The New Nation - Internet Edition

Recognising Kosovo’s independence

THE Americans want Bangladesh to recognise the independence of Kosovo which has been recognised as an independent country by the United States and most of the West European countries. One may recall that Kosovo's Muslim people were targeted for worst savageries and genocide witnessed since the Second World War by the Serbs. The predominantly Muslim people of Kosovo who are also ethnically distinct from the Serbs, were never gladly a part of erstwhile Yugoslavia. They were kept in servitude and bondage by the unceasing use of brute force.

There was widespread restlessness among Muslim peoples who asserted their freedom since the nineties and this led to the emergence of independent states out of the erstwhile Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. But the demand for independence by the Kosovo's Muslims was responded with genocide by forces from Belgrade. The nature of this genocide was no less in savagery than the Nazi genocide of the Jews during World War II. Only after military intervention in Kosovo by NATO forces led by US, this genocide was stopped and the remaining Muslims there saved. The NATO forces since then have been protecting Kosovo from takeover and probable resumption of genocide there again.

Bangladesh should recognise Kosovo as an independent entity and establish relationships with it. As a major Muslim country its move in this direction would encourage other Muslim countries to follow the example. There is little scope of taking recognition of the independence of Kosovo as enmity towards any other state. According recognition would be doing the right thing under the principles of the right of self-determination of a people. This principle is now universally upheld by all including the United Nations. Indeed, Bangladesh owes its own birth and subsequent recognition of its sovereign status by the international community, based on this principle.

Directive against road digging

THE Chief Adviser has directed the utility agencies and all others to stop works on the roads of Dhaka city during the rainy season. Road diggings are not completed in the dry season when the works can be done faster and creating less traffic hazards. After all, people of this city have been witnesses to indiscriminate road diggings year after year in the peak of the rainy season when delays stretch the works and cost more money from the national exchequer. This culture needs to be stopped. Also, road digging for development works should be coordinated to use resources optimally and keep the roads well paved on a long lasting basis.

Government organisations are frequently seen digging and redigging roads at busy points. Such activities go on in roulette fashion round the year. Besides, roads are frequently dug up to widen dividers, shorten those or even to completely do away with medians. This is also repeated again and again. Citizens wonder why a median has to be built, wrecked and then rebuilt. Why, once built, structures do not last at least for some years. Inconveniences to people in the city can be reduced while substantial saving of resources can be achieved if the utility bodies are obliged to coordinate their activities.

Either the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) or the Ministry of Local Government should ensure this coordination. Why this coordination is not attempted is a burning question in citizens' minds. Citizens or taxpayers are one in demanding from the government that this matter should be taken up from the highest level of the government with a view to ending this frightful drain of resources from the public purse. This is all the more needed to reduce inconveniences caused to the members of the traveling public.

Folklore: Our prized tradition

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Bangladeshi folklore gives an honest insight into the country's social and ethnic background as well as peoples' habits and beliefs. Our folklore also depicts much about the denizens of the past such as their ideologies, customs and views on home or social affairs. Diverse ethnic groups that have resided in the land throughout the preceding periods have largely influenced Bangladesh's folklore.

A wide-ranging diversity can therefore be clearly seen in the folklore of Bangladesh. Puthis-ancient manuscripts-are in fact collections of folk tales often highlighting religious customs existing in rural Bangladesh. Educated individuals, both as a form of recreation and as education, read these books to the rest of the villagers.

A well-known Bangla epic folklore is Manasa Mangal. This story was constituted to eulogize the glory of Manasa, a snake goddess. Nevertheless, it has become popular for the love story of Behula (the heroine) and Lakhindar (her husband). The story narrates how the father of Lakhindar offends the snake goddess. She then sends one of her most venomous snakes to bite Lakhindar on his wedding night. Lakhindar dies instantly and Behula takes her husband's lifeless body on a boat and sets off for the unknown. Confronting several impediments in the way, Behula finally makes it to Manasa's abode and appeases the goddess. Lakhindar is resuscitated and Behula, for her unconditional love and devotion, becomes the archetypical Bengali woman.

Culture in general consists of behaviours and artefacts, beliefs and values, and underlying assumptions, i.e. ways of perceiving, thinking and evaluating the world, self and others. Through the development of tourism, local culture is usually transformed into a product, as an element of the overall supply to tourists. Culture can be marketed to tourists through tangible and intangible elements, for example edifices of historic significance, crafts, and demonstrations of traditions and festivals.

