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The government has finalised fish and animal feed ordinance 2008 keeping a provision of imprisonment of not less than one year and fine of Tk 50,000 against those involved with importing, purchasing, manufacturing, processing, marketing, quality control, sales and distribution of adulterated fish and animal feed.
   The ordinance was approved on April 13 by the council of advisers at a meeting and is now awaiting approval and promulgation by the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, said sources at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on Tuesday.
   In case of commercial feed production and supply, the feed manufacturing companies must follow the guidelines of quality feed production requiring different nutrients, or the manufacturers would have to face penalties and will have their licenses cancelled by the authorities for substandard feed production.
   Under the ordinance, adulterated fish and animal feed
   means that which contains toxic ingredients which are also harmful for the environment or other animals including fish and livestock.
   Without securing a license from the government, nobody would any longer be allowed to remain involved in fish and
   animal feed production,
   import and export, processing, marketing, sales and distribution after the ordinance comes into effect.
   The government has also banned the use of chemical ingredients including antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids and pesticides as raw materials for producing fish and animal feed and in case of violation the government may confiscate all or part of the equipments of the guilty party.
   The feed importers and manufactures must use labelling and air-tight packets for marketing their feeds which must also contain the basic information including name of the manufacturer, manufacturing country, company name, address and registration number, net weight of the products, name of different ingredients and nutrients and their percentages.
   The packets are also stipulated to contain the date of production and expiry, identification code of the product source.
   The government has nominated certain organisations as quality control laboratories which most likely include the fisheries and livestock departments, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute, Bangladesh Council for Science and Industrial Research, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, fisheries, veterinary and animal husbandry faculty of different universities and laboratories of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.
   The act is ultimately expected to contain adulteration of fish and animal feed as some manufacturers are allegedly mixing different toxic additives are harmful for animals, said Santi Ranjan Das, extension director of the livestock services department.
   In the long run, the act will also help exports of fish and meat abroad and it will also
   help the country to establish eco-friendly feed mills, said the official.

Rashed Khan Menon, president of the Workers Party, has called for immediate steps for creating food autarky to prevent famine in the near future, and also urged the Third World countries to take a united stand against the rich countries’ policy of promoting production of bio-fuel from food-crops.
   Menon, while inaugurating the mass signature collection campaign in favour of the 16 demands of his party at the WP’s office in Barisal, on Friday morning said that hunger is just like a high explosive grenade that could burst any time if preventive and safety measures are not taken in time.
   Twenty-five per cent of the Boro paddy is yet to be harvested but in the meantime the price of rice has increased by Tk 70-80 per quintal [hundred kgs].
   So the ‘hunger grenade’ could explode any time if full rationing system for lower income groups in both rural and urban areas is not introduced immediately.
   Menon, demanding an agriculture-friendly and pro-food management budget for the upcoming fiscal year, further said that cause of increase of food prices in international market should also be properly explained to the masses so that they can understand how the Bush government is creating global food shortage by producing bio-fuel from food-crops.
   Menon said that this fact has also been acknowledged by United Nations and the Food and Agricultural Organization, and if the Third World countries fail to take a united stand against production of bio-fuel from food-crops, their people will have to suffer famine in the near future.
   The programme was presided over by Bazlur Rahman, and party leaders and activists including Professor Nazrul Huq Nilu, Shanti Das, Biswajit Baroi, Niprendra Nath Baroi, Tipu Sultan, Harunur Rashid were among the speakers.

