22-06-2021

tueSday

Dhaka: June 22, 2021; ashar 8, 1428 BS; Zilqd 10,1442 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.19; N o. 76; 12 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

Indonesia hits two

million virus cases

as crisis deepens

>Page 7

SPortS

NZ weightlifter to become

first transgender athlete

to compete at Olympics

>Page 9

art & culture

Mou with new

telefilm 'Ondho

Jolchobi'

>Page 10

Covid-19

Bangladesh's daily

positivity rate

hits 19.27%

TBT RePoRT

DHAKA : Bangladesh on Monday

reported 4,636 COVID-19 cases while

the coronavirus claimed overnight 78

lives. "The tally of infections has surged

to 8,56,304 as 4,636 new cases

were confirmed in the last 24 hours .

. . 78 people died of COVID-19 during

the period," Directorate General of

Health Services (DGHS) said in its routine

daily statement.

A total of 78 COVID-19 patients died

in the last 24 hours increasing the death

toll from the pandemic to 13,626.

It said 19.27 percent of the 24,057

samples collected in 24 hours were tested

positive while the infection rate was

only 2.30 percent just on February 8

this year as during the late winter season,

the rate started decreasing sharply.

The samples were tested at 528

authorized medical laboratories across

the country during the time as the government

put in efforts to increase the

number of testing centers gradually

with resurgence of the pandemic.

The recovery count rose to 7,85,482

after another 2,827 patients were discharged

from the hospitals during the

past one day. The DGHS statistics

showed of the people infected from the

beginning, 91.73 percent recovered,

while 1.59 percent died.

Lockdown in 7

districts from

today as Covid

cases soar

DHAKA : The government has announced

a 9-day lockdown in Narayanganj,

Gazipur, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Rajbari

and Gopalganj districts from Tuesday as

the Covid-19 situation continues to worsen

across the country, reports UNB.

Cabinet secretary Khandaker Anwarul

Islam announced the decision at an

emergency press briefing on Monday.

The Cabinet Division also issued a circular

in this regard. The circular said the

lockdown will remain in force from 6 am

on June 22 to June 30 midnight.

However, emergency services like

transportation of agricultural equipment

and inputs (seeds, fertilizer, insecticides,

agri machinery), crops, food

items, relief activities, health services,

Covid-19 vaccination, water, power, gas,

fire service, port activities, telephone,

internet services, mass media (electronic

and print), private security services,

postal services and offices related to

emergency services, their employees,

vehicles will remain out of the purview

of the restrictions, the circular added.

Zohr

03:44 AM

12:10 PM

04:40 PM

06:52 PM

08:18 PM

5:11 6:49

Rohingya vaccination depends on

arrival of vaccines from COVAX

DHAKA : UNHCR, the UN refugee

agency, and the humanitarian community

are waiting for the arrival of vaccine

doses under the COVAX facility to begin

the vaccination of Rohingyas in

Bangladesh as it was originally scheduled

to begin by the end of March,

reports UNB.

The government of Bangladesh, however,

wants to ensure vaccination of

both the Rohingyas and host community

together depending on the availability

of vaccine doses as it does not want to

see any discrimination against anybody,

officials said.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, saw a significant

rise in the number of Covid-19 positive

cases in Rohingya camps in April

and May last.

Twenty people died of Covid infections

in the camps, while 1,566 Covid-19

cases were confirmed as of June 20,

according to the UNHCR.

More worrying, the UN refugee

agency says, some 600 of these cases

were recorded in May alone which is

already over 50% of the number for the

entire period of March 2020 -March

2021.

"In Bangladesh, UNHCR and the

humanitarian community continue to

advocate that the vaccination of

BNP's allegation on mega projects

a planned ill intent : Quader

DHAKA : Road Transport and Bridges

Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said

those, who did not show courage and

ability to implement a mega project in

the country during their regimes are

now carrying out mega falsehood about

mega projects.He came up with the

remark while speaking at a press conference

on contemporary issues at his

Secretariat office here.

Quader, also the Awami League

General Secretary, said BNP secretary

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir

raised an imaginary allegation about the

ongoing mega projects of the country,

which is a planned ill target of BNP.

"It is nothing but vengeance and the

jealousy of a failed opposition party.

BNP is making falsehood to cover up its

failures after witnessing mammoth

development activities of the government,"

he said.

The main aim of BNP is to smear the

Rohingya refugees begin as soon as

COVAX vaccines arrive," Louise

Donovan, the UNHCR spokesperson in

Cox's Bazar, told UNB.

She said the previous date had to be

postponed as the arrival of the COVAX

vaccines remains pending and no new

date has been set yet.

Asked about the vaccine shortage in

the country, Louise said an amount of

over 10 million vaccines from COVAX

has been allocated to Bangladesh which

should be used to equitably vaccinate

Bangladeshi nationals as well as the

Rohingyas and other vulnerable groups

in Bangladesh.

The UNHCR spokesperson said the

humanitarian community is extremely

grateful to the government of

Bangladesh for the inclusion of the

Rohingyas living in Bangladesh in both

the National Response Plan to Covid-19

as well as the national vaccination plan.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul

Momen said they want vaccination for

both the Rohingyas and affected local

communities if Bangladesh gets a special

allocation.

"The local communities who are

affected in many ways for Rohingyas

will not accept it if vaccination is provided

only for the Rohingyas," he said.

country's image by making ceaseless

falsehood, the AL general secretary said,

adding that they (BNP leaders) had

turned the country into a state of corruption

when they were in power. After

being jealous to the tempo of development

activities of the Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina's government, they now

find the smell of corruption, he said.

He said BNP stigmatized the country by

making it the world champions in graft for

five times and people did not forget it.

Seeing the mega-projects in the tenure of

present government , Quader said, it is

very usual to be saddened for those who

institutionalized corruption in the country

by constructing a building of embezzlement

in the name of "Hawa Bhaban".

Retreating from the stance of the

Sheikh Hasina's government against corruption

is very clear and punitive, he said

even AL men involved in graft, irregularities

and wrong doings are not spared.

A woman is

being given the

first dose of

Pfizer-BioNtech

vaccine at the

convention

center of

Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujib

Medical

University on

Monday.

Photo : Star Mail

Bangladesh

rolls out Pfizer

vaccine at 3

Dhaka centers

DHAKA : Bangladesh on Monday

started administering the first doses

of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at three

centers in Dhaka to fight off Covid-

19, reports UNB.

The vaccine is being administered

first at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

Medical University (BSMMU),

Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute

and Kurmitola General Hospital.

In each of these centres, 120 people

will be vaccinated every day from

9 am to 3 pm.

Faruk Ahmed, director of Sheikh

Russel Gastro-liver Institute, inaugurated

the vaccination drive around

10 am.

"We've sent messages to 115 vaccine

seekers, who had completed

their registration with the hospital

but failed to get the first jab. All of

the 115 vaccine seekers will be given

the shots, if they come," said Faruk.

Besides, Vice-Chancellor of

BSMMU Prof Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed

and Director of Kurmitola General

Hospital Brig Gen Jamil Ahmed

inaugurated the vaccination campaign

at their respective institutions

in the morning.

Bangladesh surpasses

India in per capita

income: Hasan

DHAKA : Information and

Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan

Mahmud yesterday said Bangladesh

has turned into a middle-income country

due to pragmatic maneuvers taken

by the incumbent government.

"Bangladesh has surpassed India in

per capita income. The country has

turned into a middle-income and it is

only possible for the present government.

Even, the per capita income has

increased during COVID-19 situation,"

he said.

The minister stated this while

addressing the signing ceremony of

Annual Performance Agreement

(APA) with different organizations of

his ministry at its meeting room in the

secretariat here.

State Minister for Information and

Broadcasting Dr Murad Hassan,

Secretary of the ministry Md Mokbul

Hossain, Bangladesh Sangbad

Sangstha (BSS) Managing Director and

Chief Editor Abul Kalam Azad and

heads of different organizations of the

ministry were present at the function.

Hasan, also Awami League joint general

secretary, said despite the COVID-

19 pandemic, the GDP growth rate is

going to be 6.1 percent at the end of the

current fiscal year and inflation has

limited to 5 percent.

DHAKA : The Appellate Division of the

Supreme Court on Monday upheld an

order passed by its Chamber Judge

Court that had stayed High Court order

allowing bail to seven people convicted

and sentenced in a case lodged over the

2002 attack on the motorcade of then

leader of the opposition and incumbent

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in

Satkhira.

"Disposed of stay," said an Appellate

Division virtual bench led by Chief

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain. The

apex court came up with the order after

holding a hearing on a leave to appeal

petition filed by the state against the

High Court order.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin

moved the state plea, while Barrister

AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon argued for

"When the inflation remains stable

and the GDP growth rate maintains

upward trend, the people's income as

well as the country's development is on

rising trend. And this has been happening

for the last 12 years and the country

is moving ahead," he added.

Even different global media are lauding

the progress of Bangladesh and the

dynamic leadership of Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina, he said, adding that but

some people only in Bangladesh do not

see the development and try to create

confusion among the people.

"We also see that one or two newspapers

try to analyze the progress only to

raise questions about the development.

Despite their ill-efforts during the 12

and a half year, the country has moved

forward," said Hasan.

The minister urged the media to

focus on the country's progress along

with criticizing, as the country and society

will move ahead only when people

will be optimistic about the country.

Replying to a query about actress

Porimoni, he said, "I don't want to

make comments on this issue."

He said, "I also saw that BNP leader

gave statements in the parliament a few

days regarding this. It seems to me that

the actress was more important than

Begum Khaleda Zia to him or her.

Stay on bail of Sheikh Hasina

motorcade attack case convicts upheld

the defence. The High Court on May 26

allowed bail to the seven convicts after

holding hearing on separate petitions

filed in this regard. The seven convicts

are- Golam Rosul, Abdus Samad, Abdus

Sattar, Johurul Islam, Rakib,

Shahabuddin and Monirul Islam.

Justice Hasan Foez Siddique of

Appellate Division Chamber Judge

Court on May 27 stayed their bail after

holding a hearing on a state plea against

the High Court order. The court also

sent the matter for further hearing to the

regular bench of the Appellate Division.

Miscreants hurled bombs on the convoy

of then leader of the opposition

Sheikh Hasina and even shot at her as

her motorcade reached in front of

Kolaroa upazila BNP office in Satkhira

on August 30, 2002.

Due to rain, water logging has become a common view at different parts of the capital city. The picture

was taken from Dayaganj area yesterday.

Photo : Star Mail

tueSDAY, June 22, 2021

2

Woman entrepreneur becomes

savior of many in Jamalpur

DHAKA : Banesa Akhter, an

indomitable women

entrepreneur, has become

savior for 5000 distress

women in Jamalpur district

offering them handicraft skill

training as well as creating

linkage between them and a

client base to sell product in

fair prices.

Banesa, a 60-year-old

single mother, became a 'Self-

Reliant Model' for hundreds

of women in the district as she

had able to build a huge

network of 5000 handicraft

producing women with her

wisdom and invincible

determination.

"Now people called me as a

model of women

entrepreneur ... but my path

was not easy, it took 28 years

to come here. I had to work

really hard and overcomes

many obstacles to achieve my

success," said Banesa in a

confident voice.

Banesa, whose husband

abundant her 28 years back

leaving four sons and two

daughters, now a proud

owner of 'Oporna Handicraft'

that sells monthly Taka 5 lakh

worth products to different

famous clothing brand in the

country.

"When my husband gave

me divorced and married

another woman ... I couldn't

see any light at end of the

tunnel.... I had no idea how

would I survive with my six

kids," she said.

Banesa said she was

distress but didn't lose her

courage of survival. "That

time, I was desperate. I was

looking for a job, but I am not

that literate to get a work with

handsome payment," she

said.

Meanwhile, she said, as per

advice of a neighbor she

contacted with local BRAC

office and was imparted a

training on handicraft and

afterwards took only Taka

8000 loan from Bangladesh

Rural Development Board

(BRDB) in Jamalpur to set

up her own handloom.

As Banesa's capital was so

small, in the beginning she

had to take limited volume of

handicraft orders from

different shops in Jamalpur

town. "That was my opening

... but I was lucky that most

of the shops liked my

products and they started

taking my supplies with hard

cash. With the support of my

clients, I gradually expanded

my cottage business,"

Banesa said with a

triumphant smile in her face.

In last 25 years, Banesa built

a business network with

5000 handicraft producing

women utilizing her good

reputation regarding high

products quality in

competitive prices in the

marketplace. "It's my highest

satisfaction that I had bale to

turn many distress women

into self-relent," she said

adding that she gives

business training and, in

some cases, disburses seed

money as business capital to

the woman. "I do teach them

regarding business

management and client

services as well. Basically, I

do share my experiences

with them, I tell them not to

be nervous, just keep your

courage and determination

... you will be victorious one

day," Banesa was saying as

like an inspirational speaker.

Banesa's "Oporna

handicraft' that is currently

getting huge order from

different outlets of Dhaka,

Chattogram, Sylhet and

Mymensingh and even from

abroad, are now producing

different products including

nakshi katha, bed cover,

sharee, salwar kamiz,

panjabi, fatua, cushion

cover, pillow cover and wall

mat and children wear.

One held for

pornography

in Jamalpur

JAMALPUR : Members of

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)

in a drive arrested a man for

allegedly

making

pornography images and

videos in Jamalpur sadar

upazila yesterday evening.

The arrested was identified

as Md Ibrahim Sheikh, 30 son

of Md Hazrat Ali of Megha

Laxmipur village in Jamalpur

sadar upazila.

Acting on a tip-off, a team

of the RAB-14 conducted a

raid in a computer shop in

Tulsipur Bazar area and

arrested Ibrahim with various

instruments used for

pornography, RAB sources

said.

RAB sources said that he

used to sell pornography

using electronic devises for a

long time.

A case was registered with

Jamalpur Sadar Police

Station in this connection.

Health secretary

Lokman Hossen Mia's

father passes away

DHAKA : Alhaz Mozammel

Hossen, father of Health

Service Division Secretary

Lokman Hossen Mia, died

early this morning while he

was undergoing treatment at

National Institute of

Cardiovascular Diseases

(NICVD) here.

He was 92.

Mozammel Hossen

breathed his last at the

NICVD at 4:30am due to old

age complications.

Textiles and Jute Minister

Golam Dastagir Gazi

expressed deep shock and

sorrow at the death of

Mozammel Hossen.

"I am personally saddened

at the death of Alhaz

Mozammel Hossen and

praying for his eternal peace. I

am, on behalf of the people of

Narayanganj, conveying deep

sympathy to his bereaved

family members," said the

minister in a condolence

message.

1 killed, 10 injured

in Barishal poll

violence

BARISHAL : A 65-year-old

man was killed and at least 10

others were injured in

election violence in Barishal's

Gournadi upazila on Monday,

reports UNB.

The deceased was identified

as Mauje Ali Mridha.

Deputy inspector general of

police (DIG) of Barishal range

SM Akhtaruzzaman

confirmed the incident to

UNB.

The incident took place

outside Kamalapur

Government Primary School

in Khanjapur Union of the

Upazila around 2pm, he said.

He said that a clash broke

out between two rival groups

over casting vote by a minor

at the centre.

"At one stage of the clash,

Mridha was injured in a crude

bomb explosion ( popularly

known as cocktail).He was

rushed to Gournadi Upazila

Health Complex where the on

duty doctor declared him

dead," the DIG said.

Earlier on Monday, a man

was killed in a clash between

the supporters of two

member candidates during

voting at Hajirganj Union

Parishad in Charfashion

upazila of Bhola district.

The victim was identified as

Munir Majhi, 25, son of

Bashir Shikder of the village.

Mohammad Kaisar,

superintendent of Bhola

Police, said the clash broke

out between the supporters of

two member candidates-

Yasin Majhi and Ruhul Aminin

Charfakira area around 11

am.

There was a chase and

counter chase during the

clash.

At one stage, they

exchanged gunshots, leaving

Monir Majhi injured. He was

taken to a local hospital where

doctors declared him dead,

said the SP.

Chairman of Imperial hospital seen at the press conference.

Photo : tBt

Most standard treatment in Corona is

at Imperial Hospital, authorities claim

S M AkASh, ChAttogrAM BureAu :

The best treatment for patients with

corona is at the Imperial Hospital, the

hospital chairman said. He made the

demand at a press conference at the

Imperial Hospital auditorium on

Sunday.

At the time, he said in a written

statement, we have built this hospital

keeping in mind all the shortcomings in

the health sector in Bangladesh. From

the beginning of the Corona situation,

the hospital did not have the

opportunity to provide medical services

to Corona patients, but later separate

units were set up for the patients. So far,

5,000 patients have received corona

treatment from the outpatient

department of the hospital. In addition,

Iqvmv-R:Z:239/2021

GD-1042/21 (6x4)

GD-1041/21 (6x4)

more than 600 patients have been

admitted to the hospital for treatment.

The best treatment for corona is at

Imperial Hospital.

Dr. Rabiul Hossain further said, the

treatment of heart disease for the

purpose for which Imperial Hospital

was established has started from last

January. India's renowned heart

surgeon in Corona situation, Devi Sethifounded

Narayana Health has a team of

40 people consisting of doctors, nurses

and technicians. So far 26 open heart

surgeries have been performed in this

department. In addition, more than

200 angioplasties have been performed.

There is no chance to underestimate

this success in Corona.

He added, The Department of Lab

Medicine, in particular the Department

of Biopsy and Histopathology, is

working to diagnose cancer. There is

even a frozen section for immediate

diagnosis of cancer during the

operation, which is done only at the

Imperial Hospital in Chittagong.

He said the hospital plans to launch a

full-fledged cancer unit, pediatric

cardiac surgery unit, trauma center,

infertility unit and Chittagong Imperial

College of Nursing this year to create

skilled nurses for the hospital.

Imperial Hospital Academic

Coordinator, Editor of Daily Azadi and

senior member of the Board of

Directors of Imperial Hospital M A

Malek and Managing Director Amjadul

Ferdous Chowdhury were present at

the press conference conducted by A K

M Arif Uddin.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2021

3

BN Chief Hydrographer organized a seminar marking World Hydrography Day 2021.

Dhaka calls for

'effective actions'

to repatriate

Rohingyas

DHAKA : Bangladesh has

reiterated its emphatic call to

the international community

to take more effective actions

in ensuring safe, dignified

and sustainable repatriation

of Rohingyas now taking

shelter in Bangladesh to their

own lands in Myanmar,

reports UNB.

Shabbir Ahmad

Chowdhury, Secretary

(West) of Ministry of Foreign

Affairs made the call at a

panel discussion titled

"Humanitarian Approach

Towards Refugees and

Migrants."

The discussion was held as

part of the Antalya

Diplomacy Forum that ended

in Antalya, Turkey on

Sunday.

Elaborating the measures

undertaken by the

government in addressing

the humanitarian needs of

Rohingyas as far as possible,

Chowdhury underlined the

need for immediate

resolution of this crisis in

view of the challenges it is

presenting, not only to

Bangladesh, but also to the

entire region.

Photo : ISPR

Seminar on 'World

Hydrography Day-2021'

held in Chattogram

S M AKASH, CHATTOGRAM

Bangladesh observed 'World Hydrography

Day' on 21 June with an aim to increase

public awareness on the importance of

hydrography in our lives. This year the

theme of the day is 'One Hundred Years of

International Cooperation in Hydrography'.

To commemorate the World Hydrography

Day, Bangladesh Navy Chief Hydrographer

arranged a Video Teleconference (VTC),

where a large number of national

hydrographers and high officials from

various ministries, hydrographic and

maritime organizations, offices, ports,

universities, maritime research and training

institutes took part.

Chattogram area commander, Rear

Admiral M Mozammel Haque graced the

occasion as Chief Guest. The hydrographers

and other personnel participated in the VTC,

discussed on the hydrographic related

issues. They also discussed how

international, regional and sub-regional

cooperation of hydrographic surveying and

nautical charting have led up-to-date charts

and ENCs. The participants also focused

their awareness on importance and

contribution of BN Hydrographic Services

and capacity building to contribute in

national and international level

hydrographic activities. Besides,

hydrographic services Bangladesh will play

substantial role in promulgating the 'Delta

Plan-2100' of Bangladesh Government.

Bangladesh is the 70th member of

International Hydrographic Organization

(IHO). Bangladesh Navy acts as the focal

point of all hydrographic matters in the

sea area of Bangladesh. The National

Hydrographic Committee (NHC) of

Bangladesh is chaired by Assistant Chief

of Naval Staff (Operations). The

committee relentlessly works to promote

the use of hydrography, enhance national

hydrographic capacity and also to

strengthen cooperation among the

scientific and research communities both

at home and abroad. Bangladesh Navy

has already developed its capability to

produce international standard nautical

charts with strict adherence to IHO

standards.

With high standard of professionalism,

Bangladesh Navy is already proficient in

publishing total 63 navigational charts of our

sea area including 9 International Series

(INT) paper charts and 11 Electronic

Navigational Charts (ENC) which are

accepted by the national and international

marine communities and distributed

worldwide for ensuring safe navigation.

Film Adda at

BD-EU film fest

Tuesday

DHAKA : Grand Film Adda,

the unique online programme

of the Bangladesh European

Union Film Festival (BEUFF),

will be held at 2pm on

Tuesday in collaboration with

the Daily Prothom Alo.

The event will be broadcast

live on the Facebook pages of

Prothom Alo, the European

Union in Bangladesh and

their YouTube channels.

Audiences can also view the

show from the website

beuff.org.

The Grand Film Adda is

the primary event held in the

margins of the festival,

which film critic Sadia

Khalid Reeti will moderate.

The panellists in the event

include the eight European

Union Ambassadors or their

representatives and

representatives from the

Government of Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh European

Union Film Festival has

been organised by the EU

Delegation to Bangladesh in

partnership with the EU

Member States, the Alliance

Francaise and the Goethe

Institute to mark 50 years of

Bangladesh's independence.

The festival that began on

June 9 will continue till June

30 which is seen as a step

forward to enrich the

diplomatic relations between

the EU and Bangladesh and

increase and enhance cultural

exchange.

USAID launches new

clean energy project in

Bangladesh

DHAKA : Bangladesh and the United States

on Monday launched a new clean energy

project that will help Dhaka improve access

to affordable and sustainable energy.

The $17-million five-year flagship clean

energy project is named "Bangladesh

Advancing Development Growth through

Energy (BADGE), reports UNB.

It will help improve access to affordable,

reliable, and sustainable energy systems and

promote transparent and efficient energy

markets.

US Agency for International Development

(USAID) Mission Director Derrick S. Brown

and Chairman, Sustainable and Renewable

Energy Development Authority (SREDA),

Government of Bangladesh Mohammad

Alauddin announced the launch of the new

clean energy project.

The event, "US-Bangladesh Climate

Mitigation and Energy Cooperation - Launch

of USAID BADGE programme," elaborated

the details of the project to key energy

stakeholders.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

John Kerry highlighted the project during

his visit to Dhaka with Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina in April 2021.

Speaking at the event, Derrick Brown said

they see tremendous opportunity in

powering countries like Bangladesh with

clean energy.

"Through the BADGE activity, we aim to

improve access to affordable, reliable, and

sustainable energy systems and promote

transparent and efficient energy markets,"

he said. BADGE will expand Bangladesh's

access to affordable clean energy, support

clean energy entrepreneurship, foster

transparent and efficient energy markets,

and advance innovation.

The activity aims to create an enabling

environment for development of advanced

energy technologies, high performing energy

institutions, increased regional energy trade,

and transparent and best-valued energy

procurement in Bangladesh.

BADGE is one of USAID's main activities

to accelerate clean energy and net zero

strategies in Bangladesh and achieve Asia

EDGE's goals across the Indo-Pacific region.

It is also a part of USAID's recently

launched "Energizing a Net-Zero Asia"

initiative that comprises seven new nextgeneration

clean energy programs,

totalling more than $200 million, to

establish foundations for a net-zero energy

grid in Asia.

Representatives from the Bangladesh

Government, academicians, researchers, the

private sector, and donors participated in the

launch event.

The US government, through USAID, has

provided more than $8 billion in

development assistance to Bangladesh since

its independence, said the US Embassy in

Dhaka.

In 2020, USAID alone provided over $200

million to improve the lives of people in

Bangladesh through programs that expand

food security and economic opportunity,

improve health and education, promote

democratic institutions and practices,

protect the environment, and increase

resilience to climate change.

DU Chhatra League demand

withdrawal of residence and

transport fees

DHAKA : Bangladesh Chhatra

League's (BCL) Dhaka University

(DU) unit staged a rally on Monday

with five point charter of demands

including withdrawal of residence

and transport fees of the pandemic

year, reports UNB.

Their four other demands are:

vaccination for all students,

assurance of drug-free campus,

formulation of roadmap for

implementation of university master

plan to alleviate residential crisis,

modernization of DU Medical Centre

and assurance of Covid-19 treatment

for students.

The rally took place at the foot of

anti-terrorism Raju memorial

sculpture at noon, but due to rain the

programme was shortened.

Bangladesh Chhatra League's

(BCL) Dhaka university unit

President Sanjit Chandra Das

presided over the rally while BCL's

DU unit General Secretary Saddam

Hossain conducted the programme.

Sanjit Chandra Das said, "Students'

are facing various mental problems

due to the closure of educational

institutions for a long time and many

students' have committed suicide.

The university administration should

reopen the institution by ensuring

vaccination for all the students

immediately."

"The university authority has to

improve the service of Dhaka

University Medical Center to ensure

the heath protection of the students,

and the public university student

should be brought under health

insurance," he added. Saddam

Hossain said, "Although the

university remains closed for 15

months, the university students have

to pay the residence and

transformation fees. Considering the

financial situation of students, the

administration should have to waive

abovementioned fees. The teachers

failed to play the role of guardian."

"The Prime Minister has instructed

to vaccinate all the students'

emergency basis but due to lack of

coordination among concerned

authorities the public university

students have not vaccinated yet.

Overcoming all the administrational

negligence, the university

administration has to coordinate

with concerned authorities to bring

all students under the vaccination,"

he added.

Bangladesh Chhatra League, Dhaka University Unit formed a human chain program to meet their

various demands.

Photo : TBT

Jagannath University Journalists' Association (JnUJA) on Monday celebrated it's 15th founding

anniversary on the university campus through colourful programmes.

Photo : TBT

JnUJA celebrates

15th founding

anniversary

NAKIBUL AHSAN NISHAD; JNU

CORRESPONDENT

Jagannath University

Journalists' Association

(JnUJA) on Monday

celebrated it's 15th founding

anniversary on the

university campus through

colourful programmes.

JnU Vice-chancellor

Professor Dr. Md

ImdadulHoque inaugurated

the day-long programme as

chief guest by cutting a cake

at JnUJA office around 2:00

pm.

Later, a colourful rally was

brought out from in front of

the Shaheed Minar around

4:00 pm with teachers,

students, incumbent and

former members of the

organisation taking part in

it. Other programs including

tree plantation, fruit party

and get-together were held.

At the second session, a

webinar titled 'Mass Media

in perspective of

Bangladesh' was held at

8:00 pm with JnU VC

Professor Dr. Md

ImdadulHoque as Chief

guest, Dhaka Reporter's

Unity

President

MorsalinNomani and

Secretary Moshiur Rahman

Khan as special guests with

JnUJA convenor Latiful

Islam in chair.

JnUJA was founded in

2006 with campus based

journalist's of different

media outlets.

'Sufia Kamal was a light beam

of hope': Dr Biswajit Ghosh

DHAKA : Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra

University Professor Biswajit Ghosh said

that poet Sufia Kamal was a visionary, who

illuminated the road that led women

towards socio-economic empowerment in

the country, reports UNB.

"One has to be amazed at the way poetactivist

Sufia Kamal thought about the

emancipation of women 70-80 years ago,

and the way she organized movements and

activities for ensuring women

empowerment in the society is beyond

commendable."

Dr Ghosh made his remarks on the

eminent social reformist at a webinar

organized by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad

(BMP) on Sunday, commemorating

Begum Sufia Kamal on her 110th

anniversary of birth.

Presenting the commemorative speech

titled "Sufia Kamal and the Feminist

Movement of Bangladesh" at the webinar,

Prof Biswajit Ghosh said, "Sufia Kamal

earned her rightful position in the history

through her change-making and impactful

social activities, despite being born and

raised in a confined society. The theoretical

framework of feminism that we see in our

society today was not properly active in the

time of Sufia Kamal, but she saw the

greater picture ahead of her time regarding

the development of women, more than

anything or anyone else." The virtual event

was streamed live on BMP's Facebook page

and chaired by BMP's current president Dr

Fauzia Moslem, who commemorated the

founding president on her birth

anniversary with utmost respect during

her speech.

"The formation of Bangladesh Mahila

Parishad under the leadership of poet Sufia

Kamal on April 4, 1960, was a remarkable

event in history, and our organization is

still implementing effective social activities

for not only women but for every one

existing in the society. The feminist

movement has been widespread in many

ways after the twentieth century, and it is

highly indebted to Sufia Kamal in so many

ways," Dr Fauzia Moslem said at the event.

Maleka Banu, general secretary of the

central committee of the Bangladesh

Mahila Parishad, said, "Sufia Kamal, one of

the most respected and leading figures in

women's liberation and a vibrantly active

luminary in many democratic, social and

cultural movements of the country during

her time, has not been physically present

with us for more than two decades - but

she is involved in all of our actions,

thoughts, joys and crises."

The Poet Sufia Kamal Award-2020

(posthumously) was conferred to late

journalist, teacher, politician and activist

Nurjahan Murshid and Poet Sufia Kamal

Award-2021 was given to Kumudini

Welfare Trust for making social impacts

through various humanitarian activities.

Sharmeen Murshid and Tazeen Murshid,

daughters of Nurjahan Murshid virtually

received the award on behalf of their

mother and Sreemoti Saha, director of

Kumudini Welfare Trust, received the

award on behalf of her organization,

alongside other members of Kumudini

Welfare Trust.

Eminent Rabindra Sangeet artiste Iffat

Ara Dewan and Nazrul Sangeet exponent

Khairul Anam Shakil performed songs at

the event. The webinar and award-giving

ceremony was hosted by Seema Moslem,

joint-general secretary and Umme Salma

Begum, organizing secretary of the central

committee of BMP.

TuESDAy, JuNE 22, 2021

4

UN resolution on Myanmar reveals wider realities

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Dhaka has potential to be a

flourishing and healthy city

Bangladesh has shown substantial success with respect to

health and development over the past few years. However,

the rapid growth of cities and towns is one of the greatest

development challenges for the country. Over the past 40 years the

proportion of the population living in urban areas in Bangladesh

has increased from 5 percent to 28 percent, with estimates

predictingthat just under one third of the total population will live

in urban areas by 2025.

Our growing cities and towns face challenges that include high

percentages of people living in slums, high cost of living and

dominance of the informal sector, inadequate basic services

(especially water, sanitation and energy), unplanned urban and preurban

expansion, social and political conflict over land resources, a

high level of vulnerability to natural disasters and poor mobility

systems.

Thus, just as the size of the urban population is growing fast, so

too is the scale of the challenge for urban health. Viral diseases and

communicable diseases are increasing in Dhaka city due to poor

hygiene and sanitation systems in the slums.

On top of that, air pollution is worsening. Data from the National

Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital shows that nearly

seven million Bangladeshis suffer from asthma. In Dhaka alone, an

estimated 15,000 premature deaths, as well as several million cases

of pulmonary, respiratory and neurological illness are attributed to

poor air quality, according to the Air Quality Management Project,

funded by the government and the World Bank.

In recent years, rural to urban migration is a major factor in

Bangladesh's urbanization .InKamrangirchar (a sub-district of

Dhaka City) a huge number of migrants moved from the southern

districts that are part of the Barisal Division of Bangladesh after

disasters like November 2007's Sidor cyclone, which killed more

than 4,000 people, and cyclone Aila that hit in May 2009 and left

8,000 more missing and about 1 million homeless. Twenty-two

percent of those affected by Aila moved to Dhaka and 78 percent

moved to other cities close to their home.

Though Bangladesh has become a role model for the United

Nations to be showcased for its excellent development performance

and success in poverty alleviation, as described above, many

challenges remain. Significant factors influencing urban health in

Dhaka City include urban governance, population characteristics,

the built environment, social and economic development, services

and health emergency management, climate change and food

security.

Simple, practical, and user-friendly solutions are needed towards

achieving sustainable urban environments. For example, various

dimensions of urban poverty - including economic empowerment,

improving living standards and land tenure security - have to be

addressed.

If cities and towns are to successfully play their role as a driving

force behind economic and social development, challenges have to

be addressed through effective planning and governance. Existing

solutions, such as those already trialled by NGOs (examples include

success in contraception use and reduction in maternal and child

mortality rates), can be put into wider practice through

coordination between various ministries, NGOs, and the private

sector. Our Local Government Engineering Department (under the

ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Cooperatives)

can takes on the challenge of assisting local bodies in improving the

quality of life of people in urban Bangladesh through initiatives

undertaken with the relevant stakeholders.

The government of Bangladesh and the World Bank has launched

the Municipal Governance and Service Project to improve

municipal governance and basic urban services in city corporations

and municipalities in Bangladesh. In addition, government and

other development agencies need to take more initiative for

additional integrated programs for developing urban structure,

climate change mitigation and emergency preparedness planning.

Bangladesh has also started work towards changing some

relevant institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks. For

example, smoke from brick kilns contributes to air pollution in

Dhaka and other cities. So, adoption of cleaner technologies and

their full implementation can go a long way towards making the

country's urban areas safer. A new Brick Making and Brick Field

Establishment (Control) Act was enacted that prohibits operation

of the old-fashioned brick fields that are largely to blame for air

pollution. Apart from work towards establishing cleaner brickmaking

technologies, the new law prohibits the establishment of

brickfields in residential, protected, commercial and agricultural

areas, and also in forests, sanctuaries, wetlands and Ecologically

Critical Areas.

The government also recently announced wider reaching

measures, such as a "green tax"."We are considering imposition of

the tax as surcharge on the most polluting industries. The tax will

act as disincentive for pollution and thereby encourage for taking

measures to control pollution," said a senior official of the National

Board of Revenue.

"This is good step to discourage pollution and ensure social

justice," said a research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

"We have been sharing our concerns for the last several years that

pollution has been rising. But, polluters get off the hook while the

common people suffer. "Apart from brick kilns, the leather and

dyeing and shipbreaking industries also contribute to

environmental pollution, she said, who will be subjected to the Act.

Social and economic factors are also key to boosting urban health.

Bangladesh needs to learn from the evidence from other countries

including Brazil, China and India on how reducing inequalities

yields larger dividends for poverty reduction than a more

conventional focus on economic growth.

Furthermore, we can also take lessons from China's experience to

create decentralized economic opportunities in smaller cities and

district towns so as to mitigate the influx of rural migrants into

overcrowded areas in major cities. With strengthened partnerships,

strong leadership and government commitment, Dhaka has the

potential to become a popular, flourishing and healthy city.

Recently, a section of the foreign press wrote negative things

about Dhaka. Most of these views are exaggerations. Dhaka is still a

very liveable city and with proper planning can become a truly

healthy and thriving mega city in the future.

In this file photo taken and released by

Dawei Watch on April 21, 2021,

protesters hold sunflowers during a

demonstration in Dawei, Myanmar,

against the military coup. Photo: AFP /

Handout / Dawei Watch

Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar's

Spring Revolution wore flowers in their

hair on Saturday to mark the 76th birthday

of the nation's most iconic - and once again

ousted and detained - leader Aung San

Suu Kyi.

Her birthday gift in terms of global

response to her continued struggle for

democratization of Myanmar came from

the UN General Assembly, where 199

nations on Friday adopted an

unprecedented resolution condemning

Myanmar's military junta and calling on it

to "respect people's will as freely expressed

by results of the general elections" of last

November.

This historic UNGA resolution asks the

military junta to end the state of

emergency, respect human rights and

release all political detainees, including

Suu Kyi.

On the day the newly elected

representatives were to convene their

inaugural session of the national

legislature, she was detained and is now

under house arrest, facing some flimsy

charges like illegally importing walkietalkies,

breaching laws meant to control

the spread of Covid-19, and inciting public

unrest. She has hardly been seen in public

other than her brief court appearances.

Meanwhile, nationwide protests against

the February 1 coup d'état led by the

commander-in-chief of the country's

armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing - who

would have retired this July - have since

been joined by various rebel groups of

Myanmar's ethnic minorities. All of them

have since faced brutal and indiscriminate

use of force by Myanmar's military.

Regular news of the killing of peaceful

protesters and bystanders as well as use of

The brutal murder of a Pakistaniorigin

family in the city of London,

Ontario, by 20-year-old Nathaniel

Veltman caused a wave of outrage in

Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

openly condemned it as an act of terror

and thousands rallied to pay respects to

the slain members of the family and to

pray for the health of nine-year old Fayez,

the sole survivor of this hate crime. There

is no doubt this was a genuine outpouring

of revulsion at the crime, and of sympathy

for those so brutally slain.

But beneath the surface is a miasma,

the odour of which leaked out even during

this time of tragedy.

Soon after the attack, a TikTok video

was uploaded in which a man records

three Mus lim women walking down

the road. As they stroll down the

sidewalk, the man is heard saying:

"Where's Nathaniel Veltman when you

need him?" Then a truck passes by and

the man exclaims: "Buddy, you missed

them. Back up," before bursting into

laughter.

In another video, a man named Craig

Harrison said "he was surprised it [the

attack] hasn't happened sooner", adding

that "Canadians are rightfully getting

upset about being out-populated in their

own country by people from different

cultures who don't respect Western

values". Harrison, who has a criminal

history that includes racially motivated

attacks, was once the mayoral candidate

for Georgetown, Ontario.

Anti-Muslim sentiments are on the rise.

The reference to being 'out-populated'

heavy artillery and air strikes against rebel

forces in the north continues. Reportedly

hundreds have been killed by the armed

forces while more than 5,000 have been

detained and thousands displaced.

If anything, the military's ethnic

cleansing of Rohingya since 2016

emboldened its jackboot policy as it saw

the civilian leadership led by Suu Kyi

maintain seasoned silence, thus at least

partially acquiescing to the Tatmadaw's

brutality. This also led military leaders to

rethink Myanmar's decade-long

experiment with piecemeal

democratization under its 2008

constitution, and now it is reluctant to lose

its prominence in politics.

The unprecedented mandate to Aung

San Suu Kyi in last November's general

election clearly provided the trigger, as it

threatened to empower her to undertake

constitutional changes to the discomfiture

of the Tatmadaw's hold on power, and it

felt compelled to strike. One could even

include the coming retirement of General

Min Aung Hlaing next month as having

ignited events for the return of military

rule.

During these last five months since that

fateful night, what has especially

perplexed Myanmar observers is the

military's leverage and the muted

response from the global community,

especially those powerful nations that

keep gloating about being the oldest,

strongest and largest democracies.

As many as 36 nations abstained from

voting on the UNGA resolution, either

saying it was Myanmar's internal matter

SWARAN SINGH

or complaining that it had no teeth, or

asking why the UN had been silent on the

equally gruesome ethnic cleansing of the

Rohingya.

Belarus stood alone to vote against it,

calling it too "country-specific" and

"politicized." But what was most

noticeable was the fact that all of

Myanmar's neighbors - India, Bangladesh,

Bhutan, China, Laos, Nepal and Thailand -

not only abstained from voting but have

since expressed their discomfiture with the

resolution, making it look like meek lip

service.

Two veto-wielding nations that are also

the largest weapons suppliers to the

The other large neighbor of Myanmar, India, has taken the cue and laid its

hopes in being pragmatic. India has had major stakes in ensuring peace

and stability in Myanmar, which has critical implications for its own northeastern

region. So India had shown strong support for ASEAN's Five-

Point Consensus, though it seems unwilling to deliver anything concrete.

Myanmar junta - Russia and China -

abstained from voting and have since

explained their reasons for so doing.

Russia's deputy permanent

representative to the UN, Dmitry

Polyanskiy, told the General Assembly

that the resolution's "authors were not

able to show a balanced approach…. The

text attempts to push forward onedimensional

national priorities of certain

member states. The draft resolution

stands out due to its politicized nature and

some of its passages are openly biased or

they are divorced from reality."

