The New Nation - Internet Edition

Tough times ahead

FOLLOWING the financial crisis in Western economies, the World Bank President Robert Zoellick has warned the developing countries of facing tougher times ahead as consequences. A 'growing financial squeeze' together with higher food and fuel prices will only make it more difficult for governments in developing countries to protect the poor, he said in a press interview ahead of world finance ministers' recent meeting in Washington. Business failures, bank emergencies and balance of payments crises are all possible in developing countries as crisis spreads, the World Bank chief said. The World Bank has warned that high food and fuel prices will increase the number of malnourished people around the world.

The bank identified around 28 countries that could face 'fiscal difficulties'. However, Mr. Zoellick is optimistic about the possibilities of sub-Saharan Africa over the medium and long term and it would require their prompt actions and the right investments. The financial crisis, in fact, threatens to undo much, or in some cases all, of the progress made in many developing countries over the past several years to lift growth and reduce poverty and disease.

Despite ripple effects from the financial crisis into emerging economies, China and the oil-rich Gulf States usually would continue to go ahead with their investments. China obviously would prefer providing investments in natural resources in Africa and the Gulf countries in agriculture. Just as Western central banks and China took unprecedented coordinated action to cut interest rates to restore calm to markets, it is hoped that they would do the same when it comes to helping the developing world not only to deal with effect of the financial crisis, but also the 'human crisis' of increasing malnourishment. Contribution to a World Bank fund to assist developing nations struggling with higher food and fuel prices could be of immense help.

For low-cost housing

REAL estate firms took part at the REHAB Fair held recently. The Adviser in charge of the Ministry of Communication, Housing and Public Works, in course of his address, urged the concerned quarters to ensure the availability of low-price houses for the lower income and middle-income groups of people without further delay. The Fair 2008 was designed to showcase activities in the field of housing and also to project the schemes of housing estates to be implemented in the coming years. The fair was designed to attract the attention of buyers of flats in new projects, coming from among the middle-income and low income groups of people. It is worth noting that members of the REHAB have so far implemented development projects in different areas.

Apparently, the needs of the middle income and lower-income groups of people have not so far been brought within the fathom of activities of the developers. The multi-storied buildings, so far developed in the city and elsewhere in the country, have not been tuned to the needs of such families. Over forty percent of the urban people belong to the poor and lower income groups. They live in slum areas and are found sharing rooms.

It is worth noting, that majority of the people in the lower income group work as day labourers or vendors in the city. They may be attracted to buy flats sizes ranging from 400-500 square feet at prices kept at affordable levels. It may be difficult to construct high-rises exclusively for poor income group people. Housing developers may consider earmarking portions of such buildings for making small flats that middle income and poor people would be able to buy with housing loans having long repayment arrangements.

Participatory election - A pre-condition for democracy

Md. Masum Billah

Despite all assurances and reiterations of the government and Election Commission, holding of elections on time still hangs in the balance. Two major players of this field have taken tough stance in their respective issues to take part and not to take part in the ensuing ninth Jatia Sangsad Election. One shows its quite readiness to participate in the election according to the scheduled date; the other wants to push it back to get ample preparation. Both have convincing arguments. Through their opposite stances people smell the uncertainty of holding the election. Once again it will be a serious flaw on the part of political players if election does not take place. To hold a meaningful election consensus of the two big parties is a must.

BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said, " Four-party alliance would not participate in any stage-managed election designed to form a ' rubber stamp' parliament and a puppet government. We want to take part in a free, fair and credible election and will accept the election results. Those who will win in that election will form the government and we will sit on the opposition bench if we lose." He added, "We want to play in such a field where the referee will act neutrally and the field will be even." BNP presses hard to delay the general election. The government talked with other political parties over the issue and AL, another key player to influence any such decision has indicated that it may accept a deferral by only about ten days.

BNP and four party alliance actually wants to put back the election date by two to three months so that it can prepare itself for a better than now perceived result. The positions of the two major axes of election fulcrum now puts the government in a sticky situation as it has yet to find an acceptable middle ground to bring both parties and their alliance to election.

It is learnt from different sources that BNP chairperson told the delegation it is quite impossible for them to make election preparations fully before January 15. But AL says, "If any certain party does not agree to take part in election in December, then there is no logic or ground to shift the poll and in those cases the election must be held on the announced date." In order to give democracy an institutional shape, there must be a meaningful election. In order to arrange a meaningful election, there must be the participation of big parties which represent most of the people. In our country both AL and BNP stand as big political players with much importance and significance. Some small parties who may have very big leaders must public representation registers very thin. When these parties disagree to participate in election, it matters little. When either of the big parties wants to boycott election or does not agree to the points relating to election, it matters much. If AL thinks that without BNP there will be credible election. It never can be. As BNP represents around fifty percent population and another fifty or more than fifty percent by AL, any of this party's participation attaches significant importance. Any of these two parties's standing away from election means flawed and questionable election. Without any strong opposition democracy can never work.

It is true that BNP may not be in a position to win as most of its big guns are behind bars. And the five years BNP rule was charterized by positive and negative aspects. This is not the big thing. It is known to all that no party of a country can bring any drastic change to show a drama to the people. Even then, people want to see change. Change of government, change of power, change of their representatives etc. this psychological notion of humans puts one after another party to power. But no mentionable or significant change people see any time. Even then, the hope for novelty is a human demand. It will continue. No party should take any complacence because of their success. Success by political parties in terms of real development of the country and change of the lot of people is not unknown to the citizens of this country.

AL should not take such of stance which will keep BNP out of election and BNP also thinks over the point very seriously that nation wants to see a fruitful election. After two long years probably this opportunity approaches with some new hopes and aspirations. If they don't participate, people may show their wrath in another way.

If election takes place will the parties be able to change their mindset? To answer this question Mujahidul Islam Selim, General Secretary of Communist Party of Bangladesh said, " I think the traditional blame game will remain as many things are related to it. In our election political parties invest thousands of crores of taka and they want to win in the elciton to get the money back. They never take part in the election with the mentality of accepting a defeat, as they do not see election as an element of democracy. They consider it as investment so they try to recover their investment by any means. That is why they reject the result when they are defeated." In spite of the fact, we think election must be held. We should at least start.

Captain Husain Imam, a Daily Star columnist says, "The decision to boycott the election or create a situation that may lead to suspension of the election will not only frustrate her grass-roots level workers and supporters and further the disintegration process of her party but may also plunge the whole nation into deep political, social and economic crisis."

A senior Japya Party leader said, "A large party cannot be allowed to blackmail the country on illogical grounds." All the parties must follow the logic but not for their own party interest only, logic must be on behalf of the people.

Syed Badrudduja: A matchless orator

Syed Ashraf Ali

November 18 is a day of remembrance for the entire Muslim community of India. It was on this day in 1974 that Syed Badrudduja, the tireless fighter, the most faithful and dedicated comrade of the Muslims in India, had at last sought refuge in eternal rest.

Popularly known as the "Edmund Burke of India", the fame of Syed Badrudduja, as an orator spread throughout the length and breadth of the entire sub-continent.

Amazing and extraordinary indeed were his speeches. In 1938, before an intimate and select gathering at Shantiniketan, Syed Badrudduja addressed a meeting assembled to honour the new Cabinet of Bengal under Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq. Rabindranath Tagore was presiding over the meeting. Syed Badrudduja spoke in Bengali. The greatest literary genius of Bengali literature and language, Rabindranath Tagore was listening with rapt attention and admiration to this speech of the unknown nondescript young man. At the end of the speech, the great maestro said emotionally, "What new words you have uttered today! I have never heard anything so beautiful and so eloquent." In reply Badrudduja said, "Maestro, you are the embodiment of Bengali language and literature. What call a humble person like me tell which is new to you?" To this the great Tagore said, "My dear son, I can scribble a few lines but I cannot speak like you. This is the gift of God. "

In April of the same year, Badrudduja spoke at the open session of the All India Muslim League in Calcutta. His was the penultimate speech of the meeting, just before the speech of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the President of the All India Muslim League. The inimitable choice, of words, fiery oration and sincere idealism of the young man of forty startled the audience.

Jinnah embraced him lovingly with great appreciation and the whole audience of nearly a quarter million rose to its feet to greet a leader in the making.

Once during his young days Badrudduja addressed a religious conference presided over by no less a person than the Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman. As Raman had an appointment elsewhere, he asked Badrudduja to be brief. Badrudduja replied politely, "Yes Sir, I shall be brief, reasonably brief." He frequently asked the chair in the course of his speech, "Sir, shall I stop ?" "No, go on my young friend," said Sir CV Raman every time. When after a long time Badrudduja concluded his speech, Sir Raman remarked, "I was to leave earlier for an appointment but this bright young speaker kept me spellbound". The deliberations were so captivating that even a Nobel laureate with urgent preoccupations was kept glued to them.

