The New Nation - Internet Edition

Widening trade deficit

AS appeared in media recently, country's trade deficit is 'widening at a rapid pace' and may reach the $6 billion level at the end of the current financial year. The deficit increased by $691 million in March last to $3.9 billion in the first three quarters of the year due to the rising import payments. According to economists, the deficit

would increase as the prices of almost all products went up sharply in the international market. The prices of fuel, fertiliser, food items including rice, wheat and edible oil and other commodities that are imported have risen exorbitantly in the international market and the trend may not change in the near future, economists say.

In the first nine months of current year, exports grew by 12.17 per cent to $ 10 billion but imports increased by 23.28 per cent to $13.96 billion as revealed by the Bangladesh Bank data. Export growth in the second half of the current fiscal year and robust inflow of remittance cushioned the shock and the current account balance has been positive. The current account has a positive balance of $ 390 million at the end of the third quarter, which was $ 605 million at the end of the same period of the last year. Export growth picked up by 30 per cent in the third quarter and export order flow for the fourth quarter.

The government should be very careful to ensure unhindered inflow of remittance that is expected this year to be around $ 8 billion as the trade deficit at the end of the fiscal year will be determined by the price of oil and essential commodities. If the prices continue to rise further, the trade deficit too will increase accordingly as feared by the economists.

End of an old monarchy

FORMER king of Nepal Gyanendra Shah Wednesday left the Narayanhiti palace within two weeks of abolition of monarchy and moved to a retreat at the Nagarjun forest. He complied with the 15-day deadline for leaving the palace set by the Constituent Assembly on May 28. On that day, the CA declared the Himalayan kingdom a federal democratic republic. Gyanendra had been living in the Narayanhiti palace since he ascended the throne in 2001 following a palace massacre on June 1 in which the then King Birendra along with the entire royal family was assassinated.

Gyanendra handed over the crown and sceptre to the government for safekeeping.

Many developed countries including Japan, UK, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Thailand and Australia have monarchs as head of the state. Though titular heads, the royals in these countries are the symbols of national unity. Nepalese people have clearly chosen a different option. The political programme of abolition of monarchy seems to enjoy popular support. Declaration of Nepal as a republic not only marked the end of Gyanendra's rule but also the formal abolition of the 240-year-oldmonarchy. Gyanendra, before leaving the palace, formally acknowledged the creation of the republic in Nepal and vowed to serve the country.

Nepal is passing through a transition from monarchy to democracy. The new political system should urgently get institutional shape. The form of government that the country will have is yet to be finalised. The people of Nepal would decide this destiny. In the absence of the King who had been the symbol of national unity for centuries they should create some institutions guided not by emotion but by pragmatism to fill the void.

High drama over Hasina’s release

Shamsuddin Ahmed

The nation has witnessed a high drama that culminated into release of Sheikh Hasina from the prison on Wednesday. Undergoing trial in four corruption cases she was set free for two months on medical ground for treatment abroad. In less than 24 hours she flew for Canada on Thursday morning. In a dramatic turn of events earlier on Wednesday night, four Advisors of the caretaker government drove to the residence of Hasina for political dialogue raising many eyebrows. For, about a dozen political parties including Gano Forum, Bikalpadhara, Workers Party and IOJ had dialogue at the office of Chief Adviser. The drama has not ended there. The government has offered to release from prison BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, also undergoing trial in corruption cases, to go abroad with her two sons under the similar arrangement, ostensibly on medical ground.

The events have no doubt generated lot of curiosity among the people and gave rise to all kinds of speculations. It was heard in tea stalls and drawing room gossips that the caretaker government fully backed by the armed forces has lost substantial ground. The power hollers differed on handling or mishandling of issues of Khaleda and Hasina that made BNP and Awami League adamant of not taking part in on-going political dialogue with the government nor taking part in the election. External pressure is there for holding election as promised by December with participation of all major political parties to make it credible and acceptable.

The situation has compelled the government to set Hasina free under a 'package deal'. Khaleda Zia is also being set free soon under similar deal for bringing both the parties to dialogue and the proposed election.

Explaining the situation Education Advisor Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said the government attached highest humanitarian considerations for release of Hasina and Khaleda.

The considerations are aimed at creating an environment of confidence to involve all political parties in the on-going dialogue to reach consensus on national issues and peaceful transfer of power to the elected government.

