11-03-2018

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY
SUNDAy, DhAkA, MARCh 11, 2018, FAlgUN 27, 1424 BS, JAMADI-US-SANI 22, 1439 hIJRI
Police obstructed the students who wanted to submit memorandum at Prime Minister Office
demanding age limit 35 to enter in public service.
Photo: Star mail
Stolen baby girl
rescued in
Joypurhat,
maidservant held
JOYPURHAT : A baby
girl, who was stolen from
Dakhhinkhan of the capital
on Friday, has been rescued
from Jitapur-Hotatpara village
in Ukklepur upazila on
Saturday, reports UNB.
The rescued baby is sixmonth
old Sumaya, daughter
of Azizul Haque of the
same area in the capital.
Police, meanwhile, arrested
the maidservant Nasima
Akhter, wife of Hamidul
Islam of Chaktahar village of
Ukklepur upazila, who
allegedly stole the baby girl
from the housemaster.
Joypurhat Police Station
officer-in-charge Muminul
Haque said Nasima Akhter
worked as a maidservant at
the house of Azizul Haque in
the capital. Nasima went
missing with Sumuya on
Friday.
Following this, Azizul
Haque filed a general diary
(GD) with the police station.
Police later arrested
Nasima along with Sumuya
from her village home in
Joypurhat.
Classrooms Around the World
by Julian Germain
INTERESTING NEWS
Julian Germain is a British photographer
based in North East UK who has
published and exhibited widely,
notably at the Photographers’ Gallery,
London, Parco Gallery, Tokyo, MASP,
Sao Paulo and Baltic Centre for
Contemporary Art, Gateshead.
For his Classroom Portraits series,
Julian Germain photographed classes
all over the world. The detailed colour
photographs tell the story of the
schools, the pupils and their environment.
Germain began the series in
2004 in North-East England before
extending it to schools in North and
South America, Europe and Asia.
In this series, Germain reinterprets
the traditional class photo in his own,
perceptive way. He enters a classroom
Experts for increased
Bangla use in higher
education, research
DHAKA : Stressing the
importance of increased use
of Bangla in higher education
and research, experts
here on Saturday urged the
country's policymakers and
academicians to help
remove the stereotyped idea
that Bangla education is of
below standard, reports
UNB.
They came up with the call
during a discussion programme
titled 'Higher
Education, Research and
Intellectual Pursuits in
Mother Tongue' organised
by The University Press
Limited (UPL), marking its
'40 years of excellence'.
Former special adviser
(Employment Sector) of
ILO, Geneva, Dr Rizwanul
Islam, also the moderator of
the discussion, said a drive is
necessary to encourage all to
use Bangla in research
works and higher education.
"At this age of market
economy, nothing can be
imposed without motivation
and the writers and
researchers must be motivated
to write textbooks for
higher education and their
research works in Bangla,"
said Rizwanul Islam.
The discussion session
was organised with four
panelists, including
Architect Prof Shayer
Ghafur, Prof Sourov Sikdar
of Dhaka University's
Linguistics department, and
writer Andalib Rashdi.
Prof Sourov said if education
and research are not
practised in mother tongue
then the general people will
not get the benefits of their
findings.
"Unnecessary affection for
English language must be
resisted and it's high time to
take care of Bangla as a language
of necessity," he
added.
Criticising the three
dimensional education system,
Andalib Rashdi said the
middle-class people of the
country is turning itself from
Bangla medium education.
The panel concluded that
while a lesson is in progress, the pupils
sit in their usual places and he only
moves a child here and there to ensure
no one is obscured by anyone else. He
sets up his camera on the spot where
the teacher usually stands, at 'child
height'. By photographing in colour
with a large-format camera, Germain
captures even the smallest details. The
children's intent faces and the objects
in the classrooms tell the story of the
pupils and their environment.
Germain also asked the children to
complete surveys that asked both serious
and playful questions. He converted
the results into infographics, providing
the viewer with more information
about the children’s daily lives as
well as their music preferences, aspirations
and so on.
initiatives need to be taken
to eradicate the divide
between English and Bangla
as the medium of education.
Marking its 40th anniversary,
UPL hosted its first
UPL Excellence Awards
dedicating those to all the
authors, associates, friends
and patrons who have taken
the UPL to where it is today.
A special Extraordinary
Best Seller Award went to
the singular title, Unfinished
Memoirs while eminent
economist Prof Rehman
Sobhan and distinguished
soil scientist Hugh Brammer
were selected for the
Lifetime Achievement
Awards.
