My BANGLADESH

Dhaka InternatIonal Trade Fair 2012 - The Much-aniticipated Fair of Dhaka

2012-01-15T01:57:00.004+06:00

Dhaka InternatIonal Trade Fair, DITF 2012 - The Much-aniticipated Fair of Dhaka

Christmas in Prison

2012-01-02T23:40:00.001+06:00

The Spirit of Christmas in Bangladesh

2011-12-23T12:37:00.003+06:00

The Spirit of Christmas

Faizul Khan Tanim on the festivities and celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus

Christmas, called Boro Din in Bangla, is just around the corner and the Christian community in the country have started to gather in large numbers to participate in services singing:
'God rest ye merry gentlemen, may nothing you dismay, for Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan's power, when we are gone astray, - Good tiding of Comfort and Joy'.

Carols, the colour red, Santa Claus, Christmas tree, holidays, music, movies, gifts wrapped in cellophane and designer papers, The Nutcracker, good food, all-round happiness and more come together to form the priceless traditions of Christmas each year and it will be no different this time.

The celebrations and ceremonies are about to begin in both urban and rural areas. Speaking to the Weekend Independent, one of the respected members of the Christian community, Senior Pastor Asa Kain of the Dhaka Assembly of God Church (AG Church) at New Eskaton Road, said, “The rural Christians would celebrate by going from village to village in a group singing Kirtans while the urbanites look forward to the pre-Christmas activities, Christmas day services in the churches which often starts with Pitha Utshob (cake festival) and would continue through the Love Feast and the fellowship to mingle with each other”.

AG, Church, a Protestant Church was established during the mid 50's and was set up by the American Missionary Society. It is one of the churches which organises very exciting year long activities. The church describes itself as Christ-centred, Evangelical, Bible-based, Pentecostal, and a Cell-based worshipping church meeting the needs of the entire family.

They have strong mission emphasis, with many ministries to meet all needs and also has Care Groups in every major location in Dhaka to provide fellowship and spiritual nurture.

The church has services and ministries in both English and Bengali and the Dhaka AG and the outreach church Dhaka International aAssembly (DIA) has over 25 to 30 different nationalities attending their services on any given week.

Kain said amongst the many activities of this church, they are involved with supporting the slum children with six free schools where books, uniforms, food and most importantly education are all free of cost. They have orphanages, a ministry of prison and drug rehabilitation, a transformation media ministry and an internet radio which broadcasts value based programs targeting the youth to stay away from going astray.

Every year, they have a service in the prison during Christmas so that the Christian inmates can find inner peace and try to heal.

Pastor Kain concluded by saying, “The spirit of Christmas comes in prayers, colours, happiness and bonding. The spirit is love expressed in action. God loved and gave us Jesus, Jesus loved us and gave life. So if the true spirit of Christmas is experienced, they are able to Love and Give”.

The Royal Roar

2011-12-10T01:56:00.006+06:00

Publish Post

White Cube through Diplomatic Lenses - Italian ambassador to Bangladesh on Contemporary Art

2011-12-10T01:52:00.002+06:00

White Cube through Diplomatic Lenses
Faizul Khan Tanim interviews diplomat Giorgio Guglielmino to find out the significance of contemporary art and his appreciation of the Bengali palette

Giorgio Guglielmino is one of the most peace loving diplomats residing here. An avid collector of contemporary art, a writer and most-importantly, the Italian Ambassador stationed in Bangladesh, his idea is to understand the Bengali psyche through colours and a very powerful means – contemporary art.

His art appreciation, understanding, and ability to provide constructive critique, are all part of the magnetism which allows him to connect with people of a country faster than both artists and diplomats.

The word 'contemporary' when used with art, is very tricky. It loses its meaning if one replaces the word with 'modern' and Guglielmino explains this significance with his almost 25 years of love and affection for art and through his very interesting book 'How to Look at Contemporary Art (...and like it)'. He published all together four books in Italian and the above-mentioned title is the only one which has been translated into English.

The book reveals facts about everything one ever wanted to know about contemporary art but was afraid to ask. He said, “The idea behind this book is that an art which at first sight may appear cryptic and elitist can, in fact, be explained in very simple terms by examining individual works and bringing out their personal and social aspects, which we find also in newspapers, films and in our daily lives, while avoiding the convoluted jargon of most art-historical and critical texts”.

This book closely looks at 66 significant contemporary art works across the world by as many artists of international fame, ranging from 1970 to 2008. Guglielmino describes all the various forms of contemporary art and tells the story of each artist in a simple, straightforward manner as if in a conversation among friends.

Critiques say that this book intends to show how the most recent art - the sort of art that Raphael might produce if he were alive today - can be enjoyed and appreciated to the fullest by everybody.

Guglielmino mentioned that, “I never studied art in University but always had the affinity, which is why I started collecting photography from age 30. Later I started writing for various art magazines and started collecting contemporary art pieces.”

“In my journey of being a diplomat, this greatly helped me to understand the culture, socio-political situation and much more of a country and it is indeed a very nice way of connecting with the real people just through art appreciation”, he added.

His first interaction with Bangladeshi art was through an exhibition at Panam Nagar on November 2010 by Britto, two to three weeks after he took charge of his office here. And ever since, he has been a follower, promoter and a great patronizer of our art.

He believes that Bangladesh has much to offer. The country should present its new and developed image through high-level events and exposure. And in this context, it must be mentioned that Ambassador Guglielmino was one of the key figures to initiate the process of Bangladeshi artists participating in the very prestigious Venice Biennale.

The art pieces to go to the Biennale were chosen at the exhibition held at the Italian Ambassador’s residence. “I wanted to host this event in order to have such great and diverse works of art from Bangladesh under one roof. The Venice Biennale is a great opportunity and I want Bangladesh to portray its best because this is a country of great art and culture and the whole world must know it”, said the Ambassador.

And Venice Bienalle 2011 was the first time Bangladeshi artists took part in this international event. Many believe that for the artists who participated in the Biennale, this was a stepping stone towards making their mark in the international art world and setting a precedent, which would enable local artists to take part in such events in the future and endeavour to invigorate and energise the local art scene.

Artist Hashem Khan was excited as he mentioned the participation at the Biennale. He narrated how the Bengal Foundation and the Italian Embassy have played a major role in enabling Bangladeshi artists to take part in world famous event, “It is extremely expensive to participate in the Venice Biennale and when Bangladesh's chance for participation was fading, it was lit up by the patronage, collaboration and support from the Embassy of Bangladesh in Italy, Italian Ambassador, the Italian Embassy in Bangladesh, Bengal Foundation, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bangladesh.”

Guglielmino also said that he is looking forward to Bangladesh's participation in the International Expo 2015 in Milan and the Venice Biennale 2013. According to him, the process for the Biennale should start immediately.

His patronizing will continue as he wishes to host another three day exhibition in collaboration with Bengal Gallery on the last week of January next year, highlighting contemporary artists of Chittagong.

Commenting on the contemporary art scene in the country, Guglielmino mentioned the very positive influence of a group of very creative, focused and interesting young artists. A large portion of them has interest in visual arts and are producing good pieces but there is a lack of private galleries to showcase their pieces. The Ambassador thinks that our business community should step forward to appreciate, collect, patronize and get involved with the art community, which is a practice elsewhere in the world.

He also mentioned few negative aspects of the art reality in Bangladesh, such as curators who do not give enough emphasis on presentation, the white area, the lighting around the paintings and have a tendency to put up too many pieces and clog the walls of the exhibition. In this context, the Ambassador mentioned a few tips, “There can be an experiment where in an exhibition, let there be three separate days where the art pieces will be arranged and organized by the three different actors - the curator on one day, management of the venue on the other day and the artist on a separate day – this will be an interesting way of finding out who does the best job since the artist is not the best judge of his/her work or the best person to put up a show. It should be the curator doing it with his intellectual freedom”.

Bones Adding to the Revenue in Bangladesh

2011-11-23T18:00:00.003+06:00

economy

Bones Adding to the Revenue

Faizul Khan Tanim visits the city's Hazaribagh area to find a thriving business of cattle bones

No matter how much stench there is,behind it all lurks a revenue earning source of immense potential. Business during Eid-ul-Azha soars to maximum as cattle organs and bones, being valuable items in addition to the usual hide of the animals slaughtered during the festival are produced and sold at fascinating prices.

These extracts come in three types – bones, horns and gonads. The bones are broken into one and half inches sizes to be packed in sacks.

Each sack of 75 Kilograms machine-crushed bones were sold at Tk 1400 this year compared to Tk 675 in 2005 and each year the rates are going up.

One of the biggest entrepreneurs and traders Abdul Mannan Bhola Miah, who started this trade right after our Liberation War from the Hazaribagh area, spread over a land of eight Katha, said, “My business took firm shape around 1988 and ever since that time Opsonin and Beximco Pharma - pharmaceutical companies - are the largest buyers, among others, of crushed bones to produce capsule shells according to my best knowledge.

“We gather around 50 tonnes of bones and organs each month, but the collection rises to 200 to 300 tonnes a month during Eid-Ul-Azha. The best part about this business is it does not require either water or gas, just plenty of warm sunlight”, Miah added with a smile.

The central accumulating places of most slaughtered animal bones are Hazaribagh tannery and Sayedabad Mridhabari areas, where turnover reaches crores of Taka each year. And this becomes hugely possible only when the prices of cattle are very reasonable.

Bhola Miah explained the whole process – bones are dried under the sun and fed into machines while horns and other organs are also dried to be later put into sacks and readied for sales.

Big chunks of bones are broken into smaller pieces, which are later weighed and filled in sacks. Of the four categories of bone chips, Bangladeshi companies use two categories of small chips while the larger categories are exported.

Another trader Aslam Sheikh said, “The bones in the sacks are sorted out and left to ferment after which they are sun-dried for a long period of time. The dried bones go to the gelatin factory. After gelatin is produced, they are sent to another factory to produce capsule cells. These capsule cells are then supplied to major pharmaceutical companies in the country”.

Miah added more that, these bones, which are taken by the pharmaceutical companies essentially, and then chicken feed producing companies and melamine factories, are sold at around Tk 18,500 per tonne. Opsonin alone takes 40 tonnes during the three months around Eid-Ul-Azha times and 20 tonnes in the other months.

Bhola Miah's project in Hajaribagh alone employs around 1,000 workers. About 5,000 people are indirectly involved with the business, and this trade is becoming more prosperous every year. He believes that this sort of factory should always be established near industrial areas where the heavy stench will not affect residents of any other areas.

The horns are sold at around Tk 11,000 to factories producing comb, button and X-Ray films. This business in particular is suffering as few traders are mixing other elements with the horns to make quick money.This is harming this sector badly.

And finally the gonad parts are sold at Tk 10,000 per maund, the highest selling and profit fetching items, which go to China via Myanmar to produce special kind of soup and it is a delicacy.

Traders say that there are almost 60 factories dealing with crushed bones of which almost 11 are in Dhaka and the rest all over the country.

Informed sources said that Bangladesh earned nearly 700 million taka in the 2009-2010 fiscal year by only exporting animal bones.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine November 18 2011 - http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=57&date=2011-11-18

Eid MOObarak from Bangladesh

2011-11-04T04:19:00.002+06:00

Eid MOObarak

Faizul Khan Tanim writes on how steak preparation has blended in to our Eastern appetite and bringing waves of joy on our tables

Every Eid-Ul-Azha we are blessed with different types of meat cooked in variety ways to satiate our taste buds. And beef is definitely on the top of everyone's meat menu be it with bhuna khichuri, polau (rice dishes) or naan (Tandoori flat round bread). And these days, a lot of houses keep their meat to make good quality hunter beef and steaks. Steaks are very popular cuts of meat to throw on a grill or pan fry to perfection. Flavourful, tender, rich in meaty goodness, you would want to get the most out of your best beef portions.

Now, good steak can be done very easily these days, thanks to the exclusive ranges and cuts of steaks available at the departmental stores and the biggest name in town to give you the right choices of cuts is Bengal Meat, the only export oriented meat processing company in Bangladesh.

Syed Hassan Habib, sales manager at Bengal Meat said, “We have a separate shop with Dhali Super Store in Gulshan-2 market just to serve you the right pieces – tenderloin, strip-loin, rump, t-bone, rib-eye steak being the most popular ones. We have also got ranges of sausages and burger patty to bring convenience to meat lovers all over Bangladesh”.

“Our meat is 100% halal certified by Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh and we are regularly exporting to the Middle-East”, Habib added.

So as this reporter spoke to steak connoisseurs from around the city, a private sector employee and part-time chef, Mehran Kamal described his meat preferences. “Always look for steak cuts with fine texture and firm to the touch and the colour should be light cherry red. And it is best if the steak has marbling, the thin threads of fat running through the meat that make it Prime (superior quality) and gives a wonderful flavour.”

“As the thickness of steak is very important, it is wise to have the best steaks and those are usually one-inch to one-and-half-inches thick as a thinner cut is likely to get dried out”, Kamal added.

It is believed that using dry heat is the best way to cook steaks and other tender cuts of meat. Dry heat cooking causes the exterior of the meat to brown, caramelize and look devilishly delicious which gives the steaks a rich browned flavour. This is partly due to the sugars inherent in the meat going through a series of complex reactions called the 'Maillard reaction'. The moisture on the surface of the meat evaporates and the juice becomes concentrated, forming the appealing brown crust.

Home cooking recipe books recommends always let your steaks come to room temperature (70 degree Fahrenheit) before cooking or grilling. If your room's temperature differs from 70 degrees F., then just adjust your time accordingly. A cold steak will contract when it hits the heat and this will causes it to toughen. This is possibly the first biggest mistake people make.

Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. You want to have a completely dry steak before cooking. If you steak is wet, you will essentially be steaming it.

So be it cooking on a grill or pan, the very first step would be to marinade your meat properly.

Now this is not very complex and conventionally will take two hours. Basic marination techniques suggest we use the following ingredients - quarter cup olive oil, quarter cup vinegar, quarter cup Worcestershire steak sauce, quarter cup soy sauce, two teaspoons Dijon mustard, two teaspoons minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.

So it starts with mixing olive oil, vinegar (balsamic preferably), Worcestershire steak sauce, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and garlic to make the marination in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and gently stab the meat pieces with a fork so that the juice seeps in to the meat layers for maximum flavour.

Pan-Searing Steaks

In a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat, we need to warm two tablespoons olive oil.

Sear the steaks, moving them with tongs a little so they don't stick to the bottom, approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side. Using this Pan-Searing technique, proceed to cook your steak to your desired doneness – well-done, medium, medium-rare and more. It is wise to use a meat thermometer to test for doneness: Rare - 120 degrees F, Medium Rare - 125 degrees F, Medium - 130 degrees F, Well-Done – 135 to 140 degrees F.

When the steaks are crusty-charred and done to your liking, remove from the pan, cover loosely with aluminium foil or just cover with a pan lid and let the meat chunk rest five to ten minutes before serving. During this time the meat continues to cook and the juices redistribute.

We can add juices that accumulate from resting steaks to any sauce we are making and it goes brilliant with the boiled vegetables or potato mash as sides.

Grilling or Barbecuing Steaks

T-Bone or best quality Rump using dry heat from a grill is another great way to cook quality steaks. So we need to remove steaks from refrigeration at least an hour before cooking and wipe any excess marination off the steaks.

When ready to grill, we need to preheat barbecue grill and coat grill with non-stick kitchen spray before beginning to keep the steaks from sticking to the grill. After placing steaks on the hot grill, all that needs to be done is flip the steak once so that both sides cook evenly.

Grill to the desired degree of doneness, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side for medium rare. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness and they need to be rested so that the juice seeps in just like pan-searing.

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=44&date=2011-11-04

Sweeping Away Carbon Footprints with Jute Revival in Bangladesh

2011-10-14T05:57:00.002+06:00

Sweeping Away Carbon Footprints with Jute Revival

Faizul Khan Tanim writes on the return of the golden fibre in Bangladesh and its immense significance

Jute used to be the country's largest foreign exchange earner till the 1970s and then slowly with its decline, we saw the largest jute mill in the world – Adamjee in Narayanganj – shut down in 2002.

Very recently, the discovery of jute genome sequencing has made us more optimistic about revival of the fibre. Bangladeshi scientists have successfully decoded the vital genome sequence of jute, of which this country is the world's largest exporter.

After this discovery, opportunities have been created to evolve different stress tolerant (salinity, drought, insects and pests) jute varieties.

According to Bangladesh jute research institute (BJRI) officials under the ministry of agriculture, jute was mostly used to produce packaging materials and there were hardly any other use.