Folk art can be a unique element of the Bangladeshi tourist product. The originality and the variety of different art forms can provide a special experience for the tourists and a powerful promotional tool for national marketing. Since the photos and films showing folk art objects and scenes of traditional events can play an important role in the visual representation of Bangladesh, tourists would develop their expectations accordingly before their trip.

The existing measures to preserve the folklore treasure trove are not enough to meet the needs. Appropriate changes need to be enacted soon. It is almost mandatory for the government to devote greater attention and resources to the aspects of preservation, conservation, documentation, development and legal protection of folklore. Government also needs to be determined to ensure the safety and security of the materials and documents to prevent unfair exploitation.

In addition, government has to support communities who are directly and indirectly involved with creation, maintenance, custodianship and development of folklores. On the other hand, we have to elevate the level of awareness about the legal system at the national level through transmission of information to the public by mass media, debates, discussions and studies with experts and all interested groups. To protect and conserve the folklores properly, there would be no alternative to seeking aids and assistance from UNESCO.

Folk arts and crafts, traditions and customs can be classified as local, regional or national attractions. There are several diverse functions of folklore. If folk tales are examined closely, we find that many are used to pass on traditions with morals and values from one generation to the next. Folklore fulfils the role of teaching the importance of traditions and roots.

Bangladesh needs better quality cricketing brains

Yousuf Rahman Babu

For someone who has played the game with honour and dignity during the formative years of Bangladesh cricket, I find it disheartening and frustrating to find our cricketers of today performing at a level that can be compared to, at best, England's county cricket level or perhaps a grade lower. This is in spite of huge amount of money being spent on coaches, training aids, round the year international competition and exposure to top class cricket. There has been little or no improvement in the quality of cricket. Yes, we may have shocked a very few once in a blue moon but, in reality, there has been no significant accomplishment in maintaining any sort of positive consistency. When we beat the Indians and the S. Africans in the World Cup of 2007, I had believed (my judgmental error) and written that the minnows had finally jumped out of the tank and changed into sharks, until the match against Ireland told it all. The world's cricketing upstarts got booted back into their appropriate abode in a flash.

In a recent radio (Hello Washington) talk show programme, Akram Khan the former national cricketer and current selector (like every administrator of the previous years) asked for more time and cited the example of New Zealand's 26 years to win their 1st Test. Well Akram needs to study the history of the game and get the facts straight. New Zealand played only 47 Tests in those 26 years, 18 of which they had drawn against some of the best sides world cricket has ever seen. We have so far already played 53 Tests in 7 years and lost 50 of them (90% or more within 3 days), drew 2 of them because of inclement weather and won 1 against a second string Zimbabwe side. I think cricket followers of Bangladesh needs to be spared from this baseless comparison.

One is puzzled why a team that has beaten two top teams in the same tournament can end up losing to a lowly rated side like Ireland within a span of a week. After more than 7 years, Bangladesh cricket fans are questioning the plan, the purpose and the quality of our cricketers and cricket administrators. I am not surprised at all by their inability to compete at the highest level. The answer lies in the systematic dismantling of our cricketing culture over the last few years. We have preferred quantity to quality.

Cricket is a game that is played 80% with your head and 20% with the rest of your body. No matter how physically fit and strong you may be, if you cannot think and apply in the middle, you become ineffective and non-productive. I found it quite amusing when our media and the others in BD cricket found it exciting when our cricketers were subjected to a so called "commando" training organised by the BD Army. Simply put, if brawn was the only factor, then all the jawans would be excellent cricketers. That exercise, other than a cheap publicity stunt has not achieved anything positive. As expected, our boys were thrashed and humiliated against the Sri Lankans.

Prior to the 90's, the best players of the country came from the country's educational institutions. In the National Championships Dhaka University fielded the best team in the country. Schools like Scholastica, and Wills Little Flower produced some of the best young cricketers in the country. These players were scholar athletes. Slowly and systematically we have destroyed this process. Today, our cricketers are either illiterate or at best half-educated, which means that they have not even finished high school. Those that boast about going to college are enrolled only as a gesture. It would be interesting to test their academic skills. The opportunity to learn from the game's best players is lost because their lack of education prevents them from developing their communication skills. Good communication skills create inspiration amongst the players and we all know that a successful unit depends on communication and inspiration. I am not sure if our cricket team has these two qualities.