The Best Seller Award
(Fiction and Non-Fiction)
went to Prodoshe
Prakritojon, Chihlekothar
Sepay, Porarthoporotar
Orthonity, Muldhara
Ekattor, Ekattorer Smrity,
Probashe Muktijuddher
Dinguli, Postcards from
Bangladesh and Sailing
against the Wind.
3 pry students
hurt in Faridpur
roof collapse
FARIDPUR : At least three
students of a primary school
were injured as roof collapsed
on them when they
were playing under the roof
of an abandoned building in
Lokhartek area in Sadarpur
upazila on Saturday, reports
UNB.
The injured are Shahed of
class five, Uzzal of class four
and another unidentified of
Lokhartek Government
Primary School.
On information, two units
of Sadarpur fire service station
rushed in and rescued
the students from the collapsed
building around
1:30pm, said Senior Station
Manager of Faridpur Fire
Service Saifuzzaman.
Lokhartek Government
Primary School acting headmaster
Shahin Khan told
UNB that some students
went to the abandoned
building for playing during
tiffin period.
Unfortunately, all on a
sudden the roof of the building
collapsed on them, leaving
three of them injured.
The injured were taken to
Faridpur Medical College
Hospital for treatment, he
added.
Meanwhile, Awami League
Presidium member Kazi
Zafarullah visited the spot,
said Charbishnupur Union
Parishad Chairman
Muazzem Hossain.
Rampal Power
Plant death trap
for Sundarbans:
Anu Mahammad
KHULNA : Professor Anu
Mohammad, member secretary
of National Committee
to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral
Resources, Power and Ports,
on Saturday said that the
Rampal Power Plant is a
death trap for the
Sundarbans and the people
of the region, reports UNB.
He came up with the
apprehension while addressing
a convention on 'Stop
Rampal Power Plant
Destroying Sundarbans' as a
chief guest organised by the
district unit of the national
committee at Khulna Press
Club.
Anu said the biodiversity of
the Sundarbans and its surrounding
areas is at a risk
due to climate change. And
the construction work of the
coal-based power plant at
Rampal will add more danger
for the environment in
the region.
The professor also
observed that the project will
go against the national interest
as the government's
agreement with India in this
regard are 'suicidal' and 'unprofitable'.
He also said that the industrialisation
centring the
power plant will apparently
create employment but in
the long run it will bring danger
for at least 40 to 50 lakh
people of the area who ultimately
will lose their work.
With Khulna zila convener
of the committee SA Rashid
in the chair, the programme
was moderated by its unit's
member secretary Mustafa
Khalid Khasru.
Moreover, a good number
of civil society members and
activists addressed the programme.
BNP plans 'big showdown' at
Suhrawardy Udyan Monday
DHAKA : BNP senior leader Ruhul Kabir
Rizvi on Saturday said they have taken all-out
preparations for ensuring a huge gathering at
their planned rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on
Monday, reports UNB.
Speaking at a press conference at BNP's
Nayapaltan central office, he, however, said
they're still uncertain whether they will be
given permission for the programme or not.
"We still know nothing whether the authorities
concerned will give us permission for our
Dhaka rally...but we've completed our all the
necessary preparations for it," the BNP leader
said. He further said, "We'll hold the rally at the
right time if we're given permission. There'll be
a huge gathering of people at our rally."
Asked whether they have a plan for holding
the rally at any other alternative venue if they
are not allowed to stage it at Suhrawardy
Udyan, Rizvi said for which reason BNP will
not be given permission when Awami League,
Jatiya Party and Workers Party had rallies
there recently.
The BNP leader said their party has a plan to
hold rallies in all divisional cities gradually to
have their chairperson released from jail.
He said BNP's Khulna unit is scheduled to
hold a rally yesterday while Chittagong unit on
March 15 and Rajshahi unit on March 31.
The other divisional units will also fix dates
for their rallies through discussions, and
inform the media about those later.
Info Commission trying
to get into business
DHAKA : Though the
Information Commission
was onstituted back in
2009, people had hardly
been able to reap benefits
from the Right of
Information Act (RTI) for
various reasons, but now the
Commission is trying to get
into business, reports UNB.
The government established
the commission to
enforce the Right to
Information Act it passed in
the same year and ease the
process of ensuring transparency
in the works of
those who are in power.
