The New Nation - Internet Edition

Enhancement of margin loan ratio: DSE registers sharps gain

UNB, Dhaka

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) registered sharp gains on Wednesday in response to the regulator's decision to actively consider the enhancement of margin loan ratio.

Stockbrokers said share prices gained sharply across the board as the investors took position on expectation that the SEC decision would better the market situation in the days ahead, pushing the general index (DGEN) as high as 2,704 points in the mid-day, but fell slightly before the closing.

They said the sluggish trend for about last six weeks bounced back slowly on Monday as the Securities and Exchange Commission initiated discussion with the stakeholders to identify the reasons behind the bearish market and to take corrective measures.

After a meeting with merchant bankers on Tuesday, the SEC announced that they would actively consider raising the loan ratio by merchant banks.

During the day's trading, the benchmark index rose 71 points or 2.72 percent to close at 2,693 from 2,622 points on Tuesday while the All Shares Price Index (DSI) increased 56 points or 2.56 percent to close at 2,232 points. The DSE-20 index for selective shares gained 24 points or 1.04 percent to close at 2,266 points.

Of the total 227 issues traded on the day, 181 registered gains while 40 incurred losses and six remained unchanged.

The day's total turnover increased substantially to Tk 2.67 billion from Tk 1.60 billion on Tuesday. The market capitalization increased marginally to Tk 970 billion from Tk 951 billion on the day before.

Beximco Pharma, Titas Gas, ICB 2nd NRB, GrameenS2, Beximco, Lankabangla Finance, Uttara Bank, AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, ACI and Aftab Auto were the day's turnover leaders in terms of value.

The day's volume leaders were AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, GRAMEENS2, Beximco Textiles, Beximco Pharma, Golden Son, Keya Detergent, Quasem Dry Cell, Keya Cosmetics, Fu-Wang Foods and ICB 2nd NRB.

Top gainers of the day were GRAMEENS2, Golden Son, Grameen1, Keya Detergent, 1st BSRS, Islamic Finance, AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, S Alam CRST, Renwick and ICB 2nd NRB.

Prime Insurance, 8th ICB, Glaxo SmithKline, Purabi General Insurance, Safco Spinning, Miracle Industries, In Tech Online, Daffodil Computers and Sreepur Textiles.

Top losers were Eastern Lubricant, Rahim Textiles, Desh Garments, Amam Sea Food, Bengal Biscuits, BSC, Maq Paper, Wata Chemicals, Tallu Spinning and Pharma Aids.

Administration system has to change to root out graft: TAC chairman

UNB, Dhaka

Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan yesterday said he firmly believes that the activities of the country's administration are not

running properly and that it has been plagued by rampant corruption.

The whole system would have to be changed to get rid of pervasive corruption, he said at the Commission's regular briefing.

Replying to a question, Justice Khan said: "It's my firm belief (administrative activities are not functioning properly). It has been plagued by rampant corruption. The whole system has to change… a system should be in place where there will be no corruption."

He added: "The whole method will have to be changed. In order to root out corruption, everything needs to be changed."

The Tac chairman said that though politicians and businessmen did not come to the commission, the picture of institutional corruption has been exposed.

"We will be able to provide details in our reports for the government to take measures. If measures can be taken the administrative system will get easier."

About the Tac activities so far, he said it is a matter of satisfaction that the Commission have dealt with good number of cases in short time.

Justice Khan said that due to the extension of deadline till November 16, the Commission has received 59 more applications. "There will be no more extension."

The Commission could be taken as a model in terms of disposing of the cases swiftly, he added.

Tac member Asif Ali said that lack of planning in the government offices was to be blamed for delay in taking decisions that cause sufferings for the people.

Detailing the activities of the Commission, he said some 389 individuals have applied for clemency in return for their ill-gotten wealth. Of them, 20 have applied directly, 192 applications came through the Anti-Corruption Commission, 167 through the National Coordination Committee on serious crime and corruption, and 10 through courts.

