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Most of the members of the cabinet of prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday came under fire from the central working committee members of the ruling Awami League at its meeting for their ‘ineptitude’ in running the state affairs, sources said.
   Most of the members at the meeting accused the ministers for talking too much and being inconsistent in their remarks which, they said, was embarrassing the government. They advised the ministers to be more guarded in making comments and verify facts and figures before saying something about an issue.
   Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at her Dhanmondi office. AL general secretary Abdul Jalil and joint general secretary Obaidul Kader were conspicuously absent from the meeting.
   The meeting censured finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, law minister Shafique Ahmed, home minister Advocate Sahara Khatun, water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen and foreign minister Dipu Moni for talking too much and making contradictory comments, meeting insiders told New Age.
   Most of the members of the party central working committee raised their voice against ‘crossfire’ killings by law enforcers and Hasina, also AL chief, shared their sentiment. Some members of the AL CWC viewed that Sahara Khatun could not rightly explain the ‘crossfire’ incidents and urged her to take steps to stop such extra-judicial killings, sources said.
   At the meeting, AL leaders discussed about the preparations for the party’s long-awaited national council and Hasina asked party spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam to write to the Election Commission asking for an extension of the deadline for holding the national council.
   ‘Though we are committed to hold the national council by June, in case it is not possible to maintain the deadline, we should seek time from the Election Commission,’ Hasina was quoted by an AL CWC member as saying.
   Amir Hossain Amu said the prime minister had tackled the BDR rebellion successfully but indiscreet remarks of some ministers made the success questionable, a meeting insider said.
   AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed fired a broadside at commerce minister Faruk Khan for his remarks that there was evidence that several militant organisations had links to the BDR rebellion. ‘You told about militancy links but the government probe body did not find it …It was irresponsible to make such remarks during investigation,’ Tofail reportedly told Faruk Khan.
   The senior party leader said Faruk held the charge of the commerce ministry but tended to make comments on all ministries thus causing embarrassment to the government quite often. He also said that it seemed the administration was running according to the prescription of the BNP, meeting sources said.
   Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim said it seemed there was no coordination between the foreign minister and her deputy as they often made contradictory remarks. He demanded appointment of a spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
   Some members in this context referred to Dipu Moni’s remarks that it was not possible to put an end to the culture of ‘crossfire killings’ with impunity overnight.
   Mukul Bose questioned the political identity of the law minister and asked on what basis public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors were being appointed, sources said.
   He accused Matia Chowdhury of patronising ‘the people with NAP background,’ sources said.
   AL organising secretary Abdul Mannan stressed the need for resolving the disputes between the lawmakers and upazila chairmen before the party leaders start countrywide tours.
   Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah questioned competence of some ministers saying that they were not fit for delivering their responsibilities and thus forcing the prime minister to take extra workload, the meeting insider said.
   The leaders who did not get the party tickets for contesting the parliamentary polls or did not get a place in the cabinet, asked for positions in the government, sources said.
   Some members of the AL CWC accused the finance minister of destabilising the market by disclosing some budgetary information before placing the budget.
   Some members observed that it seemed the ministers had assumed the role of the opposition by talking too much.
   Briefing newsmen after the meeting, AL spokesperson Syed Ashraful Islam urged the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to return to the parliament and play their due role and contribute to giving democracy an institutional shape.
   Ashraf quoted Hasina as telling the meeting that the trial of the carnage at the BDR headquarters in the city would be held soon and that her government was pledge-bound to hand exemplary punishment to the perpetrators through a fair and neutral trial.
   The meeting formed a committee headed by AL presidium member Syed Sajeda Chowdhury to chalk up the programmes for the party’s 60th founding anniversary to be celebrated on June 23.
   The AL spokesman said the meeting had discussed in details the preparations for the party’s national council and decided to instruct the district units to form full-fledged committees immediately in the districts where full committees could not be formed as yet or where there were no committees at all.
   To a query on India’s Tipaimukh dam project on the River Borak , Syed Ashraf said the government would do whatever was necessary to protect the country’s interest after the all-party parliamentary standing committee on the water resources ministry, along with water experts, visits the site for the barrage and submits its report to Jatiya Sangsad.

