The New Nation - Internet Edition

For free and fair elections

WHETHER the upcoming national elections should be held under emergency or not, appears to have become the bone of contention between the government on the one side and the political parties and various pressure groups on the other. The government has its obvious stand for retaining the emergency to at least cover the election period. The same stems from the concern that once emergency is lifted, political forces could get drawn once again into unpredictable behaviour sensing the greater freedom to be able to do so.

This is just not an idle possibility but a very real one in view of the experiences in the political realm of Bangladesh in the recent past. The Chief Adviser has been reiterating that emergency rules would be relaxed to the maximum to facilitate political activities and only some emergency powers would be retained to tackle any untoward situation that might threaten the election. The position of the political parties and their supporters is that elections and emergency laws are incompatible. Observers and opinion givers on the Bangladesh political situation should realise that they must not equate conditions in their own countries with what is obtaining in Bangladesh.

Political leaders and parties in the European Union (EU) and the USA are far more responsible entities which can be trusted for responsible pre and post-electoral activities in the public interest. Can the same be said about the political players in Bangladesh? Yet all concerned should ponder whether there can be a way out to approach the election with a safety mechanism? Surety of the elections getting held in time and properly without being muddled by violence and free play of muscle and other evils must be ensured for transition to democracy. All stakeholders may see and accept the greater merit of this view.

Caring for teenage foreign brides

THE British government, according to a recent report from London, is to increase the age at which foreigners can apply for a marriage visa to crack down on forced marriages in Britain. The age of sponsorship will be upped from the current 18 to 21, the Home Office said, outlining proposals aimed at strengthening what the British government considers 'the safeguards' against the practice. According to the government, the 'Forced Marriage Unit' dealt with 69 cases of overseas forced marriage in 2007 involving young people aged 18 to 21 - about 30 per cent of its workload.

The British Home Secretary said recently that forced marriage led to victims suffering years of physical and mental abuse and - in extreme cases - 'unlawful imprisonment and rape'. He asserted that his government is 'determined' to do everything it can to stamp it out and ensure that victims receive the help and support they need. Other measures announced a few months ago include asking foreign spouses to agree to learn English before going to Britain and a new power to revoke leave to remain if the marriage is found to be forced.

British citizens have the right to marry whomever they choose. But the government wants that the newcomers to succeed in the society and sign up to the standards that are in common meaning 'freedom', not beingforced to marry someone, and it means newcomers quickly acquiring a command over English, with consequences for those who break the rules as stated by Britain's immigration secretary. A national help-line for forced marriage and 'honour' crime victims was launched in Britain in April last. Run by a charity but backed by the government, it is concerned about the scale of the problem among people of South Asian origin.

A visit that carries political relevance

Md. Masum Billah

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary General of United Nations, ended his four nation South Asia tour visiting Bangladesh at the beginning of this week. He toured India, the Philippines, and Nepal before coming to Bangladesh.

Our foreign Advisor Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said about the visit of Secretary General "UN Secretary General's visit would be in recognition of various achievements made by the country." Ban said that Bangladesh is the second contributor to UN peacekeeping force with more than 9000 troops and police officers.. He recalled his first visit to Bangladesh in 1975 as a Korean government official. He lauded the warm hospitality of the people of Bangladesh and was impressed to witness the development Bangladesh achieved in the last three decades.

Listing the laudable achievements he said, "They defended their language when it was threatened, they fought for independence when the odds stood against them, they reduced the rate of population reached alarming levels and they gave the poor a change to prove their credit worthiness through micro-credit."

He visited a micro-financing program of Grameen Bank in Bogra and a UN funded disaster reduction and climate adaptation programme in Sirafgonj. He was impressed to see the development Bangladesh made in some sectors. The work of NGOs and rural communities made him impressed and he expressed his hope that a huge potentialities lie ahead for Bangladesh. It is known to us that due to political instability and crisis we lag behind. In this respect Ban's comment makes us hopeful " You new face the challenge of ensuring a smooth return to a better democracy-a democracy that is sustainable and responsive to the needs of the people. In making this happen I hope that the country and its leaders will be inspired by the best of Bangladesh's history and its rich cultural heritage. I saw clearly that democracy belongs in Bangladesh, there is no insurmountable obstacle to sustainable democracy after the election in December. "

Really the December ballot is a historic opportunity for us. Now is the moment to stand against the polarization and violence that have chartreuse our past elections.

This is an opportunity for the country and in particular the political parties to address the serious problems that have given rise to the politics of confrontation and violence. Ban said, "Much commendable work has been done to prepare for a credible election in December.

The photo voter list commands widespread confidence. I am proud that the UN was able to contribute toward the important achievement." Ban has a long experience of international affairs. He was a member of the Republic of Korea; the eighth Secretary General of the UN brings to his post 37 years of service both in government and on the global stage.

He was in his country's Minster for Foreign Affairs and Trade. His long tenure with the ministry included postings in New Delhi, Washington D.C. and Vienna and responsibility for a variety of portfolios, including foreign policy, Adviser to the president, Chief National Security Adviser to the president, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director General of American Affairs have made him mature and rich in the present global stage and crisis. he has long-standing ties with the UN dating back to 1975 when he worked for the Foreign Ministry's United Nation Division. We hope his exercise will see its full potential to address the un-resolving issues the preset world faces.

