The New Nation - Internet Edition

WOMEN adorn high positions in Bangladesh society no doubt. The number of such high ranking women is also noted to be rising. Nonetheless, this progress of women is a very limited one noted mainly in the higher strata and well educated segments of society. Women generally continue to be underdogs in a still largely male-led society in this country. If it were only a question of male leadership either in the family or society, it would not be so much a matter of concern. The concern stems from the fact that this male dominance expresses itself often in cruel oppression on women in different spheres. A report in this paper on Saturday focussed on the violence that women members in families have to suffer at the hands of male members. According to a UN report, Bangladesh ranks fourth highest in the world in violence against women. The report observed that some 40 per cent of women fall victims of violence in Dhaka city alone.

If this is the condition in relatively more progressive and emancipated area like the capital city, then the wretched conditions of women in the vast countryside of Bangladesh hardly needs elaboration. Repression on women is considered to be particularly heavy and widespread in the rural areas of Bangladesh. They become the victims of physical assault, dowry-related attacks, deprivation of food and other resources, sexual abuse, rape, emotional abuse and forced marriage. And such harm is inflicted on them mainly by brothers, husbands, fathers and male in-laws. The laws are at present not so weak against repression on women and children. But the problem lies in their enforcement. Poverty, inadequate understanding of the victims or the potential of such victims about their human rights and the laws protecting them, inadequate attention of policemen, all these are to be blamed for unsatisfactory application of the laws in cases of violence against women.

With focussed attention given to these issues from the hierarchy of the police and regular monitoring carried out to ensure that directives are being actually carried out, the situation at the field level should improve. But only better policing will not go far in creating more secure or helpful conditions for women. Minds of their family members need to go through a transformation by way of intense social campaigns, regular media publicity that repressing on women is not only a very cowardly thing to do but that it is also prohibited in religion. Ironically, many male family members have it in their minds that women were designed to be inferior to males in all respects and that religion gives them a sort of lordship over females. Such wrong notions should be changed through active participation of religious leaders.

A HEALTHY and congenial atmosphere is an essential precondition for maintaining uninterrupted production of readymade garment. It serves the interest of both the factory owners and the workers. The readymade garment (RMG) sector now earns the highest amount of foreign exchange for the country. So, it is not desirable that any untoward incident should disrupt production in the industry. But from movements waged by the workers from time to time on different issues the situation does not look that smooth. Recently some workers demonstrated in front of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Bhaban in Dhaka demanding payment of salary and Eid bonus. A few weeks before, a large number of workers at the Tejgaon industrial area resorted to violent agitation around demand for increased iftar and other allowances. However, the BGMEA reportedly suspected some disruptive motives behind the unrest.

The RMG sector is export-oriented. One of the conditions of export contracts is that shipment of goods must be made on schedule. Delay in supply may result in the cancellation of order, non-receipt of the goods and non-payment by the foreign buyers resulting in losses for exporters. Labour unrest and resultant suspension of production cause such delays for which buyers divert subsequent orders to other countries. Even labour unrest is enough to discourage buyers from placing orders. The mere advantage of cheap labour may not be enough to keep the sector competitive. All concerned parties must remain cautious against any undesirable event that might hamper production. Irregular or delayed payment of salary to the workers is a potential source of labour unrest and suspension of production. Factory owners must take care of this.

A tripartite agreement on workers' wages is now in force in the sector. But it is alleged that some owners are yet to implement it. Such acts of non-compliance of the agreement can only go against the interests of the sector and serve the interests of its rivals. A hungry worker cannot give quality production. Japanese workers are known to consider the industries they work in as their own. This is because they are satisfied with what they are paid for their labour. It is alleged that interested quarters are very much active to cause harm to the sector. Such allegations may not be altogether baseless. Workers should also remain cautious so that they are not used to materialise such conspiracy against the interests of the nation. The 'export powerhouse' should be nursed properly by all concerned.

Dr. M. Azizur Rahman

What do we want in life? How do we achieve the goal and objective in life? We would like to simply be happy in life. We are selfish by birth. We want to have more of every thing as more is better than less. Some are getting more. Some are getting less. Differences in human capital characteristics and its quality and quantity are making differences between individuals. To maximise our satisfaction in life, we need to increase our human capital characteristics with quality to the maximum possible extent including our knowledge, education, training, experience and smartness. We strive although to maximise our satisfaction in life, on-the-job if we do work, and in business if we do business. Good life means that we do not suffer from poverty. What we want in life is to have good health, knowledge and education, enough money and purchasing power, physical and non-physical assets and property, love and affection, name-, fame-, and goodwill and well placement in the society.

