09-02-2022

wedNeSdAY, FeBRUARY 9, 2022
11
Bangladesh, Japanese PMs
KSRM in a press release said that recently, misinterpretations of the unfortunate incident organized
by Kabir Steel Limited have been published in some news outlets.
Photo: S M AKash
Recent incident at Kabir Steel Limited unfortunate,
published news is misleading: KSRM
SM Akash, Chattogram Bureau Chief
Recently, misinterpretations of the
unfortunate incident organized by Kabir
Steel Limited have been published in
some news outlets. The irrelevant,
misleading and purposeful news
coverage has created a fog in various
quarters and in the international arena
about the organization, which is
unpredictable and misleading. KSRM
feel the need to dispel these
misconceptions.
Kabir Steel Limited (KSRM) said in a
press release on Tuesday, February 8
that the real incident is that Md. Arif
Hossain Sujan, a worker working in the
contracting company of our yard, started
vomiting on the floor of cutting zone-3 of
the yard on February 1, 2022 at around 1
am (during tea break). Immediately our
safety inspector, foreman and other
workers brought him to the medical
center of the yard and after giving first
Covid 19 and the worst public policy failing in human history
[From page-1]
Such public policies have become so useless today that the scene round
the world is the opposite of what has been the norm for the greater part
of last eighteen months. First, the rich countries and even the poor ones
that usually ape solutions hatched in so called advanced countries tried
with feeding their population for free and awaited an end to the pandemic.
When this just did not happen and the much touted economy shut
down as a cure proved to be useless, they are now fast turning to easing
restrictions on the economy like shut downs and associated measures. In
fact the opposite enthusiasm to let the wheels of the economy to churn
again is far greater today. In many countries or national territories even
deployment of riot police is failing to enforce curbs due to Covid-19 and
normal life is fast returning due to peoples' sheer very acute desire for the
same come what may.
We can now sayironically echoing outstanding British orator, statemen
and World War II hero, Winston Churchill, who said that never
before in history so many (meaning the entire British people) owed so
much to so few (meaning the military) that never before in human history
so few (meaning the public policy makers) have so massively disillusioned
and misled the entire people in relation to Covid-19.
The basic rationale for the economy ruining public policies
was saving of human lives through restrictions. Now, let us see
how many lives were at stake and how great was the extent to
which the world's economies had to suffer to reduce that risk .
First of all, please note that only 5,712,394 or a little over 5.7
million humans have so far died in the world from Covid-19
according to official data. This means that so far a very small
part of the total global human population was affected. But to
save such a tiny part of the world's population from dying, a far
greater evil of pushing the global economy over the brink was
recommended by a small elite of policy or decision makers
round the world.
How very great was the effect of the Covid-19 induced shut down of
national economies can be seen from the fact that the pandemic caused
the '2nd largest global recession in history, with more than a third of the
global population at the time being placed on lockdown.
Global stock markets fell on 24 February 2020 due to a significant rise
in the number of COVID-19 cases outside mainland China. By 28 February
2020, stock markets worldwide realized their largest single-week
declines since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. This culminated in the
2020 stock market crash.'
Another sign of the looming worldwide economic collapse was seen
from dangerous decline in the price of crude oil. Crude oil price started
dipping with fall in the number of users reflecting big and small players
in the global economy having no need for buying oil. The crash in oil
price started in mid-February 2020. On 20 April 2020, 'prices dropped
below zero for the first time in recorded history.'
The International Labour Organization estimated that an
equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost across the
world from Covid-19 related shocks and income earned by
workers globally fell 10 percent in the first nine months of
2020, equivalent to a loss of over US$ 3.5 trillion. Cambridge
University research put the cost to the global economy at $82
trillion over five years. How many millions make a billion dollars ?
100 million dollars make a billion. How many billions make a trillion dollars
? 1000 billion dollars make a trillion dollars.
These are but conservative estimates. The real economic costs from
keeping economies paralyzed could very probably be counted as far
greater if the pandemic ends and fresh research shows up much higher
figures of losses than the above.