There is a myth circulated and established in Bangladesh by our administrators. If you play cricket you have to drop out of your academic programme. I clearly recall the past Chairman of the Selection Committee mentioning this to my nephew when he was barely 14 years old. Those who preach and practice this principle are committing a severe social crime. What is their responsibility to the ones who are not going to make the national grade? These youngsters will give up their studies to pursue a career in cricket, which eventually can be a high paying profession provided they make the grade. If not, which most of them will not, they are left to fend for themselves.

Some may argue that there are players like Sachin Tendulkar and a few others in Pakistan and India that have not finished high school. First of all, Tendulkar is a gifted genius and I don't think there will another Tendulkar in the next 40 to 50 years. Secondly, countries like India and Pakistan have set and developed their game encompassing players that came from highly educated background. Even Tendulkar developed his cricket amongst players with strong educational back grounds. It is a cact that Pakistani administrators are seriously concerned about their players' lack of proper educational background. There is no doubt that this drawback has hampered the team's performances in recent times. One should check the educational background of the senior Indian and Sri Lankan players. Sangakkara, one of the best wicket-keeper batsman in the world, studied law and I am told, is a qualified attorney. Mahendra Dhoni, apparently has enrolled himself into a from programme to enhance his education base. Why should one of the richest players in India have to go back to school? There is a valid reason for this.

Several years ago, during the days of former BCB Chief Macky Dudhia, I had submitted a plan on setting up a programme to educate our young cricketers. When I met Macky at Lord's during the Bangladesh-England Test, he expressed his disappointment in not being able to do anything with my memo although he believed in its substance totally. The plan is a simple one and is based on the US NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) program. Just to make the readers aware, Tiger Woods attended Stanford University as did John McEnroe the former Tennis great. Similarly, most of the best sportsmen in the USA have come through the collegiate programme including basketball greats Larry Bird, Irwin "Magic" Johnson, Shaquue O'Neal and countless others. Although they got enrolled in high profile US colleges under athletic scholarships, they had to maintain their required academic grades in order to keep their scholarships intact. The same principal can be applied to Bangladesh Cricket.

The ideal place to introduce such a programme would be the BCB Cricket Academy.

* Make it mandatory for all players to be full time students maintaining an average B grade. The BCB should hire 3 teachers on its own - one each for English, Math and Science. The players' training programme should be inclusive of their academic skills. If they fail to maintain their academic grades, they are to be dropped from the programme.

Schools and other educational institutions must be encouraged to promote the game. Student cricketers are to be carefully monitored. Again, if they drop their academic grades, they have to drop out of the cricket programme. The Board should not consider drop outs for selection.

Selection for the National teams should also be based on the academic skills of the players. The minimum average educational qualification of a player has to be a bachelor's degree. Again, no school drop - outs should be considered for selection. If the players do not make the academic grade they lose their position in the side and with that they lose their pay. Believe me, if they lose their income, they will study and make up their grades.

There is no use in hiring expensive high quality coaches for our poorly educated cricketers. It is a case of a Ph.D trying to teach physics to a group of elementary school students. Dav Whatmore, after being associated with our players for several years, expressed his frustration in Bangladesh's last WC pre-match interview.

He basically resigned to the fact that the players were just boys, over-zealous and simply lacked the experience and understanding on how to apply their potential abilities once they were in the middle. This was from a man who had coached BD cricket to supposedly great heights and is considered one of the best in the business. Since then, Whatmore has taken over the Indian Cricket Academy and their Under-19 squad that recently won the World Cup. Again, it is not up to the coach who imparts the training but to the players who must receive. They can only receive if they have the understanding and the education to support their ability to understand.

Give Jamie Siddons another year or two and he will also leave with similar sentiments.

Once the BCB sets the selection standards, the players will follow. At the moment it is the blind leading the blind. If Ashraful had come from a sound academic background and truly knew what cricket was all about, he would never have reacted the way he did when he got into a fist fight with a fan in the stands. This is unacceptable behaviour for any cricketer and the fact that he is the standing skipper of the national side makes it unpardonable. The way the BCB handled the situation is also quite appalling. It only goes to show the weakness of the BCB. Imagine someone like Ricky Ponting or Anil Kumble jumping into the stands to fight the crowd! Andy Flintoff was removed from his position when he was involved in a late night drinking binge during the World Cup of 2007. I wonder if local club interest prevailed over national interest in this case!

There is still time to save our cricket and our future cricketers. Implement the programme without any delay and if we are lucky, we may see the results in about 5 years or so. If not, we will continue to see personnel changes in the Board who will sing the same song like a broken record "We need more time."