Likewise, China's deputy permanent

representative to the UN, Chen Shuang,

was reported as saying: "Myanmar's

current issue represents a twist and turn in

its political transition process. Essentially,

it is a domestic issues…. History has

shown that external blind pressurization

or imposition of sanction on Myanmar is

not only ineffective but, quite on the

The roots of hate

is a popular theme in modern neo-Nazi

and white supremacist thought, and

revolves around the belief that white

people are being 'outbred' by other races

in the West, and that this is both part of

and a precursor to what they call the

'Great Replacement'. This was also the

title of the manifesto published by

Brenton Tarrant, the terrorist who

massacred 51 worshippers at a

Christchurch mosque in New Zealand in

2019.

As investigations continue, one

question that will be asked is 'where was

Nathaniel Veltman radicalised?' And one

can safely surmise that perhaps more so

than his immediate 'real-world' social

circles, he was introduced to and

indoctrinated by white supremacy online.

That was the case with Alexander

Bissonnette, who shot and killed six

people at a Quebec City mosque in 2017,

and was known to be a right-wing troll in

online spaces.

How poisonous is this online discourse?

In an analysis for the Globe and Mail,

Amarnath Amarasingam and Jacob

Davey write that in 2020 they examined

close to 2,500 accounts, channels and

ZARRAR KHuHR

groups on various social media platforms

that disseminated extremist right-wing

propaganda, producing "nearly four

million pieces of individual content", that

were spread far and wide.

These groups, they concluded, were

resistant to attempts to de-platform them

and were incredibly resilient and

determined in their effort to "drive hatred

against minority communities and

polarise Canadian society".

More, despite their ideological

differences, these groups converge on

their shared hatred from immigrants, and

in particular, their hate for Muslims. And

they are increasing in both number and

How poisonous is this online discourse? In an analysis for the Globe and Mail,

Amarnath Amarasingam and Jacob Davey write that in 2020 they examined

close to 2,500 accounts, channels and groups on various social media platforms

that disseminated extremist right-wing propaganda, producing "nearly

four million pieces of individual content", that were spread far and wide.

appeal.

Much like a plant needs suitable soil

and conditions in order to be able to

thrive, so too does the seed of hate need

an enabling environment to be able to

bloom into a bloody harvest. Across the

Western world, we have seen a steady rise

in right-wing ideology to the extent that

many of the talking points of what was

once the extremist fringe have become

part of mainstream political discourse,

which in turn legitimises the views of the

(once) far right, bringing them closer to

DR. DANIA KOLEILAT KHATIB

contrary, may aggravate the issue."

The world including the US has

meanwhile put its hopes on the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

taking the lead in resolving this growing

crisis in one if its member states.

Several foreign envoys in Myanmar -

including the UN representative and

China's ambassador - have warned of

rising levels of violence portending a civil

war in the making. If the million-strong

exodus of Rohingya is any lesson to go by,

this is bound to have critical regional

implications.

This had led ASEAN to call for a special

summit in Jakarta in April where leaders

unanimously adopted a Five-Point

Consensus that called for an immediate

cessation of violence in Myanmar,

constructive dialogue amongst all parties,

the appointment of a special ASEAN

envoy to facilitate dialogue, the provision

of humanitarian assistance, and a visit by

the envoy to Myanmar.

Not only did the ASEAN Five Point

Consensus fall short of putting a

precondition of the release of Aung San

Suu Kyi, the recent weeks - including the

June 7 meeting of the 10 ASEAN foreign

ministers with Chinese Foreign Minister

Wang Yi - have shown how the bloc has

increasingly laid all hopes on China taking

the lead. China, of course, has unrolled its

quintessential play-it-slow strategy while

pushing forward its own regional

leadership, which had been threatened at

the mid-March Quad Leaders Summit.

Mid-January saw the same Wang Yi visit

Myanmar and hold a meeting with

General Min Aung Hlaing, who was just

two weeks away from staging his coup

d'état. Since then Chinese Ambassador

Chen Hai has kept in close touch with Min

Aung Hlaing and China has kept to its

refrain of "restoration of peace and

stability" without stressing an early release

of elected civilian leaders.

Source: Asia times

the centre and thus to wider acceptability.

This, in turn, drives more and more

people into their ranks, and by and large

they avoid the label of 'terrorist' even

when they carry out politically motivated

attacks, simply because the diffused

nature of the white supremacist

movement means that individuals may

not subscribe to, or be members of,

specific organisations.Canada is no

exception; In Canada, as in much of the

West, Muslims remain the most common

target of online hate, outstripping any

other group and the attacks are

increasingly moving from online spaces

to real life. This isn't taking place in a

vacuum: a 2020 report on Islamophobia

in Canada submitted to the UN revealed

that 46 per cent of Canadians have an

'unfavourable' view of Islam - more than

for any other group. More than half of the

people living in Ontario felt that Muslim

doctrines 'promote violence' while 42pc

of Canadians think that discrimination

against Muslims is 'mainly their fault'.

The report also points out the role of the

media in creating this environment,

noting that while negative stories about

Muslims abound in Canadian media,

attacks on Muslims receive relatively less

coverage; the Quebec mosque shooting

for "five minutes of airtime" on CBC the

night it occurred while the 2017 London

Borough attacks in the UK were covered

for hours with live commentary. No

wonder, then, that for too many

Nathaniel Veltman is not someone to

condemn, but to emulate.

EU must be forceful in driving through reform in Lebanon

EU High Representative for Foreign

Affairs Josep Borrell was in Beirut

over the weekend. He was carrying a

clear and firm message to Lebanon's

corrupt politicians: Form a government

and conduct reforms or face the

consequences.

The visit was supposed to show the EU's

solidarity with the people of Lebanon. It

was also a call to Lebanon's politicians to

take responsibility for the self-inflicted

crisis. The EU is ready to help but also

ready to take measures if the current

leaders don't conduct the needed reforms.

However, it is likely that the EU's threats

will fall on deaf ears. Hence, the bloc should

already think of the next steps to follow,

which will be quite challenging

The importance of this high-level visit is

that it is a sign that Europe will not let

Lebanon crash. A crash might lead to

another wave of refugees on the EU's

shores, which the old continent cannot

afford. On the other hand, Europe will no

longer buy the acquiescence of Lebanese

politicians and subsidize corruption with

European taxpayers' money. Experience

also shows that pushing dictators to

relinquish power is a very difficult task. And

they are unable to conduct reforms, as they

would be self-incriminating. Hence, the EU

has a challenging task to induce reforms in

Lebanon.

The EU is a friend of Lebanon and friends

do give advice. However, in this country

that is ruled by a political mafia, the only

credible and legitimate interlocutor is the

Lebanese army. Borrell met with army

commander Joseph Aoun, as the cohesion

of the military is the spinal cord that can

prevent the country falling apart. The

international community has the army as a

backup. It can channel aid through the

Civil-Military Cooperation Directorate.

Borrell's meeting with Aoun came after a

UN-supported virtual conference in aid of

the army was held on Thursday. Several

countries pledged to help its handling of the

difficult situation it is facing. The Lebanese

media described the event as a conference

to isolate the corrupt political elite. The

army is gaining increasing salience in the

international community. French

President Emmanuel Macron also received

Aoun last month, during the latter's visit to

Paris, which was unusual as the president

normally only meets with heads of state,

not the commander of a country's army.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese political class is

paying lip service to Borrell and his ilk and

banking on the upcoming parliamentary

elections. The leaders are betting on the

poverty of the people, which means they

will be able to buy the votes needed to

renew their legitimacy and then address the

international community as the

"legitimate" representative of the

"Lebanese people."

After Borrell, the next visit should carry

bold, direct and personal threats,

supported by evidence of the politicians'

misdemeanors.

The "hirak" popular protests have lost

their oomph, with people instead busy

trying to get their daily necessities. To add

to that, the different groups are not

organized, unlike the current political elite,

and don't have the electoral machine or the

funding to make a breakthrough in the

coming elections.

Hence, the EU should put the pressure on

to induce change and not rely solely on the

will of the Lebanese people to force change

in the upcoming elections - provided that

they are free and fair, which is not a given in

Lebanon.

Source: Arab news

tueSDaY, JuNe 22, 2021

5

Why sharing bioimaging tech is

crucial to global health

a pharmacist in the pharmacy of el Sereif hospital, in North Darfur, Sudan.

photo: albert González Farran

Antibiotics is a valley of death

Gareth Willmer

Smaller companies at the heart of

innovation on new antibiotics can boost

their chances of getting promising drugs

to market by forging close links with

partners in developing countries.This is

one of the messages in a report by nonprofit

organisation the Access to

Medicine Foundation that highlights

how small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) developing

antibiotics face a fight to avoid

bankruptcy.

The world has grown increasingly

reliant on such SMEs following the

departure of many large companies

from antibiotic development, the report

says, with new antibiotics and

antifungals desperately needed amid

rising resistance.Antimicrobial

resistance occurs when organisms such

as bacteria and parasites adapt and stop

responding to medicines, which makes

infections more difficult to treat.

The report notes that 5.7 million

people die yearly from lack of access to

the right antibiotics, mainly in low- and

middle-income countries (LMICs), and

700,000 from drug-resistant infections.

It says 55 antibiotics are currently in

late-stage development.

"When SMEs fail, their pipelines are

frozen, leaving new drugs stranded on the

lab bench," the report warns. "If the loss of

such promising products continues, the

pandemic of drug-resistant infections will

pose a bigger global health emergency

than COVID-19."

FatemaRafiqi, a research programme

manager in antimicrobial resistance at

the Access to Medicine Foundation

said: "SMEs are the key innovators in

the arena. Seventy-five per cent of the

late-stage pipeline is associated with

those enterprises."

While fresh incentives and innovative

subscription-based models for drugs

are needed, says the foundation, smaller

drug makers can take steps in the

meantime to minimise risks and unlock

new funds. Partnerships with hospitals,

organisations and manufacturers in

LMICs could accelerate drug

development and access to local

resources and expertise in places that

urgently need the drugs, analysts say.

And such link-ups could help save

SMEs from the "valley of death", where

early research funding dries up prior to

financial returns.

Although it is a "fragile" market, various

players are moving in the right direction,

says Rafiqi. The report cites several USheadquartered

antibiotics developers that

it says follow a partnership approach in

countries like India and South Africa, as

well as China. This enables clinical trials

with a higher number of relevant

participants in places with some of the

highest AMR rates.

"Those partnerships can then lead to

partnerships with local generic

manufacturers, and manufacturing and

distribution centres. That can facilitate

quicker access," said Rafiqi. It can also

be a springboard to doing the same in

other countries, she added. Biotech

Bugworks, for example, has partnerships

in India and South Africa, with the

potential of expanding accessibility to

other countries in South-East Asia and

Africa if products can be successfully

moved through the pipeline.

The report notes that India offers good

potential for partnerships, given its own

investment in its domestic

pharmaceutical industry.

JehangirCama, an industry research

fellow working on antimicrobial research

and development at the University of Exeter,

UK, said: "The report importantly stresses

the need for equitable access to both old and

new drugs." With the world in discussions

over how to enable access to COVID-19

vaccines, it needs to be highlighted more for

antimicrobials, he says.

"Working with LMICs will be

particularly helpful for matters such as

patient recruitment for clinical trials,"

added Cama. "LMICs have a high burden

of resistant infections, and these are

exactly the areas that will likely need new

antimicrobials first."

Parallels have already been seen in the

way that the Serum Institute of India was

authorised to supply COVID-19 vaccines

developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, he

points out.

Seamus O'Brien is director of research

and development at the not-for-profit

Global Antibiotic Research and

Development Partnership (GARDP), a

reviewer on the report. He says

partnerships are promising, though linkups

can be a challenge because SMEs

may lack resources or local knowledge.

Bangladesh garment industry could save

$500 mn a year by recycling cotton

StephaNiOtte

Progress in human health comes in

many forms. We learn more about how

diseases work; we pioneer new

diagnostics and treatments; we come

up with better ways to get care to

people who need it.

At the most fundamental level,

though, advances in biomedicine

depend on our ability to see inside the

human body and understand what's

happening. When a new technology

enhances that ability - think

ultrasounds, or MRI - it unleashes a

wave of innovation across the entire

field, and expands the boundaries of

what's possible in medicine.

We are on the cusp of such a wave.

Emerging technologies are making it

increasingly possible to visualise the

interactions between, and even within,

the individual cells in a living person's

body. The more these technologies

mature, the more discoveries they'll

drive, and the closer we'll get to

preventing and treating disease on a

truly cellular level.

What is less certain is whether the

benefits of tomorrow's bioimaging

technologies will be shared equitably -

or whether they will accrue only to the

wealthy, developed countries that can

afford them.

The status quo favours the latter. Right

now, North America and Western Europe

devote about 2.5 per cent of their gross

domestic product to scientific research

and development. But in regions like

Central and Eastern Europe, Latin

America and the Caribbean, and Sub-

Saharan Africa, R&D expenditures are

just 1.0, 0.7, and 0.4 per cent of GDP

respectively. If you're a biomedical

scientist in one of these parts of the world,

funding is generally harder to come by,

particularly in the amounts that are

required to purchase cutting-edge

instruments.

One way around the cost problem is

to pool and share resources. In Latin

America, for example, many

biomedical scientists use publicly

shared facilities and instrumentation to

do their research. In other regions,

though, this model does not exist; the

infrastructure has not been built, nor

have the scientific networks that enable

this kind of collaboration.

Together, these barriers and others

impede biomedical research, and

exacerbate the enormous inequities in

global health. When scientists in sub-

Saharan Africa don't have the imaging

tools to study diseases that are endemic

to their region - and that receive little

attention from researchers elsewhere -

it means that new diagnostics and

treatments will be slower to come, and

that more people will lose their lives to

those diseases in the interim.

