Grand show features leading artists of Bangladesh, India

A six-day grand group art exhibition presenting artworks by leading Indian and Bangladeshi artists is going on at the Bengal Foundation of Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

The exhibition is the outcome of an art camp held as a part of the yearlong academic exchange programme between the fine art faculties of Dhaka University and Visva Bharati University in India.

A total of 50 artists — eleven from India and 39 from Bangladesh — participated in the two-day art camp held recently at Charukala.

A total of 50 acrylic paintings are on display at the exhibition. The interesting part of the show is that the paintings do not have any title and thus allows the audience to interpret the works liberally.

Qayyum Chowdhury's painting gives a beautiful picture of greenery of Bangladeshi landscape.

Nisar Hossain's work depicts an unconventional combination of cannibals and shrines of different religions. Hossain has ridiculed the religious fundamentalism by portraying the atrocities of the cannibals and used red colour in the background as a symbol of dreadfulness.  

Indian artist Prabir Kumar Biswas's work presents the divine love between a tribal prince and his beloved princess. 

Mustafa Monwar presents the magnificent beauty of the landscape of Bangladesh during the monsoon in his composition.

Indian artist Pankaj Panwar's surrealist work depicts a dog with wings. Portraying the dog as a symbol of evil being, the painting highlights the extraordinary power of the wicked in society.

Mohammad Iqbal in his semi-abstract painting presents the spirit of love and Shishir Bhattacharjee presents the decline in human emotion due to technological advancement.

The displayed paintings also include works of Hashem Khan, Rafiqun Nabi, Kalidas Karmakar, Abu Taher, Shahid Kabir, Nazib Mohammad and EHM Matlub Ali.

The Indian participants include Nandadulal Mukherjee, Prasun Kanti Bhattacharya, Dilip Mitra, Sanchayan Ghosh, Sumitabha Pal, Rishi Barua, Arpan Mukherjee, Soumik Nandy Majumdar and Salil Sahani.

The exhibition will conclude today.

Source: New Age

Bengal Shilpalaya pays tribute to Tagore

A three-day cultural programme celebrating the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore began on Thursday at the Bengal Shilpalaya in Dhanmondi.

The programme, titled 'Tomar Srishtir Path, features song renditions, poem recitations and dance recitals by leading artistes. 

On the inaugural day, popular Tagore singer Fahim Hossain Chowdhury, Shama Rahman and Lily Islam rendered Tagore songs which were written during Tagore's stay in Bangladesh.

The artistes soulfully rendered Eki satya sakali, Amar ei path, Bhalobeshe sakhi, Dure kothao, Tumi ektu kebol, Tumi nabo nabo rupe, Olo soi olo soi and other popular Tagore songs.

Rendition of folk songs by eminent singer Kiran Chandra Roy was one of the main attractions of the evening. He rendered selected folk songs the tunes of which have influence on a number of Tagore songs.

Roy presented Ami kothai pabo tare, Dekhechi rupsagore and Sonar goura.

Popular recitation artiste Hasan Arif preseted Tagore's poem Chhinnapatra. While Arif narrated the parts highlighting the nomadic lifestyle of the snake charmers and the opulent beauty of river Padma his resonant and often mournful voice touched the hearts of the audiences.

The Saturday's programme featured Tagore songs from his plays. Noted Tagore singer Mita Haque, Sadi Mohammad, Nandita Yasmin and Laisa Ahmed Lisa presented the songs in the evening.

A large number of audiences attended the programmes in both days. 

Today's programme will feature joyful and sorrowful songs of Tagore and a dance recital by Tamanna Rahman.

Iffat Ara Dewan, Bulbul Islam and Mohiuzzaman Moyna will render songs in the evening.

Classical Manipuri dancer Tamanna Rahman will perform in a dance composition based on Tagore poem Nadi. 'In the 40-minute production, I will portray the loneliness and struggling life of a river. The contribution of a river to create civilization on its bank will also get focused,' Tamanna told New Age.

Source: New Age

Two plays will be staged on opening day

A local and a foreign troupe will stage two plays at the two venues of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy today on the opening day of the 10-day Dhaka International Theatre Festival.

Patronised by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the first festival of its kind in the country has been organised by the Bangladesh Centre of International Theatre Institute with the logistic support of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The 1st Dhaka International Theatre Festival begins today with participation of 24 local and foreign troupes at three venues of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

Manipuri Theatre from Moulvibazar will stage their popular production Kohe Birangana at the National Theatre Hall, after the inaugural ceremony.