And jute materials lost its potential due to its non-moisture proof characteristics to synthetic materials as packaging substitutes in both large and micro levels. Therefore, large jute mills started to incur huge losses and had to be shut down.

It was only in the late 90's that we understood that synthetic materials are not biodegradable and are clogging up the arteries and veins of our living. So, a fresh revival effort started and it is said that the jute production in Bangladesh was very high during the last two years.

Although jute is grown in almost all the districts of Bangladesh, greater Faridpur, Tangail, Jessore, Dhaka, Sirajganj, Bogra, Jamalpur, in the North for example Rangpur, then Mymensing, Kishoreganj are considered the better growing areas. BJRI sources said that according to a recent research, very good quality jute can be extracted from our coastal belts as well – an area called Khepupara (Pakhimara station) in Patuakhali has resulted in good quality jute production.

There are two significant factors to extract good jute – the trees has to be tall and has to have more fibres and less branching. Jute seed sowing starts from mid April and continues till mid May and the harvesting takes place in August. It is said that now we have such varieties of the crop which can be sown, harvested and extracted within 90 days.

Md Shafiqul Hasan, editor/publication officer of BJRI, mentioned few of the prime reasons for our jute mills becoming losing concerns – a) The 40 to 50 years old machines in our mills are becoming outdated and proper balancing, modernization, rehabilitation, and expansion (BMRE) of the machines were not carried out timely. b) Synthetic materials became substitute of jute worldwide which is why our export diminished since we depend on exporting jute more than our own consumption which is very less. c) There was heavy corruption in this sector with the middlemen most responsible for farmers not getting their fair prices. d) The jute traders were greedy to make money faster.

Senior scientific officer Dr S M Mahbub Ali of BJRI said, “There are few indicators of jute revival - the production of jute diminished from 70,00,000 bales (1 bale=180 kgs or 5 mounds) in the 70's to 40,00,000 bales after our liberation. But in the last two years, the production again shot up to 84,00,000 bales and an estimated 75,00,000 bales production is expected this year. Last year, one mound of jute was sold at Taka 2,500 although this year it is a bit less, Taka 1800 per mound according to grade and quality and since we have an excess of jute in our storages from the previous years. Raw jute and jute goods export crossed billion dollar mark for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported jute worth US$1.1 billion in 2010-2011 fiscal.”

“Another reason for jute to diminish from the early 70's is that our water sources have severely diminished over the past 40 to 50 years with rivers drying and drying since the process of jute extraction or jute retting has to be done in water bodies. Retting is a process by which fibres get loosened and separated from the woody stalk due to removal of pectinals and other mucilaginous substances. This is usually affected by the combined action of water and micro-organisms.

The tied bundle of jute stalks are stepped in to water and weighed down 15-30 cm below the water surface. This extraction method once done properly, gives the best fibres. Therefore, we need our rivers and water bodies back immediately.”

According to the international body of jute, international jute study group (IJSG), previously known as international jute organization (IJO), there are two main types of jute usage – the traditional use of hessian packaging of sacks and bags and the diversified use, which is quite recent.

In the diverse usage category, jute can be used to produce yearn and to be mixed with cotton to call Juton to be used in the textile industry. It can be used to produce carpet backing cloth (CBC). Jute plant can be used to produce high quality pulp and paper (China, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam already became successful). Jute Novotex blankets and quilts can be produced cheaply instead of importing woollen blankets from abroad. Jute geo-textile is a potentially important product of jute which is used to construct roads, to manage hill slopes (jute geo-textile is used in test basis on the Chimbuk-Thanchi road in Bandarban of the CHT) and to build dams to stop soil and river erosion (North America has become a primary area where jute products are used to stop river erosion).

Jute products are 100 per cent biodegradable which has great environmental value. Bangladesh can take the advantage of increasing worldwide awareness about the environment by promoting jute products as eco- products. Jute shopping bags can easily be promoted in the departmental stores of Western countries since after cost of production, each bag can be sold at around 10 cents.

Senior project assistant Muhammad Abul Hossain of IJSG said, “Our neighbouring country India is protecting their jute sector by two ways – Mandatory packaging law, by which, all sorts of government packaging are done by jute or jute products and the implementation of minimum support price (MSP) for the jute farmers by government subsidies.”

Stakeholders say that although the mandatory packaging law was announced last year in Bangladesh but it is yet to see any light.

IJSG and other industry sources stated that as the worldwide demand of jute decreased compared to our projected growth with the advent of the Middle-East crisis since we used the Tripoli port, which was closed down, to send raw jute and jute goods.

Now, Bangladesh jute mills corporation (BJMC) has 1400,000 bales of jute still in its stock and it is expected that the stocks may increase to 20,00,000 bales at the end of this year unless we go for innovative use of jute or export.

Hossain also said, “There has been a fantastic revival of jute from 2007 and if we are to continue this success, we must – a) Address our problems with promotion of jute as a biodegradable product. BJRI still produces and sells perishable jute bags at Taka 7 to 10 per piece. We should promote the use of low-cost jute bags and aware people of the environment-friendly factors. b) Increase industry skills of the jute sector. c) Massive machinery replacement, improvement and maintenance is needed. d) Increase skills at the small and medium enterprise (SME) levels. e) Encourage more entrepreneurship in the jute sector with more training to produce creative products according to the needs of the foreign buyers. For example TATA in India is using jute composite – a material to produce the interior decoration parts of vehicles. f) Ask big organizations like Walmart and others to sell environment-friendly bags and contribute to reducing individual carbon footprints. This is a huge opportunity. Our government has already taken initiative to reopen North Bengal Paper Mill (with the assistance of China) and also three other mills to produce paper from green jute and fibre".

One of the most important factors for quality jute is the attainment of good jute seed. BJRI has recently evolved high yielding varieties of jute – BJRI Tossa pat-5, Deshi pat-7, one kenaf named BJRI Kenaf HC-3, vegetable mesta VM-1. Moreover, 14 more varieties including O-9897, O-72 were evolved by BJRI and are now commercially cultivated.

BJRI says, the scientists of the agricultural research wing have so far developed 38 improved jute varieties of which 14 are commercially cultivated throughout the country. These include four olitorious, seven capsularis, 2 kenaf and one mesta.

The jute seeds produced in the country are more strong and suited for our country's climate than the ones from India.

Stakeholders of the jute sector have alleged that there is lack of quality jute seed due to the negligence of Bangladesh agricultural development corporation (BADC). They mentioned that Indian seeds like Bankim and GRO-24 come to Bangladesh in both legal and illegal ways. The ones coming through the legal channel yields high while the seeds illegally entering, results in diseases and other problems.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine Friday October 14 2011 -http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=44&date=2011-10-14

Medical Malpractices – A Dangerous Trend in Bangladesh

2011-10-07T02:25:00.001+06:00

A personal Prologue not published in the newspaper: I lost my God daughter Afsheen to the negligences of ''united hospital'' and a brother Mashnoor to ''labaid''. Tears rolled as i wrote this report, i know i can never get them back but i URGE every friend of mine to REVOLT against these malpractices and doctors. It is time to STAND UP...PLZ share this n circulate

Medical Malpractices – A Dangerous Trend
Faizul Khan Tanim writes on the negligence of hospital services and why this has become an epidemic in our society

Recently, people have heard horrid stories of sheer negligence -- bordering on the criminal -- of the staff in the so-called state-of-the art hospitals.

There have been reports of the death of a seven-month old baby girl, a 27-year old young man and several more, all caused by negligence. In cases like these, the verdict of public opinion was unanimous: professional negligence by the healthcare provider causing death of the patient, even though very high prices were charged.

A seven-month old baby girl began to asphyxiate on the noon of 9 June and turned blue. She was rushed to a renowned private hospital in Gulshan-2 and was told that she had severe respiration problems with secretion in her lungs from pneumonia and was put in a ventilator. But that ventilator was removed hastily before her pneumonia's effects subsided.

The next morning the parents learnt that after 13 hours she had an apnea attack and had to be put in the ventilator again.The duty doctors and the consultants then realised that maybe the hypoxia/anoxia has hurt her brain and on the fourth day they decided to do a CT scan on her which other physicians said should have been done earlier.

As the parents prepared for the CT scan it was learnt that the scan would not happen that day, as the scanner was allegedly out of order. Later however, it was found that it was not the CT scanner that had the problem. The air-conditioner of the CT scan room was not functioning, which is why the doctors did not want to carry out the scanning and so it got deferred by a day.

This was just the beginning of the child's 20-day ordeal and after other irregularities like medication not being given on time, problems in the ventilator machine and after having spent an enormous amount of almost Tk 500,000, the baby died.

This is just one of the few cases amongst many. Patients and their families have recently become very vocal about the ill conditions of the hospitals. If anyone refers to the Facebook group “Blacklist Doctors: Share your complains against doctors”, they will be able to see a social revolution against medical malpractices and can read recent case studies of the patients' families. Thanks to citizen’s journalism and the use of social media and video streaming sites, we are getting instant updates of alarming stories like these.

So are the management bodies of most of these private and public hospitals at all accountable? Has healthcare become health-business in this country? Patients allege that the irregularities - scarcity of hospital beds, paramedics, nurses; inadequate supply of medicine; private practices of hospital doctors; politicization of the medical institutions; power exercises by CBAs (Collective Bargaining Agents), and middle-men; hidden costs of private clinics, rude behaviour of the doctors with patients - are some of the pressing issues which are forcing our healthcare standard on a severe downward spiral.

Meanwhile, the doctors allege that Pro-BNP-Jamaat doctors' organisation Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) and pro-AL body of doctors Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad (SCP) are pushing the medical institutions in the country towards an unimaginable quagmire. The good doctors, who are independent or belong to the opposition party during a particular regime, are basically given the most horrible work stations, much beneath their status.

A patient from the Gulshan area, requesting anonymity, alleged that, “These hospitals should be called 5-star medical fitness centres and nothing more. These places have hidden charges beyond imagination. As I was about to pay my bills for my treatment, there were several costs which made no sense and I was appalled to see that they have included a doctor’s visit fee of more than Tk 2,000 when I was sleeping in the cabin. The doctor did not even wake me up let alone examine me. I was admitted for an appendicitis surgery which costs seven to eight times more than any of the public hospitals.”

Speaking to the Weekend Independent secretary general of Bangladesh Private Clinic and Diagnostic Owners’ Association, Dr A B M Haroon said, “When it is a private hospital, all the expenses of equipment, doctors professional bills, hospital space rent, have increased a lot, and these have to be paid by private practitioners and investors as opposed to public hospitals funded by the government. Therefore, these charges have to be paid by the patients. But having said this, I must condemn these malpractices.”

“Private medical service in this country has a history of almost 20 years. Previously we used to depend on the public hospitals, semi-government treatment facilities or going abroad. And as our private sector developed over the last two decades, World Health Organization, WHO's 2010 report said that 65 percent of the total medical care is covered by the private medical organizations including allopathy, homeopathy, ayurvedic, herbal and other types of treatments. Yet, the private sector has a mere 21,000 physicians working as opposed to a lot more working for the government organisations,” Haroon added.

Haroon also mentioned that the mode of communication between the physicians and the patients should be updated and improved regularly, and that should reduce patient complaints significantly. Every organisation should also have quality control departments looking after doctor roster management, diet for patients, medical equipment and more. And there should not be any politics. Physicians with political affiliations must not exert or abuse the power of their political institutions. Hospitals and clinics which charge patients for visits when they are sleeping is extremely unethical and this should stop immediately.

“One of the biggest problems of the medical sector – the scarcity of doctors is actually caused by us. Even for the simplest treatment or general stomach-ache, the patients from beyond the urban areas rush to the main cities and this creates pressure on our limited resources despite the regional hospitals having qualified FCPS and Post Graduate doctors,” Haroon added.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Friday Weekend Magazine October 7 http://www.theindependentdigital.com/all.php?opt=view&page=42&date=2011-10-07

Rivers – The Neglected Lifeblood of Bangladesh

2011-09-30T02:20:00.003+06:00

1. Rivers – The Neglected Lifeblood of Bangladesh

Faizul Khan Tanim writes on the urgency to understand the nature of rivers for sustaining our livelihood

2. Riverine Bangladesh

Author / Source : Saquib Chowdhury

3. Against the Current

Author / Source : Saba El Kabir with Mizanur Rahman Khan

A river may be mighty, medium or very small in terms of size but in that particular area, the river controls the environment and ecosystem and plays a very significant part in the area’s sustenance.

Therefore, what needs to be understood is that river maybe one word, but it does not describe all the rivers through this single language unit.

Each river should be handled separately, and experts believe that only recently we have become alarmed by situations like erosion, encroachment, pollution and more and are starting to look into immediate steps that must be undertaken to save the rivers.

In an interview with river expert and vice chancellor of BRAC University Dr Ainun Nishat, we got to know of the problems and possible solutions. Following are some of his thoughts.

For each of the rivers, be it big or small, we must understand their individual problems and these will depend on the inhabitants directly living on that river. A man living near the bank of river Padma, Janjira or Bhagyakul will be scared of erosion.

If someone is living on Buriganga and Sitalakhya, his main concern will be encroachment and pollution as there is no safe drinking water from these rivers. If the person is a navigation engineer, depth or flow of the river is his concern, if he is an irrigation man, he will be worried about the level of water. Similarly, a biologist or ecologist will be worried about the biological health, quantity and quality of the river.

For example if the mouth of a distributory gets closed by siltation which happened to rivers like Dhaleshwari, Kaliganga (rivers which come out of the Jamuna system), then it is a problem. Previously, they used to have high flow round the year but now their offtake is closed, and they hardly get any flow during the dry and winter months and only in the monsoon they get substantial amount of flow.

The mouth of Gorai river, a principal distributory of the Ganges, has been silted up but that is not the only natural reason. The flow of the Ganges goes down to a very low level due to human interference and that is another major problem. If we want to keep the mouths of rivers like Arial Kha, Gorai and Dhaleshwari open, possibly we will have to go for engineering measures so that the main flow (from where the distributory takes off) should always have a deep channel in the entry point.

There should be principles followed on the use of rivers. In Bangladesh, rivers are seen more as threats than as friends due to the occurrence of natural calamities like floods and other problems.

When the population was low, the villages were built on mounds and the flood plains were used to cultivate deep-water varieties of rice which could grow in water and that river was also the habitat for fish. That is how the food consumption pattern of the country took shape - rice, fish and lentil, which again used to grow in the dry months.

But with the increase in population, the deep-water variety of rice was no longer the solution for feeding the teeming millions. Now, during the winter months, the fallow lands are converted into rice fields by introducing Boro rice. This was due to the rivers being managed differently. In the summer and monsoon, the worry was that there should not be any floods, so dikes were built which resulted in the separation of the flood plain from the river network.

Therefore the ecology, fisheries, navigation, groundwater recharge process, silt deposition - these all suffered but rice production went up because from deep-water varieties of rice we went for Aman varieties and during the winter those fallow lands where lentils grew, were converted into agricultural lands and for that water is pumped out from the wetlands and the rivers resulting in Boro growing (from almost six million metric tonnes from the mid-forties, we are now producing 30 plus million metric tonnes). But in the process, the natural condition of the rivers are severely disturbed and disrupted.

In monsoon, we try to confine the flow within the river and as a result the flood plains have become dry lands. As a result, the risks have gone up as whenever the dikes fail, the land goes under water and the preparedness to live in that kind of immersion is gone because now we have opted for a crop that cannot withstand the submergence, so inundation has been turned into flood.

And again, in the dry months we are pumping water from the river making the rivers dry out and complain that the rivers are drying up. They are not drying up naturally although there are disturbances in the river basins but these man-made problems are turning into bigger disasters.

In the issue of withdrawal of flow, the upstream countries are usually not considerate about the requirements of the downstream countries, which is very common.

Therefore, this issue has to be solved politically or bilaterally and cannot be solved technically.

River bank erosion is hardly a new problem. Alluvial rivers are bound to erode but if we look at history, we see that even 200 or 300 years back, the local communities used to manage and maintain the rivers in their areas. They used to excavate the rivers manually by regularly using bunds for flood management.

They used to manage the bunds regularly, observe them and repair them routinely through that community. It was a community-driven activity and we completely lost that technique and leave everything to the state. These communities are neither empowered and nor do they have interest in the process and now lots of complaints come up.