If the next generation of imaging

technologies is distributed as inequitably

as the last, these problems are sure to

worsen. We could soon find ourselves in a

world where doctors in the United States

can map the cancerous cells deep in a

patient's body, monitor those cells over

time, and use the information to design a

personalised and lifesaving treatment -

while equally skilled doctors in Haiti may

not even be able to detect a patient's

tumor, because they lack access to the

right instruments. That's a future where

all of us will be more vulnerable. After all,

bioimaging technologies also play an

essential role in fighting infectious

diseases; they helped scientists determine

the structure of the Zika virus, and they

paved the way for the first Ebola

treatments. Preventing future pandemics

will require much more of this kind of

research - and right now, scientists in

many low- and middle-income countries

aren't in a position to lead it.

For these reasons and more, leaders

in the scientific and global health

communities should start investing in a

world where cutting-edge bioimaging

technologies are much more widely

available, and where more scientists

have the training to put those

technologies to use.

The good news is that this work is

already well under way. One of the

organisations driving it, Global

New bioimaging technologies are pushing the boundaries of medicine

BioImaging, has spent the last several

years connecting bioimaging experts all

over the world - from Mexico, to India,

to South Africa.

Together, these scientists and facility

operators are forming local and

regional networks. They're sharing

data, protocols, and methods. And

they're using their collective power to

secure the funding and

instrumentation they need.

Naimul Karim

Bangladesh's garment industry, the

world's second-largest exporter of

clothes, could reduce its annual

spending by half a billion dollars if it

recycled cotton waste from its factories

and fabric mills, a circular economy

group said on Wednesday.

In 2019, the South Asian nation

imported about 1.6 million tonnes of

cotton, at a cost of $3.5 billion, while

producing 250,000 tonnes of cotton

waste that could have been recycled,

said new analysis from the Circular

Fashion Partnership (CFP), a project

that promotes recycled materials in

fashion.

The "100% pure cotton waste", which

includes cuttings and yarn from the end

of bobbins, could reduce imports by

15% and save about half a billion

dollars, according to the CFP.

"These findings demonstrate that a

circular fashion system could breed not

only environmental but financial

benefits for a country," said Federica

Marchionni, CEO of the nonprofit

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), which

leads the partnership.

Currently, local collectors of cotton

waste tend to use it as filling for

mattresses or export it to other

countries for recycling. Manufacturers

also incinerate cotton for energy,

according to Holly Syrett, GFA's senior

sustainability manager.

But the waste is informally controlled

and not well traced.

"By segregating waste at source and

setting up traceability, we can ensure

that textile waste always reaches its

highest value," Syrett said in emailed

comments.

In 2018, the global fashion sector's

greenhouse gas emissions were about 2

billion tonnes - and this needs to be

halved by 2030, to align with global

climate goals, the GFA said.

Reducing planet-heating emissions

and boosting circularity go hand in

hand, it added.

According to 2020 research by the

GFA and consultancy McKinsey &

Finding uses for cotton waste could reduce thousands of tonnes of

imports each year and improve sustainability, said a circular

economy group.

photo: Collected

Company, the fashion industry

accounts for 4% of global emissions,

equal to the annual total of France,

Germany and Britain combined.

Under the 2015 Paris climate accord,

nearly 200 countries agreed to slash

their emissions to net-zero by midcentury

and limit global average

temperature rise to "well below" 2

degrees Celsius above preindustrial

times.

Bangladesh's carbon emissions are

minimal compared to the developed

world, but its economy is heavily

dependent on the garment industry

which accounts for 80% of its exports

and employs more than 4 million

people.

Launched in February, the CFP

brings together clothing brands,

recyclers and manufacturers to identify

ways the sector in Bangladesh can

transition to a more sustainable

system.

On Wednesday, the CFP said Next,

Primark and Benetton were among the

latest fashion brands to join the

initiative, which already includes big

retailers like H&M and C&A.

"Bangladesh produces arguably the

most recyclable textile waste of any

apparel-producing country," Nin

Castle, head of recycling at Reverse

Resources, a CFP partner, said in a

statement.

Castle urged the country to foster a

recycling industry to reap the "benefits

of cost and carbon footprint reduction"

and to gain "massive competitive edge".

Investing in recycling capacity can

also help create jobs, said Syrett. "There

is a huge potential ... and we hope that

more recyclers will establish in

Bangladesh," she added.

Faruque Hassan, president of the

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers

and Exporters Association, said

factories were "enthusiastic" about the

circular economy, but urged caution

until the potential impacts for

manufacturers - and solutions - were

better known.

Women in laos cross a hanging bridge. South-east asia, together with latin america, has

a high proportion of heat-related deaths due to global warming. Copyright: image by

laurentiu from pixabay. this image has been cropped.

Rising heat-related deaths linked

to global warming

ClauDia CaruaNa

An international team of researchers

has quantified how heat-related deaths

are attributable to global warming, with

Latin America and South-East Asia the

worst hit.

Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, lead

author and head of the Climate Change

and Health Research Group at the

Institute of Social and Preventive

Medicine, University of Bern, says

across 43 countries an average of 37 per

cent of warm-season heat-related

deaths could be attributed to

anthropogenic climate change.

Increased mortality was evident on

every continent, the highest being in

Central and South America (up to 76

per cent in Ecuador and Columbia) and

South-East Asia (up to 61 per cent).

Using empirical data gathered from

732 locations, researchers estimated

the mortality burdens associated with

additional heat exposure resulting from

human-induced warming from 1991 to

2018. The two-step study, led by the

London School of Hygiene and

Tropical Medicine and the University of

Bern, Switzerland, was published in

Nature Climate Change.

In the first step, time series

regression techniques were used to

observe temperature and mortality,

with data collected through the Multi-

Country Multi-City (MCC)

Collaborative Research Network - a

large weather and health data

consortium.

In the second step, researchers used

estimated exposure-response

(response to an environmental

condition within a given time) to

compute heat-related mortality for

each location over the 27-year period.

"We already have performed

research on the impacts of heat, both

on current times and future

projections. However, in this analysis

we decided to go further and quantify

the percentage of the historical burden

that can be directly attributed to

human-induced climate change,"

Vicedo-Cabrera says.

She adds: "We found larger

percentages of contribution of human

induced climate change in countries in

South/Central America and

West/South-East Asia - these countries

suffered a larger increase in

temperature and they also showed to

be more vulnerable."

"Our findings support the urgent

need for more ambitious mitigation

and adaptation strategies to minimise

the public health impacts of climate

change," she emphasises.

Antonio Gasparrini, a professor at the

London School of Hygiene and

Tropical Medicine and senior author of

the MCC Network tells SciDev.Net that

the negative environmental and

ecological signals of climate change are

already well evidenced. "The increase

in extreme weather events, the melting

of the polar ice caps and sea-level rise,

or coral bleaching have been frequently

reported and linked to global

warming," he says.

In contrast, he adds, "most of the

scientific studies assessing effects of

climate change on human health focus

on future impacts projected in the

future. This is one of the few studies -

the first with a global scope - that

measures increased health risks of

climate change in the historical period,

and the message is clear: climate

change will not just have devastating

impacts in the future, but every

continent is already experiencing the

dire consequences of human activities

on our planet."

TUESDAY, jUNE 22, 2021

6

A view exchanging meeting was held at the conference room of DC on Monday to make the lockdown

effective in Khulna.

Photo : Titas Chakraborty

One dies, 61

test positive

for Covid-19 in

C'nawabganj

CHAPAINAWABGANJ :

One more person died of

Covid-19 during the last 24

hours raising the total

number of deaths to 91 in

the district.

"The number of Covid-19

cases climbed to 3,571 as 61

more people were detected

positive after testing 275

samples in the district

during the period while the

infection rate is 22.18

percent," sources of the Civil

Surgeon Office here

confirmed.

The new fatality is

reported

from

Chapainawabganj

Sadar

upazila.

Among the newly detected

patients, 11 people are from

Sadar upazila, three from

Shibganj upazila, six from

Gomastapur upazila and 41

from Bholahat upazila.

A total of 1,190 patients, in

which 71 in dedicated Covid-

19 hospital and others in

home quarantine, are

undergoing treatment in the

district while 2,291 patients

have so far recovered from

the deadly disease here, the

sources added.

36 shops

gutted in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM : A total of

36 business establishments

were gutted in a fire that

broke out at Shah Amanat

bridge area under city's

Bakalia thana yesterday

morning.

Jane Alam, Deputy

Assistant Director of

Agrabad Fire Service and

Civil Defense office said

that the fire originated from

an electric short circuit from

a shop in the area at around

6 am and quickly engulfed

the adjacent shops.

Three firefighting units

from Bakalia and

Chandgaon area rushed to

the spot and brought the

flame under control around

8 am yesterday morning.

Speaker for eradicating child

marriage from society

GAIBANDHA : Speaker of the Jatiya

Sangsad Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury in a

function yesterday underscored the need for

eradicating child marriage from the society

anyhow to bring the adolescents under

health well-protected.

"To this regard, the guardians, teachers,

public representatives, media men and other

stakeholders of the society should come

forward with positive attitude to eliminate

the child marriage to build a better country",

she said.

Dr. Sharmin made the comments while

addressing a workshop on 'Health Well

Protection for the Adolescents during the

Corona Pandemic' as the chief guest by

virtual joining from her office at Jatiya

Sangsad on Sunday.

Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat and

UNFP (United Nations Population Fund)

jointly arranged the workshop at the hall room

of Sundarganj Upazila Parishad of the district

in cooperation with upazila administration

with local lawmaker Barrister Shameem

Haider Patwary in the chair.

Representative of UNFP Asa Torkelsson,

Upazila Parishad Chairman Ashraful Alam

Sarker and Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO)

Mohammad Al- Maruf also spoke as

special guests.

Upazila women affairs officer Sumi Kaiser

also addressed the workshop, among others.

"The rate of child marriage tendency has

increased in rural areas recently as the

academic institutions-high schools and

colleges-remained closed due to the ongoing

corona pandemic that making the

victims more worried about their health

condition," the speaker said.

"It is also alarming for the nation," she

added.

The speakers underscored the need for

considering the welfare and betterment of

the country, child marriage should be

stopped through active participation,

cooperation and holistic approach of all.

During the open discussion session of the

workshop a number of adolescent girls also

talked to the speaker about various issues

including reproductive health and in reply

they got suggestions from her elaborately.

The adolescent girls heard her with

patience and thanked her for giving them

advices which will protect them from the

child marriage, a curse of the society.

Almost all upazila level officials, public

representatives, political leaders and civil

society members including journalists of

print and electronic media took part in the

workshop spontaneously.

Covid-19 cases continuously

increases in Rajshahi division

RAJSHAHI : The surge of Covid-19 cases has

been continuing in all eight districts of the

division since very beginning of the second

wave making the division hotspot of the

deadly virus.

According to the official data on April 1

last, the number of positive cases was 26,907

with 411 fatalities as in Rajshahi city, the

number of infected patients was 5,000 with

35 deaths.

But, with a gap of only 81 days, the Covid-

19 cases jumped to 48,056 with739 fatalities

as in the city, the cases climbed to 11,815 with

74 fatalities till Monday.

Meanwhile, a total of 799 more people

have tested positive for Covid-19 in all eight

districts of the division on Sunday, raising

the number of infections to 48,056.

With 13 more fatalities from the disease

reported afresh on the day, the death toll

reached 739, including 348 in Bogura and

124 in Rajshahi with 74 in its city, said Dr

Habibul Ahsan Talukder, divisional director

of Health. The new daily infection figure

shows a significant declining trend

compared to the previous day's figure of

1,023, said the health department sources.

Among the infected people, 35,576 have,

so far, been cured from the lethal virus with

266 new recoveries found on Sunday.

A total of 4,762 infected patients are now

undergoing treatment at different

designated hospitals here.

Besides, all the positive cases for Covid-19

have, so far, been brought under necessary

treatment while 10,642 were kept in

isolation units of different hospitals for

institutional supervision.

Of them, 8,036 have by now been released.

On the other hand, 527 more people have

been sent to home and institutional

quarantine afresh while 241 others were

released from isolation during the last 24

hours till 8 am Monday.

Noakhali's Begumganj Upazila and Chaumuhani Municipal BNP have inaugurated a neem tree

planting program as part of the central program.

Photo : Manik Bhuyan

Four more

test positive

for COVID-19

in Bhola

BHOLA : A number of four

more persons were

diagnosed with COVID-19

positive in the last 24 hours

in the district after testing 31

samples at Bhola 250-bed

General Hospital COVID-19

laboratory.

The new positive cases,

three are in Daulatkhan

upazila and one in Sadar

upazila of the district, civil

surgeon (acting) of the

district Dr. Md. Sirajuddin

told BSS.

Meanwhile, eight patients

recovered from COVID-19 in

the last 24 hours in the

district. The total number of

infected people in the

district stood at 1,999 while

the number of recovery

cases at 1,945, the civil

surgeon said.

A total of 26 persons have

so far died of COVID-19 in

the district, he added.

Dr. Md. Sirajuddin said

infected 12 persons are now

undergoing treatment at

Bhola 250-bed General

Hospital, rest are now at

home quarantine under the

supervision of doctors from

their respective upazila

health complexes.

50 more test

positive for

COVID-19

in Satkhira

SATKHIRA : A total of 50

more persons were tested

positive for coronavirus in

the last 24 hours in the

district after diagnosing 114

samples at Satkhira Medical

College and Hospital (SMC)

COVID-19 laboratory.

The infection rate is about

43.10 percent in the district,

civil surgeon of the district

Dr. Hussain Shafayat, told

BSS yesterday afternoon.

The total number of

infected persons in the

district stood at 2,904 and

the number of recovery

cases stood at 2,085, Dr.

Hussain Shafayat said.

One person has died with

COVID-19 infection in the

last 24 hours in the district.

