The New Nation - Internet Edition

THIS year the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former US Vice-President Albert Arnold Gore (Al Gore) for their contributions to the fight against climate change. This is the second incident of awarding the Prize to crusaders for protection of the environment. The first occasion was the awarding of the Prize in 2004 to Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai for founding the Green Belt Movement, which helped African women to plant over 30 million trees. This decision of the Nobel Committee deserves high marks. We join all to felicitate the IPCC and Al Gore on their outstanding work to help reverse the process of climate change.

Environmentalists and ecologists the world over enthusiastically acclaimed this decision of the Nobel Committee. Some of them saw it as a victory for the planet and its inhabitants. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed Gore's commitment to the issue and the IPCC's work to establish 'beyond doubt' that climate change is a reality. This award is a recognition to the hard work and efforts done by IPCC and Al Gore. They dedicated their efforts to build up and spread knowledge about man-made climate changes, and lay the foundations for the measures needed to counter such changes in the environment. IPCC has concluded that as the world warms - storms, droughts and floods will intensify both in frequency and ferocity leading to the rising of the sea level and other environmental catastrophes. Climate change will also overburden the world's food and water system giving way to escalation of conflicts over resources. The world's poor will be the worst sufferers. On the other hand, Gore spent years to bring a greater awareness of climate change among the people.

The aims of the UN Conferences on environment and sustainable development held so far were to retard or stop the pace of climate change and help pursue economic development in a sustainable manner. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the main culprits of global warming. It is due to the increasing presence of the greenhouse gases in the environment that the weather is getting warmer day by day. The effect of such climatic change will be disastrous for nature as a whole. With a view to containing the warming process, the world community want to keep the emission of the gases to tolerable limits. Indiscriminate use of fossil fuel is the main source of emission of the gases. The Kyoto Protocol called for a cut in greenhouse gas emission to at least 5% from 1990 levels within the commitment period 2008-2012. But a number of developed countries are yet to ratify the Protocol. It is hoped that the awarding of the Peace Prize to climate change fighters will strengthen the struggles for a better and inhabitable world.

THE number of road accidents shoots up during Eid festivals, and it is no exception this time. It was reported in a national daily on Wednesday that road accidents killed about 40 persons in four days. Eid festivals induce a great deal of mobility. People in great numbers move from their work places to celebrate the festivals at their village homes and then return after the holiday. Accidents are not to be seen as unusual during such a traffic rush period. The increase of road accidents during this period suggests that something is wrong with management of traffic on the roads plus the existence of other factors that lead to those. Accidents again are not only a festival-time phenomenon. These occur in large numbers throughout the year. The available statistics on road accidents in Bangladesh are not very accurate but whatever statistical information are available point to a high rate of the same.

Road accidents in Bangladesh claim on an average 4,000 lives and lead to about 5,000 injuries annually. According to one study, the annual fatality rate from road accidents in Bangladesh is 85.6 per 10,000 vehicles which contrasts poorly even with 47.7 in Myanmar and 62.7 in Nepal. The fatality rate in Bangladesh from road accidents specially contrasts with the developed countries where the number of vehicles are many times higher. The fatality rate in those countries is below 3 per 10,000 vehicles. This explains why Bangladesh is ranked as one of the most road accident prone countries in the world. Time is thus more than ripe to do something concrete for preventing these road accidents. Apart from the human tragedies, the economic costs of such accidents are great. The national cost estimates for road accidents in Bangladesh is Taka 39 billion, which is about 1.5 per cent of the GDP and three times the annual expenditure of the Roads and Highways Department.

The first thing to do must be improved enforcement of traffic rules. The police should strictly apply the rules for catching the offenders such as owners and operators of vehicles who overload, engage in over-speeding and those who do not maintain their vehicles. Highway police was introduced for maintaining vigil over the highways about a couple of years ago. But it suffers from many deficiencies and the situation continues to be business as usual. The task now is to revamp the operations of the highway police. Most highway accidents occur due to brake failures or for drivers losing control of overloaded vehicles. Then, there is the competition to overtake vehicles by occupying the lane earmarked for automobiles coming from the other direction. The training of drivers ought to be rigorous. Drivers are known to get their licences too easily. This practice plus corruption in certifying vehicles as fit for movement must come to an end. Important roads and highways again should be well maintained throughout the year.

