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The health and family welfare ministry on Wednesday announced that the authorities from now on would show zero tolerance in dealing with government physicians doing private practice during office hours.
   The health secretary, AMM Nasir Uddin, made the announcement after a meeting with the Anti-Corruption Commission at the ministry. The commission chairman, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, presided over the meeting on ways to check institutional corruptions.
   ‘We will show zero tolerance from now on if any government physician is found doing private practice during duty hours and stern departmental action will be taken in such cases,’ Nasir Uddin told reporters.
   He said the ministry had taken steps to make sure that physicians go to public hospitals in rural areas once they were posted to such places.
   ‘I feel very sad to say that my father died without being attended by a physician while I am a secretary to the government… It is a reality that most doctors are reluctant to go to remote areas,’ the secretary told the meeting.
   Hasan Mashhud said the authorities should know who remain absent from hospitals, but draw salaries regularly. ‘You should take immediate actions against the people who do private practice during office hours as it is not difficult to identify who are defying rules.’
   Hasan Mashhud said he had recently visited Baniachang health complex where he found only two physicians against nine positions to attend patients in the locality.
   He stressed the need for bringing about transparency in the functioning of bureaucracy to check corruption.
   The secretary, however, said the situation would not change overnight as most physicians were paying more attention to their private practice.
   The commission chairman asked the secretary to identify an area with high prevalence of corruption under the ministry and take drastic action to stop malpractice within 15 days to set an example.
   In an instant reaction, the secretary announced that no officials or employees under the ministry would face any hassle in drawing pension from now on. ‘We will ensure smooth service delivery for people seeking pension.’
   He said the ministry was working on a policy to streamline the issues of postings and transfer under the ministry, which would be made effective soon.
   The meeting was told that departmental actions were already taken against 104 physicians for neglect of duties in recent times. There are around 1,73,000 officials and employees working across the country under the health and family welfare ministry.
   Commissioners Md Habibur Rahman and Abul Hasan Manzur Mannan of the Anti-Corruption Commission, among others, addressed the meeting with the officials of the health ministry.
   The commission has identified appointment, transfer and procurement as the most corrupt areas in the health ministry, directorate general of health services, directorate of family welfare and other departments. It observed the ministry was lacking in proper monitoring and accountability.
   On October 19, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission began with the land ministry a series of dialogues with senior officials, seeking their help to identify ways to check corruption in public offices.
   Initially, it selected four ministries — land, LGRD and cooperatives, communications and health — to hold talks with officials as part of its campaign against corruption. The first round of meetings concluded on Wednesday.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission will soon submit a set of recommendations to the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, the introduction of a mechanism to check corruption in ministries and divisions to ensure good governance.

An estimated 2.1 million people die in the world annually from food poisoning and of other food-borne diseases, participants in a seminar in Dhaka said on Wednesday.
   Food contamination refers to the presence in food of harmful chemicals and micro-organisms, which cause consumer illness, they added saying that most of food poisoning cases were caused by a variety of pathogenic bacteria, viruses and parasites.
   They emphasised manufacturers’ declaration about quality and ingredients and verification of their claims alongside consumers’ awareness as the means to prevent food contamination.
   Bangladesh Science Writers and Journalists Forum, a member of the World Federation of Science Journalists, organised the seminar on ‘Food quality and responsibilities of the consumers’ at the National Press Club. Forum president Professor Dr Muhammad Ibrahim chaired the programme.
   According to the keynote paper, presented by Professor Sheikh Nazrul Islam of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of Dhaka University, the estimated global death every year due to food poisoning is about 2.1 million people from diarrhoeal diseases.
   Consumption of fast food and soft drinks, which are preferred mostly by the by the children, is likely to cause serious health hazards as fast foods contain fungus and soft drink contains preservatives, sugar and harmful chemicals and colour, Nazrul said.
   Industrial waste, landfill sites, pesticides in croplands and leakage of toxic chemicals during manufacturing also contaminate soil, water and air, affecting the entire food chain, the participants said.
   They observed that most of the foods available in the local markets had no quality-related information.
   Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution is now looking after the quality of only some 58 packed food items while most of the foods like rice, meat and chicken are being sold in an uncovered state, BSTI director Syed Humayun Kabir said.
   The manufacturers and sellers have no proper information regarding the quality of food, he said.
   The official said without proper storage and management, it is likely to develop toxic contamination in the foods, which are hazardous for human health.
   ‘The Institute of Food Science and Technology under the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research have sophisticated machineries, but we have no regulatory power,’ said BCSIR principal scientific officer Dr Umme Ara.
   The seminar was addressed, among others, by Consumers Association of Bangladesh general secretary Quazi Faruque, National Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud, also the editor of weekly Economic Times, Banagladesh Paribesh Andolan chairman Abu Naser Khan, and BSWJF general secretary Mir Lutful Kabir Saadi.