Meanwhile, three people

have died with coronavirus

symptoms in the last 24 hours

in the district, he added.

Bumper Aush rice production

likely in Rangpur region

RANGPUR : Department of Agricultural

Extension (DAE) officials and farmers are

expecting a bumper production of Aush rice

this season in all five districts of Rangpur

agriculture region.

The DAE officials said harvest of early

varieties of Aush rice has already begun

while tender plants of other varieties of the

crop are growing superbly amid favourable

climate conditions predicting its bumper

production.

Earlier, the government had fixed a target

of bringing 62,199 heaters of land under

Aush rice cultivation to produce over 1.75

lakh tonnes of clean rice (2.63 lakh tonnes in

terms of paddy) in the region during the

current Kharif-1 season.

"Farmers have finally cultivated Aush rice

on 62,090 hectares of land, less by only 109

hectares or 0.18 percent against the fixed

farming target this time," Agriculturist Bidhu

Bhusan Ray, Additional Director of the DAE,

Rangpur region told BSS.

Meanwhile, farmers have already harvested

Aush rice on 262 hectares of land and produced

930 tonnes of clean rice (1,395 tonnes in terms

of paddy) with on an average yield rate of 3.55

tonnes of rice per hectare of land.

"Harvesting of Aush rice will get full

momentum from next month across the

region," Ray said.

Farmers are expanding cultivation of less

irrigation water consuming and short

duration Aus rice every year in Rangpur

region following various pragmatic steps

taken by the government during the last

twelve years.

The steps include distribution of intensives

along with high yielding varieties of Aush

rice seeds and fertilisers free of cost among

small and marginal farmers, conducting

motivational campaigns and providing

technical training and support to them.

As a result, farmers are expanding

cultivation of Aush rice as an additional crop

during the off-season after Boro rice harvest

and before transplantation of Aman rice

seedlings and enhancing rice production

consistently every year.

Earlier, farmers produced 51,722 tonnes of

Aush rice from 17,523 hectares of land in

2013 while 59,685 tonnes from 19,205

hectares in 2014 and 61,676 tonnes from

21,063 hectares of land in 2015 in the region,

he said.

They produced 65,505 tonnes of Aush rice

from 21,751 hectares of land in 2016 while

73,543 tonnes from 24,717 hectares in 2017

and 1.23 lakh tonnes from 40, 618 hectares

in 2018.

Farmers also produced 1.48 lakh tonnes of

clean Aush rice from 47,552 hectares of land

despite huge damage to the crop on 7,754

hectares of land caused by floods in 2019.

"Besides, farmers produced a record 1.83

lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice from 59,092

hectares of land even after damage to the

crop on 4,598 hectares of land caused by

floods in 2020 in the region," Ray added.

Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and

Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh

Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said

cultivation of Aush rice has become popular

during the off-season between May and mid-

August without hampering Aman rice

farming on the same land.

On Sunday midnight, Padma Bridge Composite Station Mawa conducted a

special operation on the basis of secret information and arrested an unscrupulous

trader with a mini truck from Mawa Shimulia Ferry Ghat area. They

seized net and the market value of the net is around tk 9 lakhs. Later, with the

permission of AC (Land) Md. Iqbal Hasan and Fisheries Officer, the nets were

set on fire and destroyed. The detainees were released through a mobile court

with a fine of Tk 4,000.

Photo : Courtesy

Summer vegetable farming exceeds

target in Rajshahi division

RAJSHAHI : Farming of summer

vegetables during the current season

has exceeded target everywhere in

Rajshahi division including its vast

Barind tract creating scopes of

harvesting additional outputs

coupled with bringing smiles on faces

of all concerned.

Currently, the bonus farming fields

together with yields are contributing a

lot towards meeting up the gradually

mounting vegetable demands amid

the adverse impact of Covid-19.

According to the latest official data,

the Department of Agriculture

Extension (DAE) has set a target to

produce around 9.15 lakh tonnes of

vegetables from 49,895 hectares of

land in all eight districts in the

division during the current Kharif-1

season.

But, finally, the farmers have

brought 53,718 hectares of land under

varieties of summer vegetables

benefiting the consumers in general.

At present, most of the kitchen

markets in the region are currently

buzzing with all summer vegetables

like red amaranth, bottle gourd,

spinach, lady's finger, pointed gourd,

bitter gourd, pumpkin and brinjal

benefiting both growers and

consumers.

Even many of the winter vegetables

are being cultivated in the summer

season. The farmers are seen showing

their interests towards vegetable

farming as they have been gaining

more profit over the last couple of

years. Vegetable farming brings a

smile on farmers' faces here as they

are becoming financially solvent by

cultivating various types of

vegetables.

Sirajul Islam, additional director of

the DAE, said Rajshahi division has

been thought to be the country's most

prospective vegetable producing

region.

"Farmers get benefits by farming

vegetables in the region. It brings a

smile on marginal farmers and poor

people's faces," agriculturist Islam

said, illustrating the aspects of

vegetable farming.

Riaz Uddin, 43, a farmer of

Khirshin Tiker area, said he earned

Taka 20,000 by selling red amaranth

from one bigha of land after sowing

its seed hardly 20 days back at a cost

of Taka 12,000.

"We are very much happy with

vegetable farming because we get

good yield with fair market price

within a short time," he told BSS.

Ashraf Ali, 37, another farmer of

Mollapara area, said not only red

amaranth but also many other short

duration vegetables are being

produced here.

Farmers in the vast Barind tract are

growing brinjal by covering the soil

with polythene sheets with a view to

saving the plants from being damaged

by rain water. Brinjal is generally a

winter vegetable but the growers here

are farming the item in summer in

number.

Abdul Maleque, 54, a farmer of

Bijoynagar village under Godagari

upazila, said he earned Taka 25,500

by selling red amaranth from one

bigha of land after sowing its seed

hardly 20 days back at a cost of Taka

12,400 like the previous couple of

years.

Gardening around homesteads in

the summer season has been gaining

popularity with production of

different fruits and vegetables.

Marginal farmers and the poor people

are mostly engaged in this venture by

making the best use of spaces around

their homes.

On behalf of the 'Integrated Water

Resource Management (IWRM)'

project, more than 12.58 lakh

community people of 2.66 lakh

households are being motivated and

encouraged towards vegetable

farming to reduce the pressure on

underground water.

The project is being implemented in

around 1,280 drought-hit villages in

39 Union Parishads (Ups) and three

municipalities of eight upazilas in

Rajshahi, Naogaon and

Chapainawabganj districts since

2014, said Jahangir Alam Khan,

coordinator of the project. With this

breakthrough, gardening around

homesteads in the summer season

has been gaining popularity with

production of different fruits and

vegetables.

Marginal farmers and the poor

people are mostly engaged in this

venture by making the best use of free

spaces around their homes, Jahangir

Khan added.

Indonesia passed two million coronavirus cases Monday as infection rates soar and hospitals

are flooded with new patients, prompting warnings that the Southeast Asian nation's health crisis

could spiral out of control.

Photo : AP

Indonesia hits 2 million virus

cases as crisis deepens

JAKARTA : Indonesia passed two

million coronavirus cases Monday as

infection rates soar and hospitals are

flooded with new patients, prompting

warnings that the Southeast Asian

nation's health crisis could spiral out of

control.

The unwanted milestone comes after

daily case rates more than doubled in

recent weeks and authorities identified

the presence of highly infectious Covid-

19 variants.

On Monday, official figures showed

that Indonesia had recorded a daily

record high of 14,536 cases, taking the

total to just over two million with nearly

55,000 deaths, among a population of

nearly 270 million.

But those figures are widely thought

to be a severe undercount, due to low

testing and contact tracing-some

experts have said that official cases may

only be about 10 percent of the real

number.

"It's starting to bubble up to the

8 kids in youth van among the

13 lives lost to Claudette

ATLANTA : Eight children

in a van from a youth home

for abused or neglected

children were killed in a fiery

multi-vehicle crash on a wet

interstate that also killed a

man and his baby in another

vehicle, the most devastating

blow from a tropical

depression that claimed 13

lives in Alabama as it caused

flash floods and spurred

tornadoes that destroyed

dozens of homes.

The crash happened

Saturday about 35 miles (55

kilometers) south of

Montgomery on Interstate

65 after vehicles likely

hydroplaned on wet roads,

said Butler County Coroner

Wayne Garlock.

The van, containing

children ages 4 to 17,

belonged to the Tallapoosa

County Girls Ranch, a youth

home operated by the

surface, like a time bomb," said

Windhu Purnomo, an epidemiologist

at Indonesia's Airlangga University.

"This is just the beginning.

Depending on how things are handled,

we could end up with a major explosion

like in India."

Case numbers are spiking as

Indonesia grapples with new virus

strains, including the highly infectious

Delta variant first identified in India.

The rise has also been blamed on

millions travelling across the Muslimmajority

nation at the end of Ramadan,

despite an official ban on the annual

migration.

Hospital occupancy rates have soared

to over 75 percent in Jakarta and other

hard-hit areas, while funerals for

Covid-19 victims have also reportedly

jumped.

"It's worrying," Jakarta resident

Rahmani told AFP at a cemetery where

he attended the funeral of a relative

who died of the virus.

Alabama Sheriffs

Association. Michael Smith,

the youth ranches CEO, said

the van was heading back to

the ranch near Camp Hill,

northeast of Montgomery,

after a week at the beach in

Gulf Shores. It caught fire

after the wreck and Candice

Gulley, the ranch director,

was the van's only survivor -

pulled from the flames by a

bystander.

Gulley remained

hospitalized Sunday in

Montgomery in serious but

stable condition. "She's

going to survive her physical

injuries," Smith said. Two of

the dead in the van were

Gulley's children, ages 4 and

16. Four others were ranch

residents and two were

guests, Smith said.

"This is the worst tragedy

I've been a part of in my life,"

said Smith, who drove

Sunday to the ranch to talk

to the remaining residents,

who had returned from Gulf

Shores in a separate van and

did not see the wreck.

"Words cannot explain

what I saw," Smith said of

the accident site, which he

visited Saturday. "We love

these girls like they're our

own children."

The crash also claimed the

lives of two other people who

were in a separate vehicle.

Garlock identified them as

29-year-old Cody Fox and

his 9-month-old daughter,

Ariana, both of Marion

County, Tennessee.

"He was a great guy and

we're really gonna miss

him," said Aaron Sanders,

who worked with Fox at the

emergency management

agency in Marion County.

He said Fox also ran a hot

tub business with his father

"As good citizens we have to follow

government orders to obey health

protocols."

Widespread rule-breaking on mask

wearing and other health protocols, as

well as vaccine scepticism, are among

factors cited for the worsening

situation.

The World Health Organization has

called for tougher movement

restrictions.

Indonesia's government, widely

criticised for a weak pandemic

response, said Monday it would

temporarily beef up restrictions in the

capital Jakarta and other hot spots-but

enforcement has been lacklustre.

While Indonesia has not put major

cities under the kind of strict measures

rolled out in some virus-hit nations,

dozens of communities in Central

Java's Kudus regency were put into

lockdown after the Delta variant was

spotted in local testing samples.

And a rash of severe cases in

and doted on his daughter.

"He just loved her to death

and that was his life."

Multiple people were also

injured. The National

Transportation Safety Board

tweeted that it was sending

10 investigators to the area

Sunday to investigate the

crash, photos of which

showed at least four burned

vehicles, including two large

trucks. It said the inquiry

would focus on vehicle

technologies such as forward

collision warning systems,

fuel tank integrity and

occupant survivability.

Meanwhile, a 24-year-old

man and a 3-year-old boy

were also killed Saturday

when a tree fell on their

house just outside the

Tuscaloosa city limits, said

Capt. Jack Kennedy of the

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes

Unit.

Eight children in a van from a youth home for abused or neglected children were killed in a fiery multivehicle

crash on a wet interstate that also killed a man and his baby in another vehicle, the most devastating

blow from a tropical depression that claimed 13 lives in Alabama as it caused flash floods and spurred

tornadoes that destroyed dozens of homes.

Photo : AP

Iran's sole nuclear

power plant undergoes

emergency shutdown

TEHRAN : Iran's sole

nuclear power plant has

undergone an unexplained

temporary emergency

shutdown, the country's

state TV reported, reports

UNB.

An official from the state

electric company Tavanir,

Gholamali Rakhshanimehr,

said on a talk show that aired

on Sunday that the Bushehr

plant shutdown began on

Saturday and would last "for

three to four days." Without

elaborating, he said that

power outages could result.

This is the first time Iran

has reported an emergency

shutdown of the plant in the

southern port city of

Bushehr. It went online in

2011 with help from Russia.

Iran is required to send

spent fuel rods from the

reactor back to Russia as a

nuclear nonproliferation

measure.

The report came as top

diplomats said that further

progress had been made at

talks Sunday between Iran

and global powers to try to

restore a landmark 2015

agreement to contain

Iranian

nuclear

development that was

abandoned by the Trump

administration. They said it

was now up to the

governments involved in the

negotiations to make

political decisions.

Earlier in the day, Tavanir

released a statement saying

that the Bushehr nuclear

plant was being repaired,

without offering further

details. It said the repair

work would take until

Friday.

In March, nuclear official

Mahmoud Jafari said the

plant could stop working

since Iran cannot procure

parts and equipment for it

from Russia due to banking

sanctions imposed by the

U.S. in 2018.

Bushehr is fueled by

uranium produced in

Russia, not Iran, and is

monitored by the United

Nations' International

Atomic Energy Agency. The

IAEA acknowledged being

aware of reports about the

plant, but declined to

comment.