Among the 389 applicants, there are two politicians, 28 businessmen, 303 government servants, wives of 39 of them and 17 belonging to other professions.

The hearing of 259 individuals has so far been completed and they have pledged to pay Tk 27.79 crore. Some 154 individuals already deposited Tk 14.46 crore to the government treasury. Mercy certificates have been distributed among 65 individuals while another 40 are ready to be distributed.

Asif Ali said that if the number of applications does not exceed 500 by the deadline they would be able to finish hearing by the end of the Commission's tenure on January 2, 2009.

Another Tac member, Maj Gen (retd) Manjur Rashid said that while dealing with clemency seekers they could know about rampant corruption in the service-providing organizations.

Talking about widespread graft in Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), he said corruption as well as effort to cover up corruption has been detected. "From top to bottom (in BTCL) no one is free from corruption."

Mentioning a case filed against seven BTCL employees, Manjur Rashid said that four of the accused sought clemency and some high officials were called in for substantiating the statements of the clemency seekers. "They (high officials) denied corruption allegations. But, corruption is not possible without them."

He said the case would be referred back to where it came from for full investigation.

The TAC member said aspects of the institutional corruption would be given in a report so that the government could work on that.

Govt urged to issue 3G licenses for widespread access to broadband services

UNB, Dhaka

The GSMA, the global body for the mobile industry, has called on Bangladesh to issue 3G licenses as soon as possible to make broadband services available to many more of its people.

Licensing the 2100MHz spectrum band for 3G services would enable Bangladeshi operators to launch Mobile Broadband (HSPA) services, which their customers can use to gain fast and easy access to the internet and other online services, says a GSMA press release.

“Bangladesh, which has very few fixed-line connections, could realize major social and economic benefits from the widespread availability of Mobile Broadband services,” said Ricardo Tavares, senior vice president for Public Policy of the GSMA.

“One of the world’s fastest-growing cellular markets, Bangladesh has huge pent-up demand for communication and information services that can improve people’s lives and make businesses more productive.”

Many developing countries, including Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Kenya and South Africa, have already deployed Mobile Broadband services enabling their people to get easy access to information on health, education, job opportunities, agriculture and many other important aspects of their lives.

Moreover, the cost of HSPA devices is falling steadily as manufacturers gain economies of scale. There are now 200 commercial HSPA networks worldwide serving more than 60 million subscribers, according to Wireless intelligence.

“Laying new fixed line connections is expensive and inefficient so high-speed mobile networks are Bangladesh’s best bet to realize the many social and economic benefits that arise from widespread access to broadband services,” Tavares added.

Wireless intelligence expects the number of mobile users in Bangladesh to grow to 70 million by 2011 from 47 million at end of September 2008. During the third quarter of 2008, the number of mobile subscribers rose by 48 percent year-on-year.

Detention of Abbas, Babar: HC issues rule

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court yesterday issued rules asking the government to show causes why the orders of detention against former works minister Mirza Abbas and ex-state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar "should not be declared illegal".

One High Court bench gave the government eight days to explain Mirza' s detention while another granted 10 days for explanation on Babar's case.

The bench comprising Justice Triq ul Hakim and Justice Farah Mahbub issued the rule in the former case following a petition filed by Abbas challenging the validity of the detention order.

On October 30, the government held back Abbas in prison by issuing a one-month detention order against him just before his release from jail on bail in all the cases.

The home ministry issued the detention order following a general diary filed by a Special Superintendent of the Special Branch (SB) of police.

The detention order referred to an SB report apprehending that 'if Abbas is released from jail, law-and-order situation might deteriorate'.

Abbas was arrested on February 25 last year when he went to the Anti-Corruption Commission office at Segunbagicha to submit his wealth statement under a purge launched by the interim regime following the 1/11 changeover.

Abbas, also a joint secretary general of BNP, has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment for tax evasion. He recently secured bail from the High Court in all the graft cases filed against him.

Another HC division bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui, following a petition filed by former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar challenging his detention order, also issued an identical rule upon the government.

