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Sunday, July 11, 2010

[ALOCHONA] Re: Textile Minister on AL and the media



Jute minister's remarks termed provocative,irresponsible 

Cross-section of people on Sunday described as 'irresponsible' and 'outrageous' the remarks of jute minister Abdul Latif Siddique that the Chhatra League should take on the opposition rather than fighting among themselves.
   They also condemned as a 'reflection of fascist
   mentality' his diatribe against the media.
   
They said that the minister's provocative remarks proved that the government had no respect for the mass media and democratic norms and values.
   At a programme of Awami Sangskritik Forum on Saturday, the minister for textiles and jute, Abdul Latif Siddique, advised the Bangladesh Chhatra League activists to stop infighting and take on the opposition parties instead. 'Why do you fight among yourselves instead of taking on them [opposition]. I know the media will kick up a fuss about my comments but I do not care…,' he said.
   
Pointing at the television cameras at the programme, he said, 'These machines are not in favour of us. The reporters might be our supporters but the owners are illegitimate sons of military rulers Zia and Ershad.'
   'The minister's remarks laid bare the fascist face of the Awami League. I am consciously using the adjective as I watch the activities of the government,' said writer Azfar Hussain.
   
'I am not at all surprised by such irresponsible remarks of the minister as we all know their cultural background. All these indicate the bankruptcy of bourgeois politics. Such bourgeois politics did not solve the issues like war crimes rather kept them alive for political gains. Such activities have kept the problems of the majority of the people, the workers and peasants, out of focus,' he said.
   
Anthropologist Rahnuma Ahmed said, 'One should respond to such inanity by asking the minister whether this is the Awami League's secret policy, whether Sheikh Hasina's standing down from the top position of Chhatra League last year was aimed at pulling the wool over our eyes; how long he [minister] thinks the public will tolerate such blatant arrogance… What I actually find deeply worrying is the sheer disregard for our public universities which have a proud history of producing so many meritorious students…'
   
'The present government is literally driving the last nail into the coffin of the public universities… Destroying the moral fabric of the public universities is a despicable crime…I demand that the government publish a white paper on where the children of ministers and top-ranking bureaucrats study, whether at public or private universities, whether at home or abroad,' she said.
   
Rights watchdog Odhikar's secretary Adilur Rahman Khan said, 'The minister's remarks once again reminded us of the fascist trend in politics when political persecution is continuing. The ruling class in Bangladesh, irrespective of partisanship, has a fascist tendency. One need not mention what was the situation during the rule of unelected governments. People, especially the students in Bangladesh, have long been struggling against such trend and the minister's remarks have proved that the struggle is not over…,' he said.
   
Robaet Ferdous, associate professor of mass-communication and journalism at Dhaka University, said the minister should be reined in so that he does not make such irresponsible remarks again. 'The whole country is suffering because of Chhatra League's violence; what the minister wants to achieve by trying to incite them to attack others,' he asked.
   
'What is most alarming is the minister's total disrespect for democracy and mass media. It seems he considers himself above everything and accountable to none. I fear bad days are ahead for Bangladeshi mass media. They have already closed down a newspaper and two television channels. The minister's tone indicates something ominous,' said Robaet.
   
Mushtaque Ahmed, a young entrepreneur and managing director of Reptile Farms Ltd, said, 'It is shocking that a minister can speak this way.'
   'The minister's remarks will provoke more violence in student politics. This eventually will strengthen the quarters who want to stop student politics,' said Mahbubul Haque, a student of mass communication and journalism at Dhaka University.
   
Rifat Rezwana, a student of Bangla at Jahangirnagar University, said 'Violence on campuses is never acceptable whether it is infighting of a student body or a clash between rival student organisations.'
   'The minister's comments made it clear that the government is not only supporting Chhatra League's activities, but also inciting them to do so,' said Munna Amzad, a student of Urdu at Dhaka University.
   
Bazlul Karim Chowdhury Abed, vice-president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, said they did not expect such irresponsible remarks from a senior minister. 'We condemn it.'
   
Chhatra League general secretary Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton declined comments on the minister's remarks. 'Being a man of ordinary position, I think I should not make comments on what a minister has said.'
 
 
On 7/11/10, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:
Textile Minister on AL and the media
 
 



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Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture





I have faith. We have seen these before and tend to correct one way or other.

--- On Wed, 7/7/10, ezajur <Ezajur@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: ezajur <Ezajur@yahoo.com>
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 10:28 AM

Syed Badrul Ahsan does everything possible to divert the reader from where blame lies - if blame lies with Awami League. Here he talks about everything under the sun in a crafty, roundabout way. He thinks he is very manipulative but for those who care enough to look twice his blind partisanship is very plain to see.