"We are doingh whatever necessary and advancing specifically through making successful coordination of legal process and humanitarian considerations, without wasting time, to create environment of confidence among the political parties," said the Dr Zillur, who used to talk as spokesman of the government.

Soon after the release of Sheikh Hasina from prison at about 2pm Wednesday the government issued a statement offering release of Khaleda Zia under an identical package deal with BNP. Khaleda has always refused to leave the country. She is concerned about the condition of her ailing detained sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman.

The government is believed wooing Khaleda to make a petition in the court asking for her release for a certain period for treatment at home or abroad, a step Hasina had taken to secure release.

She was granted two months for treatment abroad. It is likely that Khaleda will finally agree for the sake of her sons and also BNP politics. For, after release of Sheikh Hasina, Awami League announced its preparation for contesting the election.

Government sources said the release of Sheikh Hasina was not unconditional. Nor the corruption cases against her were withdrawn. The court has granted her petition to exempt from personal appearance in the court during the trial that will continue. She is to return home and surrender to the court whenever the government asks. Similar arrangement will be taken in case of Khaleda Zia and her son.

The way and haste government took the steps clearly manifested that it has lost its strength. Political analysts have expressed surprise at the way Hasina and Khaleda allowed to make political statements from detention. Even their discussions with lawyers laced with politics were prominently dished out in electronic and print media. A former minister of Jatiya party speaking on TV said they did not make public noise when President Ershad was arrested nor demanded his release when undergoing trial in more than dozens of cases.

Ershad was never allowed by the court to make any statement. Former minister Taheruddin Thakur and once powerful military officers accused in the Sheikh Mujib murder case were not allowed to make any statement in the court. Why Hasina and Khaleda were extended the unprecedented favour remains a question.

Hasina has been set free for 8 weeks and allowed to go abroad. In all probability similar arrangement will be taken in case of Khaleda and her two sons. Once they are free, will this government be able to bring them back to the dock for trial on charge of heavy corruption for which they were kept in prison for about a year?

Budget proposes some agro-friendly measures

Professor M Zahidul Haque

THE Government deserves appreciation for allocating a huge fund in the budget for fiscal 2008-09 with a view to bringing about true development in our agri-sector, ensuring food security and farmers' welfare. A good sum of money has been earmarked for providing subsidy in some fields of agriculture including diesel for irrigation. Endowment fund for enhancing agricultural research already in operation is also encouraging.

Meanwhile it is gathered from a TV report presented by prominent agricultural activist Shaikh Siraj on Channel i (dt.10/06/08) that our farmers are almost unaware about budget and other development measures taken by the govt. for improving their farming, raising crop production and their income. It is evident from the said TV report that the common farmers are not at all familiar with the term 'budget'.

What they need is, ensuring of timely supply of seed, fertilizer, and irrigational facilities. A few farmers had however stressed on the need for disbursing the allocated money by maintaining transparency and through controlling corruption.

In order to increase farmer's awareness on various agricultural issues, agricultural extension service has to be modernized and a special fund should be allocated to educate farmers through imparting agricultural extension education. It is unfortunate that some people without knowing the importance and implications of Agricultural Extension often underestimates the role of agricultural extension , a discipline which has brought revolutionary changes and development in the field of agriculture world over. In reality, Agricultural Extension imparts necessary non-formal education to the farmers so that they can learn how to apply/use agricultural technologies for boosting farm production. Broadly Agricultural Extension performs the following two main roles, viz. (i) Human resource development and (ii) Technology transfer. These two roles are basic building blocks of agricultural development. Through providing non-formal education on different issues of agriculture, agricultural extension contributes to the development of skilled human resources while through dissemination of agricultural innovations release by the research organizations among the farmers, agri extension ensures technology transfer.

Meanwhile for making our agricultural extension service more effective and modern, this author feels that the following measures should be taken :-

1. Agricultural Extension workers should adequately be trained on various technologies and techniques for raising crop production and for making the farming business more profitable. In this respect, agricultural diploma course should be revised at par with the demand of time and need of the farmers. The authorities concerned have to ensure that courses are properly taught by the teachers and learned by the students at different Agricultural Training Institutes (ATIs) under the govt. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

2. All the private radio and TV channels plus the govt. controlled BTV and Bangladesh Betar should start broadcast/ telecasting co-ordinated programs on agricultural issues under the supervision of Agricultural Information Service (AIS) of the Ministry of Agriculture. 3. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) should undertake farmer's literacy program in collaboration with other related departments to impart daily-needed knowledge to the common farmers.