Even 100 years back, in the Brahmaputra, we used to do bundling, a technique by which with bamboo poles and mattress, we managed the erosion process of the river. These are like bottom-open drains. The bamboo poles were put at an angle to the flow and cover the upper part with the bamboo mattress resulting in water being forced to flow through the bottom opening and in the process, carry the sediments and develop a big channel and that is the way the navigation of Brahmaputra was maintained.

Nowadays we do dredging, which can be classified into two parts - capital and maintenance dredging. Maintenance dredging is all right near a port or human settlement - the river may have a deep channel but after few years it may develop a shallow channel or sandbar. If it is a port, then we cannot shift it which would have been ideal because the deep channel has moved either upstream or downstream at a certain location. Since we cannot shift the port, we have to go for maintenance dredging so that the deep channel is maintained.

Now, if we look at history, the ghats in Bahadurabad were shifted four to five kilometres regularly depending on the upstream and downstream and location of the deep channel.

This year, we saw at Aricha that they had to do dredging, which is normal, but if they had the option of shifting the ghat four to five kilometres downstream, there was no need of dredging.

On the other hand, the rivers may have to be cleared up at certain points by capital dredging and it should be linked up with River Training Works otherwise the river would not only be filled up but could be very difficult to sustain the volume that has been dredged and could be filled up again.

We see rivers as a channel through which water is flowing but there is more to it. And of course to maintain a river we must pay attention to three important attributes – 1) It carries a discharge and water flow, 2) It also carries a sediment load and there has to be a balance between the sediment load and the discharge because to carry the sediment, the stream must have certain energy and that energy is provided by the flow or discharge. When the flow goes down, the sediment carrying capacity goes down or when the discharge goes up, its capacity to carry sediments go up as well and in that case if there is not sufficient sediments then it has to pick up deposits either from the bed or the bank and this dynamics has to be understood. Finally the third attribute is that although the river is an inert thing itself, it is a form of life as it carries life and sustains life by carrying fish, turtles, crabs, various insects, worms, microbes, planktons, flora, fauna and more. So a river must be thought of carrying not only water and sediment, but life as well.

Every year World Rivers Days is celebrated and this year various countries are organizing photographic exhibition of life around and in the river and how human life is interlinked with river life. In a number of small cities in Canada, this is the time when Salmons migrate and they observe it carefully taking thousands of their citizens and young children to the river banks and showing them how the river and fish life cycles are related. In our case, knowledge is very limited.

It is only very recently that the spawning system of the Halda has caught our attention but do we know the same thing about Brahmaputra or the wetlands and the beels and haors?

It is high time we carry out systematic observation on the ecological system of the river and we also need to understand the economics of managing of the rivers in scientific ways because it is extremely urgent.

The effects of global warming and pollution has profound impacts on our rivers and vary from the submergence of low-lying areas up to an almost obliteration of living in and around rivers.

In an interview with Weekend Independent the director of climate change study division of the centre for environmental and geographic information services (CEGIS- a public trust under the ministry of Water Resources), Malik Fida A Khan, mentioned the indicators which show abnormalities and effects of global warming.

The predictions we do on the effects of global warming are based on different models. Following these models, we see that the upstream or peak flow of the river which diminishes or increases and the duration of the hydrological period – wet and dry periods which might increase or decrease. These are some of the few impacts on rivers. And once these flow changes, the disasters related to water take place like floods or droughts.

According to the national water management plan 2001 (NWMP) by the ministry of Water Resources, main river flooding may increase in duration and flash flooding will tend to be more frequent, as also will cyclones.

Another factor is that when peak discharge increases, bank erosion might take place according to a recent CEGIS survey and research.

During the dry periods, if the river flow decreases, salinity intrusion increases in the coastal areas specifically.

There are some key measurements called water-quality indicators to observe the purity of water.

Dissolved oxygen (DO)

The DO test measures the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water. The decomposition of leaf litter, grass clippings, sewage, and runoff from feedlots decreases DO readings. Decreased DO can be harmful to fish and other aquatic organisms. Dissolved oxygen is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L). When expected levels are 4.0 to 12.0 mg/L, it is said that Buriganga's DO is almost nil.

Heavy Metal concentration

Industrial effluents are major sources of heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and aquatic environments are extremely sensitive to even the smallest concentrations of these materials. Arsenic is also a common example of heavy metals, but other similar substances and compounds can also have significant effects on an aquatic community.

Turbidity

The amount of suspended material in water can be measured by collecting the solids or assessing the relative light transmission of the suspension. The increased opaqueness is caused by increased sediment which negatively affects many aquatic organisms. Both algal production and fish reproduction and feeding can become diminished and some organisms, like shell-fish (continual filter-feeders) can become choked by sediment and eventually die in heavily turbid waters.

Living Organisms

In another process, a certain amount of river water is retrieved to measure the amount of fish, crabs, organisms and other bacteria present in the water. If the amounts are below the expected level, it means the water is extremely polluted. For example, Buriganga.

pH is a unit that expresses the strength of a solution based on its acidic or basic properties. Aquatic organisms can only function in a particular range of pH, and become forced to relocate when the surrounding water changes. Pollution from burning fossil fuels increases the amounts of sulphur and nitrogen oxides introduced into the water, thereby increasing the overall acidity.

Other direct and indirect indicators include the availability of dolphins who do not survive other than in good quality water.

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Riverine Bangladesh

Author / Source : Saquib Chowdhury

Bangladesh has been heavily nurtured by and identified with its rivers, which has become a major part of the land’s ancient civilization and culture. The beauty of a landscape seems quite incomplete without the flowing presence of the river. The rivers here in Bangladesh are symbolic in terms of literature and poetry, and prove to be an inspiration for artists and musicians. The mysterious beauty of the constant flow, the breathtaking view during sunrise as well as sunset and the pure peace that a sight of a river brings are incomparable and evoke a feeling of exuberance.

Bangladesh has been identified as a land of rivers and these rivers have been a not only a source of additional beauty to the natural landscape, but also a source of the livelihood of the people, whose survival and lifestyle depend on the river.

The topic of river pollution was recently discussed with Shafiuddin Sarker, the Chairman of the Research and Study Cell, Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh. He has been involved with the institution for quite a long time, and his vast expertise includes the Bangladesh river systems. According to Sarker, the major rivers are Jamuna, Padma, Meghna, Buriganga, Turag, Tongi Khal, the Balu River and the Sitalakhya. He stated that although a lot of rivers flow in from India and Burma, the rest of the rivers in Bangladesh are generated inland. He emphasized the importance of rivers as they affect the temperature of the weather and help maintain a good environment. They contribute towards crop cultivation and the growth of trees. People use river water for drinking and bathing purposes, for their livestock, fishing and of course, a major source of transport. He remembers witnessing villagers fishing extensively for clams, mussels and oysters, and how the situation has drastically changed now. When asked about the changes that took place in the last few decades, Sarker recalls that from 1960 onwards, there was a sudden deterioration, due to the sudden rise in population. “There was shortage of food, and more food needed to be grown. Hence the demand for more agricultural land increased and this resulted in the drying up of rivers for land usage”. Sarker mentioned places such as Rajshahi, Jessore , Faridpur, Pabna and Sirajganj as examples of some the affected areas as far as rivers are concerned. “The last 20 years saw not only the rapid increase in population, but also the rise in industries. The chemical wastes going into the rivers contaminate the waters to a high level” he said. As far as the overall purity levels of the rivers here in Bangladesh are concerned, he said that it is quite low. “Alongside the rise of industries near the river waters and the chemical and toxic wastes going into the water, the purity of the water has certainly been deteriorating as the water is exploited by ignorant people, who use it for sewage purposes and bathing. Many who are bathing in these waters carry diseases and infections, and these are being spread through the waters, heavily affecting the purity”

The impact of river pollution spreads throughout. Sarker mentioned that due to the deteriorating state of the rivers, the water is no longer safe to drink. He mentioned that there are hardly any fish in the rivers of Dhaka. “I remember being in the village, and witnessing hundreds of river dolphins frolicking in the waters. But now due to the reduction of their food supply and pollution, such sights are rare” But the most disturbing statement came when he said, “Due to sheer ignorance and exploitation of the river waters, I fear that there may be a rise in types of bacteria, and it can be so dangerous and devastating that the diseases from it might not find a cure in the near future”. When asked about what steps can be taken to reduce river pollution, Sarker stated, “Septic tanks are a must. There should be a septic tank in all homes, even in the villages. As far as industries are concerned, effluent water treatment plants should be made mandatory, and awareness needs to be increased that our rivers are heavily being affected.”

Alongside the area surrounded by negativity and harmful impacts of river pollution, there is also another risk, and that is river erosion. According to Sarker, the main reason for river erosion in Bangladesh is the soil condition, as it is mostly sandy and not cohesive. When asked about the impact of river erosion, he stated, “It destroys homes and agricultural land, and hence leaves people in a state of complete poverty” But Sarker also mentioned that steps can be taken, although it, might take a while. Regular maintenance, more consultation and discussion on climate change issues should be undertaken, and according to Sarker, loop cutting, not to be confused with river dredging, can be applied to straighten up the river to reduce and prevent the impacts. Planting more trees can certainly help, but Sarker says, “Due to the continuous population growth, I am doubtful if that will take place anytime soon”.

Some rivers, whose tide once flowed endlessly, have now turned into stagnant pools, and some riverbeds have turned into plough lands. It is ironic because Bangladesh has been exhibited and portrayed as the land of rivers. When asked the question “Can Bangladesh still be called the land of rivers, and is there any hope”? Sarker answered, “During the 1960s, in 10 years, an average of 5 rivers were either destroyed or heavily affected. Now, in 10 years, 8 rivers are affected and destroyed. Yes, Bangladesh can still be called the land of rivers, but if the current scenario continues, it can only be called so for the next 25 years”.

===

Against the Current

Author / Source : Saba El Kabir with Mizanur Rahman Khan

The reports coming in over the last few weeks from the media paint a grim picture of the condition of our rivers. In particular, the plight of our waterways has received some serious airtime and column space recently. Headlines scream of river channels silting up, our dredging fleet seems completely inadequate, dredgers bought for Tk 200 crore that refuse to function, ferries frequently running aground on treacherous shoals, routes multiplying in length due to the formation of sandbanks on busy channels and even ‘traffic jams’ of ferries on waterways. Someone on TV commented that the situation should offer some solace to those commuting by land: with the hazards of the roads and highways as real as ever, at least now they will not have to feel like they are the only ones suffering. She was perhaps only half joking.

River management, especially in a riverine country, is a vast and complex topic and represents many major challenges to be overcome. Yet, the key issue that confronts us today is very particular: our waterways are fast losing navigability. The 52 major rivers and their roughly 700 main tributaries that course through Bangladesh have given us around 24,000 km of waterways. Of that however, only 6000 km is navigable today, a number which shrinks to 3800 km in dry seasons. Of course, we did not lose around 18,000 km of our waterways overnight. The first instance of the loss of channel navigability in an independent Bangladesh was recorded in 1976. By 1977, we had lost 216 km of waterways and by 1978, a further 21 kilometers.

Siltation on the riverbed of alluvial rivers, and the formation of sandbanks and shoals, is part of a natural process, but this shifting topography of rivers must be managed to ensure river transportation. Rivers also have the tendency to undo human modifications, meaning that for it to be effective, river management activities must be continuous. Yet unfortunately, although we have seen a continuous outflow of funds, it has not gone hand in hand with continuous improvement, or even stabilization, of the situation. The immediate past government spent around Tk 100 crore on dredging, with little result. According to reports, the current government has spent around Tk 125 crore on renting dredgers, dredging, and work planning to date. Yet, in the last two years, 407 km of waterways and 12 inland river terminals had to be closed.

When Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan was asked if our waterways were suffering from a “navigability crisis” earlier in the year during a parliamentary meeting, he deadpanned, “Yes, with the exception of some of Bangladesh’s waterways such as Dhaka-Chandpur-Chittagong, Chandpur-Narayanganj-Bhoirob, Narayananj-Mirkadim and Barishal-Patharhata, no other waterways can carry vessels with draft greater than 12 to 13 feet. That means 90 per cent of all our waterways have lost navigability.” When the question was raised as to the reason behind the state of affairs he said, “The waterways have closed up due to the lack of necessary dredging”. And his solution? “Extensive dredging will be undertaken to improve navigability of the dead and near dead rivers.”

The Awami League government had of course announced plans for massive dredging projects in January 2010, almost immediately after taking office. Speaking in the parliament, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen spoke of the government’s intention to dredge up 310 rivers of the country. He outlined four massive dredging and river management projects which were set to cost the government Tk 5,000 crore. In October 2010, the parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry asked the ministry to prepare a detailed work plan to carry out the government's massive plan of dredging in the country's major rivers. Chief of the committee Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury had rather optimistically said that work of the massive dredging projects was likely to start from winter 2010. According to shipping ministry sources, the Tk 11,000 crore master plan is currently with the Planning Commission, awaiting approval.

A significant chunk of the proposed budget will go towards acquiring new dredgers. According to shipping ministry sources, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority’s (BIWTA) dredging fleet consists of two dredgers procured in 1972, five dredgers procured in 1975 and three dredgers procured earlier this year. Leaving aside the seven dredgers that are over 36 years old, the three recently purchased dredgers, deployed at Patuari, Daulatdia and Mawa, were reportedly facing major technical difficulties, although BIWTA sources have said that they were simply in the testing phase. “Dredgers are essentially machines and before they can operate effectively, they must be properly calibrated. The dredger deployed at Daulatdia did collide with a ferry in the first week of September and sustained major damage, but it has been repaired and returned to action on 20 September. All three dredgers are functioning smoothly”, said Engr. S. M. Mashuqul Alam, the superintending engineer (civil) of the dredging department of BIWTA.

Nevertheless, the seven over-36-year-old dredgers and three of dubious capacity is nowhere near enough to meet our requirements. According to shipping ministry sources, the prime minister has ordered the procurement of 17 more dredgers at the cost of Tk 1450 crore. Of the 17, the procurement process for 10 has made good headway. “Tender opening is taking place as we speak [25 September] for eight new dredgers. We can expect delivery of those dredgers within 15 months of the selection of the supplier,” said Alam. In the meantime, the shipping ministry is banking on the private sector to step up and bridge the gap. According to a ministry press statement, 15 dredgers are already available from the private sector, which are currently engaged in various dredging projects, and more should arrive soon. The ministry estimates that a total of 50 dredgers are required by BIWTA, and the ministry is attempting to involve the private sector to a greater extent.

Yet there are grumblings within the private sector. There are the perennial complaints regarding transparency in the procurement process and accountability of selected suppliers. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a private sector entrepreneur said, “Bureaucratic complications and an opaque tender process are the main deterrents discouraging more private sector players from competing in this field. There are many dredging solutions, and we should be focusing on selecting the right technology that can best adapt to our environment so that projects can stay within the allotted timeframe.” The source also brought up another issue, the dredge material or spoil.

One of the most pressing issues surrounding the dredge material (clay and excess material extracted from the riverbed during the dredging process) is spoil dumping. BIWTA’s inclination to pump the dredge material onto sandbanks, shoals or on apparently arbitrary sites has made many observers worried. But Alam points out the method to BIWTA’s ways. “Before we start dredging a site, we conduct a thorough hydrographic survey of the river section, which gives us a clear view of the topography of the riverbed. Based on this survey, and our measurements of flow direction and velocity, our onsite consultant identifies a viable dump site for the material/spoil. This is of course not a permanent solution, but other solutions would take more time, time which we simply do not have at this point.” He also points out that dredging has been going on at these sites for years, meaning that nearby dump sites have been filled up. At any rate, reaching these dump sites would require material/spoils being pumped through pipes, and given that multiple dredgers ply each site, the pipes would severely impede ferry movement through these channels. On top of that, on the bank of these rivers lie cultivable lands and these lands cannot be treated as dump sites (or so the official line goes).

Prof Md Abdul Matin, head of BUET’s Water Resource Engineering Department and a leading expert in this field, adds to this point, “The prime objective of BIWTA is to keep the river ferry and shipping routes navigable, especially during dry periods. While dredging on ferry routes, they mainly dredge the route more or less across the channel. The dredging operations of BIWTA for such cases are some times hindered by the movement of ferries and other river vessels, and also due to pipeline installations. As an immediate and emergency solution for the navigability problem, they are forced to dump the dredge material or spoil on nearby sandbanks or shoals. In fact, they do not have too many viable options for such wide rivers like Jamuna and Padma. However, such dumping of spoil on to the river will not provide us with sustainable benefit.”

