The New Nation - Internet Edition

EXPLORATION, extraction and use of natural bounties are continuosly updated in the developed countries. The entire operations have since been developed with the use of modern technology and skilled manpower. Those engaged in drilling the land and collecting the recoverable natural resources work on a specific schedule and leave the sites after such recovery. The companies and official agencies engaged in the process of exploration and use of coal and other natural bounties look forward to earning good dividends from their investments. They try to optimise the exploitation of such natural resources. The exploitation of natural bounties is important for developing the economy of the country. Coal mining in Bangladesh is faced with inadequacy of expertise and technology.

The work on the coal mine project in Phulbari remains uncertain. Those put to work at the mining zone have yet to recover coal from the mine. The extraction of coal from under crop fields may create problems for the people around the zone. The inevitable pollution of the environment round-the-clock is a cause of concern. Even the farmlands, water in river and underground aquifers may turn polluted by disposal of wastes of coal. The proposed coal policy of the government and the realities in the Phulbari coal mine have been reviewed by the National Review Committee. Some experts in the field have given their views on the subject. They suggested the setting up of a site office of the Department of Environment to monitor the day-to-day effects of mining on the environment in general and the farm sector in particular.

The coal mining in the Phulbari site has turned uncertain due to indecision in respect of the payment of compensation to the owners of the land in the mine areas to be displaced and the issue of rehabilitation and resettlement of others who would also be affected. The current practice of placing mining work under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner and the Thana Nirbahi Officer sounds inadequate. A high-powered multi-disciplinary expert committee should be appointed for overall supervision of coal mining to take care of rehabilitation of people be displaced or otherwise affected and restore the degraded lands after the coal extraction work is over and transfer those to their owners.

FURNITURE making has come up fast in recent years. The industry almost entirely meets the domestic demand. Unlike in the past when furniture makers used to be small scale individual producers operating with limited capacities in small markets, nowadays it has become a big industry in the country. There are to be found large scale regular producers of furniture for the local market. They are producing and marketing to a wide group of clientele furniture of varied qualities to meet different tastes. Furniture produced here are not only satisfying local needs but these have also found a share, minimal though, of export market. The foreign market for Bangladeshi furniture is a very limited one at present. But there is potential for Bangladesh to export in a much bigger way and take a larger share of this market.

At present, a huge number of members of the workforce in Bangladesh remain unemployed. But a large number of the unemployed can be trained up to find employment in furniture making industries. The government has a role to play in this regard by establishing and running training centres such as polytechnics or ones exclusively designed to teach and train on carpentry. Many of the raw materials used by the furniture industry are imported. These imported products are steel frames, specialised plastic sheets, wood substitutes, among others. Not only the imported materials are necessary to produce furniture of attractive new designs and new looks, the same are also playing a role in helping reduce felling of timber trees and to some extent keeping deforestation activities under some degree of check in line with the country's sustainable development goals. But the costs of the imported raw materials for the furniture industry are on the higher side. The import and other duties on these products increase the cost of production for the furniture industry. If these duties and taxes are scaled down, the furniture makers would be in a position to competitively expand business for the markets both at home and abroad.

It has estimated that the furniture industry has the prospect of employing nearly 10 million people on a sustainable basis in the long run provided supportive governmental policies are adopted and maintained. There has been a growing effective demand for attractive furniture in the domestic market. Based on this demand attractive furniture that are being made are also attracting buyers in foreign markets. Based on the experience of an exclusively furniture-making large-scale company, some new companies have established their furniture-making wings in a big way. There are thus signs that the industry will flourish and add notably to the gross domestic product (GDP) while also earning substantial amounts of foreign currencies for the country, provided it is backed by prudent policy support.

Syed Mujtaba Quader

The Doctrine of Necessity is explained by Bracton's maxim, 'that which is otherwise not lawful is made lawful by necessity', and by the Roman law maxim, 'the well being of the people is the supreme law'. It has become an indispensable element of democratic governance in recent times in Bangladesh. The Doctrine of Necessity can be invoked in cases where it can prevent a greater harm. As opposed to it, the Doctrine of Free Will theorises that man is not an animal of mere necessity and should apply choice or free will to solve its predicaments, and therefore necessity alone cannot be the grounds for any deviation from the established status quo. Common sense dictates that both doctrines have a place in philosophy and law and in our lives and both must be respected to arrive at a peaceful method of discourse to run our lives.

Organised human behaviour in society is governed by law. The needs of society change continuously and therefore the laws of that society must also change to give direction to that society. Justice is not stagnant but is dynamic and it responds to the needs of the times. In democratic societies laws are modified and changed by the Legislative branch of government i.e. the parliament. It is only when parliament cannot give shape to the needs of the society that the society has to fall back on the Doctrine of Necessity as has happened so many times in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries. In important issues that are mainly concerned with interpretations of the laws and not the making of the law the higher courts take up the responsibility of giving new meaning to law. For example in the US Supreme Court there are nine justices who vote on contentious issues and the majority vote wins. This is true in almost all democratic judiciaries. This proves that justice is not written in stone but is a dynamic system that moves with the needs and aspirations of the times.