A mock parliament constituted by the juveniles from 64 districts called upon political parties to stop using the minors in the political programmes including the election campaigns, and encourage them to stay at schools.
   The child parliamentarians, at a session in Dhaka on Wednesday, expressed concern at the assault on the children mostly from poor families by the police, and threats to them from rival political parties.
   They urged the political parties ahead of the parliamentary polls to make a pledge not to use the children in polls campaigns and ban their front organisations involving the juveniles and children.
   ‘Political parties utilise children in their mass contact programmes, putting them at the risk of being assaulted by the police. This must be stopped,’ one of the members of the Child Parliament told the session at the BIAM auditorium.
   The commerce adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, was invited to witness the parliament session of the children but he could not attend the session because of an important meeting at the chief adviser’s office.
   Most of the politicians admit that children are being used in holding public meetings and other demonstration programmes, during hartals and election campaigns and while distributing posters, revealed a survey conducted by the mock parliament members.
   They blamed the school managing committees for being subservient to the interests of their political masters at the costs of the academic life of the children and criticised them for keeping the children standing for hours under the sun to welcome the guests, including political leaders.
   The mini parliamentarians spoke on the issues relating to violation of their rights at the session presided over by the speaker Nargis Akhter. Save the Children Australia is the patron of this programme.
   Economist Muzaffer Ahmed, in the sideline of the session, told reporters that this was a learning process for the children, through which they had borne messages for the national leaders.

Administrative officer of Rajshahi Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal was Wednesday caught with Tk 2 lakh bribe money he allegedly took to divert the trial proceedings in favour of the accused in a murder case.
   Detective Branch of police arrested Abu Zafar with four bundles of 500-taka notes as he came out of a house of Chak Enaetullah Mahalla in Naogaon town at about 4:00pm.
   The Naogaon police super, Mofazzal Hossain, said Zafar could not give satisfactory reply as to where he got the money.
   Zafar told newsmen that he came to Naogaon to depose before a court as witness in a case.
   The DB police laid seize around the place on secret information that Zafar visiting the house for taking bribe with promise of changing the course of trial in the case of sensation murder of Mansur Rahman Mridha, Manda upazila BNP vice-president, in March 2004.
   Mridha was killed by suspected underground operatives. The police after investigation had indicted 22 persons in the murder case, which was shifted to the Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal for trial.
   The police said Zafar revealed some sensational information during the preliminary interrogation, which they refused to divulge for the sake of investigation.

Academics at a discussion on Wednesday termed unprecedented the repression on teachers and students by the military-controlled interim government following the August 2007 unrest on Dhaka University campus.
   The discussion was organised to mark the launch of the prison diaries of Professor Harun-or-Rashid, dean of social sciences at Dhaka University, who had spent five months in jail after the events.
   The discussion meeting and the publication ceremony of the book titled ‘Dhaka University: Auguster Ghatana, Grephtar, Remand O Karagarer Dinguli’ was held at the DU Teacher-Student Centre with Kabir Chowdhury, a national professor, in the chair.
   ‘The August 20-22 unrest and subsequent events that included arrests and torture in remand have proved the repressive nature of the state machinery’, said Kabir Chow-dhury, ‘The way they conducted repression and torture on the teachers and students of the universities in custody on false charges was uni-maginable in a sovereign country.’
   The national professor thanked Harun-or-Rashid for not giving in to the pressure of the government and the armed forces and for upholding the dignity of Dhaka University.
   He also criticised the president for asking the teachers to seek amnesty. ‘It is superiority complex of a president’, he said.
   Educationist Zillur Rahman Siddiqui said Harun-or-Rashid deserved thanks and gratitude as he did not bow to the evil forces.
   Sirajul Islam Chowdhury said, ‘Harun-or-Rashid’s book encompasses a history. He did not compromise with the state machinery; rather dared to go to jail. The state machinery tortured the university teachers in custody in the way the Pakistan occupation forces did.’
   ‘The August 2007 events following a trifling matter were a glaring example of the extent the state could unleash its coercive machinery against its own university teachers and students’, he said.
   Dhaka University professor AAMS Arefin Siddique said the August 20 incident was part of a conspiracy against the country as well as against democracy.
   The programme organised by Ananya Prakashani, the publisher of the book, was also attended, among others, by Syed Rezaur Rahman, an advocate, and DU professor Syed Anwar Hossain.

