of a commission to look into the problems related to distribution and allocation of land, especially khas land (government-owned land) since the government has no accurate account. He said, ‘The matter should be taken up by the highest authorities of the government.’
   Presenting a grim picture of Bangladesh’s land distribution, Barakat said the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1951 clearly stipulated that there would not be an intermediate entity between the farmer and the state. It was expected that the peasants’ interest would be protected through land acquisition and redistribution by the state. But the law was not effectively implemented.
   Over the past three decades, Barakat said, the number of landless people has doubled, which only underlines the fact that disparity is rising in the country.
   He referred to a report by the parliamentary standing committee on the land ministry, which said there were 50 lakh acres of khas land, and suggested that the government distribute this land to the landless.
   Golam Rabbani, a former justice of the Appellate Division, pointed out the constitutional obligation of the state to reduce disparity, ensure equitable opportunity and access to land and finally agricultural revolution. But this has not been done due to the machinations of certain quarters since the inception of Bangladesh.
   The discussion was organised by the Association for Land Reform and Development, an alliance of non-governmental organisations working on land rights. It was moderated by the executive director of Nijera Kori, Khushi Kabir.

Freedom fighters and the families of the seven Birshreshthas, the highest gallantry award winners, called upon the government on Saturday to ensure the trial of war criminals and build a Birshreshtha memorial complex to uphold the spirit of the independence war.
   They made the call at a press conference organised by the Muktijoddha Birshreshtha Smriti Parishad at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
   The Parishad leaders placed a nine-point set of demands to pay tribute to the independence war heroes.
   The demands include bringing back the remains of Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman from India and Birshreshtha Ruhul Amin from Rupsa Feri Ghat in Khulna for reburial on the Jatiya Sangsad premises, preparing a list of war criminals and their trial by a special tribunal, keeping religion-based parties including the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh out of the electoral process, and preparing a complete and authentic history of the independence war.
   The rest of the demands are for setting up a freedom fighters’ graveyard, establishing a freedom fighters’ residential complex to be called freedom fighters’ village, renaming the Military Museum as the Bangladesh liberation war military museum, and building an allied forces in the liberation war of Bangladesh complex.
   The parishad president, Amin Ahmed Chowdhury Bir Bikram and general secretary Tushar Rahman, justice Syed Amirul Islam, former army chief Harun-or-Rashid Bir Pratik, Bangladesh Nationalist Part standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman, poet and columnist Syed Abul Maqsud, Birshreshtha Hamidur Rahman’s younger brother Fazlur Rahman, Birshreshtha Matiur Rahman’s elder brother Ataur Rahman, Birshreshtha Ruhul Amin’s grandson Abrar Hasan Chowdhury, Birshreshtha Nur Mohammad’s son Mostafa Kamal, Birshreshtha Jahangir’s younger brother Manzur Rahman, Birshreshtha Munsi Abdur Rouf’s younger brother Munsi Ayub Ali, and Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal’s daughter-in-law Parveen Akhter Mukta, among others, attended the press conference.
   In response to a question, Harun-or-Rashid said he was preparing to file cases against the war criminals.
   It is a disgrace for the nation to fail to bring the war criminals to book, said Syed Amirul Islam, who felt it was high time to do that.

Experts at a workshop on Saturday stressed the need for increasing security of the chickens in poultry farms to avoid spread of diseases like Avian Influenza.
   They said that strict security measures can prevent bird flu even if migratory birds fly over the poultry farms.
   The experts were speaking at a training workshop on ‘Avian Influenza Preparedness and Bio-security Measures’, jointly organised by the International Finance Corporation-South Asia Enterprise Development Facility and BRAC at Bogra Parjatan Hotel.
   The director-general of the Department of Livestock Services, Sunil Chandra Ghosh, while inaugurating the meet which is the first of a series of training workshops for small commercial poultry farmers, said that waste management in poultry farms should be given due importance to prevent bird diseases.
   He suggested that domestic ducks should also not be allowed to swim in open water bodies.
   The livestock experts also said that duck and chicken farms should be kept separate, and called upon the officials of the department to increase awareness in this regard.
   MA Saleque, programme head of BRAC Agro and Salt Industry and secretary of the World Poultry Science Association, chaired the technical session of the training course.
   Operations analyst of the IFC-SEDF, Khan M Faizus Salehin, managing director of the Paragon Group and president of the WPSA, Moshiur Rahman, and deputy director of the Department of Livestock Services, Shabbir Ahmed, also spoke on the occasion.