And what of the use of the dredge material/spoil we are extracting? Prof Matin said, “Dredging material placement [disposal] is in fact more crucial than the dredging operation itself. Dumping dredge material into river or nearby sandbanks may be a temporary solution, but these should be disposed of, away from the river for beneficial uses depending on the quality of the dredged materials. This way the cost of dredging can be minimized. There are many other countries which have their own dredging material management plan. They use the material for beneficial purposes. Thus dredge material management plan is an important aspect to be taken into consideration before implementing future long term dredging operation.”

The shipping minister had said that given the state of the waterways as it is, even massive dredging projects running at full steam would require nine years. The scale of the task facing us simply cannot be underestimated, and unfortunately, regardless of which party had formed the incumbent government at the time, our overall track record of managing our rivers thus far has fallen short. Resuscitating our waterways cannot be anything but an against-the-current struggle, and one hopes the riverine nation will be up for it.

*This article was first published in daily newspaper The Independent's Weekend Magazine Sept 30 2011

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=39&date=2011-09-30

ICT to Mitigate Disaster Risks in Bangladesh – Schools of Thought

2011-09-09T07:32:00.003+06:00

ICT to Mitigate Disaster Risks in Bangladesh – Schools of Thought
Faizul Khan Tanim looks into the possibilities of a Digital Bangladesh as opposed Disasters in Bangladesh

Natural disaster prone Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to cyclone, draught, tsunami, landslide, earthquake, arsenic contamination, salinity intrusion, erosion and of course floods. According to UN studies, the country is the most risky of being affected by tropical cyclones and sixth in the global vulnerability ranking caused by flooding. A study by the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) shows that by 2050, one in every seven persons (approximate population now is 158,570,535) in Bangladesh will be displaced by climate change. 32 per cent of total Bangladesh can be considered as coastal regions and nearly 39 percentage (and with a population growth of 1.3 per cent, by 2020, it will be 44 per cent) of the total population lives in such places.

According to the present government's election mandate, a Digital Bangladesh is the topmost priority. And accordingly, scholars believe that an effective information and communication technology (ICT) policy is one of the solutions to not only realise it's digital dream but to fight natural disasters and accomplish the millennium development goals (MDGs) and more.

However, ICT scholars from the country claim that this is one of the biggest 'cash cow' sectors of the country fetching large amounts of foreign aids/funds but the development is too slow and in some places, not at all as favourable as it ought to be.

Speaking to The Independent Dr Md Mahfuz Ashraf, lecturer at the department of management information systems (MIS), Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka, said: “At present, there is no institutional approach to cater to this burning issue of disaster management. Interestingly, a project of SMS-based alarm system was started from the ministry of Food and Disaster Management in recent years with the completion of its architectural design but the project was never implemented due to unavailability of funds. There is not yet any action-based project to combat disaster risks”.

So, how can ICT help in combating disaster risks? With the advent of ICT, we can find a wide range of technology based options starting from mobile phone communications, real time high speed wireless Internet, radio (AM and low power FM), geographic information system (GIS) and personal computers - all are encompassed in ICT.

ICT can offer a wide range of tools and software for facing the challenges created by natural disasters. These tools are being used to gather, store and analyse data related to disasters, not only to be used in post-disaster situations, but also as a long-term measure to mitigate the risk of the disasters.

In the sector of disaster management, ICT in developing countries can help to better connect people, efficiently provide basic services like health care, education, food security, financial management and more.

ICT enabled applications have great potentials for helping to build a lower-carbon, knowledge-centric society, where it can be mostly utilized as a strategic tool for development.

Our neighbouring country India is successfully using ICT to its advantage. The India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) is a nation-wide electronic inventory of essential and specialist resources for disaster response, covering specialist equipment, specialist manpower resources and critical supplies.

IDRN has been initiated by the country's ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in collaboration with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to systematically build the disaster resource inventory as an organized information system for collection and transmission of information about specific equipments, human expertise and critical supplies database from district level to state level to provide availability of resources for disaster response, so that disaster managers can mobilize the required resources within least response time.

According to an 'ICT for Development 2010 case study' published by UN's Asian and Pacific training centre for information communication technology for development (APCICT), in Bangladesh, the Disaster Management Information Centre is piloting early warning dissemination through cell broadcasting (CB) in two districts - Sirajganj (for floods) and Cox’s Bazaar (for cyclones). Agreements were signed with two mobile operators - Grameenphone and state-owned Teletalk - to send instant messages to their subscribers. Based on the result of the pilot, this technology will be expanded to other high risk areas of Bangladesh through the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme or CDMP.

Although the above-mentioned information was published but ICT scholars in the country could not testify to the validity of such projects.

A paper on 'ICT and climate change in Bangladesh: challenges and priorities by AHM Bazlur Rahman, ceo of Bangladesh NGOs network for radio and communication (BNNRC) and Dr Faheem Hussain, assistant professor of Asian University for Women suggests that in combating the challenges of climate change, ICT has a multi-level role to play in global, regional and local contexts. Options like: video conferencing, tele-working, e-commerce, intelligent transport systems significantly reduces carbon footprint, hence result in a better way of living. In developed countries’ context, ICT enabled options powered by efficient applications and green practices can play a significant part in the mitigation process.

According to Dr Hussain, some of key challenges practitioners face in Bangladesh while integrating ICT with disaster management, especially climate change related issues are:

• There is lack of awareness about the dynamic potential of ICT to solve problems created by climate change at local, regional and national levels.

• Absence of ICT based infrastructure (e.g. internet backbone, electricity, community based information access points, etc.), especially in the vulnerable rural and coastal areas

• Scarcity of localized content and the absence of synergy with indigenous solutions against climate change.

Dr Ashraf also added that, “There is a US Navy disaster management alarm system and countries like China, India and Nepal are connected with that system. Sadly there is no participation from Bangladesh when we are in a climatic vulnerable situation. I personally think in our country's perspective, in place of SMS based services, the most effective ICT tool should be community radio based on specified dialect according to the specific regions and communities. Sri Lanka has become successful in using this tool to disseminate information to their fishermen community and this is high time that we start focusing.”

Meanwhile, centre for ICT policy research (CIPR) sources said that sufficient fund was not allocated and the demand by the National ICT Policy has been ignored in the proposed budget for installing the digital equipment and implementing other plans for building a Digital Bangladesh, which is hailed as the topmost priority of the present government.

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ICT in Disaster Management
by Shahidul K K Shuvra

The National ICT Policy of the country hasn’t ignored the role of Information and Communication Technologies in managing and mitigating impacts of disasters like floods, cyclones, earthquakes etc. Recommendations of the policy are to save the citizens from the disaster zones by using the info-tech innovatively. The policy is yet to be implemented thoroughly and according to the policy paper the government is supposed to spend 5 per cent ADP and 2 per cent of the revenue budget for jazzing up digital infrastructures and requirements of every sector.

Few organizations in the country based on Information Communication Technology for Development, ICT4D, are experimenting with the digital devices to alert the people about imminent disasters. Years ago while cyclone Sidr was claiming the lives of 5000 to 10000 people, the organisations tried to use ICTs in managing the disaster.

Recently ferocious hurricane Irene battered New York City with a potential devastation like Katrina's on New Orleans. Two weeks ago several states of US were reported to have suffered damage during the hurricane Irene. Till posting the article people of the affected areas are facing the consequences with the aftermath of massive flooding and thousands of households are yet to get power connection again.

Before the attack of Irene, to track its paths, Google had rolled out an online map to provide useful information about the status of the storm formation. The online map had carried on forecasts to upgrade people about the hurricane; it also informed about evacuation routes and which coastal areas were in the danger of facing the attack. The search engine has another web rescuing option named ‘Person Finder’ to locate and reunite victims of floods, earthquakes, storm etc.

Such hurricane attacks in the US increased urgency in chasing all kind of disasters with digital gadgets. We found the victims were looking for lost children and siblings on the Net. There are many online albums for missing children. Relatives were posting photos with particulars on the websites to locate their beloved persons.

Benefiting from telecommunication technology is not a new concept, but web-based applications used in rescuing Katrina victims were remarkable. Radio and TV have always played a role in informing costal people before the attacks. In 2005, after hurricane Katrina’s attack, it was said that the importance of keeping a radio had revived.

In 2010, the Water Satellite of Europe provided photos of the flood zones in Pakistan; satellite data have been frequently analysed to distribute relief goods. In response to Pakistan's flood, the world's satellite fleets were mobilised to provide space-borne information under the International Charter on Space and Disasters.

ITU, International Telecommunication Union, increased effort for the reconstruction of Haiti's telecommunications and ICT infrastructure after the earthquake of 12 January, 2010. For the sake of strengthening rescue operations, it assisted Haiti to re-establish basic communication links and coordinate search and rescue operations; the communication solutions range from satellite terminals and WiMAX broadband to a mobile base station for wireless communications.

Online data base system can be one of the solutions in distributing relief among the victims. Significantly, it will boost monitoring the distribution process by the elected people's representatives and consequently, misuse of funds and relief goods will be checked.

We know that mobile phones couldn’t spread to every corner of the country because all the mobile phone companies are backed by multinational companies; they are deeply involved in profit generation, so they wouldn’t dare to go to backward places for lack of subscribers and technology installation cost is too high in the coastal and hilly regions compared to those in a crowded flat city like Dhaka. Therefore, besides telecommunication regulations, a government should run a part of the telecommunication sector to connect the rural people even with subsidy.

Digital mapping is a must for a modern country. In a country that possesses up-to-date mapping of a region, a rescue worker would be able to locate a victim by simply using a palmtop and a mobile phone. Digital mapping is extremely useful in finding victims in a zone where an accident occurs. Whenever a mishap takes place, rescuers can identify the place of occurrence by clicking on a handheld device. Digital mapping is a useful tool in the search for scattered people after a disaster like cyclone, hurricane and flood.

Remote sensing has taken a new turn with the installation of satellite equipment, which allows observation from a distant location and produces images to analyse what is going on exactly. Images are taken from the surface of the Earth and the photos are projected on computer monitors for zoom in.

Still we are far off from the latest remote sensing facilities. The space equipment of the remote sensing organisation, Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (SPARRSO), is not enough. It is associated with some satellite establishments of other countries and images from those satellites help them to carry out remote sensing operation.

A country, whether rich or not, needs donation and help from all over the world during a natural calamity. Other governments and international organisations can send donations to the victims, but general people normally face a hassle in donating money from other parts of the world; there is even a limitation in some particular countries about sending money instantly and directly. Bangladesh Bank has opened the gateway for online payment which will facilitate collecting donations and sending money to a victim directly.

More effectively IT and telecommunication experts of some developed countries could minimize some effects of disaster if they concentrated on digital device focused disaster management. Unfortunately these countries have developed IT sector for commercial use and making war technology; after the attack of 9/11 they have been developing cyber monitoring technology, which is built for cracking down on terrorists; not for dealing with calamities.

Still the government is uttering its election winning magic word ‘Digital Bangladesh’; according to the government, a lot of work is under way. But the last budget couldn’t allot significant money for IT, telecommunication sectors, as well as for the disaster management with the digital devices. According to the current ICT infrastructure of the country, especially in the costal belt, such digital rescue operation is a myth, away from the reality.

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=33&date=2011-09-09

Eid, Salami, and Law Enforcement - our men behind the badges

2011-08-26T06:43:00.002+06:00

humour

Eid, Salami, and Law Enforcement

Faizul Khan Tanim shares his personal accounts of cop-troubles in the city

I remember during our childhood the spirit of Eid started with ‘Eidi’ or ‘Eid Salami’ (a token money or gift). We would wait for that special moment during the morning of Eid day when our elders would give us Eidi in exchange of the loudest Salam. Elder cousins said that while giving the salam, the more you can kneel and show your respect the bigger the notes that will come your way. And so, back then, it was a replication of the modern-day game ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ in smaller denominations of course.

Now that we have grown up and as the hunters have become the hunted, we realise that this same technique to derive Eid salami exists in our police force and the only difference is that theirs can be termed as forcible acquisition or extortion. So in this not-so-green and political turmoil filled Bangladesh, police patrolling in alleys and lanes, inspections on the main roads rise especially during Eid time and this year has not been an exception.

Our cops are charging the bus/cng auto-rickshaws/cab drivers and some passengers as well. For example, a few days back on my way back home, there was a huge rush just before iftar on Bijoy Shoroni and the driver of the cng auto I was in, decided to take me home so that I can break my fast properly and so he revved up his engines and speeded a little more than usual as the green light was on. Our sergeants in expensive brand Police sunglasses, using the latest Nokia cell phones made no mistake and asked the vehicle to stop. The driver goes, "Boss ki dosh korlam? Ami to signal ta paar korte chaisilam noile to aro 25 minute atkaya diten" (Boss, what wrong have I done? I tried to cross this red light this time as I would otherwise have to wait another 25 minutes for the next green signal). The driver was then taken outside and a sum of Tk 500 was forced out of his pocket. The driver came back to his driving seat grumbling, “Shala khali oderee Eid? Amgor kono Eid nai? (Is Eid only for them? Isn't there any Eid for us?”). He then explained that the original fine was Tk 300 but as he brought out the bigger note hoping to get a change, the other sergeants commanded: “Puratai raikha jaa, bal bachha loiya Eid korum to” (give us the full 500 as we have to do Eid with our family).

Now this is very common in this country. As common as facts like 'The crows will caw' and 'The dogs will bark' and etc. etc.

And not just Eid, our brothers-with-arms misuses their fire power at their own sweet will and their height of extortion reaches during the dark hours and one will be able to see bigger police smiles.

This took place near Gulshan-1-Tejgaon Shooting Club at around 12:15 am while I was walking and enjoying the quiet night life of Dhaka. A man was caught who was in no shape to drive because apparently he indulged in drinks harder than regular soft fizzes and his jaywalking reminisced the glorious character Devdas which was quite entertaining and commendable. So with his unsteady gait and loud singing, 'Ghar se nikal tehiiii...kuch dur chaltehiiii...raste mein hein uska ghar..HIKKK!!! (a large hiccup)', he was stopped by a pack of policemen.

“Oi mia ato rait biraite koi jao? Basha bari ghor bou bachha nai? Thako koi?” (What are you doing out here past midnight? Do you not have home and family? Where is your residence?”) one of the officers bombarded the funny man with questions.

“Ji boss barit jaitasi bhashon shunbar (I'm going home to a lecture”), the man said.

“Eii rait er bela kon pagol e bhasahon dibo? (And which mad person is going to give a lecture at this hour?") the cop asked.

“Boss bou aar abba amma dibo karon matha ta ektu aulaise toh ("My wife and parents will since I am a little tipsy"), said the man.

The man was allowed to go but of course our guards in shining armour took a handsome amount of cash before releasing the man. Well at least the police pack was decent enough to get hold of a rickshaw, made the man climb up and set him off towards home sweet home.

Although these accounts sound funny but they are not really so. For example, only a few days back almost every newspaper published a picture where policemen were seen getting beaten up by members of a prohibited political party. And to my surprise, a group of cng auto rickshaw drivers on the street and then one of our peons were laughing and enjoying the news. The office peon told me, “Boss dekhsen police bedara mair khaise. Bhalo hoise...uchit shikhha hoise. Eii holud tholader shikhha dorkar – Boss just see this news, our cops are getting beaten up, and this is justice”.

In a 2001 BBC report, it was said that in the Bangladeshi police department four out of five officers have a criminal record.

In the same report it was mentioned “The figures - published in a national newspaper Daily Ittefaq - show that in the past five years 85,000 of the country's 100,000-strong police force have been punished for their involvement in criminal activities”.

Nearing the end of 2011, is it too much to ask as citizens of ''Digital Bangladesh'' to have safer roads from both muggers and cops?

I remember the cng auto-rickshaw driver’s words as I was getting down. “Bhai bolen to police to nana rokom hoy – thola police, holud police, bit police, mamu police. Eije jara amon koira amgor poysha loitese egorey ki kowa jay? (Brother, there are so many different types of police and so many different slang are used to define them, what would you call the ones who extort money from us?).” To that, I smirked and replied: Why not Eid Police?

*this article was first published in The Independent's weekend Magazine 26/08/2011 - http://www.theindependentbd.com/weekly-independent/67339-eid-salami-and-law-enforcement.html

A tribute to Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier

2011-08-19T06:54:00.007+06:00

A tribute to Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier

Despite having a population of almost 15 crore, the nation does not create heroes all the time whereas we are writing regular untimely obituaries, writes Faizul Khan Tanim

August 13, 2011. The nation has not yet recovered from the wounds of a recent road accident that claimed the lives of 44 school children, and yet with the tragedy that was about to unfold, the wounds were about to become much deeper. At around 1:00 pm on the day, the nation is confronted with the news. Tareque Masud (December 1956 – August 2011) and Ashfaque Mishuk Munier (September 1959 – August 2011) are NO MORE!

