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Saturday, November 7, 2009

[ALOCHONA] Govt needs to raise BSF excesses with Delhi



Govt needs to raise BSF excesses with Delhi

THE Border Security Force of India has yet again killed a Bangladesh national, needless to say, without any apparent reason. According to reports published in the media, the victim, a 13-year old girl, went to Kalo Dewanir Hat along the Roumari border in Kurigram, along with two other girls, to pluck flowers around 6:00pm on Friday when the Indian border guards opened fire on them. The killing has naturally touched off tension along the border, with the Bangladesh Rifles asking people of the bordering villages to shift to safer places. With the death of the teenager, the number of people killed in BSF firing over the past 10 months or so rose to 87 – i.e. just over eight persons a month.


The BDR, according to reports, was to send a letter of protest to the BSF; however, if past records were any indicator, it is unlikely to bring about changes in the BSF behaviour, let alone rein in the trigger-happy members of the Indian border guards. In July this year, at the end of a three-day director general-level conference in Dhaka, the BSF chief, while assuring to take stern action against Indian border guards for violation of human rights through killing of unarmed Bangladeshis, nonetheless claimed that 'most of those killings, almost 85 per cent, took place at the dead of night when public movement across the border is prohibited under section 144.' Surely, the killing of the 13-year old girl did not take place at the dead of night. One wonders what explanation the BSF top brass would come up with this time around.


   Regardless of what the BSF authorities in particular and the Indian government in general would like to have us believe, the fact of the matter remains that most of the Bangladesh nationals killed by the Indian border guards over the years were poor and unarmed people. True, there may have been, and may still be, trespassing by Bangladesh nationals into the Indian territory and vice versa; however, it is often driven by reasons other than criminal intent. The people on the Bangladesh-India border share a long history and have come to be inter-dependent over not days or years but centuries. Many people in the border areas, while officially Indians or Bangladeshis, share the same family roots and often cross the border just to meet their relatives on the other side. Regarding such human impulse as criminal intent is inhumane and borders on the criminal.


   As we have written in these columns before, the continuation of killings of Bangladesh nationals by the BSF despite repeated assurance from the BSF top brass, at flag meetings and biannual conferences, tends to underline the fact that the problem is beyond the BDR-BSF leaderships to resolve and requires political intervention by the governments of the two countries.


Hence, Dhaka needs to seek political resolution of the border problems at the summit-level talks with New Delhi. Dhaka needs to make New Delhi understand that unabated killings of Bangladeshis in BSF shooting only deepens resentment against India among the people of Bangladesh and that such resentment is detrimental not only to the relations between the two next-door neighbours but also to the greater peace and harmony of the region.


http://www.newagebd.com/2009/nov/08/edit.html




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[ALOCHONA] India's Defining Moment



India's Defining Moment


By Trevor Selvam


Lately, there is substantial discussion going on in the non-Maoist leftist and democratic circles about the "democratic space" in the Indian political arena. Amongst erstwhile Naxalites, various CPI (ML) name tag bearing overground Naxalites, longstanding civil libertarians and human rights lawyers, single issue NGO groups, environmental and anti-globalization activists, anti-nuclear activists, to tribal and rural welfare organizers, union organizers, longstanding Gandhian organizers, hesitant sympathizers of the Maoists in the academic milieu to the social scientists and journalists who make repeated appearances on TV talk shows. This is possibly a great development, if both the Maoists and the non-Maoist believers in fundamental social change don't screw things up big time, in the next few months. The Maoists are entrenched in their tribal strongholds. Their approach to mass movements that are not led or organized by them, especially in non-tribal areas, seem to be still at a non-mature stage. The non-Maoists and especially the NGO organizations have no developed plans to unify their struggles towards a single All-India platform that envisages even peaceful overhaul of the current order. And yet, everyone demands the right to occupy the "democratic space." Maoists and non-Maoists alike.

Without cultural evolution, the democratic space cannot be reinforced.

Much to the chagrin of all Indians, India is not culturally tuned in for democratic change, despite all the trappings, institutions, systems and legislative paraphernalia in existence. The reasons are perhaps not so anthropologically or sociologically profound.