The World Bank does not have sufficient mechanism to prevent fraud and corruption in projects it funds in different developing countries, an internal report of the multilateral lending agency revealed.
   The ‘Review of IDA Internal Controls’, released in April this year by the World Bank’s Internal Evaluation Group, analysed internal procedures and mechanisms of the International Development Agency, the soft loan window of the World Bank group, which disburses most of the concessionary loans to developing countries like Bangladesh.
   The relevant section of this report (Annex D of the second volume) indicates that despite the World Bank’s rhetoric, including high-sounding sermons on governance and corruption, the agency is yet to craft a sound mechanism for itself to prevent corruption in its projects.
   The report states that the multilateral donor agency lacks specific tools to prevent fraud and corruption in its operations.
   Based on the evidence and agreed criteria, the evaluation group concluded that weakness in existing framework of controls to address fraud and corruption issues give rise to corrupt practices when it comes to implement projects in the developing countries.
   ‘While commitment to integrity has always been and remains a central feature in the Bank, there are also aspects of the culture that have resisted dealing openly with the potential for F&C at the local level in Bank and IDA operations.’
   Mehrin A Mahbub, public information associate of the World Bank’s Bangladesh office, told New Age on Monday that governance was indeed one of the pillars of the agency’s ongoing work.
   She said the new disclosure policy of the World Bank would bring in major changes. ‘The consultations are fully open and ongoing.’
   Mehrin also pointed out that the lending agency had a strong procurement guideline that was strictly enforced.
   The agency’s internal report observed that such gaps would remain unless the recommendations of the Volcker report, which are apparently ongoing, are implemented fully to become operationally effective.
   The Volcker report was an independent evaluation of the World Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity conducted by a panel headed by Paul A Volcker, former chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board.
   Released in 2007 amid notable media hype, the report stated that although the department of integrity had achieved some success, ‘there were serious operational issues and severe strains in relations with some operations units have arisen, at times contributing to counter-productive relations between the Bank and borrowers and the funding partners’.
   There have also been previous reports regarding corruption at the World Bank. In a series of hearings in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May 2004, witnesses testified that as much as US$ 100 billion might have been lost to corruption in World Bank projects.
   Corruption within the lending agencies take on added significance in the context of the global financial crisis and the initiative to strengthen and enlarge their lending programmes in the developing world.
   Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based civil society think tank and research organisation, said that he thought the issue of lenders’ accountability and transparency was crucial in that context.
   ‘We have severe limitations of funds and resources and therefore are almost compelled to seek assistance from these agencies. But in order to ensure appropriate and effective utilisation of those funds, these lending institutions will also have to ensure their own accountability and governance.’
   Mustafiz also said that the lending agencies, where the developing world has very little voice, should bring about structural reforms within them. ‘It is important that countries like Bangladesh get to have a voice in these reforms and how these agencies are run.’
   Anu Muhammad, a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, also secretary of a citizens’ platform critical of the neo-liberal establishment, said corruption was actually inherent to the World Bank programme. ‘I have held it for long that it is only because of corruption that the World Bank is able to operate in Bangladesh. It would be impossible to run the kind of projects that these agencies support without a corrupt system in place.’
   He said that without exception the World Bank was openly critical of countries or regimes that even strived towards a system genuinely free of corruption. ‘This is a vicious cycle. These lending agencies promote corruption through their projects and on the other hand, pontificate us on the evils of corruption.’

