15-11-2021

monday

DHaKa: November 15, 2021; Kartik 30, 1428 BS; Rabius-Sani 9,1443 Hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.19; N o. 195; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

26 armed rebels killed

by Indian police in

day-long gun battle

>Page 7

SPortS

Mbappe fires France to

WC with nation's first

4-goal display in 63 years

>Page 9

art & culture

Shaon remembers

Humayun with new

song 'Jodi Mon Kade'

>Page 10

2.56 per cent pass

DU 'Cha' unit

admission test

DHAKA : The results of Dhaka

University 'Cha' unit admission test,

under the Fine Arts Faculty for 2020-21

academic sessions were published on

Sunday with a pass rate 2.56 per cent,

reports UNB.

Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof.

Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman unveiled the

results at the Professor Abdul Matin

Chowdhury virtual classroom. The dean of

DU Fine Arts Faculty Professor Nisar

Hossain and online admission committee

Convener Professor Dr. Md Mostafizur

Rahman were, among others, present.

A total of 258 students passed (both

General Knowledge and Drawing section)

the exam out of 10,065 candidates

against 135 available seats.

Admission test results are available on

university official admission website

admission.eis.du.ac.bd. It can also be

checked by sending SMS 'DU CHA <roll

no>' to 16321.

Successful candidates will have to

choose preferred subject through the

admission website between November

16 and 23. For reexamining the answer

script candidates have to pay necessary

fees and contact the Dean of Fine Arts

Faculty within November 16 and 22.

Judge Kamrunnahar

loses judicial power

temporarily

DHAKA : Mosammat Kamrunnahar,

Judge of the Dhaka Women and Children

Repression Prevention Tribunal-7, has

been asked not to sit in the court from

Sunday morning, reports UNB.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain

took the decision in consultation with

senior justices of the Supreme Court (SC)

revoking her judicial power temporarily,

said an SC media release. "As per the

directive, Judge Kamrunnahar won't be

allowed to sit in the court from 9:30 am

on Sunday," the release said.

However, the SC also sent a letter to

the Law Ministry seeking attachment of

Judge Kamrunnahar to the Law Justice

and Parliamentary Affairs Division after

revoking her judicial power temporarily.

The SC issued the press release a day

after Law Minister Anisul Haque said he

would send a letter to the Chief Justice

seeking action against Judge Mosammat

Kamrunnahar for making an observation

while delivering judgement in the

Banani double rape case.

Zohr

04:56 AM

11:50 PM

03:40 PM

05:18 PM

06:38 PM

6:12 5:14

Tribunal's statement

is embarrassing for

judges: Anisul

TBT RepoRT

DHAKA : Law, Justice and

Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq yesterday

said statement of Judge Mosammat

Kamrunnahar of Dhaka 7th Women and

Children Repression Prevention

Tribunal over registering rape case is

embarrassing for other judges.

"That (statement of the said judge) was

a wrong direction for the law enforcement

agency. So, taking action against

her was very necessary, that's why action

was taken against her. She will be asked

to show cause. She will be asked to

explain why she made that observation,"

the law minister said. Anisul Huq said

this while talking to newsmen about seizing

the judge's trial conducting power.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain

early Sunday temporally seized the trial

TBT RepoRT

SSC and equivalent

examinations were

held at the beginning

of February

every year and HSC

and equivalent

examinations were

held in April. But due to the epidemic

corona, the start time of HSC examination

of 2020 was delayed. This time SSC and

equivalent examinations have started on

Sunday (November 14). It will be possible

to take SSC and equivalent examination of

2022 in May-June. After visiting the

examination center in the capital on

Sunday, the Minister of Education Dr.

Dipu Moni said this in response to the

question of journalists.

She said it will not be possible to take the

SSC exam in the scheduled time (February)

in 2022. It will be possible to take the test in

May-June. The education minister said, "I

will not be able to take the exam of 2022 on

the same date (February) as before." But as

late as this time, it will not be as late in the

future. If Corona has as much control as she

can, then next year will not be so late.

However, it may not be possible to take it in

February-March. Students have to be given

a time to complete the syllabus. May-June

of the year may be gone at this time.

Hopefully, we can do that before then.

Regarding the release of results on time,

the education minister said, "We will try to

give the results of SSC within a month." The

conducting power of Judge Mosammat

Kamrunnahar of Dhaka 7th Women and

Children Repression Prevention

Tribunal and asked her not to sit in the

courtroom from Sunday.

The judge created resentment across

the country with her observation in

Raintree hotel double rape case judgement,

asking police not to register rape

cases 72 hours after the incident.

Opining that the statement of the judge

goes against the law and basic human

rights provided by Article 31 of the constitution,

the law minister said the judge has

violated both law and the constitution.

Dhaka 7th Women and Children

Repression Prevention Tribunal on

November 11 pronounced the judgement

in sensational Raintree hotel double rape

case, acquitting all the accused of the

charges.

SSC exam will be held in May

or June 2022 : Dipu Moni

results were announced within two months

of the end of each year. This time in the

short syllabus the required subjects are not

being examined. Three group-based electives

are being tested. That is why the subcommittee

of the inter-education board

has planned to publish the results of the

examination within a month.

3 members of fraud question

leak gang held in city

DHAKA : Detectives have arrested three

members of a fraud gang on charge of

cheating people in the name of providing

leaked Secondary School Certificate

(SSC) question paper.

The arrestees are Karimullah, a second

year student of Tongi Government

College, Al Rafi Tutul, a second year student

of Mohanganj Government College

and Abdullah Al Maruf, a third year student

of Habibullah Bahar College.

According to a media release of DMP

Headquarters, a team of DB police

arrested them after conducting several

drives in Dhaka's Uttara, Gazipur's

Pubail and Netrokona's Mohanganj area

on Sunday morning. The ring used to

give advertisement from fake accounts

on messengers and Facebook to provide

questions of various education boards .

The number of followers of different

pages and groups of this fraud gang is

4700, it said.

The much-awaited Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations began on Sunday.

The picture is taken from Dinajpur Collegiate School.

photo : Star mail

australia's Josh hazlewood broke the opening stand against New Zealand during the T20

World Cup final at Dubai on Sunday.

photo: ap

SSC, equivalent

exams finally begin

DHAKA : The much-awaited Secondary

School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent

examinations began on Sunday, maintaining

health protocols, reports UNB.

Some 22,27,113 students are taking part

in the examinations this time while the

number was 20,46,779 last time.

The number of candidates has increased

by 1,79,334 with a growth rate of 8.76 per

cent. The examinations are being held with

short syllabuses on three elective subjects

on a group basis. About 18,00,998 candidates

are supposed to sit for the SSC examinations

under nine general education

boards, 3,01,887 for Dakhil exams under

Madrasah Education Board and 1,24,228

for vocational exams under Bangladesh

Technical Education Board this year.

Besides, 429 students are taking part in

the examinations from abroad. In the

country, some 3,679 centers have been set

up for the exams.

This year, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp

and other social media will be monitored to

prevent question paper leak. If any ID is

suspected, law enforcers will monitor and

take immediate action. The decision was

taken at a meeting on the security of SSC

exams with law enforcement agencies at

the Ministry of Education on October 13.

According to the schedule, the SSC and

its equivalent examinations will end on

November 23. Usually, the SSC examinations

are held in February but this year

these could not be held as per schedule due

to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An uncertainty was created over the public

examination due to prolonged Covid-forced

closure of educational institutions and Delta

variant-driven resurgence of Covid cases

from the beginning of the year.

Border killings unfortunate

for Bangladesh; shame

for India : FM

DHAKA : Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul

Momen on Sunday reiterated that the

border killing is a matter of shame for

India and unfortunate for Bangladesh as

Bangladeshis are losing their lives.

"I always say, it's unfortunate for us

and it's a matter of shame for India... I've

no other answer to that," he said while

responding to a question at a media

briefing at his ministry.

Dr Momen said the decision was taken

at the level of heads of government and

also at various levels that the two countries

do not want to see any killing along

the Bangladesh-India border and there

was a verbal decision that no lethal

Government conspiring deeply

against Khaleda Zia: Rizvi

Shafiqul iSlam (Jami)

BNP's senior joint secretary general

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi urges to the party leaders

and workers, "Our address should be

on the highway." Otherwise we will not

be able to survive. The government is

moving forward with a terrible blueprint.

In order for this to fail blueprint, we have

to build permanent houses on the highway.

We have to take oath on the streets

for democracy, freedom of speech and

release of Begum Khaleda Zia. Rizvi said

a prayer mahfil would be held across the

country on Tuesday at the initiative of

BNP to seek the recovery of Begum

Khaleda Zia, the mother of democracy.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a

human chain on Sunday afternoon. The rally

was organized by Sadhinota Forum in front of

the National Press Club in the capital to

demand release of political prisoners including

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and former

Chhatra Dal president Rajib Ahsan. President

of Sadhinota Forum Abu Naser Muhammad

Rahmatullah presided over the function.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that Musabbir,

the leader of the Jatiyatabadi Sechchasebak

Dal, was picked up by white-cloth people.

Our lives have no value, no security. There

is no guarantee as to who will pick you up or

who will leave the meeting. I urge law

enforcement agencies to return Musabbir

to his family immediately.

In London, Rizvi sharply criticized

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's remarks

about BNP acting chairman Tareq

Rahman, saying she shuddered when

Tareq Rahman spoke. For this reason,

they are spreading slander against

weapon will be used. "But it happens

from time to time."

During Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh in

March this year, both leaders emphasized

the importance of effective border

management for ensuring a tranquil, stable

and crime free border.

The two sides agreed that any death

along the border is a matter of concern

and directed the border guarding forces

concerned to enhance people-oriented

measures for ensuring border security

and bringing down such death of civilians

to a zero level, according to the joint

statement.

Tarique Rahman, if not against the country's

leader Begum Khaleda Zia. If Tareq

Rahman speaks, you see conspiracy talking

politically. This government is conspiring

against the people. You have been

conspiring against the people of the

country for 14 years in power.

Rizvi said that this government does not

need democracy, it does not need votes, it

does not need elections. Now she wants to

establish tyranny rule as Sultana Sheikh

Hasina. The people of Bangladesh will

never allow this to happen.

UN climate agreement

clinched after late

drama over coal

GLASGOW : U.N. climate talks ended

Saturday with a deal that for the first time

targeted fossil fuels as the key driver of

global warming, even as coal-reliant

countries lobbed last-minute objections.

While the agreement won applause for

keeping alive the hope of capping global

warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, many of

the nearly 200 national delegations

wished they'd come away with more.

"If it's a good negotiation, all the parties are

uncomfortable," U.S. climate envoy John

Kerry said in the final meeting to approve the

Glasgow Climate Pact. "And this has been, I

think, a good negotiation." The two-week conference

in Scotland delivered a major win in

resolving the rules around carbon markets, but it

did little to assuage vulnerable countries' concerns

about long-promised climate financing

from rich nations, reports Reuters.

MonDAY, noveMBeR 15, 2021

2

I want to work

for everyone:

Mayor Badsha

Azahar Ali, Bogura

Correspondent

Bogura Pouroshova Mayor

Rezaul Karim Badsha said

that modern Bogura would

be built with the

cooperation of all. He said

while addressing a

reception program at

Bogura press club

yesterday. He informed

that various plans have

been adopted for the

overall development of the

Bogura Pouro area. Badsha

said that he would work for

the overall welfare of the

people with the help of

journalists.

The program was

presided over by Bogura

Press Club Vice President

Abdus Salam Babu and

conducted by General

Secretary Arif Rehman.

Bogura Pouroshova Mayor Rezaul Karim Badsha was given reception at

Bogura press club yesterday.

Photo : TBT

Khaleda Zia transferred

to CCU of Ever Care

TBT report

BNP Chairperson and

former Prime Minister

Begum Khaleda Zia has

been shifted to the CCU of

Ever Care Hospital for

treatment under close

observation. Dr. Zahid

Hossen member of her

medical team told reporters

that Madam is now in CCU.

There she is being treated

and tested. He said the

medical board has a meeting

at 4.30 pm. There her latest

condition and test results

will be reviewed.

Khaleda Zia was admitted

to Bashundhara Evercare

Hospital from her Gulshan

home Firoza last Saturday.

The medical board

requested that she will be

brought to the hospital as

she had been feeling unwell

since Friday night. After

being taken to the hospital,

her body underwent a few

tests and was placed in a

cabin.

Khaleda Zia is under the

supervision of a medical

board headed by specialist of

Hospital Dr. Shahabuddin

Talukder. Former Prime

Minister Khaleda Zia has

been suffering from various

complications including

arthritis, diabetes, kidney,

lung and eye problems for

many years.

After 26 days of treatment

at Evercare Hospital, the

BNP chairperson returned

home on November 7. Five

days later she was admitted

to the hospital again. After

being convicted in the Zia

Orphanage Trust case on

February 8, 2018, Khaleda

Zia was imprisoned in the

Central Jail.

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MoNDAY, NoVEMBER 15, 2021

3

Dhaka to welcome a

number of Foreign

Ministers this week

DU CHA Unit admission test result published on Sunday. Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof. Dr.

Akhtaruzzaman published the result.

Photo : Courtesy

Mayor Liton asks

engineers to complete

uplift works timely

RAJSHAHI : Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC)

Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton has asked

the engineers and contractors to complete

works of the ongoing development projects

timely with utmost sincerity.

"We are determined to implement the

uplift projects accurately so that the city

dwellers can derive total benefits of those,"

Liton said, adding transparency and

accountability must be ensured in all the

infrastructure development works.

He was addressing a review meeting of the

development projects with engineers and

contractors at the city bhaban conference hall

on Saturday. He told the meeting that massive

development works are being implemented at

present as part of RCC's TK 2,993-crore

project titled 'Integrated Urban Infrastructure

Development in Rajshahi City'.

Robbery bid at

ATM booth :

3 held in city

DHAKA : Police have

arrested three people during

their bid to loot money from

the ATM booth of IFIC

bank's Badda branch in the

city, reports UNB.

The arrestees are Md

Rubel, Hridoy, and Mamun

Police said the CCTV

camera operator of IFIC

bank's head office called

national emergency service

number 999 when he found

that a man was trying to

break the vault at the booth

entering there breaking a

wall.

Inspector (investigation)

of Badda police station Nure

Alam Masud Siddique said a

team of police rushed to the

spot after getting the call and

arrested a man from inside

the booth.

Later, his two associates

were arrested, he said.

A case was filed with the

Badda police station in this

regard, said the inspector.

In addition to five more flyovers and 19

infrastructures, implementation works of

various infrastructure development works are

progressing fast under the project scheduled to

be completed by June, 2024, Mayor Liton

added.

He urged all the engineers and others

concerned to discharge their duties with

utmost sincerity and honesty for successful

implementation of all the development

projects within the stipulated timeframe.

Liton said the Rajshahi city will get a new

look upon successful implementation of the

mega project.

"We are working relentlessly to make the city

green and habitable," he added. RCC Panel

Mayors Shariful Islam and Razab Ali and

Superintending Engineer Nur Islam, among

others, shared their views in the meeting.

Parliament mourns death

of 6 ex-MPs, others

DHAKA : Parliament on Sunday unanimously adopted a

condolence motion expressing profound grief at the death of

six former MPs. including an ex-minister and some noted

personalities, reports UNB.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury moved the

condolence motion in the House in the beginning of the 15th

session of the 11th parliament.

The six former MPs are ex-minister Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu

(Chattogram-6 and 9), Dr Mizanul Haque (Kishoreganj-4), Md

Fazlul Haque Aspia (Sunamganj-4), Mokbul Hossain (Pabna-

2), Ali Osman Khan (Mymensingh-17 and Netrakona-4) and

Sheikh Shahidur Rahman (Khulna-4).

The House also expressed deep shock at the death of noted

personalities, including veteran lawyer Abdul Baset

Majumder, noted cultural personalities Dr Enamul Haque and

Mahmud Sajjad, renowned journalist, dramatist and poet

Rafiqul Haque, chairman of Sylhet Zila Parishad advocate

Lutfur Rahman and former cabinet secretary Kazi Shamsul

Alam.

Besides, the Jatiya Sangsad expressed profound grief at the

death of physicians, health workers, members of the

administration, police, political leaders, media people,

business and social dignitaries, other staff of the government

and private sector, who lost lives in the coronavirus at home

and abroad, and those who were killed in the recent Sierra

Leone explosion caused by collusion between a fuel tanker and

a lorry, and other accidents in different places at home and

abroad.

Before passing the condolence motion, a one-minute silence

was observed and a munajat offered, seeking the eternal peace

of the departed souls.

PM returns home

ending 2-week

foreign tour

DHAKA : Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina returned home

on Sunday morning,

wrapping up her two-week

visit to the United Kingdoms

and France, reports UNB.

A VVIP flight of Biman

Bangladesh Airlines, carrying

the Prime Minister and her

entourage, landed at Hazrat

Shahjalal International

Airport at 7:24 am.

Earlier, the flight left De

Gaulle International Airport

in Paris at 4:20pm (local time)

on Saturday.

On October 31, the Prime

Minister left Dhaka for

Scotland on the foreign visit to

attend the 26th UN Climate

Change Conference of the

Parties (COP26) at Glasgow in

Scotland, and Bangladesh

Investment Summit 2021 in

London and hand over the

first 'Unesco-Bangladesh

Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur

Rahman

International Prize for the

Creative Economy' in Paris.

During the tour, Hasina had

meetings with British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson,

French President Emmanuel

Macron, French Prime

Minister Jean Castex, French

Prime Minister Jean Castex,

Australian Prime Minister

Scott Morrison and other

heads of state or government.

Besides, she had meetings

with UK's Prince Charles,

First Minister of Scotland

Nicola

Sturgeon,

Commonwealth Secretary

General Patricia Scotland, Bill

Gates, as well as other

important dignitaries from

different organisations and

business bodies.

The Prime Minister left

Scotland for London on

November 3 and then went to

Paris on November 9.

In London, the Prime

Minister inaugurated the

"Bangladesh Investment

Summit 2021: Building

Sustainable Growth

Partnerships" and Roadshow

on November 4.

During her stay in Paris, she

also attended the inaugural

session of the 75th Founding

anniversary of Unesco and the

Paris Peace Forum.

Combined Military Hospital brought out a rally in Dhaka Cantonment on Sunday marking World

Diabetes Day.

Photo : ISPR

DHAKA : A number Foreign Ministers

representing IORA countries, including the

Minister for South Asia, the United Nations

and the Commonwealth at the Foreign,

Commonwealth and Development Office

(FCDO) Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, will

be visiting Bangladesh this week, reports UNB.

British Minister Tariq Ahmad will deliver a

keynote speech at a programme titled

"Bangladesh-UK: Partners in Progress" on

Monday afternoon.

The talks will be held at the Foreign Service

Academy with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin

Momen in the chair.

The British Minister will also have a meeting

with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen

during his stay in Dhaka, said an official. The

Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka, Union of

Comoros, Indonesia, South Africa and a

Minister of Tanzania will also be visiting

Bangladesh.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary Kelly

Keiderling is likely to arrive here on Tuesday,

said an official.

Keiderling is the South and Central Asian

Affairs Bureau Deputy Assistant Secretary for

Public Diplomacy and Bangladesh, Bhutan,

Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

The United States is an observer at the IORA

talks. Bangladesh, as the incoming Chair of

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), will

host the 21st IORA Council of Ministers'

(COM) meeting on November 17.

The 23rd Committee of Senior Officials

(CSO) and its related meetings will be held

November 15-16 in a hybrid format (in-person

and virtual), officials said.

Bangladesh will assume the position of the

IORA Chair in November.

The Chairship of Bangladesh is to run from

2021-2023, with the new Vice-Chair, the

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,

and the United Arab Emirates now taking the

position of the Past-Chair.

The forthcoming ministers' meeting will be

preceded by the 23rd CSO meeting taking stock

of the Association's progress, and to endorse

the next IORA's Action Plan (2022-2027).

Meanwhile, a Strategic Dialogue on the

Impact of Covid-19 and perspectives of

economic recovery in the Indian Ocean Region

will be held on November 17.

Foreign Minister Dr Momen will host dinner

in honour of the delegations who will be here to

attend the IORA meetings.

The Indian Ocean Rim Association is an

inter-governmental organisation which was

established on March 7, 1997.

The vision for IORA originated during a visit

by late President Nelson Mandela of South

Africa to India in 1995. Promoting sustained

growth and balanced development within the

Indian Ocean region, IORA strengthens

cooperation and dialogue with Member States.

The member States are Australia,

Bangladesh, Union of Comoros, French

Republic, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya,

Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives,

Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles,

Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka,

Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates

and Yemen.

Lt. Col. Md.

Abu Sayed

obtains PhD

from DU

Lt. Col. Md. Abu Sayed

obtains PhD degree from

Dhaka University (DU). DU

Syndicate at a meeting held

recently awarded him this

degree for his thesis titled

"Assessing Disaster Risk

Reduction at School Level: A

Study of Dhaka North City

Corporation Area". Prof. Dr.

Md. Humayun Kabir of DU

Geography

and

Environment Department

was his research supervisor.

Lt. Col. Md. Abu Sayed

works at Bangladesh Army.

He took his B.Sc (Hons.) and

M.Sc degrees from DU

Geography

and

Environment Department.

He hails from village

Indrakul under Bauphal

Upazila of Patuakhali

District. He is the youngest

son of Abdur Rashid and

Fatema.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud placed a wreath at the bust of Father of

the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in London on Saturday. Photo : Collected

Hasan offers

wreath at

Bangabandhu's

bust in London

DHAKA : Information and

Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan

Mahmud placed a wreath at the

bust of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman in London on Saturday.

Awami League leader of the

United Kingdom unit Afsar Sadek

has set up the bust of

Bangabandhu at his own initiative,

said a release.

Hasan extended thanks to Sadek

for setting up the bust in front of

his own house. The minister said

Sadek faced many problems to set

up the bust and even a case was

lodged in this regard.

He (Sadek) has installed the bust

after winning the case in the high

court, he added.

"I would like to extend thanks

and congratulations to Sadek. It is

the manifestation of his respect

and love for Bangabandhu and the

Bangalees as well," the minister

said.

Later, he talked with eminent

journalist, writer and columnist

Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury over

mobile phone and enquired about

his health condition and

treatment.

Hasan, also Awami League joint

general secretary, prayed for early

recovery of Abdul Gaffar

Chowdhury.

Chowdhury also extended

thanks to the minister. Hasan is

expected to return home on

November 17.

Rash Purnima puja

to begin Nov 17

KHULNA : The authorities of the

Department of Forest (East) have taken

special security measures at Alorkol in

Dublar Char near the Sundarbans ahead of

the Rash Purnima puja (Holy Bath) which

will begin on November 17.

The three-day 'Rash Purnima Puja' will

end on November 19.

Alongside taking other measures, the

authorities have imposed a ban on carrying

all kinds of meat, except chicken, fireworks

and explosives, any domestic weapons and

firearms.

Sources said deer hunting spree sees a

sharp rise during the Rash Purnima Puja

every year as hundreds of boats carrying

thousands devotees throng the venue at

Alorkol in Dublar Char, close to the coast of

the Bay of Bengal under Sharankhola

Range of the mangrove forest.

"We had a meeting with the district

administration to stop poaching of deer at

any cost during the puja period," said Md

Mahmudul Hasan, divisional forest officer

(East Division) of the Sundarbans, adding

that the pilgrims will have to travel at five

selected points during day time.

Use of loudspeakers, any electronic

device and carrying of firearms and

ammunition are completely restricted and

travelling will be prohibited at night, he

said.

All preparation has been completed to

celebrate the Rash Purnima Puja,

Mahmudul Hasan said, adding: "Rash Mela

has been prohibited due to coronavirus

pandemic (Covid-19) and the Rash

Purnima puja committee has been asked to

monitor deer hunting during the festival."

"Alongside Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),

Coast Guard and Bangladesh Navy and

Patrol teams of the forest department will

have work for the protection of the pilgrims

in the Pashur, Shewla, Bhola and Shibsa

rivers from November 17 to 19," the forest

official said.

"The forest department has fixed five

river routes from Khulna, Bagerhat,

Satkhira and adjacent Barguna for the

pilgrims to travel to the venues," he said,

adding that visitors will have to finish all

their activities and rituals while leaving the

forest area before the sunset on November

19.

AL leader Mostafijur

Rahman Labu

passes away

DHAKA : Mostafijur Rahman Labu, vicepresident

of Zanaigati Upazila Awami

League (AL) in Sherpur passed away at

his residence last Friday at the age of 74.

He left behind his wife and a son, one

daughter and a host of relatives and

admirers to mourn his death, said a press

release.

Awami League General Secretary and

Road Transport and Bridges Minister

Obaidul Quader expressed profound

shock and sorrow at the death of Labu.

In a condolence message, Quader

prayed for eternal peace of the departed

soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the

bereaved family members, added the

press release.

MONDAy, NOvEMbER 15, 2021

4

Iraq's moment of truth in wake of attempt on PM's life

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Monday, November 15, 2021

Taxation in a

difficult situation

T

here

is no need to explain why the country's taxation

efforts assumes much extra attention in the on going

fiscal year. In fact, the economy acquired the

unprecedented burden of the corona related shocks that

started bedeviling taxation efforts from March of the

immediate past fiscal year. However, it is noted with much

relief that notwithstanding the pandemic and its disastrous

effects on the economy, the final counts of revenue

collection were not far from the set targets.

While this may raise optimism, given the fact that the

pandemic is still raging with unabetted force and no one

knows when it will be conclusively gone from our lives, no

complacence should be there in going all out to reach the

current year's taxation targets.

This is so very important when government's

expenditures have shot up a great deal to meet the varied

medical sides to tackling the epidemic.

Furthermore, the needs to pay stimulus packages to

industries and for the social safety needs of the poor, have

been stressing the government's resources like never

before. Considering everything, giving very focused

attention to taxation issues assumes very great importance

in this unusually difficult time.

New approaches to taxation must be tried in the near

future and the main strategy in this connection must be

one of expanding the taxation base than trying the old way

of squeezing out more from existing taxpayers who, in

many cases, are facing hardships due to the pandemic and

their shrunk ability to pay more in taxes.

Thus, instead of pressing on this class of taxpayers, the

main strategy should be one of bringing under the taxation

net a large number of those who always possessed the

ability to pay taxes but evaded payment due to in built

weaknesses in the system.

It is expertly thought only from effectively widening the

tax base or ensuring compliance, the challenges to taxation

in this difficult time can be substantially met.

For example, latest statistics show that there are 5 million

taxpayers in the country with tax identification numbers

(TIN). But out of these 5 million TIN holders, only 2.2

million submit their annual tax returns. Why this leniency

? Our tax departments should swing into action -- keeping

the pandemic emergency in mind-- to ensure that the rest

3.8 million feel obliged to submit their tax returns well

before the end of the present fiscal year. And why should

the authorities be satisfied with only 10 million taxpayers in

a country of over 160 million with a booming economy

when the pandemic started about eighteen months ago.

Even conservatively, it may be said that there are at least

three times more or 40 million eligible taxpayers outside

the net. The taxation departments are not expected to bring

all 40 million under the net in one year. But a drive needs

to be started with vigour to bring at least 5 million under

the net by the next fiscal year with the goal of bringing

similar number under the net in subsequent years.

Tax departments could mop up a great deal of more taxes

if it had a network of offices, 'densely', all over the country.

Taxes offices are still few and far between in the outlying

areas away from the big cities. Therefore, a big initiative

should be taken to set up tax collection offices everywhere

in the country. The target for next year should be to

establish at least one such office in every upazilla.

Government in a developing country needs to garner

increasing amount of revenues and this task can be

achieved through fairly and equitably expanding the

taxation base by bringing tax evaders and eligible new tax

payers under taxation. The finance minister must be

credited for doing considerable praiseworthy work to this

end over the last couple of years. But these efforts are also

still below the potential. Therefore, one would only expect

that the government will truly embark on a major

programme in the next fiscal year to effectively net in those

who are presently fully able to pay taxes but have not been

doing so or have been paying taxes disproportionate to

their income .

However, it needs to be also considered that taxation in

circumstances like ours, needs to be a delicate exercise out

of necessity. While the policy of detecting unethical tax

dodgers and finding out new sources of taxation are fully

justified, there is also the other side to taxation policies

involving providing of stimulus to business or economic

growth. The latter objective calls for the fine tuning of fiscal

policies so that the goals of meeting both the revenue

needs of the government and that of providing incentives

to businesses for their higher level activities can be

simultaneously accomplished.

It is also highly desirable in a country like Bangladesh

with a major part of its population under the poverty line -

to employ taxation policies in a manner to safeguard poor

people from woes arising from higher rates of indirect

taxes on common consumption goods. While every effort

should be made to avoid such an outcome, every initiative

must be taken to include the resourceful persons as

taxpayers and they should be obliged to pay taxes correctly

in proportion to their income or wealth.

On the other hand lowering of the rates of taxes, tax

breaks, etc., can be provided to motivate businesses or

entrepreneurs to become more productive and step up

their activities. But the present state of affairs where a very

few in number pay any income tax at all in a population of

over 160 million, is totally unacceptable. The same needs to

change with the taxpayers growing in number and the

government justifying at every step that it has not taken

arbitrary actions but only fair ones in this respect.

There is no mystery about who

tried to kill Iraqi Prime Minister

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. The target

himself declared: "We know them very

well and we will expose them." Security

sources confirmed that the perpetrators

were Iran-backed paramilitaries. Al-

Kadhimi should publicly name the

perpetrators so that there can be no

room for doubt that members of Al-

Hashd Al-Sha'abi tried to assassinate

their own commander-in-chief.

Prior to the attack, Asa'ib Ahl Al-Haq

leader Qais Al-Khazali issued threats

and accusations against Al-Kadhimi.

This warlord, who was responsible for

overseeing the killings of hundreds of

demonstrators in 2019 - and who is

culpable for innumerable

assassinations and sectarian killings -

shamelessly accused the prime minister

of cracking down on thuggish Hashd

agitators who were seeking to forcibly

overturn the election results by

throwing rocks at security forces. Al-

Khazali then risibly alleged that Iraqi

intelligence staged the attack against

Al-Kadhimi, who is the former chief of

the same intelligence apparatus.

A Kata'ib Hezbollah spokesman

quipped: "Nobody in Iraq has the desire

to lose a drone over the house of a

former prime minister."

And Kata'ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada

Secretary-General Abu Alaa Al-Wala'i

implied that Al-Kadhimi deserved to be

assassinated, taunting that he would

never again be prime minister.

The Hashd militias believe they can

collectively escape accountability; that,

whenever the state acts against them,

they can flood the capital with their

shock troops and assassinate whoever

speaks out. They want everybody to

know they were responsible - that is the

point. They may only be able to win a

few pitiful parliamentary seats, but they

crave to be perceived as the real power

in Iraq, willing to murder anybody who

stands in their way.