Basic honesty, fairness, a sense of equity, sober choice of words is rare in the fabric that constitutes Indian polity. Patronizing, mischief-bound, gross exaggerations dominate; inappropriate and sometimes mendacious use of hyperbole is widespread, never mind the ridiculous attempts to mix the phoren with Bollywood stylizations. Sycophancy, crass worshipfulness, vague religious and spiritual cross references and dynastical angles are thrown in frequently. Sober reflections and well-researched positions are rare. This is a pre-industrial and feudal society with high technology at its disposal. Nothing could be more deceptive, as a result.

Within the forces that want progressive change and are working towards it, there are the cosmopolitanized sections who are relatively media savvy and have some ability to participate and intercede on behalf of democratic forces. Then there are those who are campaigning principally through vernacular pamphlets and have failed to use the new media with expertise. Neither are having a profound impact on defining the democratic space.

Despite all the industrial growth and development hype, India remains socially backward and more so in the urban landscape. And in fact, even when we are faced with an important and critical national debate, as we are faced with now, the talking heads on TV, deflect, lie, engage in double-talk, get peripheral, dodge essential discussions, go out of focus, get argumentative about marginal issues, bring up non-essential issues, engage in tit-for-tat discussions and resort to dishonesty. The so-called civil society commentators on TV, also engage in the same double talk. They cannot come clean or rise above their petty affiliations. How can the democratic space be agreed upon, if the definers are not culturally evolved with democratic sensibility? There is no harm in admitting that the western sense of liberal democracy is the only available norm and one might as well make the best out of it, despite its warts. How can real issues be discussed, when repressed thoughts dominate? How can democratic concepts be instilled when debates are conducted in a round about fashion? Indians make an apostolic credo out of non-violence. Before expressing their support for this or that movement, everyone makes it a point to pay their dues at the alter of non-violence. This is a form of self-imposed repression. Perhaps the resistance politics of the subjugated and the colonized never made it to the shores of India. Surely Fanon, Camus, Galeano, Ho Chi Minh, Cabral, Guevara, Walter Rodney, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and countless others did not suffer from the moral tempest of whether to state boldly or hide from the fact that armed resistance is necessary when all other tactics have failed. The Indian state, in its present manifestation, practices the same repressive violent policies as that of the erstwhile French in Algeria, the erstwhile apartheid regime of South Africa and the current Israeli regime in Palestine. In fact, there has never ever been a convergence of US, Israeli and Indian interests as now. So what is the piety of imposing the shackles of non-violence on the penniless and destitute of India?

Aside from the issue of non-violence and violence, the cultural functioning of the state vis-à-vis corruption, scams, police encounters, political tie-ups and the sorry state of the Indian Law courts, give further evidence of the non-democratic culture of India.

When Indians engage in high level black money scams and corruption, the black money is laundered in a feudal style! When Indians want to sell a slick new gadget or product, where they engage in sexism, age-ism, racism and invariably make fun of the "village idiot." When social commentators are asked to reflect on core socio-economic issues, they must first clear the decks by calling the Maoists bandits and criminals, and then they go about talking about their pet issues where violence has been widely used. When the BJP and the CPI(M) talk about law and order, it is like America talking about World Peace.

Bull-shit baffles, but only for so long. So, trappings or not, India remains drowned in feudal (that is undemocratic and extra-political/economic power deployment) culture. "Kaal ana "(come back tomorrow) or "apply through proper channels" or "wait for the supervisor to come" have been the cornerstones of a growing class of users of peons, orderlies, servants, (PAs!—what an anachronism!) chumchas, scramblers, cooks, drivers, waiters, chai-fetchers and leftist men who still order their leftist women around. Respect for each other as human beings, the concept of gender equity is a distant reality. Indians believe in servers, in underlings, in people over whom they can wield undemocratic control. Respect, fairness and honesty are still not part of the modern Indian cultural equation.

