Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

A Dhaka court on Thursday issued a warrant for the arrest of Awami League lawmaker Abdul Jalil in a tax evasion case.
   Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge ANM Bashir Ullah ordered his arrest about 4:30pm after the National Board of Revenue filed the case about 2:30pm accusing Jalil of evading Tk 4 lakh in income tax and hiding income of Tk 54 lakh.
   The court also ordered the police to report to the court by October 26 on the warrant execution.
   Deputy commissioner (taxes) Bazlur Rahman Khan, in the complaint alleged there was information on abnormal transaction in the bank accounts of Jalil and his wife at different times which are inconsistent with his income tax return statement.
   There were savings accounts and fixed deposit receipts in the name of his children, which were not mentioned in the income tax return statement, according to the complaint.
   Jalil was sued under Section 155 of the Income tax Ordinance 1984 for hiding information from the tax return and under Section 156 for evading taxes. The offences are punishable with imprisonment for three years and five years respectively.
   Although the case has been filed under the Income tax Ordinance 1984, it needs to be tried by a special judge under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1958 and the offences under the act are non-bailable.
   This has been the first case filed in connection with tax evasion against any high-profile politician, that too against a ruling party leader, since January 6, when the Awami League-led alliance assumed office.
   The disgruntled former Awami League general secretary, whose comments on his party have created a storm in political arena, was removed as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the commerce ministry on October 6.
   The removal coincided with his return home on the day from London, where in a media interview on September 22 Jalil said the Awami League had reached an understanding with the immediate-past military-controlled government before the December 29 elections.
   He also said he had made a mistake by not opposing Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, when she returned home in 2007.
   On April 21, Jalil alleged there were many paid agents of an intelligence agency in Hasina’s cabinet.
   Jalil, however, later retracted his comments made in London and said ‘sorry.’ He also said he had been mentally disturbed because of torture in custody during the military-controlled interim regime.
   His removal from the parliamentary panel came three days and the lawsuit and arrest warrant 12 days after Hasina, the Awami League president, had told a meeting of the party’s central working committee on October 3 that action would be taken against Jalil at ‘an appropriate time’ for his comments.
   After the meeting, the Awami League’s general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam termed Jalil ‘unbalanced.’ ‘What action could be taken against a crackpot?’
   The party’s presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury on October 7 told reporters the party’s advisory council member Abdul Jalil was removed as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee as he was ‘mentally imbalanced.’
   Jalil, arrested by the army-led joint forces on May 28, 2007, was sued on December 18, 2007 by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of amassing illegal wealth of Tk 35.08 lakh beyond his known sources of income and for concealing information on his assets of Tk 36.04 lakh from the wealth statement submitted to the commission.
   The High Court on September 10, 2008 granted Jalil, also a former minister, bail in the case.
   Although immediately after obtaining the bail, Jalil announced resumption of his office of the party’s general secretary, he was not allowed to do so and on many occasions he had resented the matter.
   According to party insiders, Jalil was not allowed to resume his office as the general secretary as he had reportedly wrote a letter to the chief adviser to the interim regime seeking his release on parole for allowing him to go abroad for proper medical treatment. In the letter, he reportedly announced to quit politics and made adverse comments on the party leadership.
   Jalil, however, later denied sending any letter to the chief adviser announcing to quit politics.
   He was paroled on March 2, 2008 for a month for better medical treatment abroad. He left for Singapore on March 3, 2008 and returned on August 31, 2008.
   Jalil, elected general secretary in the party’s council session on December 26, 2002, stepped down as the general secretary on July 21, 2008. Awami League accepted his resignation the next day.
   On January 29, Jalil, while he was taking part in the debate on the thanksgiving motion for the president’s inaugural speech in the parliament, raised a serious allegation of inhuman torture on him by the military intelligence personnel after the January 11, 2007 changeover.
   He demanded a parliamentary committee to investigate ‘torture on him’ by the personnel of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.
   The parliament should also take initiative to limit the operation of the DGFI, he said, suggesting that DGFI operation should be limited to the Armed Forces so that ‘general people, businessmen, politicians are not subjected to “intolerable torture”.’

A parliamentary panel on Thursday ruled out a civic group proposal seeking a ban on the export of mineral resources, including gas and coal, for 50 years.
   Leaders of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports put forth the suggestion in a form of ‘draft law’ at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the power, energy and mineral resources ministry asking the committee to enact a law to this effect.
   ‘This can never be considered a draft law to be placed in the parliament for passage. It is a mere statement,’ Abdul Matin Khasru, a member on the committee, told a briefing after the meeting to which the civic group was invited for a discussion on the model production sharing contract 2008 for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
   The meeting was organised at a time when the government has decided to sign PSCs with two international oil companies for hydrocarbon exploration and extraction in Bangladesh’s territorial waters.
   A five-member civic group team urged the standing committee to scrap the PSC, which they said would allow gas export, and to draft a new policy on mineral exploration and extraction, which the committee rejected.
   ‘The production sharing contract cannot be scrapped. It can be modified,’ Shubid Ali Bhuiyan, the committee chairman, said at the briefing, adding there was no scope for gas export in the proposed deals.
   Subid, who presided over the meeting, said the proposed deal stipulated that Pertobangla, the national oil and gas agency, had the first right to buy gas. If it refuses, the companies must offer local users and the third option is gas export in a liquefied form, which he said is an expensive option.
   ‘Considering Bangladesh’s domestic demands, there is hardly any possibility of gas export.’
   But the civic group chief, Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, pointed out there was an option for gas export in the proposed deals. ‘We asked the committee to recommend that the government should scrap the provision for the export of minerals.’
   Asked whether the committee agrees with the civic group in cancelling the provision for gas export, Abdul Matin Khasru, said no international company would bid for exploration and extraction if they would come to know there was no provision for export.
   Fazle Noor Tapas, another member on the committee, said the provision for gas export came in the proposed deal in line with the continuation of the previous PSCs signed in the past. There was a provision for gas export through pipeline in the previous deal, but this one made the provision only in LNG form, he said.
   The civic group’s member secretary Anu Muhammad, a professor of Jahangirnagar University, who also attended the meeting, said there were grey areas in the proposed deal, drafted during the two years’ rule of the military-controlled interim government, and they needed to be clarified.
   ‘We had a discussion with the committee members and both the sides agreed that some areas should be clarified,’ he sad, adding more meetings will take place in the future.
   The responsibility for making such things clear lies with Petrobangla, which does not always serve properly the purpose of the nation, Anu said, adding the group had no expectations from the committee. ‘We have raised our issue at the meeting and put it forward to the group’s national convention against gas export scheduled for October 24.’
   Disagreeing with Anu, the committee chairman said there was no confusion regarding any matter.
   Subid termed the meeting frustrating, saying the ‘respected leaders of the committee’ were invited to the discussion only on the proposed PSC. But they were overburdened with too many things and had never made any point clear, he said. ‘Despite that, we hope we will sit with them again.’
   Mahbub Uddin Khokon, the only opposition member on the parliamentary panel, said he supported the gas exploration bids in line with his party stance with no option for gas export.
   Asked for comments on the move of the previous BNP-led alliance government for the export of natural gas, the BNP lawmaker said there had been no official decision to this effect. ‘A group of ministers talked about gas export and it was definitely based on their wrong perception.’
   The state minister for power, energy and mineral resources and officials of the ministry and Petrobangla attended the meeting, among others.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday announced to hold its national council session on December 8.
   The national standing committee of the party at a meeting at night also formed the council session preparation committee, headed by the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, also a former prime minister.
   The meeting, presided over by the Khaleda in her office at Gulshan, also formed subcommittees for the holding of the council session and a three-member election commission, headed by TH Khan.
   The meeting asked all the party units to complete their council sessions by November 25.
   No meeting of the policymaking body could be held after the death of its senior most member, M Saifur Rahman.

The government on Thursday made the new timing for non-government offices, banks and other financial institutions in the capital effective from Sunday.
   The cabinet on Monday approved the new timing for such offices and institutions to reduce traffic congestion. The cabinet also decided that the daylight saving time would continue for an indefinite period.
   All government and non-government schools in the city have also been asked to enforce the new timing on November 1, 2009, according to a circular of the establishment ministry.
   In keeping with the new timing, all non-government offices, banks, insurance companies, other financial institutions will work between 10:00am and 6:00pm while government primary schools and kindergartens will start at 9:30am and close at 4:15pm.
   Secondary, higher secondary and English-medium schools and madrassahs will start between 7:30am and 8:30am. But school hours in single-shift schools will not be less than six hours and in double-shift schools not be less than five hours, according to the official order.
   The offices of government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous agencies or institutions will, however, be functioning in accordance with the current schedule, between 9:00am and 5:00pm.
   ‘All private offices, government and non-government educational institutions, banks and other financial organisations, as per the order, will follow the new office hour which has been worked out in consultation with the stakeholders,’ the establishment secretary, Iqbal Mahmood, told reporters at a briefing on the new office timing.
   He said the government would not monitor the implementation of the new timing as it was the responsibility of all concerned to go by the order.
   Asked whether the move would end tailback in the city, which has remained a major concern, Iqbal said the government had taken various steps to ease congestion and separate timing for different offices was one of them. ‘We cannot see the outcome of the new office timing unless it is implemented.’
   About inconveniences school children might face because of the new timing, he said small children should develop the habit of waking up early in the morning. ‘It is not a problem even in winter as children, you know, go to schools in snowfalls in some countries.’

Human Rights ambassadors Arjan Hamburger of the Netherlands, Günter Nooke of Germany and Arnold de Fine Skibsted of Denmark urged the Bangladesh authorities to further implement their international and domestic obligations in the field of human rights.
   The ambassador who visited Bangladesh from October 11 to 15 appreciated the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, for her clear commitment to zero tolerance policy with respect to human rights violations.
   The EU ambassadors visited Bangladesh to receive first hand information on the developments of human rights in its broadest sense in the country, taking into account the return to democracy after the free and fair elections in December 2008.
   A release of the Dutch embassy in Dhaka on Thursday said the ambassadors had frank and cordial meetings with the prime minister and a number of other ministers, representatives of the opposition, election commissioners, chairman of National Human Rights Commission, directors generals of BDR and RAB, additional IGP as well as a good number of civil society organisations.
   On Tuesday, the ambassadors visited the Rohingya refugee camp at Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar and discussed refugee-related issues with local authorities and NGO’s. The delegation was extensively briefed by the UNHCR on their interventions benefiting the refugee population.
   The delegation was briefed on the progress made on the implementation of the CHT Peace Accord by relevant authorities and the CHT Commission. The Human Rights ambassadors were encouraged by government’s commitments to a zero-tolerance stance on extrajudicial killings, torture and custodial death.
   They welcomed commitment to the implementation by relevant authorities of the recommendations made during the Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council early 2009.
   The Human Rights ambassadors also discussed socio and economic human rights while acknowledging the development challenges of Bangladesh.
   The need to strengthen independent institutions whose mandate is to further the respect for human rights such as the National Human Rights Commission, Right to Information Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission was mentioned as well as expanding assistance to Bangladesh in this domain.
   The delegation had extensive discussions on issues relating to the advancement of women in Bangladesh society and the affirmative action needed to curb violence against women.
   The ambassadors thanked the prime minister and all other interlocutors for the open and frank discussions that had enhanced their knowledge.

A new chapter is going to be written Saturday in Bangladesh’s political history when two archrivals —the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the leader of the opposition in parliament, Khaleda Zia — would vow together unison from the same dais to fight poverty.
   Hasina, the ruling Awami League president, and Khaleda, the main opposition BNP chairperson, have agreed to attend the anti-poverty rally at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre at 3:00pm on the day, transcending their usual bitter political animosities.
   A 3-day countrywide programme has been chalked up, including the anti-poverty rally, first of its kind, to stage the orchestrated campaign from Friday to Sunday to mark International Poverty Alleviation Day on Saturday.
   Parliament, All-Party Parliamentary Group, the government and People’s Empowerment Trust with the support of the United Nations Millennium Campaign have organised the mega-event.
   Speaker Abdul Hamid, also chairperson of the newly formed Anti-Poverty Campaign National Committee, said synchronised calls would be made to the countrymen by the two top leaders of the two main political parties of the country Saturday from the same dais for fighting against poverty.
   ‘It will remain as a unique instance not only in the history of Bangladesh but also in the world history,’ he told reporters.
   The speaker made the announcement at a press conference at the Jatiya Sangsad Media Centre Thursday noon on the eve of the historic anti-poverty rally that will kick off a nationwide war on poverty.
   The theme of the anti-poverty rally is ‘Jatiya Oikya Rukhbe Daridra (National Unity will Face Poverty)’.
   The speaker, who will preside over the event, will administer oath at the national-unity meet at BICC when all in the assembly, including Hasina and Khaleda, will pronounce the oath all together, the reporters were told.
   Chief whip Abdus Shahid and opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, both co-chairpersons of the national committee, also spoke at the press conference.
   Replying to a question, Hamid said his initiatives and efforts to bring back the boycotting opposition BNP in parliament were on and would continue until they come back to the house.
   He hoped the initiative for the appearance of the two leaders on the same stage Saturday might accelerate the process of standing them on the same floor of parliament.
   Replying to a question, the opposition chief whip, Zaiul Abdin Farroque, said Khaleda would join Saturday’s anti-poverty rally in the interests of democracy and alleviation of poverty.
   He said the BNP chairperson gave her consent responding to the letter sent to her by the speaker.
   ‘If the speaker takes initiative and creates congenial atmosphere, the BNP will join discussion on PRSP in the current parliament session,’ he said, indicating a thaw in the standoff.
   Replying to a question, the APPG secretary general, Shishir Shil, said the Anti-Poverty Campaign National Committee had approved a total of $1.28 lakh for the rally and other events in Dhaka and some campaign expenditure in districts.
   He said they got pledges for $65,000 from UNMC, of which $50,000 have been disbursed.
   Shihir, however, said they would advance targeting a $65,000 budget.