Vaccine hesitancy

puts India's gains

against virus at risk

JAMSOTI : In Jamsoti, a

village tucked deep inside

India's most populous state

of Uttar Pradesh, the

common refrain among the

villagers is that the

coronavirus spreads only in

cities. The deadly infection,

they believe, does not exist

in villages, reports UNB.

"I would rather die than

take the vaccine," said Kol.

A deadly surge of

coronavirus infections that

ripped through India in

April and May, killing more

than 180,000, has tapered

off and new cases have

declined. But the relief could

be fleeting as a significant

amount of the population is

still reluctant to get the

shots. This has alarmed

health experts who say

vaccine hesitancy,

particularly in India's vast

hinterlands, could put the

country's fragile gains

against COVID-19 at risk.

"Vaccine hesitancy poses a

risk to ending the pandemic

in India," said retired

virologist and pediatrician

Dr. T. Jacob John. "The

more the virus circulates, the

more it can mutate into

dangerous new variants that

can undermine vaccines."

Delivering vaccines in the

world's second-most

populous country was

always going to be

challenging. Even though

India did relatively well at

the beginning of its

mammoth vaccination

drive, the campaign hit a

snag almost immediately

due to shortages and a

complicated vaccine policy,

exacerbating

inequalities.

existing

NEW DELHI : India logged 53,256 new

coronavirus infections, the lowest in 88 days,

taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to

2,99,35,221, while the active cases further

reduced to 7,02,887, according to the Union

Health Ministry data updated on Monday,

reports UNB.

The death toll climbed to 3,88,135 with

1,422 fresh fatalities, the lowest in 65 days.

The active cases now comprise 2.35 per

cent of the total infections, while the national

COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to

96.36 per cent, the data updated at 8 am

showed

A net decline of 26,356 cases has been

recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span

of 24 hours.

As many as 13,88,699 tests were

conducted on Sunday taking the total

cumulative tests conducted so far for

detection of COVID-19 in the country to

39,24,07,782.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at

3.83 per cent . It has been less than 5 per cent

for 14 consecutive days, the ministry said,

adding the weekly positivity rate has

declined to 3.32 per cent.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily

new cases for the 39th consecutive day.The

number of people who have recuperated

from the disease surged to 2,88,44,199,

TUESDAY, JUnE 22, 2021

7

Daily COVID-19 count in

India lowest in 88 days

while the case fatality rate has increased to

1.30 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 28,0036,898 COVID-19

vaccine doses have been administered so far.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-

lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August

23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on

September 16.It went past 60 lakh on

September 28, 70 lakh on October 11,

crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on

November 20 and surpassed the one-crore

mark on December 19.India crossed the

grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.

The 1,422 new fatalities include 605 from

Maharashtra, 182 from Tamil Nadu, 120

from Karnataka and 112 from Kerala.

A total of 3,88,135 deaths have been

reported so far in the country including

1,17,961 from Maharashtra, 33,885 from

Karnataka, 31,197 from Tamil Nadu, 24,914

from Delhi, 22,178 from Uttar Pradesh,

17,348 from West Bengal, 15,826 from

Punjab and 13,387 from Chhattisgarh.

The ministry stressed that more than 70

per cent of the deaths occurred due to

comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the

Indian Council of Medical Research," the

ministry said on its website, adding that

state-wise distribution of figures is subject to

further verification and reconciliation.

India logged 53,256 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 88 days, taking

the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,99,35,221, while the active cases

further reduced to 7,02,887, according to the Union Health Ministry data

updated on Monday.

Photo : AP

Fear shakes Mexico border city

after violence leaves 18 dead

CIUDAD VICTORIA : Fear has invaded the

Mexican border city of Reynosa after

gunmen in vehicles killed 14 people,

including taxis drivers, workers and a

nursing student, and security forces

responded with operations that left four

suspects dead.

While this city across the border from

McAllen, Texas is used to cartel violence as a

key trafficking point, the 14 victims in

Saturday's attacks appeared to be what

Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Garcia Cabeza de

Vaca called "innocent citizens" rather than

members of one gang killed by a rival.

Local businessman Misael Chavarria

Garza said many businesses closed early

Saturday after the attacks and people were

very scared as helicopters flew overhead. On

Sunday, he said "the people were quiet as if

nothing had happened, but with a feeling of

anger because now crime has happened to

innocent people."

"It's not fair," said taxi driver Rene

Guevara, adding that among the dead were

two of his fellow taxi drivers whom he

defended and said were not involved in

crime.

The attacks took place in several

neighborhoods in eastern Reynosa,

according to the Tamaulipas state agency

that coordinates security forces, and sparked

a deployment of the military, National Guard

and state police across the city. Images

posted on social media showed bodies in the

streets.

Authorities say they are investigating the

attacks and haven't provided a motive.

But the area's criminal activity has long

been dominated by the Gulf Cartel and there

have been fractures within that group.

Experts say there has been an internal

struggle within the group since 2017 to

control key territories for drug and human

trafficking. Apparently, one cell from a

nearby town may have entered Reynosa to

carry out the attacks.

Fifth presidential hopeful

arrested in Nicaragua

MANAGUA : A fifth wouldbe

candidate for the

Nicaraguan presidency was

detained Sunday, police

said, part of a mounting

crackdown by President

Daniel Ortega ahead of

elections this year.

Miguel Mora, a journalist,

was arrested at his home

Sunday night for "inciting

foreign interference in

internal affairs and

requesting military

intervention," according to

authorities.

Authorities have arrested

seventeen opposition figures

this month, including four

other potential presidential

candidates, eliciting

international condemnation

and fresh US sanctions.

The government has

claimed the detainees are

"usurpers" funded by the

United States to topple

Ortega.

The 75-year-old governed

Nicaragua from 1979 to

1990, returned to power in

2007 and has won two

successive re-elections since

then. He is widely expected

to seek a fourth term in

upcoming elections in

November, though he has

not yet confirmed that he

will. Arrests of possible

challengers began on June 2

when Cristiana Chamorro,

the daughter of former

president Violeta Barrios de

Chamorro and a presidential

hopeful, was placed under

house arrest.

Also detained are former

diplomat Arturo Cruz,

political scientist Felix

Maradiaga and economist

Juan Sebastian Chamorro

Garcia. Mora was director of

the now-closed down 100%

Noticias television channel.

He was previously

detained in 2018 as part of a

crackdown on widespread

anti-government protests

which saw hundreds

arrested and left 325 dead.

He was released six

months later as part of a

prisoner amnesty.

The charges against those

detained this month stem

from a law approved by

parliament in December

purporting to defend

Nicaragua's "sovereignty."

TuESDAY, JunE 22, 2021

8

Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd. recently handed over relief to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Traffic of Gulshan

Zone in order to help unemployed and helpless people as a Corporate Social Responsibility of the Bank.

The Company Secretary of the Bank Md. Abul Bashar handed over more than 200 packets of relief items

to Md. Rabiul Islam, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic, Gulshan Zone, Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Among

others the Inspector of Police, Traffic, Gulshan Zone Mostafa Kamrul Hasan were also present. As relief

Rice, pulses, potatoes, salt, flour and soap distributed to each family.

Photo: Courtesy

Asian markets sink as traders

contemplate Fed tightening

HONG KONG : Asian markets tumbled

Monday on growing expectations the

Federal Reserve will begin lifting

interest rates as early as next year as it

looks to prevent the economic recovery

from overheating, reports BSS.

In a bid to soothe traders fretting over

surging inflation, central bank officials

have for months pledged to maintain

their ultra-loose monetary policy until

the rebound was well on track. But last

week it brought forward its forecasts for

tightening.

The news was initially broadly taken

in stride by investors as the Fed's socalled

"dot plot" outlook for rates

suggested it would not begin hiking

until 2023, and would discuss winding

down its bond-buying programme later

this year.

But investors were spooked by

comments from St. Louis Federal

Reserve President James Bullard that

liftoff could come as soon as late 2022,

adding that it made sense for officials to

become "a little more hawkish" as

inflation surges.

Tokyo's Nikkei

drops 3.4% at

break on US

rate hike fear

TOKYO : Tokyo's key Nikkei index

was down over three percent by

the midday break Monday,

tracking losses on Wall Street as

investors digested Federal Reserve

messaging on more restrictive

monetary policy, reports BSS.

The benchmark Nikkei 225

index ended the morning session

at 27,980.87, down 3.39 percent

or 983.21 points, while the

broader Topix index was down

2.55 percent or 49.58 points to

1,896.98.

"Tokyo shares have been sold

as investors were disheartened by

falls in US shares," senior

strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan

Online Securities said in a note.

On Wall Street, "reaction to last

week's hawkish FOMC meeting

continued," said Rodrigo Catril,

senior strategist at National

Australia Bank, in a commentary.

Expectations of a Fed rate

hike sent US Treasury yields

higher and pushing down

stocks and the dollar.

Tokyo and US investors were

reacting to comments by St

Louis Fed President Jim

Bullard in which he revealed

himself as one of the seven

FOMC members pencilling a

rate hike by the end of 2022.

"Bullard is not a voting member

this year and has a history of being

very dovish and very hawkish,

still, given market sensitivity,

Bullard's interview contributed

to" volatility, Catril said.

The dollar fetched 110.16 yen

in late Tokyo morning hours,

against 110.20 yen in New

York and 110.07 yen in Tokyo

on Friday.

Among major shares in Tokyo,

Toyota was down 2.36 percent at

9,600 yen and Fast Retailing,

Uniqlo casual wear operator and

market heavyweight, dropped

3.98 percent to 79,180 yen. amd

SoftBank Group was down 3.77

That sparked hefty losses on Wall

Street, with the Dow and S&P 500

dropping more than one percent and

the Nasdaq almost one percent.

And the selling continued in Asia,

with Tokyo leading the way with a more

than three percent fall, while Sydney

shed more than two percent.

Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and

Jakarta all lost more than one percent,

with Singapore, Wellington and Manila

also in the red. Shanghai was flat.

Still, observers said the losses were

not a surprise, owing to the fact that

many markets are at record or multiyear

highs and investors were taking

the opportunity to cash in profits.

"The shift toward tapering and a pull

forward in first rate hikes may cause

bouts of nervousness in markets with

shares vulnerable to a decent

correction," said Shane Oliver of AMP

Capital.

"But note that tapering is not

monetary tightening (it's just slower

easing) and rate hikes are still a fair way

off in most developed countries."

Europe powers up electric

car battery drive

PARIS : As electric car sales

soar, Europe has started to

build up its capacity to

produce batteries on the

continent but it remains far

from reducing its dependence

on Asia, reports BSS.

China, Japan and South

Korea produce most of the

world's electric car batteries.

Europe now has projects to

build 38 gigafactories with a

combined annual output of

1,000 gigawatt hours (GWh)

and an estimated cost of 40

billion euros ($48 billion),

according to a June report by

Transport & Environment, a

non-govt organisation.

This annual supply could be

reached by 2029-2030 and

would be the equivalent to the

production of 16.7 million

battery electric vehicles, a

T&E spokesman told AFP.

"Given the monstrous

increase in demand, there is a

major stake at hand for

manufacturers to break the

battery makers' oligopoly,"

said Eric Kirstetter, a sector

analyst at consulting firm

Roland Berger.

"They will also have to

ensure access to materials for

the electrodes (anode and

cathode), which will

determine the batteries' price

and availability," he added.

In Sweden, the start-up

Northvolt expects to reach

annual production of 150

GWh in Europe by 2030, with

one plant under construction

now and two much bigger

ones on the drawing board.

Northvolt has previously said

that production capacity would

reach 32 GWh by 2024, or

enough batteries for 600,000

electric vehicles per year.

Asian competition -

In another report,

Transport & Environment

said battery electric vehicles

could account for all new sales

of units in the 27-nation

European Union by 2035 -- if

policymakers introduce tighter

CO2 targets and strong

support for infrastructure to

charge cars.

Automakers, which are

under pressure to transition

out of fossil fuel vehicles, are

putting money into battery

production. German giant

Volkswagen has invested in

Northvolt and also plans to

build five other battery plants.

Stellantis, which owns

brands such as Alfa Romeo,

Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge and

Fiat, is working on two of its

own, while electric pioneer

Tesla wants to make its future

gigafactory near Berlin one of

the biggest in the world with

250 GWh of capacity by 2030.

European governments are

backing the projects because

they want the continent to

maintain a major role in future

automobile manufacturing.

Asian manufacturers are

also investing in Europe, with

the Chinese group AESC

planning to work with Toyota

and Renault on battery plants

in Britain and France.

Two South Korean

companies, LG Chem and

SKI, have already opened

factories in Poland and

Hungary, and China's CATL

is building one in Germany.

Less polluting -

European Commission vice

president Maros Sefcovic said

in March that the continent

needed to achieve strategic

independence in what has

become a critical sector.

He wants European

factories to cover the region's

needs by 2025. That is a tall

And Kerry Craig of JP Morgan Asset

Management added: "We believe that

market jitters over the latest Federal

Reserve meeting will pass, as inflation

appears to be mostly transitory and the

growth outlook continues to be positive."

Others said the pullback would likely

be seen as healthy because many stocks

appeared to be somewhat overvalued.

There is also a feeling that while the

Fed will begin discussions on tapering

its vast bond-buying programme this

year, the bank's target of full

employment was still some way off and

talks on the wind down would likely

take some time.

Oil prices extended Friday's gains on

growing optimism the global recovery

will ramp up demand, with some

experts suggesting it could go as high as

$100.

The gains come after the dollarpriced

black gold tumbled in the

middle of last week as the prospect of

higher interest rates sent the greenback

higher, making it more expensive for

buyers using other currencies.

order, according to Oliver

Montique, an analyst with

Fitch Solutions.