Sunday's attack demonstrates how

much militants fear Al-Kadhimi

obtaining a second term, as he is

perhaps the only politician in Iraq with

sufficient courage to act against

paramilitary dominance. However, as

one analyst pointed out, this "stupid

and short-sighted move" has already

backfired against the militias. It has

given Al-Kadhimi greater popular

legitimacy, while showing the Hashd up

as the murderous, cowardly criminals

they are.

Last month's elections represented a

moment of truth for the Iranian proxies

in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere. Until

now, Hezbollah and the Hashd had

always been able to gerrymander

sufficient support in elections to build

parliamentary alliances and exert

control over the executive. However,

crises in both states have resulted in a

spectacular plunge in nationwide

popularity for these groups and their

allies.

Sunday's attack has given Al-Kadhimi

greater popular legitimacy, while

showing the Hashd up as the

murderous, cowardly criminals they

are.

In Iraq, this saw the Hashd's Fatah

list collapse from about 50

parliamentary seats in 2018 to a pitiful

14 out of 329 seats. Moreover, the

January 2020 killing of Quds Force

commander Qassem Soleimani means

there is no effective figure to bully rival

blocs and compel sectarian Shiite

factions to act together, although his

hapless replacement, Esmail Ghaani,

rushed to Baghdad immediately after

bARIA ALAMUDDIN

the Al-Kadhimi attack in an attempt to

manage the fallout from the crisis.

Iran has no intention of relinquishing

its billions of dollars of investment in its

transnational paramilitary proxies.

Thus, if Hezbollah and the Hashd are to

retain political dominance, they must

enforce this through naked military

muscle.

The Al-Kadhimi assassination

attempt is a tangible example of this

shift toward outright confrontation. In

parts of the country, Hashd forces are

the de facto powers. Many divisions of

the security forces are largely composed

of personnel originating from

paramilitary groups, particularly the

Badr Organization. They owe their

primary loyalties to figures like Hadi Al-

Amiri. In Lebanon, it is perhaps only a

matter of time before we see Hezbollah

resorting to assassinations and even

more aggressive street-level agitation.

These Iranian proxies are

demonstrating their readiness to

plunge their nations into full-blown

conflict as a means of neutralizing

democratic setbacks.

In the belief that they are the

strongest force on the field, some hardliners

apparently embrace the prospect

of war, believing they will emerge

supreme.

For the Iraqi state and the

international community, the Hashd's

electoral defeat represents an

unmissable opportunity to curtail its

dominance; through the reduction of its

budget, the sidelining of Iran-affiliated

hard-liners and by challenging the

HAMID DAbASHI

Hashd's ability to illegally seek

revenues from checkpoints, extortion

and crime. Arab states must play a

greater role in recalibrating Iraq's

lopsided relationship with its eastern

neighbor. The Hashd, Hezbollah and

other proxies flourished before the eyes

of the world as an instrument of Iran's

aggressive regional brinkmanship. The

world has failed to act for too long, and

US President Joe Biden cannot afford

any further foreign policy disasters after

Afghanistan.

The fact that Iraqi militants can try to

assassinate the prime minister, then

openly taunt him about the attack,

demonstrates - as if further proof was

needed - that no genuine democratic

process can exist in nations where

militias can outgun the state, exist

outside that state's laws, and plunge

this explosive region into renewed

conflict.

It is no longer enough for the

international community to applaud Al-

Kadhimi's efforts to restrain the Hashd

from afar.

Al-Kadhimi became the target and

needs muscular Arab and Western

backing if Iraq is not to permanently

become an ungoverned space,

dominated by paramilitaries who

believe that they are at war against the

civilized world.

The strike against the prime

minister's residence at the heart of

Baghdad was a moment of truth: It is

time for the people of Iraq and Lebanon

to confront their demons of destruction.

Recent events prove that they can either

prosper as sovereign nations or wither

as Iranian colonies.

Al-Kadhimi and his Lebanese

counterpart Najib Mikati would find

strong nationwide support - and they

must be given equally unstinting

international support - if they were to

seize the opportunity to salvage their

nations while they still can.

Source: Arab news

Hollywood Orientalism is not about the Arab world

The recent release of Dune: Part

One (2021), an American

science fiction film directed by

Denis Villeneuve, has once again

raised the vexing question of

Hollywood mis/representation of

Arabs, Muslims, and Islam. Film

critics particularly from the Arab and

Muslim world are up in arms and

back on their hobbyhorse of how

Hollywood misrepresents them.

It is time for a reality check and to

come to terms with the fact that

"Hollywood" as an abstraction is in

the business of misrepresenting

everyone. It has no commitment to

truth. It has made a lucrative business

of deluding the world. Native

Americans, African-Americans,

Arabs, Asians, Latinx, Muslims,

Africans - everyone on planet Earth is

misrepresented for the simple reason

that at the epicentre of Hollywood as

an industry stands a factual, virtual,

or fictive white narrator telling the

world he is the measure of truth and

wisdom, joy and entertainment.

Dune is now doing its bit of

mis/representation with the latest

visual panache and state-of-the-art

digital bravura and virtuosity. Set in

the distant future amid an interstellar

dystopia, it is based on the 1965

science fiction novel by American

author Frank Herbert. In 1984, David

Lynch made a film version of the

novel to critics' dismay. But the 2021

adaptation by Denis Villeneuve has

received much praise, from almost

everyone other than some Arab and

Muslim film critics who think it

misrepresents them and has a white

saviour fantasy at its core.

It does. It is a textbook white

saviour fantasy. But so what? What

does it have to do with us - Muslims,

Arabs, Iranians, Pakistanis, Turks,

Indians, "Orientals" as they call us? A

white American novelist, a white

Canadian filmmaker, and a mass

media company based in Burbank,

California - Legendary Entertainment

- think the whole universe needs a

white saviour who looks like actor

Timothée Chalamet. What is it to us?

All the power to them!

For Arabs and Muslims to chase

after these films and ask why did you

misrepresent us, or why did you

borrow from Islam without any

acknowledgement, or why did you

cast a white actor in the lead role

rather than a first generation Indian,

Pakistani, or Egyptian "Muhammad"

(as Ridley Scott once put it) is blowing

A Kata'ib Hezbollah spokesman quipped: "Nobody in Iraq has

the desire to lose a drone over the house of a former prime minister."

And Kata'ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada Secretary-General Abu

Alaa Al-Wala'i implied that Al-Kadhimi deserved to be assassinated,

taunting that he would never again be prime minister.

the horn from the wrong side, as we

say in Persian.

"Arabs" are not real people in these

works of fiction. Arrakis in Dune are

not Iraqis in their homeland. They are

figurative, metaphoric and

metonymic. They are a mere

synecdoche for a literary

historiography of American

Orientalism. They are tropes -

mockups that are there for the white

narrator to tell his triumphant story.

The world at large will fall into a

trap if we start arguing with these

fictive white interlocutors, and telling

them we are really not what they

think we are. It is not just a losing

battle. It is a wrong battle. This is not

where the real battle-line is.

You do not fight Hollywood with

critical argument. You fight

Hollywood with Akira Kurosawa,

Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia

Suleiman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Moufida

Tlatli, Ousmane Sembène, Yasujir?

Ozu, Guillermo del Toro, Mai Masri,

ad gloriam. You do not battle

misrepresentation. You signal,

celebrate, and polish representations

that are works of art.

What difference would it make if

you were to cast Riz Ahmed or Dev

Patel or Rami Malek instead of

Timothée Chalamet as the lead in

Dune? Would that have resolved the

issue - in what way?

We are dealing with a massive

machinery in Hollywood that keeps

spinning around itself producing

stronger doses of fantasy to keep alive

the delusion that it is the epicentre of

the universe. If you throw Sydney

Poitier or Denzel Washington at it, it

will digest them and still spit out the

selfsame delusional fantasies. So if

you want to fight that machine, you

need to change the interlocutor - opt

for a different storyteller, farthest

removed from Hollywood. One single

shot of a Kiarostami or Ozu will melt

mountains of snowflakes in

Hollywood. You do not improve the

lie with cosmetic creampuffs. You

correct the lens with truth.

The late Jack Shahin spent his

precious lifetime documenting such

Hollywood abuses. He presented his

findings in his 2001 book, Reel Bad

Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a

People, which in 2006 was made into

a documentary. Other more detailed

criticism of such misrepresentations

has piled over the years. To what end?

It all started in 1921. In October that

year, the silent romantic drama, The

Sheik (pronounced like the French

word "Chic"), premiered in the US

and Europe. For the next 100 years,

from 1921 to 2021, from Sheik to

Dune, Hollywood has had a ball - it

produced and promoted one

delusional fantasy after another about

Arabs and the wider Muslim world.

But what does it have to do with us,

the real Arabs and Muslims?

The question that Arabs and

Muslims need to ask themselves is

precisely the question James Baldwin

It all started in 1921. In October that year, the silent romantic drama, The

Sheik (pronounced like the French word "Chic"), premiered in the US

and Europe. For the next 100 years, from 1921 to 2021, from Sheik to

Dune, Hollywood has had a ball - it produced and promoted one delusional

fantasy after another about Arabs and the wider Muslim world.

asked some half a century ago -

exposing white peoples' dark

subconscious:

Today Arabs and Muslims need to

reverse that question and ask

themselves why does it matter to

them what an irredeemably racist

culture thinks of them. Why this

preoccupation with the Hollywood

depiction of Arabs and Muslims or

anyone else for that matter? The more

Arabs and Muslims delay asking that

same question by just replacing Negro

with Arab the longer they

paradoxically prolong white

supremacist Hollywood's ability to

torment them, perpetrate upon them

epistemic violence, put them on the

defensive, and make them question

whether they are what Hollywood

thinks them to be.

"Is Dune a white saviour narrative?"

mostly Arab or Muslim film critics are

asking themselves. Of course, it is. So

what? Of course, Hollywood opted to

cast a dashing Rudolf Valentino of his

time in Dune to go and save "the

Arabs" from themselves. What else is

new?

"Frank Herbert's novel drew from

Islam," they also say. Frank Herbert

did no such thing. He could not tell

"Islam" from a hole in the wall. He

drew from the Orientalists' fantasies

of Islam, not Islam. No two Muslims

can even agree what Islam is - let

alone two Orientalists of the

Hollywood vintage.

I watched most of Hollywood's

fantasies about the Muslim world and

I found nothing in them that is

remotely about me as a Muslim or an

Iranian.

These films are like English

"translations" of Rumi I occasionally

come by. Looking at those

"translations", I can never tell what

the original poem is and I have spent

a lifetime reading and teaching Rumi

forward and backward.

Because the English "translations"

of Rumi are really acts of piety by

well-meaning Americans trying to

find a decent "spiritual" way

attributed to Rumi and I find nothing

wrong with it, for Americans. It,

however, has nothing to do with me -

or with anyone else who reads Rumi's

work in its original.

Years ago, in my 2009 book Post-

Orientalism Knowledge and Power in

a Time of Terror, I wrote that

throughout his magnificent life,

Edward Said had a fictive white

interlocutor sitting in his mind who

he was trying to convince that

Palestinians had been wronged -

unless and until that fictional

character was totally convinced that

indeed Palestinians were wronged

then Palestinians were not wronged.

But we are done with that fictional

character sitting inside the best of our

critical thinkers. Perhaps the most

eloquent spokesperson of the

Palestinian cause died unconvinced

he had convinced that figment of his

own imagination of the most brutal

fact of his history. We have long since

changed that interlocutor. We are not

talking to him anymore. He is

fictional. He is not real.

The frontier fictions separating East

and West, Hollywood and Bollywood,

have dissolved into cyberspace. They

are meaningless in a reality in which

how a white saviour's fantasy may

tickle the fancies of its white audience

is of little relevance to the rest of

humanity at large. They need their

white saviours. It is a psychotic

disposition. We can only wish them a

speedy recovery.

Source: Al Jazeera

MonDay, noVeMBeR 15, 2021

5

World's calamitous water crisis being

ignored in climate talks

people are eating cactus to offset hunger.

DeVelopMenT DesK

There's nothing to harvest

any more, nothing that can

be taken from the land,

that's why people are

starving in Madagascar.

The rainy season was

always special, an

important time when

everyone planted food -

key crops such as cassava.

But for the past three years

we've had very little rain.

The climate has changed in

Madagascar, maybe

because of the global

climate crisis. We used to

have distinct seasons but

no more, it has been a bit

troubled. The landscape

looks really dry, the trees

have no more leaves. It is

hard to find green areas,

most have turned arid and

grey.

Fiona BRooM

This year was even worse

because the rainy season

came so late that most

people could not plant as

usual. This is why we see

hunger, especially in

children, and maybe worse

is still to come. I see this

hunger where I work,

giving medical care to

pregnant women and

newborns.

You can see when they

talk to us how hungry they

are, that they have come

without eating anything.

Some cannot even wait for

us to get around to seeing

them, they go home to

search for something to

eat. Many do not come at

all - if you haven't eaten,

you can't walk 20km to the

health centre. Some are

afraid they will walk all this

way but the health centre

will not have anything for

them to eat.

We try to help:

sometimes I buy cactus

fruit and give it to the

women while they wait.

This is only a small thing

but I feel it's important.

Hunger is everywhere in

southern Madagascar.

Those who have livestock

or land will sell it to buy

food but they are taken

advantage of because they

are so desperate. Then

there are others who have

nothing. They eat cactus

leaves mixed with ashes,

just to not be hungry, to get

rid of that empty feeling.

Some people run away,

hoping to find a better life

somewhere else. I once

met a man who had

walked 200km from his

home with his wife and

photo: Getty

Madagascar is drying out

children. But there are

others who won't do that -

they don't want to leave

their land, that's their

home.

The problem here is

water. There are places

where there is no water at

all. People might have to

walk 20km to find water

from the dried-up river -

you have to dig one or two

metres down into the sand

to find water, which is

dirty.

I don't see it getting

better, I'm not positive at

all. We hear about plans to

bring water to this part of

the country but so far there

is nothing. There are some

organisations working

here but only in a few

places, so many rural areas

are forgotten. More help is

needed.

'Greenwashing' fears hang over

COP26 pledges

Major announcements on

climate finance and

emissions reductions at

COP26 will amount to

greenwashing if countries

don't also sign up to clear

monitoring measures,

according to people

involved in the

negotiations.

On Wednesday, the UK,

as the climate summit

president, released draft

texts that could form the

basis of a final 'cover

decision', or Glasgow

agreement, at the end of

this week.

Yet key issues - including

transparency measures and

commitments for the cost

of loss and damage to

countries - have still not

been finalised, and

meetings are likely to

continue late into Friday

night.

Outside the metal

barriers that separate the

public from COP26, a

lonely voice called to the

thousands of people

rushing inside: "Challenge

the greenwashing, that's

what you're here for."

Advocates say trust in the

swathe of pledges and

announcements made at

COP26 by wealthy

countries is low. And with

pledges for US$100 billion

in climate finance

unfulfilled since the

Copenhagen summit in

2009, developing countries

are wary of additional

claims of support for

adaptation and mitigation

funding.

Mohamed Adow, director

of the Nairobi-based

climate think-tank Power

Shift Africa, said: "12 years

down the line, we're still

looking for the money.

"Finance remains a

sticking point … It's not just

because it's needed for

ambition, but it's also so

critical to rebuilding trust

between the parties, so that

they can work together to

close the emission gap."

It comes as global

science, civil society and

corporate brands call for a

working definition of

climate disinformation to

include content that falsely

claims to support climate

goals, while contributing to

global warming.

"The threat to COP26 and

climate action is not

abstract, we have seen

misinformation derail

conferences before," an

open letter endorsed by

more than 250 signatories

says.