The High Court on Thursday asked the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the case filed against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and her eldest son Tarique Rahman over alleged embezzlement of Tk 2.1 crore of the Zia Orphanage Trust fund would not be quashed.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Rais Uddin passed the order after hearing separate petitions filed on September 15 by Khaleda, also a former prime minister, and Tarique seeking the case to be quashed.
   The petitioners’ counsel Rafique-ul Haque argued the Zia Orphanage Trust was a private organisation and the Anti-Corruption Commission had no authority to interfere in its activities.
   ‘According to the Anti-Corruption Commission Rules 2007, the charge sheet in a case needs to be submitted within 60 days after the filing of the case, but the charge sheet
   in the trust fund embezzlement case was submitted after 392 days,’ Rafique said.
   He also argued that the filing of the first formation report and the charge sheet of the case was also illegal as the commission had no previous sanction in this regard which is mandatory in law under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act of 2004.
   The attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, opposed the petition, saying the commission needed only one sanction whenever the charge sheet of its any corruption case would be submitted to magistrates’ court.
   ‘It has not been proved whether the allegations brought against the petitioners are true. At this point, there is no scope for issuing a rule or quashing the proceedings,’ he said.
   A Dhaka court on September 7 accepted the charge sheet against Khaleda, Tarique and four others in the Zia Orphanage Trust fund embezzlement case and posted the hearing in the framing of the charges in the case for October 25.
   It also issued warrants for the arrest of Khaleda’s nephew Mominur Rahman and former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui as they did not appear in court.
   Two other accused — former BNP lawmaker Qazi Saleemul Huq and his associate Sharfuddin Ahmed — appeared in the court, which decided to continue with the trial proceedings in the absence of Tarique as he is now in London for medical treatment after his release on bail.
   The commission’s assistant director Harun ur Rashid, who is the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on August 5. Harun filed the case on July 3, 2008.
   The charge sheet said the accused, with the connivance of each other, had misappropriated Tk 2.1 crore of the Zia Orphanage Trust fund by opening fixed deposit receipts in their names between June 1991 and February 2007.
   Charges were pressed against the five accused under Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust by a public servant, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 for abuse of power, and Section 109 of the Penal Code for abetment of offences.

Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee had objections to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the US president, Barack Obama, the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang reported Thursday.
   ‘VG has spoken to a number of sources who confirmed the impression that a majority of the Nobel committee, at first, had not decided to give the peace prize to Barack Obama,’ the newspaper said.
   In a surprise move last Friday, the Nobel committee attributed the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama less than nine months after he had taken office.
   The committee, appointed by the Norwegian parliament, honoured Obama for ‘for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.’
   ‘The committee was unanimous,’ its influential secretary Geir Lundestad said on Friday.
   But Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, who represented the right-wing populist Progress Party on the committee, led the way in objecting to the choice of Obama because she questioned his ability to keep his promises, the newspaper said.
   It also said the representative of the Conservative Party, Kaci Kullmann Five, and Aagot Valle, the representative of the Socialist Left, had objections.
   The choice for Obama was however strongly supported by committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland and Sissel Roenbeck, both representatives of the Labour Party.
   The members of the committee represent their parties but do not sit in Norway’s parliament.
   ‘Each year, we start with many candidates and many different points of view and agree as the discussions move along. This year was no exception,’ Lundestad commented Thursday.
   The newspaper quotes Ytterhorn and Five as saying they both supported the committee’s final decision.
   Obama himself said he was ‘surprised’ and ‘deeply humbled’ by the prize.

