Yet another silly comment from no other than the water resource minister, sneering at experts’ fix on Tipaimukh dam. His intoning of such statement gives proof that he specialises in flashy techniques. It is beyond our knowledge why he is so keen on construction of the dam.
   Building any dam or any obstacle to usual flow of a river certainly causes it to silt up upstream and downstream, filling the riverbed with thousand and thousand tones of sediments. As a result, during rainy season the river can’t carry the huge gush of water released from upstream. So the strong current overflows river banks and inundates surrounding areas.
   On top of it, the location for the proposed Tapai dam is situated on earthquake belt; if earthquake knocks it down sudden strong surge of water from the dam reservoir will leave a portion of Bangladesh waterlogged. We must be one at issue when interest of our country is concerned.
   Roney
   One-mail

Dowry system has a long history in Europe, South Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. Some of its basic functions are to protect the wife against ill treatment by her husband, since dowry can be a conditional gift; to help the husband discharge the responsibilities of marriage, since dowry makes it possible for the young man to establish a household; to provide the wife with support in case of her husband’s death; and to compensate the groom’s kin for their payment of bride-wealth. In Europe, dowry served to build the power and wealth of great families and played a role in the politics of grand alliance through marriage. Dowry system more or less disappeared in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. In India and Bangladesh, although illegal, dowry practice is still common. It is especially common in arranged marriages and rural areas and widely recognised as a traditional ritual of marriage.
   Bangladesh suffers from some social negative cultures and superstitions. Dowry system is one of those negative cultures. Dowry is a gift of money or valuables given by the bride’s family to the groom and the newly formed household at the time of their marriage. It has been an ancient and widespread practice. This negative culture is found and practiced more or less in communities of the country. In some cases, parents borrow money on exorbitant rate of interest to marry off their daughters and spend rest of their life in great misery. Every year many young women commit suicide or undergo physical torture after marriage because their parents cannot afford to give dowry. Day by day, marriage has become a kind of business and exploitation of the bride’s parents.
   There are thousands of cases of dowry related torture taking place every year and only a handful of offenders have so far been punished. It shows that enacting law is not sufficient enough to protect the hapless women of this country from the dowry system. It needs social awareness and effective measures. Registration of marriage should be made compulsory. Women and their parents decide on refusing to pay dowry. We should create a social movement and gather public opinion against the dowry system.
   Md. Shakib Hasan
   Advocacy Officer, Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation