The New Nation - Internet Edition

Preserving UN's image

UNITED Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has just concluded an official visit to Bangladesh. During the visit, Ban Ki-moon met with the President, the Chief Adviser, high officials, political leaders and took stock of the preparation for the ensuing election. He also paid a visit to the UNDP-funded Comprehensive Disaster Management Project. Ban Ki-moon praised the heroic struggles of the people in defence of their language and for attaining independence. He praised Bangladesh for its laudable achievements in such fields as population control, micro-credit and gender parity in education. With more than 9,000 army and police personnel serving the peacekeeping missions, Bangladesh is the second largest troops contributing country to the UN, Ban Ki-moon noted.

The United Nations has been a strategic development partner of Bangladesh. UNDP has been working in different fields including human resources development, poverty reduction, climate change and disaster management, and achievement of Millennium Development Goals for economic and social development in Bangladesh. Ban Ki-moon assured that the UN system would remain Bangladesh's close partner in facing challenges ahead.

As a world body the United Nations deals with inter-governmental issues, crises and conducts humanitarian missions. It works for maintaining international peace and security and solving disputes among nations by peaceful means. In very recent years, however, the role of the UN resident mission in Dhaka came under critical review both in Bangladesh and abroad. Hopefully the UN Secretary General has taken note of the criticisms of his organisation. The head of the world body is expected to make sure that UN officials would not invite any such criticism in future through involvement in any form in local socio-political affairs. UN personnel must remain above controversy, be equally acceptable to all and thus preserve the image of the world body.

Protecting Bangladesh's farmlands

BANGLADESH is losing one per cent of its agricultural land every year, agriculture experts said on the occasion of the World Food Day 2008 observed in the city the other day. Although Bangladesh is one of the major rice-producing countries of the world, lack of policy support for farmers and adverse climate change are the main barriers to ensuring food security. In fact, Bangladesh ranks fourth, after China. India and Indonesia, in rice production, but lack of land reform and suitable technology transfer at the field level has prevented it from further increasing the production of rice.

Moreover, negative impacts of climate change on agriculture and soaring food and input prices are posing extra challenges to the survival of millions of the landless and marginal farmers whose livelihood almost entirely depends on agriculture. The widespread creation of awareness on ways to increase agricultural production and improve livelihood security can be ensured by more intensive research and adoption of technologies adapting to climate change. Timely supply of agricultural inputs and development of rural infrastructure including irrigation, processing and marketing facilities are priority issues needing immediate attention.

The government's efforts to feed the country's 150 million people - and with two million new mouths to feed every year from a limited supply of agricultural land with access as low as 0.06 hectare per person - is acclaimed abroad as mentioned by the country representative of FAO. However, with one percent of agricultural land being occupied each year for other uses the rate of growth in agricultural yield has already started to stagnate. Prime agricultural lands are used not only for building homesteads and industries but also for erecting mobile phone transmission towers, among others. A land use plan for stopping such indiscriminate destruction of farmland is thus an urgent need of the hour.

Review job benefits of Public University teachers

Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque

The public universities continue to attract academic talents as a center of excellence. The teachers guide the learners through "lectures, tutorials, discussion, seminar and demonstration" and supervision of research and extra-curricular activities. They conduct various types of examinations such as tutorial, practical, comprehensive, annual written and viva voce. Besides, they organize courses, "preparing course curricula, mobilizing library resources and "performing such other functions as may be assigned to them by the vice chancellor. Study tour, excursion and picnic, arranged by the departments, serve to reduce distance between the teacher and the student. Academic planning in the context of time concerns the teachers with high-ups taking policy lead.

Academic management in accordance with ordinance and statutes is the exclusive preserve of academicians. Even academic ordinance; relevant regulations and timely amendments thereto, to be finally approved by the syndicate, are discussed first in academic committee, then in faculty meeting, before they are transmitted to the academic council for final recommendation. So the academics as the architects of institution building keep things going smoothly as a professional duty. They also contribute to the creation and expansion of department institute and faculties.

What potentials we have as inputs both in teaching-learning aspects, policy environment around the academic terrain is not propitious for the height of scholastic development the society expects from the university. The state of teaching is certain to come under close scrutiny as it is little away from professional ethics. True, we cannot expect much from the teachers as they are not duly rewarded for their services enjoying much less benefits than they actually deserve. We cannot expect required service from the machine if it is not properly lubricated. Mentionably, varsity teachers of the peripheries do not have much access to opportunities for teaching and consultancy outside the campus permissible under rules as a part of professional development compared to their counterparts in the central capital.

The prospects in the peripheries are bleak and the centrally located universities are better off according to the theory of comparative advantage. There are differences with regard off-campus professional practices among university teachers. Here social choice theory operates in the market value and the increasing demands for teaching services in certain areas of specialization. The teachers from English language|| literature background as well as commerce faculty teachers are in a position to meet the requirements of markets. Apart from a fortunate few, the majority among the public university teachers do not have access to modern urban facilities and valuables.

The salary structure including a limited number of allowance||remuneration permissible under the rules cannot be termed as real incentives compared to their contribution to social reconstruction. The young group of scholars as prodigies find themselves in a strange situation -little or no incentives in scanty salary structure. The seniors may feel disgruntled to see extremely high status of the privileged few rendering services in non-teaching sectors. They are exposed to the misfortune of competitive stress of economic life.

The university teachers try to give the learners much leeway to develop their academic talents and research potentials. So the existing state of economic conditions of the teachers does not have any legitimacy. More there should be an end of discrimination looming large in varsity teaching sector. The worries of the public primary school teachers with a profound sense of deprivation in a highly differentiated basic education system have reached a boiling point. This is because of the crucial issues of salaries and facilities. If such crises are not addressed at the foundation and higher levels there would be no use providing highest budgetary allocation to education sector. The crisis of differentiation that has reached a dizzying depth threatens to tarnish value bound image of public university teaching. Now we do not have much to brag about ethics and morality of the university teachers Full time activism of some self seeking academic actors elsewhere teaching their own students in a cavalier fashion seriously undermine basic values of academic culture. This is due largely to a robust difference between public and private universities with regard to salary structure.

The care taker government (CTG) concerns much about good governance with a continuing endeavor to curb corruption. It would like to see new policy environment in the terrain of academicians. We appreciate any move intended to ensure academic governance. All the same it is high time to address the predicaments of public university teachers. One potent way might be to favourably consider a separate pay scale for the public university. There is a need to work out the details about the structure of separate pay scale with a good deal of caution. Otherwise things will turn in to a zero sum game. Alternatively incentives as a motivation may be considered within the national pay scale. Ensuring full time engagement of the teachers only in the campus requires emoluments full of incentives including remuneration package, allowances and necessary logistics.

The house rent to be fixed at a reasonable rate, should be same for all public universities. Book allowance should be given on monthly basis. Teachers as researchers may claim reimbursements for expenses in research works. In addition institutional arrangement for advancement of house building loans to be paid on easy installments may well be taken into consideration. Remuneration package may also include remuneration for course works (core and non core courses) by the teaching staff. It will improve quality of teaching reinforcing their commitment based on accountability and transparency. A proposal for a reasonable remuneration package may be drafted for open discussion, persuasion and advocacy. Research publications of the academicians require financial and marketing supports. But publications for commercial purpose run counter to the concept of academic ethics. Students should be encouraged to buy those published works that contain research values and recommended reading materials.

Well, we may comprehensively think additional income support through remuneration package and other facilities. Money required to give that support is possible if public university could lesson dependence on government in financial matters that undermines its autonomous status.

The public universities through well conceived action plan can tap their vast reservoir of resources and explore internal sources for generation of funds to extend additional income support to the teachers. In Dhaka University there is an umpteen opportunity for providing teachers with remuneration facilities from the utilization of its strategic resources as capital. The Chittagong University can chalk out a long term plan of action to fully utilize its natural endowments. Wastages and unnecessary investments that may result in sunk costs may exhaust the fund drawn from the internal sources. This should be avoided.

We should not have much reservation about the introduction of second shift in the public universities. It will harness mobilization of internal resources. At times it will benefit the admission seekers who might have qualified in the admission test but could not finally get any chance for entrance as they could not find a position in the merit list. In view of the massive explosion of merits in the HSC examination increasing number of students with astounding academic feat needs to be admitted in .the public universities for the sake of quality education.