Award-winning film-maker Masud and ATN News CEO Munier, son of martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury, were killed along with three others in a road accident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. They were on their way back from Manikganj after visiting a shooting location for Masud's new film Kagojer Phul (Paper Flower).

They were revered as the secular voices of our generation, modern-day freedom fighters, flag bearers of this nation. They were extraordinary men who touched the hearts and minds of millions by their creative creations, values and most importantly, their awe-inspiring 1971 narrations.

Masud, both a dreamer and a pragmatist, was a director who had the unique capability to make the viewers smile and cry at the same time. Muktir Gaan (1995, Song of Freedom) was the first film on our Liberation War which is a testament, powerful enough to evoke both happiness and tears from a generation born way after 1971.

The film was released in a time when our present generation was plunged into darkness, ignorant of the truth about our glorious revolution and independence. Being a student who received madrassah education and then a Masters Degree in History from Dhaka University, and incorporating creative zest with his knowledge, Muktir Gaan revolutionised not only filmmaking in the country but intrigued the new generation into becoming more informed and involved citizens and to search for their roots.

He was a great narrator and all he ever wanted to do was tell his stories through emotional celluloid. Teaming up with his American wife Catherine Masud (also injured in the accident), they gave the nation thought-provoking films and intriguing concepts never done before.

This fetched them instant critical success in both the local industry and international circuit winning massive accolades.

Muktir Gaan, jointly directed by the couple, is a documentary that tells the tale of a journey by a music troupe that travels through the country during the Liberation War in 1971, singing inspirational songs to motivate the freedom fighters and ordinary citizens.

He and his wife rescued the 20-year old footage of these singing bards from the basement of the American film-maker Liar Levin's New York apartment.

The project required an immense amount of work, and was only possible due to the intense desire shared by the couple to bring out the truth about the struggle and birth of a nation.

Masud's 2002 release Matir Moyna (The Clay Bird), initially banned by the government and hence released in the UK first, was one of his most critically and commercially successful film. It won a prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and caused a stir in the 2003 foreign film category of the Oscars.

Matir Moyna was set against the backdrop of pre-independence Bangladesh and then the turbulent times of 1971. It was the tale of the life of a young boy in a madrassah (religious school) portraying themes like religious tolerance, cultural diversity, and the complexity of faith.

His other noted films include – Shonar Beri (1985, The Chains of Gold), Muktir Kotha (1996, The Story of Freedom), Noroshundor (The Barber), Ontorjatra (2006, The Homeland), and Runway (2010).

One of Masud's close friends Maqsoodul Huq, an iconic musician of the country, narrates his feelings, “I had known Tareque since our college days in 1977 and understood that if anybody can recreate the Liberation War with real footage, it was him. He not only had the skills, talent and genius to execute the project, he was a patriot par excellence.

1995 was a particularly torturous year for Tareque. Muktir Gaan was complete, he had invested heavily on the project and the censors had already refused clearance several times. But quite suddenly he called me one afternoon to say ‘We have got it Mac’! Our joy knew no bound. We partied from evening until morning the following day.

Screening Muktir Gaan was a huge challenge. No movie hall would screen it given it’s political sensitivity. The launch and initial screenings had therefore to be done at the Public Library Auditorium and all of us friends volunteered to help. On the first day we were hugely overcome by emotions to see thousands of people queuing up.

By end of 1995 after we had managed to screen the movie in most district towns, Muktir Gaan became a symbol of unity nationwide. I think that’s when we started to slip into complacency. I had heard about the movie being screened inside the Cantonments and that in turn was a worry. How would the soldiers react? Tareque assured me that all is going well and there were very positive and emotional reactions. But the Government of the day, especially the Home Minister, thought otherwise.

I was at a dinner with friends and my cell phone rang (not many people had those devices on them in those days.) It was Tareque and his voice was anxious. ‘Mac this is a May Day signal, stop whatever you are doing and come to my house right away.’ I wanted to know if he was in trouble. His answer was, ‘No not personally, but Bangladesh is. I have just heard that Muktir Gaan has been banned, soldiers had raised Joi Bangla slogan at the screening in Garrison Hall in Dhaka.’ I was shocked beyond belief and drove like a mad man to his house then in Kalabagan, close to Panthapath.

The house was pitch dark, a power cut worsened the situation. I switched off the headlight and called his land phone to make sure things were okay. The answering machine had one terse sentence in Catherine’s voice ‘Muktir Gaan Cholbey’! In no time we entered his house. With me was Shadhin Khasru, today a famed actor, then a visiting student from London.

Tareque handed me the expensive celluloid master prints of Muktir Gaan and asked me to disappear. There was to be no communication among us till the prints were in safe custody. Me and Shadhin took the print and drove out of Dhaka and back to the city later, under most hazardous circumstances.

We were tailed by motorcycles, cars and eventually our roads being blocked by a truck so that plain clothesmen could search my car. I swore to Tareque as to keep quiet on the details how we managed to evade the situation and get out with the prints intact.

Late one night an arduous week later, with no news from Tareque or Catherine, my cell phone rang. It was Tareque. A few coded words later and after my assurance that the prints were safe and packed for eventual smuggling to London he heaved a huge sigh of relief, yet there was a tinge of sadness in his voice.

He hung up and we met three months later under more conducive situations.”

To cheer him up I said ‘Joi Bangla Dosto’ to which Tareque replied ‘Mac – and let not our head ever hang with shame when we use that slogan. It was a people’s slogan and let the people of Bangladesh reclaim it’.

An ex-journalist friend of this reporter reminisced, “Masud was a very humble man and never showed off or capitalised on his stardom - the best part about him was that he was easily accessible for any quotes or big interviews with the news and media journalists so that his knowledge and experiences can be shared for the greater good of us, something which the man believed from the core of his heart. He mixed with anyone and everyone irrespective of class, religion, social status – a testimony of how he was living the credo of 'simplicity'.”

It is believed that Masud worked as a director with his friend Munier first in his debut on the documentary Adam Surat (1989, The Innner Strength) on the iconic painter S. M. Sultan. Munier was also the chief videographer of Masud's film Runway. Their collaboration and friendship only grew stronger over the years to bring out the best of both and Kagojer Phul was to be next product of their ever-strengthening partnership.

Munier is the son of martyred intellectual Munier Chowdhury and was a witness who saw his father being picked up by the collaborators of the then Pakistani army in 1971.

He was a celebrated journalist, an eminent cinematographer who had worked with world renowned institutions like BBC World, Discovery, National Geographic, locally Ekushey TV and more. In his illustrious career, he also taught video journalism at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University.

He took charge of ATN News as CEO in November 2010 upon returning from Canada after having worked with The Real News Network (TRNN), a Canada-US based television news and documentary network.

Paul Jay, CEO and senior editor at TRNN recently published a very emotional message of condolence on Munier on their website. Jay stated that, “Mishuk had recently taken up a new job in Bangladesh, partly to be closer to his mother. We saw him only two weeks ago in New York. He was excited about building a TV news channel in his homeland and exploring new technology, his second passion after documentary filmmaking. I remember his smile so vividly as he told us about his new adventures. One consolation is we had the chance to give him a hug and kiss before we lost him.”

Jay added more, saying, “We all loved Mishuk. He was a man of great integrity, profound social conscience and with a deep love for people...He died doing what he loved most. In the field, shooting a documentary film. Our hearts are broken, he will be greatly missed.”

Munier was the one with the relentless effort behind the camera of the ATN News Coverage of the Libya, turmoil portraying the situation of Bangladeshis there.

Recently, it was disclosed to the media that, Mishuk Munier and Tareque Masud were listed as witnesses for the investigation agency of the war crimes tribunal. They were compiling documents and audio-visual evidence for our 1971 war crime trials.

The tragedy of their death, and immensity of our loss should have left us speechless. It should have been a time of quite introspection and commiseration. But the circumstances of their death have left us with a very different emotion: rage. Rage at the ineptitude of the system, rage at out inability to do something about it, and rage at the injustice of it all. We are in mourning, but we do not seek closure. We cannot undo this tragedy, but we can prevent a tragedy that would be even worse. The root of the problem has to be addressed, we cannot just forget.

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=39&date=2011-08-19

http://www.theindependentbd.com/weekly-independent/66163-a-tribute-to-tareque-masud-and-mishuk-munier.html

The spirit of Ramadan and Dhaka's traditional Iftar

2011-08-12T06:28:00.002+06:00

The spirit of Ramadan and Dhaka's traditional Iftar

Faizul Khan Tanim takes a stroll down Chawkbazar of Old Dhaka and indulges in the spirit of Ramadan and Iftari

Indiscriminate screams - Boro baap er polay khay, thonga bhoira loiya jay... - these lines rhyme and literally means this item is consumed by the sons of the rich fathers', filling up brown-paper bags to take back home. And according to the thousands of Iftari connoisseurs, these are one of the sweetest lines or catch phrases they listen and experience with pleasure while in the Iftari capital – Chawkbazar of Old Dhaka.

This place throbs with noises of banging spoon on steel plates, many different colours and the aroma in the air of names of the most popular items like shahi jilapi, koyel pakhir roast, haleem and more. This is where Eid-Ul-Fitr festivity starts for many.

This famed item Boro Baap er Polay Khay (BBPK) is said to have started from the Pakistani period and now a registered item of the City Corporation as sported on drop-down banners by the two opposing groups of makers who are in a conflict on deciding who the real maker is - Selim Baburchi and followers VS Mohammad Salekin, who is said to have inherited it from his grandfather Kalam Mohajon.

Despite who the real inheritor of this traditional Iftari item, this muri bhorta (rice puff mix) is a heavy dosage of all the well-known kebabs – shutli, jali, tikia, shami, gurda, nargis and mixing ingredients like chhola (chickpeas); roast of chicken, duck, koyel, pigeon, beef and mutton; local fries like potatoes, eggs, lentil and onion paste mix (piyaju), aubergine (beguni) and more with 12 to 13 different kinds of spices and of course pure butter oil – and surprisingly it does not taste bitter because of the many spices and if one has it with haleem, it is quite extravagant. Plus, this reporter feels BBKP is an acquired taste as well.

This year, BBKP is Tk 300 per Kg from Tk 260 last year and they say that this price hike is due to the inflation and they are also producing in less quantity than last year since not everyone can afford bulk amounts of this tasty yet pricey product. The makers informed that the daily sales bounces between Tk 13000 to Tk 15000 during this month.

The stretch of Iftari market at Chawkbazar also has a large array of items but nothing unusual from the previous years and hence the food admirers believe that this place is more of a traditional venue than a place where chefs experiments or incorporates new items.

The food aficionados strongly believe that to experience Chawkbazar to the fullest, one has to be present there, see and then buy the items themselves. For them, the spirit of Iftar is breaking the fast with all the other people inside the mosque adjacent to the strip of Iftar market or on in the streets in front of the makeshift food stands.

As soon as the Maghrib Azan is recited from the local mosques during sunset, the ever bustling and busy Chawkbazar Iftar market quiets down to the most peaceful strip of landof land. Fruit juices, lemon sorbet or yoghurt based drinks like lassi and labang are prepared to break the fast and one would see 10 to 12 people is groups surrounding large dishes of rice puff mixes, exchanging smiling conversations and eating their heart out.

This rice puff mixes are exciting dishes and the contents vary and is not limited to puffed rice, chhola boot (fried and spiced chickpeas), ghoogni, egg, beguni, aloor chop (potato mash fry), piyaju, jilapi (sweet) - mashed into a single preparation with addition of mustard oil, green chillies, large dash of lemon squeeze, shredded coriander leaves up to the different types of kebabs – and the best thing happens when both flavors - hot (chili) and sweet (jilapi), meshed together, - burst into a unique zest in your mouth. Those 10 to 12 hungry men will decently share from that large bowl and this is what sets this place apart in its unique and traditional way from other parts of Dhaka during Ramadan.

This is the time no one is refused food and from a prince to a pauper, every single man or woman is asked to join the congregation. The streets become free of any traffic jams once Iftari starts and you are free to wander around close vicinity to experience the decorated Eid market as well.

An array of makeshift shops can be seen in Chawkbazar where popular Iftari items are sold and this year prices of them are a bit soaring than last year. While the shutli kabab is Tk 400 per Kg, leg of mutton roast is Tk 300 and chicken Tk 150.

Two oversized items which caught the attention of everyone are the Shahi jilapis and chicken cutlet and looks different costing Tk 120 per Kg and Tk 130 per piece. The makers smilingly says, “Not just the look, there is a secret ingredient for the taste as well”.

The beef kebab is Tk 10 per piece while Jali is Tk 20 and Tikka Tk 15. Another exciting item is Doi Bora and priced at Tk 100 per bowl of 10 pieces, firni Tk 40 per cup and one of the most delectable items of Iftari – mutton haleem is priced at Tk 40 for the smallest bowl and goes up to Tk 350 for the biggest.

If crunchy and munchy items are not what you want, the biriyani stalls are nearby. Nanna Miya's Morog Polau, Jhunu's Biriyani are some of the ever popular names where the Muslims throng to break their fast and it costs Tk 100 to 120 for a lovely meal.

Nowadays, due to heavy traffic jams and transport problems, it is not feasible for the ones who are fasting to commute up to Chawkbazar and buy these items and therefore, the tradition has been brought here in new Dhaka. One would see restaurants sporting signboards and banners sporting messages like Chawkbazar's traditional Iftari cooked by specialized chefs and some of the eateries in Gulshan does cater to a large number of food lovers who are satisfied with the Iftaris prepared in these restaurants.

A banker Himel Sarkar at the restaurant The Eight says, “This place had the largest variety last year and I literally had to fight to book a place for my family this year.”

While Himel remains satisfied, Mansur Islam (50) from Gulshan-1 believes: “Iftari and New Dhaka? They don’t even go together. For traditional and the real Iftar, one must always opt Chawkbazar because it is the best”.

“So indulge in the spirit of Iftari, health and happiness will be yours”, says the smiling fasting Muslims from Chawkbazar.

*To all my lovely foodies

** http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=38&date=2011-08-12

Our vibrant ''street plazas'' around Dhaka - Eid Extras on the Streets - a photo story

2011-08-08T03:12:00.003+06:00

Eid Extras on the Streets

a photo story by Faizul Khan Tanim

Dhaka’s Monsoon Woes

2011-08-08T02:45:00.003+06:00

Dhaka’s Monsoon Woes

Faizul Khan Tanim researches the ever-increasing problems caused by monsoon each year and looks for possible solutions

Monsoon is believed to be a season of blessing in agriculture based Bangladesh. But nowadays, in both urban and rural parts, it is simultaneously considered a miracle and a menace, due to the negligence of the government, utility organizations and citizens’ commitment.

With monsoon approaching, Dhaka residents are already worried about water logging due to the poor drainage system of the city.

The season has not started properly, yet floods set off by monsoon rains out of the capital have killed six people, displaced more than 10,000 and washed away shrimp farms close to the Bay of Bengal when the region’s Matamuhuri and Bakhkhali Rivers overflowed after several days of heavy rain, inundating almost 200 villages and destroying paddy fields.

Studies from urban planning departments of universities, water modelling centres, flood and water management institutes reveal that the major reasons for rain induced flooding also known as monsoon flooding, in Dhaka and other major cities are – encroachment of major canals, unplanned urbanisation, mass migration in the city from villages due to decreasing job opportunities, increase in built-up areas and metal roads, filling of low-lying areas to construct buildings with no or little provision for drainage, the main drainage systems of the urban area (khals) blocked by unauthorised constructions, deficient sewerage system, insufficient storm sewers constructed in the extensions to the urban area, lack of maintenance to the system, lack of co-ordination among the different utility organisations engaged in the development works who dig in different times during monsoon making large holes on city streets, solid waste disposal in the storm sewer and more.

Dhaka metropolitan area borders with four rivers - Buriganga, Turag, Balu and the Tongi Khal (canal). Some of them are so polluted that the surface water is little short of toxic.

A study on the drainage in Dhaka city conducted by Ole Mark, Terry van Kalken, K Rabbi and Jesper Kjelds of Danish Hydraulic Institute and Surface Water Modelling Centre Bangladesh revealed that Dhaka is protected from these rivers flooding by an encircling embankment. Most of the time during the monsoon, the water level in the river remains higher than the terrain inside the city area. This implies that the city drainage depends very much on the water levels of the peripheral river systems. Hence, standard draining by gravity may not always be possible. In order to facilitate and improve drainage it is considered to install drainage pumps at some of the flood control and drainage structures connecting to the rivers.