Ban was born on 13 June, 1944. He and his wife Madam Yoo Soon taek, met in high school in 1962. They are blessed with one son and two daughters. Ban speaks Korean, English and French.

Ban met the president, Chief Advisor , top ranking leaders of big political parties and the chief of Armed forces and the He was ensured by Caretaker government and military leadership that they would ensure the forthcoming election will be free, fare and credible and there will be no intervention and interference in any political process.

He told the political parties that they should play a responsible role and there should be fair competition and they should respect the poll results and have full cooperation based on democratic rules among themselves. It is hoped by all democratic minded people that the culture of blame game and vote rigging will come to an end and they will honour the words of the world human guardian Ban Ki-moon.

Bangladesh is implementing an national plan of action for Education for All launched in 2003. The recent UNESCO report reveals that 18 million more teachers are needed worldwide if universal primary education is to be achieved by 2015.it is one of the potential threats to reach the goal. Bangladesh is one those countries. UN's active role is expected in this regard. Our future government must deal with this affair in close collaboration with the UN.

He spoke on climate change and global financial crisis. Bangladesh is sub-tropical country which is vulnerable to global warming and its effects on crops, oil, insect, weeds and disease have been alarming. People of Bangladesh urges to set up a climate research institute in Dhaka with the help of UNO. Of course, such kind of demand was not raised by any quarter whom he talked to. We do hope the future movement will take initiative concerning the issue.

In spite of political crisis and frequent natural disasters Bangladesh has emerged as an important player in the developing world. Ban Ki-moon's visit further proves it.

Global recession: One of the crises facing the human society

Dr Rahul Pandey

I do not remember witnessing this kind of global panic in my lifetime. Probably the twin towers crash generated a reaction of similar magnitude as the recent financial meltdown and recession.

Among others, a lot of well off people are going to be directly affected by the current financial crisis, hence these high decibel alarm bells. Significant market values of high profile companies have been wiped out, rich individuals who invest actively in stock market have suffered devaluation, many companies have begun to fire employees and cut costs, and as bigger companies face slowdown, their smaller suppliers face greater threat to survival. Consumers have begun to tighten spending and fears of recession giving way to depression are already stalking. Though a lot has been written and a lot is yet to be written about this turmoil, my purpose here is to draw up its deeper structural links and paint the broader picture by viewing it together with other crises facing the human society.

This global financial crisis, expected to last longer than most of us hope, joins the other four equally global and longer lasting crises that humanity has been facing since at least a few decades now. The global terrorism and inter-community conflicts. The global warming and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. Sustaining, if not rising, levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality between and within nations. And the high levels of psychological stress that many of us bear due to modern work and life styles. These crises span all domains of human society - economic, cultural, ecological, and psychological. I will merely remind here that all these phenomena are eventually linked to the structure of the current dominant economic system that man has designed. And the political system that supports it. Let us briefly look at each of these crises in turn.

First, that the current financial meltdown and accompanying economic recession is a direct outcome of undisciplined financial transactions of the free market is not in doubt. The utterly unregulated derivatives and other speculation driven markets combined with large scale lending and borrowing choked the system to the point of no return. Even the temporary fuel and food inflation that preceded and overlapped with the general recession was at least partially due to unregulated speculation and hoarding.

Second, the widespread international terrorism is directly linked to the US-led global wars and can be traced back to its ambitions of strengthening its economic and military control of the globe. While the connection with the economic system is not direct, the desperation of America and its allies for control over global oil reserves and other natural resources did play a role in these conflicts. Control of these resources has been crucial to sustain the high growth economic activities and ultra consumerist lifestyles that are integral to the free capital market driven economies.

Third, it is now well accepted by everyone but a few self-delusory beings that the global warming and climate change is the direct consequence of human-induced rapid burning of fossil fuels. This unsustainable rate of burning has been done to meet the requirement of high growing economies and consumerist lifestyles. As the environmental externalities were not valued by the market, digging the fossil fuels, though ecologically disastrous, made economic sense. It enabled the producers to control energy and material costs and the well off consumers to enjoy the luxuries of energy intensive living like comfortable housing, private transport, and many lavish consumptions.

Fourth, though it is not a widely agreed effect, there is a link between the current economic paradigm and economic inequality and poverty. As average income of all economic organizations is roughly equivalent to average wage of all working people, a few can draw very high salaries only at the expense of the vast majority drawing less than average. A way of dealing with such glaring inequality and consequent discontentment has been to sustain a multi-layered and widely distributed income among people. Such multiple layers are created in the form of several hierarchies of employees with differential wage rates, earning differences between companies, between various economic activities, and between countries and geographies. Although such deep economic stratification of society helps in diffusing mass mobilization of discontent and creating cushion of managers, it also reinforces inequality and poverty. Casual wage labourers commonly seen working on farms, construction sites, small and medium factories, small road-side shops, as ragpickers and as private help in rich and middle-class households in the developing countries are examples of the most deprived economic classes in capitalist societies. Their numbers are large but their incomes are far less than prevailing average prices of commodities including several essential ones. A terribly divided lot, they try to survive on the fringes by cutting into their families' essential needs like nutritious food, adequate clothes, shelter, hygienic surrounding, access to basic healthcare, and education of children.

