The New Nation - Internet Edition

Automation in customs collection

THE Chief Adviser inaugurated the Automation of Chittagong Customs House on Monday. This has been done as part of government initiative for macro-economic and structural reforms to ensure a better business and investment-friendly environment in the country. This is expected to accelerate international trading through easier delivery and quicker online services. This customs house automation has been the culmination of prolonged efforts. Before this, a number of projects involving Taka 250 crore had been taken for similar objectives on different occasions but those could not be implemented.

Customs clearance in Bangladesh had been a most complicated and lengthy process. It involved a 42-step customs procedure. In his speech on the occasion, the Army chief brought serious allegation of corruption, mismanagement, irregularities and harassment at the port. Following the automation of the House all such malpractices are expected to be removed leading to transparency in revenue collection. This is also expected to accelerate loading and unloading of goods and give a momentum to the national economy. Through simplification of the customs mechanism, automation would bring it down to only a five-step process as against the lengthy one and underhand dealings that increase business costs. The computerised system would make assessment and billing easier and help double revenue income by 2010.

The whole process of customs clearance in the country needs to be automated to ensure smooth foreign trade and corruption-free revenue collection. Loopholes in the system must be sealed as far as possible as part of strict vigilance. One important feature of the customs house automation is that this vital system has been set up depending fully on locally developed software. Automation of Chittagong Customs House is expected to give impetus to overall revenue collection.

Power for boro cultivation

AS reported in the press the supply of power to farm sector may remain uncertain in the current season. It is so, due to the fact that the Rural Electrification Board (REB) has not yet obtained the budgetary allocation for purchase of electricity and distribution of the same to farmers. The REB has reportedly submitted a proposal for allocation of 196 crore Taka for supply of electricity to over two lakh farmers. The electricity will be used for irrigation of farm lands in the current autumn season. The supply of diesel also turned uncertain, due to uptrend of price of oil.

The normal demand for electricity in rural areas is around 1850 MW. It may cross 2650 MW in the current season, when more farmers will use electricity for irrigation purposes. That being so, the supply of electricity to rural areas has to be made pragmatic. The Ministry of Energy and Power, that supervises the operations of different agencies in the power sector, has to respond to the demands raised by those agencies, including the REB. The use of power for production of Boro crops has to be ensured. Otherwise, the production of those crops may remain uncertain and the ultimate burden would fall upon the farmers.

The reported target of Boro production, upto 197 lakh tonnes from the over 46 lakh hectares of farm land, may be achieved if the supply of power is ensured. But the delay in the allocation of fiscal resources to the REB and other official agencies may turn the supply of electricity to farm lands uncertain. The allocated fund will be used by the REB to meet the increasing demand of farmers in the country, who would use power for production of Boro crops in the current season.

US Polls 2008: Some observations

Dr. M. S. Haq

Governor Sarah Palin would be required to cross several hurdles though, before she could snatch the US presidency from continuing male domination, so far. My assumption - Sarah Palin could become first women president of the US - is based on, among other things and as appropriate, existing plus anticipated events, factors and uncertainties that are or would be or both associated, whether in part or in full, with: upcoming presidential election in November 2008 and outcomes of that election; upcoming US administration after the election and outcomes of that administration; outcomes of Palin's performance initially as the vice president; and the next presidential election (after 2008) and outcomes of that election; to mention a few.

The cause, the effect and the causality that are and would be connected with, and ancillary to, Palin's becoming first women president of the US appear - at present - to be diverse, complicated and variability-laden, among other things. Further, critical masses of the cause, the effect and the causality of Palin's becoming first woman president of the US will, among other things and in varying degrees, be proportional to the amount of synergies between and among election and related factors - within and beyond - the direct reach of Palin, Senator McCain, the rest of republican party, the democrats, and concerned others at physical and other levels at any given time between now and the foreseeable future. In that respect, one of the challenges will be: how best and quickest the republican party could maximize votes of undecided and inter-party voters in its favor, maximize the participation of republican voters in the election and capitalize the media (print, electronic, others) opportunities (debate, discourses, ads.) - all in support of for example, its nominees and agendas.

The findings of subjective and objective examinations of - Palin could become first women president of the US - based on say, today's (3rd day of October 2008) premises, would lead us to, among other things, a host of assumptions, probabilities and possibilities - spreading over a variety of time horizons. The time dimension of Palin's case and the outcome of her efforts towards becoming the first women president would dependent on for example and as appropriate: how best (the term best represents both best positive and best negative) and quickest existing and evolving situations in relevant areas could turn further in her favor or go further against her plans or a combination of both between now and the future; how best and quickest she could avail herself of resultant opportunities (I mean outcomes of possible developments mentioned in the above sentence), transform resultant challenges into opportunities and harness all those opportunities in her favor or would fail to do those things or a combination of both; and how best and quickest she could become a good material for say, functionally effective president or otherwise.