A defence counsel, pointing out the inconsistent depositions of seven prosecution witnesses, on Thursday told the Appellate Division that there was a miscarriage of justice in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
   Condemned convict Bazlul Huda’s counsel Abdullah Al Mamun also claimed that Huda was convicted as the courts failed to take into consideration the contradictions in the statements made by the prosecution witnesses.
   Seven witnesses — Mujib’s personal assistant AF Mohitul Islam, also the plaintiff of the case, servant Abdur Rahman Sheikh Rama, chief security officer Nurul Islam Khan, army personnel Habildar Md Quddus Sikdar, Naik Subedar Abdul Gani and Lieutenant Colonel Abul Bashar of the First Field Artillery, and Abdul Kahhar Akand, the investigation officer of the case — had given contradictory depositions to the trial court about Huda’s involvement in the killings.
   He also argued that neither the trial court nor the High Court could take the deposition of Nurul Islam Khan into consideration.
   In his deposition, Nurul Islam had stated that the killers had been dressed in black during the killing, while Mohitul Islam, in the First Information Report of the case, had said that Bazlul Huda had shot Sheikh Mujib to death and he was dressed in khaki.
   Had the courts considered Nurul Islam’s deposition, Huda would not have been convicted, argued Mamun, mentioning the contradictions in the statements.
   Quddus, in his deposition, said that he saw the attackers kill everyone during the carnage as he was allowed to stay with the attackers inside Sheikh Mujib’s house.
   According to the duty roster for army personnel deployed at Sheikh Mujib’s house for security, Quddus was scheduled to begin his shift at 6:00am on 15 August, 1975.
   Referring to the duty roster, Mamun said, ‘How could he be present at the scene at 4:30am when the killing was taking place when he was scheduled to begin his shift at 6:00am?’
   In his deposition, investigation officer Kahhar Akand said that he interrogated Yunus, another house guard of Sheikh Mujib, but he was made neither an accused nor witness in the case, said Mamun.
   Yunus was not made a witness as he had told the investigation officer that the attackers were dressed in black, Mamun argued.
   Mamun also claimed that the attackers could not have killed Sheikh Mujib without wearing masks as he was too popular to everyone in the country.
   The court will hear Mamun on Sunday as his arguments remain inconclusive.

The establishment ministry is trying to find out whether there were ‘anomalies and errors’ in the recent promotions, in response to appeals by aggrieved officials of different levels to review the whole process.
   Over 250 officials have so far submitted applications to the establishment ministry and the Cabinet Division, claiming to have been deprived of due promotion although they were eligible.
   ‘The promotions were given in keeping with the rules…But there might have been some human errors. We have received over 200 applications and are now examining them before submitting individual cases to the Superior Selection Board,’ said establishment secretary Iqbal Mahmood on Thursday.
   He said that the ministry was still receiving applications from officials who feel that they have been unjustly denied promotion.
   The Awami League-led government on September 7 promoted 494 officials, mostly from the administrative cadre, to the ranks of deputy secretary, joint secretary and additional secretary, in excess of vacant positions which is a violation of the organogram.
   Massive irregularities and nepotism have been alleged in the large-scale promotion in the civil administration, which was supposed to bring an end to deprivation.
   When asked whether the government would review the promotions, the secretary told reporters that if any eligible official had been overlooked with regard to promotion, his/her case would be submitted to the Superior Selection Board for consideration.
   He claimed that the government had taken an initiative to change the rules to ensure merit-based promotion and make the process more transparent.
   In its appeal for review of the promotions, the BCS Information Association has informed the cabinet secretary that at least 21 officials belonging to the BCS (information) cadre of the ninth batch had been deprived of due promotion.
   ‘A total number of 124 officials belonging to the BCS [administration] cadre of 1984 have been promoted to joint secretary, depriving at least 13 deputy secretaries of the public works cadre who have been in service for around 26 years,’ said an official.
   Among the newly-promoted deputy secretaries, four officials were shown to be from the BCS (statistics) cadre although three of them were allegedly non-cadre officers and not eligible for promotion in any way, said an official source. Two separate applications have been submitted to the establishment secretary seeking a probe into the allegation.
   Immediately after the promotions, aggrieved officials started venting their grievances and filing complaints with the establishment ministry and the Cabinet Division, seeking review of the total promotion process.