Democratic debate also requires meticulous awareness about the constitutional laws of the land (irrespective of how they have been framed), a primary respect for individual rights and civil liberties, respect for physical space and the right to be heard with patience and civility. At the national level, India has several significant lawyers and human rights activists who have this acumen and experience. It is time they put their resources together and mount a historic challenge and a show cause notice against the current Home Minister ( a recent inductee into the Home portfolio and until recently a lawyer for the corporate criminals of the century, Enron) and even the gnomic Indian PM, whose economic credentials have been blown out of proportion. This is now imperative, that what the Maoists have raised through sometimes irrational activities be understood as Constitutional Issues. Never before in the post-independence period has fundamental constitutional issues been brought to the forefront with such intensity, as now. The PM knows that very well. He knows that the Naxalites have exposed India's chancre, in his own words, the "poorest of the poor."He has to either change the Constitution or he has to engage in settler colonialism. Those are his historic choices. Talking about law and order, violence, foreign hand, development etc is chimera; nice distractions, but only for a while. Because, I hope the PM has been advised, that the Naxalites are not a bad dream and they are not going away! So, it is imperative that Constitutionalists and legal experts understand this and put together all their resources to publicize this well-planned offensive by the Indian government against the Constitution.

There is a journalist from Chhattisgarh named Gladson Dungdung. He speaks softly, brings up issues very clearly (both his parents were murdered-he speaks from the heart and does not mince words. He has nothing to loose.) He does not use big words. I could listen to him for an hour, rather than listen to some of the scribes that NDTV and Times Now etc assemble as experts. We need people who speak like this. From the heart, with compassion and honesty. Feudalism does not allow such behaviour. Half-baked capitalist culture also does not allow for this. That is India's dilemma. India is a half-baked pie. One half does not know, that the other half is raw. One half has separated from the other half. There are two Indias. If you go to West Mednipur and talk to tribals there, they speak from the heart. When you go to Chhattisgarh or Dantewada and speak to those who do not engage directly in Maoist activities, they speak from the heart. They are either angry and accept the Naxalites as the "sarkar" (government) or they are forlorn and say there is no hope for them or their children—what did they do wrong to deserve this?

Let's talk, as well, about some distracting foul odour that is coming out of all this. There is a crop of these commentators, who have an ideological axe to wield. While claiming to derive inspiration from socialism, some of these frequent pop-up characters on talk shows have a rigid, hide-bound Eurocentric (and I daresay, 19th century) affiliation for a "working class and working class only" solution to social change. Deeply entrenched still in issues of Left Oppositionism and Permanent Revolution theory, these organization-less activists from the sixties and seventies, now occupy glitterati positions on national TV with the Arnab Goswamis and the Barkha Dutts. Not only do they hold a sectarian scorn for tribals, peasants and other rural activists ( "despotic" genes) , they are convinced that the entire Maoist movement from A-to Z is a continuation of the ultra nationalist anti-British movement, organized by societies like Anushilan and Jugantar in the 1920s! This was specifically stated several times on TV. There is a further pernicious attempt by them to impose on the Maoists "to abjure violence unconditionally." Again, this is a new-found tactic, which has been craftily imbibed from a European socialist and liberal democratic tradition (where armed struggle is somewhat ridiculous to contemplate) and as well from a justifiable feminist response to violence in general, as a misogynist culture that is very prevalent in India. In essence, these folks remain ensconced in a 19th century European debate, while at the same time slyly use "non-violence" to establish some public credibility and "space" for themselves. (Incidentally Nandita Haksar, well-known human rights activist and lawyer, in an article regarding the Citizen's Initiative for Peace, in Mainstream, states "If we closely examine the six demands we will see that the Resolution has fallen into the trap of the Indian State which wants the focus to be on the question of violence and not on the very real problems that the Maoists have focused on. It is interesting that many of those people who have very deep ideological differences with the Maoists, including Gandhians committed to non-violence, have also taken the position that the basic political issues must be addressed before there is any discussion on the use of violence by the Maoists." ) These social commentators are on record, stating that the "government is factory-producing Maoists, out of tribals." How regretful, that the mindless, original inhabitants of India have taken up arms to defend themselves after 62 years of Independence! Settler colonialism, as practiced in Australia, Israel, Canada and the United States is fast becoming a potent reality in India, where India's own "nouveau" citizens are hell-bent on "clearing" the tribal lands of its first nations, irrespective of whatever the worth of Schedule 5. Like the thinking of true colonials of the Joseph Conrad era, they have construed that the Maoists have manipulated the minds of the tribals. The facts that these Maoists have been living for over twenty five years in this region and the majority of the Maoists leaders are tribals themselves, does not figure in their analyses.