The overall chance of winning this year's (2008) presidential race by Senator McCain is apparently brighter than that of Senator Obama. In that respect, some of the reasons and factors - as appropriate - have been presented below.

1. The gap between demand sides and supply sides of Senator Obama as a wartime president (I mean in terms of say, potentials) is apparently wider than that of Senator McCain because the latter has got more marketable, as well as acceptable and smarter personal (including inter alia personality), professional (for example, a Vietnam veteran) and party profiles than those of the former. In other words, the overall candidacy profile of McCain appears to be more compatible with the candidacy requirement for say, a new war time commander-in-chief - who will not accept anything but victory in the war on terror, at least: (a) for the sake of those Americans who have sacrificed so far their life or their normal living or both and for those Americans who will do that till the major part of war is won - for an instance; (b) for the sake of those Americans who will not carry the burden of defeat (in the war) to for example, the next generation Americans; (c) for the sake of say, those ordinary Americans who wish to enjoy their individual and collective progress and prosperity vis-à-vis their security on a continuous basis and in an incremental fashion and (d) for the sake of those who have been supporting the people of US in the effort towards peace, security, freedom, liberty, democracy and economic growth in the world, to mention a few - than that of Senator Obama;

2. Senator Obama's war strategies have so far undergone far more surgical procedures including inter alia those relating to organ transplants - at conceptual and other levels - than those of Senator McCain. It tends to indicate inter alia the stances of Senator Obama and for that matter the democratic party on war on terror are shaky, sweetened at times by skillful rhetoric, full of doubts in terms of their eventual implementation and insufficiently reliable, to mention a few. Senator Obama has by now changed colors a number of times when it comes to articulating his rhetorical stances on war on terror. Further, his statements on war on terror are at times found to be cursory, lacking depth, as well as maturity, and nearly irresponsible. For example, his answers to a question on war on terror on the Pakistani front bear testimony to that. On the other hand, Senator McCain's answers to the same question were found to intelligent, reality based, professionally enriched and diplomacy-wise skillful.

One of the concerns here is: a windfall from above and related developments has been instrumental in inter alia creating, sustaining and promoting confusions in the minds of people about, for example: whether or not presidential candidate Obama will deliver or will be able to deliver his strategies in pertinent areas after he becomes for example, the next president of US. I believe the country needs at this critical juncture of its history a president who would be a solid doer and not a mere speaker. Transactions of Senator McCain so far with the people of US and others tend to suggest he will be a doer president, adequately immune from limitations of legal mindsets and lawyers' syllables.

3. The candidacy of Senator McCain could benefit from a sizeable amount of votes from supporters of Senator Clinton who had fail to win this year's democratic presidential nomination and from the country's Jewish community, among others. Further, the prospect of Senator McCain getting democratic votes from the Muslim community has been brightening day by day. In the midst of above and related developments, it will not, however, be out of place to mention here, those Muslim people and Muslim countries whose expectations from Senator Obama are at present running high could confront, in the future, a totally unexpected situation wherein they might find Senator Obama to be a top anti-Muslim US president - if he is eventually elected, though. He might perhaps elect to take that kind of position - in order for him to demonstrate before the people of US and the world at large that he is not anti-Christian, anti-Jew and anti-so on due to his previous Muslim background.

4. The outcome of influence of black factor and white factor on 2008 voting decisions would not, in an average sense, show any earth shaking change from previous trends in pertinent areas - because the country is for example, yet to be able to get itself freed from say, the culture of calling African Americans - black, unless an unexpectedly drastic change associated with above factors occurs between now and the day of election - both days inclusive - in the minds of majority of voters. There could be changes in voting patterns of African American and Hispanic voters - the outcome could go both in favor of and against Senator Obama, in varying degrees though.

Further, voting decisions in favor of Senator Obama could be affected (I mean in a negative way), to an extent, on account of his birth centered Muslim connections, per se.

5. if a vacancy occurs in the area of presidential nominee for any reason whatsoever and if for example, Senator Clinton becomes a new presidential nominee (the runner up in democratic presidential nominee race of 2008) - provided that the law of the land permits as such - it could then be difficult for Senator Clinton to attract majority of votes from Obama camp, among other things. In that event, an additional number of votes from Obama camp might go to Senator McCain.

