The New Nation - Internet Edition

Stop Israeli atrocities

ISRAELI air strikes on the Gaza strip for the fifth consecutive day have so far left about 400 Palestinians killed and some 1700 injured. This is one of the bloodiest onslaughts by Israel. Israel unleashed this attack on Saturday with some 60 warplanes hitting more than 50 targets in just a few minutes. The Israeli attack is said to be in response to what it termed persistent rocket fire by Hamas militants. This mass killing is being perpetrated for the protection of Israeli citizens. The international community including the UN Security Council has called for an immediate halt to all violence. Egypt is trying to negotiate a new ceasefire. But an immediate halt of Israeli aggression seems unlikely as Israel has vowed to 'expand and deepen' its operations and deployed land forces along the border blocking the movement of people and supply of essentials and medicines causing immense suffering to the impoverished people of Gaza.

The current Israeli aggression against the Palestinians is not a war against a parallel army. It is actually brutal killing of virtually the unarmed people of Palestine. This is a continuation of the six-decade long atrocity. The Palestinian people have been struggling for decades to establish their legitimate rights to have a sovereign state of their own. They enjoy the unequivocal support of the world people. Killing of innocent people will only add to their determination and anger.

The world community must come forward to stop the Israeli atrocities immediately. They should exert pressure on Israel to stop murder of civilians and instead address the root cause of the anger of Palestinians. Without solving the Palestine problem it will be difficult to stop terrorism elsewhere.

Files pile up in secretariat

A GOVERNMENT committee revealed recently as reported by media that files continue to pile up on the secretariat desks, as senior bureaucrats often tend to evade their discretion and sit on documents causing unusual delay in disposing of most proposals. About 75 per cent of the stockpile of files could be cleared readily if the relevant officials would exercise the authority delegated to them under service rules. Besides, the committee found that most of the ministries and divisions do not exercise delegation of administrative and financial powers that are required for efficient and smooth running of the government. This causes unnecessary delays and hampers service delivery.

The three-member committee led by a top government official submitted its report to the cabinet secretary recommending rather formation of a central body at higher level under an adviser or a minister to monitor overall bureaucratic functioning which the country inherited as British colonial legacy that proved not to be congenial to an independent and democratic country like Bangladesh. A random survey on eleven ministries found many files 'unnecessarily' traveling from a senior assistant secretary to the secretary causing procrastination to the bureaucratic system and this hinders smooth service delivery.

As reported, the committee also found some officials keeping files pending for indefinite periods of time without any logical ground although, as per rules, these should be passed over within three days at each level. The files travel from bottom towards the topmost cases, although deputy secretaries or the joint secretaries could dispose of most of them. The 'rules of business' besides the 'secretariat instructions' are not being followed for disposal of the files.

Making an environmentally friendly city

Dr. Mahabubul Bari

In communities across the nation, there is a growing concern that current development patterns, dominated by "sprawl" -which induces an ever-increasing need to travel and thus construction of more roads-is not in the long-term interest of our cities, existing suburbs, small towns, rural communities or wilderness areas. It is thus unfortunate that our city planners including Strategic Transport Project (STP) team selected a growth pole or diverse land use development scenario, which promotes sprawl and the ever-increasing need to travel and to construct new roads. The scenario was selected on the assumption that the development of a number of poles or larger settlements outside Dhaka proper connected by numerous link roads is desirable.

In the same line, the ongoing initiative for demarcation of Dhaka into different functional units is a matter of serious concern as regards development of a balanced transport system. Creation of more single use functional areas for Dhaka is a recipe for more transport demand and hence increases in congestion. A city as densely populated as Dhaka should consider the advantages of a mixed land use scenario similar to that of "Smart Growth". Smart growth involves mixed land uses, an emphasis on access by proximity rather than through long-distance travel, and therefore encourages the pollution-free modes of walking, biking, and cycle rickshaws. With mixed land use and high density, it is possible to achieve the sizable and diverse population and commercial base needed to support public transit.

Moreover, the selection of mixed land uses following the lifeline of the urban transport corridor under the Strong Central Spine Scenario will be more consistent with the Land Use Plan of DMDP, which preferred a concentrated and mixed use land development similar to that of "Smart Growth".

In addition, such an approach would ensure provision for adequate open space and natural water retention areas and waterways as an integral part of all urban developments. The development of sustainable and "Smart" growth of a city demands adherence to a number of key features, such as:

Development of mixed land use

Provision for a variety of transport choices

Reduction of the need to travel

Creation of walkable environments

Segregating Dhaka on functional lines by removal of markets, shops, workplaces and schools into designated areas will simply increase demand for long distance travel and thus generate even more congestion. In contrast to disperse land use planning, contemporary sustainable land use planning, popularly known as "Smart Growth", invests time, attention, and resources into restoring community and vitality to centre cities and older suburbs. Even in North America, the emphasis has shifted from land developments which tend to favour sparsely-spaced growth poles with huge honeycombs of densely packed road networks to sustainable, mixed land use patterns of "Smart Growth".

New smart growth is more town-centred, transit- and pedestrian-oriented, and has a greater mix of housing, commercial and retail uses. It also preserves open space and many other environmental amenities. Smart growth supports the integration of mixed land uses into communities in order to achieve better places to live. By putting uses in close proximity to one another, alternatives to driving, such as walking or biking, once again become viable.

Mixed land use also provides a more diverse and sizable population and commercial base for supporting viable public transit. It can enhance the vitality and perceived security of an area by increasing the number and improving the attitude of people on the street. It helps streets, public spaces and pedestrian-oriented retail to again become places where people meet, attracting pedestrians back onto the street and helping to revitalise community life. Mixed land uses can convey substantial fiscal and economic benefits. Commercial uses in close proximity to residential areas are often reflected in higher property values, and therefore help raise local tax receipts. Businesses recognise the benefits associated with areas that attract more people, as there is increased economic activity when there are more people in an area to shop.

In today's service economy, communities find that by mixing land uses, they make their neighbourhoods attractive to workers who increasingly balance quality of life criteria with salary to determine where they will settle. Smart growth provides a means for communities to alter the planning context which currently renders mixed land uses illegal in most of the country. The Smart Growth Network recognises the following smart growth principles:

Create a range of housing opportunities and choices;

Create walkable neighbourhoods;

Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration;

Foster distinctive, attractive places with a strong sense of place;

Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective;

Mix land uses;

Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas;

Provide a variety of transportation choices;

Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities;

Take advantage of compact building design

As seen in the STP report, both the Growth pole/Satellite Community Scenario and Dispersed Settlements Scenario need almost twice the amount of link connectors/roads in comparison to the Strong Central Spine Scenario.

The additional requirements of connectors or roads result simply because of the selection of an inappropriate Growth Poles/ Satellite Community Scenario. All successful mega cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and London are integrated, with undivided geographical areas, not a collection of small growth poles connected by numerous road or link connectors. Even if mixed use and high density development is encouraged within the poles and public transit is preferred to connect these poles, the development of numerous poles would inevitably give rise to the need for long distance travel, which is contrary to the basic philosophy of "Smart Growth", which discourages artificial creation of the need for additional travel.

The selection of the Growth Pole/Satellite Community land use policy as the basis for land use transport development is likely to encourage the development of numerous small townships within a loose boundary of the mega. city, which in turn requires the development of a large number of pole connectors, as demonstrated by the STP report. The creation of numerous connectors, be they roads or public transit links, is not desirable from the view of the fundamental transport policy objective, which seeks to minimise the need to travel. It is therefore clearly evident that the strong Central Spine land use policy conforms more favourably to the objectives for the development of sustainable transport and "Smart Growth".

Thus, the Growth Pole Scenario is not consistent with the sustainable and "Smart Growth" land use scenarios, as it encourages sparsely-spaced centres of developments, favours long distance trips as opposed to short trips, advocates more road buildings, and discourages creation of liveable and walkable neighbourhoods. Moreover, it is not only economically less efficient but inherently favours the urban elite and car owners while ignoring the travel needs of the poor and vulnerable sections of society.

The STP-selected Growth Pole scenario is not consistent with the land use plan of DMDP, which preferred a concentrated and mixed-use land development. Moreover, it will require building of a significantly higher number of roads in comparison to that of Scenario 1: Urban Corridor - Strong Central Spine Scenario and DMDP, as illustrated in the STP report. It would appear that STP tends to favour major artificial growth of the city along the East West direction by massive expansion of road networks. This will not only discourage mixed and efficient land use planning, but will also encourage long-distance car trips. It is therefore evident that the Growth Pole scenario is not consistent with sustainable and efficient land use planning and should not be the basis for integrated land use and transport planning for a mega city like Dhaka.

In an effort to contain the growth of the city, the STP team suggested creation of a "greenbelt", a ring of land in which development is restricted. It is no doubt an interesting concept. However, the effectiveness of such an approach to contain the growth of Dhaka City remains questionable. Greenbelts have proven ineffective in most cases at containing growth, which simply continues on the other side of the greenbelt.