The historic presidential speech delivered at the All India Muslim Convention held in Aligarh in October 1953, however, marked him out as the finest orator in the subcontinent. The momentous speech took the entire sub-continent by storm. The neglected and marooned Muslims of India had heard nothing better, nothing more inspiring, nothing more smoothing since the fateful Partition in 1947. His deliberations continued for nearly four hours at a stretch, but the vast ocean of a million listeners remained calm and tranquil, the 'Sehr Bayan' literally kept them spellbound.

He spoke both in English and in Urdu. Words and expressions gushed forth ceaselessly from the effervescent fountain. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the finest and greatest orator in Urdu, himself was moved, when excerpts were read out to him. He gracefully acknowledged Badrudduja his equal in the domain of Urdu oration, an honour which no other orator has yet been blessed with. The gist of the speech, in English, was circulated throughout the length and breadth of India and even in the Middle East. The Government of India, however, did not relish this unmasking of India's secularism; and the revelation of the bitter truths in such a reckless way was so galling for Indian democracy. As a result, this speech was proscribed throughout India, in the same way as the awe-inspiring "The Choice of the Turks" by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar was banned by the British Government in 1914.

In consequence of the speech, Syed Badrudduja was put behind bars under the Preventive Detention Act on February 1,1954. After about three months, a One-man Commission comprising a justice of the Calcutta High Court was formed to try the "Rebel Child of Indian Politics" on the grave charges of conniving with a foreign government and passing on secrets of strategic importance to them. When the judge wanted to know if Badrudduja had anything to say in self-defence, it was again the amazing power of eloquence which helped the "rebel" to nail to the counter and quash the canard effectively. He spoke uninterrupted for nearly three hours. He not only defended his character and integrity but also declared his patriotism in no uncertain terms. He also challenged the government to prove the unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations against him. The judge remained calm and quiet, listening in rapt attention to the magic flute of the great orator. Nobody knew how time flew. When Badrudduja stopped, it was almost the small hours of night (the Commission decided to try Badrudduja not during normal office hours but late at night). The bemused judge had a simple poser, "Mr. Badrudduja, do you have anything else to say?" When Badrudduja shook his head, the Judge smiled and said, "You are free, you can go back home if you like. The formalities will follow." The fiery flute had indeed achieved unprecedented success!

While chairing a seminar on "Whither Two Bengals", organised by the Netaji Research Bureau in Calcutta, on the occasion of the 81st birth anniversary of late Sarat Chandra Bose on September 13, 1970, Badrudduja delivered a scintillating speech in Bengali. The acclaimed journalist Vivekananda Mukherjee, hardly an admirer of Badrudduja's politics, was so moved by the magnetism of the delivery that he was led into paying an unequivocal tribute to Badrudduja by admitting publicly: "I have never heard such a speech in Bengali since the demise of Bipin Chandra Pal. I never imagined that a Bengali speech could be so fascinating, so scintillating."

Syed Badrudduja was one of the seven members of the Lok Sabha who spoke on the obituary reference to Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru on May 29, 1964. It was one of the finest speeches of his career and it kept the entire gathering comprising foreign dignitaries and eminent personalities of Indian society literally spell-bound through the sheer force of his lyrical appeal. It is also hailed as one of the most sparkling and magnificent speeches in the history of Lok Sabha. Even great orators and international celebrities like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Alec Douglas Hume, Dean Rusk, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Krishna Menon and Chakravarty Rajagopalachari were captivated by the sheer eloquence of Badrudduja's eulogy.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose political views were totally different from those of Syed Badrudduja , was an ardent admirer of the grear orator's inimitable eloquence. When Badrudduja shuffled off his mortal coil and set sail towards the Great Unknown in November 1974, his son Syed Ashraf Ali, then a Director in Bangladesh Betar, was called in at the Ganobhaban. The then Prime Minister not only eulogised Badrudduja as a "great leader" but also took an unprecedented generous step to personally grant foreign exchange for Ashraf Ali to enable him to arrange a befitting Chehlum in Calcutta.

Shahid Ziaur Rahman also eulogised Badrudduja's fiery eloquence on a number of occasions. A blind supporter of Badrudduja's Jihad against the so-called Indian secularism, the late President took keen interest in the Mujahid's siblings. He not only selected his eldest daughter, Syeda Sakina Islam, as a member of Jatiyo Sangsad but also helped another daughter Syeda Razia Faiz, to win a bye-election and become a member of the same Jatiyo Sangsad. It was due to Shahid Ziaur Rahman's profound admiration for Badrudduja's inimitable eloquence that the two sisters became members of the same Sangsad.