At another level, the duplicity and the outrageous postulations of the CPI(M) and the Trinamool about who is in bed with the Maoists secretly, gives away the huge cultural gap that exists between telling the truth and fabricating yarns. In no civil society can such blatant concoctions be even cooked up, never mind openly dispensed in the media. And yet it is standard fare in India. Every one practices violence and yet endorses non-violence with casual indifference in the media. And the media never points out to the CPI(M)s, the Congress, the BJP and the Trinamool that on a daily basis they are practicing violence in Bastar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and 24 Parganas.

Do the Maoists understand the democratic space?

No, they don't. They don't, because of two reasons. One, because they are products of this society and therefore have not liberated themselves culturally. Second, they are still encrusted by Stalinist organizational precepts.

Despite disclaimers they act in such a manner that the division between them and others are always distinct and made sharp. They approach mass organizations with glib analyses, of who can be labelled with what and therefore what to expect. They continue to label people, instead of understanding the social space and the mental processes that non-Maoist activists feel about civil rights, democratic rights. They display the arrogance of "armed strugglers" instead of the dignity of alliance builders. They come to implement a mandate, rather than support and assist a cause. They work in mass organizations and use "Maoist" terminology, instead of doing their democratic homework. They stand out, instead of standing in. They do not understand that struggles for civil liberties and democratic rights must attract mainstream bards, artists, lawyers, filmmakers, the stalwarts of the nation's democratic conscience (whatever exists), the famous judges, the famous writers and famous scientists. They are not helping in creating the democratic space that is essential. In the seventies, the civil liberties movements were able to bring together such people. That is why Mrs. Gandhi's Emergency was defeated. Now, the civil liberties movement has suffered somewhat and the largesse required to attract the conscientious stalwarts must again be regenerated. Maoists defend brutality in obtuse statements, instead of upholding the right to armed resistance. With the brutality of the Sangh Parivar and its various clones (who are now engaged in acts of open terrorism), the CPI(M) harmads and the Trinamool goons (who together have much more arms, than the Maoists), why are Maoists having such a hard time in drawing the line? Organizationally, the Maoists must be somewhat more open about the debates they are engaging in internally. They must a build a new organization and not replicate the old. They must infuse cultural democracy, have respect for dissent. Nothing hurt the Naxalites, internally, more than the treatment meted out to Sushital Rai Choudhuri in the seventies. It was the old dogged Stalinist culture of isolating the voices of dissent and discussion and dispensing summary proclamations about "centrism" and other misnomers for rigidity. Can this be changed? Is this possible in organizations where democracy as a culture is not prevalent in the society at large? It is one thing to have strong discipline in a military arm. It is another thing to control discussion in a political party, by non-democratic means. When Maoists make mistakes, they must formally apologize. To cover it up with hurtful bravado and alienating lingo, does not bode well. Unless Maoists go beyond the prevalent notions of "debate" and party line, they will not be able to attract the middle classes, the working class and the intelligentsia. They will not be able to assist in the formation of a democratic space. Maoists must realize that it is a fantasy to imagine an India enveloped by a Maoist revolution alone. India will have many forces combining together to create a democratic and revolutionary movement.

What have the NGOs done to the democratic space?

India's NGO groups have damaged the democratic space, as well, by sticking to single issues, not uniting on a National Platform and not seeing the need for overall social change. They must now realize that what must bind them together are the violations of India's existing constitutional guarantees, never mind globalization and its effects. Whether it is the damming of rivers, the deforestation, the forced clusterization of rural populations, the acquisition of fertile agricultural land for SEZs, lack of schooling, lack of health care facilities, rural employment, lack of hygiene--everything can be traced back to violations of the Indian constitution and its stated principles.