It is not always that the Doctrine of Necessity is invoked by the power that be. It can be invoked by the people and the political parties as well. The conceptualisation and existence of the present Caretaker Government can be attributed to the Doctrine of Necessity as it did not exist as a concept anywhere in the world prior to its conception in 1990. Another very useful innovation recently that can be attributed to it is the formation of the RAB along with its pseudo-legal strategies and methods that cannot be tolerated in more ideological societies. It is not always that attempts to bring about change through the Doctrine of Necessity become successful. The example in Myanmar is a painful example of this.

In our home front, two distinct groups have emerged inside the BNP in the last few months both jostling for relevance and supremacy - the old guard which may be called the ' conservatives' led by Khaleda Zia the former Prime Minster, from inside the jail, and the 'reformists' led by a group of leaders mainly led by Saifur Rahman the former Finance Minster. Both sides have their supporters inside the party and outside of it. The ostensible split in the party has obviously been brought about by the political events of the last 12 months and does not represent any fundamental change in the party policy; rather, it only reflects BNP's reaction to the changed political realities of recent times. Although the changes inside the party have still not taken a definite concrete shape with both sides claiming loyalty to Khaleda Zia, we may safely assume that this schism shall continue for some time until a way can be found to unite the two once again. The old guard who see their political survival by clinging to the persona of the Begum are doing exactly that, i.e. to hang on to Khaleda Zia at all costs. The reformists are veteran politicians who can smell change in the political air and want to adapt to that change for political survival. However, they are still not very certain of the implications of the changes and so do not want to disassociate with the Zia image so early as this may result in their political suicide.

It is with this background that the Election Commission has decided to call the 'reformist' faction to talks scheduled for the 22nd of this month based on what they are calling the Doctrine of Necessity and with this step has put their weight behind the 'reformist' faction and has intentionally or unintentionally increased their political relevance and standing. This has ignited sharp reaction in the other camp causing them to threaten court action. It appears that the BNP constitution has many flaws and inadequacies and moreover the BNP party hierarchy has habitually violated or neglected many of its provisions over the years. Article 70 of the Bangladesh Constitution has made it certain that elected MPs must support the party chief in order to keep his seat in parliament. In this way the people of the country along with all the other political and non-political institutions have been forced to take political sides openly for years ensuring the political polarisation of the country along party lines. The BNP party for all practical purposes therefore has become a national institution where the general public should have a say in party matters also.

In this situation the imperfectly drafted BNP party constitution cannot be the guiding document that guides the destiny of this nation. The desires and needs of the general public who depend so much on the sound functioning of this party must be given heed by any adjudicating authority. Therefore the benefit of doubt if any cannot be allowed to be decided by 'the letter of the law' and the EC may have been quite correct to have decided upon this issue by the Doctrine of Necessity.

The Awami League is also probably watching the developments inside the BNP with quiet curiosity and consternation. Because if the 'reformist' camp gets the upper hand in the party this would mean the eventual demise of family based politics in the BNP which would have consequences inside the AL as well. The AL has lagged behind the BNP in progressive thinking in the recent past with no attempts at reorganising or reforming the party but instead has relied heavily on the image of its leader Sheikh Hasina.

In fact, at a time when this nation is embroiled in self analysis and introspection, the Doctrine of Necessity may be the only tool left to correct some of the wrongs and inadequacies of the past that still haunt us today. The nation, before it can go full steam ahead in development must come to terms with sticking issues like the war criminals of 1971 and the writing of the proper history of our independence struggle. The time may have arrived when we can face up to the actual facts pertaining to the period that led to our becoming independent instead of having to re-write history each time a new government comes to power. For this we need to increase the width of our vision and study the events of history with a neutral mind.

A channel in this direction would be to examine the struggle of independence that brought about the birth of Pakistan for which many of our brethren had fought for and sacrificed. It should be noted here that East Pakistan existed for only 24 years. Prior to that the major political force in British India that brought about the birth of Pakistan from the colonialism of the British was the Muslim League. Many in this country possibly do not know that the Muslim League was formed in Dhaka in the year 1906. The leadership for the birth of Pakistan was given to a large extent by towering personalities like Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Haque and Shaheed Suhrawardy and scores of other notable Bangladeshis.

