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Shamunnay, a non governmental development research organisation, on Tuesday said it extended support to the proposed budgetary measure for continuation of whitening the black money for one year, observing that it might expand the tax base.
   Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith placed the budget proposal for the forthcoming 2009-10 fiscal year in the parliament on June 11, allowing whitening the black money for more three years.
   Shamunnay, however, opposed the three-year timeframe in the proposed budget saying that it should be one year for the black money holding businessmen as the provision would help institutionalise the making of black money.
   ‘We support the continuation of whitening the black money for one year for others, but the physicians and lawyers who, I guess, have huge amount of black money should be given a specific timeframe to legalise the money,’ Khondker Ibrahim Khaled, emeritus fellow of the Shamunnay and chairman of the Bangladesh Krishi Bank said this while expressing their reaction on the proposed budget at a city hotel.
   Selim Raihan, visiting fellow of the Shamunnay, made a presentation on the revised budget for 2008-09 and the proposed budget 2009-10 at the press conference while its visiting fellow Taiabur Rahman and research fellow M Abu Eusuf also spoke on the occasion.
   Selim observed that the legalising of the black money might expand the tax base as per the economic rationale.
   But allowing this facility for long demoralises the honest tax payers and it creates an inefficient economic situation for the people, he added.
   Selim expressed doubt that the money might not be channelled to productive sectors because of the lack of entrepreneurial mentality of the black money holders.
   He, however, found the implementation of the budget as the key challenge of the government and a close monitoring was needed for its successful implementation.

Law minister Shafique Ahmed said on Tuesday that it does not require a caretaker government just to hold the elections if the Election Commission can operate independently.
   In reply to a question he, however, said that it was the Parliament that would decide whether the caretaker government system should be scrapped or retained.
   ‘I think the caretaker government is not necessary to conduct the elections if the Election Commission can function fairly and independently,’ Shafique, a lawyer by profession, told reporters at the secretariat.
   The minister made the comment when his attention was drawn to Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sen Gupta’s statement in the Parliament that the nation did not want to go back to the caretaker government system any more.
   Suranjit said the caretaker government system should go and the next national polls should take place under an elected government.
   Shafique said the caretaker government system was introduced for holding a free and fair election.
   Citing the example of India, the minister said it did not require another government for conducting the elections there as the election commission of the country was strong enough to operate neutrally and independently.
   ‘I think the Election Commission in Bangladesh is independent. But it depends on the good intentions of the officers in the commission how far it can exercise its neutrality and independence,’ he added.
   When asked whether there were any loopholes in the constitutional provisions for the caretaker government, the law minister asked newsmen to look back to the complications in the formation of the previous caretaker government under President Iajuddin Ahmed and the two-year tenure of the Fakhruddin Ahmed’s interim administration. He made no further comment.
   Shafique Ahmed, however, said the Awami League government had taken a move to extend the coverage of the Alternative Dispute Resolution system to criminal cases to lessen the burden on the court as a large number of cases are still pending.
   ‘We may pilot a project in Dhaka to introduce the ADR system for both civil and criminal cases to reduce the burden on the courts,’ he added.
   He said the government was considering a proposal from the United Nations Development Programme for improving court and case management by introducing a computerised system.

The sacked Grameenphone employees, who started fast-unto-death on May 31, continued with their programme in front of the mobile operator’s corporate office in Dhaka on Tuesday, demanding their reinstatement.
   Hassan, one of the demonstrators, said the mobile operator had sacked about 350 employees in June–November 2008 on the pretext of austerity measures.
   He said they would continue with their strike until their demand was fulfilled.
   ‘Some Grameenphone officials came to request us to end the strike, but we have not been assured of reinstatement,’ he said.
   ‘We started fast-unto-death at the Central Shaheed Minar after the dismissal of our jobs and we later called off the programme as the authorities assured us of reinstating our jobs in three days,’ he said. ‘But they did not do what they said.’ Hassan said it was not possible for them to get a government job as they had crossed the age limit.
   They earlier submitted a memorandum to the prime minister, posts and telecommunications minister, and labour and employment minister.