Which is why he will talk about Pakistan banning Mujib but never mention Mujib banning political parties, the press etc. Whatever the situation, these people will find a way of twisting things in favour of their party and their their nethri.

So he brings in Mujib, Tagore, Pakistan and even banning the sky.

But what he should be doing is writing about who is responsible for the current banning fad in Dhaka. But what can you expect? Under no circumstances will people like him attack those who are doing the banning if those who are doing the banning belong to their party.

And people like him are lead writers in the Daily Star.

It is a horrific situation.

Hey Badrul - talk about everything but don't talk about AL leaders who are behind the banning. Bloody rubbish Nethri system turns men into mice.

And Badrul is a mouse. Just like every other man who swears blind loyalty to his Nethri and doesn't have the basic morals to protest injustice within his party.

We are a nation of mice.




   



--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "ezajur" <Ezajur@...> wrote:
>
> Syed Badrul Ahsan is the Head of Awami League Current Affairs at the Daily Star. This piece is one of the best examples of what is wrong with intellectualism in Bangladesh today. This piece is deliberately diversionary and misleads the reader to a place far away from where the reader should be. It is political trickery posing as non partisan intellectualism.
>
> It is appalling that he is in such an important position and it is appalling that he is getting away with this kind of journalism - a kind of yellow journalism that hides both its real origins and its real motives.
>
> This is about as irrelevant and nonsensical a piece that you will find.
>
> Just what the politicians love to see in our papers.
>
> Instead of holding authorities to account Syed Badrul Ahsan has us reaching for our dictionary.
>
> Hey Badrul! Nowka! Nowka!
>

>
> --- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Ezajur Rahman <Ezajur@> wrote:
> >
> > The sky, the mind, the ban culture
> > Sadat Uddin Ahmed AmilSyed Badrul Ahsan
> > THE ban on Facebook could be lifted within days. Or perhaps by the time you read this in print, it might already have been withdrawn. But that is not what exercises our minds at this point. What we are upset about is the brusqueness with which the attack on Facebook was made. Of course, if there is anything obscene that has appeared on it, if the reputations of citizens, powerful or meek, have been ridiculed, all that the authorities needed to do was to go after those who indulged in such nefarious deeds. But to assume that an entire system can be done away with or simply run out of town only rekindles in us all the old thoughts of bygone rulers trying to govern us through control mechanisms that eventually did not amount to much. Control led to chaos. The mechanisms broke down.
> > The trouble with the post-modern era is that you cannot have all your wishes come true. All this technology around you is really daunting. More importantly, there is the matter of citizens' increasingly powerful sensibilities coming into play. Think back on the Tagore centenary celebrations in 1961 here in this land. Much effort was put into the job of trying to disrupt the proceedings by the Ayub Khan regime because it and its toadies believed Bengalis were actually celebrating the genius of a Hindu bard. Nothing worked for the regime, though. The presence of Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed at the head of the Tagore programme warded off the sinister shadow of the regime. The wolves then lay low, until the time came a few years later when Khwaja Shahabuddin, Ayub's information minister, finally clamped a ban on Tagore music in East Pakistan. That victory proved pyrrhic, though. By the late 1960s, Tagore was back and with him, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
> >  Rahman in the forefront, Bengali nationalism was in the ascendant.
> > Banning has never been a solution to a problem. It has been a problem on its own. Look at the record. Military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, having shot their way into power, have gone for imposing a ban on or a suspension of the constitution. That act was speedily complemented by restrictions on the way women would move around. It is rather curious that one of the first things coup-makers do is push civilised laws under the carpet and go for an inspection of female anatomy, in the latter instance, eventually deciding what women should be wearing or not wearing. Well, as history informs us so gleefully, constitutions have always come back and women have certainly refused to have their couture chosen by soldiers propping up illegitimate governments. Usurper regimes have gone for a ban on politicians and political parties. Yahya Khan thought banning the Awami League in 1971 would resuscitate a dying Pakistan in our lives. In the event, the Awami
> >  League only made sure that Pakistan was banned in Bangladesh for all time in December 1971.
> > There is something about the mind that rebels, always. When you ban a book, you are not only stifling intellectual freedom but also you are, at the same time, provoking people into wanting to read it. It is then that clandestine ways are discovered for the book to be distributed to as wide a circle as possible. You can threaten a writer with beheading; you can force a writer into exile. But do not forget that such ham-fisted measures only make the writer that much more appealing and readers that much more demanding. You can come up with all the excuses you can muster about the absence of moral dimensions in a movie and then clamp a ban on it. Once you do that, you are helping in the creation of an insular world for yourself. Insularity, you will of course remember, was what brought down apartheid South Africa and white minority-ruled Rhodesia.
> > There is a certain degree of arrogance which comes with banning. Turkey's generals, for all their appreciable role in upholding the country's secular traditions, made the mistake of arguing that women could not wear headscarves. The consequence was defiance. Watch the wife of President Abdullah Gul. She never lets go of her headscarf. And like her, other Turkish women have taken to ignoring the scowl of the army. Just as the state cannot decree what raiment people can get into, individuals or groups of individuals cannot and must not insist that a particular sect of believers be proscribed as a faith. You can observe your religion in all its totality, but you cannot turn it into a weapon to intimidate adherents of other beliefs. In much the same way, you cannot be self-righteous about your politics and then use it to hunt down people and destroy their reputations on spurious charges of treason. If you do, you will find the guillotine waiting for you. Do
> >  not forget America's Joe McCarthy.
> > The mind is certainly wider than the sky. You cannot outlaw the sky, can you? Why must you then try putting the mind in fetters? Why not ban the ban culture itself?
> > Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star.
> > Email: bahsantareq@
> >
>