The monodrama Kohe Birangona is adapted from Micheal Madhushudan Dutt's 'Birangana Kavya' which was written in 1861 and is based on the episodes of epic 'Mahabharata'. The play is adapted and directed by Shuvashis Sinha.

In Sinha's lyrical drama Kohe Birangona, the young playwright has used four cantos out of 11 cantos of the original Dutt's text.   Even the syntax of 'Birangana Kavya' has been successfully maintained in the narratives of Kohe Birangona.

Sinha unfolds the unique message 'love is divine' and the sacrifice the women do through recitation of letters which are written by four legends of the 'Mahabharata' to their beloved ones.

Jyoti Sinha is the solo performer in all the four legends—Shakuntala, Draupadi, Dusshala and Jana.

At the Experimental Theatre Hall, Buds Theatre Company from Singapore will stage Shades, which aspires to educate, empower and enthral the audience. Shades, a simple love story with controversial undertones based on cultural and religious identity, naturalistically produced and adapted slightly in the realm of the local context of Singapore.

The play shows a contrast between religious dogmas and the adverse impact of globalisation on the individuals in Singapore, which is one of the fastest growing economy and the most globalised country.

The play further analyses the nature of religious tolerance and the role of the religious leaders set against the backdrop of the reality when the youths are bombarded with images on the Internet, the television, at the Cinema – dictating how they should lead their lives.

Shades, is fundamentally a love story filled with controversy regarding individual rights and how the choices have impact and influence on each character's perceptions. The degrees of tolerance each person has towards their religion and life style and how that then determines what decisions they make and the impact this has on those around them.

Source: New Age

Mohammedan to elect board of directors on June 5

The election of Moham-medan Sporting Club will be held on June 5. 

The club's 213 councillors will cast their votes to elect a chairman and 16 directors in the election which will be held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. 

Earlier, an election commission headed by former secretary Akhtar Hossain Khan was formed to conduct the election. 

The submission of nomination papers will begin on May 28 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is May 31. 

Mohammedan were registered as a limited company on March 24 meaning they have to elect the club's board of directors within 90 days from the date of registration.

The club officials are already sharply divided into two camps – one headed by former president of governing body Mosaddek Ali Falu and the other  led by

the acting chairman of board of directors, Kutubuddin Ahmed, who is reportedly enjoying a backing from former general secretary Lokman Hossain Bhuyian.

Club sources said the officials are trying for an agreement between contentious parties to avoid the election.

Source: New Age

BFF secretary Sadi dies

'Ekta durer jatrai jachchhi. Bandhura bhalo thakish, shatrura-o (Going for a long tour. Friends stay well, enemies as well)' – was the last status Al Musabbir Sadi had given on his facebook account on March 1 before going to Singapore for treatment.

Sadi had little idea that these would be his last words in the social networking site, nor did his friends. In less than two months after he was diagnosed with cancer, Sadi, a sports journalist turned general secretary of the Bangladesh Football Federation, breathed his last at a city hospital on Friday. He was 44.

 Sadi is survived by his wife, two sons, both aged less than 10, mother, a brother, a sister and hosts friends and well wishers. 

A pall of gloom descended on the Bangladesh sports arena at the death of Sadi, who was close to the heart not only of the country's football lovers, but also of the fans, players and organisers of other sports. 

His body was first taken to his residence at Lalmatia and then to Modhubag where his first namaj-e-janaza was held after the Juma prayers.

His second namaj-e-janaza will be held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 12:00 noon today and he will be buried at the Mirpur martyred intellectuals graveyard. 

Sadi started his career as a journalist with The Independent in 1995 before moving on to The Daily Star in 2005.

A long-time football reporter and a keen enthusiast of the game, Sadi had left The Daily Star in 2009 to pursue a career as the general secretary of the Bangladesh Football Federation.

A prolific writer, Sadi had also many articles published in the national Bengali dailies. He translated a book on Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. 

Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association, Bangladesh Sports Press Association, Bangladesh Sports Journalists Community, Bangladesh Football Federation, Bangladesh Cricket Board and the state minister for youth and sports, Ahad Ali Sarkar, condoled the death of Sadi.  