Dr. M. Azizur Rahman

Businessmen are the major tax payers in any country and also in Bangladesh. Business is the manufacturing, production, trading & purchase and sales of goods and services. Business is for the human life and living for businessmen and for non businessmen in private and public sectors. Each and every human being directly or indirectly depends on the business in private and public sectors.

The Government earns an income or a revenue and form the development budget by taxing general people and the businessmen in particular as they are the major tax payers. Sometimes, the Government borrows domestically and internationally to meet the shortfall of its Annual Development Plan (ADP) and to do the major infrastructural work. All these debts the Government has to repay with the tax-payers' money.

Every transaction, in kind or in cash, between two individuals or parties is based on the 'give and take policy'. The Government imposes and collects tax from people. Tax payers also expect that Government takes care of providing the economic security of human life. Each and every individual of taxable income must pay taxes to the government or must share their business or personal income with government. At the same time, taxpayers are also worried about meeting their basic necessities in life including food, shelter, clothes, education and health for themselves and for their children or for the present and future consumption.

Government is the major employment sector and is giving us a lot including physical infrastructures of roads, bridges, culverts, official and service building, and buildings for hospitals, educational institutions, administration and social and national infrastructural requirement. Government has been providing us education and health facilities, securities of life and living, law and order, and justice and peace forces and helps facilitate the domestic and international trades, and intervene and try to protect the market failure by taking various economic policies. Government provides subsidies to consumers of essential goods and food. It provides housing loan at reasonable interest rates. Present tax revenues earned by the Government is not enough to perform all the activities as mentioned above. We have to develop the tax payment culture to enrich the government for its performance of the social or infrastructural activities.

Governments in most of the countries do or try to serve the job of people's welfare activities in their different capacities with a proceeds of the tax revenue they earn from the people. If we can introduce and develop the culture of tax payment and enrich the Government, we may expect the following from the Government:

Provisions of jobs and job-creation to decrease unemployment or to increase national output and income; pension fund in private and public sector; provident fund in private and public sector; gratuity in private and public sector; providing unemployment allowance from the provision of social security tax; children's rearing and bearing fund since their birth date; children's education fund to cover their school education of 12 years free of cost; ensuring primary health care nation-wide; and increasing the health education by increasing the number of medical colleges, and medical technology institutions both in the public and private sector.

To provide food, clothes and shelter at a reasonable price, the government would be taking the supply-side policies to expand the aggregate supply of goods and services by increasing the productivity in businesses in an innovative manner which will not have much effect on increasing prices. The consumer can buy their goods and services at an affordable cost.

Finally, the mass population can be easily brought under Tax Identification Number (TIN) by opening their tax return file. This will open the door for introducing the tax payment culture in the country, and will enrich the Government to undertake the social welfare activities. The Government can, therefore, furnish its job of two-way transaction between people and the Government to develop its job of income distribution activities to raise the people's standard of living and social welfare and development.

[The writer is Vice-Chancellor of Uttara University]

M. Mizanur Rahman

Since independence unlike mushrooms the most costly education of kindergarten schools or the like have been spread throughout the cities and towns for the children of the well to-do people of Bangladesh having no monitoring system or control from the government educational authorities concerned. Whether this English medium schools are of any use nationally leaving aside the huge primary level schools (both government-run and privately managed) of the children of greater masses of the people of Bangladesh who used to read in Bangla medium is yet to be assessed. Even some kindergarten-like Arabic schools for the children in different names are established and running in this country in parallel but in typical formation. In Madrasha and Yatimkhana (orphanage) primary level teaching of Qaeda Ampara of AI-Quran etc., in Arabic version without any meaningful translations of them into national language Bengali given to the children to cram had never been consistent with the general primary education.

There is no moral and physical education for our children from primary level. How could our children build their morality to make the frame of their virtuous character on which a strong nation should stand? By this way how our children would be moulded to the need of the nation as a whole. What sort of mentality would grow among these children towards their future career by inconsistent systems of education nationally for such a small country like Bangladesh? However unless this problem is solved the frustration on the way to children's education would continue to grow which will sap the vitality of this nation.

