The New Nation - Internet Edition

DMC students confine their Principal

Post-graduate medical students staged a sit-in
demonstration at Dhaka Medical College Hospital demanding
cancellation of MD/MS term and allied course.
FocusBangla

Staff Reporter

The members of the Post-Graduate Medical Students Forum of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday confined the principal of the college for three hours demanding cancellation of the MD/MS course systems.

Witness said some MD/MS students held the Principal, Dr Kazi Din Mohammad, hostage in his office on the college premises in the afternoon and demonstrated on the campus demanding cancellation of the Course System.

The principal was released after the faculty members of The Dhaka Medical College Hospital intervened. The students were also assured of a solution to their problem by June 18.

Aziz for wholesale privatization of state concerns

Staff Reporter

Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday emphasised the need for massive privatisation of sate-owned entities and said industrial units cannot run effectively under government management.

"I don't believe that a government-run industry can work efficiently," he told a seminar titled 'Budget 2008-09 and Development of Northern Region' at CIRDAP auditorium.

The employees of government-run companies do not work properly, the adviser noted.

Aziz said government employees just wait for the salary at the end of the month despite the fact that government-owned industries are incurring huge losses year after year.

Citing the example of sugar industries, the Finance Adviser said mismanagement is the main problem of a government-run industry.

"If we want to save the sugar industry in the North there is no alternative but to privatising it," the Adviser said.

In the budget for the outgoing current year, import duty on raw and refined sugar had been fixed in a way that locally produced sugar enjoyed an advantage amounting to Tk 7 to Tk 8 per kg.

"Despite all, local sugar mills are failing to withstand in the competition," Aziz said.

The Finance Adviser said a budget cannot only look at the interest of businessmen and industrialists. "It has to consider the interest of all consumers as well."

If high duty is imposed on the import of sugar to protect the local sugar industry, sugar will sell at Tk 40 to Tk 50 a kg.

"That's why tolerable duty has been imposed on the import of sugar, considering the interest of consumers in the new budget," he said.

Aziz said, the present caretaker government has officially recognised regional inequality and formed a high-level committee to remove the disparity.

"The committee has already submitted its report, which will be published soon. Necessary steps will be taken to remove regional inequality," the adviser said.

He informed the seminar that another committee has been formed to remove the Monga in the northern region with Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman at its head.

On price rise of essentials the Finance Adviser said the new budget proposed steps to bring down inflation to a tolerable level. "Not only Bangladesh, the whole world is experiencing high inflation. In India, inflation has reached 8.7 per cent, highest in seven years," said Mirza Aziz.

Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Muhammad Abdul Mazid and former MP Golam Habib Dulal also spoke at the seminar. Chairman of North Bengal Development Council Dr M Azizur Rahman presided over the seminar.

Science policy to be finalised in 3 months

BSS, Dhaka

The draft of national science and technology policy will be finalised within three months aiming at building science-oriented society to increase production and employment in various sectors of the economy.

"The review of the existing national ICT policy is also at the final stage which is expected to further flourish the ICT industry," Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Science and ICT Manik Lal Samaddar told BSS after attending a seminar as the chief guest here.

For the next fiscal 2008-09, he said, the government has allocated Taka 16 crore as special grants for scientists of the universities and private organisations for research.

The seminar on 'Special grants in different kinds of science and technological research projects and its contribution to fruitful research and development' was organized by Science and ICT Ministry at Bhasani Novo Theatre here.

Science and ICT Secretary Sheikh M Wahiduzzaman was present as the special guest while Joint Secretary of the Ministry Ahmed Hossain Khan was in the chair.

Joint Secretary of Science and ICT Ministry Liakat Ali gave the welcome address while deputy secretary of the ministry Mohammad Ferdous Hossain presented the keynote paper. Prof Dr Mesbahuddin and Prof M A Bashar of Dhaka University, Prof Dr Ziauddin Ahmed of Jahangirnagar University, Prof Dr M A Wahab of Agriculture University and Prof Dr Shah Alam of Rajshahi University addressed as designated speakers.

It was revealed at the seminar that a large amount of money, allocated as special grants for scientific researches, has not been used due to lack of quality project proposals.