Therefore, when proper monsoon starts, not only might Dhaka experience water logging like previous years (which already started in West Bengal due to heavy downpour) in this already power, gas and other regular commodity starved city, there might be water-borne diseases caused by flood and severe fresh-water crisis.

If this happens at a time when only few days are left for Ramadan to start, not only are the residents already upset with soaring prices of food and commodity, it will be quite a chaos for all.

M Mozzammel Hoque, professor, institute of water and flood management (IWFM) of Bangladesh University of engineering and technology (BUET), said “During monsoon when there is extreme rainfall, both the surface water level of the rivers and the ground water table rises as they become saturated absorbing all the rain water. This means, during this period, river water levels generally remain higher than the internal drainage level. This is when the excess water flows to the lower regions and if that water cannot be drained out, water stagnation occurs”.

“Our drainage facility is insufficient and also due to low maintenance of the existing system, calamities like rain induced flood occur. And this is when we need to use hydraulic structures like sluice gates and pumps to force out the excess water towards the rivers. The embankments should play a part so that water from rivers does not slide in to the city. We should divide Dhaka in to zones according to areas and develop the drainage systems to connect to the four rivers bordering Dhaka”, Hoque added.

The Dhaka water supply and sewerage authority (WASA) are saying that they are implementing plans to cut down water logging problems by evicting illegal structures on different canals of the city.

WASA sources said that cleaning of drainage pipes in Dhaka has to start immediately otherwise monsoon floods will be inevitable.

It must be mentioned that failing to clean up regularly, the sewer lines have waste piling up to a point that it has started to seep out through the manhole covers in different points of the city already. The streets not only experience stench but health and hygiene hazards as well.

In previous years, with a recorded 45 millimetres heavy rainfall in the city, it overflowed sewerage lines in many areas caused serious water logging, otherwise called monsoon flooding, with roads and alleys of Gulshan, Banani, Tejgaon, Malibagh, Mouchak, Paltan, Shantinagar and some low areas dipping under five to six inches of water.

Now as soon as monsoon flooding takes place, few scenarios arise. In case of even a mild shower, many areas get completely submerged and as such it becomes difficult for the vehicles to move, thanks to the ever-increasing numbers of pot holes and absence of manhole covers.

The low-income group people living close to the streets and pedestrians usually get the worst of it. Transportation becomes scarce and utilising this sordid situation, the drivers/helpers demand much higher fare.

Speaking to a highly placed WASA official, requesting anonymity the officer said, “And why won't there be problems? The sewerage system covers only one third, which is 30 percent of Dhaka’s area, meaning the remaining two-thirds still use the septic tank to remove toilet waste. The number of canals in place to deal with sewage is now down to 29 or 30, from the 42 installed during British era. The part of Dhaka inside the flood protection embankment area, 136 km long, is the only part served by the WASA sewerage network or the WASA drainage system. Uttara recently got in that network”.

“However, the situation is not as grave as people think it is. After a heavy downpour, if the manhole covers are kept open for sometime, the stagnant water will clear within two to three hours after the rain stops. Now, one cannot only blame the WASA drainage system and the City Corporation in charge of the surface drain system because as residents it is our duty to use civic sense as well. The reason of the drainage system blockage is caused by the haphazard dumping of non-biodegradable waste like polythene, snacks and other rubbish items which clog the arteries and veins of the system. Our men, when sent down a manhole, retrieve these trashes to start with. How can this be justified?” the officer added.

WASA authority admitted that sewerage and drainage in Dhaka is highly inadequate. 70 percent of the city is not connected with WASA and it is not surprising when there are approximately 300,000 main water connections, as opposed to only 60,000 main sewerage connections in the city.

When asked about the short term and long term solutions to address this issue of inadequate sewerage system, the WASA official said we need to keep the existing canals clean and need to retrieve the ones encroached immediately and the City Corporation has to regularly clean the surface drains as short term plans. For long term, we need to protect these canals and areas around them from further abuse by the large organizations, NGOs and corporate sectors. Here, the local residents of each area have to play a part as it is their area and they must develop their civic sense and stop random littering.

WASA officials said that to speed up the cleaning procedure, a more co-ordinated approach should be taken between the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and them. They said that the random diggings of utility organisations is due to the delay of normal procedures, decisions from high levels and sudden realisations of having to finish the budgeted fund hastily for development; otherwise fresh roll up of finance for the next year will not see light.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine July 29 2011 - www.theindependentbd.com

A walk on the wild side - the very interesting 'street plazas' of Dhaka

2011-08-08T02:30:00.001+06:00

A walk on the wild side - the very interesting 'street plazas' of Dhaka

Faizul Khan Tanim took a stroll down the road in Gulshan and Banani to discover the thriving street life and finds quite a few bargains and deals on offer

Street life in Asia is always vibrant and alive, step out on the streets of most countries and you will see life is lived to the fullest on the roadside. Dhaka is no different; here one can find some of the most amazing sights and scenes as well as steals (pun intended). It is vivid, colourful, noisy, stinky but there are quite a few tantalising smells. This bustling and heaving city will show you scenes that are worth capturing on film, a photograoher’s delight and a bargain hunter’s haven. We bring a snap shot of just one stretch of road, along the Gulshan and Banani main roads, where the contrasting realities can not be resisted. We found the rich and the not so rich living side by side, albeit in separate worlds. Which is not to say their paths do not cross, it is not uncommon to find the well-off coming down from their high rise offices to taste the street food, or the elegant ladies who love the flavour of the roads, even if it is enjoyed from the comfort of their air-conditioned cars.

The stalls and markets that appear on the streets of Dhaka everyday and seem to magically disappear at night are affectionately called street plazas by those who venture in their midst to find amazing thrills. Such is the beauty of this city. So what can one find for sale at the street plazas, you may wander, other then rip offs and water-bourne disease, well for those who like a bargain or two, the shops are not the place to make purchases, when there are brands to be found just across.

My favourite is the great array of export quality jeans that are sold in the shops internationally for prices beyond the means of the man on the street, and in local shops with price tags that are not exactly cheap, but on the street you can find them (with few faults and missed stitches or missing buttons) for as little as Tk 250, or you may need formal trousers to wear to work, then how about a pair of slim fit pin-stripe trousers for Tk 220, a perfect striped shirt is yours for Tk 200, forget Apex, Bata or any of the big names, look across and you’ll find the same export quality shoes for as little as Tk 600 and the most expensive pair is Tk 1000, shoes and sandals (with a few easily ignored faults if you are not picky), there is leather as well as rexin to choose from, that you can buy for Tk 200! Sounds tempting?

If you are wondering where you can find these amazing deals then let me tell you my secret, you can find them all on various places across the city, but if you are reluctant to go far from your comfort zone, and the Tri-State, then look no further then the seemingly endless stretch of road that begins down Gulshan Avenue, from Gulshan 1 to 2, and all the way down Banani’s Kemal Ataturk Avenue to Kakoli’r Mor. This stretch is my beloved shopping mall, the street plaza where I find the best deals in town, from clothes to accessories.

On Kemal Ataturk Avenue, I find Shoikat Ahmed 24 years old and a student checking out shirts and trouser fabric pieces that are Tk 150 per metre, he stated, “Why would I spend double or triple the price when I can get it for less here? It won’t have many faults so I think they are ideal.” Sometimes you may even find a great surprise and an unbelievable deal; I have found many hidden treasures such as a super brand that would cost thousands in the shops while I rummaged through the belts, shorts, t-shirts, jeans and other stuff. So don’t be shy keep digging deeper and you are sure to find something worthwhile in one of the cartons. Office executive Najmul Ahmed agrees, “Not only are these affordable but some are good brands. I just bought two pin stripe trousers and the brands are quite chic – Dressmann and Michael Brandon slim fits!”

If you are not interested in the fancy threads, then perhaps I can entice you on to the road with some delicious treats? Of course, the roads are lined with vendors selling seasonal fruits, and the street food that makes Dhaka so special. Jhalmuri, chotpoti, fuchka, chanachur, shingara, noodles, and with Ramzan coming up, mouth watering Iftar items. You do need a strong stomach and must be able to ignore the dust and the dirt to enjoy these tasty, crispy, delicacies of Dhaka. “The food is to die for. Munchies like bot bhaja, parathas, kababs and fresh sugarcane juice are available every few yards and the aroma assures you of the fantastic taste. You might gain a few extra pounds though.” Giggles a very happy man as he enjoys the delicacies of Dhaka.

Friendly vendors with amusing sales pitches will draw you to their stalls, and you must be ready to give them the joy of a good haggle. You don’t have to travel all the way to Bangabazaar for the export quality ready made garments products, they are all available right within your reach, take a look beyond your tinted car windows and see for yourself.

Safer Roads: Still a Far Cry - "causes of this neglected epidemic"

2011-07-22T12:54:00.001+06:00

Safer Roads: Still a Far Cry

Faizul Khan Tanim investigates the increasing rate of road accidents in the country and the NEGLECTED preventive measures

A pall of gloom descended on Mirsharai Upazilla when in a tragic road accident, 44 school children were killed. It happened when a truck carrying 60 of them returning from a football tourney, skidded off the road and plunged into a roadside canal, the place of occurrence not being too far from the port city of Chittagong.

Road accidents in Bangladesh claim on an average 12,000 lives annually and lead to about 35,000 injuries according to Dhaka-based accident research institutes while according to a 2009 world health organization (WHO) estimate, the count is nearly 20,050. The difference is even more as government institutes like Bangladesh road transport authority (BRTA) and police reported a little less than 3,000 fatal casualties in the country in 2008. The Road Traffic Accident database is being maintained and updated by BRTA on the basis of police micro-computer accident analysis package (MAAP) information. BRTA and the Bangladesh Police have been working together to maintain the credibility of the database and promoting its statistical accuracy, says the official website.

Road accidents statistics in Bangladesh revealed children less than 16 years old being killed in road accidents amounts to about an alarming 21 per cent of all the victims.

The primary contributing factors leading to road accidents are identified as adverse roadways, poorly designed junctions and road sections, reckless driving, drunk driving, vehicles driven by helpers without proper driving licence, excessive speeding, dangerous overtaking, failure to obey mandatory traffic regulations by pedestrians, mechanised and non-mechanised vehicles plying on the same streets – for example a slow-moving rickshaw as opposed to a very fast moving truck and defective vehicles of course.

Others include very low level of awareness and traffic sense among the citizens, mainly because of inadequate education, severe loopholes in traffic law enforcement rules, etc.

The secretary of Bangladesh Truck Chalak Union Aminbazar, Ismail Hossain Refu said, “Whenever there is an accident, it is quite common to put the blame on the drivers. People say that the drivers were either careless or were driving under influence of inebriation but I would request all to pause for a moment and think of the atrocious conditions of the roads in this country. I would like to remind everyone that instead of eight hours’ work duty, a bus or truck driver in this country on an average drives 16 hours a day minimum, pressurised by the bus and truck owners, hell-bent on making insane profits. It is hardly possible to carry out such strenuous manual labour without any rest.”

At the same time Refu also mentioned that the training of drivers ought to be under rigorous inspection. Drivers are known to get their licenses too easily through bribery. Thus, even drivers with legitimate licenses in many cases are losing their goodwill. The owners are not serious about their unfit vehicles and they always force the drivers to use very low quality locally manufactured spare parts. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles long past their operating life are seen on the roads and the road transport authorities and police are doing little about the phenomenon.

“I would request the bodies conducting research on accidents to inquire about the number of drunk drivers. 90 per cent of them are clean and if they drink at all they usually drink after reaching the destinations”, he added.

When asked as to why these unions and associations do not take action when they identify a culprit driver, Refu said:

“Associations and unions have developed like mushrooms all over the country in the last decade and most of them are not even original and have proper liaison with the government agencies and most importantly, they are all politicised. The unions should be run by members of the bus/truck drivers fraternity and not shady businessmen with political backings, otherwise what’s the use?”

Meanwhile, other drivers from the city’s Gabtoli Bus Stand alleged that according to their owners’ recommendation, they do not approach the authorities for renewing the fitness certificates but manage as and when necessary by bribing the traffic policemen on the roads. It is also a common practice and scam to get fitness certificates through bribery at the offices of BRTA.

Another driver Rasul Nizam from Shyamoli bus stand said, “Stricter laws should be put into practice replacing the age old Tk 200 fine system with amounts which will be alarming news for the careless ones. The laws need to be properly enforced and should not be in papers only. One of the 44 children in the recent accident could very well be mine.”

These drivers say that upon reaching a destination, there is no arrangement of resting, let alone sleeping, for the drivers and they use the bus seats. And whenever the driver falls sick, his helper is asked to take over.

When Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners’ Association was contacted, a highly placed source seeking anonymity admitted about the mounting pressure on the drivers. He said that due to the government restriction of not allowing trucks inside the city during the day hours and insane traffic jams even during the nights, they are forced to instruct the drivers to drive fast and at least make two individual trips to individual destinations to gain the extra income.

He added that the roads should be properly fixed, talking over mobile phones during driving should be banned, drunk drivers should be taken to custody and fined for commiting crimes.

A senior teacher in a public school Mobashhar Alam said, “It is high time that we have trauma centres throughout the city and spread across all 64 districts so that during an emergency, accident victims receive immediate attention. A national day of mourning should have been declared as this was such a huge tragedy in the country where more than 40 children died. Had it been students from a renowned school in Dhaka, we would have seen stricter regulations and activities by now. ”

“What is more painful, the political parties always sends a one-line condolence message but instead, if they can have programmes to cope with and overcome national tragedies, the whole country would have more respect towards them. And whenever a tragic accident happens, the driver always flees the scene and the law enforcement agency members are never able to catch the perpetrators”, Alam added.

As the sufferers and victims of road tragedies are increasing, some citizens actually decided not to depend on the government only but start awareness programs of their own. And one such organisation is Nirapad Sharak Chai (NSC) or We Demand Safe Road, a social movement, started by the renowned actor of the country Ilias Kanchan.

NSC came into being on December 1993 after the sad demise of Jahanara Kanchan, wife of Ilias Kanchan on October 22, 1993. The Message of the organization ‘We must ensure road safety at all costs’ has gone beyond the frontiers of Bangladesh and its necessity has also been felt even in various international forums. The people from all walks of life have come around to support the organisers of the movement led by Ilias Kanchan spontaneously to carry the message forward throughout the length and breadth of the country.

The vice chairman of NSC, Ehsanul Huq Kamal, he said, “After this latest tragedy, we sent a proposal to the communications and education ministry so that there are separate chapters on road safety and traffic awareness in the textbooks from class five to nine. It is our duty to help develop the materials and we will.”

“Not only do we arrange an annual national conference on road safety, we also have opened a school of driving and training of drivers where we provide free education; we also rehabilitate distressed victims of accidents. Our organisational activities include – information, education and motivation dissemination of knowledge on road safety; arrange training, workshops and seminars; observe national road safety day; sharing sessions and advocacy with the drivers, lobbying with transport leaders and owners to reduce road accidents and even work with government agencies to formulate road safety mechanisms”, Kamal added.

Road Safety expert Dr Mazharul Haque, Professor of Civil Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) says that better roads are not necessarily safer. “These are new roads and are generally in good condition,” he said. “Traditional road design aimed at reducing the number of crashes by widening and straightening roads. But that has no impact on the rate of death and disability because people simply start to drive faster. We must adopt the internationally accepted systemic approach to road safety.”

When BRTA was contacted, a high official requesting anonymity said, “Actually law should be properly enforced immediately to stop drivers talking over their cell phones while driving. If there is an emergency, the helper or assistant can take the call and notify the driver later. Due to fund constraints we cannot implement awareness programmes to reduce road accidents and moreover, National Road Safety Council formed in July 1995 could not implement even 25 to

30 per cent of its first strategic transport plan let alone the rest.”

While this official mentioned inadequate manpower for proper implementation of projects, he refused to comment on issues such as the growing numbers of unfit vehicles, bribery practices in BRTA, drivers getting licenses without fulfilling BRTA criteria and no actions taken by the organisation despite repeated media reports on road accidents.

It must be added that according to BRTA, an applicant not being a foreign national must be able to read and write either Bengali or English. And a minimum age of 18 years for non-professional and 20 years for professional driving license [Section 04 of MV Ordinance 1983] is mandatory. While these rules are on paper, citizens question if any of these are followed.