Famous film actress Kabori has been divorced by her husband Shafiuddin Sarwar, alias Babu Sarwar, apparently on political reason.
   Nominated by the Awami League to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections from Narayanganj-4 constituency, Kabori pleaded ignorance about the divorce while exchanging views with newsmen at the National Press Club Wednesday afternoon. ‘It’s a conspiracy. Reason is I’ve got the AL nomination.’
   Giving a dam to the divorce and happy at embarking in politics, 62-year-old legendary actress said no conspiracy would deter her.
   Kabori got AL nomination in preference to former lawmaker Shamim Osman, who fled the country after the 1/11 changeover and now believed living in self-exile in India. Sarwar is uncle of Shamim.
   National and international award winner Kabori married Sarwar in 1978 leaving her first husband Chitta Chowdhury. She had no child from Sarwar. Sarwar divorced Kabori at Amtali kazi office Monday and submitted the divorce letter to the DCC.

Rights campaigners, experts and politicians have called upon the government to make the country’s position clear on development financing in the upcoming United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development scheduled to be held in Doha during November 29-December 2.
   At a seminar in the capital on Wednesday, they urged the politicians and bureaucrats to come out with policies and steps to end dependency on foreign aids, and focus more on mobilisation of domestic resources for fund development programmes.
   The finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, is expected to lead the Bangladesh delegation at the Doha conference. The seminar suggested that the adviser should demand compensations for the last year’s cyclone Sidr and the impacts of climate change instead of conditional aid.
   The Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh organized the seminar styled ‘Doha Conference on Development Financing: Reproduction of Poverty in Bangladesh and Demand for Compensation’ at the National Press Club.
   Economist Abu Ahmed, former members of the parliament Sahiduzzaman and Shamsuzzaman Dudu, journalists Joglul Ahmed Chowdhury and Farooque Ahmed and former ambassador Waliur Rahman took part in the discussion moderated by EquityBD convenor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury.
   EquityBD’s Mohammad Shamsuddoha, in his presentation, pointed out that the government of Bangladesh needed ‘innovative financing instruments’.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday lodged a case against businessman Anisur Rahman Yahiya on charge of acquiring wealth over Tk 12 crore through illegal means.
   The ACC filed the case against Yahiya, a director of National Cement Ltd, on completion of an eight-month investigation into his sources of income, ACC sources said.

Elections to the Bangladesh Bar Council are scheduled to be held today.
   Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parishad, a forum of pro-Awami League lawyers, and Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Parishad, backed by the BNP-led alliance, and ‘non-partisan’ Ainjibi Oikya Panel are contesting the elections.
   Polling will start at 10:00am simultaneously at 80 centres across the country, including Supreme Court Bar Association and bar associations at all district judges’ courts, and continue till 5:00pm.
   A total of 52 lawyers from the three panels are in the race for 14 posts of the council.
   A total of 29,121 lawyers registered with the Bar Council are expected to cast votes to elect the council members.

The age at which an individual can apply for a marriage visa for the UK will increase from 18 to 21 years from November 27.
   Both parties to a marriage will have to be at least 21 before a marriage visa can be issued. This change, applied globally, is a part of the UK government’s action to combat forced marriage, a release of the British HC said on Wednesday.
   The UK government’s Forced Marriage Unit handles about 5,000 enquiries and 400 cases per year concerning British residents at risk of being forced into marriage around the world. Although forced marriage can occur at any age, the highest number of cases involved those aged 18 to 20 years. Reports suggest that cases of forced marriage begin to decline sharply after the age of 21.
   UK’s border and immigration minister Phil Woolas said, ‘It is important that we protect vulnerable young people and this measure will help avoid exploitation.’
   In July the UK government set out its intention to increase the age at which someone could sponsor or be sponsored as a spouse from 18 to 21, following a full consultation.

The Election Commission will hold hearings for 25 domestic organisations of election observers on November 23 and 24 (Sunday-Monday) as some political parties have raised question about their neutrality.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, and commissioners M Sakhawat Hussain and M Sohul Hussain would be present at the hearings to be held at the EC secretariat conference room.
   The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party earlier placed their objections with the commission about the poll observer organisations.
   November 23 hearings from 10:00am to 5:00pm have been set for following organisations: BCDJC, Democracy Watch, FEMA, Jagaroni Chakra, Khan Foundation, Light House, Noakhali Rural Development Society, Shariatpur Development Society, Srijoni Bangladesh, Bangladesh Manabadhikar Commission, Brave and Association of Muslim Welfare Agency in Bangladesh.
   November 24 hearings from 10:00am to 5:00pm have been sent for following organisations: Hilful Fuzul Samaj Kalyan Sangstha, National Youth Forum Bangladesh, Jugayan Samajik Unnayan Sangstha, Unity of Social Advantage, Coast Trust, Development Organisation for the Poor, Nari Udyog Kendra and ANFREL, Broti, Bangladesh Manabadhikar Samannay Parishad, Solidarity (Kurigram) and Abad Pukur Palli Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (Naogaon).
   Of the 319 organisations who applied for registration as election observers, the Election Commission primarily listed 138 organisations after scrutiny and invited objections against them, if any, to reach the commission by November 16, EC sources said.