In a Muslim majority country like Bangladesh Islamic education is the need of the hour. Hence one cannot ignore Madrasha education in which traditionally Islamic way of thinking takes place provided the students of these institutions are given education on Islamic thoughts and ideas properly.

It is said that Islam is the code of conduct in life. But that most valuable ethics of Islamic thoughts and ideas requires to be inculcated among the students of general education and Madrashas alike as well. This will certainly discipline the way of children's life. Except some ritual performances of the Muslims basic humanistic principles of Islam are equally applicable to all non-Muslim communities also. Even there should be no objection in studying by the non-Muslims the humanistic essence of Islamic thoughts and ideas from Al-Quran and Hadith that is always beneficial to all mankind irrespective of any religious differences of faiths. In order to make the entire educational curriculum consistent the syllabi must be adjusted to that extent. Then the students of the non-Muslim communities would be inclined to study in Madrashas. Hence the national co-existence between all other communities would establish and all the non-Muslim communities would tend to feel that absolute communal hannony prevails in Islamic humanism.

It would rather be better if the Madrasha education become common to all irrespective of different faiths. Then misgivings about Islam from the minds of the non-Muslims would be dispelled.

Madrasha education must fit itself with modern science and technology also. So that after passing out from the Madrasha, students might feel secured to catch up job markets suitable to their quality of education competing equally with those general students of other disciplines. As the citizen of Bangladesh people have rights to secure equal place in educating their wards in any educational institution of the state no matter which community or faith they belong.

As because the education is the backbone of a nation the government must look into the matters of education very seriously having thorough monitoring and control system of all educational institutions. So that none of them (those institutions) can digress from national education policy and of its integration.

Now the question arises whether there is at all any national education policy there in Bangladesh that makes the national integration in respect of education acutely? If there is none the government should make that policy at once to keep the nation on the ball of progress.

Now at present we can see the salient features of Madrasha education of Bangladesh in nutshell.

Only three government-run Madrashas are Alia Madrasha of Dhaka. Chittagong and Sylhet functioning in Bangladesh. Beside Bengali, English and Arabic some other subjects are taken up for studies in these institutions. Apart from humanities, science and commerce sections have also been included here. The Madrasha Education Board supervises these Alia Madrashas.

In Bangladesh there are privately run Madrashas also. They are titled as Befaqul Madaresh headed by the Private Madrasha Board. But in these Madrashas there is no section of science or commerce. The Befaqul Madaresh prepares and controls the curriculum and syllabus of its Madrashas.

While government-run Madrasha takes up studies of Bengali, English and Arabic literature as compulsory subjects beside AI-Quran along with its Tafsirs (interpretations), Hadith and Fiqh (lslamic Jurisprudence) in its syllabus. Therein lies heavy pressure of studies for the students of government Madrashas than those of general educational institutions. But the Befaqul Madaresh has its own administration free from the government and it runs from its own financial resources collected privately from the religious minded generous people. Basically this institution stresses much more importance in studying Arabic language and literature seriously than other educational institutions of Bangladesh.

There is another type of Madrasha called Hafizia Furkania Madrasha, for male as well as female, running in Bangladesh where the students will simply cram AI-Quran to become Hafiz (the person who commits to memory of Al-Quran) only.

The profession of these students will remain limited only to lead Taraweeh Namaz during the month of Ramadan (for male) and teaching children Al-Quran (for male and female). However sadly speaking there is no other scope for their employment anywhere.

Very recently government recognised Arabic Dhakhil as S.S.C (Secondary School Certificate), Aleem as H.S.C (Higher Secondary Certificate), Fazil as Graduation Degree and Kamil as Masters Degree.

Now the scope of general studies for these students is absolutely limited. It is reported that these students are not allowed to study Honors in law at the Dhaka University. And a very few but exceptional students get chance for higher studies in the general universities by dint of their sheer brilliant merits, while in job markets their cases are hardly considered. After the completion of their studies they seek job of Imamoti (leader of the Namaz-I-Jamat or Zanaza i.e at the congregation of Muslim dead bodies) in the mosque having no other alternatives. And this is what our Madrasha education along with other sides of education in Bangladesh.