The government should take budgetary measures to bring qualitative changes in agriculture to benefit the peasants and to ensure food security of the people, said experts.
   The budget outlay for the sector covering crop, irrigation, livestock and fisheries should be substantially increased as they need higher investment to reduce poverty and unemployment in the agro-based economy.
   At the same time, the government should put a mechanism in place to make sure that the subsidies reach the genuine growers and they get fair prices of their produces.
   Experts, leaders of farmers and farm labourers’ organisations came up with such opinions while talking to New Age on Saturday about their expectations for agriculture from the budget for financial year 2009–10. The finance minister, AMA Muhith, is scheduled to place new budget in the parliament Thursday.
   ‘The new budget should reflect a long term commitment to bring qualitative change in agriculture to benefit the peasants as well as to ensure food security,’ eminent economist Mahbub Hossain, the executive director of BRAC, said.
   Budgetary allocation for agriculture should be substantially raised as the sector needs multifarious interventions including extensive research, he said.
   ‘Bangladesh has limited resources in agriculture. Hence, extensive researches must be conducted in the sector if we want to achieve long-term benefits,’ he said. ‘Only 0.2 to 0.3 per cent of the GDP is spent in research and development. It should be increased to 2 to 3 per cent.’
   The field level extension agents must have up-to-date knowledge on production, preservation and marketing systems, he said. ‘Outdated knowledge can’t give you optimum outcome.’
   The government should continue to provide subsidy so that growers can get inputs at their farms when necessary, Mahbub, also a former director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said. ‘We can try to build up a good stock of agricultural inputs, including fertilisers.’
   He said that the government must increase its physical and financial capacity to directly procure more paddy and rice from the growers.
   Besides, the government should construct new silos and increase capacity of the existing depots and warehouses, he said.
   The existing silos and depots can hold only 1.2 million tonnes of foodgrains.
   Agriculture now gets around 10 per cent of the total budgetary allocation although the sector provides livelihood to about 62 per cent of the 150 million people of the country, according to economists.
   Statistics show that during the post-independence period, the agriculture allocation was 31 per cent, which dropped to less than one-tenth of public spending with subsidies and incentives gradually disappearing.
   Morshed Ali, general secretary of Bangladesh Krishak Samiti, said the government should develop mechanisms to provide irrigation free of cost or at a nominal price, to reach subsidy to genuine growers and to give them fair prices for their produces.
   ‘Corrupt bureaucrats and the middlemen are reaping benefits from the existing mechanisms regarding cash subsidy and food procurement,’ he said. ‘The government can open one seasonal centre at each village market that should remain open for two days in a week. It will also create scope for huge employment at village level.’
   The government should reactivate the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and ensure adequate supply of quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticide for growers, he said.
   Shamsuzzaman Selim, president of Bangladesh Khetmajur Samiti, said the government must take measures to enable peasants to remain engaged in production round the year. ‘It will help 60 million farm labourers to remain employed for round the year.’
   They said the sector, which is losing nearly 235 hectares of arable land every day for increased land usage for commercial, industrial and other purposes, requires highest priority, focussed plans and increased investment.

The education ministry has not taken any punitive action although numerous schools have charged excessive fees, flouting the directive issued by the ministry in this regard, said sources.
   ‘The ministry, on January 14, asked the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education to list the schools which were realising excessive admission fees from the guardians,’ said a ministry official. ‘And after the preparation of the list, the guilty institutions were supposed to be given show-cause notices and in some cases subjected to legal action.’
   ‘But neither has the directorate prepared any list nor has the ministry showed any interest in this regard. The ministry on April 1, 2008 had fixed the admission rate and asked the schools to abide by it,’ he said.
   ‘I see no justification for the issuance of a directive which is being frequently flouted by the most reputable schools. The ministry will receive many complaints from suffering guardians as admission to the intermediate classes will begin this week,’ he added.
   When asked the education secretary, Syed Ataur Rahman, said ‘I am not aware of it, since the order to list these schools was issued much before I took charge as the secretary.’
   Echoing the secretary’s view, Professor Md Noman Ur Rashid, director general of the directorate, said that he had joined the office only a few weeks ago.
   The education ministry on April 1, 2008 issued a directive asking the best schools and colleges not to charge more than Tk 5,000 as admission and other fees from a student.
   For admission of a student to Class I, some institutions have reportedly charged fees between Tk 10,000 and Tk 1,00,000, and in some cases even more.
   The Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Ideal School and College, Monipur High School, Udayan Higher Secondary School, Motijheel Model High School, Ispahani Girls’ High School and College and Uttara High School have reportedly charged excessive fees for admission.