Environmental group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan on Friday demanded formulation of a national policy to save forest resources from destruction.
   The organisation leaders at a press conference in Dhaka also demanded that the government should make the land commission effective to establish the rights of the ethnic minority community people in Chittagong Hill Tracts.
   BAPA joint secretary Sharif Jamil read out a speech at
   the conference on ‘endangered forest resources in the name
   of development: repressed
   ethnic minority community people’ at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
   An aggression on rivers, plain land and forest resources and the environment on the whole is going on in the name of development and industrialisation, BAPA president Professor Mozaffer Ahmad told the conference, adding that the aggression has to be stopped.
   He said development must be human-friendly, environmentally-friendly and workers-friendly, he said and stressed the need for formulation of a national forest policy.
   Due to unabated anti-
   environment activities in the country, people are gradually becoming ‘environment refugees’, he said and stressed the need for planting saplings of local variety of trees across the country.
   Sharif Jamil pointed out that some development schemes had been implemented in different forest areas, including Gazipur, Jaflong, Lawachhara and Khagrachhari, endangering forest resources there.
   He demanded an end to destruction of forest resources and anti-environment activities in the name of development or industrialisation.
   The speakers stressed the need for making the land commission effective to establish rights to land of the ethnic minority community people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
   BAPA treasurer Mohidul Hoque Khan, joint secretary Zakir Hossain and architect Iqbal Habib and ethnic minority community leader Arun Kumar Tripura, among others, attended the new conference.

BRAC founder and chairperson, Fazle Hasan Abed was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Columbia University in US for introducing a powerful model to bring about a social change, his sincerity in fighting poverty, and his abiding commitment to serving the poor.
   Abed was conferred upon the degree by Lee C. Bollinger, the president of the university, at its 254th commencement ceremony, held on May 21, in New York, according to a press release.
   ‘One of the world’s most effective humanitarians, you have transformed the lives of millions through the work of your organization, BRAC. Your vision is audacious, the scale of your work inspires awe and the results you have achieved are a stunning example to the world of our potential to successfully fight poverty and save lives. You have been recognized by many organizations for your commitment to improving life on this planet; we are honored to acknowledge you again today,’ reads the citation of Bollinger.
   Columbia, one of the world’s leading universities and a member of the Ivy League, was founded in 1754, which makes the university the fifth oldest institution of higher education in the United States.
   Abed founded BRAC in 1972 to help rehabilitate the refugees from India in independent Bangladesh.
   Later BRAC shifted its focus to 1ong-terrn community development. At present, BRAC is the largest non-governmental organisation in the world. Its programmes in education, health, economic and social development and human rights sectors and legal services cover a population of more than 100 million.
   In addition to numerous national and international awards, Abed was previously awarded an honorary doctorate by the Queen’s University in Canada, doctorate in education by the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and doctorate of humane letters by the Yale University in the United States in recognition of his work with BRAC.

One person died as he swallowed acid mistaking it for liquor at his house at village Shelabunia under Mongla upazila in Bagerhat Thursday. Dinu Biswas, 45, a jeweller, took acid at noon. Locals took him to Khulna Medical College Hospital where he died at about 9:00pm.

The Workers Party of Bangladesh’s general secretary, Bimal Biswas, on Friday said there was no alternative to an elected democratic government for overcoming the ongoing political crisis in the country.
   For that it is essential to hold a free and fair parliamentary election according to the roadmap announced by the Election Commission, he said while addressing the opening programme of the party’s countrywide signature campaign in Dhaka Mahanagar Hospital’s premises.
   The Workers Party launched the programme to press home its sixteen demands that include reintroducing the countrywide mass rationing system of food, arresting the price-hikes of essential commodities, lifting the state of emergency and giving trade union rights to the workers.

A motorcycle rider was killed in a road accident at Mollahat upazila of Bagerhat on Friday afternoon.
   The police said Iqbal Chowdhury, 27, died on the spot as his vehicle collided head-on with another motorcycle near Kendua Bridge under at about 2:00pm.
   Two other unidentified motorbike riders, who were injured in the accident, were admitted to local hospital.
   The police recovered the body and sent it to the Bagerhat General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   Iqbal, who was inhabitant of village Kushli under Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj, met the tragic end of his life while returning home from Benapole.