In our education sectors none of the citizens should suffer deprivation otherwise as a nation we will be at a loss everywhere. Our government should look into it very seriously. Because every deprivation that reflects national crisis is never desirable by a prestigious nation.

Dr.Abdul Ruff

History is filled with incidents of air-crashes killing innocent lives on board. Such ill-fated air-crafts continue to be a part of security system meant for top leaders of the world.Helicopter accidents are not uncommon in the rugged Kashmir region, but the crash came at a sensitive time. Military officials later said that Musharraf was in the city, which lies about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Islamabad.Musharraf has been the target of attack and each time his life was in danger and he escaped miraculously.But luck can not be a permanent phenomenon in any body's life.

The country's previous military ruler, Gen. Zia-ul Haq, died in an unexplained explosion on board a Pakistani military aircraft in 1988 along with U.S. Ambassador Arnold L. Raphael and several other top generals. In March 2006, a Red Cross helicopter crashed in Kashmir while delivering food aid to earthquake survivors, injuring its two South African pilots. Six Pakistani soldiers died when an Mi-17 helicopter crashed in bad weather near the Kashmiri town of Bagh a week after the quake.

The recent crash on 08 October, killing four people on board in Mujhoi about 12 miles south of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan's portion of Kashmir the main town in Pakistan's portion of the disputed Himalayan territory on Monday of one of three helicopters escorting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf revives concern about the safety of the U.S.-allied general who has survived several assassination attempts. It happened two days after he secured a provisional victory in a controversial presidential election. Hundreds of residents and scores of soldiers swarmed around the still-smoldering helicopter wreckage, 100 yards from the Jhelum River. Part of the chopper's tail jutted above the crowd. At least four ambulances, sirens wailing, left the scene carrying injured people. The president's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, was among at least five injured passengers. Two pilots and a technician escaped unhurt, he said.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad blamed a "technical fault" for the crash of the military helicopter and said Musharraf had already reached his destination when the accident occurred. Musharraf traveled to Kashmir on Monday to commemorate the second anniversary of the Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake that killed nearly 80,000 people. Witnesses reportedly said the helicopter's engine was on fire before it hit the ground but there was no indication it had come under fire. Minutes before, two other helicopters flew past the village, they said.

The noise of the engine suddenly grew louder and the pilots found level terrain on the outskirts of the village for an emergency landing. He said several passengers jumped from the chopper before it hit the ground and exploded into flames. Locals said that an army helicopter made a crash landing in the Jhelum Valley due to a technical fault while en route to Muzaffarabad.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, swept a presidential election by lawmakers on Saturday that was boycotted by most of the opposition because he contested the vote while still army chief. Musharraf has to wait for a Supreme Court ruling on his eligibility to find out whether he will win a new five-year term.Musharraf has promised to quit the military and restore civilian rule before beginning the new term in which he has vowed to step up the fight against Islamic extremism. His nominated successor, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, was promoted Monday to the post of vice-chief of the army and is to take the top job as soon as Musharraf vacates it. Political future of Musharraf and Pakistan depends on the court verdict expected on Oct 17.

Under the Pakistani constitution, the chairman of the Senate, or upper house of Parliament, takes over if a sitting president dies, but a lot of confusion and anarchy could be created in the country if Musharraf is killed. One should give benefits of doubts to the official statements and accordingly technical failure caused the tragedy. But generally top security measures are taken when transporting VIPs. It could be one of the following reasons too: to raise the image of Musharraf who is yet to get the OK from the judiciary; a foreign conspiracy to kill Musharraf; a general hatred towards him for continuing as President and General. A foul game by some anti-Islamic rogue states by firing the weapons from the space cannot be ruled out either. Islamabad should state if it suspects Indian hand in the terrorist attempt on the president.

Pakistani authorities charged with the top priority task of securing the country's President among others should initiate a series of actions to see the security arrangements are properly scrutinized before the voyages. Especially because President gen. Musharraf 's life is under constant threat, and who knows from which quarters. It ought to be the primary duty of the security personnel to ensure that air-crafts the VIPs (of course, others too) carry are not "ill-fated". Of course, things can go out of hand when unexpected mishap happens.