Remember playing cricket and becoming a cricketer are two different things. Cricket creates character. It is a way of life and the are lessons to be learnt from this great game. Bangladesh is producing cricket players only. It is time we started producing some cricketers.

Opinion: VC for Sher-e-Bangla Agri-University

Dr. M. S. Haq

This refers to the letter of Professor M. Zahidul Haque (The New Nation - 04 July 2008) concerning the demand of Oikka Parishad - a united front of teachers' associations - for the recruitment of VC from within - I mean, from among qualified and competent professors of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka - Bangladesh.

Interesting though, the demand for VC for one of the country's public universities (SAU) has been brought to the notice of people of Bangladesh, the army-supported government and others at the time when the gap between the demand side and the supply side of food grains at local, national, global and other levels has widened in a unexpectedly disproportionate manner, relative to time, space and other variables - triggering a continual rise in food prices throughout the world and multiplying miseries of people especially the poor, among other things. World Bank president Robert B Zoellick's July 01, 2008 fire fighting call (I would like it call it in that way) via a letter to heads of the upcoming G-8 summit in Japan and major oil producers bears inter alia testimony to the gravity of existing and impending food crisis in the world.

Factors such as and as appropriate: a continuing energy crisis; ongoing impacts of climate change on global commons; an increasing scarcity of usable resources; governance related insufficiency - a lack of pluralism in local and national decision-making and so on; an inability on the part of science, engineering and technology and a lack people's interest in, and willingness for, minimization of wastage in a required manner; and trade imbalances; have been instrumental in affecting, in varying degrees, agricultural production, productivity and advancement in concerned countries.

It will not be out of place to mention here - at operation levels - the agriculture sector of concerned economies, especially that of poor economies is increasingly becoming vulnerable to, or victims of, for example: step motherly treatments by governments and others (attitudinal problems, per se); poor planning, budgeting and resources mobilization; land, as well as soil mismanagement; policy and institutional constraints; underperforming strategies; program, implementation, monitoring and follow-up related deficiencies; the paucity of skilled human resources, innovative initiatives, as well as entrepreneurial skills; inadequate or less than productive (or both) government-private sector partnerships; less than required breakthroughs; less than required incentives or absence of incentives for good performances or performers or both; unplanned or low quality (or both) use of lessons and best practices; and an apparent lack of clear vision in agricultural and allied areas. Kindly note the developments mentioned are, among other things, relative to time, space and other variables.

Taking into cognizance above and other related factors, it now appears a proper, sustainable and result-oriented consolidation, as well as harnessing of for example available resources (used in a wider sense) plus commitments, as well as motivations of all concerned including inter alia those of intellectuals, scientists, professionals, workers and students associated with domains of agriculture - and the support of a continuous and effective regime of accountability and transparency in pertinent areas - would be required for, among other things, dealing with food related challenges of Bangladesh on a continuous basis.

In that respect, an uninterrupted, peaceful, harmonious, continually re-inventing, impact-oriented and mutually satisfying (for students and teachers, per se) learning environment, as well as experience - as appropriate - at say, SAU will be a prerequisite at least for the period between now and the foreseeable future. I believe de-motivated, dissatisfied and divided teachers or students or both could do more harm than good to the nation particularly at this hour of global crisis - a united and productive front of agricultural practitioners is inter alia a need of the time.

It is expected the army-supported government will consider the above and other related factors while selecting and appointing a VC for Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. It is also expected the Oikka Parishad will explain, in a meaningful and transparent (people should know about it) manner and with facts and figures (as applicable), to relevant authorities the comparative, competitive and other advantages in favor of appointing a VC from among eligible and deserving SAU candidates - one of the purposes will be to assist the army-supported government in taking the right decision at the right time and cost to the satisfaction of all concerned and in the greater national interest.

The last word: agricultural teachers with no exception to those of SAU are, in an average sense, a vital component of the process for transforming agricultural knowledge, understanding, skills, inventions and innovations into solid results, outcomes and impacts in pursuits of enhancing production and productivity in areas say, sustainable agriculture, improving food security, maintaining eco system in a better fashion, eliminating hunger and minimizing poverty, to mention a few. The present day local and global challenges, as well as opportunities in areas of agriculture have been instrumental in inter alia increasing the importance of above teachers in that process manifold - both at home and in abroad. It is hoped the army-supported government will be mindful about the expectation of SAU teachers against the backdrop of above and other related developments.