The non-resident Bangladeshi experts are divided over the coal mining method, rate of royalty and coal export issue, said the sources present at the four-day workshop on coal policy that began at the Jamuna Resort in Tangail on Monday.
   ‘There was a clear division among the NRB experts who came from the USA and Australia. Majority of the experts, came from Australia, were in favour of open pit mining method, fixing low royalty rate and keeping the coal export issue open,’ said the sources.
   Eight NRB experts are attending the workshop on the coal mining method and coal policy,’ organised by the state-owned Petrobangla.
   Two experts, came from the USA, highlighted the impact of open pit mining of coal on the environment and people, presenting the examples of the USA.
   They also opined that Bangladesh should not allow export of coal to secure its future energy reserve.
   There was a ‘clear motive’ in projecting the underground mining at the Barapukuria coal field as a complete failure by the experts from Australia and their choice for open pit mining method, the sources said.
   Moreover they claimed that if the royalty rate was fixed at a higher rate, the cost of power generation using coal would get increased.
   They also recommended that the coal policy should not impose ban on the coal export from Bangladesh.
   The NRB experts are reviewing the draft coal policy that was prepared by an advisory committee, headed by former vice-chancellor of BUET, Abdul Matin Patwari.
   The Patrwari committee recommended ban on coal export, development of coal fields under the leadership of the state-run companies, fixing royalty rate based on some criteria like coal price in the international market and operation of a small scale open pit mine at Barapukuria field to see the feasibility of such mining method in Bangladesh before going to apply it in other fields.
   ‘It seems that the workshop will adopt the recommendations of the experts, loyal to the UK-Australian company Asia Energy, who opposed the recommendations of the Patwari committee,’ the sources said adding that the ‘experts’ would come up with a complete set of recommendations today.
   The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, and different rights groups are protesting at holding of the workshop by the government terming the ‘Jamuna Resort meeting’ a conspiracy to allow the controversial Asia Energy to extract coal through open pit mining method at Phulbari field and export of coal.

The government has identified 10 reasons, including better performance of the agriculture sector, for which Bangladesh has not been hit by the global financial meltdown, according to a Finance Division report.
   The report, Mid-Term Budgetary Framework: 2009–10 to 2011–2012, said agricultural sector was the ‘driving force’ of the economy and it showed ‘a comparatively better perfor-
   mance in the outgoing fiscal year.’
   The agricultural sector, which covers crops and horticulture, animal farming and forestry, grew by 4.81 per cent in the 2008–09 financial year. The figure was only 2.93 per cent in 2007–08.
   The manufacturing sector growth, which had driven the national economy for a few years, dropped to 5.92 per cent in 2008–09 from 7.21 per cent in 2007–08.
   The report also pointed out the economy had ‘very limited link’ with the global economy which was another main reason for its keeping off the global recession impact.
   Exports, which account for 18 per cent of the gross domestic product, are the only direct relation with the global business. Local exporters manufacture ‘low-end’ products, which faced less decline it their demands.
   The report said orders for local export-oriented readymade garments from the United States and the European markets did not see any major decline despite falling prices of items.
   ‘Local manufacturers are, moreover, benefited as orders from China, Cambodia and Vietnam are coming to Bangladesh,’ it said.
   The report mentioned that growing informal
   sectors because of the expansion of trade and commerce in big cities and remotest areas were powering the economy.
   Falling fuel and fertiliser prices were an added advantage for the government to keep its budget deficit within the tolerable limit.
   As for remittances, the report said expatriate Bangladeshis, mainly engaged in low-paid jobs, faced no entrenchment. Remittance growth remained steady, allowing the government to deal with external trade, especially import payment, in a better way.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Tuesday called for putting on trial the people, including immediate past military chief Moeen U Ahmed, and others who obstructed the continuation of democracy in the name of state of emergency.
   ‘It was the responsibility of civil and military bureaucracy to sustain the practice of democracy and continuation of the constitution… but like others, a section of our armed forces has been politicised. If not so, then why they went to Bangabhaban breaching their professional jurisdiction and forced the imposition of emergency,’ Delwar said in a discussion of the National Youth Forum at the National Press Club, marking newspapers’ black day.
   ‘They should be put on trial along with those among us who have also been purchased,’ Delwar said.
   ‘Even in the newspapers, which are considered as fourth state, there are also some collaborators who patronised the illegal regime and some editors who tried to give us lessons every moment. These collaborators have forgotten newspapers’ black day as its spirit is quite uncomfortable for them,’ he said. ‘People know them [editors] very well as they know the collaborators among us.’
   Delwar called on the nationalist-Islamist forces to remain united to protect the nation’s security and sovereignty. ‘If we the leaders do not step forward, the people will force us to do so,’ he said.
   The Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, said, ‘An elected parliament can fail to ensure democracy as was the case in 1975 when an elected government had imposed BKSAL rule on the strength of brute majority.
   IOJ secretary general Abdul Latif Nezami, BJP secretary general Shamim Al Mamun, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party president Shafiul Alam Pradhan, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Matin) secretary general Abu Naser Mohammad Rahmatullah also spoke in the discussion chaired by Haider Ahmed Khan.