In the current fiscal, only Taka 5.29 crore was disbursed out of Taka 14.28 crore, allocated for scientific researches under the special grant programme of the government.

In last six years, more than Taka 40 crore has been disbursed among local scientists under special grants by Science and ITC Ministry but outcome from the scientific projects is not satisfactory, speakers told the seminar.

Manik Lal Samaddar said the government would like to give money for quality research as it could contribute to the socio- economic development.

Referring to irregularities and misuse of grant money in the name of scientific research in the past, he said, various committees would be formed to further strengthen monitoring and evaluating to bring transparency in the special grant programme.

"We won't give money to anyone or any organisation under special considerations like in the past," he said, adding, "We have already taken steps so that no money is granted in the name of fake scientists or organizations or worthless projects."

Applied research needs to be prioritized side by side with basic research, Samaddar pointed out.

"We have to identify and prioritize specific research fields as per socio-economic demand of the country," he said. Considering global food shortage, the government has allocated an additional Taka 272 crore for agriculture research in the proposed budget, he added.

Scientists at the seminar called for enhancing funds, saying grants for research in Bangladesh are only 0.005 percent of GDP, whereas it is 2-3 percent of GDP even in newly industrialized countries.

They said salary of teachers of public universities should be increased taking into consideration the present socio-economic condition so they could pay more attention to research activities.

They suggested making a database and a network of local scientists for coordination to avoid repetition of research on same topics as it happened in the past.

In his keynote paper, Dr Ferdous said grants should be utilized properly, otherwise disbursement of funds would be very difficult in future.

40 lakh tons of foodgrain damaged due to lack of care

Staff Reporter

Agriculture Secretary Md Abdul Aziz said yesterday that about 40 lakh tonnes of the foodgrain are damaged every year due to lack of proper care during the post harvesting period.

"We can save huge quantity of foodgrain if we can apply new technologies and modern method during the post harvesting period," he said while addressing as a chief guest at a seminar styled "Irrigation and Water Management, Agriculture Mechanisation and Post harvest process engineering for sustainable agricultural development of Bangladesh" at the Institution of Engineers in the capital.

The Agricultural Engineering Division (AED) of IEB organised the daylong seminar. Dr MA Satter, Head of Irrigation and Water Management Division of BRRI presented the keynote paper while Prof Dr Eng Shahid Ullah Talukder, Chairman of AED presided over the seminar.

The agriculture secretary said that dependence on imported foodgrain could be reduced by adopting modern technology in the agricultural sector. The agro-technologists should come forward to build Bangladesh as a self reliant country, he said adding "We have no other alternative but to augment production of foodgrain in the country as its prices have been soaring day by day in the international market."

He also called upon landowners not to use cultivable lands for non-agricultural purposes as over one per cent of the agricultural land is declining per year.

Dr MA Satter in his keynote paper said that about 56 per cent of agriculture land is brought under irrigation every year and paddy is produced on bulk of the irrigated land.

He pointed out that about 30 to 50 per cent of irrigation water is misused in both major and minor irrigation systems.

A lot of appropriate water saving technology for rice and non-rice crop cultivation has been developed by the research institutions. But few of them are practiced by farming community due to lack of appropriate extension services, he noted.

He laid emphasis on the development of surface water management technology for sustainable development of agriculture in the backdrop of scarcity of groundwater.

Prof RI Sarker, Vice Chancellor of Jessore Science and Technology University and Eng Muhammad Mohsin Ali, President-in charge of IEB, Eng Khan Manjur Morshed, General Secretary of IEB, Prof Md Monjurul Alam of Bangladesh Agriculture University Mymensingh, Dr Shirajul Islam, Chief Scientist Officer of BARI, Eng Md Masuduzzaman, Vice Chairman of AED of IEB and Eng Mohammed Ayubur Rahman, secretary of AED of IEB addressed the seminar.

28,000 people nabbed so far under EPR

Staff Reporter

Nearly 28,000 people have been arrested so far by Joint Forces in the anti-crime crackdown launched across the country under emergency power rules.