Individuals of similar educational background may differ in different magnitude in their acquiring of human capital and in their standard of living if they are not equally smart and, or belong to the family of different background. Among other factors making differences between individuals are food and nutrition, health care, language, culture and religion, rural vs urban dwelling, and exposure to international prospects of life which are discussed in the following.

All other characteristic variables remaining the same or similar, two individuals may have two different levels of life and living due to their differences in smartness. Smart individuals are assumed to be looking impressive in appearance including their clothes and dress which is the first letter of their recommendation. They are also good in talking, discussion and in conversation. They talk with confidence as they try to place their argument relatively more logically and in a convincing manner. They are generally conceived with more knowledge about life. Their spoken Bangla and English are also very good. Their interactive or interpersonal behaviour is so impressive that people want to give the leadership to a few smart ones only. Smart people are automatically selected as a social leader. Family background provides a lot to improve the individual's characteristics including smartness because the family is in the first place to teach us, where our children are grown physically and mentally and their growing brain gets accommodated with the first-hand knowledge about life. Parents and siblings of smart families are expected to have a family connection with other smart families. Therefore, a child born in a relative smart family is privileged in earning more knowledge and smartness. These children are assumed to do better in their effort of raising their standard of living.

Due to cultural and religious reasons in many societies including Bangladesh, male children have relatively more exposure to the world outside the family. They are also less shy to meet people and propose for a job or business. Many parents invest relatively less in female children as female children will be out of the family permanently once they are married. Female children are more restricted to go out and earn academic and non-academic knowledge from the surrounding. All these make a significant difference in favour of male children in doing jobs or business.

Smartness also differs between individuals residing in urban-, semi-urban- and rural areas or residents in urban cities, rural cities and the countryside. Urban people have more access to modern knowledge and information, which they receive through radio, TV and newspaper and urban neighbours. For example, urban consumers can smartly do the internet shopping and compare the prices of different dealers easily and drive the high-cost sellers out, and raise their standard of living. As another example, the family planning programme is more effective in urban areas where people treat their children as expensive recreational goods, and have less number of children. Rural people assume their children as capital goods for menial work and have more number of children.

Quality food, nutrition and health care are a part of the basic necessity in life to maintain a sound health, sound mind and a good human capital.

English language has been widely, culturally and necessarily accepted as the international language. Most literatures, based on modern knowledge and good quality research, are published in English. Our non-physical human capital remains less than well-versed if we do not know English.

If we can afford to travel a few countries in the West and Japan of high quality human capital, our mission and vision about human capital, life and living might change in a progressive manner. Students are working there in Summer to pay for tuitions during Spring and Fall Semester. Some students are doing double major such as Economics and Engineering together in a few famous U.S. universities. Many professors in the U.S. used to do the dish-washing job in their student life. The above factors are contributory in the formation of human capital and achievement of satisfaction in life.

(Dr. M. Azizur Rahman is the Vice-Chancellor, Uttara University)

Maswood Alam Khan

Truth always triumphs when both truth and falsity are allowed to freewheel in an open society. But the reverse is true when truth has to play under duress. Throughout history, ironically, truth had to ride uphill under coercion and falsity downhill under influence when subjects had to sing songs of praise of their kings who used to run their kingdoms based on their dreams they dreamt during their nightly sleeps.

Copernicus delivered a statement which, to the eyes of the church, was a heretic falsity. His avowal contradicted what Holy Bible preached about the nature of the universe. "The world is firmly established, it can never be moved. The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back where it rises", says Holy Bible. It was Copernicus who 'stopped the Sun and moved the Earth' by his heliocentric theorem: "The Earth and all other planets revolving around the Sun, the Earth rotating around its axis daily, the Moon in turn revolving around the Earth once a month." This scientific truth took centuries to offset the heretic falsity. Truth or falsity once established takes time to reverse its color and character.

It is encouraging as well as a little frightening to note that our government is going to float a "Truth Commission" with a view to releasing on parole, plea bargain or absolution some corrupt suspects, especially some bigwigs of large industries, whose internment inside prisons has resulted in sharp fall in production and exportation. It is hoped that heads of conglomerates, if released, will be able to revamp wheels of their machines to restore business that was sinking in the absence of the chief boss. Undoubtedly, our government deserves kudos for realizing the necessity of finding a way out to help solve the limbo in business. But the way of solving the limbo through releasing the corrupt suspects, I am afraid, may cloud the judiciary with fallacy of double standard and strew the society with malady of double crime.

Releasing on parole, if not absolution, should not mean automatic waiver of their crimes committed, if any. They will have to be tried as per law of land and they should not be segregated as a class, however tall the bigwigs are, who would enjoy an immunity a commoner cannot enjoy.