The Commission in its
annual report 2016 mentioned
that some 682 complaints
were filed with it by
aggrieved information seekers
from 2009-2016. Of
these complaints, 1,028
were followed up by hearings,
the annual report said.
The Commission got bolstered
once Prof Dr Golam
Rahman of Dhaka
University's Mass
Communication and
Journalism department was
made the Chief Information
Commissioner.
In 2016 when Dr Golam
Rahman was appointed,
364 out of 539 complaints
that were filed were followed
up with hearing sessions.
According to the
Commission's statistics, 257
of those complaints were
filed by general citizens, 21
by jobholders, 75 by journalists
and one each by a
lawyer, freedom fighter and
a teacher.
Of the complaints, 466
were against various government
offices and 73
against private offices.
According to the annual
report, 24,734 officers were
trained by the commission
from 2010-2016, while
5,920 in 2016 alone, which
included journalists and
other non-government officials.
It is mandatory for all
state-owned, national,
autonomous and statutory
government organisations,
as well as organisations
formed by foreign funding
or private investment to get
registered with the
Information Commission.
All these institutions are
bound to provide authentic
information when requested.
Under section 9 of the
RTI Act, the designated
officer shall, on receipt of a
request, under sub-section
(1) of section 8, provide the
information to the applicant
within 20 working
days from the date of
receiving the request.
Notwithstanding anything
contained in sub-section (1),
if more than one unit or
authority is involved with
the information sought for,
such information may be
provided within 30 working
days.
A torch rally was organized at Shahbagh protesting attack on Professor of Shahjalal University of
Science and Technology, Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal.
Photo: Star mail
Quader an 'unrestrained liar'
Mother,
Dhaka : In a scathing attack on Awami
League general secretary for his comment
that BNP staged its sit-in in the city illegally,
party senior joint secretary general Ruhul
Kabir Rizvi said Obaidul Quader is an 'unrestrained
liar'.
"Awami League general secretary Obaidul
Quader is a desperate liar. He said BNP held
its programme illegally. How did he speak
such a brazen lie? What else can we call him
except an unrestrained liar?" he said.
Rizvi came up with the comment while
speaking at a press conference at BNP's
Nayapaltan central office.
He said their party sought permission for
the sit-in programme from police and they
have a received copy of the letter. "Even, the
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner
spoke with our secretary general about the
permission." The BNP leader said they had a
plan to hold the programme in front of their
party's central office on Thursday. "As police
requested us to stage it in front of the Press
Club, we shifted it there."
Mentioning that Quader was a Dhaka
University student and a senior student leader
when he was a first year student, Rizvi said
what people and students will think about
politicians if a senior leader like Awami
League general secretary lies without any
hesitation. He alleged that the ruling party
leaders used to resort to lies to hush up their
misdeeds. "Awami League's politics is full of
self-contradiction. They act exactly opposite
to what they say."
The BNP leader voiced concern that their
party's arrested leaders and activists are not
getting bail from the lower court due to the
government's interference.
"Our nearly 6,500 leaders and activists
were arrested over the last one and a half
months. The government has blocked bails
for our arrested party men by establishing its
control on the lower judiciary."
Rizvi strongly condemned the assault on a
women in the city by the 'ruling party' men
on March 7.
He came down heavily on Chief Election
Commissioner KM Nurul Huda for his comment
that the Commission will not take initiatives
for an inclusive election, saying the
CEC is working at the behest of the Prime
Minister not guided by his conscience.
"The Chief Election Commissioner is hardly
bothered about who is taking part in polls
or not as he's moving ahead to hold lopsided
polls to help Awami League cling to power,"
the BNP leader said.
son killed
in Ctg fire
CHITTAGONG : A woman
and her son were burnt to
death as fire broke out in their
house at Morfola village in
Satkania upazila on Friday
night, reports UNB.
The deceased were identified
as Monju Shil, wife of
Nantu Shil of the village, and
their son Amit Shil.
Witnesses said the fire originated
from a stove when
Monju Shil was cooking food
in the kitchen around 11.30
pm and soon spread to the
entire house, leaving Monju
seriously injured.
Her son Amit and and
daughter Purnima also sustained
burn injuries while trying
to save their mother.
All the three were admitted
to Chittagong Medical College
Hospital where Monju died on
Friday night and her son early
Saturday. Purnima Shil is
undergoing treatment there,
said Officer-in-charge of
Satkania Police Station
Rafiqul Islam.
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