On Indian media, there are ads about the precocious kids of the nouveau riche, there are ads about farmers, and there are ads about workers. Has anybody ever seen an ad that reflects on India's mountains, rivers and the PEOPLE who live there? They do not exist and there is nothing to sell to them! Twenty five percent of India's population has been wiped off the tube! Can some smart capitalist with a burning entrepreneurial zeal (and a proud exponent of growth!) please come up with a low cost overnight snail trap (major source of protein for the tribals), perhaps a low-cost tree climbing sling, that does not lacerate the chest, perhaps a mosquito repelling leaf mattress for the new born tribal child, perhaps a small organic pouch for the tribal male to cover his modesty? There are several hundred million consumers waiting! No! They do not exist in India's cultural mindset.

Without cultural emancipation, without awareness about the constitution, without honest, straight forward and distilled truth, the democratic space cannot be easily defined.


http://www.countercurrents.org/selvam071109.htm




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[ALOCHONA] Admin in disarray



Political influence of successive governments stalls much-needed reforms

Sluggishness has gripped the entire public administration, as all previous reform attempts towards making it service oriented have gone into hibernation amid mounting political influence of successive ruling parties.

With the present government also transferring, posting, and promoting civil bureaucrats allegedly based on political considerations, and personal liking and dislikes of ministers and ruling party leaders instead of their performances, the administration seems to remain in disarray.

"This has been the practice in the administration over the years, causing a major slide in morale and a lack of commitment among the civil servants," observed a secretary of an important ministry, asking not to be named.

In the 10 months of the current government, the administration has been reshuffled in such a manner that is encouraging the officials to take on a political colour and to curry favours with ruling influential quarters for promotions or good postings at the cost of public services and their relevant responsibilities.

"Where the civil administration now stands, one does not need to work, but to maintain a lobby with influential ruling quarters," the secretary said when asked how the present bureaucracy is functioning.

He said the overall standard of the civil service is frustrating, where officials hardly take care of their responsibilities. "Still, there are some good officials who are not partisan and never bother about their postings and promotions….These persons are holding the administration together."

Asked what steps the government has taken for administrative reforms, Prime Minister's Adviser on Establishment Ministry and Administrative Affairs HT Imam said initiatives to change the name of the establishment ministry and to redefine its role in collaboration with UNDP are parts of the reform initiative.

"The establishment ministry's vision and mission will be redefined in keeping with the spirit of the liberation war in order to improve its efficiency, and to make the bureaucracy pro-people and service oriented," Imam, a former cabinet secretary, said.

The bureaucrat turned politician said the administration could be rid of partisanship, if the civil servants are competent and honest. "Inefficient officers get involved in party politics for personal gains," he claimed.

Twenty two commissions and committees have so far been formed in different times to streamline the bureaucracy, with almost every government venturing to form at least one such bodies since the independence of the country. They produced volumes of reports, but a very few have been implemented.

"Due to various constraints, the recommendations of those commissions and committees were either partially implemented or ignored totally. Consequently, the administrative structure has remained almost the same as it was during the colonial period," according to a report of the Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC), which was constituted in January 1997 with former secretary ATM Shamsul Haque as its chairman.

PARC submitted its report in five volumes to the then prime minister in 2000-'01 with 598 recommendations for short, medium and long terms, but most of those remained in paper, except a few like pay hikes for public servants, and formation of the Anti-corruption Commission.

It also suggested that merit should be the basis for appointments, postings, and promotions at all levels of the public administration. But no initiative was taken by the past governments to implement such recommendations.

The report also suggested formation of three clusters of closely related ministries in Bangladesh Secretariat -- general, economic, and socio-physical infrastructure -- with officials of the levels of deputy secretary and higher. The socio-physical infrastructure cluster would be comprised of ministries that deal with social and physical infrastructure development, the economic cluster would comprise ministries related to the country's economy, and the general cluster would be comprised of other ministries.

The foreign affairs ministry and the law ministry may remain outside the clusters, the report added.

The immediate past caretaker regime also embarked on an ambitious plan to infuse dynamism into the administration, and ensure its accountability and transparency. A five-member committee was then formed for reforms, and for guidelines for postings and transfers at the central and field-level administrations. The committee was also supposed to give directives for career planning and improving performances of public servants. But that too went into hibernation.