History shows that far more than 5.7 million humans died from large
scale pandemics in the past.The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was the
deadliest outbreak of the virus in history. An estimated 500 million people
across the globe caught the illness, throughout the pandemic. While
there are no official figures documenting the exact number of deaths, it is
estimated that between 20 million and 50 million people were killed as a
result of the deadly virus. The flu was first seen in Europe, then the US
and parts of Asia, before it rapidly spread throughout the entire world.
Therefore, human fatalities from Covid-19 has been peanuts like in
comparison. The policy makers at that time had not much medical
capacities to stop or slow down the Spanish flu. It ran its course and naturally
ended. But they did not at least deliver a double whammy of
an uncontrolled pandemic and the agonies thereof made much worse
by introducing willfully economy crushing measures. At least no one can
aid there he was rushed to the
emergency department of Chittagong
Medical College Hospital in his own
ambulance. The doctor on duty later
pronounced him dead.
According to the information obtained
from the initial investigation of the yard,
the probable cause of death is cardiac
arrest. Investigations are underway by
various government agencies to
determine the exact cause of death. Yard
authorities are in the process of paying
all the dues for the slain workers.
Financial assistance is being provided to
the families of the workers killed on
humanitarian grounds. Ismail Hossain's
employment has been arranged in this
industrial establishment.
However, in some media reports,
incorrect and partial information has
been spread, somewhere it has been
mentioned that he fell from the ship and
died. Somewhere at night unauthorized
activities are conducted on board the
ship. Somewhere again I have died from
an iron blow which is not true in the true
sense but misleading.
"Our company Kabir Steel Limited is
strictly prohibited from working on
ships at night (after sunset)," the
statement said. The yard has the
approval of the Department of Factory
and Establishment Inspection to work in
two shifts day and night. In addition,
Yard Paramedic did not see any thorns
or blood stains on the body of the slain
worker during first aid. If he was hit by
any kind of iron, he must have had the
slightest thorns or blood stains on his
body. In addition, all workers and
employees of Kabir Steel Limited are
allowed to work only after obtaining the
required PPE (Personal Protective
Equipment) as per the type of work to
ensure necessary training and health
protection.
blame the great economic depression of the thirties that happened much
later after Spanish flu from economic reasons as caused by the flu.
Policy makers today base their concern entirely on cutting down risks
to human life from Covid -19. But where was that concern during World
War I and World War II ?The total number of military and civilian casualties
in World War I was about 40 million.World War II was the deadliest
military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70-85 million people
perished, or about 3% of the 1940 world population (estimated 2.3
billion). Was this very extraordinarily big number of deaths in the two
world wars at all inevitable.? Diplomats, statesmen and all other sensitive
and humanistic people around the world could concert together and
raise barriers to such deaths.
Specially after World War I and in the background of its horrific experience
of deaths and destructions like never before in human history. was
it not on obligation for civilizedsegments of mankind to show that they
were determined to resist repetition of such senseless barbarities. The
founding of the League of Nations and subsequently the United Nations
were seen as deliberate and conscious attempts of so called civilized
humanity to prevent mindless deaths and destructions.
But how many died from military conflicts in the post World War periods.
How many died in the Vietnam war and how many in the Afghan
wars. According to reliable data, 13.5 million died in the course of the
Vietnam war, 2.4 million in the Afghanistan wars and 6.5 million in the
Iraq conflict. The architect of the Unted Nations system to frustrate war
and keep the peace, superpower United States, did hardly anything to
uphold its professed objectives. USA carried on the carnage in Vietnam
even after realizing they were perpetrating an unfair war on a far weaker
and vulnerable people who were spirited mainly by ideology in their
struggle against a far superior power. The same was the position of the
USA in the Afghanistan wars.