Despite the tripling of domestic food production since independence and almost 25 kinds of public safety net programmes, there is no guarantee of access to food for almost half of Bangladeshis living below the poverty line.
   Extreme weather events, posing threats of significant reduction in agricultural production, and salinity intrusion and erosion of farmland due to the ongoing process of climate change have further endangered the food security situation in Bangladesh, which is a small country burdened with the responsibility of feeding more than 150 million people.
   The strategy for making food available through imports if necessary, that had been followed in the aftermath of economic liberalisation in the 1990s, completely broke down when food prices soared. The country faced difficulties in procuring food-grain due to the ban on rice export by a number of countries in 2007-2008.
   ‘Bangladesh found it difficult to import the food it needed and domestic food prices rose rapidly as traders, farmers and consumers, anticipating higher prices, hoarded paddy and rice,’ said a recent policy paper, titled ‘Rethinking Food Security Strategy: Self-sufficiency or Self-reliance’, published by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
   It observed that the situation led to increased food insecurity and higher levels of poverty, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable. Private research further showed that the incidence of poverty rose to almost 50 per cent from a lower rate of 40 per cent in 2005, especially due to the volatility of food prices.
   Such a situation gave a wake-up call for increasing national food production for self-sufficiency and making a policy shift towards social security for the poor and vulnerable groups to support them with livelihoods instead of providing them with subsistence over the years.
   In the current budget, the Awami League government has undertaken social safety net programmes worth Tk 17,300 crore — a package of mostly subsistence programmes which is described by the food minister as one of the biggest safety net programmes in the world for the poor.
   However, economist Selim Raihan, based on ground-level research, termed the coverage of safety net programmes poor, benefiting only about 20 per cent of the deserving people. ‘There are errors in targeting the people and also the amounts given to the poor are mostly insignificant for their sustenance,’ he said.
   Raihan, a teacher of economics at Dhaka University, added that the time has come to redesign safety net programmes and focus on the overall social protection of the people so that they can absorb the shocks of calamity, food price volatility and income erosion.
   The key challenges facing Bangladesh in achieving food security include food supply and availability, and physical, social and economic access to food and nutrition, according to the National Food Policy Action Plan 2008-2015.
   A simulation of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2005 suggests that a rise in rice price, from 36.8 to 38.8 per cent, in rural and urban areas caused five per cent income loss for average households and 11 per cent loss for the poor.
   In the global context, Bangladesh has been ranked 67th among 84 countries in the Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Nowadays, Bangladeshi households have to spend more than 60 per cent of their income on food, up from 52 per cent in 2005, said the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s report on hunger.
   Analysis of household survey data of the UN agency showed that the poorest of the poor, including the rural landless, who rely on wage labour were most affected by the food crisis in 2007-2008. ‘As a result, after a decade of progress, a substantial number of households were pushed back into poverty even before the global economic crisis.’
   ‘Climate change poses an additional burden on food security, especially in areas where agriculture and water resources are already under stress due to adverse meteorological conditions,’ noted the food action plan.
   Climate change reduces per capita rice consumption by about 8 kg per with large reduction in food from animal and fish origins, observed agricultural expert Zahurul Karim in a research paper on ‘Climate Change Impacts on Bangladesh Agriculture and Food Security’.

The Arctic ice cap will vanish completely in summer months within 20-30 years, polar researchers said Thursday, sounding the alarm two months before a critical climate change summit in Copenhagen.
   It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, according to findings from an arctic expedition led by British adventurer Pen Hadow.
   Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice.
   The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark predictions about the state of the ice cap.
   ‘The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated,’ said professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain’s Cambridge University.
   ‘In about 10 years, the Arctic ice will be considered as open sea.’
   Starting off from northern Canada, Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels skied over the ice cap to measure the thickness of the remaining ice, assessing its density and the depth of overlying snow, as well as taking weather and sea temperature readings.
   Across their 450-kilometre route, the average thickness of the ice floes was 1.8 metres, while it was 4.8 metres when incorporating the compressed ridges of ice.
   ‘An average thickness of 1.8 metres is typical of first year ice, which is more vulnerable in the summer.’