As an orator Syed Badrudduja indeed had few parallels in the world of eloquence. His exquisite and fiery oration was matchless and inimitable. The peerless iridescence of his eloquence always kept the audience spellbound. His choice of words was amazing and immaculate. He' could breathe fire like an avenging deity when the situation so demanded and warble, when the mood seized him, like a refreshing, sparkling mountain stream. In Bengal, celebrities like Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Bidhan Chandra Roy hailed him as the Bipin Chandra Pal of Modern Age.

In Urdu, he was second to none; even the incomparable orator Maulana Abul Kalam Azad graciously acknowledged Badrudduja as his equal.

In English, great and skillful speakers like Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Sir Anthony Eden, Servepalli Radhakrishnan, Krishna Menon and Dean Rusk compared his fiery and captivating oratory with those of Edmund Burke and Winston Churchill. Whether in English or Bengali, Urdu or Persian, the fascinating and sparkling oration of the "Nightingale of Cordova" (as Sher-e-Bangla lovingly called him) had always been, in the words of the great poetess and politician Sarojini Naidu, "as fresh as the first flowers of the springtime and as enchanting as the music of moonlit streams."

He held the coveted post of the Mayor of Calcutta during the British regime, the membership of the Legislative Council of Calcutta Corporation for seven years, the membership of Bengal Legislative Assembly/ Bidhan Sabha for more than twenty years, and the membership of Lok Sabha for nearly fifteen years. The Calcutta Corporation, Bengal Legislative Council, Bengal Legislative Assembly, Bidhan Shaba, and Lok Sabha resonated the fiery eloquence of this matchless orator for more than five decades. But had he done nothing else, his scintillating and amazing command of eloquence alone would have surely enshrined him in the deepest recesses of popular memory for generations to come.

Opinion: Psychological impact of violence on Kashmiris in India

Kashif-ul-Huda

Twenty years of violence between Indian Army and Kashmiri militants has resulted in at least 20,000 deaths and 4,000 displaced, according to the government figures. But the toll is even greater in terms of psychological damage to the population. A recent study that looked at the psychological health found that a third of the study participants had contemplated suicide, a sign of extreme psychological distress.

The study published in the latest issue of peer reviewed journal "Conflict and Health" was conducted by organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)'s, Simon Fraser University of Canada, and Utrecht University of Netherlands.

Study interviewed 510 Kashmiris living in Indian Kashmir. It found over one-third of respondents have symptoms of psychological distress and women show significantly higher level of distress. Feeling of insecurity was a major reason for the higher levels of psychological distress.

Survey was conducted in 2005 and includes 270 males and 240 females. The most striking finding of the study is that one-third of those surveyed had thought about ending their life in the past 30 days of the survey. The survey found that there was a difference in the reasons of psychological distress between males and females. Males who had self-experienced i.e. if they had been arrested, tortured, or abused show higher level of distress. Kashimiri women, on the other hand displayed psychological problem by just witnessing the events.

In the scientific paper the authors explain that "for males, violation of modesty, forced displacement, and disability were all associated with a significantly increased likelihood (three times the odds) of suffering from psychological distress. For women, the witnessing of people being killed or tortured or dependency on outside assistance doubled the odds of suffering psychological distress."

The data tabulated in the paper is very shocking when you consider that 63% of the respondents have seen wounded people. 40% have witnessed people being killed, 67% have seen other being tortured and 13% have witnessed rape.

44% of the respondents experienced being abused and 11% claimed that their modesty was violated.

The level of psychological problem was found to be much higher than similar studies done elsewhere in India and even when the cutoff score was set to a conservative standard. When the cutoff score was lowered to the Indian study the psychological distress was found to be over 71%.

Though one-third reported having suicidal thoughts, it does not always result in a suicide attempt. But according to one estimate about 60,000 Kashmiris did commit suicide, last year.

Withdrawing themselves or isolating themselves was the most preferred way of coping with the psychological problem. About half of them showed aggressive behavior. Many turned to religion as a source of support and finding peace.

Even though Kashmir lacks proper mental health care facility, still, over 60% of the respondents visited the health clinic to seek help. Some visited more than once in the 30 days immediately before the study interview, and women found to be visiting health facilities more than men.

The impact of violence, threat, and alertness has adversely affected armed forces too. Elevated level of psychological problem is seen among Indian Army personnel deployed in Kashmir. Past January, Indian Army hired 400 psychiatrists to help control the high numbers of suicides in its ranks.

Government should spend more money in improving mental health care facilities for the people and the soldiers. Those fighting this battle for Kashmir should stop and see what this battle for land is doing to the people living on this land.

(The author is the Editor of news website: www. TwoCircles.net)