In Iraq, the USA started a war that could not be justified later because
it was proved that Saddam Hossein was not illegally producing weapons
of mass destruction violating agreements. The point is :the same USA
hypocritically adopted a stance of saving human lives to contain the
spread of Covid-19 though all considerations for human lives mattered
little or nothing to it in the past when it could practically stop the loss of
human lives through its conscious decisions.
Rather, the USA helped to set a standard for most countries to follow
that shutting down economies would be the ideal way to stop Covid-19's
spread. From doing this, the USA was not only setting the stage for
harming its own economy but more importantly the global economy as
well. Now, the same USA is feeling obliged to recant its monumental
Covid-19 related policy errors and reopen its economy to the fullest
extent.
The unwillingness of some countries not to stretch lockdown, restrictions,
etc. period or periods too long or too far , ignoring the global trend,
was seen rewarded in significantly higher economic growth trends there,
comparatively. A shining example is in our own neighborhood, South
Asia. Bangladesh economy grew 4.50 percent in 2021 notwithstanding
the pandemic with only one three months long relaxed phase of lockdown
whereas in the same period India that enforced four phases of
strict lockdowns or the like experienced its economy's 'contraction' by 7.3
per cent. Clearly, our battling of Covid-19 has been a lot better than India's
as our leadership executed Covid-19 related policies with greater insight
or hindsight.
Out of a total global population of nearly 8 billion human beings or
8,000 million people some 5.7 million only have died from Covid-19 .
That means less than 1 percent of the infected ones worldwide died from
Covid-19. But the world's peoples are still not fully hedged from the Corona
virus. To tell the plain truth, many are dying regularly from Corona
virus even after taking two vaccine shots and the booster dose. They
would have very probably died with or without vaccination and lockdown/restrictions.
It should be noted that the overwhelming number
that contracted corona viruses (including their mutated forms) survived
or recovered.
The deaths from among them were too few or less than one per cent
only in contrast to the total number that got the disease. Therefore, in
what way it has been pragmatic or sensible to impose such crushing
blows on the global economy (with varying degrees of negatives for the
world's countries) by insisting that these countries should make lockdowns,
restrictions, etc. as the main plank of their public policies to save
such limited number of lives of people ?
[The writer is former Associate Editor of The Independent]
[From page-1]
Highly appreciating the socio-economic progress of
Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, he reaffirmed Japan's commitment to
stand beside Bangladesh for the mutual benefits of
the two peoples.
He assured Japan's continued support to resolve
the Rohingya crisis.
At a ceremony jointly organized on this occasion by
the Embassy of Japan in Dhaka and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh this afternoon at the
Foreign Service Academy, Foreign Minister Dr AK
Abdul Momen; Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary)
Masud Bin Momen and Ambassador of Japan to
Bangladesh Ito Naoki spoke at the celebration event.
Video messages of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
Japanse Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were played.
Message of President of the Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary
Friendship League Taro Aso was also read
out.
As the chief guest of the ceremony, Dr Momen
recalled with gratitude moral and material support
provided to us by the Government and people of
Japan to our War of Liberation.
He also paid deep respect to the "Friends of
Bangladesh" from Japan, whom Bangladesh has
awarded for their invaluable contributions to the
GD-226/22 (9x4)
independence of Bangladesh. Foreign Secretary
Momen highlighted the historical kinship between
the two countries.
He said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman's visit to Japan in 1973 sealed the
relationship between the two friendly countries for
eternity.
Mentioning that Bangladesh is progressing under
the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina to achieve the dream of Bangabandhu's
Sonar Bangla, he stressed on the instrumental role
of Japan as a key development partner in this
endeavour.
Ambassador of Japan Ito Naoki highlighted the
robust multifaceted cooperation between the two
countries, especially in the areas of infrastructure
development, trade, investment and people-to-people
contacts.
He assured Japan's continued cooperation for the
socio-economic development of Bangladesh as well
as repatriation of Rohingya people.
Colorful dance performances at the courtesy of
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy were also presented
at the ceremony.
Chairmen of BIDA, BEPZA, BEZA and high-level
representatives from Japanese business community
in Bangladesh, among others, attended the event.