A press release issued by the Police headquarters yesterday said police in separate drives across the country arrested 1,552 people in the last 24 hours till 6:00am.

The law enforcers also recovered 14 firearms, 9 crude bombs and 31 rounds of bullet during the period, it added.

Besides, 42 motorbikes were seized for not having valid documents and 2,073 cases filed under the Motor Vehicle Act during the drive.

In Satkhira, Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered some arms and ammunition at Shirulia village in Asashuni upazila early Thursday. Sources said on secret information, RAB-6 men recovered three guns, one pistol, four bullets and five sharp weapons from a pond in front of the house of UP member Nazrul Islam at about 4:00am.

None was arrested in this connection. In Dinajpur, a drug dealer was arrested and 240 bottles of Indian phensidyl recovered in separate drives in Sadar and Parbatipur thanas Saturday.

Officials of Narcotics Control and police raided Dainur village in Sadar upazila and arrested a man, Jalal Uddin, and recovered 100 bottles of phensidyl from his possession at about 10:00am.

Later, the arrested along with the hauled bottles of phensidyl was handed over to local thana.

In another raid, police recovered 140 bottles of phensidyl from the house of Shahidul Haque at Abbaspara village in Parbatipur thana.

The house owner fled away sensing the arrival of law enforcers.

Separate cases were filed with respective police stations.

DCC announces Tk 1,009cr budget today

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

With the failure to achieve last fiscal year's revenue target Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is going to announce Tk 1,009.41 crore-budget for the 2008-09 financial year at Mahanagr Natyamancha in the city today.

The budget for the outgoing 2007-08 fiscal was Tk 1401.88 crore, which was slashed to Tk 717.57 crore as the DCC missed its revenue earning targets. Mayor of DCC Sadeque Hossain Khoka will announce the budget repeating his previous years' pledge that there will be no new tax on city dwellers, according to the DCC officials.

This will be his seventh budget since he took over as the city mayor on May 14, 2002.

Instead of imposing fresh taxes, the DCC would try to plug revenue loopholes to collect funds for the development programmes to make city life comfortable, said DCC officials.

The DCC earns tax and revenues from holding, lighting and conservancy, trade licences, advertisement, road digging, rickshaw licences, markets and community centres.

Holding tax is the single biggest source of revenue as the DCC earned Tk 176 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal year, trailing the target of Tk 255 crore, according to DCC officials.

A sum of Tk 100 crore is expected from the government's block allocation, Tk 100 crore as especial allocation and Tk 242 crore either from the government or foreign sources and private investments, and Tk 9 crore from others.

DCC expected government's special allocation of Tk 45.05 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal. But the actual allocation is likely to be less than half The government's especial allocation was only Tk 6.20 crore against the target of Tk 150 crore.

The DCC also failed to generate expected funds from projects and private sector in 2007-08 fiscal. It has so far collected Tk 187.73 crore against the target of Tk 619.43 crore, largely because of stalled development works involving huge private and project funds, said the officials.

The target for the new budget from these areas has been set at Tk 242.90 crore.

In the upcoming budget, the DCC set an expenditure target of Tk 979.41 crore. Of the amount, Tk 692.90 crore will account for development activities. In the 2007-08 fiscal it could spend only Tk 443.43 crore, less than half of its targeted development expenditure of Tk 1098.91 crore.

The allocation for mosquito control programmes for the next year would remain the same at Tk 15 crore.

The revenue income in 2008-09 is expected to total Tk 527.51 crore up from Tk 478.45 crore during 2007-08 fiscal.

DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka announced his first budget of Tk 677.34 crore for 2002-03 fiscal year, followed by Tk 762.96 crore, Tk 922.01 crore, Tk 1247.72 crore, Tk 1505.85 and Tk 1401.88 in successive years.

Body of woman in 3 pieces recovered in city

Staff Reporter

Police recovered a truncated body of an unidentified young woman from Protap Das Lane under Sutrapur Police Station in the old part of the city yesterday.

Police said local people spotted three plastics shopping bags at different spots of the lane containing six pieces of the body of a woman, in her early twenties and informed the police. The head of the deceased was kept in a bag, two legs in one other and her hands and other body parts in another bag.

