07-01-2021

THuRSDAY, JANuARY 7, 2021
4
Dr. Benazir Ahmed’s Initiatives: Bringing the brightest changes in Bangladesh Police
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Maintaining food security
amidthe pandemic
Though the UN has warned that coronavirus protective
measures could jeopardise food security around the
world, Bangladesh is unlikely to face such a problem if
the government can ensure people's access to food as it still has
enough stock of basic foodgrain.
But experts also said the government should not be
complacent with its food stock as it has a big challenge to
ensure its availability at the doorsteps of the affected people
through various social safety net programmes and food
ratioing system, and keep the prices of the essentials affordable
through proper market intervention in a bid to ensure food
security.
According to the experts, the government's measures to
provide people with food aid are not sufficient when millions
involved in the informal sector have become temporarily
unemployed with the gradual loss of their buying capacity due
to the varying degrees of shutdown of economic activities.They
also warned that food security will not be ensured even after
having adequate volume of food grains as the system may fail
to ensure its availability at every nook and corner always
within the buying capacity of all.
Contacted, Sarwar Mahmud, the Directorate General (DG)
of Food, said the country is unlikely to face any food crisis even
if the coronavirus situation prevails for a long timed due to
adequate stock of food grains, including rice, wheat, potato
and other essential commodities."We're not worried about
food security since Bangladesh is not a majprfood-deficit
country. We got a bountiful Aman and Boro rice production,"
he added.
Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman said coronavirus
has no impact on Bangladesh's agriculture sector and they do
not think the country's food security will be at stake if the
corona situation prolongs."We've got a bumper production of
Aman and Aush crop. We'll also have had a good production
of Boro. We produced almost all crops and vegetables this
season much more than what we did last year. So, we won't
face any food crisis under any situation," he said.
Nasir said farmers produced around 23 lakh metric tonnes
of onion last year while they expect it to be more than 25 lakh
metric tonnes this year. "We got over one crore metric tonnes
of potato last year while the farmers produced around 1. 09
crore metric tonnes of the crop this year against the local
demand for 70,000 metric tonnes."
Besides, he said, farmers also this year produced over 5,000
metric tonnes of vegetables more than what they did last year.
"Agricultural activities remain unaffected amid the
coronavirus shutdown as farmers usually work maintaining
social distancing. Most of our crops, except Boro paddy, jute
and maize, have already been produced. So, there's no reason
to be worried about any food crisis."
Commerce Minister at a recent press confrere said the
government has enough stock of food grains and daily
household items."There's no scope for shortage of food since
the government has stockpiled about 40 percent more goods
this year than it had last year," he said.The minister said 2.6
lakh tonnes of pulses were imported in 2018-19 financial year,
while 2.1 lakh tonnes pulses have already been imported over
the last seven months.
He said they have also imported enough edible oil and onion
to meet the local demand of the items. The former caretaker
government finance adviser Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the
country may not face any food crisis as the stock looks enough
to deal with the coronavirus situation. "But the main worries
are whether people will have the access to food or the food will
be available for people at affordable prices."
He said people's buying capacity is declining with limiting of
most economic activities to prevent the virus. "Besides, many
people have lost their sources of earning and become
temporarily jobless. So, it's the main challenge to ensure food
for them by widening the social safety net programmes."The
noted economists said the government must strengthen its
food aid support mainly for the day-labourers and those
involved in informal sector alongside the BGF and OMS
programmes for the poor to ensure food safety of all citizens.
He said the government announced a stimulus package of
Tk 5,000 crore for the RMG sector, but it did not spell out any
such package for those engaged in informal sector, the source
of 85 percent of total employment in the country.
Mirza Aziz said the rich should come forward and corporate
houses should use their CSR funds to stand by the affected
people alongside the government to ensure food security.
Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre
for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said Bangladesh is in a better
position than may other coronavirus-hit countries in terms of
food production and food stock. "But food security means not
only having adequate food grains. The proper distribution of
food, availability of food and people's purchasing capacity
involves the total food security notion."
He said nearly 1 core day-labourers have lost their jobs while
the overwhelming majority of 2.70 crore people in the
informal sector has become temporarily unemployed and they
are gradually losing their purchasing capacity. "The
government should look into this matter so that these huge
number of people can have food."
Besides, Mustafiz said, many people returned to their village
homes during the pandemic but they have no income now.
"So, the government must introduce food rationing system
alongside strengthening other programmes under social safety
net. Food security will be ensured when people will have access
to food."He said the government also must remain alert and
strengthen market monitoring so that unscrupulous
businessmen cannot create artificial food crisis taking
advantage of the situation.