Sarah Hanson-Young, a

Greens senator in the

Australian state of South

Australia, told SciDev.Net

that mistrust was a result of

power imbalances. "We see

that in the Australian

context most significantly

with our relationship with

Pacific nations and island

states," she said.

"It is just unthinkable

what climate change, global

warming, what impact that

is already having on the

Pacific," she said. "We

know they are going to be

hit the worst, and yet

Australia - just next door -

is refusing to make some of

the changes that we

desperately need, such as

getting out of fossil fuels

and coal."

Australia is a major

global coal supplier and the

country's per capita

emissions rank seventh

highest in the world. Yet

the government has

The action zone and globe at the Hydro, Glasgow Copyright: Karwai Tang

shunned pledges to reduce

emissions or fund

mitigation.

The Climate Action

Tracker, which on Tuesday

said the world was heading

towards at least 2.4 degrees

of warming, has ranked

Australia's climate

commitments "highly

insufficient".

Hanson-Young said that

after meeting with Fiji's

prime minister, Frank

Bainimarama, it was "quite

clear that he is frustrated

that the big, developed

country of Australia is not

taking the future safety,

livelihoods

and

sustainability of his

community seriously".

Most significant pledges

made at COP26 will fall

outside of any final official

Glasgow agreement - such

as a multi-country

declaration to end

deforestation by 2030.

Delegates have warned that

pledges for climate finance

may be diverted from

Official Development

Assistance budgets, despite

claims that these promises

are for "new" funding.

Hanson-Young agrees

that the international

community must be alert to

greenwashing to "stop the

rot".

"We need annual

reporting on commitments,

because it's all very well and

good to sign up to all these

pledges, but unless there is

accountability, it means

nothing," she said.

"Transparency measures

are being thrashed out

now, we don't know where

it will end by the end of the

week," said Hanson-Young.

"[But] that accountability

measure of reporting and

being honest about where

countries are up to is so

important."

saRaH JoHnson

A global water crisis is being ignored

at Cop26 to the detriment of billions

of people's lives, according to the

charity WaterAid.

Water had not had "nearly enough"

attention at the climate conference in

Glasgow, with urgent action needed,

said Tim Wainwright, chief executive

of WaterAid.

"The way that climate change

affects human beings is almost

entirely through water, either too

much or too little," he said. "So why

aren't we talking about water all the

time?

"We need the kind of action on

water that we have already happening

on the energy transition," he said.

I think this is the first Cop where

people are beginning to sit up and

take notice. But it needs more than

taking note. It needs a lot of action

and it's urgent," he said.

A 2016 study found two-thirds of

the global population, four billion

people, faced water shortages, and

many were at increased risk of floods

and droughts brought on by the

climate crisis.

"The climate crisis is a water crisis at

its core," he said. Rainfall patterns

have changed in many parts of the

world; "more intense and more

frequent floods pollute water sources

and destroy crops or homes, while

longer and more frequent droughts

dry up the springs many people need

to survive."

Wainwright said very little action

was being taken to help affected

communities. A WaterAid analysis in

2020 found that water received less

than 3% of climate finance overall.

Rising sea levels were introducing

DeVelopMenT DesK

Urgent steps must be taken

to change the "toxic" tone

of negotiations relating to

the irreversible impacts of

climate change, science

and civil society leaders

have told political leaders

at COP26.

Delegates say wealthy

countries have been

digging in their heels

against calls from climateimpacted

countries for

financial support to both

avoid and address loss and

damage.

The term 'loss and

damage' relates to

irreversible climate change

impacts that can no longer

be adapted to or mitigated

against, usually associated

with extreme weather

events such as floods,

droughts and wildfires.

But some say that the

space to thrash out the

problem has been

restricted, with loss and

damage talks being pushed

to the sidelines.

Hundreds of people

crowded the halls within

the COP26 Blue Zone on

Monday in an effort to join

a loss and damage meeting

hosted by the COP

presidency and the Red

Cross Red Crescent

Climate Centre, but many

were turned away when the

room reached capacity.

Saleemul Huq, the

director of the

International Centre for

Climate Change and

Development (ICCCAD) in

Bangladesh, said loss and

damage talks needed to

appeal to the hearts and

humanity of negotiators.

"Unfortunately,

negotiations get stuck in

toxic issues of liability and

compensation," Huq told

the presidency meeting.

"We need to think about

humanity. That's what

we're asking for here and

we're not getting much in

return."

Scotland's government

last week pledged £1

million (US$1.36 million)

for loss and damage,

supporting a partnership

with the US-based Climate

a woman doing her laundry in a hole dug to access water in

Tsiombe, Madagascar.

photograph: alice Rahmoun

salt into water sources in places, and

drought was pushing water deep

underground in others, he said,

forcing people, mostly women, to

spend longer and walk further in

search of water.

"Water is fundamental to life," said

Wainwright. "It underlies your health,

your ability to have an education."

He pointed out that it was the

poorest people in countries that had

contributed the least to the climate

crisis who were suffering the most

and said investment in managing

water supply should be focused in

these areas.

The overwhelming focus of talks on

addressing the climate crisis had been

on trying to slow it down, he said, at

the expense of highlighting the

current impact on some of the most

climate-stressed parts of the world.

Justice Resilience Fund to

help communities rebuild

from climate-related

events.

While that figure is small,

it could be "the drop that

starts the rain", according

to James Bhagwan, general

secretary of the Pacific

Conference of Churches.

Twelve years ago, at the

UN climate summit in

Copenhagen, developed

countries agreed to

mobilise $100 billion a

year in climate finance by

2020 - a pledge which has

not yet been fulfilled.

Sven Harmeling, global

policy lead on climate

change and resilience at

CARE International,

believes that developing

countries are being

"silenced" by wealthy

countries who resisted calls

to discuss loss and damage

finance.

"We think that is

absolutely inappropriate,"

Harmeling said. "When the

developed countries

promised the US$100

billion, that was for

adaptation and mitigation.

It was at a time - 2009 -

when basically no one

talked about loss and

damage.

"We also argue there's an

additional need for finance

to address loss and

damage. Developed

countries don't like that

idea and they also don't like

the idea of a separate

stream of finance. I think

there are ways in practice

where adaptation, and loss

and damage actions, can be

integrated, but they are still

not the same."

Mohamed Adow,

director of the energy and

climate think-tank Power

Shift Africa, said loss and

damage talks often left out

the issue of finance, to

avoid discussions of legal

liability and compensation.

But he said that

negotiations had gone

beyond the issue of

compensation, and there

were many ways that

support could be provided

without assuming liability.

Maria Laura Rojas

Vellejo, executive director

of Colombian non-profit

climate group Transforma,

said that the quality of

financial support available

for loss and damage would

be crucial.

"What I mean by quality

is, how are the resources

that are available for

climate finance made

available to developing

countries?" Rojas Vellejo

said. "The problem with

"We need a revolution that takes us

to zero carbon and we need a

revolution that takes us to adapting

the world to cope with the climate

change that is irreversible," he said.

As part of efforts to tackle the

problem, a coalition of governments,

businesses, banks and nongovernmental

organisations pledged

their support on Friday for a water

and climate crisis fund that aims to

bring clean water to 50 million people

in Africa and Asia by 2030.

Unless action was taken, the future

would not be "not worth thinking

about", Wainwright added. "It's

calamitous. [A lack of access to water]

is already killing people … It's

unthinkable not to do something

about this. The world has to rise to

this challenge."

Rich nations ‘resisting paying

for climate loss

Residents of this submerged community took refuge on the roofs of buildings following

floods caused by a cyclone in Mozambique in 2019. Copyright: World Vision

this is that many of [the

resources] are available in

the form of loans, which

increases countries' public

debt. This should not be

the case."

She said 'concessional

loans' - those that have

below-market interest

rates or longer repayment

periods - and grants should

be made available, rather

than commercial and

private loans alone.

At the most recent

climate summit, Madrid's

COP25 in 2019, the

Santiago Network was

established to avert,

minimise and address loss

and damage by catalysing

technical assistance for

climate-vulnerable

developing countries.

"So far, [the Santiago

Network] has only been a

website where a few

organisations have signed

up," said Harmeling.

"There's no secretariat

capacity yet, the functions

have been very broad. It's

important to make clear

the next steps.

"As an interim measure

there needs to be a clearly

dedicated secretariat with

financial support. I hope

we'll get to this by the end

of this COP."

MoNDAY, NoveMBeR 15, 2021 6

RAB nabs drug peddler along

with cannabis in Manda

SHAzzADul TuHIN, MANDA CORRESPONDENT

RAB has arrested a drug dealer named

Choimuddin (35) with cannabis in Manda

upazila of Naogaon. He was arrested from

Masidpur village of the upazila around 8pm

on Saturday (November 13).

RAB-5 Rajshahi Mollapara Camp

Company Commander Major Md. Nazmus

Shakib has confirmed this information.

The arrested Choimuddin is the son of

Abdur Rahim of Raghunathpur village in

Tanore upazila of Rajshahi.

Major Md. Nazmus Shaki said that a team

Members of RAB-5 in a drive arrested a drug dealer along with cannabis in

Manda upazila of Naogaon on Saturday.

Photo: Shazzadul Tuhin

Covid-19 recovery crosses

96pc mark in Rangpur

RANGPuR: The average recovery rate of

Covid-19 patients has crossed the 96 percent

mark in Rangpur division where the

pandemic situation continues to improve in

recent months, reports BSS.

Acting Divisional Director (Health) Dr Abu

Md zakirul Islam said 17 more Covid-19

patients healed on Saturday raising the total

number of recovered patients to 53,244 at an

average recovery rate of 96.01 percent in the

division.

The 53,244 recovered patients include -

11,544 of Rangpur, 3,677 Panchagarh, 4,353

of Nilphamari, 2,625 of lalmonirhat, 4,527

of Kurigram, 7,329 of Thakurgaon, 14,398 of

Dinajpur and 4,791 of Gaibandha districts in

the division.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases

reached 55,456 as four fresh cases were

diagnosed after testing 136 samples at the

positivity rate of 2.94 percent on Saturday.

Earlier, the daily Covid-19 positivity rates

were 3.38 percent on Friday, 3.79 percent on

Thursday, 2.48 percent on Wednesday, 2.76

percent on Tuesday and 3.28 percent on

Monday last in the division.

The district-wise break up of total 55,456

patients include 12,480 of Rangpur, 3,818

Panchagarh, 4,455 of Nilphamari, 2,743 of

lalmonirhat, 4,645 of Kurigram, 7,646 of

Thakurgaon, 14,803 of Dinajpur and 4,866

of Gaibandha in the division. "Since the

beginning of the pandemic, a total of

of RAB conducted an operation in Masidpur

village of Manda upazila on the basis of

intelligence information. As soon as the RAB

members reached the empty space in front of

the house of a man named Ataur Rahman of

the village, Choimuddin tried to escape with

a plastic market bag. He was arrested at the

time. A search of the bag later turned up four

kilograms and 100 grams of cannabis. He

said Choimuddin was an identified drug

dealer.

A case has been filed against him under the

Narcotics Control Act at Manda Police

Station.

2,96,580 collected samples were tested till

Saturday, and of them, 55,456 were found

positive with an average positivity rate of

18.70 percent in the division," Dr Islam said.

Currently, the number of casualties

remains steady at 1,243 as no new deaths

were reported during the last 24 hours

ending at 8 am yesterday from the division.

"The district-wise breakup of the 1,243

fatalities stands at 293 in Rangpur, 80 in

Panchagarh, 89 in Nilphamari, 68 in

lalmonirhat, 69 in Kurigram, 254 in

Thakurgaon, 327 in Dinajpur and 63 in

Gaibandha districts of the division.

The average casualty rate currently stands

at 2.24 percent in the division.

Among the 55,456 Covid-19 patients, 54

are undergoing treatments at isolation units,

including 13 patients at ICu and eight at

High Dependency unit beds. With the

recovery of 53,244 patients and 1,243 deaths,

915 are remaining in home isolation.

"Meanwhile, the number of citizens who

got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine rose

to 58,64,448, and among them, 33,77,194

got the second dose of the jab till Saturday in

the division," Dr Islam added.

Chief of Divisional Coronavirus Service

and Prevention Task Force and Principal of

Rangpur Medical College Professor Dr AKM

Nurunnobi lyzu urged all to abide by the

health directives despite the improving trend

of Covid-19 in the division.

In the election held on Thursday at Chatalpar Union, Kathalkadi, Ward No.

9, Md Babul Mia won with tube well symbol by bagged 1011 votes. His closest

rival, Md Sarwar Alam, from apple symbol by bagging 937 votes.

Photo: Md Abdul Hannan

CHATTOGRAM:

Chattogram district recorded

Covid-19 positivity rate of

0.62 percent while only seven

fresh cases were reported

after testing 1125 samples

during the last 24 hours till

Sunday morning, reports BSS.

With the newly infected

cases, the number of

coronavirus (COVID-19)

patients stands at 102,308 in

Ctg records 0.62 pc

Covid-19 positivity

rates

the district, civil surgeon Dr

Ilias Chowdhury said.

"The number of cured

patients from the lethal virus

stood at 88,822 in the district

with the recovery of 59 more

patients in the last 24 hours,"

Dr Ilias said, adding that the

percentage of recovery rate is

86.82. With no new deaths

recorded in the last 24 hours,

the death toll steady 1,328 in

the district. A total of 921

infected patients are now

undergoing treatment at

designated hospitals here, the

sources added.

World Diabetes

Day observed

in Nandail

ARABINDA PAul, NANDAIl

CORRESPONDENT

Nandail Diabetic

Association (NADAS)

organized a colorful

procession on the occasion

of World Diabetes Day at

Nandail in Mymensingh on

Sunday.

In the morning, the

procession was brought out

from a local community

center and paraded the

Diabetic Hospital building

on Nandail-Dewanganj road

and ended at the community

center.

During the time, local

lawmaker Anwarul Abedin

Khan Tuhin MP, Nandail

Diabetic Association

President former MP

Jahanara Khan, upazila

Parishad Chairman Hasan

Mahmud Jewel, former

Deputy Director of Health

Department Dr. Tajul Islam

Khan, upazila Health and

Family

Planning

Administrator Md

Mahmudur Rashid,

members of the association

and dignitaries of the area

participated.

The second annual

meeting of the Nandail

Diabetic Association and a

discussion meeting on the

occasion of World Diabetes

Day were held at the

Community Center.

Newly harvested

aman paddy yield

delights Rajshahi

farmers

RAJSHAHI: Farmers are

happy after getting

satisfactory yield of the

newly developed

transplanted aman (Taman)

paddy as they have

started harvesting the paddy

in the region, including its

vast Barind tract, for the last

couple of weeks, reports

BSS.

The paddy harvesting has

not only generated scopes of

ensuring food security but

also created job

opportunities for many

people amid the novel

coronavirus (Covid-19)

pandemic.

DAE officials said suitable

climate conditions along

with frequent rainfall during

the farming season

unleashed the hope of

getting desired production

of T-aman paddy.

Department

of

Agricultural Extension

(DAE) has set a target of

producing more than 20.49

lakh metric tons of

transplanted aman rice from

7.74 lakh hectares of land in

all eight districts under

Rajshahi division this

season.

DAE Additional Director

Sirajul Islam said 34,400

farmers were given

incentives of seed and

fertilizers worth around

Taka 2.54 crore for the

paddy farming in the

division during the current

season.

CIG farmers

assembly held

in Narail

HuMAuN KABIR RITu,

NARAIl CORRESPONDENT

CIG farmers assembly was

held in Narail on Saturday.