The BFF has postponed Friday's Bangladesh League game between Muktijoddha Sangsad KC and Sheikh Russell KC to mourn the death of their general secretary.

Source: New Age

Defence affairs adviser’s tenuous defence of RAB

THE defence affairs adviser to the prime minister, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, could be said to have played to the script when he said on Thursday that some newspapers were writing too much on Limon Hossain, who was shot by a member of the Rapid Action Battalion on March 23 and subsequently had to have his left leg amputated. According to a report front-paged in New Age on Friday, the retired major general of the army went on the offensive in his defence of the Rapid Action Battalion, the so-called elite law-enforcement unit, which is credited with more than 700 extrajudicial murders since its inception on March 26, 2004 and was earlier this month described by the United States-based Human Rights Watch as a 'death squad' whose 'murderous practices' the Awami League-Jatiya Party government was failing to control. However, as has usually been the case with every official attempt at defending RAB actions thus far, his defence of the battalion is also premised on twisted logic, tenuous argument and, above all, factual misrepresentation.

Siddique claims that he is '100 per cent sure' that Limon Hossain was not the battalion's target and that the teenager 'was trying to run away', which was why 'RAB shot in his leg.' Perhaps, the defence adviser has chosen to forget that the battalion has over the years come to be synonymous with terror and that almost everyone would be overcome with the impulse to run the moment they see any RAB team; after all, it has killed people, old and young, who were not even accused of perpetrating any crime. Moreover, even if Limon 'was trying to run away', as the defence adviser says he was, under what authority did the battalion open fire? Siddique also claims that Limon and his father had 'close ties' with Morshed Jamaddar, the crime suspect that the battalion was supposedly after, as if suggesting that they were criminals by association. The question is: since when has acquaintance or even association with criminals become a crime?

What, perhaps, trumps everything is the defence adviser's claim that he can say with conviction that the battalion did not shoot anyone after detaining him. Needless to say, such a claim does not even add up to the official account of 'crossfire', 'shootout', 'encounter', 'gunfight', etc that the battalion routinely churns out after every incident of extrajudicial murder. In most cases, the victim either died in custody or after he had been taken by the battalion to arrest his so-called 'associates' or recover 'arms'. Overall, the claims and arguments that the defence adviser has made are both self-contradictory and thus self-defeating. As for Limon's case, his attempted defence of the battalion seems simply tenuous; after all, ever since the teenager was shot, the police, the battalion and even the government has thus far contradicted each other and even themselves.

Be that as it may, the defence adviser needs to appreciate the fact that it is the because of the intense coverage by a section of the media that the battalion and some other law enforcement agencies have not degenerated into full-fledged 'death squads'. Hence, while he should refrain from trying to demonise the media and instead advise the government for effective steps to rein in the trigger-happy law enforcers, the media should keep up its good work and call the spade a spade even if under pressure from powerful quarters.

Source: New Age

A pointer to govt’s apathy to the poor

THE very fact that a huge portion of the money allocated in the 2010-2011 budget for different safety-net programmes remains yet to be disbursed, with the fiscal year nearing end, tends to highlight what could be inherent apathy of the Awami League-Jatiya Party government to the interests of the poor and marginalised sections of society. According to a report front-paged in New Age on Friday, the government allocated Tk 279 crore along with 90,000 tonnes of wheat against the food-for-work programme and Tk 1,535.98 crore against the vulnerable group feeding programme in the budget but, regrettably only 47 per cent of the former and 21 per cent of the latter have been spent thus far.

Safety-net programmes that include food for work, test relief, vulnerable group feeding, etc were introduced some decades ago with a view to catering to the marginalised groups. Moreover, as claimed by different governments at different times, the purpose of the food for work and test relief programmes aims at developing infrastructure in rural areas involving the destitute people and thus providing the latter with employment, and the vulnerable group feeding programme aims at helping the rural ultra-poor survive. The significance of these programmes, especially with the unabated rise in essential commodities, including the staples, thus hardly requires any overemphasis. However, according to the report quoting the officials concerned and different local representatives, the government has suspended release of funds for the safety-net programmes in question alongside other development programmes in rural areas ever since April due to elections to union parishads, which have been scheduled to be held, in phases, from April to July. Even the activities under the annual development programme have reportedly been brought to a halt on the same ground.