With a long list of merits getting A+ the competition for enroll in a limited number of positions has become much tougher. So, double shift can meet the exigencies of the circumstances. Professor Mozaffar Ahmed, Chairman of TIB, suggested introduction of double shifts or evening shifts at the public universities and reputed private universities to meet the present crisis. Yet, the outcomes will be disastrous if double shift is set in motion in an unprecedented haste ignoring the opinions of the stakeholders. We need a rational policy posture in this respect based on meticulous conceptual exercise and broad based consensus.

(The author is Professor, Dept. of Public Administration, University of Chittagong)

A conspiracy so immense

Naomi Wolf

Is this the age of the conspiracy? Plenty of evidence suggests that we are in something of a golden age for citizen speculation, documentation, and inference that takes shape - usually on the Internet - and spreads virally around the globe.

In the process, conspiracy theories are pulled from the margins of public discourse, where they were generally consigned in the past, and sometimes into the very heart of politics.

I learned this by accident. Having written a book about the hijacking of executive power in the United States in the Bush years, I found myself, in researching new developments, stumbling upon conversations online that embrace narratives of behind-the-scenes manipulation.

There are some major themes. A frequent one in the US is that global elites are plotting - via the Bilderberg Group and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others - to establish a "One World Government" dominated by themselves rather than national governments. Sometimes, more folkloric details come into play, broadening the members of this cabal to include the Illuminati, the Freemasons, Rhodes Scholars, or, as always, the Jews.

The hallmarks of this narrative are familiar to anyone who has studied the transmission of certain story categories in times of crisis. In literary terms, this conspiracy theory closely resembles The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, featuring secretive global elite with great power and wicked aims. Historically, there tends to be the same set of themes: fearsome, uncontrolled transformative change led by educated, urbanised cosmopolitans.

Students of Weimar Germany know that sudden dislocations and shocks - rapid urbanisation, disruption of traditional family and social ties, loosening of sexual restrictions, and economic collapse - primed many Germans to become receptive to simplistic theories that seemed to address their confusion and offer a larger meaning to their suffering.

Similarly, the "9/11 Truth Movement" asserts that Al Qaeda's attack on the Twin Towers was an "inside job." In the Muslim world, there is a widespread conspiracy theory that the Israelis were behind those attacks, and that all Jews who worked in the buildings stayed home that day.

Usually, conspiracy theories surface where people are poorly educated and a rigorous independent press is lacking. So why are such theories gaining adherents in the US and other affluent democracies nowadays?

Today's explosion of conspiracy theories has been stoked by the same conditions that drove their acceptance in the past: rapid social change and profound economic uncertainty. A clearly designated "enemy" with an unmistakable "plan" is psychologically more comforting than the chaotic evolution of social norms and the workings - or failures - of unfettered capitalism.

And, while conspiracy theories are often patently irrational, the questions they address are often healthy, even if the answers are frequently unsourced or just plain wrong.

In seeking answers, these citizens are reacting rationally to irrational realities. Many citizens believe, rightly, that their mass media are failing to investigate and document abuses. Newspapers in most advanced countries are struggling or folding, and investigative reporting is often the first thing they cut. Concentration of media ownership and control further fuels popular mistrust, setting the stage for citizen investigation to enter the vacuum.

Likewise, in an age when corporate lobbyists have a free hand in shaping - if not drafting - public policies, many people believe, again rightly, that their elected officials no longer represent them. Hence their impulse to believe in unseen forces.

Finally, even rational people have become more receptive to certain conspiracy theories because, in the last eight years, we actually have seen some sophisticated conspiracies.

The Bush administration conspired to lead Americans and others into an illegal war, using fabricated evidence to do so. Is it any wonder, then, that so many rational people are trying to make sense of a political reality that really has become unusually opaque? When even the 9/11 commissioners renounce their own conclusions (because they were based on evidence derived from torture), is it surprising that many want a second investigation?

Frequently enough, it is citizens digging at the margins of the discourse - pursuing such theories - who report on news that the mainstream media ignores. For example, it took a "conspiracy theorist," Alex Jones, to turn up documentation of microwave technologies to be used by police forces on US citizens. The New Yorker confirmed the story much later - without crediting the original source.

The mainstream media's tendency to avoid checking out or reporting what is actually newsworthy in Internet conspiracy theories partly reflects class bias. Conspiracy theories are seen as vulgar and lowbrow.

So even good, critical questions or well-sourced data unearthed by citizen investigators tend to be regarded as radioactive to highly educated formal journalists.