The meeting was held at

Bagbari area of Sadar

upazila. Director General of

the Department of

Agriculture Extension Md

Asadullah presided over the

occassion while Deputy

Commissioner Mohammad

Habibur Rahman was

present as the chief guest at

the occasion.

Among others, Deepak

Kumar Roy, Deputy

Director, Department of

Wetland Extension. All the

prominent members of the

society also spoke on behalf

of Martha Swapan, BADC

and various sector officials

related to agriculture.

Nandail Diabetic Association (NADAS) brought out a colorful procession on the occasion of World

Diabetes Day at Nandail on Sunday.

Photo: Arabinda Paul

Bidi industry in verge of

destruction due to excessive

VAT-tax: Tariqul Islam

STAFF REPORTER

Tariqul Islam Dinar is the

General Secretary of

Bangladesh Bidi Malik

Samiti Rangpur and one of

the central committee

members said that Father of

the Nation Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is a

worker friendly leader.

Hardworking people and

workers have fought for life.

There was a strong protest

against the demands of the

workers, the language of his

movement. He expressed his

desire to build a golden

Bengal with the workers in

every movement and

struggle. Bidi workers were

one of them. Bidi workers

have helped Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in

various ways. He said if

Bangabandhu Sheikh

Mujibur Rahman had

survived today, the bidi

workers and companies

would not have been shut

down. Today 2 million bidi

workers have been taken

hostage by the British

Tobacco Company.

When investigated,

foreigners are manipulating

thousands of crores of taka

from this country.

Responsible for this are some

dishonest officials and

businessmen in the

concerned ministry. The

time has come to revive such

facilities under the

leadership of Bangabandhu's

daughter Sheikh Hasina and

to save the bidi industry as a

cottage industry declared by

Bangabandhu. For this, a

task force should save

billions of rupees and

provide employment to

Bangabandhu agricultural

workers.

Tariqul Islam Dinar said he

grew up in Tungipara in his

own village Gopalganj during

the Pakistan period when

there was a bidi factory in his

area. During the rule of Ayub

government, bidi industry

was declared closed. Father

of the Nation Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

revived this industry and

declared it as a cottage

industry. Bangladesh has

become a middle-income

country under the leadership

of its successor, the present

Prime Minister of

Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.

Along with Bangabandhu's

independence movement,

the bidi industry has been

declared duty free in the

interest of employment of

hardworking people and has

given a chance to this

industry to survive. Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina

called upon the workers to

survive and keep this

industry alive by reducing

VAT on the bidi industry in

the fiscal year 2009-10.

Tariqul Islam said that

some of the big companies in

Bangladesh, especially Nasir

Group and Akij Group, run

bidi industry and today they

have set up large scale

industrial establishments in

different parts of the country,

creating employment for

millions of workers. You will

notice that the British

Tobacco Company has been

established in Bangladesh

since the British period but

there is no evidence that any

large scale industrial

organization has even

extended a helping hand to

the hardworking workers

under their leadership. They

suck the blood of

Bangladeshi workers

They have taken thousands

of crores of rupees in profit

and taken them to their own

country. They have not set up

any facility for the workers or

CIG farmers assembly was held in Narail on Saturday.

any employment. If a worker

goes to the door of a British

tobacco company and stands

in front of the office of a

company in front of their

factory and asks for 10 taka,

he will not give it. Hon'ble

Prime Minister, Speaker of

the National Assembly

Bangladesh drew attention

and said that women

workers and ordinary

workers in this sector earn

their living by working so

VAT-tax on bidis should be

reduced. Besides, tax should

be levied on expensive

cigarettes. Because the

ordinary workers who work

hard consume cheap food.

The level of tax on bidis has

to be purchased by the

owners of bidis through the

post office from the level

security printing press. One

thing to note is that most of

the time the owners have to

collect all those labels from

the post office in adulterated

condition. In this way, if the

tax labels are paid directly

from the revenue

department, it is possible to

get rid of adulteration.

There are some

unscrupulous traders who do

not use the band rule bidi

packets but on the other

hand we pay tax of Tk 360

per thousand salkas. Some

unscrupulous traders are

running their business by

showing low price of bidi by

evading VAT. On the other

hand, even after paying VAT,

they are not able to sell bidi at

the price fixed by the

government because those

traders keep the price of bidi

low by evading tax from the

government. These issues

should be brought under the

strict supervision of the law

enforcement agencies i.e. the

Board of Revenue.

Mayor liton asks

engineers to

complete uplift

works timely

RAJSHAHI: Rajshahi City

Corporation (RCC) Mayor

AHM Khairuzzaman liton

has asked the engineers and

contractors to complete

works of the ongoing

development projects timely

with utmost sincerity,

reports BSS.

"We are determined to

implement the uplift

projects accurately so that

the city dwellers can derive

total benefits of those," liton

said, adding transparency

and accountability must be

ensured in all the

infrastructure development

works.

He was addressing a

review meeting of the

development projects with

engineers and contractors at

the city bhaban conference

hall on Saturday.

He told the meeting that

massive development works

are being implemented at

present as part of RCC's TK

2,993-crore project titled

'Integrated urban

Infrastructure Development

in Rajshahi City'.

In addition to five more

flyovers and 19

infrastructures,

implementation works of

various infrastructure

development works are

progressing fast under the

project scheduled to be

completed by June, 2024,

Mayor liton added.

He urged all the engineers

and others concerned to

discharge their duties with

utmost sincerity and

honesty for successful

implementation of all the

development projects within

the stipulated timeframe.

liton said the Rajshahi

city will get a new look upon

successful implementation

of the mega project.

"We are working

relentlessly to make the city

green and habitable," he

added. RCC Panel Mayors

Shariful Islam and Razab Ali

and Superintending

Engineer Nur Islam, among

others, shared their views in

the meeting.

Photo: Humaun Kabir Rintu

At least 26 armed rebels called Naxals were killed by the Indian police in Korchi forest of Gadchiroli

district, 1,012 km from Mumbai, said a top police official late Saturday.

Photo : AP

26 armed rebels killed

by Indian police in

day-long gun battle

MUMBAI : At least 26 armed rebels called

Naxals were killed by the Indian police in

Korchi forest of Gadchiroli district, 1,012

km from Mumbai, said a top police official

late Saturday, reports UNB.

"We have recovered the bodies of 26

Naxals so far from the forest," said the

Gadchiroli district Superintendent of

Police Ankit Goyal from the day-long

gunbattle, which started in the early hours

of Saturday and continued till evening.

Four police personnel were also seriously

injured in the action and were airlifted to

Nagpur by a helicopter for treatment.

The Gadchiroli district in India's western

state of Maharashtra lies on the border of

the Central state of Chhattisgarh.

"There was a camp of Naxals in the

Gyarapatti-Kodagul forest of Korchi, on

the basis of which the police conducted the

search operations since Saturday

morning," Goyal said.

The Naxalite rebels, who have presence

in at least eight Indian states, claim that

they fight for the rights of the poor and

landless in the country and have been

frequently targeting Indian security forces.

In 2019, these eight Indian states

reported 670 cases of naxal violence killing

150 civilians and 52 security personnel

while 145 armed rebels (Naxalite) were

killed and 1,276 were arrested, media

reports said quoting government data. Last

year in 2020, 140 civilians and 43 security

personnel were killed from 665 cases of

naxal violence.

Japan's former princess leaves for

US with commoner husband

TOKYO : A Japanese princess who gave up

the throne to marry her commoner college

sweetheart left for New York on Sunday, as

the couple pursued happiness as newlyweds

and left behind a nation that has criticized

their romance.

The departure of Mako Komuro, the

former Princess Mako, and Kei Komuro,

both 30, as they boarded their plane amid a

flurry of camera flashes at Haneda airport in

Tokyo was carried live by major Japanese

broadcasters.

Kei Komuro, a graduate of Fordham

University law school, has a job at a New

York law firm. He has yet to pass his bar

exam, another piece of news that local media

have used to attack him, although it is

common to pass after multiple attempts.

"I love Mako," he told reporters last month

after registering their marriage in Tokyo.

They did so without a wedding banquet or

any of the other usual celebratory rituals.

"I want to live the only life I have with the

person I love," he said.

Although Japan appears modern in many

ways, values about family relations and the

status of women remain somewhat

antiquated, rooted in feudal practices.

Such views were accentuated in the

public's reaction to the marriage. Some

Japanese feel they have a say in such matters

because taxpayer money supports the

imperial family system. Other princesses

have married commoners and left the palace.

But Mako is the first to have drawn such a

public outcry, including a frenzied reaction

on social media and in local tabloids.

Speculation ranged from whether the

couple could afford to live in Manhattan to

how much money Kei Komuro would earn

and if the former princess would end up

financially supporting her husband.

Mako is the niece of Emperor Naruhito,

who also married a commoner, Masako.

Masako often suffered mentally in the

cloistered, regulated life of the imperial

family. The negative media coverage

surrounding Mako's marriage gave her what

palace doctors described last month as a

form of traumatic stress disorder.

Former Emperor Akihito, the father of the

current emperor, was the first member of the

imperial family to marry a commoner. His

father was the emperor under whom Japan

fought and lost in World War II.

The family holds no political power but

serves as a symbol of the nation, attending

ceremonial events and visiting disaster

zones, and remains relatively popular.

Only males inherit the Chrysanthemum

Thone. Mako is the daughter of the

emperor's younger brother, and her 15-yearold

brother is expected to eventually be

emperor.

UK's Queen to miss

Remembrance

event: palace

LONDON : Britain's Queen

Elizabeth II will miss Sunday's

Remembrance service, which

was supposed to be her first

public appearance since

resting on medical advice, due

to a "sprained back",

Buckingham Palace said. "The

Queen, having sprained her

back, has decided this

morning with great regret that

she will not be able to attend

today's Remembrance

Sunday Service at the

Cenotaph," the palace said in

a statement.

"Her Majesty is

disappointed that she will

miss the service."

Her son Prince Charles will

lay a wreath on her behalf, as

in previous years. The 95-

year-old was due to view the

annual service in central

London from a balcony.

, as she has done since 2017,

when she handed over some

of her duties to younger

members of the family.

MoNDAY, NovEMBEr 15, 2021

7

Myanmar political standoff leaves

economy in tatters

The military takeover in

Myanmar has set its economy

back years, if not decades, as

political unrest and violence

disrupt banking, trade and

livelihoods and millions slide

deeper into poverty.

The Southeast Asian

country was already in

recession when the pandemic

took hold in 2020, paralyzing

its lucrative tourism sector.

Political upheavals after the

army ousted its civilian

government on Feb. 1 have

heaped further misery on its

62 million people, who are

paying sharply higher prices

for food and other necessities

as the value of the kyat, the

national currency, plummets,

reports UNB.

With no end to the political

impasse in sight, the outlook

for the economy is murky.

U.N. humanitarian chief

Martin Griffiths appealed last

week to Myanmar's military

leaders to allow unimpeded

access to more than 3 million

people needing "life-saving"

aid "because of growing

conflict and insecurity,

COVID-19 and a failing

economy."

Griffiths said he was

increasingly concerned about

reports of rising levels of food

insecurity in and around the

cities. Hundreds of thousands

of people in the country have

lost their jobs and poverty has

deepened as Myanmar's

inflation has skyrocketed.

"Imported foods and

medicines cost double what

they used to . . . so people buy

only what they need to buy.

And when traders sell an item

for 1,000 kyats one day and

1,200 the next, it means that

the seller is losing while

selling," said Ma San San, a

trader in Mawlamyine

township who sells Thai

goods. Myanmar's economy

is forecast to shrink by 18.4%

in 2021, according to the

Asian Development Bank,

one of the deepest recent

contractions anywhere.

The civilian government

ousted in February had been

making slow but steady

progress toward weaving

impoverished Myanmar into

the global economy after

decades of quasi-isolation

under past military regimes.

Exports surged over the last

decade, after the generals

relaxed their decades-long

hold on power. Eager to tap a

young and low-cost

workforce, foreign investors

set up factories making

garments and other light

manufactured goods. Yangon,

the former capital and largest

city, was transformed as

moldering buildings dating

back to British colonial days

were spruced up or

demolished, making way for

new roads, industrial zones,

shopping malls and modern

apartments. Private

businesses popped up,

creating jobs and meeting

long-deprived demand for

products like cellphones and

new cars.

But the military still

controlled key government

ministries and many

industries, and corruption

and cronyism thrived.

Months into Myanmar's

political crisis, the country has

returned to the days of black

market trading and dollar

hoarding.

"Now most people are

losing faith in the Myanmar

currency and buying dollars,

so prices are soaring," said

Soe Tun, chairman of the

Myanmar Automobile

Manufacturers and

Distributors Association and

an official of the Myanmar

Rice Association. Trade has

been hindered both by the

global shortage, and surging

costs, of shipping containers

and by China's closure of its

border to exports from

Myanmar to help control

coronavirus outbreaks.

Myanmar's total trade fell

22% from a year earlier in the

10 months from October

2020 to July 2021, Senior

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who

led the army's takeover,

recently told his militaryinstalled

cabinet. He said the

country logged a trade deficit

of $368 million.

The less Myanmar exports,

the less it earns in foreign

currency - mainly dollars -

making the greenback all the

more scarce and valuable

versus the kyat.

In January, the dollar

bought 1,300-1,400 kyats. In

late September, it hit a record

high 3,000 kyats among

money changers on

downtown Yangon's

Shwebontha Street.

, informally known as

Broker Street.

That has driven up prices in

The military takeover in Myanmar has set its economy back years, if not decades,

as political unrest and violence disrupt banking, trade and livelihoods and millions

slide deeper into poverty.

Photo : AP

kyats for necessities such as

cooking oil, cosmetics, food,

electronics, fuel and other

increasingly costly supplies

that have to be imported

using dollars.

The authorities suspended

vehicle imports from Oct. 1 to

conserve foreign exchange.

To stanch the kyat's plunge,

the Central Bank of

Myanmar has intervened in

the market 36 times since

February. But such

operations have had scant

impact, traders say, since

most dollars sold by the

central bank go to promilitary

businesses.

Future cooperation between China and the United States, two largest

economies in the world, be it in the area of climate change, biodiversity,

trade, or technology, is critical, said World Economic Forum (WEF)

President Borge Brende.

Photo : AP

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2021

8

Mexico's economic recovery

has sting in its tail

Managing Director & CEO of Social Islami Bank Limited Quazi Osman Ali inaugurated its 95th

Subbranch namely Basabo Subbranch in Dhaka as chief guest through virtual platform recently. Md.

Tajul Islam, Additional Managing Director, Abu Naser Chowdhury, Md. Sirajul Hoque and Md.

Shamsul Hoque, Deputy Managing Directors, Abdul Hannan Khan, Company Secretary, Md.

Moniruzzaman, Head of Marketing & Brand Communication, Saif Al-Amin, Head of BC & GB were

present in the program. Manager of Mouchak Branch, senior officials, In-charge of the subbranch

and other local dignitaries also attended the program.

Photo: Courtesy

From crab balls to cars,

Biden’s hometown feels

inflation pinch

WILMINGTON: A pizzeria

in President Joe Biden's

hometown Wilmington

recently took sparkling

water off the menu because

it got so pricey managers

figured no one would buy it,

reports BSS.

At the car dealership that

Biden's presidential

motorcade occasionally

passes when he comes to

town, sales people have had

trouble keeping new vehicles

in stock, while prices for

their used models have

climbed ever higher in

recent months.

"Each day is a new day.

We're not really sure what's

going to happen in the

business or in the economy

when we wake up in the

morning," said Jim

Ursomarso, vice president of

Union Park Automotive.