Ebach Teli, now in his eighties, feels exhausted towards the evening every day after drawing in circle from the morning the shaft of his oil press, known as ghani in Bangla, a job in which a bull is supposed to be employed.
   ‘Teli’ is the Bangla word for ‘a dealer in oil or an oil presser’ which he has earned as part of his name by way of his profession.
   The long-bearded man draws the wooden shaft himself by the shoulder, with his wife, Parijan Begum, 68, pushing the weight tied to the shaft from behind, as he is too poor to buy a bull, but needs to earn a living for the family of two.
   Ebach, a resident of Baroghariya, village at Aditmari in Lalmonirhat, has been doing the job for more than 50 years; but he still fails to buy bare meals for the day for Tk 40 or so which he earns by selling his daily production of pressed mustard oil.
   He cannot even dream of buying a bull. The old man and his wife have given up in despair. They have not even received any assistance from the government, which is known as old age allowance, or any money from the local elected representatives looking forward to buying a bull.
   ‘I earn Tk 40 to 50 a day from my daily production. But this is not enough. If we had a bullock, I could have earned Tk 70 to Tk 80,’ said Eabach, who, along with his wife, pass most of their days half-fed.
   His son, Pasiruddin, a day-labourer, left the family 10 years ago, leaving behind the couple to fend for themselves.
   They have not bought fish or meat for years as they need to spend all their earning on rice, some vegetables, a bit of salt and oil, Parijan said.
   ‘I have not received any relief goods from the union council of Mahishkhocha. We do not even get the old-age allowance, although people younger to us and financially better off are receiving the money,’ Ebach said.
   Porizan Begum said the chairman and the members of the union council only visited them to seek vote, but have not lifted a finger to help them for reasons unknown to the couple.
   Ebach and his wife visited the union council office for several times for financial assistance, but they had always returned empty-handed.
   They also tried their luck with a visit or two to the house of the union council chairman only to find similar response.
   The union council chairman, Mohammad Hossain, however, denied the couple’s visiting him for help. He said Ebach and his wife never went to his office or hosue. ‘They would have received some help if they had visited us.’
   But why did he not go to the Ebach couple on his own? He said was elected chairman of the union council not only for the Ebach family.

Different political parties and socio-cultural organisations on Saturday observed Noor Hossain Day with a demand for restoration of democracy in the country.
   Noor was killed in police firing in late 1980s at Zero Point during a street agitation against the then autocratic regime of General Ershad.
   The blood of Noor Hossain will not go in vain and democracy will be restored through the upcoming general elections, Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak told newsmen after placing wreaths at the Noor Hossain Square at Zero Point in the capital.
   Among others, the Left Democratic Front, Democratic Left Alliance, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bagladesher Samajtantrik Dal, and Samyabadi Dal placed wreaths at the square.
   The BSD also held a discussion to mark the day with Khalequzzaman in the chair. Leaders called on all left-leaning political parties to unite and form an alternative political force.

The government has signed an agreement with five development partners to improve water, wastewater and drainage services in Dhaka and Chittagong cities through reforms in financial management and service delivery.
   The partnership framework reflects the vision mutually shared by the government and development partners for improving urban water supply and sanitation services for the benefit of all dwellers, including slum population, said a press release on Saturday.
   Economic Relations Division secretary Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and Local Government Division secretary Safar Raj Hossain jointly signed the deal on behalf of the government. Asian Development Bank country director Hua Du, Danish ambassador Einar Hebogaard Jensen, Japanese ambassador Masayuki Inoue, Korean ambassador Suk Bum Park and World Bank country director Zhu Xian represented the development partners.
   The initiative to improve water supply and sanitation in the two largest cities aims at helping Bangladesh achieve Millennium Development Goals of reducing by half the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015. The goals are also incorporated in Bangladesh’s national poverty reduction strategy.