The incumbents need to realise that it is their constitutional duty to provide every citizens with jobs so that they can lead a life with dignity. Against the backdrop of the failure of successive governments to generate employment, the safety-net programmes have been brought to actions to help the vulnerable and destitute sections subsist. Hence, they need to redouble their efforts to implement those programmes without any delay. At the same time, they also need to take the relevant authorities to task for their failure to utilise funds allocated for the safety-net programmes.

Source: New Age

Anatomy of CNG price hike

THE Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission indicated in March that it would give a nod to the proposed compressed natural gas price increase but it would be less than the 48 per cent sought by Petrobangla. '…we will allow a rational increase in prices considering the economic interests of all —- in the context of reality,' said the commission's chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain (The Daily Star, March 9).

What happened in two months since then that led the commission to allow a higher than Petrobangla-suggested price hike? Instead of consumer friendly and tolerable 'rational' price hike, consistent with the 'reality' of their pocket book, why did it raise the price by nearly 50 per cent?

The answer is: it has little to do with consumer prerogative or welfare. It has less to do with the placebo talk of 'rational' increase. It has more to do with the insatiable government hunger for higher revenue. The hearing for price adjustment is a public show to maintain the decorum and legitimacy of an autonomous agency. The final decision is based on official directives.

At the BERC hearing, consumer groups and CNG users opposed the proposal asserting that the action will further boost prices of essentials. They feared that enhanced CNG price might discourage use of clean fuel and increase environmental pollution.

In response to the consumer concerns, remarks attributed to the Petrobangla chairman, Hussain Monsur, in the media are followed by my observations:

The gap between prices of petroleum and CNG discourages use of petroleum products such as diesel and octane produced in local gas fields.

I did not know that diesel and octane are by-products in local gas fields. There is sufficient demand for both. Successive regimes promoted the use of CNG to save foreign exchange spent to import petrol and diesel. The petrol- and diesel-driven two-stroke vehicles were banished from the city to diminish pollution. Has the government now changed the policy?

'It is an excuse that transport costs will go up due to increase in CNG prices. Fares are not charged following rules. Fares should be fixed and enforced…'

The arbitrary increase in the bus and auto-rickshaw fares did not wait for the government decision. And the government has now approved a robust increase in the fare.

'CNG is used by the rich who use cars. …they want to use gas at low prices. The increase in CNG prices will benefit the 16 crore population.'

The concept that only the rich use CNG is rubbish. This class-warfare talk may get cheap applause. Public transports, availed mainly by the poor and middle class, use CNG. The 16 crore people 'benefited' surely did not include the ones who commute on CNG-driven vehicles now with much higher fare. The CNG price rise will also contribute to already spiralling prices of essentials.

The government revenue will shoot up and the increase will help generate additional revenue of some Tk 900 crore.

That is the whole purpose. All the rest, including the benefit to the masses, CNG as a rich man poor man divide and no adverse impact, etc, are mere equivocation and drivel.

The BERC Chairman towed the same line with similar insensitive comments. He claimed that only the rich with fancy cars will bear the brunt of the higher price and others will be spared the adverse impact. My respectful and candid albeit allegorical question is what seventh heaven, what ivory tower and what white castle these gentlemen reside in?

This is a country where chicken prices go up when there is a bird hiccup in a remote Vietnamese village, price of edible oil goes up when there is a wind storm in Argentina and sugar price increases when pests swirl around a sugarcane field in Brazil. Wheat price jumps when there is a cold wind in Topeka, Kansas and vegetable prices show an upward trend with half an inch rain in Narsingdi.

When most businesses look for lame or absurd excuses to increase prices, why would bus and auto-rickshaw owners react differently to a sharp CNG price rise? For anyone to think that the owners will meekly accept a 50 per cent price hike without augmenting the fares is living in a fool's paradise.

One scholarly BERC member explained the rational for approving the CNG price jump by claiming the enhanced price is 15 per cent lower than the price in another country and 47 per cent less than that in New Zealand. Among all the superficial equivocations to unpersuasively justify the price hike, this probably is the flimsiest.

The commodity prices are both absolute and relative. If you claim that certain items are costlier in Singapore or New Zealand, you also have to take into account the per capita income and standard of living in these countries relative to Bangladesh. Americans can dole out a $1 (Tk 70) as bus or subway fare to a close destination. For an average Bangladeshi Tk 70 is dearer and more valuable than that.