"The rule is made returnable in ten days," says the court order. On October 26, Babar was served a 30-day detention order while he was about to be set free on bail from Dhaka Central Jail.

The home ministry that he had once presided over issued the detention order following a General Diary (GD) filed with Gulshan police station that said it would be a 'violation of the Emergency Power Rules if he is set free'.

Arrested from his Gulshan residence with illegal firearms on May 28 last year amid a crackdown on the politicians, Babar was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment in an arms case.

On October 16, the High Court, upon pending appeal against verdict of the lower court, granted Babar interim bail for 6 months on health grounds.

Workshop on violence against women held

Staff Reporter

A daylong workshop on creating awareness among the people on Violence Against Women in Bangladesh was yesterday held in the capital.

The workshop was organised and conducted by Research Evaluation Associates for Development Ltd. (READ) and sponsored by Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Secretary Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Rokeya Sultana and Netherlands Ambassador Bea Ten Tusscher were the chief and special guests respectively.

More than a hundred gender specialists and experts representing government departments, NGOs, women activist organisations and the Donor agencies participated in the workshop. Dr. Syed Jahangir Haider, Managing Director, READ, mentioned 21 case study findings of victims of domestic violence while presenting the keynote paper.

The workshop highlighted the harrowing life stories of the victims, such as their sufferings through murders, rape, acid attack, coerced sex and severe beating. A number of recommendations were deliberates including access to prompt justice by the victims.

A book titled "Breaking the Silence" was also launched in the workshop.

4-party won’t allow farcical election

Staff Reporter

BNP Secretary General Khondker Delwar Hossain said yesterday the people and the Four-party alliance would not allow any farcical parliamentary elections in the country on December 18.

"Create a level playing field for holding free, fair and credible polls and hand over power to the democratically elected government," he said as chief guest at a protest rally at the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) at Kakrail in the city.

The BNP-led four-party alliance organised countrywide protest rallies across the country in protest against the attack on Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami activists on Tuesday and immediate release of detained alliance leaders.

Reiterating the seven-point demand,Delwar said during dialogue the Government has agreed in principle to realise most of the demands and so far their (government) words did not match with the action.

" Realise our demands and create favourable atmosphere for free and fair election so that we could participate in it," he added.

He said the people of the country would not accept farcical polls rather they would boycott and resist it.

"We would not accept rubber stamp parliament and puppet government," he mentioned.

Khandker Delwar said the Four-party alliance was even ready to accept the election results if it was held free from influence and neutral manner. He urged the government to withdraw the state of emergency.

"Under the state of emergency elections could not be held in neutral manner," he added.

Criticising the arrest of top leaders of the alliance, the Secretary General of BNP said the government was harassing our leaders by using Emergency Power Rules (RPR). He urged the government to withdraw the sate of emergency without further delay.

Criticising the Election Commission (EC) for not giving registration to some Islamic parties rather approving registration to some secular parties that have no popular support in the grassroot levels.

He accused the EC of favouring a particular party for going to power.

BNP standing committee member MK Anwar, Salauddin Qader Chowdhury, former parliamentary affairs adviser of the BNP Chairperson, Rizvi Ahmed, office secretary, Shamsuzzaman Dudu and Khairul Kabir Khokon, assistant secretaries general of Jamaat Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Qader Mollah and Moulana Rafiqul Islam, Shamim Al Mamun, Secretary General of Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Moulana Abdul Latif Nezami, Secretary General of Islami Oikkya Jote and Khelafat Majlis Ameer Moulana Ishaq, among others, addressed the rally.

Row over pay-channels: Cable operators give ultimetum to resolve problems

UNB, Dhaka

Cable TV operators has urged the government to resolve their problems arising out of a conflict between two distributors of foreign pay-channels.

Addressing a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity, a group of the cable operators yesterday alleged that MGH Infocomm.Ltd, a distributor, is now appointing illegal cable operators who are mainly mastans and musclemen and said that this will create anarchy in their business.