If the above mentioned measures are implemented, there is no doubt that the farmer's efficiency will be enhanced and they will contribute effectively in the development of agriculture and in achieving food security through utilizing govt. fund and facilities.

(The author is Chairman, Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka)

Turing hard wastes into assests

Shamim Ara Begum

The sound of Manik Miahs whistle is heard everyday at noon in sector five of Uttara, Dhaka. Manik and his two assistants collect rubbishes from houses of the area. He says there is something special in their garbage collection.

The people of this neighbourhood keep organic (rotting) and inorganic (non-rotting) parts of wastes separately making it easier for them to collect those separately.

This arrangement has been made because the trashes are used for recycling. Most of the rubbishes are rotting ones. Fertilisers are produced from the rotting wastes while inorganic ones are sold off,Manik Miah says.

This has been possible because of an association set up by the residents of Uttara. The association got the idea of waste management from a non-government organisation named West Concern. This organisation has begun producing organic fertiliser commercially using garbage.

Though some other NGOs collect garbage from the capitals different areas, Western Concern is the only one that is producing fertiliser. Currently, it is working in Dhakas four areas Mirpur, Green Road, Dhalpur and Kanchpur.

Along with the developed countries, many developing countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines also recycle garbage for reuse. With the organic parts of the wastes, they produce organic fertiliser, biogas, electricity, etc. Separating the inorganic part, they are making the whole of it suitable for reuse.

Though not on large scale, efforts are on in Bangladesh for quite some time to utilise garbage. Initiatives are particularly being taken to produce fertiliser from organic part of hard wastes of urban areas and use the inorganic part containing plastic, lead, glass and different types of metals. Experts think with appropriate initiatives its possible to utilise the whole of hard wastes.

A large number of rural people are migrating to towns in search of jobs. And the number is on the rise. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, only 4.33 percent of the population used to live in towns in 1951 and it rose to 24 percent in 2001.

There is a link between the increase in populace and that of wastes. If population increases, urbanisation goes up along with economic activities, resulting in increased generation of wastes.

According to the World Bank, 10,742 tons of wastes used to be generated everyday in urban areas of Bangladesh in 1995. This went up to 13,200 tons in 2005, says West Concern. The amount of wastes is gradually increasing with the increase in population.

The waste management is very important for the environment and protecting the public health. City corporations and municipalities are responsible for the waste management. But, their standard of service has not improved in line with the growing population.

The allocated money for city corporations and municipalities for waste management and infrastructure is too inadequate. Besides, there is always a complaint of inadequate manpower, trucks and vans for transportation of wastes and containers to keep wastes temporarily.

Field surveys by different city corporations like Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jaica) and West Concern show that the countrys city corporations and municipalities have the capacity of managing only 55 percent of the total wastes. So, about half of the wastes generated in urban areas remain uncollected. They remain littered on roads, drains and lowlands, creating a public nuisance.

Besides, the whole process starting from collection to dumping through which city corporations and municipalities manage about 50 percent of the wastes is full of errors.

In a town, the main sources of waste generation are domestic works, business centres, industries, factories, dusts, constructional materials, kitchen markets, hospitals and clinics. Of them, the amount of domestic waste is the highest.

Under the process followed by city corporations and municipalities, organic and inorganic wastes are not separated. These two types of wastes are dumped in open dumpsites, where poor people look for food or inorganic materials like plastic, iron, glass, etc. Animals and birds also visit these open dumpsites, polluting the environment. Due to this faulty process of waste management, rubbish pickers also face various health problems.

Mixing of wastes under the open sky and rainwater create a liquid substance called lichet that mixes with underground water. It contains chloride, lead, bronze, sodium etc. Lichet is mainly blamed for water pollution.

Besides, there is a huge emission of greenhouse gas like methane, carbon dioxide and so on for the excessive presence of organic materials in the dumpsites. Theses gases are increasing the overall temperature of the world by damaging ozone layer.

So, it is now clear that just dumping wastes outside centres of cities and towns is not an effective solution. Therefore, wastes will have to be utilised as best as possible. A research done by West Concern in 2005 shows 80 percent of wastes generated in urban areas is organic from which fertiliser can be produced.

Of the remaining 20 percent inorganic waste, 6 percent can be made suitable for reuse. Only 14 percent of the wastes are to be dumped. Since most of the wastes can be utilised, the issue of using wastes must be given a serious consideration.

