The New Nation - Internet Edition

PRICES of rice both at the wholesale and retail markets have started falling as a result of the measures taken by the government and with those panic buying of rice. But the prices are still much higher than they used to be before. Moreover, it is necessary to make sure that the present partial fall of price is sustained and there is no further escalation of the same. Only constant vigil on the part of the government can help keep the prices stable.

Hoarding of rice by the unscrupulous section of traders following rumours and speculations about the stock of rice with the government, increase of export price by a big neighbour and all that led to the price spiral at a meteoric speed last week. Being scared, a section of the people resorted to panic buying giving further impetus to the spiral. Prompt steps taken by the government caused, prices to start subsiding from the beginning of the current week. Announcement of a plan to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice, start of open market sales, sale of greater quantities of foodgrains at BDR outlets at fixed prices, anti-hoarding drives leading to increased supply of rice to the market and arrival of imported rice tamed the galloping prices to some extent.

The wholesale and the retail prices are now showing a downward trend. But the retail prices have not come down proportionate to wholesale prices. Strengthening of the on-going efforts plus steps to optimise the production of Boro paddy are likely to make the prices stable. Adequate stocks of foodgrains is vital to frustrate hoarding and to free consumers from panic. So, the government must build sufficient stocks of rice through imports. The government decision to import 10 lakh metric tonnes will help the process. The anti-hoarding drive must be continued. The rice retailers opined that strict vigilance on the country's largest rice markets in the northern districts need to be maintained. Low import costs can help keep the prices down in the domestic market. So, the government must try to make the import of rice at as low costs as possible. In case of high import costs, subsidies should be given to keep the prices at affordable limits of the average consumers. Distribution of food under test relief and food for works programmes should be geared up. The government's decision to feed another 5.70 lakh families of the vulnerable group along with the 26 lakh families affected by cyclone Sidr would also reduce the pressure on the market.

Latest Government steps proved to be effective in reining over market trends. Necessary regulatory measures should also be extended to control the prices of edible oil, milk and milk products.

FIRE incidents are common in Bangladesh and the same are reported frequently in the relatively dry winter months. Thus, a series of fire incidents have been reported in the press. According to one such report, a devastating fire gutted 100 shops causing damages valued Taka 20 crore at Banaripara upazila of the Barisal district on Sunday. Another report highlighted that huge properties of three shops at Sonali New Market at Dhunot town in Bogra were destroyed by fire on Saturday night. 35 dwelling houses at Napitpara under Raozan upazila in Chittagong burnt to ashes on Saturday evening. And yet another report informed about the destruction of 7 shops at Kalikhala Bazar under Gosairghat upazila on Thursday night.

Fire accidents such as the above lead to loss of resources valued some 2,000 million Taka annually, on an average, in Bangladesh. This is not a small amount and shows the extent of the national loss. However, more than upgrading the fire service, the imperative is training up or making the people conscious about preventing fire incidents. People generally are still habituated to throwing lighted cigarette butts and other burning litters carelessly that also sometimes can be traced back to big fires. The people on the whole should be made aware of what they can do on their part to prevent fire or practice self-help if fires should break out. Services of the mass media should be utilised to spread messages like the usefulness of keeping near at hand fire extinguishers, sand and buckets-full of water for quick use to extinguish fire before it spreads. They should be motivated not to toss about lighted objects carelessly, properly maintain power lines well to guard against short circuits and similarly service their gas lines making sure that gas burners are put off without fail after cooking.

Institutionally, the building of fire exits and keeping of minimum fire fighting gadgets should be made compulsory by law in apartment building, offices, industrial establishments and services centres. Fire drills are still unfamiliar to most of the people in the country. But this is a part of life in many countries where people in offices, industries and even apartment buildings regularly submit themselves to fire drills. The drills aim to mock an emergency situation and when a bell is rung all occupants of a building come out of it at the fastest through designated fire exits after shutting off power lines, gas burners, etc. The value of this is that everyone knows what to do and how to come out of an endangered structure safely. Drills such as these should be introduced on a large scale here to add to consciousness and preparedness against fire incidents.

Nava Thakuria

Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom has set a milestone embracing its first general election on the last day of 2007. When Pakistan, Burma and Nepal are bleeding on their ways to achieve a democratic regime in their countries, Bhutan has shown a different picture, where a monarch comes out for a democratic set up in his kingdom. But the challenges of the new democratic regime in Thimphu will lie in dealing with various national concerns, more precisely resolving the Bhutanese refugee issue that has been haunting the government for the last 17 years.

The international media poured news of the Bhutan election as an event to celebrate from the Asian continent. The landlocked kingdom, surrounded by Tibet (now under Chinese territory) and Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh had gone for polls on December 31 to form the National Council (upper house of Parliament) of Bhutan. The Council has 20 directly elected members from each Dzongkhags (representing a district). Five eminent personalities from various fields like literature, music, social service and other areas are to be nominated by the King to form the 25-member upper house.