Two men, reportedly members of ultra-left organisation, were found dead near a female hall of residence at Islamic University in Kushtia early Tuesday.
   The deceased are Sher Ali, 35, son of Ebrahim Mondol of village Shing Nagar, and Awal Biswas, 31, son of Abu Taleb of village Dik Nagar under Shailokupa upazila in Jhenaidah. The both were active members of Shramajibi Mukti Andolan, an ultra-left outfit in the area, the police said.
   Sources said local people early Tuesday found the bodies lying side by side near Fazilatunnesa Mujib female residential hall of the university and informed the IU police of the matter.
   The police, led by officer-in-charge Mustafizur Rahman, later recovered the bodies and sent them to the Kushtia morgue.
   The police also recovered three leaflets of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-supported Gana Bahini (Red) beside the bodies. Additional police super of Kushtia Mohammad Alif visited the spot.
   None was arrested and no case was filed in this connection till Tuesday afternoon.

Politicians, economists and representatives of non-governmental orgnisations on Tuesday observed that the proposed national budget would not bring about any change to the lot of marginalised people.
   They were speaking at a roundtable discussion on ‘The security of life and livelihood of marginalised people and the role of state,’ organised by Prantik Manusher Sanghati, a platform of NGOs, at the National Press Club.
   AKM Masud Ali, executive director of the Incidin Bangladesh, presented a keynote paper titled ‘The budget and the human rights of the marginalised’ in the discussion.
   The country’s 28 million marginalised people are not only deprived economically, they are also deprived politically – of their basic human rights,’ said the keynote.
   The proposed budgetary allocation of Tk 1,176 crore for a major programme like employment generation for the hardcore poor will provide Tk 420 to each of the 28 million hardcore poor, the keynote said, adding that with the amount only five days’ employment for each of the marginalised people could be created.
   Terming the proposed budget as nothing, but a juggling of figures, Masud criticised the government for not mentioning any word in the budget proposal about the ethnic minority groups of the plain land.
   He apprehended that in the name of the new budgetary measure for the Public-Private Partnership, the poor might be deprived of the public utility services.
   Speaking at the discussion, Mujahidul Islam Selim, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, said that the basic rights of the marginalised people had been ignored in the budget proposals over the years.
   ‘The philosophy of the preparation of such budget must be changed to bring about change to the lot of the marginalised people, he observed.
   Meanwhile, Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of the Bangladesh Economic Association, opposed the statement of the keynote paper saying that it was possible to solve the problem of poverty and create employment for all the poor overnight, even if the government allocated the total national income for the programme.
   The marginalised people are the worst victims of the climate change and emphasis on the issue has been given in the proposed budget, he observed.
   He, however, asked the government to devise a mechanism to implement the budget and include a provision for finding out those people, who would fail to implement the budget.
   Conducted by Mohsin Ali, convener of the Prantik Manusher Sanghati, lawmaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Action Aid country director Farah Kabir, chief coordinator of the Noakhali Rural Development Society Abdul Awal and representatives of the marginalised people from different corners of the country also took part in the discussion, among others.

The Noakhali district unit of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its associate bodies brought out a procession on Tuesday under the banner of ‘Noakhali Basi’ at Maijdee court, demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the former army chief General (retd) Moeen U Ahmed on sedition charges.
   Around 400 activists of BNP took part in procession, which started from the local BNP office and paraded the main streets in the district head quarter.
   The New Age correspondent from Gazipur adds: the district unit of BNP on Tuesday afternoon brought out a procession in Gazipur headquarter demanding trial of the just retired army chief General Moeen U Ahmed.
   They also burned the effigy of Moeeen demanding his immediate arrest for putting him on trial for violating the constitution and going beyond his professional jurisdiction.
   The procession started from the local BNP office, paraded the main streets and ended at the ‘Unsotterer Muktamancha.’

Speakers in a discussion meeting on ‘National Budget 2009-10’ at a Khulna city hotel on Tuesday urged the government to withdraw the proposed duty on the newsprint to save the country’s newspapers.
   Khulna district unit of the Campaign for Good Governance arranged the meeting in which civic group leaders and NGO activists from the districts of the Khulna division, university teachers, development workers and journalists took part.
   Presided over by the Khulna district CGG convener, Quazi Wahiduzzaman, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by Khulna City Corporation mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque, panel mayor Azmol Ahmed Tapan, Professor Golam Mortuza, Professor Shahnewaz Nazimuddin, CGG central member Madhab Dutta, journalist Mokbul Hossain Mintu and Humayun Kabir Boby.
   The speakers said the Khulna region was vulnerable to natural disasters and it was not possible to provide allocations to meet the demands in the wake of the recent cyclone Aila in the zone and demanded that allocation should be kept for the development and rehabilitation for the Aila hit areas.
   Though the budget has a number of good aspects, there are challenges to implement it, the speakers said, adding it was necessary to control corruption in the government offices and coordination among the ministries for proper implementation of the budged.