The better approach is to promote mixed land use development and to reduce the need to travel, as an effective means of controlling the growth of the city. More importantly, in order to create a liveable and environmentally friendly city, it is more desirable to spread needed open spaces, parks and play grounds throughout the city within mixed-use neighbourhoods than to concentrate them in one ring around the city.

Wrong information lowers media's credibility

Dr. M. S. Haq

People's right to know is a commitment of The a well know English dail newspaper of Bangladesh. The daily reiterates virtually every day the above commitment on the front page. It is fine, in certain ways, though. The questions remain: At what level of quality, the daily will enable the people to exercise their right pertaining to knowing things, per se? Does that level represent in pertinent areas, a continuous flow or an interrupted flow or a flow somewhat similar to principles of fluid mechanics (used in an equivalent mechanical engineering sense) or other kind-s of flow of: right information or wrong information; or a mixture of right and wrong information; or information containing truth or false information; or a mixture of information containing truth and false information; or excessive information or inadequate information; or fabricated information or pollution free information (to mention a few) - whether in a timely fashion or otherwise?

Despite my previous observations via articles in national dailies about the newspaper's - I mean, shortfall in the effort towards delivering and promoting its - People's right to know - commitment on a wholesome and continuous basis (for example) by affording the people to enjoy their right to know in a proper, acceptable and sustainable manner, the newspaper is yet (as of 30 December 2008) to gear up its effort towards remedying the situation.

Let me now share with you a recent example. The said daily posted a name-wise list of 254 election winners on its website indicating inter alia the election result up to and including the morning of 30th day of December 2008.

The list indicated most of the winners as defeated candidates and most of the defeated candidates as winners. It was a misinformation - whether deliberate or not - on the part of that newspaper. By the way, was it a product of journalism related diplomacy aiming at for example, preparing the real winners and the real defeated candidates - for internalisation of the election outcome at ease?

But in any event, it was grossly misleading. It was a matter of initial confusion for me because the electronic media information - at that time - regarding election winners was not compatible with the daily's list of winners. Further, I was a bit confused about the fate of my predictions on say, the AL will receive the highest number of seats in the election. It may be mentioned here: the above and other predictions concerning the outcome of election were published earlier by one of the English dailies of Bangladesh.

The bottom line is: The said newspaper should, as required, be able to rise on the occasion in pursuits of sustaining and promoting its self-promoted position of number one English daily in Bangladesh and fulfilling its commitment (used in a broader sense) to the people, among other things. The sooner it happens the better it will be for all stakeholders.

It now appears from one of the PTV (Pakistan Television) discussion programs - telecast on the afternoon of 30th day of December 2008 - the country's national academy of sciences and technology is, at present, pursuing and promoting its agendas and outcomes in pertinent areas at certain speeds and with a variety of successes.

It also appears the critical mass of present day academy product - in intra and inter-disciplinary areas of say, medicine, engineering, IT and agriculture - constitutes, among other things a sum total of contributions by the country's best students and best teachers under for example, the overall and able leadership of academy's current rector, a Pak army Lt. Genera. Congratulations!

The PTV discussion was focused on inter alia a number of structural and non-structural aspects pertaining to current programs of the academy.

A brief examination of those aspects - in the context of say, an increasingly uncertain, ever competitive and progressively re-integrating universe - would reveal that the academy's success between now and the foreseeable future would depend on inter alia:

one, how best and quickest the academy breakthroughs could be instrumental in ensuring, sustaining and promoting interdisciplinary knowledge, information, understanding and application as reliable, as well as dependable tools for problem identification, problem solving, challenge and opportunity building, internalisation of uncertainties and future making (to mention a few) - all in the greater interest of Pakistan and in the interest of world at large;

two, how best and quickest, the academy could transform it into a center of excellence when it comes to cross-fertilization of local, regional and global ideas and intelligence in pursuits of a fool proof, as well as pluralistic advancement of human and other civilizations (used in a widest sense of the meaning) through the 21st century, and to at least an equitable distribution of products of cross-fertilization among all stakeholders in a sustainable manner; and three, how best and quickest the academy could become a focal point for facilitating the effort of SAARC countries towards mainstreaming science, liberal arts, engineering and technology as one of the competitive means and measures for protecting, preserving and promoting peace, security, liberty, freedom, cooperation, progress and prosperity throughout the universe.

The last word: let us work towards enhancing the per capita technological entitlement (used in a positive sense) of all, particularly the poor. Happy New Year 2009!