The UN’s top climate scientist Thursday urged a key conference on global warming to set tough mid-term goals and warned carbon emissions had to peak by 2015 to meet a widely-shared vision.
   Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the talks in Copenhagen in December must focus on 2020, a far more important target than mid-century.
   ‘Strong, urgent and effective action’ is needed, Pachauri told a meeting of ministers of the International Energy Agency in Paris.
   ‘It is not enough to set any aspirational goal for 2050, it is critically important that we bring about a commitment to reduce emissions effectively by 2020,’ he said.
   Pachauri added that over the last two years he had witnessed ‘a massive explosion of awareness and therefore willingness to take action’ in climate change.
   But, he said, the deal in Copenhagen had to be consistent with the findings of scientists, who say greenhouse gases that trap heat from the Sun are already affecting the climate system, and grave potential problems lie ahead.
   The Group of Eight and other countries have endorsed the target of pegging warming to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.
   Pachauri said this target ‘is not without some fairly serious impact.’
   ‘If this path of mitigation is to be embarked on, to ensure stabilisation of temperatures at the level that I mentioned (2 C, 3.6 F), then global emissions must peak by 2015,’ he said.
   The December 7-18 Copenhagen talks are taking place under the 192-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Indian high commissioner, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, met the shipping minister, Shahjahan Khan, and discussed use of Ashuganj port and development of Chittagong and Mongla ports.
   During a meeting at the shipping ministry Thursday, they also discussed matters of mutual interests.
   Pinak stressed the need for expansion of new routes especially river route for increasing trade and commerce between Bangladesh and India and river dredging for maintaining navigability of the routes.
   The minister assured the envoy of extending cooperation in dealing with the subjects.
   Shahjahan said scope of cooperation between two countries would further be increased in the future.

The Border Security Force of India shot dead two Bangladeshi nationals and wounded another on Meherpur and Chapainawabganj border.
   Troops of Natna outpost in Nadia district fired across the border at Buripota village in Meherpur early in the morning killing Ananda Kumar Biswas on the spot and wounding his companion Manik Mumar Biswas. The killers dragged away their bodies and sent to Tehatta hospital.
   Informed sources said an identity card found in the pocket of Ananda showed that he was a member of Jhenaidah Sramik Union.
   BDR officials said they were not cofirmed if the victims were Bangladeshi nationals.
   An earlier report from Chapainawabganj said BSF of Doulatpur outpost opposite Shibganj shot dead Abdur Rahim, 35, a cattle trader early Thursday.

Today is the 119th anniversary of death of great mystic lyricist Lalon Shah, revered for his humanist philosophy and complete rejection of distinctions of caste and creed.
   A three-day Lalon Utsab will begin today at the shrine of Lalon Shah at Cheuria under Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia.
   Various government and socio-cultural organisations drew up programmes, including discussion meetings and presentation of Lalan songs, to mark the day in Dhaka and Kushtia.
   A large number of devotees from different parts of the country and abroad will gather at the shrine of Lalon Shah to enjoy the programmes at Lalon’s shrine. The festival is sponsored by Banglalink, a cellphone operator of the country.
   Bangladesh Lok Sangeet Parishad will hold musical soiree of Lalan songs at Shawkat Osman Memorial Auditorium of Central Public Library tomorrow.
   Lalon died at the age of 116 years, on the first of the Bengali month Kartik (which falls today according to English calendar).
   Lalon was against all forms of socio-economic hierarchy, caste, class, and gender and any forms of politics of identity based on race, nationality and religion.
   He was born into a Hindu family in the village of Bhandara in Kushtia and was abandoned after catching smallpox. Siraj Sain, a Muslim fakir, picked up the child and nursed him back to health.
   Lalon was later inducted as a Baul fakir. He set up an akhda at Cheuria and stayed there until death.
   Lalon had composed about 10,000 songs of which 2,000-3,000 can be tracked down today.
   Lalon Shah left no written copies of his songs, which were transmitted orally and only later transcribed by his followers. Rabindranath Tagore was also inspired by his songs and published some of them in the monthly magazine ‘Prabasi’ of Kolkata.
   Among his most popular songs are Khachar bhitor achin pakhi, Jat gelo jat gelo bole, Dekhna mon jhokmariay duniyadari, Paare loye jao amay, Milon hobe koto dine, Aar amare marishne maa, Tin pagoler holo mela, etc.