The real problem with this frantic conspiracy theorizing is that it leaves citizens emotionally agitated but without a solid ground of evidence upon which to base their worldview, and without constructive directions in which to turn their emotions. This is why so many threads of discussion turn from potentially interesting citizen speculation to hate speech and paranoia. In a fevered environment, without good editorial validation or tools for sourcing, citizens can be preyed upon and whipped up by demagogues, as we saw in recent weeks at Sarah Palin's rallies after Internet theories painted Barack Obama as a terrorist or in league with terrorists.

We need to change the flow of information in the Internet age. Citizens should be able more easily to leak information, pitch stories, and send leads to mainstream investigative reporters. They should organise new online entities in which they pay a fee for direct investigative reporting, unmediated by corporate pressures.

And citizen investigators should be trained in basic journalism: finding good data, confirming stories with two independent sources, using quotes responsibly, and eschewing anonymity - that is, standing by their own bylines, as conventional reporters do.

This is how citizens can be taken - and take themselves - seriously as documenters and investigators of our common situation. In a time of official lies, healthy investigative energy should shed light, not just generate heat.

Opinion: More on 1954 elections

M.T. Hussain

Mr. Abdur Rahim's item published in the New Nation on the 1st November (08) was an useful piece recalling back the 1954 election, its fairness, in particular, in then East Pakistan. But I found some points not only missing but also some others contradictory.

Among the missing points that I could identify, first, the three politicians mentioned in the article who happened to stay back in Pakistan (West) following 1971 had not all been of the Muslim League. The lone Muslim Leaguer was (Marhum) Nurul Amin, Tridib Roy, still alive and settled in Islamabad, belonged to no political party as he was the Chakma Raja of the former East Pakistan, and (Marhum) Mahmud Ali had all along been a leftist except in pre 1947 period being in the Assam Muslim Students' League. I mention here their political difference and identity to be put on record in exact, and further that they stayed back in Pakistan following 1971 division not for three different reasons of their own but for a single outlook. I say so with full authority as I happened to know them all and their stance in the concerned matter not before 1971 but afterwards. Among the student leaders, Khaleq Nawaz Khan, who defeated Nurul Amin in the 1954 election from Nandail, there was another who happened to be my close one, not less noteworthy than Nawaz, Matiur Rahman, then in 1954 election a staunch Student Leaguer who campaigned for Nawaz for eleven days at Nandail so much laboriously that he fell gravely ill as soon the election was over, Nawaz won defeating Chief Minister Nurul Amin. This Matiur Rahman (later on done a Doctorate in history in the SOAS, London) of Ahmadpur, Nabinagar did lined up with the post 1971 ideological stance of the three leaders mentioned above although he stayed then in London, but on passing away in 1982, he preferred his mortal remains to be buried in the Islamabad National Grave Yard that was duly done by his family living (Grave No IV-31 well marked in marble stone) then and still now in London. Marhum Nurul Amin remains buried in the precincts of the Mausoleum of the Quaid E Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah being visited everyday by thousands of visitors paying their respects and devotees offering Fateha there coming from home and abroad. Marhum Mahmud Ali of Sunamganj (Bangladesh) also is buried there in the Islamabad National Grave Yard ( d.17 Nov. 2006) just as another renowned Pakistan Observer (Dacca) journalist M. Fazlur Rahman (Pabna-Sujanagar), as well, got his place for final rest there ( Grave No. 111/44) in March 2003.

The matter that seemed to me contradictory is that how could the 'autocratic' Muslim League Government of the then East Pakistan keep the bureaucracy neutral so much so that even the seating Chief Minister of East Pakistan Nurul Amin had been defeated in the 1954 polls?

The matter as that happened in reality proved beyond reasonable doubt that they were the angels who not only adhered to gentle democratic norms but also remained above corruption, nepotism, black money earning through political careers unlike those we have been experiencing here in independent Bangladesh. Thus it could be well presumed in retrospect that the Muslim League Government of East Pakistan in 1954 fell not for their autocratic governance but for the propaganda hype powerfully engineered against them by the fifth columnists from inside and outside to which people fell victims mainly due to ignorance. Just now, I recall the propaganda rhetoric among many cheap items in matters of Shdad Er Behesht (Shahbag Hotel), Dana Kata Parir Bazar (New Market) all such built and provided by the Muslim League Government of Nurul Amin in the then provincial capital Dacca (spelled that way) and now Dhaka.