Four ministers at a meeting on Saturday expressed resentment at widespread irregularities and corruption in land registration.
   They asked district registrars and sub-registrars to try to restore their good image by delivering services to the public with honesty and sincerity.
   ‘People involved in land management are known as bribe-takers which is a disgrace for them…Registry offices across the country have turned into places where people are subjected to harassment and suffering,’ finance minister AMA Muhith, who addressed as chief guest the meeting organised in the city for exchanging views on complications in deed registration and its remedies.
   He said government had taken measures to streamline land registration processes by digitalising the system with effect from September 1, 2009.
   ‘We have taken steps to simplify the registration system by which one will be able to complete all procedures of land registration in 15 days,’ the finance minister said.
   Clients will be able to deposit all charges through a single ‘chalan’ for land registration which will require no more than 15 days to complete the process once the new system is introduced with an aim to rid people of hassles and check irregularities at the registry offices.
   The minister said the clients would also be able to deposit fees and other charges at one point for land registration or any deed instead of depositing the charges under various heads with separate authorities – registration, the Board of Revenue and local government and land records.
   The finance minister said the land record and survey directorate should not exist any more. ‘The land record directorate virtually does nothing… It conducts a survey after every 30 years just to make money out of bribes from the beneficiaries of the survey,’ he added.
   Law minister Shafique Ahmed, land minister Rezaul Karim Hira and state minister for law Quamrul Islam addressed the meeting with law secretary Kazi Habibul Awal in the chair. Senior officials of the law ministry, department of registration and also district registrars, among others, attended the meeting.
   The finance minister lamented that the sub-registers, once honoured by the people, had lost their image.
   ‘There was a time when people held a sub-registrar in high esteem…He [sub-registrar] was honoured by all for his honesty…Now the sub-registers are called bribe-takers,’ he said.
   Law minister Shafique Ahmed called upon the registration authorities not to give in to any pressure from any quarters.
   He said the law ministry was earlier involved in ‘transfer business’ and transfer of sub-registrars to places they desired for bribes.
   ‘Even corruption charges have been brought against a former adviser to the caretaker government, who happens to be a former judge. He allegedly transferred a good number of sub-registrars during his short stint as law adviser,’ Sahfique Ahmed mentioned.
   He said that a transfer policy had recently been adopted to stop such irregularities.
   He assured the audience that the registration department would remain under the law ministry’s authority since the officials here discharged some jobs relating to judiciary.
   The law minister asked the district registrars to ensure that all sub-registrars hang notices inscribed with ‘no bribes, no tips’ at their respective offices.
   Rezaul Karim stressed the need for changing the laws framed during the British Raj to remove people’s sufferings in the sector. ‘We have taken move to digitalise the land record system and remove irregularities from the sector.’

Villagers in the southwest, still facing inundation because of tidal surges associated with cyclone Aila, were panicked as the flood water level suddenly rose by two feet on an average under the influence of full moon on Saturday.
   According to locals and relief workers, the collapsed dams which were repaired by the locals again breached at No 2 Koyra, Padna, Patharkhali and Patakhali points under Koyra and Shyamnagar because of the sudden rise in water level.
   ‘Water is entering the villages overflowing the dams and at places the repaired portions of the dams breached again,’ Amjadul Islam, chairman of Padmapukur union council, said.
   ‘Most of the people have taken shelter on the high embankments and in the shelter houses and only a few were staying in their houses building platforms,’ he said. He also said he has asked the people living near the dams to move to safer places.
   ‘There is nobody in our village now. Our homesteads are inundated and we are worried as the dams breached again,’ said Shawkat Ali Sana of No 2 Koyra.
   Koyra union council chairman HM Shahabuddin Ahmed said they were trying to repair the breached points.
   A total of 594km embankment of the Water Development Board were damaged in Khulna including 90km in Koyra, 118km in Dacope, 200km in Paikgachha, 181km in Batiyaghata, 1km in Dumuria and 4km in Rupsa.
   Meanwhile, waterborne diseases continued to spread in the inundated areas.
   People were on rush for relief materials. It was raining almost everyday causing more sufferings to the people.
   The Koyra upazila chairman, GM Mohsin Reza, told New Age that the people will not be able to survive if the dams were not repaired or reconstructed immediately.