An adviser to the last caretaker government, AMM Shawkat Ali, who was a member of the committee, said nothing can be achieved if the recommendations for administrative reforms are not implemented. "Those who are supposed to work for that, seem uninterested," he told The Daily Star, adding that no major work has so far been done to that end.

About the performance of the current civil administration, the former food and disaster management adviser said, "The prime minister has instructed the secretaries twice to expedite their activities, which means things are not going well."

Neither the process of promotions nor the performance evaluation system has been modified to bring in qualitative changes, as promised by the present government.

Establishment Secretary Iqbal Mahmood however told The Daily Star, "We have prepared a draft of the Civil Service Act while initiatives are also under way to amend the promotion rules to award promotions in a more transparent manner based on merit."

Most ministries and divisions tend to avoid administrative and financial responsibilities delegated to them, causing clogs in the bureaucracy, and affecting public services, an inquiry report of the cabinet division observed last year.

"About 75 percent of the stockpiled files could be cleared readily, if the officials concerned had exercised the authority given to them by rules," the report mentioned.

"There has been a lack of transparency, accountability, and responsibility among the officers, and no practice of punishment for not discharging official duties on time. The result is -- files continuing to pile up on secretariat desks as senior bureaucrats often tend not to use their discretion, and keep sitting on documents instead," said a senior bureaucrat.

The inquiry report, prepared by the then additional secretary to the cabinet division, Md Zahid Hossain, made an eight-point recommendation for infusing dynamism and accountability into the administration, after conducting a random survey in 11 ministries during the immediate past emergency rule.

Many officers in Bangladesh Secretariat, the administrative hub of the country, said the officers who are not carrying out respective duties, should be brought under a system of punishments. "The practice of not working should be considered as an offence," observed one of them.

Like the past governments, the government of Sheikh Hasina also initiated a fresh move in October in collaboration with UNDP to bring reforms to both the central and field-level administrations. A report on clustering the ministries, transfers, postings, and promotions is expected in three months.

"If the government accepts the report, then the implementation phase will come," said Shawkat Ali.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=113173



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[ALOCHONA] Some wonderful features in RTNN in this week



There are few excellent articles I found in http://www.rtnn.net/ . Please visit the links below:

যুগান্তকারী আধুনিক আবিষ্কারঃ এক্সরে

নতুন স্মার্টফোন- মটোরোলা ড্রইড

ন্যানোপার্টিকেল এবং ডিএনএ'র উপর প্রভাব

ইরাকে বাড়ছে প্লাস্টিক সার্জারীর চাহিদা 


আমাদের ক্রিয়েটিভিটি এবং আমরা-৩


বৃটেনে নারীদের সন্ত্রাসী গ্রুপে যোগদানের হার উদ্বেগজনকহারে বৃদ্ধি


কোমল পানীয়? সাবধান!


আপনার কি মাথা ব্যাথা? জেনে নিন কারনসমূহ


পোট্রেট অব জিহাদের প্রদর্শনী নিউইয়র্কে


ঢাকা সফরে আগ্রহী জ়েরুজালেম সিটি মেয়র


চট্টগ্রাম-কুয়েত সরাসরি বিমান চালু


টেক্সাস সেনা ঘাটিতে মেজরের গুলিতে নিহত ১২, আহত ৩১



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[ALOCHONA] Two trillion dollar questions



অশিক্ষিত,আধা অশিক্ষিত,কুঅশিক্ষিত চাদাঁবাজ,টেন্ডারবাজ, ধান্দাবাজ, খুনি আর ধর্যকদের সংগঠন বাংলাদেশ ছাত্রলীগ যদি রাজনীতি করতে পারে, তবে শিক্ষিত ,মেধাবীদের সংগঠন হিজবুত তাহরীর কেন রাজনীত করতে পারবে না ?
 
 
বাংলাদেশ ছাত্রলীগের আগে যে অপবাদমূলক বিশেষণগুলি লাগানো হয়েছে তার কোনটি মিথ্যা বলে দাবী করতে পারবেন ?