In no way a prejudiced precedence contravening the letter and spirit of our constitution should be established that may facilitate laundering falsity into truth or truth into falsity by way of waiving a crime that is not atoneable by pecuniary compensation. Truth Commission, it is hoped, would establish truth with roots to go deep while sifting out who committed unpardonable crimes and who committed irregularities that are amenable to corrections---undoubtedly a tough job and a risky venture if the commission is not equipped with judges of extraordinary caliber.

The person who, for instance, is charged for dodging taxes may be sentenced to 10 years in jail if tried in the court of law. If Truth Commission allows such a convict to go free if s/he pays double or triple the amount dodged, people who never evaded taxes may feel a little down but the country will, nevertheless, benefit by larger amount of revenue earned and lesser amount of cost defrayed on expenses his/her living inside a prison should incur.

We should not forget that truth and falsity do not run miles apart in reverse directions; they go in most cases neck and neck and at times overlap each other. What to a commoner's eyes is a falsity can, in some cases, be proven a truth in the court of law or vice versa provided the plaintiff or the defendant and their lawyers know how to negotiate his/her safe passage through the labyrinth of the legal world.

The thin borderline between truth and falsity gets blurred to our vision when we attempt to look at the 'truth' through the eyes of philosophers like Giambattista Vico, the 18th century Italian philosopher, who gave birth to the adage: "Verum ipsum factum" (Truth itself is constructed). Vico claimed that history and culture and mathematics were all man-made, as opposed to what we find through observation. If our king decrees that the sky is red and milk black who are we to dare say that our king has gone berserk?

Dispensing fair justice is more empathizing with pains of than taking revenge on the accused. Honorable justices, with ages of experience in dealing with penology, are always seen looking for chances to offer the accused benefits of doubt as they don't mind if an accused wriggles himself out of conviction, but they can't think of a person punished by their judgments, if s/he is innocent or if s/he committed a crime out of pardonable negligence, hotheadedness, ignorance, mental disequilibrium or just out of his/her leaping without thinking on the bandwagon.

When all members of a crowd commit the same crime without realizing the probable outcome of their commission 'truth of the crime' has to be placed, analyzed and dissected under a special microscope the way during a war soldiers killing innocent people or making collateral damage to the civilians without any malefic intention are given maximum benefits of doubt in court marshals. Nobody, even a murderer, is a born criminal. Situation makes most men criminals and it is the responsibility of the government to see that a situation giving birth to crimes does not prevail in vulnerable domains and areas.

Everybody knows smoking is injurious to health; still we smoke in spite of warning notice on the cigarette packs. The government and tax paying people have been spending a lat of money in the form of subsidies towards curing diseases caused by smoking. Now, if there is a sudden declaration that all chain smokers will be tried in a special tribunal and the minimum punishment for heavy smoking, if proven, will be 5 years in prison, all smokers will faint out of shocks unwarranted.

Similarly, in spite of forewarning from National Board of Revenue many people did not pay any heed to those words of warning and paid no tax on incomes of tons of money and did not declare their wealth accumulated during the last few decades. Such a corruption was a business as usual. Out of scare they may not dare even now to declare their wealth and pay their taxes lest they are caught with smoking gun evidence. Many such tax dodgers are spending their days in jails before and after their convictions and many more are at large.

Some people shied away from tax authorities learning from others bitter experiences people had to encounter while paying taxes. A farmer has to pay a minimum of Taka 100 to grease palms of middlemen for paying rental (Dakhila) of Taka 2 for his nontaxable farm lands. Farmers are ready to pay their land rental at 5 times the normal rental, if only they could deposit the amount anywhere else like a bank without their going to the premises of land revenue office.

Many people, who didn't or could not pay tax, would pay just double the probable amount due if they are allowed to pay taxes on self-assessment without the hassles of facing the inspectors. Tax payees would be extra cautious in computing their payable taxes if there is a provision that if tax authority later finds the amount of self-assessed tax paid lower than justified the tax payee will be severely penalized and any surplus amount, if deposited, will earn some interest like fixed savings deposits and be adjusted with payable tax of next year or years.

With such options available some cautious income earners, I guess, will find paying even four times the due amount of tax less painful than undergoing the hassles of chasing middlemen or consulting with lawyers to submit and get their returns preregistered.

Should not the tax dodging and wealth hiding people be treated as helpless fools jumping on the crowded bandwagons out of pardonable ignorance? Unless they committed felonies like homicide may they be treated with the same privilege of 'a release from jail on parole or absolution' the government is now contemplating to offer the business tycoons?

Can't we offer a general amnesty to all criminals and suspects of financial crimes or irregularities, convicted or under trial, if they pay their dues with fines or if the property they or their dependents own are confiscated to make good of the loss the country suffered?