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[ALOCHONA] The Return of The Hasina Khaleda

After nearly 2 years of Return of The Hasina, it should be obvious to all, that the primitive system of governance created by AL & BNP is the Law of the Jungle. This system will NEVER develop Bangladesh into a liveable nation.

Bringing Hasina back to develop BD is like bringing Bush back to fix USA. Hasina is totally incompetent to govern any nation, and that fact was proven in her last failed regime in 1996-2001.

Her governing style is based NOT on developing the system of democracy, ie functional parliament, law & order, term limits, party democracy, anti-corruption etc - BUT, her system is based on the OLD PAKISTANI system of failed politics, ie:

- Student terrorism
- Corruption & graft
- Opposition harrassment
- incompetent governance
- failed admin in natl systems (traffic, power, police, education etc)
- abuse of Justice system
- fraud bureaucracy

This whole Pakistani style of fraud governance, established in BD since 1947, is the signature of BD politics - mastered by Hasina Khaleda and the current style of politics.

Until BD overhauls this Pak-style fraud political system - BD has no hope of developing into a liveable society. Instead there will continuation of corruption, bad governance and division of our people.

------------------------------------

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[ALOCHONA] Crushing the opposition in Bangladesh by Zoglul Husain, UK



pls see the link
 
 
 



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[ALOCHONA] Use Garlic Instead of Antibiotics



Use Garlic Instead of Antibiotics
 
(NaturalNews) Too often when people are sick, they just don't know what to do. More and more people are starting to distrust doctors and their drugs, but in a time of illness or infection they're unsure where to turn. Unfortunately, this uncertainty leads many people to doctors' offices for drugs that ultimately do more harm than good. So, here's some simple advice: if you need something that functions like an antibiotic, turn to garlic instead. Garlic is a powerful, natural antibiotic - and it doesn't kill off our healthy bacteria like drug antibiotics do. Unlike chemical antibiotics, garlic is also an effective antiviral and antifungal - and taking just a few cloves of garlic each day can really speed infections away.

In one small trial, seven AIDS patients all had normal T-cell activity after three months of taking the equivalent of two or four garlic cloves each day - and T-cell activity is a key indicator of the AIDS infection. While AIDS may not be your infliction, as one of the most dreaded conditions around, it's helpful to use it to demonstrate the powerful effects of garlic. The patients also showed improvement with other problems like chronic diarrhea, candida overgrowth, genital herpes and a chronic sinus infection. Garlic has also been found to be helpful for conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, allergies, infections, toothaches, cancer, impotence, colds, heart disease, MRSA, and high cholesterol. And a one month supply is a few bucks at your local organic market.

The fact that garlic is able to help with so many seemingly unrelated problems also demonstrates how connected different diseases are. The medical establishment likes to isolate diseases and target each with different drugs - just because they produce different symptoms and occur in different areas of the body. But the root causes of diseases that can appear very different are often the same. It's all far more intertwined than you might think.