A senior police officer speaking to The Independent said that only enforcement of law cannot control violation of traffic rules. Necessary rules exist in the country but until the drivers and commuters both are aware about the rules and regulations, fatal accidents cannot be averted, the official added.

Assistant Inspector General of Police Fazlur Rahman said, “About violations of rules, the official said that the law is being enforced under the Motor Vehicles Ordinance of 1983 but the ordinance has not yet been made into an act. Although the law enforcers continued filing cases against violation of traffic rules, but so far as he could recall, not a single offender has been punished till date”.

He added, “Offenders have been fined but none has undergone any punishment”.

Under the existing ordinance, the law enforcers can impose fines on traffic rule violators ranging from Tk 100 to Tk 500 and the fine is doubled when the violator is produced before the mobile court or in special drives, the official said.

Since the fines are in small amounts in the existing ordinance, the drivers violate the traffic rules repeatedly, another senior police official said.

United Nations has declared that 2011-2020 will be the Decade of Action for Road Safety, road

traffic injury is sure to move up the global political agenda. It should finally be time to reclaim our roads. However for that certain steps need to be taken.

Unless fitness of vehicles and proper training and skill for the men behind the wheel is ensured, there is no possibility of streamlining the transport sector and curbing accidents. The priority should be to launch an effective campaign against corruption in the sector. If corruption can be eliminated, it will be easier to address other problems concerning infrastructure and road use and thus reduce road accidents.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine July 22 Friday 2011

http://www.theindependentbd.com/weekly-independent/61725-safer-roads-still-a-far-cry.html

Caretaker Government in Bangladesh [1990 – 2011] – An Early and Digital Demise. Question

2011-07-15T06:49:00.006+06:00

Caretaker Government [1990 – 2011] – An Early and ''Digital'' Demise?

Faizul Khan Tanim tries to find out who will take care of the country in times of interim trouble

Many believe that the caretaker government (CG) probably had an untimely demise in Bangladesh. While the civil society, citizens from all over the country and the main opposition party have expressed grave concerns over the nullification of the CG system through the 15th amendment of the constitution, the government believes that this amendment was essential for ensuring true reflection of the people’s will.

The 15th amendment bill was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) by 291 to one votes. The session was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

BNP and allies have protested against the amendment quite vigorously in the streets. Rather interestingly, it was our current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who led the movement for starting a non-partisan caretaker government to supervise elections. And at that time, the then prime minister Khaleda Zia and her party fiercely opposed the idea until it was forced upon them after intense political unrest.

Finally incorporated in the constitution in 1996, the caretaker system was used effectively in the last three parliamentary polls, including the one in 2008 that was won handsomely by the AL-led grand alliance. However, it must also be added that whichever party lost the polls, alleged that the elections were rigged.

But according to local and international election observers, mainstream national dailies and opinion of citizens in the TV channels and other mass media, all these past three parliamentary elections were considered free and fair.

Therefore, questions are placed and eyebrows are raised as to why this amendment was made so hastily.

Well-known political columnist Mozammel Babu told The Independent that it was imperative for the government to address this issue after the Supreme Court's verdict.

“The country's constitution does not allow unelected people to run the country even for a single day. The court observed that when caretaker government comprised of unelected people take power, it gives rise to major controversies. In 1991, there was controversy regarding chief justice Shahbuddin Ahmed as he went back to head the judiciary after the polls. In 1996 Latifur Rahman’s many activities were controversial. Again in 2001, there were unrest during chief justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman's period and if you notice carefully, in every installation of a CG, the military enjoys a special advantage or a national or international conspiracy unfolds.”

“However, the meaning of SC's observation is that since Bangladesh is not ready and one political party will never run for the polls under the other’s supervision, addressing the main concerns like not involving the judiciary, and omitting unelected people, if according to the court, a supervisory government can be developed, then we may go towards a possible solution. I believe there is a chance of developing an independent interim government if all the parties from the parliament decide to form a national government during that time under the president. And this presidential form can be something like this – there will be equal numbers of ministers from the just-retired government and opposition. I think that the chance of forming an independent interim government has not vanished yet. I think AL will be accommodative towards an independent caretaker government formed under the president with the elected representative of the parliament on either prorated or equal basis”, he added.

On the issue of the opposition expressing concerns that the election will not be free and fair under AL's suggested interim government and if this concern is justified, Babu said, “I don’t know if this concern is justified but many question the authenticity of an election under a partisan government. Election rigging happens in three ways – one person giving another's vote, now we have a pictorial voter list which has solved this problem. The second way is ballot stuffing but now the election commission (EC) is proposing electronic voting machine (EVM) which counts the total number of votes cast after which, the individual party vote has to be the same as the total votes count and these processes will check immediately and ensure fair polls. A third problem pointed out by the parties is that they allege that their party members were not allowed to come to the voting station, this problem is yet to be solved but a probable solution might be an advanced online voting system when citizens would be able to use their ID and cast the vote only once. The voting system has gone to such a level and the EC is now so much equipped that vote rigging is not that easy. I think. BNP is only doing this for a movement therefore, as per the court's observation and peoples expectation, for the next two polls, I am looking forward to an interim government with multi-party representation.”

However, the former adviser to caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan said, “The next general elections would be questionable and unacceptable, if the two major political parties cannot reach a consensus over this issue, the country’s political crisis would deepen even further. However, there is still time for discussion between the government and the opposition to reach an acceptable solution to save the country from political turmoil.”

Khan blames the government of bringing the amendment to the constitution hastily, keeping the main opposition and its allies outside the House.

On the issue of AL's claim that if the CG system prevails more 1/11s may take place, Khan questioned that previously three general elections have been free, fair and successful under a CG, so why would another 1/11 occur?

Babu strongly believes that BNP has an assumption based on the trend analysis of past elections that whichever party did a massive revolution and went for the polls, came out victorious. This is a wrong conception of Begum Khaleda Zia. For example, this time, a party will win based on a mark sheet where citizens will actually score them out of 100 based on their promises, and attainments vis-à-vis their election mandates.

BTW senior citizens and bloggers from all over the country and outside have raised questions on this hurried amendment and commented that the government should have waited until the release of full text of the SC as nobody knows the details yet. They said that constitutional amendments are extremely sensitive and should not serve specific party interests.

* This Article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine July 15 2011

p.s.: bloggers recently were under attack...freedom of speech not really belongs to us no more :s

Hope rekindles for terracotta art in Bangladesh

2011-07-01T05:04:00.003+06:00

Hope rekindles for terracotta art

Faizul Khan Tanim writes about the recent attempts to revive this glorious art form

Terracotta, often mistaken as clay tiles, is actually baked earth (pora maati). There are specific themes and subjects based on which terracotta art is produced. A variety of items is made of terracotta – plaques, wall tiles, lamps, pitchers, flower vase, pottery, coin bank, candle-stands, dolls, and more. The designs of these burnt clay products reflect folk tales, picture of everyday life, artistic symbols denoting peace, love and understanding. In Bangladesh, some of the most contemporary and prominent pieces of terracotta art are dominant on plaques and murals portraying our Liberation War–or rural Bangladesh depicting many birds, fish and animals and agricultural activities.

Members of the potters’ community, known in Bangla as kumars (formally known as kumbhokars) who usually bear the title Pal, are generally found in large settlements in mrit pollis (potters’ villages) across the country.

Terracotta artists say, although this art is one of the oldest in the sub-continent and was spread out across the whole of this country, is practised in only a few prominent localities today – Dhamrai, Shimulia, Kagojipara, Kakran in Savar; Baufol in Barisal; Shariatpur; Mirzapore in Tangail; Rayer Bazar in Dhaka (almost extinct) and a few other remaining places in the country where pottery villages exist.

This art was practised in Bengal from the earliest through early medieval to medieval times and even persisted in Hindu monuments till the mid-nineteenth century. It was found in the earliest civilisations like Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The Vishnupur (17th century) temple of (West Bengal) and Kantaji’s temple (18th century) of Dinajpur are the finest examples of this form in this region. Ancient terracotta murals are found in their finest forms in Paharpur, Mahasthangarh and Maynamati dating back from the 6th century to as far back as 2000 A.D. Some plaques depicting ladies with exotic hairdo found in Mahasthangarh throw enough light on the affluence and elegance of the people inhabiting the region. Most recent specimen of the art can be found in Pabna, Jessore, Faridpur, Rajshahi, Barisal and some other places in Bangladesh.

The clay which is used are derived from Barisal and Savar called Doash and Etel maati referred to as primary and secondary clay, amalgamated in a mixture, often called common clay. These clays can withstand high temperature when inside the furnace and make the best quality of products.
Other potters use clay from different parts of the country. Terracotta artisans say that a type of white clay is collected from Netrokona, reddish clay from Baufol Barisal and pinkish clay which comes from Tangail and these different soils produce different types of products and add their own texture and colour to the items after baking.

The whole process can be explained like this: these different types of clay used for making terracotta items are collected from different regional locations. The assorted materials are mixed proportionately and dried under the hot sun so as to allow any sort of moisture that may be present in it to evaporate. Then, the mixture of this wet clay is filtered through a fine sieve to remove pebbles, dirt or even rice grains.

After the products are given shape with the hands, they are baked in improvised kilns in very high temperature ranging from 850 to 1375 degree Fahrenheit and gradually burnt for almost 24 hours. The products cool down inside the oven when the fire is put off and it is maintained strictly so that no air can enter the furnace. It takes almost 40 to 45 days for a batch of terracotta products to be made properly following the rules starting from clay amalgamation up to the final cooling.
Today, there is a strong terracotta revival movement going on in the country. Md Azharul Islam Sheikh Chanchal, assistant professor of the ceramics department, faculty of fine arts, Dhaka University, said, “ Some organisations have proper production units, design studios and are helping this revival process. Prominent among them are - Vertical, Burn Clay, Harappa, Pora Mon, Clay Image and a few more in the city.”

“There are some celebrated terracotta artists and one of the most renowned is Moron Chad Pal sir, an ex-teacher of our fine arts faculty and a pottery artist by family tradition. He is considered one of the biggest assets of the country who produces tepa putul (clay dolls). Other mentionable pottery artists are Mohammad Ali from Rayer Bazar, Shuhash Pal, Bisheshor Pal from Baufol Barisal, Robi Pal, Ruhi Pal. They are absolutely classic artisans capturing the essence of the heritage efficiently”, Chanchal added.

These organisations are mostly artists’ collective with the objective of reviving people’s interest and also to revitalise the traditional pottery and terracotta industry of Bangladesh.
One such organization is Harappa Ltd and this correspondent spoke to their production director and in-house designer Rudro Naser. He said, “We are now hiring the potters from different locations of the country, bringing them to our organisation in Dhaka and training them not only on making the pottery of their interest but other burnt clay products as well and be creative with whatever they do. These kumars are usually a frustrated lot because their works in their specific areas are not selling any more, for example clay-made household utensils. Our motto is to save the potters by introducing a few modern techniques, mechanical wheels and train them to think of designs out-of-the-box”.

One such frustrated potter is Bishwanath Chandra Pal from Tangail, who is now working in Dhaka. “I came to Dhaka in 2006. Clay pottery was our ancestral business but during the early 2000s, we realised that this trade will not fetch us food any more and so tried to divert to other trades. But when I was offered a spot to come to the capital city and work in the same trade to earn a living, I immediately took the chance.”

“The biggest difference between working at home and here is that, in Tangail, we always stuck to one form of terracotta product, for example coin banks. Year after year, we made the same thing and nothing else. But here, with training of moulding techniques and using a more modern wheel and different types of clay, we make a range of products – wall panels, tiles, tableware, fountains, lamp shades, crockery and other decoration pieces”, Bishwanath added.

‘Shokher Hari’ is one of the oldest traditional clay products in the country. And this is the story of another Sushanta Pal from Rajshahi, who courageously decided to preserve the arts of terracotta in his own way. His grandfather Banyeshwar Pal was a famous exponent of pottery art and received provincial awards during the Pakistan period.
But today, due to deep frustrations over the decline on the use of clay potteries and to run his family, this craftsman transformed this art form from pottery to art paper and canvas, believing to preserve this traditional art and as well earn a living.

Sushanta said: If clay pottery art is dying then indeed it is a grave news for us because this traditional art captures the essence of rural Bengal and sports the images of mainly folk tales, celebrations, the different plants, birds, fishes, other animals and of course, humans at their best.
“Size and names of painted potteries differ based on regions, the style of painting and the design motifs – Mongol Hari, Jagoron Hari, Aiburo Hari, Phul Hari and the extravagant Shokher Hari. And the name Shokher Hari was coined in Rajshahi region which cultivates exceptional value of art and grandeur”, Sushanta added.

And Sushanta Pal craftily used to depict this art on earthen bowls and pots and recently realised that these clay wares started losing its force to non-artsy contemporary bowls. “I started to transform this art on thick art paper primarily and canvas to preserve our roots, our culture and glorious, colourful identity and to earn a living in this world of mechanised civilisation. Yes of course the other material pots has great value of longevity but are they emotional pieces of articles?” asked the frustrated Pal.

The great artisan Moron Chad Pal, thinks terracotta having mother earth as its raw material has a unique power of soothing. These products can be displayed in any surroundings. They signify peace in terms of colour, textures and have the unique ability to control the temperature of the atmosphere. Its cool composition brings a certain tranquillity and organic feel to the person using it.
“The significance of terracotta is therefore not restricted within the walls of temples and mosques or even the clay dolls and potteries but they send this urgent message of going back to our roots”, an emotional Moron Chad added.

Bangladeshi potters have been producing exquisite pottery products for ages. Pottery in this region can be traced back to around 1500 BC. Six types of earthenware of high quality have been found in archaeological sites like Mahasthangarh, Govinda Vita, Vasu Bihara, Wari-Batesh-war, Mainamati and Paharpur.
There were ‘Kumarpara’ or ‘Palpara’ - of potters in almost all the villages of rural Bangladesh since ancient times. An integral part of Bangladesh’s culture for hundreds of years, pottery has now become popular interior decoration materials across the country, specially in the cities.
Once used in day-to-day lives of the people of the country for cooking and storing water or religious purposes, pottery items are now used as show pieces and adorn posh homes.

Though many shops in posh shopping centres of Dhaka sell pottery items, the footpath near the Bangladesh Shishu Academy in the city is the favourite hub of those who wish to buy items for decorating their homes. A good number of nursery plant shops alongside help increase the sale of shops of pottery and terracotta showpieces.

Affluent people of the city, university students and tourists mainly visit the shops and buy terracotta items of their choice. “Pottery items and terracotta showpieces are very popular among the city people. Buyers generally opt for this place as this is the biggest market of pottery and terracotta items,’ said a shopkeeper.

New terracotta showpieces including wall hanger, sculpture, flower vase and ashtray are also available in different shops. Earthen ornament sets, flower vase, wall hangings, earthen ‘banks’ for collecting coins, candle stands, clay mugs and bells, animal figures, replicas of brides and grooms can be found near the Shishu Academy and also in the posh shops.

The price of pottery varies according to their design and size. A small item can fetch at least Tk 150 if it is of good quality.

Lately there has been a trend of producing replicas of famous paintings of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin and Patua Qamrul Hasan.

Pottery items are already being exported. It is hoped that if it receives the attention of the government and easy loans from the banks, this ancient craft would become popular household decoration in many parts of the world.

Potters in Bangladesh are facing a hard time in Bangladesh these days. The hereditary craftsmen have to deal with multifarious problems: a slump in sale, high price of clay, lack of capital in addition to inadequate patronage from the concerned authorities.

Traders say that earthenware and clay products are rapidly being replaced by aluminium, plastic, steel and other alternative materials. Even toys for children are being made with wood and cloth. Besides, many of the urbanites think it is beneath them to buy earthenware. However, those who know point out those clay utensils are far more hygienic and environment friendly than those made of silver or other metals.

Mintu Paul, a hard-pressed potter, said that after the Liberation War (1971), many artisans left the country. Confronted with dipping sales, many in the potter communities are now considering alternative professions.
Statistics bear out Paul’s contention. Over the last 30 years the number of potter families have decreased alarmingly. Many have migrated to India or taken to alternative professions such as shop-keeping, rickshaw pulling and rowing boats.

Or take the case of Phul Mohammad. Around 15 years ago Phul Mohammad migrated to Dinajpur town from the Khansama village for better prospects. However, his skills as a potter have not been appreciated; today his offsprings are in search of more lucrative professions.
Even as demand for high quality earthenware registers an upswing, former potters such as Bhuttu Paul of Biral upazila, Dinajpur says that his community lacks the know-how to fashion such products and market them to the urban buyers.