India made Bangladesh to wait for the Ireland game to nurture their Super Eight dream as they began their title defence with a 25-run win over the Tigers at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
   Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha claimed 4-21, the best figure of the tournament’s second edition till date, that restricted Bangladesh for 155-8 runs in 20 overs after India had finished at 180-5.
   Bangladesh began typically in an attacking mood but the innings took its normal course when opener Tamim Iqbal went for 15 off 10 with three overs yet to be completed and skipper Mohammad Ashraful departing with an insignificant 11 off nine balls.
   Junaed Siddique had his best day of the tour making 41 off 22 balls with three sixes. But once he became the second victim of the man-of-the-match Ojha in the same over, Bangladesh began to stutter.
   Ojha had Sakib al Hasan (eight off 10 balls) in his first ball and made Junaed a catch for Harbhajan Singh at deep midwicket to leave Bangladesh 77-4 in 8.5 overs from where they never recovered.
   Earlier, the bowlers did their best to check the run flow until the 17th over when Naeem Islam conceded 19 runs with Yuvraj Singh hitting three sixes in the first four balls over his over.
   Naeem had Gautam Gambhir, the only half-centurion of the Indian innings with 50 off 46 balls. But Yuvraj continued in the same vein when he smacked 17 runs in the next over bowled by Rubel Hossain.
   Shahadat Hossain stopped Yuvraj from causing further damage as Tamim took a skier at long on to end his 18-ball innings of 41 runs that contained three fours and four sixes. By the time India have got the momentum they were struggling to get at the start, they added another 21 runs in the final two overs.
   But it could have been far little should Bangladesh maintain the pressure they mounted on India in the first three quarters of the innings. Mashrafee bin Murtaza gave away 11 runs in the first over, still Bangladesh managed to restrict 59-0 in power play’s six overs.
   Sakib al Hasan gave them the first breakthrough when he flummoxed Rohit Sharma to dismantle his stumps in what was the left-arm spinner’s only second delivery.
   Rohit, who scored 36 off 23 balls, was also beaten in his first ball, but Mushfiqur Rahim missed an easy stumping chance. Luckily for Bangladesh it did not cost them much. But two fielding lapses really proved expensive for Bangladesh.
   Half-centurion Guatam Gambhir had only 13 runs to his name when Roqibul Hassan dropped him at backward point off Shahadat while the man who made the real difference between the teams, Yuvraj Singh, survived an easy stumping chance off Sakib with only two runs under his belt.

Price control and solution of power crisis have topped the list of priorities of the citizens in a study conducted by a non-government organisation.
   The findings of the study styled ‘citizen’s report 2009’, conducted by Movement for Implementation of Election Manifesto in 20 districts, were made public at a programme at the National Press Club with former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Chowdhury in the chair.
   According to the study, the five issues the people identified as their top priorities from the Awami League’s election pledges daily necessities, augmenting electricity generation, subsidy and loan for farmers, curbing corruption and an employment policy. The report ranked war crimes trial 14th – at the bottom of the citizens’ priority list.
   The report listed 14 priorities of the people based on consultations with locals at 60 places in 20 districts of the country.
   The other overall priorities are – reactivating community clinics, free education up to the graduation level, irrigation facilities, conservation of crops and fair price for agricultural produces, an up-to-date education policy, autonomy for the Anti-Corruption Commission, providing fund for Employment Bank, 100-day employment guarantee for young members of each family, roads linking villages with district towns and destruction of syndicates manipulating prices.
   The report revealed that the ruling Awami League had initiated primary steps to implement 80 out of more than 250 pledges made in its election manifesto.
   Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan said unlike other democratic countries, there was no chance for the people of Bangladesh to punish a ruling party that backed away from its promises, until another election arrived.
   The former adviser called for waging a movement for bringing an amendment to the constitution to incorporate a provision for referendum on national issues to make the government accountable, ensuring direct participation of the people in the government affaires.
    ‘The people through a referendum will decide what kind of facilities the MPs and the ministers will get,’ Khan said. ‘The MPs have for long enjoyed the facility of having tax-free cars breaching the Member of Parliament Privilege Act.’
   Zoynal Abedin Faruk, the opposition chief whip, accused the government of backing away from its pledges.
   Columnist Mahfuzullah said it seemed the politicians would never change their attitude. ‘That the politicians do not keep promises is known to all,’ he added.
   ‘The government has concentrated on tasks in which people have little interest. The government over the last months have been busy thinking how to hold the trial of the war criminals, while according to the report, the people have pushed it to the bottom of their priority list,’ he said.
   Journalist Mozammel Hossain Manju said it was a reality that the vast majority of people had little interest in the war crimes trial. ‘The people want the prices of essential commodities to be brought down to their buying capacity,’ he said.
   He, however, questioned the accuracy in preparing the report. ‘I am in doubt whether the issue of the trial of war criminals should really find a place at the bottom of the people’s priority list,’ he said.
   Energy expert Shamsul Alam and BD Rahmatullah, former director general of Power Cell, asked the government to remove Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury from the government.