For garlic to be effective as a healing agent and general antibiotic, it needs to be raw. It should also be crushed and exposed to air for ten minutes before it's consumed to fully activate its key germ-killing compound. And don't worry; raw garlic doesn't have to taste awful. A simple recipe is to juice four cloves of garlic, two tomatoes, and a lemon to make a delicious antibacterial and antiviral drink. If you don't have a juicer, simply toss the ingredients into a blender and make a tomato and garlic soup. To either, just add some sea salt; it'll be delicious. If you have an infection, you can enjoy several of these drinks or soups each day to battle it away without the use of chemical antibiotics that are known to destroy our protective healthy bacteria - often in one fell swoop.

More:
http://medherb.com/Therapeutics/Imm...
http://www.medherb.com/Materia_Medi...
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archi...
http://www.homeremediesweb.com/garl...
http://www.essortment.com/all/healt...
 


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[ALOCHONA] The Telecommunication Act debate



The Telecommunication Act debate

Mushfique Wadud talks to different stakeholders in the telecommunication sector about their concerns over the proposed amendments to the Telecommunication Act

The recent amendment proposal for the Telecommunication Act 2001 has sparked a debate between the mobile telephone operators and the government. The government justified the proposal for amendment citing the need to prevent illegal voice over internet protocol (VoIP) as well as to put a check on mobile crimes. Meanwhile, mobile operators believe that some of the provisions in the proposed amendment are unfavourable to their business and may hinder future investment.

   Nonetheless, on June 13, the Bangladesh Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill, 2010, was placed before the Parliament.

   According to a newspaper report, the Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu, defending the proposed changes, said that the amendments were required to 'legalise' VoIP (phone calls via internet) business and issue call termination operator licences to generate employment.

   'If the Bill is passed, it would help curb illegal use of telecom technology and increase revenue incomes,' he is quoted as saying by the newspaper.

   Mobile, Public Switched Telecom Network (PSTN) and other operators through their organisation, the Association of Mobile Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) reasserted their qualms over the proposed amendment, highlighting some of the provisions as not being investment friendly while urging the government to review those provisions.

   According to them, the proposed amendments will create an air of uncertainty over investments, which could potentially render poor performances in terms of mobile penetration in the country.

   According to a New Age report, the Association of PSTN, Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh and the BTRC, in separate letters to the parliamentary committee, also expressed the concern that the government's proposals, if incorporated in to the law, would hamper further investment in the growing telecom industry, which drew approximately Tk 32,000 crore in the last decade.

   'When one wants to amend any law, there must be some problems with the existing law. I have been working in this sector for 13 or 14 years but I am yet to identify a problem in the existing law that requires amendment,' says Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam.

   'The amendment proposals show a lack of foresight or any consideration for the future of the sector. When someone plans on investing in a sector, he or she seeks a level of certainty in the sector for it to provide returns on the investment. But the provisions in the amendment leave no space for that certainty. For example, if any operator violates a condition, he or she may be fined a maximum of Tk 300 crore,' he adds.

   'The amendment will inculcate greater risks into the sector,' says Ashraful Haq Chowdhury, secretary of Association of Mobile Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB).

   'Investors always want safety and security. When there is a provision of imprisonment without any appeal, there is always a possibility that it will be misused. In this case, people will not come to invest and at the same time, few would want to be employed in this sector,' he adds.

   'The telecommunication sector has vast potential. It is possible to bring huge investments into this sector. However, in the last two years, apart from Air Tel, no one has shown much willingness to invest here. If such a tough law is enacted, the investment situation will be even worse,' he further says.

   'We have been warning about the amendments not being investment-friendly from the very beginning,' says Mahmud Hossain, head of corporate affairs at Grameenphone. 'In the amendment, there is no provision for appeal if an operator is accused of a breach. We hope that in a democratic society, there will be a provision to allow for an appeal,' he adds.

   In 2001, the Telecommunication Act was first formulated. Subsequently, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was created under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act, 2001 (Act no. 18 of 2001) and began functioning from January 31, 2002.

   According to the amendment, 'The Telecommunication Act 2010' envisages the transfer of supreme power to the telecom ministry to regulate the sector, from the existing independent body, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

   'First, an independent body in BTRC was created to make dealings more transparent and now, the power is passed on to the Ministry of Telecommunication. The government's policy here seems totally self-contradictory,' Tanjib adds.

   However, the Bill, after being placed before the parliament, was sent to the parliamentary standing committee, which was asked to submit a report on it to the house within 15 days.

   Newspapers also reported that Hasanul Haq Inu, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications, said the committee would stand against the proposed amendment.

   'I don't believe the parliament will pass the Bill without making it suitable for the industry,' a newspaper quoted him as saying.

   According to a New Age report published on July 5, the World Bank Dhaka office has requested the government not to proceed with the amendment proposals in the telecom law.

   'The proposed transfer of certain regulatory powers such as licensing and tariff-setting from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to the ministry of post and telecommunications is a cause for concern,' the report quoted the WB country director in Dhaka, Ellen Goldstein, as saying, in a letter to the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, recently.

   'On behalf of the World Bank, I would like to take this opportunity to voice concerns over some of the proposed amendments, which could be expected to discourage investment and growth in the sector, by undermining international standards of best practice and creating a high degree of legal and regulatory uncertainty,' said the WB Dhaka chief in the letter.

   The letter said that the separation of policy and regulatory functions between a government ministry and a regulatory agency, as provided for in the 2001 Act, is consistent with international best practice.

   However, according to sources, such a tough law was first drafted during the army-backed caretaker government. But WB did not express such concerns at the time.

   During the tenure of the BNP-led four party alliance government, there were allegations against political leaders and operators for manipulating illegal VoIP which resulted in huge losses being incurred in the government's revenue collection.

   As such, after assuming power, the army-backed caretaker government took tough measures against people involved with illegal VoIP alongside a few mobile operators who were fined.

   The caretaker government then formulated a tough law against those involved in illegal VoIP and other telecommunication irregularities in December 2008.

   An ordinance was issued to make it official during that time. The ordinance was supposed to be ratified in parliament to make it law but that is yet to be the case. Instead, the government placed another Bill before parliament.

   Stakeholders in the telecom sector feel that the Bill has kept intact almost everything proposed by the then-interim government, altering only one provision which reduces the maximum imposable fine from Tk 500 crore to 300 crore.

   AMTOB and other operators inform Xtra that they have expressed their concern over five issues of the proposed amendment of the Telecommunication act. Firstly, as per amendment, an individual could face imprisonment of up to five years, or a maximum fine of Tk 300 crore or both for 'activities against national harmony, public security and friendly relations with neighbouring countries' through the use of telecom or radio apparatus.

   'When such a hefty fine is involved, there is always a scope for it to be misused,' says Mahmud.

   'Some of the operators will not be able to stump up such amounts and it is absurd compared to other South Asian countries. The government must select the fine in accordance with international standards,' Ashraf says.

   'The fine will be considered as a source of revenue collection which is also abnormal as we handover portions of our revenue to the government already,' he adds.

   The second concern for operators is that the Bill has left no room for any appeal by operators against a regulatory decision. The draft law allows law enforcers to arrest any official in the telecom industry without a warrant.

   'Not only is an appeal provision in place in the telecommunication laws in other countries but it is also present for other sectors in our country,' Mahmud adds.

   'We think that anyone who commits a crime should be punished. But at the same time, it is only equitable for there to be a provision for an appeal against possible punishment. Without an appeal provision, there is a strong likelihood that the law will be misused,' Ashraf says.

   The third concern from operators is that all offences would be considered cognisable. The regulator or police could file a case based purely on the premise of suspicion.

   'With this provision, the employees will always be in fear. And again, this too can be misused if there is any personal conflict with the concerned authority and the employees of the operators,' Ashraf adds.

   Another concern the operators have expressed is that under the proposed Act, the BTRC would be able to change operators' license terms without consultation. 'Such a provision will introduce a risk factor to the sector for future investment,' Mahmud adds.

   'We propose that if such a provision has to be added, there should be another provision which will ensure that the regulator can change the terms after discussion with the operators,' Ashraf adds.

   And their fifth concern is the social obligation fund. According to the amendment, the operators have to create a social obligation fund. The operators think that such a fund is not necessary as they are conducting social works through corporate social responsibility.

   There have been different allegations against some operators about illegal VoIP and high call rates among others. While experts believe that this should be strongly monitored by the government, they feel that the government should discuss any possible consequence with the operators before issuing a step.

   'We also think that there should be a check and balance. But the monitoring system should be in line with international standards and it should be put to use after a discussion with the different stakeholders,' Ashraf says.

   'If anyone commits a crime, the government can punish him or her. But there should not be any law which allows for the harassment of stakeholders,' he adds.

   'The punishment is proposed for any one who will conduct illegal VoIP. Why shouldn't there be a punishment for the offenders?' says an official of the Post and Telecommunication Ministry, who does not want to be identified.

   'There should be a system so that there is a level playing field for both government and non-government operators,' says Dr Akbar Ali Khan, former chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission.

   'If any commission cannot work independently and they have to work according to the directives from the government, there is no point of having a commission,' he adds.

   'I will try to strike a balance among the regulatory commission, government and the stakeholders before finalising the report,' the chairman of the committee, Hasanul Haq Inu, told New Age.