The polling to 15 Dzongkhags (constituencies) of the country began at 8 am and ended at 4 pm (+6hrs GMT). Electors in national dress, which is otherwise compulsory in public places in Bhutan, joined the poll process to elect their preferred candidates from over 40 non-political party candidates. The election to the Dzongkhags of Haa, Gasa, Lhuentse, Trashiyangtse and Thimphu was postponed due to 'non-availability of more than one candidate in a constituency'. Polling is likely to take place in those constituencies on January 29.

The winners in the 15 Dzongkhags were declared promptly. Quoting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Bhutan, 'Kuensel', the state run weekly newspaper disclosed the name of the winners as Tshewang Jurmin (from the constituencies of Bumthang), Tshewang Lhamu (Chhukha), Sonam Dorji (Dagana), Naichu (Mongar), Ugyen Tshering (Paro), Jigme Rinzin (Pemagatshel), Namgay Penjor (Punakha), Jigme Wangchuk (Samdrup Jongkhar ), M K Rai (Samtse), Karma Donnen (Sarpang), Sonam Kinga (Trashigang ), Jagar Dorji (Trongsa), Justin Gurung (Tshirang), Sonam Yangchen (Wangduephodrang) and Pema Lhamo (Zhemgang).

The chief election commissioner Dasho Kunzang Wangdi termed the exercise as a triumphant attempt to transform their kingdom into a democracy. "The citizens of Bhutan, who are 18 years or above and possessing valid citizenship cards cast their votes. Bhutan has 3,12,817 eligible voters," he informed us. Nearly 15,000 officials were engaged to conduct the process in more than 700 polling stations. Unlike India, there were no election posters or noisy public rallies in the constituencies before the election. The government declared the polling day as a public holiday.

The security was a major concern for the kingdom during the polls. The Bhutan government sealed the border with India for 36 hours beginning from 6 pm on December 30 to prevent unwanted elements from outside. Bhutan police and the Royal Bhutan army were engaged for security during the polls. The Electronic Voting Machines, supported by India, were used in the poll process and observers from India, the US and a few other counties including a team of UNDP (based in Thimphu) monitored the election.

Earlier the election commission conducted two rounds of mock polls in April and May last year. Four dummy parties with students as candidates participated in the polls. The relevant rules of elections were however strictly followed, where advanced voting equipment was used to attract and educate the voters of the kingdom. The turn out was of course low. The election commission, of course, termed those as important and successful attempts.

Currently there are two political parties in BHutan. The People's Democratic Party, headed by the former agriculture minister, Sangay Ngedup has chosen a White Horse as its election symbol. Moreover, the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, led by the former home minister, Jigmi Y. Thinley has accepted a pictorial design of three flying birds (Thrung Thrung Karm) as its symbol. Earlier, the election commission disqualified a third party named Bhutan People United Party (BPUP). The BPUP lacks both maturity and the appropriate mix and strength in terms of its membership since more than 80 per cent of the members are school dropouts, or have no credible academic qualifications, the commission declared.

The initiative is depicted as a path breaking attempt for the Buddhist kingdom to transform its nation from an absolute monarchy to a multi party democracy. Significant enough, the transformation offer came form the Dragon King Jigme Singye Wangchuk himself and that too not because of any popular uprising. Moreover, in December 2006, King Jigme Singye abdicated the throne in favour of his eldest son, the oxford educated Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk. King Wangchuk has four wives, all of whom are reportedly sisters. After the general election that paving way for an elected Prime Minister (with a council of ministers) in 2008, the Bhutan king would become the ceremonial head of state, where the parliament will possess the power to impeach even the king by the support of two-thirds majority in the Assembly.

In a time when the international communities are crying against the tyrannical rule under the present regimes in Burma, Pakistan and the pro-democratic activists have stepped up their voices in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet (China) and also Bangladesh, the development in Bhutan came as a pleasant surprise for various democratic organizations and political analysts of the globe.

"But the new Druk democracy will find it difficult to resolve the 100,000 Bhutanese refugees issue, who have been denied access to the poll process," argued a Thimphu based journalist. Talking to this writer from Thimphu, the experienced journalist, who wanted anonymity, also suggested the regime in Thimphu would invite more criticisms from intentional communities in the near future.

Mentionable that, the Bhutanese refugees (mostly Nepali-speaking) are taking shelter in western Nepal and still crying to go back their villages in southern Bhutan. They were driven out after they protested the passage of a law in the 1980s that arbitrarily cancelled their citizenship. As many as a sixth of the Bhutanese population, most of them living in the south of the country, fled Bhutan in 1990. They have been living in refugee camps in

Nepal since that time, seeking to get back home.

The Nepal government raised the issue with Bhutanese authorities in 15 rounds of talks, though it failed to convince Thimphu to allow the refugees to go home. Not a single refugee has returned to Bhutan. India, though recognised as Bhutan's friendliest neighbor and biggest aid donor, has kept out of the dispute, arguing that it was a bilateral matter between Nepal and Bhutan.

Even the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres admitted that 'it was difficult to see any immediate solution' to the Bhutanese refugee issue. Antonio Guterres visited some of the Nepal-based refugees few months back and incidentally it was the first visit by a top-ranking UNHCR official to the camps since they were established more than 15 years ago. After interaction with hundreds of refugees in Goldhap camp, the UNHCR official admitted that 'the refugees have a great will to go back' to their home country.