The speaker, Abdul Hamid, has said it is not possible to offer anymore seat to the opposition BNP in the front row of Jatiya Sangsad and hoped that they would join the current parliament session.
   ‘It was very difficult for me to allocate the one additional seat in the front row to the opposition and there is no further scope,’ he told reporters after inaugurating a three-day parliamentary orientation programme for women MPs at a city hotel on Saturday.
   ‘I think they [the opposition] should be happy over the new seat arrangement,’ the speaker said replying to a reporter’s query about the opposition’s rejection of his latest offer for one more seat in the front row.
   The National Democratic Institute and Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership jointly organised the orientation programme with financial support from USAID.
   The NDI interim senior resident director, Mark Wallen, chief whip vice principal Md Abdus Shahid, USAID mission director in Bangladesh Denise A Rollins and former MP of Queensland parliament in Australia Lesley Clark addressed the function.
   The BNP-led opposition leaders did not join the second session of the 9th parliament on Thursday following a dispute over seat rearrangement in the front row of the house.
   Asked what he would do if the opposition keeps boycotting parliament, the speaker said after this he had nothing to do if the opposition did not join the parliament session.
   However, Hamid strongly hoped that the opposition would join the parliamentary session.
   Addressing the inaugural session of the orientation programme, the speaker said the number of women MPs now accounts for 64, which is 18.6 per cent of the total parliamentary seats, and hoped that the number of women MPs would increase in the days to come.
   Terming parliament an important institution of the state in a parliamentary democracy, Hamid said all were expecting that the 9th parliament would be able to establish the rule of law in the country through building a responsible and accountable government.
   He called upon the lawmakers to perform their duties with honesty in the interest of the country and democracy.
   Referring to government decision to provide vehicles and offices for the lawmakers, the speaker reminded that the vehicles and offices must be used for the welfare of the people, not for personal interest.
   Hamid said the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, the deputy leader in parliament, the foreign minister, the home minister and the agriculture minister are all women and performing their responsibilities efficiently.

Top BNP leader Moudud Ahmed MP termed disappointing Saturday’s remark by speaker Abdul Hamid that ‘no more’ front-row seats to be allocated to the main opposition in parliament.
   Talking to the news agency over cell phone in the evening, Moudud said the speaker in the last session had assured them that respectable solution of the issue would be effective from the budget session. ‘In that view of the matter, offering one additional seat against our demand for three is disappointing.’
   After inaugurating a three-day parliamentary orientation programme for women MPs at a city hotel, the speaker Saturday said it was not possible to offer anymore seat to the opposition BNP in the front row in the house as it was very difficult for him to allocate the additional one.
   ‘There is no further scope,’ he said, while the BNP-led opposition alliance took a stand on the issue and abstained from attending the session when parliament went into its budget session Thursday.
   The speaker’s decisive opinion came a day before the session resumes today.
   Ex-law minister and BNP standing committee member, Moudud viewed that ‘the matter is more depending on the ruling party and this is up to them, not up to the speaker, allowing us to have more additional seats’.
   He further said it was up to the ruling party how much they would like to accommodate the opposition so that it could play a meaningful role in parliament.
   When asked whether they would join the budget session under such circumstances, he said it would be decided in the BNP parliamentary party meeting which is yet to be decided when to take place.
   Probably, the BNPPP meeting will be held within this week.
   Replying to another question, he said the party’s highest policymaking body, standing committee, might sit in a couple of days to discuss overall political situation, including the proposed Indian Tipaimukh dam.