There is no good time to bump the CNG price but the timing of this price increase is particularly inopportune. It followed the hike in fuel oil prices by Tk 2 per litre. The increase in the price of fuel oil and liquefied natural gas in quick succession has been a one-two punch against the consumers, with shrunken pocketbooks and purchasing power due to the high prices of staples and essential commodities. The solemn election pledge of the ruling alliance for price control has long been reduced to tall talk and all talk verging on a cruel hoax.

The rational for fuel oil price increase was to offset the losses the government has been incurring due to steep crude oil price rise on the global market. There is no such excuse for increasing CNG prices because it is produced from locally extracted natural gas.

There was turmoil and commotion with arbitrary bus and auto-rickshaw fare increases. After few days of chaos and disorder, the government formalised the official increase in the fares. The users are left to carry the extra burden of the big bus fare rise, averaging 30 per cent in the city with the minimum fare raised from Tk 5 to Tk 7. A 22 per cent increase has been approved for long route buses. The auto-rickshaw fare will increase to Tk 7.50 from Tk 7 per kilometre.

Two ministers representing the government negotiated with the transport owners and labour leaders. There was no presence of any commuter representatives or consumer lobby. The owners are satisfied and the ministers seemed happy. The administration seemed to have largely granted owner demands.

The fare increase is yet another burden the consumers, already reeling from high inflation and high prices of essentials, will have to bear. The other shoe will drop with the rise in the prices of consumer goods resulting from higher transport cost.

The rise in fuel and CNG prices has both a chain and a multiplicative effect. It raises the transport cost of producers, wholesalers, middlemen and retailers. So every step of the way the price of each commodity increases step by step. They all add up to an ample price boost.

Also, when the CNG driven transport fares rise, so does that of alternate transports such as rickshaw due to substitution effect. In addition to the means of transport, the expected outcome of the energy price climb is soaring prices of goods and services. This will contribute to further cost-of-living increase. For people tormented by exceedingly high commodity prices this adds to the collective misery index.

Now we can delve into the crux of the matter and root cause of CNG price rise. In March 2010, the finance minister, AMA Muhith, directed authorities to increase the prices of CNG and electricity. 'Petrobangla should immediately send proposal to increase the CNG price. The power tariff should also be reviewed for a further hike,' he told the officials of the power and energy ministry. He expressed same opinion reputedly thereafter. The energy regulator commission has fulfilled his fond wishes.

Hefty funds are needed for high electricity costs from rental and non-tendered power plants and escalating government expenditures. The stagnant investment climate and economic downturn are detrimental to lofty revenue growth. Mounting government borrowing from banks has put a further crimp in the liquidity crunch. The steep CNG price hike will lead to significant revenue growth, and partially whet the insatiable appetite. The turmoil and despair are less important in priority considerations. Consumers truly are in dire strait.

Source: New Age

Two hotel employees stabbed in city

Two hotel employees were stabbed by some unnamed assailants at Mohakhali in the capital on Friday.

The injured Mohammad Selim, 27, and Mohammad Saju, 29, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in the afternoon.

Witnesses said that about 10 people entered the New Briton Hotel about 1:30pm and stabbed the employees indiscriminately as they stopped the gangsters from entering the premises.

The Gulshan police visited to spot. The police suspected that the hotel employees might have been attacked over refusal to pay extortion money.

Source: New Age

Prisoner dies in Khulna jail

An inmate of Khulna jail died in under treatment on Friday night.

The deceased was Monir Hossain, son of Zaha Box of village Monzitpur in Satkhira also convicted criminal of six months imprisonment.

Khulna jail sources said a mobile court convicted Monir and awarded him six months imprisonment in a drug case.

He was sent to Khulna jail but Monir fell sick

for drug addiction on May 17.

Monir was admitted to Khulna Medical College Hospital where he died  Friday night.

Source: New Age

Two children drowned

Two children of a family drowned in pond in Pabna on Thursday.

Family members said the cousin, Rahul Hossain, 7, son of Abdul Kuddus and Rohan Hossain, 6, son of Abdur Rahman of village Jugipara in Pabna municipality area, had gone to play near their residence Thursday afternoon. But they did not return.

Being informed by locals, the bodies of

Rahul and Rohan were recovered from a pond near their residence Thursday evening.

Source: New Age

Updating of voters’ list starts from Aug: Sakhawat

The task of updating the voters' list with photographs will start from August across the country, the election commissioner, M Sakhawat Hussain, said Thursday.