The wave of inflation that's

swept the United States this

year as Covid-19 vaccines

have helped businesses

reopen and consumers

spend has spared no part of

the country-not even

US, Japan launch talks to

resolve steel, aluminum tariffs

WASHINGTON : The United

States said Friday it had

opened talks with Japan

aimed at reducing US tariffs

on steel and aluminum

imports imposed under

former president Donald

Trump, after Washington

reached a deal on the same

issue with the European

Union, reports BSS.

Citing "distortions" caused

by global overproduction

fueled by China, "the United

States and Japan will seek to

resolve bilateral concerns in

this area," US Trade

Representative Katherine Tai

and Commerce Secretary

Gina Raimondo said.

"The United States and

Japan have a historic

alliance, built on mutual trust

Wilmington, the city that

has provided a backdrop for

much of Biden's political

career.

Voters in the Mid-Atlantic

city gave Biden seven times

more votes than his

predecessor Donald Trump

in last year's election, but

business owners now fret as

prices rise and public

approval in his

administration falls.

"Here in Delaware, he's

loved. But as time has gone

by, we have been lacking the

reciprocation," said Serena

Kelley Jefferson, co-owner

of Serena's Soulfood, whose

mother cooked for Biden,

and who recently took crab

balls off her menu because

they became too costly to

serve profitably.

Inflation spreads -

Inflation was predicted to

increase as the US economy

recovered in 2021, but a

Wednesday report from the

Labor Department showing

the consumer price index

last month experienced its

biggest year-on-year gain in

and respect," Tai and

Raimondo said in a

statement, before taking aim

at Beijing.

"These consultations

present an opportunity to

promote high standards,

address shared concerns,

including climate change,

and hold countries like China

that support trade-distorting

non-market policies and

practices to account."

The US officials said

market distortions from

global non-market excess

capacity "driven largely" by

China "pose a serious threat

to the market-oriented US

steel and aluminum

industries and the workers in

those industries."

Raimondo is due in Tokyo

more than three decades

was an unwelcome surprise.

This year's initial price

spikes were most severe for

products like used cars and

airplane tickets. The latest

data, however, showed them

extending into groceries and

gasoline, with ripple effects

across the economy.

"After the pandemic, this

was the worst thing that

could happen to small

businesses, especially

restaurants," said Gianni

Esposito, whose eponymous

pizza parlor has received

Biden repeatedly, including

on the day he began his

latest presidential campaign

in 2019.

"Now you cannot find a lot

of employees. Everything

you have to buy, it's 30, 40,

50 percent more expensive."

As of Friday, poll

amalgamator

FiveThirtyEight put

Biden's approval rating at

42.8 percent, lower than all

other presidents at this

point in their terms except

for two.

next week for talks with

Japanese officials.

Her first official Asian trip

will also take her to Malaysia

and Singapore, where she will

meet with officials from

Australia and New Zealand.

In June 2018, Trump

imposed tariffs of 25 percent

on steel and 10 percent on

aluminum from several

economies, including the

European Union and Japan.

The Republican said he was

acting on national security

grounds, a claim rejected by

critics.

Last week, the United

States and the EU announced

they would lift those tariffs in

what President Joe Biden

called a "new era in

transatlantic cooperation."

A webinar titled "Prospects of Bangladeshi Products in Chinese Market:

How to Realize the Potential of Preferential Treatment" jointly organized

by Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCCI) and the

Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) was held on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy

Elon Musk

sells $6.9b

in Tesla

shares after

Twitter poll

NEW YORK :Tesla CEO

Elon Musk sold more than

$6.9 billion worth of shares

in the electric carmaker this

week, according to

regulatory filings released

Friday, reports BSS.

The 50-year-old South

African billionaire sold more

than 5.1 million Tesla shares,

of which about 4.2 million

were held in a trust.

His massive disposal hit

Tesla's share price, which

slumped 15.4 percent over

the week.

Tesla last month became

the latest US tech giant to hit

$1 trillion in market value.

Musk's selloff came days

after he created a Twitter

poll-in which millions votedasking

whether he should

sell 10 percent of his huge

stake in the electric

carmaker.

On Saturday, Musk

tweeted: "Much is made

lately of unrealized gains

being a means of tax

avoidance, so I propose

selling 10% of my Tesla

stock. Do you support this?"

In the poll, almost 58

percent of the 3.5 million

votes cast were in favor of

him proceeding with the

sale.

Tesla shares had

plummeted at the Wall

Street opening on Monday

and have fallen further since.

The stock Musk disposed

of this week was sold at a

significantly lower share

price than if he had sold

before his tweet.

Regulatory filings showed

the tech entrepreneur had

initiated the sale of at least

some of these shares ahead

of the Twitter poll.

According to the latest

filings with the Securities

and Exchange Commission,

Musk still holds about 167

million Tesla shares.

OPEC cuts world

oil demand

forecast for 2021

PARIS : OPEC lowered its

world oil demand forecast

for 2021 on Thursday, citing

weaker demand in major

consumers China and India,

and an expected hit from

high energy prices, reports

BSS.

In a monthly report, the

cartel of major oil producers

cut its forecast by around

160,000 barrels per day.

Global demand for 2021 is

now forecast to reach 96.4

million barrels per day.

"Revisions were mainly to

account for slower than

anticipated demand from

China and India" in the third

quarter, the report said.

"In addition, a slowdown

in the pace of recovery in

4Q21 (fourth quarter) is now

assumed due to elevated

energy prices," it said.

China's economy slowed

more than expected in the

third quarter as a crackdown

on the property sector and a

looming energy crisis began

to bite.

MEXICO CITY : Latin America's secondlargest

economy is bouncing back from

its worst slump in decades, but rising

living costs mean that many Mexicans

like Reynaldo Perez are struggling to

scrape by, reports BSS.

The 54-year-old ekes out a living from

tips for valet parking for restaurant

customers in Mexico City, the epicenter

of the pandemic in one of the world's

worst affected countries.

"After expenses, it's only enough to get

by, without the luxury of going out with

my family," said Perez, who overcame a

bout of Covid-19 last year, spending two

weeks in hospital.

Still, he feels lucky to even have a job.

Several other businesses nearby went

bankrupt.

"They couldn't survive the blow" from

months of pandemic restrictions and a

lack of customers, Perez said.

His story reflects the challenges facing

the Mexican economy, whose postpandemic

recovery has a sting in its tail:

Premier Bank Opens Seven New Sub-Branches

The Premier Bank Ltd has recently

opened 7 sub-branches in various

locations across the city. The subbranches

are Bhashantek (under

Banani branch), Manda (under

Dilkusha Corporate branch),

Shobujbag (under Dilkusha branch),

Madertek (under Dilkusha branch),

Fulbaria (under Garib-e-newaz

branch), Faidabad (under Uttara

branch), Kamrangirchar (under Dhaka

new Market branch), a press release

said.

rising prices of food and other essentials.

Inflation in Mexico reached 6.24

percent in the 12 months to October,

more than double the central bank's

target of around three percent, and the

highest in almost four years.

Like many countries, Mexico is

grappling with the impact of rising costs

of energy and raw materials, as well as

global supply chain bottlenecks.

At the same time, the Mexican

economy-the second largest in Latin

America, after Brazil-has yet to recover to

its pre-pandemic size.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is

expected to grow 6.2 percent this year,

the Bank of Mexico predicts, not enough

to fully reverse an 8.5 percent plunge in

2020.

Indicators such as consumption,

employment, investment and tourism

remain below pre-pandemic levels, said

Gabriela Siller, head of analysis for the

financial group BASE in the northern city

Syed Nowsher Ali, Deputy Managing

Director and Head of General Services

Division inaugurated the Bhashantek

sub-branch through a ribbon cutting

ceremony. Md. Tareq Uddin, Executive

Vice President and Head of Brand

Marketing and Communications

Division along with other senior bank

officials, local business personalities,

customers and dignitaries were also

present at the inauguration.

Mohammed Emtiaz Uddin, Senior

Executive Vice President and Head of

of Monterrey.

"GDP won't fully recover until 2023,

and in per capita terms not before 2027,"

she said.

Remittances from Mexicans living

abroad have been a lifeline for millions of

families, with more than $37 billion sent

between January and September.

In an attempt to tame inflation,

Mexico's central bank on Thursday

announced a fourth straight interest rate

increase, to 5.0 percent.

The move highlights a divergence

between central banks in Latin America

and those in the United States and much

of Europe, where policymakers are

reluctant to choke off an economic

recovery.

The central banks of Brazil, Chile and

Peru have also increased their

benchmark interest rates in recent

months to tackle inflation, in contrast to

the US Federal Reserve and the European

Central Bank.

SME and Agriculture Division

inaugurated the Fulbaria sub-branch.

Abdul Batin Choudhury, Senior

Executive Vice President and Head of

Dilkusha branch inaugurated the

Sabujbag and Madertek sub-branch.

Md. Hasanul Hossain, Executive Vice

President, Corporate Banking

inaugurated the Faidabad sub-branch.

Abdul Mannan Khan, Senior Vice

President and Head of Dilkusha

Corporate branch inaugurated the

Manda sub-branch.

Mercantile Bank Ltd has signed an agreement with Narayanganj City Corporation . In presence of Dr.

Salina Hayat Ivy, Mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation the agreement was signed by Adil Raihan,

DMD & CSBO of the Bank and Md. Abul Amin, CEO of Narayanganj City Corporation & Deputy

Secretary on behalf of their respective organizations at the Conference Room, Narayanganj City

Corporation. As per the agreement, Mercantile Bank will facilitate the collection of Water and

Sewerage Bill, Holding Tax, Trade License Fees (New and Renewal) and other services of

Narayanganj City Corporation through Online Banking System, Collection Booth, Mobile Financial

Services "MyCash", Agent Banking, Digital Banking App "MBL Rainbow", Internet Banking and Other

Delivery Channels. Md. Shahadat Hossain Khan, VP & Head of Narayanganj Branch, Tapon James

Rozario, AVP & Head of ILM Division from Mercantile Bank Ltd and Md. Hemayet Hossain, Chief

Accounts Officer and Md. Moinul Islam, Urban Planner from Narayanganj City Corporation along

with other officials from both organizations were also present in the ceremony. Photo: Courtesy

US consumer confidence hits 10-year low amid rising inflation

WASHINGTON:Rising prices taking a

bite out of American wallets caused

consumer sentiment to drop to a 10-

year low in November, a sign inflation

is increasingly a political liability for

President Joe Biden, reports BSS.

While the world's largest economy

has bounced back strongly from the

Covid-19 pandemic impact, global

shortages of key components and

supply chain snarls have added to a US

worker shortage, raising costs and

pushing prices higher.

Following a government data report

Wednesday showing consumer price

inflation jumped to a 30-year high of

6.2 percent in October, a survey

released Friday with the sharp drop in

sentiment came as another blow,

although economists do not expect

shoppers to pull back on spending.

The University of Michigan said its

preliminary sentiment index dropped

to 66.8 this month, a 6.8 percent

decline.

Survey chief economist Richard

Curtin said one in four families

suffered eroding living standards but

lower income families were feeling the

most pain.

Biden on Wednesday pledged to

make putting a lid on inflation was a

"top priority," but Curtin attributed

the dismal sentiment reading to "the

growing belief among consumers that

no effective policies have yet been

developed to reduce the damage from

surging inflation."

The US central bank has stuck to its

view that most of the inflation

pressures will fade once the global

supply issues-including ongoing

manufacturing shutdowns, especially

in Asia, due to coronavirus infectionsare

resolved.

Federal Reserve officials have

preached patience about deploying its

main inflation-fighting tool-raising the

benchmark interest rate-but

announced it will start pulling back on

pandemic stimulus, lowering its

monthly bond purchases.

Low interest rates have fueled high

demand for homebuying, sending

prices higher, while vehicle and

gasoline prices also have spiked

worldwide.

"The description that inflation would

be 'transient' has the undertone that

consumers could 'grin and bear it,'"

Curtin said in a statement.

The headline sentiment index

reflected a drop in both the measure of

current feelings and longer-term

expectations, according to the survey.

In contrast The Conference Board's

consumer confidence index rose in

October, apparently more sensitive to

the improving pandemic outlook.

the paris Saint-Germain star struck three times in the first half before rounding off a fine

evening as his team secured a place in the competition.

photo: Ap

Chelsea on-loan star

Gallagher set for

first England call-up

SportS DeSk

Chelsea midfielder Conor

Gallagher, who has starred

on loan at Crystal Palace

this term, is set to receive his

first senior England call-up,

GOAL understands, reports

AP. The 21-year-old will be

rewarded for a stellar

campaign with Palace thus

far, having scored four goals

and assisted two for Patrick

Vieira's side. Gallagher has

previously represented

England at the U-17 through

U-21 levels.

Gallagher established

himself as a bright prospect

in the Chelsea academy

before getting his first taste

of senior football with

Charlton Athletic and

Swansea City in 2019-20.

After impressing in the

Championship, Gallagher

made the step up to the

Premier League last season

when he became a regular

with West Brom.

Mbappe fires France to World

Cup with nation's first four-goal

display in 63 years

SportS DeSk

Kylian Mbappe fired in four goals as France

beat Kazakhstan 8-0 on Saturday, with the

striker equalling a record that has stood for

63 years, reports AP.

The PSG star struck three times to give his

side a comfortable lead at half-time in the

World Cup qualifying match before adding

another in the late stages of the game to

round off a fine evening.

Karim Benzema got two of his own, while

Adrien Rabiot and Antoine Griezmann also

struck as Les Bleus confirmed their place as

group winners to ensure they will be at the

2022 World Cup.

Speaking to M6 after the game, Mbappe

said: "Yes, the match ball is in the locker

room. "The most important thing was really

the qualification. In addition, in the group, a

lot of players have not played at the World

Cup. And even for those who have played it is

a dream to play it a second time.

"Tonight I think people had fun and so did

we. We respected the opponent until the end

Daryl Mitchell added to

Test squad for India series

SportS DeSk

New Zealand have added batting allrounder

Daryl Mitchell to the Test squad for the series

against India later this month as a

replacement player for Devon Conway. After

opting to not replace Conway in the T20I

squad, the call was made to extend Mitchell's

stay in India for the longer format, reports

AP.

Conway was earlier ruled out of the T20

WC final and the subsequent three-match

series in India after he broke his hand during

New Zealand's semifinal win against

England.

"It's a shame for Devon to miss out on the

first series of the new World Test

Championship cycle, but it also offers up an

opportunity for someone else," Coach Gary

Stead said.

"Daryl's versatility means he can cover a lot

of batting positions and he's certainly got

plenty of confidence at the moment.

He's proven he can perform in Test cricket

and I know he's excited to rejoin the Test

group." 30-year-old Mitchell has been in

great form off late and was also the man of

the match in the T20 WC semifinal.

He has scored 197 runs in the tournament

so far at the top of the order, averaging close

to 40.

He made his Test debut in late 2019 and

has played five games in the format with his

most recent appearance coming against

England this year right before the World Test

Championship final.

New Zealand will travel to India

immediately after the T20 WC final against

Australia and will kickstart the T20I series

on November 17 in Jaipur. The two-match

Test series commences on November 25 in

Kanpur.

and that's what made the score big.

"It's true that I don't have a great head

game, but this year I've improved and it's

starting to be what I want to be." Speaking

about the World Cup, Mbappe said of the

2018 champions: "We're going to go there to

win."

Mbappe's four-goal showing is the first

time a France player has scored as many

goals in 63 years.

The last player to score four or more for

Les Bleus was Just Fontaine, who put four

past West Germany in 1958.

The most recent France player to score

three or more in a competitive match was

Dominique Rocheteau, who scored three

against Luxembourg in 1985.

Saturday's result leaves France top of

Group D with 15 points from seven matches

and just one left to play.