If a vacancy occurs in the republican side for any reason whatsoever, a reconfigured vote matrix could come into force, among other things. While it is hoped the vacancies will not occur, Bush administration will continue to provide the required security to all presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2008 election. Besides, it is expected contingency plans are available to both the republicans and the democrats for meeting emergencies of above and related nature.

6. Party differentials relating to core agendas (I mean election agendas) of the democrats and the republicans have so far been found to be minimal and as such the comparative, competitive and other advantages in terms of future theories, practices and recycling pertaining to those agendas lie, in many respects, in the ruling republican party.

Closely relating to that, is the fact: none of the parties has so far been able to present to the people some kind of a breakthrough - at least in theories - that could act as an additional motivation for undecided voters to vote for the concerned party. In light of above, one of the assumptions here is: maximum number of voters might elect to vote for what I would call - building the US on existing capacities - brightening further the prospect for Senator McCain to win the election; and

7. Senator McCain - if elected - will become the second president in the third consecutive republican term. I believe it would not pose a great challenge to undecided voters to vote for Senator McCain because the labor party of UK is currently enjoying its third consecutive term in the government.

In short it can be said inter alia the window of opportunity is still wide open for Senator McCain, Sarah Palin and rest of the republican party to benefit from their respective comparative, competitive and other advantages in pursuits of say, winning the upcoming election.

The bottom line is: God willing - Senator McCain will be elected as the next US president and Governor Sarah Palin will become the vice president.

Sarah Palin could become the president of US in the event the position of president becomes vacant - for any reason whatsoever - during McCain administration (to be). Alternatively, Sarah Palin could become a republican presidential nominee after a successful term as the vice president and subject to the vacancy then available for her plus fulfillment of requirements then in existence.

Taking into cognizance above possibilities, it is expected Sarah Palin will devote her full energy and entrepreneurial, as well as diplomatic skills in pursuits of supplementing and complementing the effort of Senator McCain and for that matter the republican party towards winning the presidential race of 2008.

One more thing: President Bush is not, as at today, a lame duck republican president of the US - he is still continuing with a full presidential life - his recent successes pertaining to for example, Indo-US nuke deals and bailout programs bear testimony to that.

The last word: the success of Sarah Palin in becoming the vice president this time would be, in a sense, a step forward towards mainstreaming women in domains of politics, governance and development, among other things. Wishing well to President Bush, all presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the US, people of the US and others! God bless.

Who gains economically from Indo-US nuclearism

Dr.Abdul Ruff

The world economic giant USA is reeling under devastating economic crunch and it seeks support of world economies, and Indian money, for a bailout. America has been trying all the tricks of the trade to mitigate the economic crisis. India has been longing for a foothold in USA under some pretext and the nuclelarism is expected to do the magic. Washington would like India to join the anti-Islamic terror forces engaged in killing Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq, while USA is expected to come away from Pakistan ties and closer to New Delhi. Further, India is duty bound to assist the USA in all possible ways including economically and financially. Since India has enough experience in torturing and killing Muslims in Kashmir and India, USA is eager to engage the trained Indian terror forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and in all future invasions and, in return, India would get some bones as service charges. Both china and Pakistan could be easily scared by India's emerging proximity with the tallest terror power of the world.

After dealing the nuclelarism deal for a along time, USA quickly passed the bill to cash in at the right time. Indian government influenced the Senate members of USA directly and through its mission in Washington and non-government agencies including business magnets camping in the USA. Needless to state that lot resources has been wasted in bribing the big guys in the USA to "clinch" the Indian nuclear issue. As a follow-up action of meeting between Indian and US top leaders in USA recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to India on Sept 04 to commemorate - but it seems not put her signature to - a historic deal that opens up U.S. nuclear trade with India. A signing ceremony that had been scheduled was dropped ostensibly because, according to U.S. officials, a series of administrative steps have yet to be taken in Washington following Senate approval of authorizing legislation last week. Rice was meeting here with top government officials, including Prime Minister Manmohan and political opposition leaders. Even without a signing ceremony during her visit, Rice said, "I'm going to draw a line under this" deal to strengthen and broaden the relationship. She said the agreement "removes for India a barrier to full integration on a whole range of technologies"said it was not certain whether she would sign the deal on her visit. .

President Bush has yet to sign the authorizing legislation, and once he does he is required to certify that the agreement with India is consistent with U.S. obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. He must also certify that it is U.S. policy to cooperate with international efforts to further restrict transfers of technology related to uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. In Washington Rice had announced she expected the civil nuclear cooperation agreement will trigger an across-the-board expansion of American-Indian relations. Rice said only administrative - not substantive - matters were delaying the signing of the agreement.