   He said that the committee would try to protect the interests of the investors, subscribers and the country which was pursuing a vision for Digital Bangladesh

   Meanwhile, on July 5, the parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications ministry finalised its recommendations on the telecommunications Bill.

   Though it did not recommend any changes to the provision, which would force the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission to take prior approval from the government for issuing licences and setting tariff rates, it inserted some new provisions to the Bill.

   The parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications ministry inserted a new provision for the creation of an Appeal Board to dispose of telecom-related offences or breach of telecoms rules within 60 days

   The standing committee also added another section to the Bill, authorising the government to appoint an administrator to oversee any errant organisations, which operate under telecom laws.

   According to a report in bdnews24.com published on July 5, Hasanul Haq Inu, the committee chairman, told reporters that the Bill 'would only ensure the government's role in the telecom sector.'

   He claimed the autonomous BTRC would not lose its powers such as issuing and cancelling telecom licences, allocation of frequency and other day-to-day businesses with prior permission from the telecommunications ministry.

   The committee also did not recommend any changes to the provision on social responsibility fund, something which the operators have expressed their dissatisfaction over earlier. But the committee has recommended the telecom ministry sit with the license holders, if the government wants to change the terms and conditions of the licenses.

   Despite repeated attempts, Post and Telecommunications Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu and the secretary of the ministry, Sunil Kanti Bose could not be reached to comment on this issue.

   Cornered
   · According to the amendment, an individual could face imprisonment of up to five years, or a maximum fine of Tk 300 crore or both for breach of law
   · The bill has left no room for an appeal by an operator against a regulatory decision
   · Under the draft law, the BTRC will be able to change operators'
 


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Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture



Dear Mr. B Ahsan,
 
Thanks for your quick reflection and parting knowledge. As far as I am concern in this thread of postings, educating myself is the main objective as my profession is something has no link with what I say or do here (in this blog) or elsewhere in contrary to your position in this connection.
Therefore my reading habit or writing a post, only to develop and make my opinion for the greater interest of our people I do not have AL or BNP in my background. What you as a political editor of daily star, as a prolific writer, take your position or taken your position already in the mind of thousands of DS readers or your own readers it is entirely their judgement, asking them to educate further to understand your writing is sheer arrogance.
 
I used to read all your writings even when you wrote on 'lau er doga ebong alur vhorta', I did say in my last posting - 'distinctive' way of writing. But as I said, I will say again you do form the group what readers like me do not want to align, you have already become part of a media that has already raised many concern. Values of 71' that is your selling point nothing beyond that, nation's well being and greater intersts impaccably made a curved distant. You may take it or leave it.
 
If you have a grain of respect to your readers, you endeavor to educate them not lecture them. Well, that is the remnant of our political players and their greatest marketeer's characteristics. 
You support AL, love Bango Bandhu I have no problem, but your reply did establish what I did not utter out of respect.
Any way keep writing. Hope I did not write any thing disrespectful to you personally.       
 
Haque

--- On Sat, 10/7/10, B Ahsan <bahsantareq@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

From: B Ahsan <bahsantareq@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture
To: "Mohd. Haque" <haquetm83@yahoo.com>
Date: Saturday, 10 July, 2010, 1:10 PM

Read history, understand it, go into the details of what this nation has gone through. Don't be obsessed with the AL or BNP.

Where my writings are concerned, you seem to have very little knowledge of them. Or you read selectively. Read, I say again. Educate yourself. Don't just read newspaper articles. There are books, loads of them.

As for the Daily Star, it happens to be a defender of the principles for which we fought against Pakistan in 1971. You have any problems with that? Objectivity? Drop the idea. Go for the truth. Respect your heritage. Disagree with people like Mujib, but do not delude yourselves into thinking that they do not matter in Bangladesh's history. They are men who made history.

The language you use about people you disagree with is appalling. Is that a result of education? Or is bigotry there? You want to have a decent conversation? Then use decent language. If you can't, drop the whole idea.

Syed Badrul Ahsan

--- On Sat, 10/7/10, Mohd. Haque <haquetm83@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Mohd. Haque <haquetm83@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Cc: "B Ahsan" <bahsantareq@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Saturday, 10 July, 2010, 11:34

Dear Ezajur,
 
As I have mentioned earlier about SBA there is no way you can expect any thing objective from him, he can criticise the whole world and in a very distictive literary forms but nothing against Awami League.
Today our biggest tragedy is we do not have any writers who you can read with an objective mind, if you want to read them either you need to put yourself in AL or BNP's mind set.
How much you try to bring it to their attention, no use. Otherwise, same columnist or writer could have benefit the country in a great way.
Amader pora kopal. 