"Such illegal appointment of cable operators will lead to a grave situation ahead of the ensuing general election," said SM Shamsur Rahman Shimul, who claimed him to be the convenor of the coordinating committee of Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB).

COAB is the main organisation of the cable TV operators, but its election remained suspended following litigation.

Shimul further alleged that the government has fixed the line rate for the cable operators. But the government has not yet fixed the charge of the pay-channel for which the distributors are charging excessively, he said.

He said that the cable operators have informed the Information Ministry about the situation and urged the government to take proper action within 48 hours. "Otherwise, we'll have to go for action programme," said Shimul, who was flanked by some other cable operators.

He also mentioned that earlier the cable operators suspended their cable operation from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm on October 16.

ISA to gherao EC today

Staff Reporter

Islami Shasantantra Andolon (ISA) will gherao Election Commission office today demanding resignation of election commissioner protesting EC's decision not to register ISA as a political party.

Addressing a press conference at party office yesterday ISA Ameer Mufti Syed Rezaul Karim threatened mass movement unless EC registers his party.

Mufti Karim said the EC has informed ISA that the policy of the party is against the constitution of the country. "But the EC did not mention how the policy of the party can be against the constitution."

"Our party has taken part in national elections in 1991 and 1996 with the same name and party policy. In 2001 the then EC allotted symbol in favour of ISA. But the decision of preset EC has came as a surprise to us," he added.

ISA secretary general Principal Eunus Ahmed, presidium member Moulana Mosaddeq Billah Madani and Moulana Nurul Huda were present, among others, at the press conference.

Norway tops gender equality list

Agency

Norway has topped a league of countries in closing the gender gap, followed by three other Nordic nations, a survey by the World Economic Forum says.

Progress in political, education and economic spheres has occurred globally but the gap in health has widened.

The UK fell in the ranking while France rose helped by women's political role.

The forum said more women at the top of financial institutions and government and was "vital" to finding solutions to the economic turmoil.

"Greater representation of women in senior leadership positions within governments and financial institutions is vital not only to find solutions to the current economic turmoil but to stave off such crises in future," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the forum.

Norway rose from third to first place and scored 82.45% in the table of 130 countries, denoting the percentage of the gap between women and men that has been closed to date.

Finland, Sweden and Iceland came second, third and fourth respectively.

Last year, Sweden came top of the index.

The UK came 13th and slipped from 11th place last year while France was among those countries whose ranking rose sharply, from 51st to 15th place helped by gains in economic participation and political empowerment.

Syria, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia all fell in the ranking and showed a drop in overall scores.

Progress in closing the gap is not only "possible" but can be achieved in a relatively short space of time said the forum.

The index surveyed economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival.

The report provides some evidence on the link between the gender gap and the economic performance of countries.

"Our work shows a strong correlation between competitiveness and the gender gap scores".

"While this does not imply causality, the possible theoretical underpinnings of this link are clear: countries that do not fully capitalize effectively on one-half of their human resources run the risk of undermining their competitive potential".

The survey stems from a collaboration of individuals of Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley and the World Economic Forum.

11 killed in C’nawabganj road accident

UNB, Chapainawabganj

A goods-laden truck ploughed into a roadside teashop at Dhobra Bazar in Shibganj upazila yesterday killing 11 people and injuring at least 12 others.

The deceased are Ismail, 30, Islam, 30, Sabibur Rahman, 32, Masud Rana, 60, Jenarul Islam, 48, Khairul Islam, 28, Abdul Latif, 40, and Chiku, 60, Badiur, 60, Benu and Tahur.

Police said the fatal accident took place at about 7:30pm as a Dhaka-bound truck carrying imported commodities from Sonamasjid land port crashed into the teashop on Chapainawabganj-Sonamasjid highway as its driver lost control.

The injured were admitted to Sadar and Shibganj hospitals.

The victims, all residents of Dhobra Bazar in the upazila, met the tragic end while they were watching TV at the wayside tea-stall.

Fate of the truck driver and the helper could not be known immediately. Rescue efforts were on till the filing of this report at about 9pm.