Newly appointed army chief General Md Abdul Mubeen met the president, Zillur Rahman, on Tuesday.
   Mubeen, who took up his new office a day before, went to Bangabhaban at 11:30am and came out at noon.
   The new army chief called on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who also heads the defence ministry, on Monday.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed former BNP MP Nasiruddin Pintu on remand for another day in the BDR rebellion case.
   Pintu has already been remanded in custody for questioning twice, each time for four days. He faces charges of inciting rebel border guards to mutiny, encouraging the mutineers’ supporters to take part in a procession during the February massacre and helping the mutineers to flee the scene.
   Magistrate Muminul Hasan of Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court gave another day’s remand order on Tuesday.
   Earlier on Thursday, the investigation officer of the case, senior assistant police superintendent Abdul Qahhar Akand of CID, had petitioned the court for putting Pintu on another seven-day remand.
   Pintu’s lawyers that day requested the court to defer the hearing on the remand prayer as the accused had fallen ill in the court.
   The lawyers in their petition said placing him on remand would be inhuman if one considered his sickness.
   The court conceded to their appeal and set Tuesday for the remand hearing.
   Pintu was brought Tuesday from Kasimpur jail to the court.
   Lawyers Sanaullah Mia and Khorshed Alam, Mahbubuddin Khokon, Jainal Abedin Mesbah and others took part at the remand hearing.
   The counsels said the jail authorities defied court orders given on Thursday to treat the former MP. They said Pintu’s treatment was an urgent need and he could be remanded later.
   The lawyers alleged that it was not the CID but some other government intelligence agency which grilled their client.
   The court ordered that Pintu be quizzed with caution when the IO submitted another petition seeking permission to take the accused on remand.

At least 50, including a police officer-in-charge, were injured when the police fired teargas shells into two groups of villagers fighting over a brawl between two school children in Sirajganj on Tuesday.
   Two Class VI students of Habibullah Nagar High School at Shahzadpur had a brawl over seating in the classroom on Monday.
   As the news spread, the villagers of Nagardala and Ratankandi began clashes at about 10.30am Tuesday.
   The villagers of Ratankandi reportedly looted at least 30 shops during the clashes. The police reached the place after two hours and controlled the situation. The police charged at the villagers with truncheons and fired teargas shells and gunshots.

A group of ruling Awami League activists snatched and burnt tender documents of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Limited, a subsidiary of the Power Development Board, in Barisal on Tuesday.
   Sources said Tuesday was the deadline for submission of the tender for the construction of boundary walls of the Patuakhali grid substation.
   The Awami League activists demanded they should be given the job. But two contractors, Golam Mridha and Lokman Hossain, submitted their tender bids which angered the Awami League men.
   The activists, led by contractor Zakir Hossain, broke open the tender box, snatched the two other bids and burnt them inside the office.
   The authorities postponed the tender procedure after the incident.
   Akmalji Anwar, security in-charge of the office, filed a general diary with the Barisal police in the afternoon in connection with the incident.

An alleged mugger was killed in a mob attack in Savar municipal area on Tuesday morning.
   Witnesses said a local youth caught a mugger, Mantu, 25, when he along with his associates was snatching valuables from the pedestrians at about 5:00am.
   The local people gave Mantu a thrashing, leaving him dead on the spot.
   Before his death, Mantu admitted his involvement with the killings of schoolboy Suman and BRAC official Gobinda Chandra, the sources said. Suman and Gobinda Chandra were killed at the same place in the municipal area on June 8 and May 4 this year respectively.
   On information, the police went to the spot and sent the body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

A youth was killed by miscreants in the Patuakhali district town on Monday night following previous enmity.
   The deceased was Shamim, 18, a resident of Hospital Road in the Patuakhali town. The Patuakhali police arrested one Jalil, 20, in connection with the killing.
   The police and Shamim’s family members said a gang of miscreants called Shamim out of his house to sell a mobile phone to him Monday afternoon.
   They beat him and left him in an unconscious state on the civil surgeon’s office premise. The doctors and officials of the civil surgeon office could not come to save Shamim as the miscreants possessed arms.
   On information, Shamim’s relatives went to the spot and took him to Patuakhali General Hospital where he died at about 11:00pm.
   The Patuakhali sadar police officer-in-charge, Ahsan Habib, said a case was filed.