The controversial ‘block allocation’ will stage a comeback in the next fiscal budget after a gap of one year as the Awami League-led coalition is set to keep a substantial amount of fund under such budgetary head.
   The amount will be more than Tk 5,000 crore, said officials associated with budget making process.
   Block allocation in the outgoing fiscal budget was almost zero.
   However, ‘pressure’ from the planning ministry is the main reason for the return of block allocation – a kind of fund kept in the budget without identifying projects against the money that will be spent, they said.
   About 30 per cent of the total block allocation will be shown against the annual development programme and the rest against the much talked-about private-public-partnership.
   Finance minister AMA Muhith said he was forced to keep block allocation in the budget although he did not prefer such allocation. ‘I hate block allocation, but I am bound to keep such allocation,’ he said.
   Experts and economists said the government purchased service and goods worth $3.0 billion each year in recent past. However, block allocation creates chances for its ‘misuse.’
   The caretaker government under the then president Iajuddin Ahmed cancelled a block allocation of more than Tk 6,000 crore set aside by the BNP-led coalition government in its last budget in fiscal 2006-07.
   Akbar Ali Khan, who was finance adviser during that brief period, told New Age that the block allocation reduced transparency and was mainly used in the politically-motivated projects.
   ‘It will be unfortunate if the present government keeps block allocation against unidentified projects,’ he said.
   The Awami League government did not keep any block allocation in its previous 1996-2001 tenure. The controversial allocation was introduced by the BNP-led coalition during its last tenure, he added.
   Abu Ahmed, economics teacher at Dhaka University, said the BNP did not allocate much money in the early years of its last tenure.
   The present government is, however, going to keep a substantial amount of fund as block allocation in its first year in office ‘in the interest of the party men,’ he said.
   Ahmed said that it was a ‘bad example’ as the planning ministry could not identify projects allowing the politicians to come up with ‘motivated projects’ in the process of budget implementation.
   ‘Motivated projects will be prepared by the party politicians to misuse the fund,’ he said.

The government has decided to introduce a two-year national service programme for the country’s youths and a pilot project in this regard will be included in the forthcoming budget.
   Finance minister AMA Muhith on Saturday said a two-year job would be provided to youths who have passed the higher secondary-level examinations and completed a practical training course.
   A pilot programme under the proposed National Services project will be undertaken in three upazilas of the country, Muhith added.
   A six-month training course on agriculture, water management, social welfare, public works or defence will be provided to the youths before they are given a two-year job in a ministry or division, said Muhith without giving any more details.
   The government has planned to provide free education up to the secondary level to everyone and the programme will start from 2014, Muhith told newsmen at the Planning Commission.
   He was speaking on the outcome of the Islamic Development Bank’s board of governors’ 34th annual general meeting, held on June 2 and 3 at Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.
   The finance minister led the Bangladesh delegation which returned home on Friday after attending the meeting.
   He said the ministries and division would not recruit new persons to those posts which have already been given to the youths that year.
   Muhith, in reply to a question, said the current fiscal year’s Gross Domestic Product would be 5.9 per cent.
   Referring to the size of the forthcoming budget, which has drawn some fire from economists for being too big, he said every new budget is bigger than the previous one.
   Muhith said the IDB wanted to provide $130 million for the proposed Padma Bridge, but he had told them that the government would need much more money to construct this vital item of infrastructure.
   ‘The government still does not know how much money will be needed to build the Padma bridge as the feasibility survey has not yet been completed,’ Muhith told newsmen, indicating that about $200 million is expected from the IDB alone.
   The Bangladesh government, during the annual general meeting of the IDB, signed an agreement to launch a project for increasing the tapping and use of solar energy in the rural areas with funds from the global bank.

The ousted chairman of the Proshika Manabik Unnayan Kendra, Qazi Faruque Ahmed, was apparently elected chairman of the organisation at an ‘annual general meeting’ on Saturday, but the members of the governing body said the meeting was not legal.
   The AGM also formed a new nine-member governing body and appointed Qazi Khaze Alam as the chief executive officer, said Faruque at a briefing in the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
   Rokeya Islam, who was made one of the governing body members on Saturday, told New Age that she was not aware of the meeting.
   ‘In fact, I was outside Dhaka. I heard the news from the media people who kept calling me to ascertain the facts,’ she said.
   According to Faruque, the meeting also expelled eight governing body members — Abdul Wadud, Mahbubul Karim, Abdul Matin, Mashrur Ul Islam, Sheikh Sultan Ahmed, Renuka Biswas, Shahjahan Haldar and Golapi Begum.
   The eight governing body members, at a meeting on May 24, removed Faruque from the chairmanship of the organisation in an effort to end the month-long agitation against Faruque who has been accused of corruption, nepotism and politicisation of the employees.
   When asked about the legitimacy of Saturday’s meeting, Faruque replied, ‘I informed the general members of the meeting through a letter on May 19 and a total of 39 members out of 55 attended the meeting.’
   When asked about the Abdul Wadud-led governing body and the general meeting called by it on June 9, Faruque claimed, ‘That meeting will be illegal.’
   Mahbub Ul-Karim, who was made the chief executive officer on May 24, said they would take legal action against the Faruque-led committee.
   ‘As Qazi Faruque is no longer Proshika’s chairman, how can he call such a meeting?’ asked Mahbub.
   While asked about the presence of 39 members of the general body in the AGM, he said, ‘It is absolutely false. Only eight members –– Qazi Faruque, Nargis Jahan Banu, Mir Mahbubur Rahman, Abu Sayeed, Matiur Rahman, Shah Alam and Rafiqul Islam –– out of the 55-member general committee attended the meeting.’
   ‘We will go to the court as Faruque has included false members in the general committee,’ said Mahbub.