They are four points clear of Finland, their

next and final opponents of the qualifying

stage, meaning Didier Deschamps' side have

won the group and will compete in the finals

in Qatar next year.

Clinical Strikers

crush Hurricanes

SportS DeSk

Adelaide Strikers put on a

clinical show with both bat

and ball to pick up an easy

win overHobart Hurricanes

on Saturday (November 13).

The 48-run win keeps them

in the hunt for a playoff spot

in this year's WBBL.

Hurricanes initially made

the ideal start after opting to

bowl as Tayla Vlaeminck

breached Katie Mack's

defence but the South

African pair of Laura

Wolvaardt and Dane van

Niekerk steadied the

innings with a 49-run stand

which was then followed by

another crucial stand of 39,

reports AP.

However, Strikers were in

need of a powerful finish in

order to post a substantial

total which was provided by

Bridget Patterson.

She joined forces with

Tahlia McGrath after Van

Niekerk's dismissal as the

two batters added 54 runs

off just 35 balls. The strong

finish was then followed by

an excellent start to the

second innings as Darcie

Brown managed to remove

both the Hurricanes

openers. Mignon du Preez

consolidated for a while but

the moment she was

dismissed by McGrath,

Hurricanes collapsed.

Nicola Carey and Richa

Ghosh were dismissed off

successive deliveries and as

a result, the Hurricanes lost

half their side by the tenth

over. They never recovered

from that collapse and were

eventually bowled out for a

paltry 94 to succumb to

their eighth loss of the

season - the most for any

team this season.

Brief scores: Adelaide

Strikers Women 142/4 in 20

overs (Dane van Niekerk 44,

Tahlia McGrath 38*; Molly

Strano 2-23) beat Hobart

Hurricanes Women 94 in

18.2 overs (Mignon du

Preez 21; Darcie Brown 3-

19, Amanda Wellington 2-

15) by 48 runs.

MonDAY, noveMber 15, 2021

9

Scheffler grabs one-shot

lead at Houston Open

SportS DeSk

A pair of back-nine birdies got Scottie

Scheffler to one-under par 69 on Saturday and

to a one-shot lead in the US PGA Tour's

Houston Open, reports BSS.

Scheffler had thrust himself into contention

with an eight-under par 62 on Friday, a course

record on the recently renovated Memorial

Park Course. Low scores were hard to come by

in the third round, and Scheffler's effort that

included three birdies and two bogeys saw

him slip into the solo lead ahead of overnight

leader Martin Trainer, Kevin Tway, Kramer

Hickok, Matthew Wolff and Venezuelan

Jhonattan Vegas. "I'm fairly satisfied with my

round," said Scheffler, who was a captain's

pick on the victorious US Ryder Cup team in

September. "I kept myself in position."Things

were kind of getting a little iffy there for me for

a little bit," added Scheffler, who followed his

birdie at the fourth hole with bogeys at the

seventh and 11th. "I felt like I was playing good

golf and I was 1-over through 13 holes and I

felt like I was playing a lot better than that.

"Definitely nice to make a few birdies down

the stretch to get things back in the red."

Plenty of players found it heavy going on

Saturday. Trainer fell back with a bogey at the

fourth and a double-bogey at the sixth, but

found himself briefly back in the solo lead

after a 10-foot birdie at the eighth put him at

eight-under.

A birdie and three bogeys coming in gave

him a four-over 74 for six-under 204.

Tway, who started the day one off the pace,

also flirted with the lead, but he closed with

back-to-back bogeys in a three-over 73.

Hickock claimed his slice of second with an

even par 70 while Vegas carded a two-under

68 and Wolff signed for a 69. Scheffler, whose

resume includes a 59 shot at the 2020

Northern Trust, said he welcomed the

challenge of Memorial Park. "I think I always

prefer the harder courses because I feel like I

can take it deep on them still and get myself

back in the tournament, which I did this

week," Scheffler said.

Daryl Mitchell has played five tests so far.

photo: Ap

MONNDAY, NOvEMBER 15, 2021

10

Shaon remembers

Humayun with new

song 'Jodi Mon Kade'

Nisho, Mehazabien's 'Dhaka

to Dubai' to release soon

TBT REPORT

Popular actors of small screen Afran Nisho and

Mehazabin Chowdhury starrer upcoming drama

titled 'Dhaka to Dubai', directed by Mohidul Mohim.

The story of two characters Mizan and Joba

produced by SK Shahed Ali Pappu.

Mizan and Joba is a newly married couple.

Coincidentally, both of them got a visa to go to Dubai

together through one of the agencies under worker

Looks like Chiranjeevi's upcoming

film God Father is getting a global

makeover! The makers of the film

are believed to have approached

Salman Khan for a brief appearance

in a song from the film. And the

Bollywood superstar, who has had a

long association with Chiranjeevi

and his family, has obliged! So fans

will get to see two legends shaking a

leg together in the Mohan Raja

AvB Gm wc Avi/wewea/406

14/11/21

GD-1671/21 (4 x 3)

GD-1677/21 (4 x 3)

visa. Actor Shahidul Alam Sacchu will be seen

playing another special role in the drama titled

'Dhaka to Dubai' Regarding the context producer

Mohim said, "The story is funny but the message is

sad. We have tried to bring a sad picture of the

various incidents and failures of the ordinary people

of the village in their foreign travels. As usual, Nisho

and Mehazabin have performed wonderfully in both

the characters. We wanted to give a social message

with a story of joy and sorrow about the trip to

Dubai."

With such a different track of story director Mohidul

Mohim has made this play titled 'Dhaka to Dubai'. The

screenplay is also written by him. The shooting of this

special drama produced by CMV has recently ended.

Soon the drama will be released on CMV's YouTube

channel.

Salman Khan to dance with

Chiranjeevi in God Father

directorial. Talking about this

exciting collaboration, the film's

composer S.S. Thaman says it's a

dream come true, to compose tunes

for the two legends. "When Chiru Sir

told me that Salman would be

coming on board and would groove

with him in a song, I was speechless!

I was like 'Wow! It can't get any

bigger'," says a beaming Thaman,

adding that it was Mohan Raja's idea

to get Salman on board. "The whole

team is on a high," Thaman reports.

An exciting challenge! "Generally,

providing tunes for Chiru Sir's films

is itself tough, imagine what it'll be

like composing tunes for two

legends," Thaman says, but hastens

to add, "I relish challenges and

composing tunes for such stars is a

sweet challenge." Composing tunes

for two legends who have their own

individual swag and aura, is

challenging but exciting too, he

reiterates. The composer feels that

the magnanimity of two heroes is

such that there's no pressure on him

to deliver. "Also, it's a great chance

for me to expand my music beyond

the State. Hindi composers too

know that I come up with interesting

tunes," he says, adding that he needs

to live up to those standards.

Tunes are brewing in his mind, the

composer shares, and reveals that

the work has already begun.

An integral part of the film

Thaman clarifies that the song

isn't force-fitted into the movie. He

of the opinion that the theme of a

song should blend naturally with the

film's content. "And as such, we are

not getting carried away about the

two big stars coming together.

Source: Indian Express

TBT REPORT

Meher Afroz Shaon, the

widow of legendary authorf

i l m m a k e r - p l a y w r i g h t

Humayun Ahmed, released a

sequel of her iconic song 'Jodi

Mon Kade', paying tribute to

the polymath on the occasion

of his 73rd birthday on

Saturday.

The new song is available to

the audience on the YouTube

channel of Laser Vision. Its

After conquering several accolades

worldwide, acclaimed filmmaker's

Abdullah Mohammad Saad muchanticipated

film 'Rehana Maryam Noor'

was released in 12 theatres across

Bangladesh on Friday, reports UNB.

Azmeri Haque Badhan, who plays the

title character of the film, greeted the

audience at Star Cineplex, Bashundhara

City, in the capital, according to the

organisers.

Ehsanul Haque Babu, the executive

producer of the film, said, "We have

been receiving great feedback and

reviews from home and abroad for our

film, but we are really looking forward

to seeing the reactions of our home

audience. As always, we are still

pursuing a slow-moving policy. We

want to go to other districts next week,

Arecent announcement has

set the 'Superman & Lois'

season 2-release date to

January of 2022. This news

comes following the show's

first season ending just a few

months ago. With

production schedules and

premiere dates still

recovering from Covid-19

pandemic shutdowns, the

series' quick return is

testament to its popularity

among audiences.

Premiering in February of

2021, the series followed in

the footsteps of both the

'Arrowverse' and CW's

original superhero drama,

'Smallville'. Telling the story

of Lois Lane and Clark Kent

deciding to move their

family back to Clark's

hometown, season one

revolved

around

Superman's estranged

brother and his attempts to

rebuild Krypton on Earth.

All the while, Lois and Clark

attempt to give their kids a

normal life, which proves

even more difficult as their

music video was shot in

Nuhash Polli in Gazipur

featuring actress-directorsinger

Shaon.

Mohammad Fazal has

written the song while its

music and composition are

done by singer-composer SI

Tutul, who had collaborated

with Shaon in the original

'Jodi Mon Kade'.

Lyricist Fazal initially wrote

the song very long which was

later cut short and revised, as

shared by Shaon with The

Business Post recently. "I

sang a song back in 2007

titled 'Jodi Mon Kade'. It can

be said that my next single is

the 'new chapter' of it," she

said. The original 'Jodi Mon

Kade' was written by

Humayun Ahmed. Released

in the voice of Shaon in 2007,

the song is still loved by fans.

'Rehana Maryam Noor' hits theatres

depending on the interest of our home

audience."

Marking the release, the team of

'Rehana Maryam Noor' briefed the

journos, along with director Saad, for

the first time on Thursday evening at

the Bangladesh Film Archive in the

capital. Expressing his gratitude to his

team members, Saad said, "I am truly

lucky to have such a team, every

member of my team has given their

best, and as a result, our film has come

to this stage. I am grateful that these

people believed in me, and we are

looking forward to the reactions of our

audience."

"Rehana's stubbornness seeking

justice, frustration with the society and

struggles as a widowed working mother

is easily relatable, as it's a common

son Jordan begins to

develop powers similar to

his father.

Thanks to a recent

announcement post from

the 'Superman & Lois'

Twitter account, the news is

out that 'Superman & Lois'

have set a January 2022

release date for season 2. To

be specific, it will release on

January 11, 2022, meaning

the show will continue to

carry Tuesday nights on The

CW. With the season 1 finale

The 73rd birth anniversary

of Humayun Ahmed was

observed on Saturday. TV

stations, radios, online

platforms and cultural groups

hosted various programmes

on the occasion.

Legendary author

Humayun Ahmed passed

away on July 19, 2012, at the

age of 63.

scenario in our society and I personally

have had similar experiences, but the

visionary of the character was Saad who

crafted the role and extensively guided

me through the process," Badhan said.

A special press screening of the film

was arranged at the SKS Tower branch

of Star Cineplex, Mohakhali, in the

capital on Wednesday night. "We

wanted our press to watch the film

before the theatrical release because

your opinion is important and valuable

for us," Saad said at the event.

The film follows the everyday life of Dr

Rehana Maryam Noor, a 37-year-old

assistant professor at a medical college

in Dhaka. Badhan won the 'Best Actress

Award' at the 14th Asia-Pacific Screen

Awards (APSA) on Thursday for her

stellar performance, while director Saad

received the 'Jury Grand Prize'.

It was nominated as the first

Bangladeshi film to be screened in the

'Un Certain Regard' section of the

2021 Cannes Film Festival, earning a

standing ovation at its premiere. After

Cannes, 'Rehana Maryam Noor' was

invited to Melbourne, Busan and

London film festivals. It has received

an uncut certificate from the Censor

Board of Bangladesh and has been

officially nominated for the Oscars

2022 as the official movie of the

country.

Produced by Jeremy Chua under the

banner of Metro Video and co-produced

by Sensemakers Productions, 'Rehana

Maryam Noor' was internationally

distributed by Germany's Films

Boutique. Alongside Badhan, the cast of

the film includes Saberi Alam, Afia

Zahin, Kazi Sami Hasan, Afia Tabassum

and Yasir Al Haque.

'Superman & Lois' S2 gets early

2022 premiere date

airing in August of 2021,

fans are sure to be surprised

when they see the series

return after only 4 months

on hiatus.

A number of new plot lines

were already established

during the season 1 finale,

including the arrival of John

Henry Irons' daughter,

Natalie Irons. Of course, the

reunion is complicated by

Natalie's belief that the Lois

of this universe is her own

lost mother.

MonDAY, noVeMBeR 15, 2021

11

HC orders judicial inquiry into JNU teacher's death

DHAKA :The High Court on Sunday ordered

judicial inquiry into the death of Sayeda

Nasrin Babli, an assistant professor of the

History department of Jagannath

University, to find out whether there was any

negligence by the Square Hospital

authorities in her treatment, reports UNB.

A bench of Justice Md Mojibur Rahman

Mia and Justice Kamrul Islam Mollah

passed the order and issued a rule

questioning why the hospital authority's

negligence in her death should not be

declared illegal, why an order should not be

given to form a legal framework over the

negligence in treatment and why the family

of the deceased will not be paid a

compensation of Tk 15 crore.

The court ordered formation of a threemember

probe committee headed by a

district judge to investigate the incident and

submit a report within the next 60 days.

The two other members of the committee

will a physician not below the rank of an

associate professor at the Department of

Medicine of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

Medical University (BSMMU), and a law

practitioner of the rank of Deputy Attorney

General at the Attorney General's Office.

Writ petitioner's lawyer Barrister Manzoor

Nahid confirmed the matter.

Child drowns

in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI : A one-and-ahalf

year old baby girl

drowned in a pond at

Gochha village in Mohonpur

upazila on Sunday morning,

reports UNB.

The deceased was

identified as Orin Afroz,

daughter of Mosharraf Ali of

the village.

Locals said Orin came out

of home at one stage of

playing and slipped into the

pond.

Later, her floating body

was recovered from the

pond.

Tauhidul Islam, Officerin-Charge

of Mohonpur

Police Station, said an

unnatural death case was

filed in this regard.

Building construction work

inaugurated at Sreepur

M R Jinnah, Sreepur Correspondent

Magura-1 constituency MP Adv. Saifuzzman Shikhor as the chief

guest inaugurated the construction work of development

projects through the inauguration ceremony of laying the

foundation stone of four-storied new academic building of Alhaj

Altaf Hossain Women's College at Sreepur upazila on Saturday.

Later a discussion meeting presided over by the institution's

GB president Md. Abul Kalam Azad was held. Among others

officer In-charge of Sreepur Thana Sukdeb Roy, Magura district

Chharta League President Mir Mehedi Hassan Rubel, Sreepur

Sadar Union Parishad Chairman Md Moshiar Rahman, Sreepur

Upazila Chharta League President B.M. Arifuzzaman Sazzat

also spoke on the occasion. The program moved by Geography

subject assistant professor of Alhaj Altaf Hossain Women's

College Md Amirul Islam and Principal of Alhaj Altaf Hossain

Women's college Shaikh Maidul Islam delivered welcome

speech. People of all walks of life attended in the programme.

Prize distribution of online quiz competitions titled "Bangabandhu and Bangladesh" and "Life and

work of Bangamata" organized by Barisal University has been held on Sunday. The award giving ceremony

was at the Jibanananda Das Conference Hall of the University. Barisal University Vice-

Chancellor Professor Dr Md Sadequl Arefin chaired the occasion.

Photo: Courtesy

GD-1673/21 (7x3)

GD-1674/21 (9x3)

128

Magura-1 constituency MP Adv. Saifuzzman

Shikhor was present as the chief guest at the

inauguration of construction work of development

projects of Alhaj Altaf Hossain Women's

College at Sreepur under Magura district on

Saturday.