Bangladeshi potters have always laid stress on the basic form and texture of his articles. Harmonious color blending, the perfect all-over effect of design with shade and tone, mark his unity of purpose.

As for the types of wares, pottery comprises true distinctive types of wares. The first type, earthenware, has been made following virtually the same techniques since ancient time; only in the modern era has mass production brought changes in materials and methods. Earthenware is basically composed of clay- often blended clays - and baked hard, the degree of hardness depending on the intensity of the heat.

After the inventions of glazing, earthenwares were coated with glaze to render them waterproof; sometimes glaze was applied decoratively. It was found that, when fired at great heat, the clay body became non-porous. This second type of pottery, called stoneware, came to be preferred for domestic use.

Many kumars manufacture bricks and tiles, along with earthenware of all shapes and sizes, and idols and toys. The factories of kumars well repay a visit. Beneath the same thatched roof are the kiln, storehouse and dwelling house, while a free space in front of the door is used as a place to prepare the clay. In the rainy season boats laden with earthenware from these places travel to neighbouring districts through the rivers.

N,B.: The Weekend Independent would like to express its gratitude to Harappa and Vertical for their co-operation regarding the cover story.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine July 01 2011

Des’ree Desserts – slices of paradise

2011-06-24T01:09:00.003+06:00

Des’ree Desserts – slices of paradise

Faizul Khan Tanim basks in chocolaty happiness and cookie dough goodness as a slice of the dessert melts in his mouth

Rich, chocolaty, mocha, charmingly sweet, sinfully scrumptious and all that jazz - these slices are what one’s heart desire, mind craves and appetite flames for.

Be it Des’ree’s berry, chocolate-chip cookie dough or the rocky-road brownies, cinnamon rolls, tangy lemon cheesecake, pineapple cake, the familiar chocolate pound cake or the unusual choco-swirled marble pound cake, mocha pound cake with chocolate glaze up to any of the savoury baked items like meat pies and calzones and more – you will get high on these blissful desserts and will experience the inevitable choco-hangover and it is the best feeling ever.

The name behind such marvels is Anahita Ahmed, a woman-of-substance lecturer during the days but the ultimate ‘dessert queen’ during the after hours. She claims it was love at first bite during her childhood when dear mom treated her self-baked pieces of paradise…and that was the inspiration. Ever since that moment, Ahmed wanted not just to make them but bake them better.

And the best part about Des’ree Desserts is that you can order online or just pick up your phone to call the magic digits. The order is placed in no time and you will get the delivery faster than you think. She giggled while talking about this online venture, mentioning that she does not have the capital to start an outlet, plus, when the venture is online, it is always low overheads and maintenance. It’s convenient for both the consumers and her.

She said “It was ammu, and then my extended family and my best female friends - especially the ladies, were the biggest inspiration for me. Abbu was sceptical at first but, he is now on board. The feeling I got was that they think I was establishing my self-identity - breaking from the norm for women”.

The emotional Ahmed gets very nostalgic walking down memory lane and narrates the reason for naming Des’ree. “Des'ree means something you deeply desire - we want to serve desserts you crave daily; not just for special occasions”.

The desserts are decorated delectably, put in a brown paper box with plenty of passion topped with a card from Des’ree with pouring emotions in the form of hand-written verses…if you crave these ordinary yet pleasant-surprise elements full of warmth, then you are with the right chef.

She does not try to incorporate any local flavours in her recipe, rather, says “Mine is all about offering 'creative variety'. Homely elements are what mom’s cooking is for…so, Salted Caramel Bars anyone?”

When the brownies were melting in my mouth and I was having a tad-bit sugar rush, I asked about her secret cosmic ingredients like peace, love and understanding, for which she replied, “When I first started baking - it was to channel off my negative energies - as blessed with being temperamental. Now, the desserts are a rich statement for people to fight off the adversities of life ... like I've fought off mine”.

Des’ree Desserts

Please email at desreedesserts@gmail.com with your name; contact number, time of delivery & your delivery address. Or call at +8801754079229 or text at +8801752844527
Please place orders 2 days prior to date of delivery. For orders for more than five, please allow more time.
They will deliver around Dhaka free of charge. However, there are certain locations where we will not deliver due to regretful experience with local residents.
All items are priced within Tk 1000-2000 and generously serve 15-20 people. Custom orders charges slightly more.

*This article was first published in The Independent Weekend Magazine June 24 Friday 2011

Domestic violence in urban Bangladesh

2011-06-24T00:31:00.004+06:00

Domestic violence in urban Bangladesh

Faizul Khan Tanim investigates how this social disease is spreading in our society

Violence against women, has accelerated to such heights in the urban areas of the country that these incidents have ceased to shock us. Moreover, the country had to witness one of the crudest forms of domestic violence recently to realise how gruesome and grotesque these incidents can be.

Rumana Manzur, a University of British Columbia Canada graduate student and Dhaka University assistant professor of International Relations, while on leave to visit her family and friends, was reported to have been mercilessly assaulted by her husband Syed Hassan Shumon. In the scuffle that followed she lost an eye and flesh from her face on June 5. The husband is now in custody.

Residents from all over the capital are puzzled by the fact that urban women, who are educated and financially independent, are subjected to domestic violence.

A childhood friend of Rumana Manzur, requesting anonymity said, “A couple of our friends were dead against this marriage in 2001 but we did not speak out against it because we wanted her to be happy. We grew apart after her marriage and lost touch. We had no idea how disturbing her life was until we heard about this incident”.

She broke down in tears while uttering the next few words, “She was undoubtedly the sweetest and the hardest working person in our group. She was a meritorious student and a Fullbright Scholar. We want justice.”

According to an Amnesty International Bangladesh Annual Report 2011 published on May 13, violence against women topped all crimes reported to the police in the first six months of the year. Of the 7,285 complaints made, 1,586 were rape cases. The Parliament passed the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill in October last year.

The causes of domestic violence have been identified as sexual inequality, poverty, women’s lack of knowledge about their right to justice and very importantly corruption within our judicial system. It is said that many cases of domestic violence go unreported and a majority of them are not even brought to court. Unfortunately, we tend to treat domestic violence in our society as a regular and acceptable part of everyday life.

This correspondent spoke to a couple of specialists from the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy from both home and abroad on the topic of domestic violence and how it is triggered.

Mohammad Samir Hossain, is a faculty of psychiatry (MBBS, PhD), Medical College for Women and Hospital Uttara, faculty of Palliative Care of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib medical University (BSMMU), and an external faculty of psychotherapy, Bircham International University, Spain.

Regarding the issue of what goes inside the mind of men before committing violence against women he said, “It primarily starts with frustration inside a man in relation to that female. People who are disorganised in their actions and emotions and who have a confused philosophy whether to tolerate or torture, resort to violence. Very importantly, one factor that makes a man a torturer is the projection of his teachers', parents’ or other guardians’ “ill attitude”.

“One very common thing can also encourage a male to act irrationally and violently and that is - the family and social teaching that male are dominant and powerful. In this case men fail to understand that their capacity is needed to fulfil their responsibility, not for acting irresponsibly and violently. Quite often, men think of their mothers as the most important service provider, but not the most valuable or honourable person from the core of their hearts. It is good that we love our mothers very deeply, but there must be a special slot for respect for them too. As the mother represents the rest of the women for men, our attitude for women remains devoid of respect no matter how much we love them”, Hossain added.

Hossain mentioned other aggravating factors such as response to sexual stimulation like watching obscene films and music videos such as 'munni badnam huyee' and ‘sheela ki jawani’ on television, one obviously will look for satisfaction from the practical surroundings. Men who are not strong enough to dictate their chemicals inside the brain and body, act bizarre in these situations.

Hossain continued - Practically, in our current life style there is no such figure that can stop our ill behaviour and acts. Not parents, not teachers, not police, not even the government can do anything about it. This lack of true guardianship on one's mind can encourage wrongdoings according to ones own will. Specific psychopathology like psychosis, morbid jealousy, depression can also cause violent acts.

Yasmin F Khan, MD, staff psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente, California, USA said, “Not only in the US but throughout the world, power and control are the main issues that drive the abuser to commit the crime. A lot of the abusers are drug and alcohol addicts and grow up watching violence in the family. This also is another big reason. Many people have low frustration tolerance, and they just act violently without thinking about the consequences. Many of these violators have been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorders and one of their characteristic pathology is that they do not have remorse. They can be extremely charming in certain situations, which is one of the reasons why the victims continue to stay in the relationship despite the abuse.”

“Other reasons why the victims stay in the relationships for years are financial dependence, having children and not knowing how to support the children alone. Societal stigma is one of the big reasons. Not leaving the abuser fearing that he may inflict more abuse is another responsible factor. Even victims, who are highly educated, with financial solvency, continue staying in the relationship, with the hope that things will change for the better. This happens especially because the abuser after inflicting the violence promises that this is not going to happen again and the victim believe this against their better judgement. After every incident of abuse, the victim convinces herself that this will never happen again, but this most often is not the case.”

In Bangladesh, there are quite a few organisations giving emotional and legal aid to these distressed women. One such organisation is Ain o Salish Kendra. We talked to the deputy director Nina Goswami of the organisation. She said, “We are a very pro-poor organisation, however, when a woman is in distress it does not matter if she is less privileged or from an affluent family, we give free service and support. This includes mental support and counselling, legal aid and shelter for women who suffered from domestic violence. We also focus on educating and counselling to women to become stronger and take the necessary steps when faced with atrocities.”

Although there are laws to provide help and shelter for women under attack, a lot of women, subject to violence, alleged that there is not much effort to ensure that women get access to these services. Much needs to be done to overcome the barriers which prevent women from getting these services. One way forward, for example, would be the use of community education to remove social prejudice and ensure that domestic violence isn’t accepted by our society.

Demanding, giving and accepting dowry is illegal in Bangladesh. The practice, however, still prevails in many sections of the society. Saira Rahman of the NGO Odhikar said, “A major reason is the rising unemployment among young males, especially in rural Bangladesh. Often, the bride's parents cannot contribute the whole amount of dowry at once. They pay some of it at the wedding ceremony. Later on, the demand for the rest of the dowry becomes intense. Delayed payment causes the use of violence against the young wife. The issue of dowry is probably the most common source of domestic violence in rural Bangladesh, where the husband along with his parents and relatives remind the wife that the remaining payment is still due. Incidents of murder or attempted murder for dowry- related reasons are regular items in the country's media.”

This correspondent spoke to a woman who instead of suffering, stood up for herself and made the fairest choice according to her. Reshmi Akhtar (not her real name) from Baridhara said “I was suffering from constant verbal abuse from my husband after my marriage in 2008 because I was reminding him of the financial and mental support he was supposed to deliver. Day by day, the mental suffering turned to physical torture. I received no support from my in-laws and after being physically abused for the third time, I revolted. I disclosed this aspect of his personality to friends, family and the society and filed for divorce. I think God has given me a better life now. I am contributing to the society successfully instead of being a victim.”

*This article was first published in The Independent Weekend Magazine June 24 2011

Azam Khan - A tribute celebrating the Guru’s life and legacy

2011-06-12T01:29:00.003+06:00

A tribute celebrating the Guru’s life and legacy

Faizul Khan Tanim goes beyond the usual retrospectives to explain why Azam Khan is synonymous with revolutionary ideas

The columns, tributes and condolences have been pouring in from all corners and everyone. Almost five days since the man hailed as the Guru of Bangla pop and rock music, the legendary and perhaps somewhat notorious Azam Khan, passed away on June 5, the onslaught of consumer culture has also taken over his memory.

Almost overnight there are compilation albums and greatest hits, t-shirts and posters, special programmes on television and radio, as well as downloads, wallpapers and online discussions, anything to fill up the emptiness. The death of a legend has triggered the usual outpourings of grief but there is something very different also at play. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear the voice of the legend lives on all around us.

For the post-Independence generation, Azam Khan was the symbol of all that was revolutionary. He was the freedom fighter, the rock rebel and also came with a whiff of disrepute; rumours of addiction were perhaps slightly exaggerated but nonetheless provocative and no doubt something that the musician struggled to come to terms with over the years. During the years of political upheavals, the youth of the nation sought refuge in music as a means of expressing themselves. And if anyone was seen as worthy of our worship, then it was Azam Khan.

The young musicians who came after Khan and his contemporaries all copied him. Some did so shamelessly and most paid their respects by identifying with his image as a rock musician. And this was also true for those who were not making music but listening to it.

In the schools, colleges and universities, street corners and the rooms of the new generation, the seniors identified with Khan’s anti-establishment and rock star fame. They spoke reverentially of the man who rose out of the ashes of the monolith of dysfunction and turbulence that lead to the birth of the nation, the guerrilla and activist clad in khaki, the lanky bearded poet whose words made you laugh, cry, dance and sing. The younger groups listened in awe and then repeated what they understood to the next generation, and the legend was bor

Azam Khan’s music percolated through the layers of Bangladesh’s society, gaining popularity at every stratum, from the urban areas to the rural backwaters, and across the generations. This is unusual because modern Bangla rock music is a genre that hasn’t crossed over to appeal to the masses, but at the time when Khan and his contemporaries took to the stage, they travelled the length and breadth of the newly liberated country, and brought their music to the people. And what makes it even more fascinating is that Khan’s songs were often improvised and written on the spot, inspired by the moment, so they spoke to the people, the young and the old in their simplicity and universal themes. His appeal lies in the absence of pretence.

Another reason why Khan appealed to so many different people from such varied backgrounds is actually very simple; his appeal lay in the fact that he sang all his songs in Bangla. The songs he sang, we don’t need to mention here; we know them well.

There were rumours and talk of a new album. Soon after Khan was diagnosed with cancer last year, and while he was undergoing treatment, he mentioned that he planned to record an album and was eager to step into the studio to start working on the songs. Since his death, there has been criticism from various sources who allege the Guru didn’t find much support to help turn his dream into a reality. It is unclear if Khan managed to do any work or record any of the tracks. The fact is, in death, Azam Khan’s music is worth much more then it ever was worth while he lived, not just in monetary value but more so in the context of cultural impact. We need to ensure the recordings and writings are preserved. The facts and the fiction will take on their own life.

The songs will continue to inspire, influence and hopefully keep the spirit of revolution alive in generations to come. It is a testament to the man’s personality and his genius the way people loved him, admired and respected him.

For many of his fans, even though they never met him and most didn’t have the chance to see him on stage in his hey day, the legend’s hold is above and beyond anything else. Paying his personal tribute to the Guru, Maqsoodul Haque Mac stated how he was obsessed with him. “I have been obsessed with Azam Khan and his music since I heard him in 1973. If I am anybody in the Bangladesh music scene, it is all because of him. In 1986, he slapped me squarely across the face for not singing in Bangla. That incident changed my life and turned it around 360 degrees”.

The obituaries have been read and the man buried with honours. However, we think it is apt to pay homage to the Guru of Bangla rock and pop music by celebrating his life and his legacy.

What's Hot in Uttara - Petuk, the eatery

2011-06-11T02:12:00.003+06:00

What’s Hot

Petuk

Faizul Khan Tanim finds a place for food-lovers

Petuk is conveniently located behind a tall building, right behind Mainland China in Road 2 in Uttara’s sector 3; you’ll know it by the image of a ‘petuk’.

Floating Fun - A spontaneous boat trip on Gulshan-Banani lake

2011-06-09T15:58:00.002+06:00

Floating Fun - A spontaneous boat trip on Gulshan-Banani lake

Faizul Khan Tanim took a boat ride to clear his head. You can enjoy a brief sojourn on the lake. Boats stop at several spots, pick one that is convenient, on Road 32, Gulshan by the lake or try the Mohakhali TB Gate. One hour of floating without a worry costs Tk 150, and you’ll love the easy banter of the enterprising young boys who earn a little extra by ferrying you around. Meet Sohel (10), Rubel (15), Azizul Hakim (16) and Mohammad Shimul (22); they say when not on the water, they are in school. Then there is 22 year old Zahidul Islam Noman, Shimul’s friend and a budding poet, who’ll compose a fitting verse for you, here’s a sample, “Ontor Jano Attar Pori, Shommo Shoyon Shopi Okaron…Pordar Arale Dekhlum Ak Opurbo Ordho Choron.”

The only draw back is the polluted water. The Jaago Foundation’s recent initiative to clean the lake is a commendable idea, but more must be done to ensure these water bodies don’t die by all concerned.

Photos by Faizul Khan Tanim