Bangladesh Police will take their
services at the doorsteps of the
citizens. It is not the citizens rather the
Police will reach to the people's doors to hail
him with available policing services at hand.
This pro-people approach towards our
citizens has keenly been introduced by one
of the finest son of our soil, globally
acclaimed police professional and present
incumbent as Inspector General of Police,
Bangladesh Dr. Benazir Ahmed, BPM (Bar).
Here Michael Jordan is quite relevant, he
says, 'some people want it to happen, some
wish it would happen, others make it
happen.' Dr. Ahmed has been trying to make
it happen since the day one, since the day of
his incumbency during the peak of this
pandemic. This article, meanwhile, attempts
to glimpse over some of his pro-people
futuristic initiatives and innovations that
have remarkably been bringing the brightest
changes within the forces and services to the
lives of the people.
firstly, Dr. Benazir Ahmed BPM (Bar)
has introduced and customized Beat
Policing here in Bangladesh, from the center
to the remotest corners of the country. Due
to this approach, Police or the Beat Police
Officer will able to provide available policing
services to the doorsteps of the citizens. It
will quite possible for number of reasons, i.e,
smaller jurisdiction, smaller number of
people to serve, smaller communications
network, smaller stakeholders etc. It is a
common phenomenon that a Police officer
is overly tasked, as a result fatigue comes in,
and focus is lost frequently. To avoid such
scenario, Beat Policing is comparably a
better option in hand. Being a bookworm,
Dr. Ahmed is an extensive reader,
henceforth he reads former NYPD Police
Commissioner Bill Bratton's Book 'The
Turnaround: How America's Top Cop
Reversed the Crime Epidemic'. Here he
THE early days of the novel coronavirus
were soaked in unknowing. There was
very little that was known about the virus,
how it was transmitted, what symptoms it
caused, how many had it and how many were
dying of it. Some said that the Chinese
government was hiding information to prevent
the world from knowing how terrible the
situation was. The city of Wuhan was the
centre of the world's attention; the virus was
supposed to have first jumped species at a wet
market, moving from bat to rodent to human
in the most lethal chain in modern history.
What was happening in Wuhan in those early
days was a mystery, even as the whole globe -
ordinary people, world-renowned
epidemiologists and infectious disease doctors,
world leaders - was hungry for information.
Amid this environment of darkness and
fear, Chinese lawyer turned citizen journalist
Zhang Zhan was a beam of light. A resident of
Shanghai, Zhang travelled to Wuhan in the
early days of the pandemic. In Wuhan, she
became one of a few citizen journalists who
made videos of what was happening inside the
plagued city and posting them for all the
world, not to mention the rest of China, to see.
She made videos of the terrible overcrowding
at hospitals and clinics. She made videos of the
strictness of the lockdown and the people who
were being punished by police for minor
violations of the lockdown rules.
Zhang was a critic of the Chinese
government, its secretive ways and what she
saw as mismanagement of the pandemic.
"The government's way of managing this city
has just been intimidation and threats. This is
truly the tragedy of this country," the 37-yearold
declared in one of her videos. Soon after
this, she disappeared, messages to her went
AL ASAD MD. MAHfuZuL iSLAM
comes to know how New York City was
made crime free through beat by beat, block
by block approach and compstat. He urges
field police officers to be pied piper of
Hamelin for greater social good.
Secondly, in line with the honorable
Prime Minister's priorities, Dr. Ahmed
reinforced the zero tolerance policy of drugs
and narcotics, in a larger extend, he
announced war against illegal drugs.
During his tenure as Director General of
RAB, he led to coin the term, ' cholo jai
juddhe, madoker biruddhe.' He urges every
nook and corners to save our successive
generations from this scourge of drugs. To
achieve this goal, he puts forward extensive
and massive coordination, collaboration
and partnership with different agencies and
citizens. Additionally, he collates, collects
and commands internal deep data to
differentiate drug addicts within, if any.