Talking to reporters at the Election Commission Secretariat, he said before updating the voters' list, pilot projects would be conducted in four different locations of the country from the second week of July.

Sakhawat noted that the pilot projects would be conducted at Panaongkhali in Unkhia upazila in Cox's Bazar to gather experience overall Rohingya people, at Potnitola in the country's Noagaon to get informed about people of border areas, an area in Dhaka-18 constituency to know about people in slums and posh areas, and at Kaliganj in Gazipur.

He said the people who would exceed 18 years of age by the time of the 10th parliamentary elections due in 2013 would be included in the draft voters' list so that they could be included in the voters' list.

'In such a way there will be no need to update the voters' list every year,' he said, adding that it is necessary to bring amendments to the National Registration Act-2010.

The election commissioner said something new would be found in the updated voters' list this year. People who will be included anew will have to provide four new pieces of information—ID number of both parents, spouse's ID if married, and birth registration certificate number.

'It's not only updating the voters' list or the national ID cards, it will also be considered a national data base,' the commissioner said.

Source: New Age

RAB to get two copters

Finally, the Rapid Action Battalion is going to get two helicopters as a procurement proposal was placed by the home ministry to the Cabinet Purchase Committee for approval.

According to official sources, after completion of the procurement-related tender procedure, home ministry placed the proposal to the Cabinet Division recently.

Home ministry officials expect the Cabinet Purchase Committee will approve the proposal in its meeting on Sunday next.

The sources said though the RAB would use and operate the two helicopters for combating terrorism, they would remain under operation and maintenance  service of the Bangladesh Air Force.

The BAF will provide the service and also necessary security to the helicopters under a contract with the Bangladesh Police.

The police headquarters floated international tender in January this year to procure two light category single engine helicopters. It received offers from three international suppliers.

After scrutiny by the tender evaluation committee, two proposals were treated to be responsive bids. Of them, the bid of Singapore-based Bell Helicopter Asia Ltd and local Rahimafrooz Distribution Ltd came out to be the lowest responsive bidder.

Source: New Age

Hasina reaches Canada

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, arrived in Canada Wednesday afternoon.

The Bangladesh high commissioner to Canada, AM Yakub Ali, received the prime minister at Toronto International Airport.

Sheikh Hasina's daughter Saima Wajed Putul, son-in law Khandaker Mashrur Hossain and representatives of Bangladeshi community in Canada were present at the airport.

Earlier, the prime minister left Geneva for Paris en route to Canada Wednesday morning.

According to her schedule, Hasina will leave Canada for France on May 24.

Source: New Age

Safety-net programmes for ultra-poor half done

The government has only spent 60 per cent of the money allocated in last year's budget towards running its safety-net programmes, including those involving 'food for work' and 'vulnerable group feeding', with the current fiscal year ending in June. 

'We have on an average spent around 60 per cent of the funds for social safety-net programmes, mainly food for work and 'test relief' although we only have one month left in the current fiscal year,' a senior official at the food ministry told New Age on Thursday.

He said that 47 per cent of the funds allocated for the food for work programme to repair rural infrastructure and 21 per cent for the vulnerable group feeding programme for the ultra poor had been spent.

However, he noted that Tk 990 crore of the Tk 1,000 crore employment generation programme for destitute people in rural areas – representing 99 per cent of the total – had been released.

The process of releasing safety-net funds, the responsibility of the food ministry, was suspended when the Election Commission started holding the overdue polls to the local government bodies, which are scheduled to be completed by July, 2011, according to the official.

The ongoing harvest has also brought a halt to a number of programmes.

'We are trying to extend coverage of the safety-net programmes by providing poor people with fair price cards to ensure their food security and on the other hand reducing the vulnerable group feeding programme coverage so that the poor are not dependent on charity,' food minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque told New Age.

He said that the open

market sale of rice at a subsidised rate of Tk 24 a kilogram had been expanded to upazila and union levels across the country and a total of 77 lakh fair price cards were distributed among destitute families.

The fair price card allows a family to buy up to 20 kilograms of rice a month at the subsidised price.

Using a VGF card, each poverty-hit family gets up to 30 kilograms a month of rice free of cost.