Police recovered one bag from 3/B Protap Das Lane and the other two from 49/50 of the same lane at about 10:00am and sent those to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Police suspected that the girl might have been violated before she was

done to death. The body bore several bite marks on her face.

A murder case was filed with Sutrapur Police Station.

Withdraw of supplementary tax on pay channels demanded

Staff Reporter

Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) yesterday demanded of the government to withdraw 35 per cent supplementary tax on the pay channels proposed in the new budget.

Addressing a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity, COAB president SM Anwar Parvez said many subscribers even could not afford the charge of cable TV when supplementary tax was 15 percent in the last year's budget.

COAB General Secretary Nizam Uddin Masud, Joint General Secretary Kazi Borno, Organising Secretary ABM Saiful Hossain Shohel and Press and Publication Secretary Kamrul Alam Shamim, among other COAB leaders, were present at the press conference.

COAB leaders suggested if the government collect total revenue directly from the Cable TV operators through treasury Chalan, the revenue collection might be increased.

They also alleged that the distributors are not paying proper government revenue as they do not provide any receipts against operators' payment.

They also said there is no logical ground to impose 35 per cent supplementary tax on the pay channels with the existing 15 per cent tax and 15 per cent VAT on the plea of airing advertisement of foreign products. But the tax can not control the advertisement of foreign products, they argued.

They also said if the supplementary tax was not reduced they will be bound to increase the monthly client's charge.

They said the government approved the import of pay channels without formulation of policy for pay channels and for this the cable operators were being affected financially.

Proper use of budgetary fund stressed

Staff Reporter

Speakers at a post-budget discussion yesterday stressed on proper use of budgetary funds allocated in the current fiscal 2008-09.

They lauded the Government for extending the tax holiday. They, however, suggested taking short and medium term plans to develop the country's power sector.

They called upon the Government for allocating more funds in the agriculture, education and health sectors.

Their observation came at a roundtable conference on budget organised by Islamic Economics Research Bureau (IERB) at a city hotel.

Shah Abdul Hannan, former secretary and Chairman of IERB moderated the conference. Prof Ayubur Rahman Bhuyan, senior research fellow of the organisation presented keynote paper on the budget.

Among others, eminent economist Prof Abu Ahmed, Md Sharif Hussain, general secretary of IERB, engineer Fazle Ali, Abul Bashar Khan, Registrar of Manarat International University, Abdul Kader, EVP of Islami Bank, Ruhul Amin Rokon, Associate Prof of International Relations department of Dhaka University Mahbul Huq and Shawkat Ara Begum took part in the discussion.

The Annual Development Programme (ADP) is important for encouraging private investment, promote growth and create jobs. But the low size of ADP denies that opportunity, they added.

They said that the GDP growth in the current fiscal is to rise to 6.5 per cent from 6.2 per cent in the last fiscal.

They, however, suggested that the subsidy on diesel, octane and petrol need to be readjusted in line with the international market price. However, farmers and poor people should be provided subsidised diesel and kerosene, they opined.

They lamented that no Government in the past had disclosed whether the poverty alleviation targets were achieved or not. They said that poverty could not be eliminated without reducing the interest rate.

They said that good governance is a prerequisite for proper implementation of budget. They also said without checking corruption good governance could be not established in the country.

Prof Abu Ahmed said poverty is the main hurdle of the country's economic uplift. " Unless economy serge's up poverty could not be reduced," he said adding that Tk 70,000 crore has been allocated for non-development sector.

He suggested reducing the corporate income tax to encourage investment in the capital market.

Shah Abdul Hannan suggested widening of income tax net and allocating more funds for social safety net programme.

Tarique's wife appeal for release of husband

UNB, Dhaka

Dr Zobaida Rahman, wife of detained BNP leader Tarique Rahman, today Saturday appealed to the government to release her ailing husband on humanitarian ground.

In a letter to the government, Dr Jobaida said Tarique Rahman was arrested on March 8, 2007 and since then he has been suffering from various health complications.

When contacted, BNP's acting office secretary Rizvi Ahmed told UNB

that he heard about it.

Dr Zobaida said her husband requires orthopedic surgical correction, which is not possible in Bangladesh.

She said Tarique needs to be sent abroad immediately for proper treatment to save him from getting crippled.

Saudis to increase oil production by 'half-million barrels’

Agencies, Washington

Concerned that skyrocketing oil prices might induce a worldwide economic slump, Saudi Arabia is planning to increase oil production next month by about a half-million barrels a day, The New York Times reported on its website late Friday.

Citing unnamed analysts and oil traders who have been briefed by Saudi officials, the newspaper said the increase could bring Saudi output to a production level of 10 million barrels a day.

The move is seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices, the report said.

While they are reaping record profits, the Saudis are concerned that record prices might eventually dampen economic growth and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries, according to The Times.

The current prices are also making alternative fuels more viable, threatening the long-term prospects of the oil-based economy, the paper said.

Utilising talents to reduce gap in policy making stressed

BSS, Chittagong

Adviser for Education and Commerce Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman hare on Saturday called upon the economists to utilize their talents to reduce the gap between reality and policy formulation by taking into account the economic reality of the country with a view to face the economic challenges effectively.

"Linking up the policy with the existing economic reality through reducing gap among them is the main challenge of the economy this time," Zillur said while speaking as the guest of honor at the inaugural session of the biennial conference, seminar and election of the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), Chittagong chapter here on Saturday.

With BEA local chapter president Professor Sikandar Khan presided over the function held at the auditorium Theater Institute Chittagong.

A thrid rebuke to Bush on Guantanamo Bay

Agency, Washington

US Supreme Court ruling allowing detainees at Guantánamo Bay to challenge their imprisonment in federal court was a clear rebuke to the Bush administration-and the third against its approach toward Guantánamo detainees. But what implications the case has for the future of the island prison and the pending trials against some of the detainees are hardly clear.

In a 5-to-4 majority, the Supreme Court held that given the absence of a formal revocation of habeas protections, the detainees had a right to those full protections guaranteed by the Constitution. "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

By extending habeas protections to noncitizens held under U.S. control, the Supreme Court opened the door for courts to decide whether their detention was ultimately constitutional.

In the short term, the decision will mean a flood of new cases in the federal courts. But the ruling could also have implications for the pending military commission trials, including trials for those charged with aiding the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In opening up the avenues for Guantánamo detainees to challenge their imprisonment, the ruling allows even those charged with crimes in another venue to raise the broader constitutional challenges they have made about their detention, detainee lawyers say.

The opinion was met with a vociferous dissent in which Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that "this decision is not really about the detainees at all, but about control of federal policy regarding enemy combatants."

The Supreme Court first ruled in 2004 that some constitutional protections apply to Guantánamo Bay detainees, even though the United States is not the ultimate sovereign of the territory. By 2006, Congress had passed the Military Commissions Act, which barred detainees from filing habeas petitions for their release. In effect, detainees could question not their imprisonment but only the government's determination of their status as an "enemy combatant." And they could appeal only to a single forum-the conservative US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

In the ruling, the Supreme Court held that this narrow review did not meet the constitutional standard required by habeas. In particular, the court noted that this process unfairly prevented detainees from introducing new evidence prohibited in the original proceedings.

Wrote Kennedy: "Even when all the parties involved in this process act with diligence and in good faith, there is considerable risk of error in the tribunal's findings of fact. . . . And given that the consequence of error may be detention of persons for the duration of hostilities that may last a generation or more, this is a risk too significant to ignore."

The cases, the majority acknowledged, lacked any "precise historical parallel," but the gravity of the legal issues and "the fact that these detainees have been denied meaningful access to a judicial forum for a period of years render these cases exceptional," Kennedy wrote.

The ruling, however, did not make any broad statements about the constitutionality of the government's detention programs elsewhere. And it cautioned the federal courts to protect national security concerns in devising habeas procedures.

But before any decisions are made, there are myriad legal questions for the district court judges to sort out. First and foremost, judges would need to figure out the procedures and scope of the habeas proceedings.