Of course, the UNHCR Representative in Nepal, was quoted by a Kathmandu based news portal recently saying that 'UNHCR prefers to help refugees go back to their home countries when they can do so in safety and dignity, however, in this case, the only option currently available is that for resettlement in a third country for those refugees who wish to make this choice'.

Meanwhile, media reports reveal that the US government has shown interest to resettle approximately 60,000 refugees from the camps. "The United States will begin accepting applications for the resettlement of the refugees from Bhutan living in Nepal soon," quoting the US ambassador to Nepal, James Moriarty the Nepal based media had reported. Ambassador James Moriarty had also paid a recent visit to one of the Bhutanese refugee camps, where those in exile were compelled to live with no possibility for jobs and proper education for their growing children. Similarly, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway have also come forward expressing their wish to take a share of refugees for resettlement.

Speaking to this writer from New Delhi, Suhas Chakma, the Asian Human Rights Center director, stressed that the international community must be mindful of the implications of any resettlement process without any written commitment from Bhutan. It would be tantamount to supporting ethnic cleansing policies by the Bhutan government. He warned that if Bhutan can get away with 108,000 refugees, the situation of the remaining ethnic Nepalis in southern Bhutan could be untenable as they might also be forced

to renounce their citizenship or leave Bhutan.

Kuldeep Nayar, a senior Indian journalist expressed his concern over the apathy towards the Bhutanese refugees. He is optimistic that a democratic Bhutan would resolve the issue amicably. However, the veteran journalist has a point to the king of Bhutan, that if 'he is really taking honest steps for a democratic system in Bhutan, he should call all those citizens of Bhutan who are staying in refugee camps since last 17 years, back to the country before the scheduled election in 2008'.

(Nava Thakuria is a senior journalist based in Guwahati, Assam, India.)

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

For those who would be fond of a destination for eco-tourism, Bangladesh is truly hard to beat. For a small country in South Asia that is only 144,470 square kilometers, there is definitely a lot to see, enjoy and do here. Bangladesh means 'Country of Bonga [ancient name of Bangladesh]' in English, whose language and independence had been gained after an enormous bloodshed in 1952 and 1971. Located between India to the north and the west and Myanmar to a small part of the southeast, Bangladesh is one of the most beautiful and prosperous South Asian countries. There are tropical beach resorts on the Bay of Bengal coast of the country for sun vacationers but superlatively the main attraction of Bangladesh should be inarguably the eco-tourism. For example, there are a wider variety of animals, birds, forests, mountains and aquatic resources in Bangladesh alone than in some other countries of South Asia.

Surprisingly, there are diverse eco-systems and all 6 seasons within Bangladesh. In addition, Cox's Bazaar beach, there are jungles and forests with a wide variety of flora and fauna. Some of forests in Chittagong Hill Tracts are referred to as cloud forests because of the moisture of the mists that linger among the trees in some parts. The forests in Bandarban are going to experience a cable car set up so that tourists can observe the plant and animal life at the treetop levels. For the more adventurous types, there are some places which are building for tourists for swinging from tree to tree using a network of rope attachments. There are also dry forests in some parts of Chittagong. Quite extreme changes in all 6 seasons can be observed even within 1/2 months of interval. Some parts of the country have canal systems similar to those found in the Amazon and a few rivers offer excellent white water rafting.

In addition to the many different birds that can be sighted, there is a wide number of other exotic wildlife including Royal Bengal tigers, monkeys, jaguars, bats, deer and reptiles that can be seen during one of the many available nature tours in Sundarbans, the world largest mangrove forest and World Heritage Site. Every year, there are sea turtles and oysters that come to certain beaches to nest and this event attracts many nature lovers. The wildlife in Bangladesh is not only rich on land or the air but also in the Bay of Bengal and in its mighty rivers. For scuba divers, Saint Martin may offer excellent diving opportunities and they would be quite different from the waters in the Caribbean.

Tea and Mangoes are some of the main exports for Bangladesh. For tea lovers, this is the place to sample some of the best in the world. The foreign visitors are invited to taste tea that is a bit strong. Tours in the valleys of Sylhet will often go thrilled in numerous tea plantations. Rajshahi is a paradise for mango orchards. Tourists would definitely hesitate to leave such vegetations with millions of sweetest mangoes.

Most tourists will fly into the capital city of Dhaka. There is some nice ancient architectures to see in Dhaka. It is one of the nicer places to stay in Bangladesh. It is a city of mosques and branded 5 star hotels. One can use Dhaka as a base for many day trips to the various mountains, historic places and beaches. Travelers can also fly into Chittagong which is a town in the south part of the country and is full of gereeneries. This is a much quieter region and close to many of the southern resorts. One option that many travelers take is to rent a vehicle and tour the country on their own. The roads of Bangladesh are more or less good. If renting a vehicle, a 4x4 is definitely recommended.

There is so much to see and do in Bangladesh that many visitors return to see green parts of the country that they missed before. The country is easily the most popular eco-destination to visit in South Asia.

Theories of change

Michael Tomasky