If wastes are properly utilised, a large number of urban poor can be employed in the waste recycling jobs. Statistics provided by West Concern show that it is possible to create jobs for 16,000 people should wastes of Dhaka city can be utilised. There will be employments for 90,000 people if all the total wastes generated in urban areas can be used.

Reprocessing is a sustainable strategy to reduce garbage, as it requires less space for waste dumping. So, wastes can be dumped on dumpsites or landfills for a long time. If reprocessing can be done, the unnecessary inorganic part (only 14 percent) will go to dumpsites. This will reduce environment pollution and health hazards. Greenhouse gas emission will stop from dumpsites.

According to experts, for reprocessing, separation in the source is very important because this allows the maximum use of wastes. Currently, residents have to pay for the collection of wastes.

If a system can be introduced where communities concerned and NGOs will have to buy the wastes from the local residents, then they will be more active in separating the organic and inorganic wastes on their own. This will ensure the use of most of the wastes.

About producing fertiliser from organic wastes, Dhaka City Corporation engineer Dr Tarique bin Yusuf says, In order to make the programme of producing fertiliser from wastes, emphasis has to be given on issues like creating demand of organic fertiliser, marketing and prices so that farmers can get it easily at a reasonable price.

As per United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), there will be no existence of any landfill by 2040. And there will have to be insinuators for poisonous wastes.

As a signatory to it, it is obligatory for Bangladesh to protect the environment. It will be possible to achieve the UNEP goal, if the issue of recycling wastes receives proper government attention and cooperation.

Making better uses of rain water

Sifat MunimTanin

Rain water is a free source of nearly pure water. It can be used to supply potable (drinkable) water and non-potable water. For non-potable uses, like watering landscapes, it is ready for use as it falls from the sky. For potable uses, rain water must be treated to remove or kill disease organisms that may be present.

This process in one form or another - has been in practice for thousands of years. According to Paul Woods of Texas A & M University, extensive water harvesting systems in the Negev Deserts of Israel more than 2,000 years ago have been documented. Additionally, Roman villas and cities were planned in such a way to take advantage of rainwater for drinking and air-conditioning. Cisterns, containers to collect rainwater, were fairly common in the United States in rural areas until the 1920s.

In Bangladesh the amount of rainfall varies both spatially and temporally. While the maximum amount of average annual rainfall occurs in the northeastern districts (55 cm) of Sylhet and Moulivibazar, the minimum amount falls in the western/southwestern districts (15 cm) of Meherpur, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Chapai Nawabganj, Noagaon, and Rajshahi. Also, rainfall is mainly restricted during the months of April to September. Consequently, rainwater harvesting will be relatively easier during certain months of the year in the certain parts of Bangladesh. Groundwater contamination by arsenic is more severe in the western/southwestern districts, where rainwater harvesting would be more appropriate to solve the polluted drinking water problems. A 1982 study, by the United Nations Environment Program, showed that with an average rainfall of 72 inches and using 1,100-gallon storage tanks, enough water could be collected in 12 hours to serve a family of six for 45 days.

Rainwater collected in various parts of the USA contains (in milligrams per liter): Fe (0.015) , Ca (0.075-1.41), Mg (0.027-1.2), Na (0.22-9.4), Ca (0.075-1.41), K (0.072-0.11), HCO3 (4-7), SO4 0.7-7.6), Cl (0.22-17), NO2 (0.02), NO3 (0.02-0.62), and Total Dissolved Solids 8.2-38), and pH of 4.9 to 6.4. On the other hand, Bangladesh does not have such industrial establishment like other developed countries. Rainwater in rural areas - away from atmospheric and industrial pollution - is fairly clean except for some dissolved gases, it may pick up while traveling through the atmosphere.

But there are some specific problem for Bangladesh. First, there is no enough land for the development reservoir in Bangladesh. Second, reservoir may become polluted by surface runoff. It may carry different pollutant from non-point sources. Possible non-point sources of contamination include fertilizer, pesticides, chicken and cow manure, dissolved minerals, sediments, sewage, decaying plants, algae, bacteria, aerosol fallout, and detergents. Fourth, ponds may be connected to groundwater flow and may subject to contaminated by dissolved chemicals.

Now the supply of water is going to become a great problem in our country. We need to take proper initiative for the development of rain water harvesting process in Bangladesh.