Critics in India argue the constraints compromise their country's right to conduct nuclear bomb tests. The deal, which has been approved by the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, gives India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities. It ends a boycott imposed by nuclear supplier states because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The leftists are dead against bringing Indian foreign policy into US scrutiny and control.

The US Senate approved the deal Sept 30, ending a three-decade ban on nuclear trade with Delhi to "liberate" itself from "the constraints of technology denial of 34 years". The U.S. agreement on civil nuclear cooperation allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India's civilian - but not military - nuclear plants. Indian ruling regime has had a rough ride over the agreement in India from critics who say it will bring the country's foreign policy too much under US influence.

A BBC world affairs correspondent says the deal is the best of a bad situation for some, including the IAEA, as it will subject India to a more substantial inspection regime than at present. But many say it undermines the NPT because it effectively acknowledges that India has nuclear weapons while not being a signatory to the treaty. They argue it sets a bad example for countries like Iran and will spark off a nuclear arms race in Asia.

Rice said it was not certain whether she would sign the deal on her visit. The Bush administration has made the deal one of its key foreign policy achievements and hopes the agreement will bolster ties with India which were cooled during the Cold War. America has restricted nuclear co-operation with India since 1974, after it tested a nuclear weapon. Trade volume would expand, but the nuclear tensions would also raise considerbly snce n nuclear power has so far renounced nuclear arms unilaterally.

President Bush personally considers the deal a crowning achievement of the president's second term in office and hopes his party candidate McCain would be his successor in White House. If at all, it could, however, turn out to be the last major diplomatic achievement of a presidency that is struggling in its final months on a number of other fronts, including a setback in relations with Russia after its invasion of Georgia and the prospect of a breakdown in a nuclear agreement with North Korea.

Throughout the Cold War, relations between India and the USA were chilly. In the past decade, however, ties have grown closer in a range of areas, including trade, energy and security. The United States is now India's largest trading partner. U.S. opponents of the nuclear agreement say lawmakers rushed consideration of a complicated deal that could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. The extra fuel the measure allows India to purchase, those critics say, could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic fuel for weapons.

India keeps adding more precision weapons to its nuclear arsenals. But India says the "US deal" is vital to meet civilian energy demands, but critics say it undermines efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. Increasingly, India figures into U.S. strategic interests in other ways, including its long standoff with neighboring Pakistan. The Pakistani government is concerned about US strengthening a terror state in the region and USA-India due would encircle Pakistan in future. USA wants to use India as a bargaining chip with Pakistan on its terror agenda in Pakistan.

India claims by 2050 nuclear power is expected to provide 25% of the country's electricity. India has limited coal and uranium reserves. Its huge thorium reserves - about 25% of the world's total - are expected to fuel its nuclear power program long-term. The real purpose of nuclear energy, however, is to make more weapons to scare its neighbors. USA is keen to use India against China. Enemy's enemy is a friend and that is the basis of Indo-US deal now. Other wise, why should the global terrorist USA suspect Iran of its nuclear energy ambitions?

It sees India has pledged huge cash apart from support for US actions around the world. India is not trusted by the USA and other world nations, because it does not pay the retirement benefits to Muslim employees as promised by the government laws and rules. And, hence, Rice has been instructed by the Bush administration not to sign the finale until further orders.

Indo-US relations are bases on mutual suspicions and hatred. India flirts around Washington with its newly acquired cash for military-nuclear relationship that would undermine US-Pakistan reactions. It appears the USA now under severe economic depression and financial crisis affecting the global finances very badly, has received bulk of the sum pledged by India during the Singh visit to USA recently for the passage of the "deal", and the remaining cash is supposedly cleared during the Rice visit to Delhi. USA seems to be annoyed that after the clearance by the US Senate of the bill, India has taken the matter as a "usual" matter is reluctant to pay the balance amount. Unless India pays the reminder amount ot USA and the mediators, USA would not sign the final document.

India built its nuclear bombs outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it refuses to sign. It has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974; its most recent nuclear test blast was in 1998. Rice said she spoke Oct 03 morning with the administration's chief nuclear envoy to North Korea, Christopher Hill, who was in Pyongyang this week to try to persuade the North Koreans to resume dismantling their nuclear problem in exchange for energy aid. USA seems to have second thought on the 'deal" with Hindu India to subsidize its energy resources accumulation efforts. Indian ambitions to become a strong competitor to USA in world markets and regional power games do not make USA any happy, though Indian cash is luring them into the "deal".