--- On Wed, 7/7/10, ezajur <Ezajur@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: ezajur <Ezajur@yahoo.com>
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: The sky, the mind, the ban culture
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, 7 July, 2010, 3:28 PM

 
Syed Badrul Ahsan does everything possible to divert the reader from where blame lies - if blame lies with Awami League. Here he talks about everything under the sun in a crafty, roundabout way. He thinks he is very manipulative but for those who care enough to look twice his blind partisanship is very plain to see.

Which is why he will talk about Pakistan banning Mujib but never mention Mujib banning political parties, the press etc. Whatever the situation, these people will find a way of twisting things in favour of their party and their their nethri.

So he brings in Mujib, Tagore, Pakistan and even banning the sky.

But what he should be doing is writing about who is responsible for the current banning fad in Dhaka. But what can you expect? Under no circumstances will people like him attack those who are doing the banning if those who are doing the banning belong to their party.

And people like him are lead writers in the Daily Star.

It is a horrific situation.

Hey Badrul - talk about everything but don't talk about AL leaders who are behind the banning. Bloody rubbish Nethri system turns men into mice.

And Badrul is a mouse. Just like every other man who swears blind loyalty to his Nethri and doesn't have the basic morals to protest injustice within his party.

We are a nation of mice.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "ezajur" <Ezajur@...> wrote:
>
> Syed Badrul Ahsan is the Head of Awami League Current Affairs at the Daily Star. This piece is one of the best examples of what is wrong with intellectualism in Bangladesh today. This piece is deliberately diversionary and misleads the reader to a place far away from where the reader should be. It is political trickery posing as non partisan intellectualism.
>
> It is appalling that he is in such an important position and it is appalling that he is getting away with this kind of journalism - a kind of yellow journalism that hides both its real origins and its real motives.
>
> This is about as irrelevant and nonsensical a piece that you will find.
>
> Just what the politicians love to see in our papers.
>
> Instead of holding authorities to account Syed Badrul Ahsan has us reaching for our dictionary.
>
> Hey Badrul! Nowka! Nowka!
>
>
>
> --- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Ezajur Rahman <Ezajur@> wrote:
> >
> > The sky, the mind, the ban culture
> > Sadat Uddin Ahmed AmilSyed Badrul Ahsan
> > THE ban on Facebook could be lifted within days. Or perhaps by the time you read this in print, it might already have been withdrawn. But that is not what exercises our minds at this point. What we are upset about is the brusqueness with which the attack on Facebook was made. Of course, if there is anything obscene that has appeared on it, if the reputations of citizens, powerful or meek, have been ridiculed, all that the authorities needed to do was to go after those who indulged in such nefarious deeds. But to assume that an entire system can be done away with or simply run out of town only rekindles in us all the old thoughts of bygone rulers trying to govern us through control mechanisms that eventually did not amount to much. Control led to chaos. The mechanisms broke down.
> > The trouble with the post-modern era is that you cannot have all your wishes come true. All this technology around you is really daunting. More importantly, there is the matter of citizens' increasingly powerful sensibilities coming into play. Think back on the Tagore centenary celebrations in 1961 here in this land. Much effort was put into the job of trying to disrupt the proceedings by the Ayub Khan regime because it and its toadies believed Bengalis were actually celebrating the genius of a Hindu bard. Nothing worked for the regime, though. The presence of Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed at the head of the Tagore programme warded off the sinister shadow of the regime. The wolves then lay low, until the time came a few years later when Khwaja Shahabuddin, Ayub's information minister, finally clamped a ban on Tagore music in East Pakistan. That victory proved pyrrhic, though. By the late 1960s, Tagore was back and with him, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
> > Rahman in the forefront, Bengali nationalism was in the ascendant.
> > Banning has never been a solution to a problem. It has been a problem on its own. Look at the record. Military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, having shot their way into power, have gone for imposing a ban on or a suspension of the constitution. That act was speedily complemented by restrictions on the way women would move around. It is rather curious that one of the first things coup-makers do is push civilised laws under the carpet and go for an inspection of female anatomy, in the latter instance, eventually deciding what women should be wearing or not wearing. Well, as history informs us so gleefully, constitutions have always come back and women have certainly refused to have their couture chosen by soldiers propping up illegitimate governments. Usurper regimes have gone for a ban on politicians and political parties. Yahya Khan thought banning the Awami League in 1971 would resuscitate a dying Pakistan in our lives. In the event, the Awami
> > League only made sure that Pakistan was banned in Bangladesh for all time in December 1971.
> > There is something about the mind that rebels, always. When you ban a book, you are not only stifling intellectual freedom but also you are, at the same time, provoking people into wanting to read it. It is then that clandestine ways are discovered for the book to be distributed to as wide a circle as possible. You can threaten a writer with beheading; you can force a writer into exile. But do not forget that such ham-fisted measures only make the writer that much more appealing and readers that much more demanding. You can come up with all the excuses you can muster about the absence of moral dimensions in a movie and then clamp a ban on it. Once you do that, you are helping in the creation of an insular world for yourself. Insularity, you will of course remember, was what brought down apartheid South Africa and white minority-ruled Rhodesia.
> > There is a certain degree of arrogance which comes with banning. Turkey's generals, for all their appreciable role in upholding the country's secular traditions, made the mistake of arguing that women could not wear headscarves. The consequence was defiance. Watch the wife of President Abdullah Gul. She never lets go of her headscarf. And like her, other Turkish women have taken to ignoring the scowl of the army. Just as the state cannot decree what raiment people can get into, individuals or groups of individuals cannot and must not insist that a particular sect of believers be proscribed as a faith. You can observe your religion in all its totality, but you cannot turn it into a weapon to intimidate adherents of other beliefs. In much the same way, you cannot be self-righteous about your politics and then use it to hunt down people and destroy their reputations on spurious charges of treason. If you do, you will find the guillotine waiting for you. Do
> > not forget America's Joe McCarthy.
> > The mind is certainly wider than the sky. You cannot outlaw the sky, can you? Why must you then try putting the mind in fetters? Why not ban the ban culture itself?
> > Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star.
> > Email: bahsantareq@
> >
>