Photo: M R Jinnah

Man beaten

dead by 'son'

in Cox's Bazar

COX'S BAZAR : A man was

killed allegedly by his son

over a trifling matter at

Purbadhar Bheula Charpara

in Chakaria upazila of Cox's

Bazar on Saturday, reports

UNB.

The deceased was

identified as Ruhul Quader,

55 of the area.

Quoting family members,

Osman Goni, Officer-in-

Charge of Chakaria Police

Station, said Ruhul Quader

asked his son Shahidul

Islam to go to their crop field

for harvesting paddy after

fazr prayers when he was

sleeping .,

As he tried to wake him

up, Shahidul got furious and

locked into an altercation

with his father.

At one stage, Shahidul hit

his father with a stick,

leaving him critically

injured.

Covid-19 in Bangladesh:

4 more lose lives, 223 get

infected

DHAKA : Bangladesh

recorded four more Covidlinked

deaths and reported 223

fresh infections in 24 hours till

Sunday morning, reports

UNB.

The daily-case positivity rate

slightly increased to 1.14 per

cent from Saturday's 1.11 per

cent.

The fresh numbers took the

total fatalities to 27,922 while

the country's caseload

mounted to 15,72,501, said the

Directorate General of Health

Services (DGHS).

Of the deceased, one was a

man and three were women.

Dhaka division logged three

Covid-linked deaths yesterday

while Chattogram division

reported one on Sunday, said

the DGHS.

However, the mortality rate

remained static at 1.78 per cent.

The fresh cases were

detected after testing 19,517

samples, the DGHS added.

Besides, the recovery rate

remained unchanged at 97.71

per cent with the recovery of

212 more patients during the

24-hour period.

GD-1672/21 (5x3)

Monday, Dhaka: November 15, 2021; Kartik 30, 1428 BS; Rabius-Sani 9, 1443 Hijri

Writ seeks cancellation of

Evidence Act provisions

on rape victims' character

DHAKA : A writ petition was submitted

before the High Court on Sunday

seeking abolition of two provisions of

the Evidence Act, 1872, which allow

raising questions about the character

of rape victims who are usually women,

reports UNB.

Lawyer Sara Hossain filed the petition

on behalf of three rights organizations-

Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust,

Ain O Salish Kendra and Naripokkho

before the HC bench of justice M Enayetur

Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman.

The petition sought a rule on why section

155 (4) and 146 (3) of the Evidence

Act will not be deemed unconstitutional

and not be abolished, said Sara Hossain.

The lawyer said, "According to these

sections woman who files complaint of

rape and sexual harassment is generally

presumed of immoral character and her

Judgement in Abrar

murder trial Nov 28

DHAKA : A special tribunal yesterday

set November 28 for pronouncing

judgement in a case lodged over the

murder of Bangladesh University of

Engineering and Technology (BUET)

student Abrar Fahad.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamaruzzaman

of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 set

the date as both prosecution and

defence concluded their arguments in

the case.

The tribunal on September 8 framed

charges in the case afresh. A total 46 out

of 60 prosecution witnesses have testified

in the sensational case.

Earlier on November 13, 2019, Dhaka

Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court

took into cognizance the charge sheet in

the case filed by Detective Branch (DB)

of police against 25 accused.

The case was later transferred to the

speedy trial tribunal, allowing a plea of

Abrar's father.

The tribunal on September 15, 2020,

had framed charges against all 25

accused in the case.

The 25 accused are - Mehedi Hasan

Russel, Anik Sarker, Ifti Mosharraf

Sakal, Md Mehedi Hasan Robin, Md

Meftahul Islam Jeon, Muntassir Alam

Jemmy, Khandaker Tabakkharul

Islam Tanvir, Md Muzahidur

Rahman, Muhtasim Fuad, Md

character and background can be questioned

and inquired in the court."

Rights groups have been campaigning

against these provisions for long, said

Sara adding that they are now seeking

intervention from the High Court.

She said the hearing on the petition is

likely to be held next week.

Section 155(4) of the act says, "When a

man is prosecuted for rape or an

attempt to ravish, it may be shown that

the prosecutrix was of generally

immoral character."

Meanwhile section 146 (3) says during

cross examination a witness can be questioned

to shake his credit, by injuring his

character, although the answer to such

questions might tend directly or indirectly

to criminate him or might expose

or tend directly or indirectly to expose

him to a penalty or confiscation.

A human chain was organized by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in

front of the High Court on Sunday in protest of the patriarchal

attitude in the verdict of rape case of Raintree Hotel. Photo: PBA

Moniruzzaman Monir, Md Akash

Hossain, Hossain Mohammad Toha,

Md Mazedul Islam, Shamim Billah,

Moaj Abu Hurayra and ASM Nazmus

Sadat, Istiak Ahammed Munna, Amit

Saha, Md Mizanur Rahman alias

Mizan, Shamsul Arefin Rafat, SM

Mahmud Setu, Morsheduzzaman

Jisan, Ehteshamul Rabbi Tanim,

Morshed Amatya Islam and Mostaba

Rafid. Of these, Jisan, Rafid and

Tanim are yet to be arrested and are

tried in absentia.

According to the police, of the 25

accused, 11 took part in the gruesome

murder directly and the other played

role in the crime one way or another. Of

those arrested, eight have given confessional

statements before court.

BUET students and the varsity

authorities found the seemingly lifeless

body of Abrar, 22, on first-floor stairs of

Sher-e-Bangla Hall and rushed him to

Dhaka Medical College Hospital

(DMCH), where doctors declared him

dead at around 6.30 am on October 7,

2019.

He was allegedly beaten to death by a

couple of leaders of the then BUET unit

of Chhatra League over his posts on

Facebook. Abrar's father filed the case

with Chawkbazar Police Station

against 19.

Govt plans to hold 6th Population, Housing

census on Dec 24-30: Mannan

DHAKA : Planning Minister MA

Mannan yesterday said in Jatiya

Sangsad that the government has

planned to conduct the sixth population

and housing census from

December 24 to 30 this year.

Replying to a tabled question from

ruling party lawmaker M Abdul Latif

(Chattogram-11), the minister said the

government has also a plan to conduct

fully the population and housing census

in digital method.

The census, which is usually conducted

once in a decade, provides

complete data on the overall population,

its composition, workforce, density,

housing and other socio-economic

indicators vital for formulating economic

and other policies.

The last census was conducted in

2011 when the country's population

stood at 15.17 crore, with the population

growing at 1.37 percent per

annum.

Currently, the estimated population

is 16.8 crore, according to the

Bangladesh Economic Review 2021.

In Bangladesh, the first population

Patents bill placed

in Parliament

DHAKA : Bangladesh Patents Bill, 2021

was placed in Parliament aiming to make

the century-old patent law more timebefitting

one and strengthen the safeguard

of intellectual property rights,

reports UNB.

Industries Minister Nurul Majid

Mahmud Humayun placed the bill in the

House, which was sent to the respective

parliamentary standing committee for

further scrutiny. The committee was

asked to submit its report within 30 days.

According to the bill, the owner will be

given the patent of any innovation for 20

years and then it will become public

property. A registrar office will be there

to issue or cancel patents of any single

inventor or joint inventors of a technical

innovation under the proposed law.

On February22, 2021, the Cabinet cleared

the draft of Bangladesh Patents Bill 2021,

which will repeal the patent related provisions

in 'Patents and Designs Act, 1911.'

Besides, the Industries Minister placed

the Boilers Bill, 2021 in the House aiming

to check boiler-related accidents and

ensure a safer work environment in

industrial mills by constructing and

using standard boilers there. Later, the

bill was sent to the respective parliamentary

committee. The committee was

asked to submit its report within 30 days.

The bill will replace the Boiler Act, 1923.

Gaibandha UP member killing

Prime accused held

GAIBANDHA : Members of Rapid

Action Battalion (RAB) detained the

prime accused in the case over the killing

of newly-elected UP member Abdur Rauf

from Boda upazila in Panchagarh district

on Sunday. The detainee is Arif Mia,

reports UNB. Tipped off, a team of Rab-

13 conducted a drive in the area and

detained Arif from Panchagarh district.

Earlier, on Friday night, Abdur Rauf, a

newly elected member of Laxmipur

union parishad, was killed by a youth in

Gobindapur village of Gaibandha Sadar

upazila. Police claimed to have arrested a

man, identified as Rezaul, in connection

with the murder. Touhidul Islam, superintendent

of Gaibandha Police, said "A

compliant was lodged with Sadar Police

on Saturday and the attacker might have

killed him over previous enmity."

Local people on Saturday blocked

Gaibandha-Sundarganj road at Laxmipur

Bazar in Sadar upazila demanding exemplary

punishment of the killer.

Indian President to

attend Victory Day

celebrations Dec 16

DHAKA : Indian President Ram Nath

Kovind will attend the Victory Day celebrations

here on December 16 apart from

his other key engagements, reports UNB.

President Kovind will be visiting

Bangladesh at the invitation of his

Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen

confirmed the Indian President's visit to

Bangladesh. Bangladesh is also expecting

a high-level participation from

Bhutan. This will be the first visit by the

14th president of India to Bangladesh.

He was sworn in on July 25, 2017.

Bangladesh is celebrating the Golden

Jubilee of its Independence and the birth

centenary of Father of the Nation

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The two countries also decided to commemorate

December 6 as Maitri Diwas

(Friendship Day), the day when India

recognized Bangladesh in 1971.

Bangladesh and India are working

together eyeing two mega events next

month - Maitri Diwas and Victory Day of

Bangladesh - on Dec 6 and Dec 16 respectively

with exchange of high-level visits,

officials said.

census was conducted in 1974.

Subsequently, the population and

housing censuses were held in 1981,

1991, 2001, and 2011.

In October 2019, the Executive

Committee of the National Economic

Council (ECNEC) approved a Taka

1,761 crore project for the population

and housing census.

However, the BBS could not hold the

census as per the scheduled timeframe

due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In

January 2021, it pushed back further

the date to October 25-31.

Cabinet members and senior officials welcomed Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina on her arrival at Dhaka's Shahjalal

International Airport on Sunday morning after attending a

climate conference in Glasgow and a two-week visit to the

United Kingdom and France.

Photo : Star Mail

Culture of apathy

Villagers' 50-year wait

for a concrete bridge

doesn't end

KURIGRAM : A bridge that can ensure

an all-season access to both sides of a

river can transform the lives of local

residents as it improves access to basic

services and facilities.

But thousands of villagers in Phulbari

upazila of Kurigram district have been

using a rickety makeshift bridge for

over 50 years to cross the Baromasia

River as there is no concrete bridge.

Authorities have failed to take any

initiative to build a concrete bridge over

the river since the independence of the

country, said aggrieved villagers.

They said they do not understand

why they cannot have a concrete bridge

even after five decades of the country's

independence!

Shahadat, 45, a resident of the village,

said, "It's too difficult for us to

cross the bridge with heavy goods.

Those who ride bicycles have to cross it

with a greater caution."

Fed up with the apathy of the authorities,

Shahadat said, "It's clear the

administration is least bothered about

the problems we face."

He said they have to repair the bamboo-bridge

over the river at Nabiul ghat

in Shimulbari village every year as it is

the only way to reach the upazila headquarters.

Children, students and elderly people

have to cross the broken bamboobridge

risking their lives. Many villagers

slip into the river or get hurt

while crossing the river using the

bridge.

According to the villagers, two bamboo-bridges

were built on the 5-km

long Baromasia River and one of them

built along Nabiul Ghat has turned

risky as it largely got damaged by the

recent floods.

During a recent visit to the area, the

UNB correspondent came to know that

the 120-feet bamboo-bridge is in a very

bad shape as it has got its different portions

broken.

Women and children are usually seen

crossing the river very crawling while

school and college students cross it by

bicycles with fear.

During the time of harvest, farmers

suffer a lot as they have to hire boats

paying additional charges to take their

produce to local markets.

Two school students-Maminul, 14,

and Azmeri, 13, -- of Jhaukuti village

said they have to cross the bamboobridge

to reach their school though

they are well aware it may collapse

anytime.

Shahadat, 45, a resident of the village,

said, "It's too difficult for people to

cross the bridge with heavy goods and

people who ride by-cycle have to cross

it with more caution."

Hamid Mia, a farmer of the upaizla,

said, "There was a ghat in the area six

years back and we used boats for crossing

the river. Later, local people built

the bamboo-bridge over there but now

it's in a very shabby state."

Ataur Rahman, assistant teacher of

Balahat School and College, said:

"School students and farmers are suffering

a lot as they've to cross the bridge

every day. Every year, we renovate the

bridge with the help of villagers as the

local administration is reluctant about

recognizing their sufferings."

Sumon Das, Phulbari Upazila

Nirbahi Officer, said, "We've already

taken an initiative to repair the two

dilapidated bridges to mitigate the sufferings

of the villagers."

But he did not say anything about

building a concrete bridge over the

river.

Reduce fuel prices

Jatiya Party

MPs to govt

DHAKA :Two Jatiya Party MPs-

Mujibul Haque and Rustum Ali Farajion

Sunday demanded the government

reduce diesel prices to ease public sufferings,

reports UNB.

"Common people, particularly the

poorer section, are now suffering due to

diesel price hike. I would like tell the

Leader of the House and the Prime

Minister either to reduce the price, or

withdraw the recent decision, or make an

alternative arrangement," said Mujibul

Haque (Kishoreganj-3), taking floor on

point of order in Parliament.

He said the diesel price was suddenly

raised at a time when people are trying to

return to their normal life after two years

of sufferings caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mujibul, also known as Chunnu, said

the diesel price was increased by 23 percent

this time, but such a big hike was not

seen in the past.

Mujibul said the government took the

decision at a time when people were

going through a tough time due to the

price hike of essentials. The diesel price

hike also contributed to a rise in transport

fare and the prices of essentials, adding to

the woes of people, he added.

Later, another Jatiya Party MP,

Rustum Ali Faraji (Pirojpur-3), asked the

government to review its recent decision

of diesel price hike, prioritizing the public

interest. "The government should either

reduce the diesel price or give subsidies,"

he added.

BNP becomes

bankrupt

now: Quader

DHAKA : Awami League General

Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday said

those abandoned by the people and afraid

of standing by the countrymen have

become bankrupt now.

"Those going to lose everything by

making themselves bankrupt are now

talking about others, which is absolutely

ridiculous. In fact, the BNP has become

bankrupt now," he said.

Quader, also the road transport and

bridges minister, made the remarks joining

virtually an event arranged to open

two bridges built under the Khulna Road

Zone.

Responding to an allegation of BNP

leaders that the ruling Awami League has

turned into a bankrupt party, he said the

country's people get entertainment from

such statements of the BNP.

Although the BNP leaders talk about

democracy in words, they fear to join

polls and wage a movement, the AL general

secretary said, adding, "So, the party

became a bankrupt one".

Earlier in the day, Quader inaugurated

two bridges constructed under the

Khulna Road Zone through videoconferencing

from Dhaka.

The 305-metre Manikkhali Bridge was

constructed, spending Taka 37 crore, on

Satkhira-Ashashuni-Goaldanga-

Paikgacha Road, while a 140-metre

bridge involving Taka 22.63 crore was

built on Mathavanga River on Meherpur-

Kushtia-Jhenaidah Road.

About the newly constructed bridges,

the roads and bridges minister said the

two bridges have significance.

Winter is in full swing in Kurigram. Dense fog is all around. During the movement in daytime,

the headlights of the vehicles remain turned on.

Photo : Star Mail

15-11-2021

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