Rice millers are getting lower than expected output from hybrid paddy. They are incurring losses when supplying rice at the government’s fixed price of Tk 28 per kilogram for the rice procurement programme.
   Although production of hybrid paddy increased significantly this year, low rice output ratio is contributing to keep prices of coarse rise unexpectedly high even during the peak harvest period, said Haji Ahmed Ali, general secretary of the Naogaon rice millers’ association.
   Several millers of Bogra and Naogaon districts, two of the largest rice producing districts, told New Age that due thicker husks, milling output of hybrid paddy remains between 23 to 25 kilogram per maund (37.3 kilogram) while other varieties including the land races, yield around 27 kilogram of rice per maund. They point out that the difference substantially affects profitability.
   Many millers in the northern districts told New Age that as food officials and law enforcers had been pressing them hard to supply rice for the procurement drive, they are compelled to buy hybrid paddy that is dominating the market.
   Market insiders observed that the sharp increase in paddy price before sowing boro caused many farmers to switch to hybrid varieties and maximize profits from the sale of their produce.
   ‘As most of the millers are trying to cover their losses or make no profits from their supplies to the government, price of coarse rice remains high in market,’ said Noor Islam, a rice depot owner in Bogra, justified the unexpected high cost of coarse rice.
   According to seed suppliers, some 10 lakh hectares or one fifth of the boro acreage went under hybrid this year, which is more than double the acreage of the previous year. Some 25 varieties of hybrid seeds were marketed by different companies, they said.
   ‘Farmers who could afford to sell their produce, immediately after the harvest mainly diverted to hybrids,’ observed a trader at Shantahar of Bogra.
   Rice dealers informed New Age that during or immediately after the harvest, growers usually sell their coarse stocks, a major portion of which is part of the government procurement.
   Ibrahim Khalil, an adviser of Supreme Seeds, the leading supplier of hybrid paddy seeds, however denied the allegation of the millers and suggested that ‘milling outputs might have declined for other reasons.’
   Two varieties marketed by Supreme Seeds ensure more than 28 kilograms of rice per maund of paddy, he claimed.

Majority of the people are not able to make adjustment between their income and expenditure due to price hike of essential commodities, speakers said at a roundtable in Dhaka on Friday.
   As a result, working people are the worst sufferers, they said and called for ensuring a rational adjustment between their income and expenditure in the greater interest of their welfare.
   The roundtable titled ‘Soaring Price of Essentials: Measures to Overcome People’s Sufferings’ was organised by Rural Journalists’ Forum at the National Press Club.
   Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Amirul Islam, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddiq, BNP joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP leader Aktaruzzaman, Bangladesh Islami Oikya Jote chairman Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury, Zaker Party leader Munshi Abdul Latif and Engineer Mohammad Abu Taher, among others, took part in the discussion.
   Chairman of the forum SM Jahirul Islam presided over the function, while its adviser Mohammad Gani Mia Babul presented the keynote paper.
   Amirul Islam laid emphasis on increasing buying capacity of the people side by side with keeping the prices of essential commodities at a tolerable level.
   Kader Siddiq called upon the government to launch rationing system to mitigate the sufferings of the common people.
   Nazrul Islam Khan said the government should be tolerant and careful about farmers to overcome the food crisis.
   In his keynote paper, Gani Mia Babul placed 26-point short- and long-term recommendations, including ensuring smooth marketing system to control prices of essential commodities.

Australia will donate Tk 520 crore to Bangladesh to help it pull some four million people out of extreme poverty and ensure the healthcare of poor women and children.
   Richard Moore, deputy director general for the Australia Government’s Aid Agency, AusAID, signed agreements to this effect in Dhaka on Wednesday with the representatives from its partners BRAC and UNICEF, said a press release on Friday.
   The funds will be used in helping poor women undertake small but income-generating projects like cattle rearing and poultry farms and vegetable growing.
   AusAID, in partnership with other donors, expects to double the number of women who receive quality obstetric care in 10 districts of the country.
   Australia will provide Tk 284 crore to carry out both the programmes for the healthcare of mothers, newborns and young children.
   Both the programmes will be implemented in close collaboration with health and family welfare ministry.