Not being able to connect our independence struggle that started a long time ago, some say, way back in 1857 through the Sepoy Mutiny, to the struggle of independence in 1971 that brought about the birth of Bangladesh is the reason why so many dichotomies exist in our society today. To be completely ignorant about an independence struggle that we participated in and which lasted for about 100 years denies us the fruits of that labour. The Doctrine of Necessity would be well utilised if a fair assessment could be made in this regard and put into our history books once and for all.

Until the time that we have a properly functioning parliament which can make time relevant laws and fulfil the promise of independence this country will have to live with the Doctrine of Necessity from time to time. This is true for all, the government, the political parties and the people in general. So let us make most use of it without demur.

Jinat Rahman

(To be continued)

After its birth, every human child has the right to lead the life and to survive in a congenial surrounding. Every human child is born with this right. Healthy or sick, male or female whoever he/she is, has equal share and authority over human rights and respect. Every child will grow up in a healthy society, every one will live independently and every one will get the security to lead a safe life. In no way, no one's life should be under uncertainty and risk. It is very natural that people can suffer from miscellaneous diseases. But for the sake of sickness and health affair, no one should be treated as a pariah or shunned from the society. Moreover, compulsory isolation or sudden attack or humiliation must be evaded. State law should ensure and safe the affected people from all these illegal encroachment on their lives and ensure the security of their lives. Everyone must be careful about that they can move freely in the society and they don't suffer from social and cultural insecurity.

The secrecy of personal life, family secrecy, physical or moral affair, opinion of every one should be respected by others. It is applicable for every person-healthy or sick.

Whether a person is AIDS affected or not, to unearth this information, no experiment should be undertaken without letting the suspected person. If it is for sure that a person is AIDS affected, it should not be disclosed for the sake of his prestige and social security. In this case, it is the responsibility of the related physician and the medical centre to keep it secret. The mass media must constrain themselves from delivering such information so that no information about the identity of the AIDS affected person is divulged.

To impair the human dignity for the sake of religion-color-tribe, nationality, social and cultural difference, sex habit, sicknesses are inhuman attitude. It is not wise to take any humiliating stance or punishing attitude towards the AIDS attacked people to prevent and control AIDS/HIV. The result can go otherwise. No state or government should advocate the discriminating and mortifying attitude towards the AIDS attacked people. It is applicable for the population at stake as well. To prevent and encounter AIDS, the government of Bangladesh has recommended using the mass media and channels to campaign against its expansion in the AIDS prevention activity. But the fact is, to the extent the mass media is being used, the immense potential of mass media is hardly utilized. According to the media survey report of 1998, the accessibility of spectators and listeners has augmented to a commendable amount. This media infrastructure can be the torch bear of AIDS preventing knowledge. But for the scarcity of effective communication system and mismanagement this can't bring out the expected result. In fact, the press and print media are contributing more than the electronic media.

In Bangladesh, television is basically a medium of entertainment. BTV has been telecasting health awareness program from its very beginning. It has been derived from research that Bangladesh television has played a very significant role in family planning, ORTP and immunization process. But its contribution to hinder AIDS expansion is very much insignificant. A very meager portion of total broadcasting hour is spent for HIV/AIDS. In the programs, educational and informational data to change sexual attitude is scanty.

Bangladesh radio is another popular mass media. From the initial stage, it was initiated to broadcast health message. Like television, radio has contributed greatly in preventing population explosion, using oral saline and about the vaccination activity of the six contagious diseases. But the utmost possibility to prevent AIDS has never been utilized. AIDS awareness information is transmitted in the Facts for Life program. Moreover, the time schedules of broadcasting AIDS awareness programs are not suitable for the listeners.

It is not yet experimented about the contribution of the newspapers to prevent AIDS. But from general observation it has been obtained that they are participating to a significant extent regarding this affair.

Our national and regional newspapers are covering AIDS related news as well as publishing features and editorials. But the AIDS related coverage's are mostly very much prosaic. By analyzing twenty AIDS related news published in ten national newspapers, it has been derived that those features are mainly about the incident of AIDS infection, the sufferings of AIDS affected person and his/her immediate family, social humiliation, demise of the AIDS affected person, run away from hospital, seminars and workshops on AIDS and about the horrible features of it. But no clear materials of advocacy and motivation to change the look and behavior towards it are evident in these coverage's. In actual sense the news media of this country publishes that is relevant to the myth which we know around us. In this case the informational gap between the report of Bangladesh government and UNAIDS is quite distinct and the media clearly spot that site. The effort to make AIDS as a public agenda is not quite present in our media.In medias report the destitute of advocacy and catalyst element is distinct. The reports are in this state because of not understanding the media.

The Bangladesh center for programme (BCCP) and National adolescent Working group together are doing the research work on human birth where non -implementation pregnancy and protection from HIV is present. Radio, TV, Video are doing constant work on HIV and health-risk policies. Beside that BCCP is helping national AIDS ICC programme. EEE publishes radio magazine in world HIV day and makes media element of AIDS.