Thirdly, corruption cannot be continued,
it must be stopped now. In accordance with
the magnificence of government priority
manifesto and zero tolerance policy on
corruption, Dr. Ahmed reminds his
colleagues, policing is a service for people,
it's not business. We are delivering services
to our 'citizens' who are the owner of this
RAfiA ZAkARiA
State as per our constitution, we are not
dealing with 'customers' like corporate
conglomerates. Meanwhile, policing is not a
business platform, and henceforth he
conjures up his command staffs to ruthlessly
edit your lifestyle as per the government
salaries, remuneration and benefits for the
common good of our citizens.
fourthly, winning the hearts of our
citizens has remained one of the cornerstone
of our service since the direction of the
father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman. To make this dream into
reality, Dr. Benazir Ahmed has relentlessly
been inspiring since the day one of his
incumbency as Inspector General of Police,
Bangladesh. The dissemination of strict
command of 'no harassment', 'no
discrimination' to anyone. To him,
sometimes, Police role is like Shakespearean
Hamlet ' cruel to be only kind', still we
should strive to serve our beloved
motherland and her citizens. We have to
remove all our behavioral barriers as the
Persian poet and philosopher Jalaluddin
Rumi says ' your goal is not to find love, but
to remove all barriers which are preventing
you from receiving it.' We must be strict on
implementation of laws that are vested on,
Citizen journalist
unanswered, and her social media accounts
became inactive.
Eventually, her friends found out that Zhang
had been arrested in May and taken to
Shanghai, where she was being held under
charges of spreading lies and making up false
information. In prison, her lawyers said,
Zhang began a hunger strike. In response, the
Chinese government authorities force-fed her
with a feeding tube. They restrained her arms
to make sure she would not pull it out.
Zhang Zhan became one of a few people
who made videos of what was happening
inside Wuhan for all the world to see.
On Dec 28, 2020, as the novel coronavirus
continued to rage around the globe, mutating
into new and more transmissible forms,
Zhang was tried in a court in Shanghai. When
she was produced in court by prison
authorities, she was in a wheelchair and was
barely recognisable from her former self. The
only words she spoke were a short statement
saying that people's speech should not be
censored.
Her condition did not stop the court from
delivering judgement on the official charges,
which translate to "picking quarrels and
provoking trouble". According to The New
York Times, China uses this vague category of
crime to punish all those that it perceives as
critical of the government.
In the short sham of a trial, which very few
people were permitted to attend, the judge
easily found Zhang guilty. For the crime of
sharing crucial and lifesaving information
with the world at one of the most horrific
moments in human history, she was
sentenced to four years in prison. As the judge
handed out the sentence, Zhang's mother,
who had not seen her daughter ever since her
arrest in May 2020, sobbed loudly. It didn't
matter, of course; the outcome of the trial had,
like so many others in China, been
predetermined. Zhang had dared to criticise
the Chinese government, and for that she
would have to suffer, be restrained and forcefed,
and be imprisoned for four long years.
Along with Zhang Zhan, other critics of the
Chinese government who have dared speak
out about its ability to manage the pandemic
were also arrested. Most of them, however,
have been released, yet Zhang appears to have
been handed down the harshest prison
sentence, perhaps because she is not willing to
admit that what she did was wrong.
Indeed, it was not wrong at all. Zhang
JASON D. GREENBLATT
and obviously must not demonstrate
physical or personal strength to implement
these laws.
Finally, Dr. Ahmed has been trying from
front to transforming Bangladesh Police
from conventional conundrum to techbased,
innovative, futuristic organization. As
an international leader of organizational
change management, he puts forward his
vision to reshape Bangladesh Police from
retrospective to prospective, aftercare to
pre-care of its own staffs and colleagues.
Forces welfare is key to motivate employees
to serve in significantly and substantively.
However, he does not want to blur the grey
line between discipline and welfare. He says
if our employees are motivated, if they are
inspired, the targets that we set forth, will be
easily achievable. With his spirit, Arthur
Schopenhauer is relevant to mention,'
everyone takes the limits of his own vision
for the limits of the world.'
To bring the brightest changes in policing
pattern and practices, Dr. Benazir Ahmed's
unique five points in line with the
government policies and strategies has
already been in place to practice and
gradually comes up with effective changes
within and beyond. This is why, Bangladesh
Police has earned huge hearts from the
Nation's premier HPM, intellectuals,
professors and stars in this pandemic. I am
sure like Napoleon Hill, ' whatever the mind
of a man can conceive and believe, it can be
achieved.' and so the IGP's five points is
synchronically as well as gradually being
achieved for sustainable peace in
streamlining with our national aspiration of
2041 here in Bangladesh.
The writer has been serving as
Additional Superintendent of
Police in Media and Public
Relations, Police Headquarters.
provided a glimpse into Wuhan, the epicentre
of the global Covid-19 pandemic, at a time
when many were not even sure there was a
new virus. While the Chinese government
denies it, it is not known whether they would
have admitted to the fact that there was a novel
coronavirus that may have originated in a wet
market in Wuhan at all. While they would not
be able to hide it forever, the early leaked
videos produced by Zhang likely created
crucial pressure that forced the Chinese
government to come clean.