Svetlana Kuznetsova won her second grand slam title when she outplayed fellow Russian and world number one Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 in the French Open final on Saturday.
   The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova, US Open champion in 2004, dictated the points consistently and prevailed after 74 minutes on Centre Court to deny Safina a first grand slam title.
   Following an early exchange of breaks, Kuznetsova took control, stealing her opponent’s serve again in the eighth game with a backhand winner, only for Safina to break back to love.
   Kuznetsova kept up the pressure and snatched the opening set with her first opportunity.
   Safina looked in distress in her third grand slam final and, with no plan B to counter Kuznetsova’s creative game, she could not turn the tide.
   Kuznetsova broke for 4-2 when her opponent fired a forehand wide and she did not look back, wrapping it up when Safina doubled faulted on the first match point.

The demolition drive on the banks of the Turag continued on Saturday and a number of identified illegal structures were razed, said officials.
   ‘All the illegal, temporary structures have been knocked down,’ claimed magistrate Abul Bashar Md Amiruddin, working with the demolition team in Gazipur.
   The demolition of permanent structures, including two buildings, was yet to be completed, he said.
   The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, along with Dhaka and Gazipur district administrations, started the drive on June 3 to demolish 127 illegal structures — 60 in Gazipur and 67 in Dhaka — on the banks of the beleaguered river.
   ‘The demolition drive in Dhaka will begin today,’ said BIWTA’s deputy director, Saiful Islam.

The historic Six-Point Day will be observed today.
   On this day in 1966, when the country was ruled by Pakistani dictator Ayub Khan, AL leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placed a six-point charter of demands, including provincial autonomy, in course of a pro-democracy movement.
   Police and soldiers of the erstwhile East Pakistan Rifles shot dead 11, including Monu Mia, Shafiq and Shamsul Haq, in Dhaka and Narayanganj during a hartal called to push for the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other leaders detained for launching the six-point movement.
   The killings reinforced the labour movement and added momentum to the students and people’s movement.
   The Awami League has chalked up a daylong programme, inclduing hoisting of the national and party flags atop the party offices in the morning and placing wreaths at the portrait of Sheikh Mujib at Bangabandhu Bhaban in Dhanmondi.
   The AL will also hold a discussion at the China-Bangladesh Conference Centre at 4:00pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the party’s president, will preside over the discussion.

Pakistan has used a substantial amount of military aid from the US meant to fight terrorism to build up its army with modern weapons and equipment for a conventional warfare against India, Pentagon documents have revealed.
   All this was done with the knowledge of the then Bush administration, which not only provided USD 1.9 billion in Foreign Military Financing but also signed agreements with Pakistan for military sales worth nearly USD 5 billion during the period, showed the documents accessed by PTI.
   The Pentagon documents also revealed that a major post-9/11 American defence supply to Pakistan under FMF had nothing to do with its fight against terrorism.
   While the Taliban and al-Qaeda gained ground in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Islamabad bought eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment worth USD 474 million.

At least 11 activists of the Barisal Polytechnic Institute unit Chhatra League were hurt in factional clashes on Saturday.
   Witnesses said the clashes took place at 12:30pm over supremacy on the campus.
   The Razzak group kept hostage some followers of rival Mizan group in a room.
   The Barisal police officer-in-charge, Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, rescued the hostages at around 1:00pm.
   The injured were admitted to local clinics.