Sobuj Sathi , Sobuj Saya and Ai megh rodro-the 13 episode serials made by Bangladesh Center for Communication is the mixture of entertainment and public awareness. Diarrhea, Vitamin A, family planning and AIDS related information is passed to the general people. By the survey it has been found that Sobuj sathi and Sobuj saya has made impact on people's awareness about HIV and other health related information. In a consensus it is found that among the viewers of Sobuj saya 74% has become aware of AIDS.

Condom is still considered to be the best antidote for HIV. But there is no rules and regulation for its usage. The family planning institution distributes it as only for birth control, not as a protection to this contagious illness like HIV. That's why condom is still now used as a pill. Although the demand of condom is increasing day by day to the victimized people but it is not available and the supply is not sufficient.

The contagiousness of HIV AIDS and its medical facility is limited. Advice and test is only available in big cities. Although various such type of medicine is supposed to be available in the government hospitals but it is very rare in reality. Whether this medicine should be given free or not is still vague in national advisory and no donor institution is not ready to give supply such medicines. The economically abled patients gathers medicine from private sector. Although HIV regulation is included in both government and non-governmental policy but it is not reflected in real world.

Those who are activated for consciousness of HIV/AIDS are victim of police suffering, because crime law is almost against HIV rules & regulation. Still now any type of step is not taken for infected people for there help.

Lets move against HIV/AIDS ,lets take step so that government and non-government can take participates in society thoroughly against HIV/AIDS. Lets build a HIV/AIDS free country.

(Concluded)

Mohammed Nawazish

The rift between scientific materialism and pure metaphysical and spiritual thought stream grew deeper with Darwin's discovery of the evolutionary theory and natural selection. Since then there have been two distinctly identifiable schools of thought each zealously clinching its own ideas but one interesting feature cannot escape notice. Some renowned scientists and positivists took keen interest in the activity of the opposite camp and some of them even started believing in the duality of fundamental concepts creating two walkways - science and pseudoscience. They were the travelers of the shadowlands of science but by no means science drop-outs. Some such interesting facts have been elaborated in Michael Shermer's 'The borderlands of science' published by Oxford University Press, 2001, that I recently happened to stumble on.

It's a large book but I'm concentrating on one interesting chapter. It's about the renowned nineteenth-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, best known for his codiscovery (with Darwin) of natural selection. In fact, the evolution and the natural selection theory was the favourite offspring of Darwin and Wallace. Wallace, however, later went deeper into the innards of their creation and here he reached a certain point of scientific riddle that made him unusually curious. The anomaly he discovered related to the little difference of size and complexity of brain of the lowest savages (our earliest forefathers) compared to the highest type. In his own language, "The mental requirement of the lowest savages - - - - are very little above those of many animals. How then was an organ developed far beyond the needs of its possessor? Natural selection could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior to that of an ape, whereas he actually possesses one but very little inferior to that of the average members of our learned societies".

Wallace could not solve the riddle with the help of the newly constructed natural selection leading to evolution theory and finally concluded that 'an overruling intelligence' might have made these variations in natural selection in order to produce an advanced form of organism at some later stages to admit of the indefinite advancement of our mental and moral nature. This points to a hypothetical predesigned set of arrangement in the scientific evolutionary process that they worked out after a long and painstaking research. Darwinists raised a hue and cry and Darwin insipidly reacted to Wallace, "I hope you have not murdered too completely your own and my child".

The import of 'supernatural element' inside the rigid perimeter of science was a blatant anathema and Darwin even proceeded to stamp Wallace with insanity. Questions were even raised on Wallace's upbringing, spiritual belief and inconsistency in scientific pursuits but he was firm in his views. He looked at the natural selection process in a broader perspective compared to the hardened groove that Darwin was determined to follow. Wallace remained a scientist throughout but the brain anomaly that he observed made him divert his total concentration on the different aspects of cognitive and non-cognitive fields of understanding, consciousness and free will, and the apparent failure of the natural selection process to address the subject under scrutiny.

He was branded a 'heretic scientist' as he presumed that some 'high intelligence' or a supernatural force was invisibly influencing the smooth course of natural selection and evolution. He believed that the intellectual and moral faculties that humans possessed might have originated from a different source.

He was attracted to the spiritual and paranormal world in course of empirical quest and even attended séance sessions conducted by famous mediums like Miss Nichole, Miss Cooke, Mrs Ross and others. The bizarre happenings were supernatural on all counts and Wallace held that the apparent miracle might be due to some yet undiscovered law of nature. He admitted, "It is possible that intelligent beings may exist, capable of acting on matter, though they themselves are uncognisable directly by our senses". Science indeed has a long way to go to unfold the myriad of conceivable mysteries baffling our perception and knowledge. The prepared mind must be prepared to be surprised.