Once upon a time, the international human
rights framework ensured that women like
Zhang who performed such a valuable service
for the world would not be punished and left to
languish in a Chinese jail. Human rights
advocates would ensure that her case received
attention and demand that the Chinese
government release her. The failure of that
system can be witnessed by the simple fact
that, one week after the European Union
issued a statement criticising the Chinese
government for its treatment of Zhang, they
turned around and signed a trade treaty with
the very same government.
People often praise China by saying that it is
unstoppable in its march towards world
domination. They neglect to mention that
China is also unstoppable in this other way,
punishing the brave truth-tellers who put the
welfare of the world before their own selfinterest.
Zhang's story should provoke some
questions about all the other truths that are
successfully suppressed by the Chinese
government. An emerging superpower that
cares more about image rather than truth is
unlikely to be concerned with anything except
its own survival.
Source: Dawn
Now is a promising time to begin to heal Gulf rift
On Tuesday in AlUla, a city in
northwestern Saudi Arabia, the
leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait
attended a ceremony that marked a
significant step toward healing the rift
between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors. In
advance of the GCC leaders' summit, in a
show of good faith airspace restrictions
were lifted and sea and air borders were
reopened. The Trump administration,
working closely with leaders throughout
the region, worked hard to reach this step.
This event is yet another example of the
realpolitik approach that has, of late, been
adopted by the region with the
encouragement of US President Donald
Trump, along with the able assistance of
Jared Kushner and his team. As with the
Abraham Accords, this achievement
represents the hard work of courageous
leaders who recognize that perfect must
not be the enemy of the good. These
leaders understand that, despite the
differences they have not yet fully
resolved, working together is better for the
Her condition did not stop the court from delivering judgement
on the official charges, which translate to "picking quarrels
and provoking trouble". According to The New York
Times, China uses this vague category of crime to punish all
those that it perceives as critical of the government.
region. This achievement represents the
hard work of courageous leaders who
recognize that perfect must not be the
enemy of the good. Tuesday's event is yet
another triumph for the foreign-policy
approach of President Trump and his
administration, which includes patience,
perseverance, respect for those who are
involved and the issues they are
concerned about, as well as not preaching
or dictating an outcome that the region is
unwilling to accept or embrace. As Trump
said when he visited Saudi Arabia in May
2017, his goal was not "to lecture (or) to
tell other people how to live, what to do,
who to be, or how to worship. Instead, (his
goal was) to offer partnership - based on
shared interests and values - to pursue a
better future for us all."
The Middle East is an extraordinarily
complicated region with so much promise.
Each day I participate in video chats with
businessmen and women throughout the
region (often including Israelis) and our
conversations are peppered with
enthusiasm for what they see unfolding.
They see a region of growth, vibrancy, and
opportunity. They look up to their
leadership and the goals their leadership is
striving to achieve. Over the past four years,
I have been blessed to have developed deep
relationships with many people in this
region - both personal and professional.
The personal ones are, of course, the most
cherished. We have broken bread together,
celebrated happy occasions, gotten to know
one another's families, customs, holidays,
dreams, and aspirations. It has been a true
blessing. I continue to marvel at where they
are heading.
Each of these countries has its own
approach on how to achieve their future
plans, but they also recognize that they are
stronger working together than apart.
Undoubtedly there will be bumps in the
road and occasional setbacks. But with the
strong leadership in place in the region, I
firmly believe we have much to look
forward to in the Middle East in the
coming years. This region, especially its
enthusiastic, talented, younger
generation, is also poised to make a
tremendous mark on the rest of the world.
Tuesday's ceremony removed a
significant stumbling block from the path
toward those goals. It may be that not all
of the issues have yet been resolved and
that personal relationships are yet to be
rebuilt. It may be that these countries do
not agree on some of the important issues
of the day, including the Iranian regime
and the threat it poses to the region.
Despite these differences and challenges,
it is time to rebuild the bonds between
these neighbors and hopefully others in
the region too, including Israel. It is time
to continue to strengthen existing
partnerships and to build new ones, not
only in security, combating extremism
and fostering commerce, but in friendship
and culture. Tuesday's achievement
recognizes that, while leaders cannot solve
all of the region's problems at the same
time and not everything is perfect,
significant progress can be made and
opportunities must be seized.
Source: Arab news