The minister said that the food for work and the test relief programmes, which involve paying workers for their work in infrastructure projects, were stopped during the harvesting period in the rural areas. 'Farmers will not allow road repair work now as they are harvesting their crops…So the work will resume soon,' he added.

In the 2010-11 fiscal year, the government allocated to the food ministry Tk 279 crore along with 90,000 tonnes of wheat against the food for work programme and Tk 279 crore with one lakh tonnes of wheat for the test relief programmes.

A total of Tk 1,535.98 crore was allocated for the VGF programme for the ultra-poor in rural areas – with only 21 per cent having been spent till April, according to official records. 

Officials and local representatives confirmed to New Age that the safety-net programmes, along with many development programmes, have stopped due to elections to union parishads, the lowest tier of the local government system.

'Release of funds for the safety-net programmes – food for work and test relief – has been suspended due to the elections to the union parishads,' said chairman of the Aluary union parishad in Dinajpur, Nabiul Hossain. Even activities under the annual development programmes came to a halt at the union level, he added.

Abdul Latif, chairman of Chatnai union parishad in Nilphamari, also said they did not have work to do under any safety-net programmes at present.

Source: New Age

Student leaders blame Moeen, Fakhruddin

Student leaders of different political ideologies including some victims of the August 2007 campus violence on Thursday blamed squarely the then chief adviser to the caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed and the then army chief Moeen U Ahmed for the incident in Dhaka University.

The student leaders at a meeting with the parliamentary subcommittee set up to investigate the incident also placed common 10-point recommendations to avoid recurrence of such incident, sources attending the meeting said.

Sources said that 19 former and present student leaders of different political ideologies including the Chhatra League, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Bangladesh Students Union, Bangladesh Student League (JSD) and Chhatra Moitri  in their statements to the committee held the army and the then interim government responsible for the clashes.

They also talked about the inhuman torture they faced in jail during interrogation

as the law enforcers forced them to make statements against political leaders.

'Most of the leaders in their statements said that the army and the then caretaker administration were fully responsible for the incident,' the chief of the four-member subcommittee, Rashed Khan Menon, told New Age after the meeting.

He also said that they had demanded exemplary punishment of the persons responsible so that such incidents cannot take place again.

The sources said that the student leaders told the committee that the law enforcers had tried to force them to say that leaders of different political parties had paid them to wage a movement to tarnish the image of the then caretaker government.

They said that they had to face physical torture as they refused to make statement as asked by the law enforcers. 'I told the committee what barbaric torture I faced during my detention,' Jahidul Islam Biplob, a student who was injured in the clash and was arrested, told New Age after the meeting.

The student leaders said that they had placed common 10-point recommendations before the committee.

The recommendations include consideration of the student protests as a normal movement against repression, exemplary punishment of the army personnel and  the law enforcers involved in repression, withdrawal of all cases filed against students after the clashes, proper treatment of the injured teachers and students who were yet to recover, compensation to the families which incurred financial losses, regular elections to the students' unions in all universities and an end to ill motives to use the students by intelligence agencies or political parties to create conflict.

'We placed common recommendations that we had worked out at a meeting of all the 19 representatives on Friday,' former Chhatra Union president Shamsul Alam told New Age after the meeting.

Violence broke on August 20, 2007 when a few army men beat up three students and insulted a teacher during a football match in the Dhaka University playground.

Thousands of DU students on the day took to the streets protesting at the incident and demanding withdrawal of the army camp from the playground. There had been pitched battles between students and the law enforcers for the next two days, in which more than 250 people, mostly students, were injured.

As the violence spilled over to all educational institutions in the capital and outside, the government imposed a curfew on the divisional headquarters and closed universities and colleges on August 22.

Four teachers and eight students were arrested and kept behind bars for about five months while thousand others were allegedly tortured on the campus and also in other places across.

The parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry on August 20, 2010 set up the subcommittee headed by Menon to investigate the incident to ensure punishment of the people responsible and make recommendations to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

The committee earlier collected statements of a number of persons including advisers to the interim government and army officials.

Most of them blamed the army and an intelligence agency for the incident while army officials said that everything had happened at the directives of the former caretaker chief and the army chief.

The subcommittee on March 29 sent letters to Fakhruddin Ahmed and Moeen U Ahmed asking them to appear before it and give their depositions on April 18.

They, however, did not appear before the committee and sent written statements.

The subcommittee rejected their written statements and asked them again to be appear before it on June 5.

Source: New Age