The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pahela Baishakh

TODAY, the Bengali New Year's Day is being celebrated throughout Bangladesh with the traditional enthusiasm. The first day of the Bengali month of Baishakh is counted as the fIrst day in the Bengali calendar. The observance of Pahela Baishakh has survived notwithstanding two hundred years of colonial rule followed by another nearly quarter century of subjugation. In fact, Pahela Baishakh has its origins rooted deep in the culture and tradition of this country and should be seen as an occasion of traditional and cultural festivity of its people.

Although an essentially indigenous celebration, the history of the day is traced back centuries ago to the rule of the imperial Mughals who once held sway over the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent including its richest part of Bengal. It was from the custom of the Mughal emperor Akbar that the tradition of paying their dues or taxes to the emperor's coffers by his subjects developed at around the first of the Bangla month of Baishakh. Therefore, the first of Baishakh came to be recognised as a sort of official start of activities or opening of accounts for the year and gradually developed into a tradition.

Most businesses on this day carry out the practice of halkhata or opening of new accounts books and celebrate it with jovial functions and distribution of sweets. Special local dishes and delicacies are prepared and served at many homes to add to the aura of the celebration. A feature of the celebrations is the holding of melas (fairs) with displays of local products and their artistry. Musical soirees are also held. All these things form a part of the distinctive cultural expression of the people. This is one occasion - apart from Independence and Victory days, and the Ekushey February - on which people, irrespective of their religion or caste or colour differences, throng the same venues to share festivities.

Warming up in large oceans

ACCORDING to a UN-backed environment study, warming trends in a third of the world's large ocean regions are 'two to four times greater' than previously reported averages, increasing the risk to maritime life and fisheries. Over-fishing, coastal pollution and degradation of water quality were common in all 64 large marine ecosystems studied by scientists who contributed to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) report presented at an international conference in Hanoi, Vietnam recently. These maritime ecosystems are under great stress which is increasing because of global warming. As stressed by scientists, the policy-makers and donors should immediately recognise these factors and take up the required steps for maintaining balanced ecosystems with a view to ensuring safety of the planet and well-being of all the living beings.

The report said that in 18 of the 64 regions, the accelerated warming trends are 2 to 4 times greater than the average trends reported last year by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There have been widespread changes in management of national jurisdiction over oceans. But governance of the 64 per cent of the oceans that lies beyond national jurisdiction remains largely fragmented making it difficult to address the effects of uses. The most rapid warming was recorded in the Baltic Sea at 1.35 degrees Celsius in the past 25 years. Other areas under threat included Yellow Sea, a most heavily over-fished and degraded sea in the world.

Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organisation, more than half the annual estimated 150,000 deaths linked to climate change will come from the Asia-Pacific region. The impact of climate change will be felt more in developing countries, which have fewer resources to deal with it.

The other penny for buying flowers

Maswood Alam Khan

As to flower cultivation Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) finances four kinds of flowers: for tuberose (rajani gandha) at the rate of Taka 20,000 for every 33 decimals (one bigha) of land, for gladiolus Taka 50,000, for marigold (gada) Taka 17,000 and for rose Taka 37,000. Flower cultivators have been pressing the bank to increase the credit limits, formulated back in 2001, to meet hiked prices of their inputs.

Compared to any other agricultural products flower plants have fetched the cultivators much more higher net profits. Their profit ranges are approximately 36 percent from rose cultivation, 58 percent from marigold, and a whopping 97 percent from gladiolas.

This year 1047.76 acres of land in Jessore district alone has been brought under flower cultivation by 1687 cultivators who sold flowers worth Taka 1.10 crore on New Year, Taka 1.75 crore on Valentine's Day and Taka 1.60 crore on Ekushey February, all in 2008 and they hope to sell flowers worth not less than Taka 1.20 crore on coming Bangla Naba Barsha on April 14. Popularly known as the floricultural capital of Bangladesh 'Godkhali flower market' under Jhikargacha upazilla presides over an annual sale of Taka 15 crore worth of flowers supplying 70 percent of the country's total flowers for both domestic consumption and exportation.

Ten thousand cultivators all over Bangladesh are engaged in nursing a variety of flowers and foliages on three thousand hectors of land. The country's floral revolution was initiated by an enthusiast named Sher Ali of Panishara village under Godkhali union who took a bold venture back in the year 1982 bagging a handsome profit of Taka two hundred thousand from cultivating tuberose on his father's 33 decimals of land setting a historical landmark that may one day introduce Bangladesh as a leader in floriculture like the global leadership the country once enjoyed in producing jute.

At the insistence of my colleague Bhismadev Mondal, the bank's Chief Regional Manager of Jessore district and with a view to evaluating justification for enhancing credit limits of flower cultivation and especially to seeing for myself a success story of cultivating gerbera, a new flower with greater vase life I undertook last week an extensive tour around different unions of Jhikargacha and Sharsha upazillas.

An intimate discussion with people from the villages of Panishara, Krishna Chandrapur, Towra, Patuapara, Syedpara, Nabinagar, Manikhali, Bejiatala, Gangadharpur, Shimulia, Andolputa, Jamlagi, Barbakpur, Chapatala, Gaburapur, Khashkhali, Ramchandrapur, Nilkantha Nagar, and Borni has helped open my eyes to a huge business potential of floriculture and also to abominable conditions in which our poor farmers are sweating in vain in their chase for rivalling other export oriented industries of Bangladesh.

I could feel the fire and zeal in the eyes and voices of the cultivators and traders of Godkhali who are confident that floriculture alone can transmute the poverty of Bangladesh into prosperity; the only thing that seems dowsing their fire is their lack of equipment, skill and capital, the three resources our bank of course can provide finances for, but only up to a limit. The major policy and fiscal supports should come from our government and donor agencies.

BKB is way ahead compared to any other bank in providing flower cultivators with easy access to finance. The bank has so far financed Taka 20.90 million to 823 flower cultivators in and around Jhikargacha and Navaron.

Paraphrasing an advice of our last Prophet Muhammad (Sm) the Bengali magician of rhymes Poet Satyendra Nath Dutt in his poem "Phooler Fasal" sang: "Jootey Jodi Mootey Ekti Paisa, Khaddya Kinio Khoodar Lagi; Dooti Jodi Jootey, Tobey Ordhekey Phool Kiney Nio, Hey Onooragi!" (If you earn one penny, spend that for food to slake your hunger; but, if you make two pennies, spend the other penny for buying flowers, oh devotee!).

We have unfortunately taken pretty a long time in Bangladesh to follow this precious word of advice propagated aeons ago. Not before early nineties a young boy in our society took it as an élan of love to plant a red rose or wrap a garland of marigolds on the bun of hairs coiled at the back of his fiancée's head---to mimic what our poet Kazi Nazrul Islam fancied in his song: "Moor Priya Hobey Esho Raani, Debo Khoopai Taraar Phool" (May my hand decorate my honey as a queen with stars of flowers studded on hairs rounded at the back of her head!)

Our people belonging to Hindu community hugely adore flowers and cultivate flower plants in and around their homesteads as flowers are their best offerings to their God. Elaborate and simple garlands, fragrant whole flowers and piles of petals daily rain over deities in temple, home and village shrines wherever Hindus worship. Of all the myriad buds and blooms, the most revered and esteemed by their Gods and Goddesses is the magnificent lotus.

Perhaps none other than Rabindranath Tagore in one of his devotional songs could so vividly paint a Hindu worshipper quaking and trembling with fears and qualms about God's whims and wishes while placing flowers on the altar of an idol: "Deener Taapey Roudra Jalai, Shookai Maala Pujaar Thalai; Eei Mlaanata Khomaa Koro Hey Provoo." (Oh God, forgive, please, my failings in offering you fresher flowers as the garlands on my worship-plate got a little withered, a little pale by heat of the day and scorch of the sun!).

Flowers withered or paled a little bit by heat or sun are immediately thrown into garbage bins anywhere in the developed world where too flowers are viewed as something sacred and where they are also wreathed round the cradle, the marriage-altar, and the tomb.

A florist in Europe will be kicked out of business if a rose from his shop reaches a recipient with a single petal paled or crinkled, let alone a flower like those mutilated by florists at Shahbagh in Dhaka. I found in Godkhali market in Jhikargacha the wholesale traders bundling up stems of flowers in mishmash the way we find a retailer in a flea market stuffing a shopping bag to bursting with vegetables.

Nowadays cut flowers are presented in beautifully designed fleurettes with decorative sleeves and sloping side walls. A special flower gel at the bottom of bouquets instead of water is used making it possible to present flowers horizontally instead of vertically. Cutting edge technology is employed in designing crates, containers and bouquets with protective tubes suitable for wet packing of upright flowers---all with a view to prolonging vase life of flowers.

For exporting by air or by sea in refrigerated containers cut flowers tucked up snugly inside crates are treated as delicately as a newborn human baby without her mother around would have been taken care of. Multiple layers of corrugated paper boards and special polymer films are used to fabricate contoured containers of flowers with automated devices for gas permeability allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to flow at prescribed levels.

In spite of bottlenecks as to inferior quality, lack of policy support, lack of entrepreneurial training for the cultivators, and unscientific ways of handling and preservation of cut flowers being faced by our farmers and traders Bangladesh earned about 32.71 million US dollars by exporting cut flowers and foliage to about 34 countries including developed destinations like USA, UK, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia in 2006-2007 fiscal year (July 2006 till June 2007). Tuberose, rose, orchid and marigold are among the major flowers that make up Bangladesh's floral basket for exports.

Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) has already taken up some initiatives to train our flower cultivators and cultivate varieties of highbred flowers at their research centre in scientific methods. But that is not enough considering our aspirations to participate in the 160 billion dollar worth of global flower market.

Our flowers, plants and foliages must compete with other rivals in "Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer" in the Netherlands, the largest flower market of the world, where world price for flowers and plants are set in every fraction of a second and where 19 million flowers and 2 million plants from all over the world are sold every day.

The present day industrial revolution demands a jumpstart from the lowest tech to the highest one in one go bypassing the middle rungs of development mere for survival in neck breaking competition in the world of trades, thanks to dizzying speed of information and innovation being processed by cutting edge computer technology.

Forgetting the old myth "slow and steady wins the race" our entrepreneurs' present motto has to be: "Fast and craze is the key for survival". If we have to survive we must gaze at the top-notch of every technology to employ in our every field, call it ready-made garments, or poultry, or tissue culture in agriculture.

India, Kenya, the Netherlands, and Thailand are following the latest scientific methods in growing and preserving their flowers which have vase life for a minimum of 15 days. But our flowers lose their lustre in a matter of two days.

What is urgently needed to be established right in Godkhali is a state-of-the-art laboratory as a joint venture with an internationally reputed horticulture giant---akin to KF Bioplants based in Pune, India---exclusively for propagating exact copies of our flower plants via tissue culture, a process called micropropagation under sterile condition, obviating the necessity for growing plants from seeds, thereby greatly reducing the chance of transmitting diseases, pests and pathogens and enhancing the quality production of flower plants with higher vase life.

The most genetically integrated wish of any living being---a flower plant or a human being---is not to become extinct as a species. Accordingly, a living plant as a descendent with a long chain of its race has taken thousands of years to evolve its safe way to leave behind its genetic imprint on this earth for the sole purpose of procreation. The safe way has thus so far been through flowering and fruition until a geneticist poked his/her nose into the inner realm of a live cell. Propagating plants directly from cells bypassing the long and arduous way of pollination, fertilization, etc. through flowers, fruits and seeds has redefined the very foundation of live science.

Beautiful flowers have flourished on this planet partly because humans are so attached to them. Nature won't even pollinate many of the domesticated flowers we adore. Geneticists suggest that nature's pretty flowers are thriving because people didn't destroy them when they cleared land for agriculture. Instead, they cultivated them and have been doing so for more than 5,000 years and the modern micropropagation would ensure that the species of pretty flowers would stay to continue warming the cockles of human hearts as long as the human civilization would stay in place.

Of all the flowers under the sun the one I weirdly love most since my childhood is bloomed paradoxically by plants humans hate most: the showy flower with lavender-blue petals having slightly lilac shades blooming out of glossy leaves of water hyacinth, what we call Kachuripana and the botanists call Eichhornia Crassipes. I don't know why whenever especially when I stroll in the tranquillity of an evening at the end of a rainy day I enjoy gazing at those Kachuripana flowers to soothe my eyes and relax my nerves. I tried many a time to decorate my vase with Kachuripana flowers; but their vase life is very short.

However, we Bangladeshis would love to look forward to the day when geneticists would succeed to prolong vase life of many of our exotic and indigenous flowers.

We fervently hope that the day is not far away when on the gigantic LCD screen system inside the main hall room of "Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer" in the Netherlands would scroll the name Bangladesh with her basket of flowers and the international traders crowding the hall would gape without a blink at the display board to note the latest quoted prices of our tuberose, gladiolus, marigold, Bengal rose, gerbera, bakul (mimusops elengi), kadam (cadamba indica), aparazita (clitoria ternatea), sandhamalati (miriabilis jalapa), and kamini (muraya exotica)---and maybe kachuripana flower (eichhornia crassipes) too!

Election and the illusion of democracy: The case of America

Prof. Dr. Mokhdum Mushrafi

American election is as illusive as superficial. Over elitism has made American democracy as fictive as symbolic. The entire American political system is but a reactionary capital process that in essence denies human content of politics and democracy. Here people are but relatively passive audience with least participatory potential or prospect, and with no democratic assertive role. Here reference to people is apparently too obvious, but in essence, contain no vital significance. Propaganda, and tuning with that the media, makes this contradiction away from public understanding, knowledge and analysis.

The slogan of human rights and civil liberty are juxtaposed in the political party process in such a way that it apparently appears that American political system is political party based which means that people's involvement in politics here is thorough in the system. In fact this is not true. The America political party process does not go deep into the people as such, or people at large. It is a mechanism which processes the people and shapes their psyche but denies them in decision making. The reactionary capital dominant political dynamics rather defends itself from the people by fictive democratic structure and seriously fictive democratic slogans and propaganda manipulated by the capital media.

Though there is deep dichotomy between the UK and the US political systems in one dimension US system imitates the UK monarchy with modification for modern modality of such personal power that goes normally with a monarch. In the UK the personal power of the monarchy has been reshaped to suit with democracy making the monarch a titular head. But in the case of the US it has been revitalised under the garb of democracy. The post of presidency is a typology of monarchy modified for modern modality. De facto power of the president in the entire American political system makes him absolutely powerful. The total power process of the US revolves round him. The notion of congressional balancing of power is as theoretical as strategic. It tunes itself with reactionary capital interest setting the people aside. By the way, it must be mentioned in this context capitalism is neither good nor bad in itself. It becomes good or bad with the motive with which it is used. For contextual continuum it may also be mentioned that capitalism has been best used in Europe to ensure every man his relative material and socio-psychological due. Here every individual is secure in the polity and the political system. European present capitalism is humanised, civilised and creative at home. For incentive mobilisation and creative competition to explore the individual and the selves thereof there is no alternative to capitalism. The challenging self of the individual gets due way out for exploration and self fulfillment under humanised and socially fulfilled capitalism.

In the context of American polity and political system what is reactionary about capitalism is that it has sidetracked and denied the human self of the individual. It has deprived the individual from social, material and psychological security. It has made the human self of the individual subservient to the domination of exploitative capitalism. Here the political system has been so designed as to make it a hollow material mechanism which forces individual to move and move with constant uncertainty. With the most of the riches of the world it has the poorest people, nay, in essence every man is poor here as man in the context of economy, political system and socialisation. What is significant in this respect is that state here does not stand by its citizens like Europe though the citizens taxes effects functioning of the state. There is no medical security of the citizenry here. A single major disease can make a well earning individual down trodden overnight. The social dimension of the state demands that there be social approach in respect of medical care, food and shelter. Otherwise whatever the typology collective living proves to be absurd. Capitalism can afford a social approach with common network to accommodate citizens under a secure umbrella. Europe has proved that. But the US is nowhere near it. It is in antiquity in this respect proving it to be most anti-human and anti-people state of the present day world. There is no state in the world today where social content is so tragically denied. The meaning of modern state entity has been thrown into futility in America.

America is characterised by profiteering materialism. It lags behind in intellectualisation that synchronises economy, political system and state entity for a meaningful functionality attuned with human cause. Compared to Europe it lags behind in terms of one or two centuries. It has better statistics but those statistics could not generate wisdom and relevant vision. Economics-dominant and over-elitism-dominant intellectual exercise of America makes it anti-civilisation though it has the most investment in academic and scientific research. Over-material economics and its reactionary theories blur American vision. It does not command an inclusive philosophy that appreciates human essence and humanised institutions.

American election on the same account is not people-oriented. Rather it is personality oriented. Its personality-orientation contains feudation wherein people look into that personality tacit traits of monarch and hence become mere follower or audience with no consideration or command of political efficacy. As audience of the significant political drama they remain to be passive observers. It is a game of overelitistic hegemony over the people serving no interest of them. Whatever people avail here is their own personal labour at all levels and far less than their contribution to the state and the economy. Due to lack of traces of the conspiratorial content of political drama they take it as a matter of recreation to repeatedly rejuvenate their joy. Media plays with that as an agent of reactionary capitalism and over-elitism. America needs to look at itself with universal human eye. That is the greatest challenge of American people in the context of democracy and social security. Transcending the statistical riches America needs to attain due human intellectualisation and relevant wisdom. Otherwise it will remain to be a threat both to its own people and the people of the world at large.

Due to lack of wisdom America could not assume a role for social fulfillment of capitalism which Europe has done as mentioned earlier. On the contrary blind profiteering has promoted the cause of war economy here. The war economy has remained explosive and conflicting making war a day today affair and a tradition. The cowboy heritage of America constantly peeps into its intellect to prevent it from being sound and profound and to be at par with global democratic civilisation today. Out of experience of the two World Wars the world populace has gained profound enlightenment to be cautious against war and the positive attitude to the cause of mankind and democracy. To this no-war attitude of the global people American war economy is a catastrophic threat which needs to be positively reviewed by the American people in particular and the global people in general. America needs to be persuaded to understand the essence of Westphalia which proposed intellectual handling of the international cleavages. American people have to stand for a plural decision making body for national war declaration so that a single man's whim does not cause international holocaust. The declaration of war should not be left to the president alone. For, all presidents are not mature, responsible, wise and visionary. Flaw of the system often allows incompetent people to become president as the party process is not people-involved. Power without wisdom is the fountain of terrorism be that institutional or non-institutional? It will require people's understanding, demand and assertion and the amendment of the American constitution. But then again the issue remains with the necessity of nonfictive nature of election of America. The anti-democratic manipulative media will have to be resisted by the people who will require intellectual leadership of exceptional social personality committed to the cause of true democracy and peace. America needs a new Abraham Lincon who abolished slavery.

Where judicial review as a constitutional technique theoretically defined liberty of the individual from institutional terrorism president's absolute power to declare war makes liberty of all everywhere (from within and from without America) threatened to total extinction. Peace demands pacification of personal power, people-involved democracy and unillusive election.

(Prof. Dr Mokhdum Mushrafi is the Chairman, Department of Politics and Governance, Ganobiswabiddaloy, Savar, Dhaka.)