The test of patriotism is not a one-off event for anyone, let alone the political quarters, that once passed is passed for ever. It is rather a perpetual process, especially for the ruling political quarters that have to pass it every moment- Nurul Kabir , Editor , The NewAge



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[ALOCHONA] Bangladesh must be saved, UK Parliament told



Bangladesh must be saved, UK Parliament told
 
By Syed Nahas Pasha

London, Nov 7 (bdnews24.com)—A senior British politician Frank Dobson MP told UK's Parliament this week that worldwide action is needed to rein in climate change and save the most at-risk countries like Bangladesh.
 
 


The Labour MP and former health secretary, terming it "the most vulnerable" country, said Bangladesh could only be saved by supporting long-term climate adaptation plans on a "vast scale".

"Nothing else will do," Dobson said during a five-hour debate on climate change in the House of Commons last Thursday.

Secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Miliband admitted in the debate that the 15th UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) at Copenhagen in December is unlikely to produce a legally binding way forward on curbing global emissions and tackling climate change.

He said "political agreement" was a more likely outcome, which he hoped would drive forward "a very clear timetable, to a legally binding treaty".

Miliband told the Commons: "I think an agreement without numbers is not a great agreement. In fact it's a wholly inadequate agreement."

In the Barcelona climate talks this week, held in preparation for COP15, the poorest African countries walked out of talks in protest that rich nations were not prepared to pledge the required cuts in emissions to avoid significant global warming.

China, India and Indonesia have all recently published plans for emission cuts, but political wrangling among industrialised nations and emerging economies over details of the agreed proposals looks set to continue.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, which fears rising seas will displace 200 million people by 2100, has been at the forefront of the Least Developed Countries in pressing for global climate adaptation funds and a climate refugee plan at international forums ahead of the Copenhagen summit.

Dobson's speech in the Commons on Thursday focused entirely on Bangladesh, termed on the "frontier" of climate change.

He told the house, "Today's debate is general and wide-ranging, and I will leave it to others to deal with many of the issues involved. It is clear that the climate is changing and that in most parts of the world it is changing for the worse. I wish to concentrate my attention on the one place that is most vulnerable to climate change and has the largest population at risk—Bangladesh, a country a little larger than England and with nearly three times our population."

Highlighting the problems of flooding caused by climate change, he told fellow MPs that dangerous and damaging floodwaters come from three different sources, sometimes at different times and sometimes in combination. The monsoon rains over Bangladesh, the meltwaters of the Himalayas and cyclones from the Bay of Bengal all cause flooding. All three sources of flooding are beyond the control of the government and people of Bangladesh. All that can be done is to try to protect against them, he said.

"Most of Bangladesh is formed of the delta of not one but two of the world's major rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, as they discharge their waters into the Bay of Bengal. As a result, most of the people of Bangladesh live on one of the ultimate frontiers of the world—a frontier between land and water and between the works of humankind and the forces of nature," said Dobson.

"Bangladesh has been successful in developing manufacturing industry, but most of its people are still dependent on the products of the land. The abundant water irrigates their crops and the silt renews the soil. That is in the good times. In the bad times, the self-same waters build up, get out of control and wreak destruction and death over huge areas. To put it in some perspective, the last major flooding extended over an area almost equal to the distance between London and Manchester. The scale is enormous."

Dobson said Bangladesh had long shown tremendous resilience in the face of natural disasters.

"In the face of those natural disasters, over the centuries the people of Bangladesh have shown a resilience unmatched anywhere else on earth with the possible exception of Holland. Land lost to the rivers or the sea has been reclaimed, new crops planted and replacement homes built. More recently, with help from the UK and other donor governments, limited steps have been taken to provide storm refuges and lift the level of the land."

Dobson told the commons, "Until very recently, all that happened in response to occasional, sudden and rather unpredictable crises. Not any more. Climate change threatens to melt the snows and glaciers of the Himalayas more quickly than in the past, and it is likely to affect the monsoons and increase the frequency of the cyclones. Above all, it threatens an inexorable rise in sea level. That is not just a future threat—it is causing problems now in Bangladesh. "

He praised Britain's climate pledges to Bangladesh. The UK is already providing £75 million to support climate change adaptation and has committed another £100 million in coming years to help people maintain livelihoods in areas most vulnerable to climate change, he said.