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[ALOCHONA] Bangladesh incurred an economic loss of around Tk 146 billion in 20 years during 1975-1995, because of unilateral withdrawal of water by India



Move to start works of the giant Ganges Barrage in 2012
 

Construction of the giant Ganges Barrage, a decades old mega project for sustainable solution to country's socio-economic and environmental problems is expected to begin in 2012.(BSS)"We are taking preparation to launch the construction of the Taka 5,900 crore barrage by 2012 to recover the navigability of some tributaries of the major Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system.

The project will help Bangladesh to take counter measures to address the environmental and social-economic hazards caused by Farakka Barrage, officials said. The project was first conceived in 1964 and several feasibility studies had been done. But successive governments could not finalize a site for the barrage.

After coming to power, the present government asked the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) to take over the feasibility study again at Taka 34.35 crore and gave three years timeframe to start the main construction work. In line with the present government's earnest desire, the BWDB in May, 2009 appointed Development Design Consultants Limited (DDC), an international consortium for study the feasibility and detailed engineering aspects of the project.

Director of the Ganges Barrage Project Ahsanul Alam told BSS that the consulting firm with the overall supervision of the BWDB has primarily selected two sites for construction of the barrage, one at Pangsha of Rajbari district and other at Kumarkhali in Kushtia. He said about 50 percent work of the feasibility study has been completed in the first phase. In the second phase, he said technical plan and design of the scheme will be prepared. By this time the selection of final site will be completed, he added.

The Ganges Barrage has been designed to save the southwest and northern parts of the country from dryness and salinity of the rivers in the region. It will bring one-third areas of the country under irrigation and save the world heritage Sundarbans and Bhabadah from salinity, help preserve their bio-diversity and improve overall environment. The whole riverine system in the southwestern and northern parts of the country would get back their navigability once the barrage is constructed, officials said.

The western part of the country which constitutes 37 percent of the total area of the county and live country's one-third population depends on water of the river Ganges (Padma).But due to diversion of water in the upstream at Farraka point, the dry season flow of the Ganges decreased significantly causing siltation in the mainstream and its tributaries.

As a result, water uses in agriculture, fish cultivation, forestry, navigation, industry and domestic purposes in the southwestern part of the country have been hindered drastically. An official study has found Bangladesh incurred an economic loss of around Tk 146 billion in 20 years during 1975-1995, because of unilateral withdrawal of water by India at Farakka point from the international river-the Ganges.

Officials said the Ganges Barrage project has undertaken aiming to ensure availability of fresh water flows, help farmers irrigate farms in Rajshahi and Khulna region and save the Sunderbans, world largest mangrove forest, from salinity. The project will also help addressing social, economic, environmental and hydro-morphological issues, recovering the navigability of some tributaries and improve flood management in the country, they said.
 

 http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/07/11/news0067.htm



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