Fifth, even the economically well off individuals in today's society suffer from severe levels of psychological stress and related psychosomatic disorders. The most evident proof of this is the rising markets for pharmaceutical products on the one hand, and a variety of psycho-religious and stress relieving services on the other. The latter kind of services are offered by both professional trainers and religious, semi-religious and spiritual healers. The following of these sects has increased phenomenally among high earning individuals leading stressed work, family and social lives. It is not difficult to see that meaningless work roles and stressful working hours in the corporate sector combined with rapid paced consumption driven social life is at the core of most of our psychological problems. It is also not difficult to see that this is integral to the current economic system.

All the above examples of crises are meant to merely restate the fact that they are symptoms of the economic system that is predominantly driven by materialistic growth, consumption and greed. This system has proved to be too cruel and insensitive.

A major correction is therefore needed in this system to move towards a more humane and eco-friendly one. Such a change may of course not come through during the current course of events. Whether and when it occurs will depend on the interplay of political forces. One thing is certain: the battles on the global political arena will intensify and become messy. Capitalist lobbies will use all their financial muscle to try and retain as much autonomy as possible. Religious-Right groups will raise the bogey of 'moral values' and demand greater fundamentalist control over behaviour of organizations and people. Some on the Left will ask for greater authority of the State over people.

Saner voices will be of those who will demand real and greater democratic rights to the ordinary people. Democratic structures and channels that ensure even the economically weakest a proportionate say in the process of decisions and policies alone can guarantee economic, ecological, cultural and psychological contentment for all. We are still far behind such real democracy. But that is the way to move.

Opinion: Why do the development projects get stuck?

Engineer Shafiqul Alam

For the greater benefit as well as existence of the country the development projects should be ongoing at full phase, no matter what is the situation of the politics or which Government is in power. It has already become very difficult to cope with the current world; situation in Bangladesh is going bad to worse day-by-day. If we look at the ministry of communications, one of the most important ministry, the function & objective is questionable.

In the last 22 months during this interim government, what is the achievement in this sector? A tender was floated in 2005-2006 for making Dhaka-Chittagong four lane from existing double lane but due to the discrepancy found in the process the tender process was rejected by this government in 2007. Then another fresh tender was floated accordingly & 10 companies became pre-qualified. The submission of PG was possible within 28 days, when 9 out of 10 companies submitted the PG in 6 days the ministry closed the process. Then the secretary went to award work to 9 companies without the approval from Cabinet Committee for purchase.

The number 10 was disappointed & asked for clarification and the total process became a well-known matter to all. However then the secretary within a few minutes changed the PD of the project & declared cancellation of the tender. The other 9 went to the court for this game of bureaucracy.

Ministry of communication issued the LOI to Azimat consortium for Dhaka-Chittagong expressway but Azimat is sitting idle because if there is four lane, there is no need for expressway but the matter is the proposal for Dhk-Ctg expressway came as a private infra-structure project before the tender of Dhk-Ctg four lane on GOB fund.

Subway project of Contech Ltd was initiated back in 2002 & Cabinet wanted only a NOC from ministry but lot of formalities we have seen. One year has passed to approve from Cabinet (January 2008) & 9 months have already gone but no improvement is there. In the mean time STP is approved but what is the activity? Recently the then Secretary announced after a meeting that feasibility study of the project would be started by December 2008 & by 2013 18 km of metro rail at a cost of 10,000 crore taka would be in operation.

What feasibility has to be done & who told him to construct 18 km in the first phase? Cabinet approved 52 km of metro rail where the largest stretch is 17 km & the total cost was 6,200 crore which would be increased a bit.

The secretary told that due to the bureaucratic wrangling the subway project has been delayed, and then what Mahbubur Rahman did in his tenure of about 2 years?

People of Dhaka are always facing severe traffic congestion, the environment is becoming toxic due to the emission from the motorized vehicles, and roads have become blocked as a result of countless private cars.

On the other hand the ministry is always interested for Dhaka elevated expressway but expressway in a metropolis is only for the highway buses & private cars. Expressway is nothing but a toll-way; so feasibility has to be conducted whether people having personal transport would use toll-way or not.

Development of a country always depends on infrastructures but lack of proper infrastructures is always noticed here. Dhaka is the heart of the country, contributing significant percent to the development of the total country, so it should be made livable as early as possible.

Concept of increasing area of metropolitan is not sensible as it's a small country. By urbanization we are only destroying agricultural lands. That's why the expansion should be vertical but not horizontal. This is also true for metro rail where several complete networks can be made beneath the surface.

There has to be willingness & one has to be proactive as well as better understood of the problems. Considering the immense sufferings of the city dwellers the bureaucratic backbiting should be stopped & "subway" the top priority project should be started as soon as possible.