"Those are immediate measures intended to deal with the problems that are arising now, but the longer-term protection of the people of Bangladesh will require funds and attention on an altogether vaster scale," said Dobson.

"Otherwise, about half the population of Bangladesh—70 million people—could be affected by flooding every year and a tenth of the low-lying land could be lost for ever. Therefore, vast civil engineering works will be required: villages must be raised above flood levels; more flood and cyclone centres need to be built; embankments must be raised; and probably equally importantly, crops capable of coping with the occasional ingress of salt and brackish water must be developed."

Frank Dobson said just one glance at the map of Bangladesh shows both the scale and the complexity of the problem and any measures intended to deal with it.

"Climate change will cause problems in [the UK], but without wishing to diminish their significance in any way, they will pale into insignificance compared with the problems of Bangladesh. The white cliffs of Dover are not likely to be engulfed, but the chars, sandbanks, mudbanks and riverbanks of Bangladesh will be unless we help the resilient and talented people of that country to build the protection they need against the disastrous and deadly consequences of climate change."

Frank Dobson is Labour MP for London's Holborn and St Pancras. 

 



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[ALOCHONA] BD diaspora in the west

My relative in North America when applied for government jobs had to indicate whether he is involved in any group activities or so. He has never been, even scared to become a blogger. I am not contesting if he was an active blogger or engaged in some kind of social or political activities, his selection gets affected. But so far he is confirmed as a successful candidate in at least 5 to 7 positions but many months passed no offer come through. He may or may not receive the offer from the government offices, where, for one instance, 1200 people applied for 8 positions including Phd. Holders.
Like in his current office where he always find himself in difficulties getting promoted in comparison with the white new comers and 'brown nosers'. Whole world accepted the stark color discrimination in American society in silence and as a norm, but we from the distressed communities always find ourselves in hot soup for our bad records, when total frame work of our system is under severe constraint of resources and wisdom, yet we have no respite from these communities or their bosses.

We are living in a dysfunctional world where norms and rules dictated by few in their own terms. Though it pains me most but learned to live with it.

Recently, bit perplexed observing the attitude of the cyber warriors from BD Diaspora.
As I have noticed that moment Bangals land into their dream land, with no time they become 'heterosexual', characterized themselves as democrat, humanist or feminist and so on; and start attacking BD society or politics. If it was for general good for the general mass that is fair enough with the new found wealth and resources. But it is not, taking shelter under the same crony politics bashing only the opponents or spreading a ghetto type of thinking.

When majority of them presenting as a proponent of free speech and human right ideal, albeit deep inside a chemistry of little or no change at work. Strange! Not being in BD for years, amassed all wealth in their dream land yet they pretend that they belong there. Referring to their claim of origin or root, launch hate campaign against either our religion (that is the most common) our values or our traditional culture, weaknesses and they perpetrate these only to support their new saviors and bosses at their new home or those at ancestral home that they left forever.

It appears all the actions only as retribution and to repudiate our hard and painful struggle against all odds that is being perpetrated by our politicians on us, most of which in connivance with their new masters. Impeccably they never could speak out against their bosses, even when they bomb and burn, bomb and destroy or kill habitat after habitat, vegetation, natural or man made systems, wedding parties, museums, schools, they are busy demanding punishment for crimes committed by earlier generation or by parties they hate at their ancestral home.

All these only reflect nothing but their ill induced hate and divide philosophy. They become part of the devil whose peace and security is always breached by the weak communities around the globe and a great number of BD diaspora stand and fight alongside them.

My relative did not join any block or group foreseeing that may help him not to get a good job or being muslim can land into serious type of framing, on the other hand these people join together to serve their master's interests with total devotion and snobbish attitude.

This devotion even mean - when I call him he will say please can I call you back during my lunch break. Same thing happens when I call my nephew in Australia, 'mama' can I call you back in the evening – in a low voice. They are totally embedded in those societies.

My earnest urge to only those, - if you can not help leave us alone, otherwise come forward with your renewed knowledge and wealth and share the pain of the majorities with a human characteristics. It also pain us to see our former brothers and sisters putting us down.

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