If not, fair trial of each and every individual, big or small, politician or businessman, bureaucrat or private entrepreneur, for both financial and intellectual crimes should be arranged. We should also then redefine crime and punishment.

If a convict suffers 10 years of imprisonment for dodging taxes or hiding wealth, a politician, a philanthropist or anybody who apparently never committed any financial crime may be convicted of an intellectual crime if, for example, s/he directly or indirectly helped design a zigzag and detoured highway to touch or spare a favored home---causing innumerable deaths from accidents due to sudden veering in the bends and wastage of money on account of extra fuel and vehicular depreciation---and should spend at least 135 years in a prison. Thousands of such intellectual criminals are roaming in our society with white beards and caps.

We should not be oblivious to an irony that what is a falsity today may be a truth tomorrow---like Copernicus' heliocentric theorem; who is a prisoner of crime today may be a hero of tomorrow----like Galileo who was found guilty for his supporting Copernicus' theorem and had to be under house arrest till his death.

When crime has to be judged it has to be judged indiscriminately and thoroughly for all and sundry with an eye on the future when today's falsity may be presented as an unalloyed truth. If thorough justice is not possible to dispense in a short time, there should be general amnesty for both the tall and the short. Justice dispensed on 'pick and choose' is half-baked and a bad precedence that will give birth to kings who would carry on laundering falsities into truths and truths into falsities in accordance with their whims and dreams.

Dr.Abdul Ruff

As people do in Hollywood or Bollywood when films run for 50 or 100days in theatres after their release, if one evaluates the 100days of British Premier Gordon Brown, the scenario is not quite impressive for him, though his labor party seems to be better placed now than before compared to the final days of Tony Blair. After 10 years as chancellor, Gordon Brown was already well versed in the trials of government when he took office as prime minister.

Brown might have been surprised by the succession of crises that greeted his first days in 10 Downing Street. Failed terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London were followed by flooding across much of England. The so-called "terror attack" has certainly, as expected, enhanced the chances of labor to outsmart the Conservatives when the polls take place.

Voters also seemed quite content with a "Brown bounce" in the opinion polls as still evident after 100 days. The Independent noted: "To have dissociated himself in 100 days from 10 years of government and to present himself as the candidate for change is an astonishing achievement." The Labour-supporting Daily Mirror gave the prime minister a school-type report. In the Evening Standard, Tom Bower, author of a less than flattering biography of Brown, said of the new PM: "Confounding his critics and defying his own character, Gordon Brown has, in fewer than 100 days, proved to be a vote-winner. Of course, criticism of aspects of Brown's performance as prime minister was not hard to find.

Before Brown became prime minister, the media wondered how the less charismatic - some said "dour" - Brown could follow Blair, a consummate political showman. In office, the new PM made efforts to distinguish himself from his predecessor with a number of announcements, such as reviews of cannabis laws and the government's "super-casino" plan. Brown also invited Tory and Lib Dem politicians to advise him and even some non-Labour figures into ministerial jobs, repeatedly calling for a government "of all the talents". May be his magic has worked to some extent.

Brown has so far managed to sound higher-minded than his predecessor, while acting in a blatantly political way. But most commentators noticed a comparative air of calm in Downing Street, echoed in the advertising slogan: "Not flash, just Gordon." Much of the press was angry that the prime minister had ruled out a referendum on the EU reform treaty, after Labour had promised a vote on its now-defunct predecessor - the EU Constitution. The Sun and Daily Telegraph were running high-profile campaigns to persuade Brown to change his mind.

But positive opinion polls - showing a so-called "Brown bounce" - led to fevered speculation about a snap general election, which the prime minister did little to quell. In opinion polls he was awarded an excellent grade in crisis management, but only a bad grade for his handling of environmental issues. To complicate further Brown's decision over whether to call a snap election, the opinion polls were showing a narrowing of Labour's lead over the Conservatives. Speculation has been mounting that he will call a November election after he announced plans to make a statement to MPs on Iraq. Speculation has been mounting that he will call a November election after he announced plans to make a statement to MPs on Iraq on October 08. An announcement on the government's long-term spending plans has also been brought forward to October 09. While Brown had dominated the polls in his 100 days as prime minister, the Tories appeared to have bounced back, he added.

Considering that opinion is not fabricated, a further 32% of those questioned in opinion poll called for Brown to wait until 2008 before calling an election. In its poll for Channel 4 News, YouGov also asked whether an autumn election was in Britain's best interests. It found 36% thought it was, compared with 29% last week. However, speculation is continuing to mount that Gordon Brown would like to reap the harvest right now as his image has improved slightly and therefore will call a November general election next week. But Brown could, as he is confused now, even wait for more auspicious and opportune time when his popularity grows still further owing to some specific reasons to announce the date of polls in Britain. The ball is in his own court now.