Montique targets 2040 for

the establishment of "an

entirely closed loop supply

chain where the vast majority

of battery materials are

extracted, refined, processed

and produced into battery

cells on the continent."

Europe wants to build

factories that pollute less than

in Asia or the United States,

and EU officials are working

on a standard that would

impose criteria on how raw

materials are obtained and

used batteries are recycled.

European

stocks drop

at open on

US rates

worries

LONDON : Europe's stock

markets swung lower

Monday on growing

expectations the Federal

Reserve will begin lifting

interest rates as early as next

year, dealers said, reports

BSS.

In opening deals, London's

benchmark FTSE 100 index

slid 0.7 percent to 6,969.79

points, compared with

Friday's close.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 index

fell 0.8 percent to 15,325.98

points and the Paris CAC 40

also shed 0.8 percent to

6,515.55, after earlier sharp

losses in Asia.

Investors were spooked by

comments from St. Louis

Federal Reserve President

James Bullard that the US

central bank could start

hiking interest rates as soon

as late 2022.

"Comments from a Federal

Reserve official acted to

further fan the flames of

inflationary fears and deal a

blow to markets," said

Richard Hunter, head of

markets at Interactive

Investor.

"The observation from

James Bullard that inflation

was stronger than anticipated

and could even result in a

2022 rate hike followed a

hawkish switch from the Fed

last week, when the likelihood

of two interest rate rises in

2023 came to the fore."

New Saudi

fund to rival

world's biggest

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is set

to compete with the world's

largest insurance investors

following the merger of two of

its biggest funds, reports Arab

news.

The Saudi Cabinet last week

approved merging the Public

Pension Agency and the

General Organization for

Social Insurance (GOSI) to

unify the public and private

sectors' insurance protection

umbrella.

The enlarged entity will

boast assets of more than

$250 billion, Bloomberg

reported, citing Saad Al-

Fadly, the CEO of Hassana

Investment Co, the

investment management arm

of the Kingdom's General

Organization of Social

Insurance (GOSI).

That would place it in the

top ten funds globally,

measured by assets under

management.

The merger would reduce

costs and help increase

investment returns, Al-Fadly

said in an interview.

"The merger will strengthen

the position of the fund,

enhance performance, and

position GOSI as one of the

top 10 pension plan investors

in the world," he said.

Leading Global Research Program

Will Study the Link Between

Eyeglasses and Financial Inclusion

VisionSpring (www.vision

spring.org), the pioneering

social enterprise, will

participate in a groundbreaking

suite of four studies,

known as ENGINE, that

explore the relationships

between vision correction and

social and economic

development. VisionSpring

will partner on the THRIFT

trial to understand the impact

of eyeglasses on expanding

financial inclusion for older

adults, particularly through

mobile banking, a press

release said.

The ENGINE studies are

funded by the Well come Trust

and the Chen Yet-Sen Family

Foundation, totaling £3.6

million. The lead researchers

on the ENGINE studies are

Professor Nathan Congdon of

Queen's University Belfast

(QUB) in the UK and Professor

Rohit Khanna of the LV Prasad

Eye Institute (LVPEI) in India.

Poor vision, the world's

largest unmet disability, affects

2.2 billion people. The fourtrial

suite, ENGINE-Eyecare

Nurtures Good-health,

Innovation, driviNg-safety and

Education -- examines how an

affordable, effective, and

widely available treatment,

eyeglasses, can help achieve

the United Nation's

Sustainable Development

Goals across the life course

from reducing road traffic

injuries and enhancing

learning, to slowing the onset

of cognitive decline and

improving economic

independence in old age. In

total, 29 collaborating

government, academic, NGO

and private sector institutions

in six countries will carry out

the ENGINE studies.

The THRIFT (Transforming

Households with Refraction

and Innovative Financial

Technology) trial will examine

the impact of free reading

glasses to support the use of

smartphone banking apps in

Bangladesh among elderly

recipients of government Old

Age Allowance payments. The

study will capitalize on the

Bangladesh Government's

novel plan to digitize all social

safety net payments to the

elderly.

The World Bank and others

suggest Bangladesh's strategy

of delivering safety net

payments through e-banking

to the elderly provides a model

for many other countries if

visual challenges for users are

successfully met.

The THRIFT study will be

implemented by VisionSpring,

Good Business Lab, University

of Michigan, Florida

International University,

University of Dhaka, and

MOMODa Foundation.

The principal investigator for

the THRIFT study, Dr. Atonu

Rabbani, Associate Professor

of Economics at the University

of Dhaka and Associate

Scientists of BRAC James P

Grant School of Public Health

said: "The social pension

program in Bangladesh is the

largest of its kind. This research

will determine if creating

access to eyeglasses is a lowcost,

effective way to remove a

barrier to increased underserved,

elderly people who

benefit from digital payments.

Ella Gudwin, CEO of

VisionSpring, said: "This

research initiative is a

testament to the collaborative

spirit of the eyecare sector. We

expect the THRIFT results will

shape financial inclusion and

health policies that facilitate

older adults participation in

mobile banking and associated

safety net programs."

Partners to the ENGINE

studies include, Alzheimer's

and Related Disorders Society

of India (ARDSI), Asia Injury

Prevention Foundation

(AIPF), CBM, Dhaka

University/JPG BRAC School

of Public Health, Florida

International University,

George Institute India,

Harvard University, , HCM

City University School of Public

Health, HCM City Eye

Hospital, Johns Hopkins

University, LV Prasad Eye

Institute, MOMODa

Foundation, National Institute

of Mental Health and

Neurosciences India, New

England College of Optometry,

Orbis Vietnam, PEEK,

Riemann Ltd, Ulster

University, University of

Michigan, University of

Michigan Good Business Lab,

University of Southern

California, University of

Zimbabwe, Vietnam Ministry

of Transportation, Vision

Spring, and Zimbabwe

Optometric Association.

SIBL Launched QR Code for

Cash Withdrawal

Scan QR Code and collect your required

cash. SIBL started the operation of cash

withdrawal service through SIBL NOW

mobile app. Any clients can collect cash by

scanning the QR Code from any branch of

SIBL across the country. Managing

Director & CEO Quazi Osman Ali

inaugurated the QR Code service

launching program as chief guest through

virtual platform at Head Office, Dhaka

recently, a press release said.

Abu Naser Chowdhury and Md.

Shamsul Hoque, Deputy Managing

Directors, Abdul Hannan Khan, Company

Secretary, Md. Sultan Badsha, Head of

ICT, Md. Moniruzzaman, Head of

Marketing & Brand Communication, Md.

Sharif Al Kashem, Head of Card division,

were also present at the program.

Divisional Heads and Managers of

different branches virtually joined the

program.

In his inaugural speech, the MD & CEO

of the Bank said that SIBL is the leading

Bank to continuously bring novelty and

variety in its digital services and products

to expedite the true digital transformation,

and launching QR Code for cash

withdrawal is an addition in the list of

services. He also cited that technologybased

service net would be continuously

widening for improving client services.

SIBL started the operation of cash withdrawal service through SIBL. Managing Director & CEO Quazi Osman Ali inaugurated the

QR Code service launching program as chief guest through virtual platform at Head Office, Dhaka recently. Photo : Courtesy

TuESDAY, JunE 22, 2021

9

Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates his goal against Turkey.

New Zealand weightlifter to become first

transgender athlete to compete at Olympics

SPORTS DESK

Laurel Hubbard hefted 628 pounds

(185 kilograms) in two lifts on the way

to qualifying in the women's superheavyweight

division for the Tokyo

Olympics, reports UNB.

That's heavy. But it's nowhere near

the figurative weight Hubbard has

carried to become the first transgender

athlete to compete at an Olympic

Games.

Hubbard was among five

weightlifters confirmed Monday in

New Zealand's team for Tokyo. At 43,

she will also be the oldest weightlifter at

the games, and will be ranked fourth in

the competition on Aug. 2 for women

87 kilograms (192 pounds) and over.

Hubbard won a silver medal at the

2017 World Championships and gold

in the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.

She competed at the 2018

Commonwealth Games but sustained a

serious injury that set back her career.

"I am grateful and humbled by the

kindness and support that has been

given to me by so many New

Zealanders," Hubbard said in a

statement. "When I broke my arm at

the Commonwealth Games three years

ago, I was advised that my sporting

career had likely reached its end. But

your support, your encouragement,

and your aroha (love) carried me

through the darkness.

"The last eighteen months has shown

us all that there is strength in kinship,

in community, and in working together

towards a common purpose. The mana

of the silver fern comes all of you and I

will wear it with pride."

The additional burden Hubbard has

had to carry is that her efforts have

made her a flashpoint in the debate

around the fairness of trans athletes

competing in women's events. She has

faced anger, scorn and ridicule, and has

been directly criticized by some

opponents.

Competing as Gavin Hubbard, her

birth name, Hubbard set national

records in junior competition and had a

best, combined snatch and clean and

jerk total of 300 kilograms (661

pounds).

Hubbard transitioned eight years ago

at the age of 35. She has since met all of

the requirements of the International

Olympic Committee's regulations for

trans athletes and fair competition.

The IOC policy specifies conditions

under which those who transition from

male to female are eligible to compete

in the female category.

Among them is that the athlete has

declared that her gender identity is

female and that the declaration cannot

be changed, for sporting purposes, for a

minimum of four years.

The athlete must also demonstrate

that her total testosterone level is below

a specific measurement for at least 12

months prior to her first competition.

Peru beats Colombia 2-1 to keep

hopes alive at Copa America

SPORTS DESK

Peru beat Colombia 2-1 on Sunday to keep

alive its chances of advancing to the

knockout stage of Copa America, reports

UNB.

Sergio Pena opened the scoring for the

Peruvians in the 17th minute. Miguel Borja

equalized from the spot in the 53rd but an

own goal 11 minutes later by Colombian

defender Yerry Mina decided the match at

the Olimpico stadium in Goiania.

Peru is in third position in Group B with

three points after two matches. Colombia

remains with four points in second spot, but

with only two games remaining. Leader

Brazil has six points. The top four teams will

qualify for the quarterfinals.

"This gives us a lot of hope in what is to

come at this Copa America," Peru defender

Renato Tapia said. "We are in a good

position, but we have to keep rowing to go

farther."

Peru lost 4-0 to Brazil in its tournament

opener, which raised doubts about coach

Ricardo Gareca's team. The 2019 Copa

America finalists are also struggling in South

American World Cup qualifiers. Only weeks

ago it lost 3-0 to Colombia in Lima.

Peru opened the scoring with Pena burying

the ball in the back of the net from the edge

of the box. Borja's equalizer, after he was

brought down in the area, gave the

impression Colombia had momentum.

But a set-piece from the right flank ended

on Mina's chest and then accidentally past

Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina. The

Peruvians then managed to defend until the

final whistle.

"You pay a high price for mistakes and now

we have to face Brazil on Wednesday,"

Colombia's Wilmar Barrios said. "We are still

missing something."

Caption: Ugo Humbert poses with the Halle trophy as he celebrates after winning the

final.

Photo: AP

Photo: AP

Hubbard met those standards.

The IOC policy also states: "the

overriding sporting objective is and

remains the guarantee of fair

competition."

Yet some within the weightlifting

community argue the policy does not

guarantee fair competition. The

determining criteria _ a maximum

reading of 10 nanomoles per liter of

testosterone _ is as least five times

more than a biological woman.

Belgium's Anna Vanbellinghen, who

will likely compete against Hubbard,

said the New Zealander's presence

would be "like a bad joke" for women

competitors.

"I am aware that defining a legal

frame for transgender participation in

sports is very difficult since there is an

infinite variety of situations and that

reaching an entirely satisfactory

solution, from either side of the debate,

is probably impossible,"

Vanbellinghen has said. "However,

anyone that has trained weightlifting at

a high level knows this to be true in

their bones: this particular situation is

unfair to the sport and to the athletes.

"Life-changing opportunities are

missed for some athletes _ medals and

Olympic qualifications _ and we are

powerless. Of course, this debate is

taking place in a broader context of

discrimination against transgender

people and that is why the question is

never free of ideology."

Ugo Humbert stuns

Andrey Rublev to

claim Halle Open title

SPORTS DESK

France's Ugo Humbert

pulled off a surprise 6-3, 7-

6(4) win over world

number seven Andrey

Rublev to claim his maiden

ATP 500 title on the Halle

grasscourts on Sunday,

reports UNB.

Humbert stepped up his

Wimbledon preparations

by producing a clinical

display, winning 85 per

cent of his first-serve

points and hitting nine

aces to extend his perfect

record in ATP tour finals to

3-0.

After a fairly even start to

the match, Humbert took

control with his blistering

forehands to break his

fourth-seeded Russian

opponent for a 5-3 lead.

Humbert, ranked 31st in

the world, went on to save

two break points to close

out the set before both

players struggled to gain

an upper hand in the

second set.

Both players entered the

second-set tiebreak

without facing a single

break point but it was

Humbert who took his

opportunities at the net to

secure victory in just under

one and a half hours.

Despite the defeat,

Rublev will rise up to third

in the Race to Turin for a

place in the ATP Finals in

November. The 23-yearold

is only behind world

number one Novak

Djokovic and Stefanos

Tsitsipas.

Switzerland overcome

Turkey 3-1 to keep

knockout hopes alive

SPORTS DESK

Xherdan Shaqiri scored

twice to lead Switzerland to a

3-1 win against Turkey on

Sunday in their Euro 2020

Group A match that kept

their hopes of reaching the

knockouts alive, reports

UNB.

Turkey exit the

competition after a third

straight defeat while the

Swiss hope to progress to the

last 16 as one of the best

third-placed teams after

finishing level with secondplaced

Wales on four points

but behind on goal

difference.

Italy beat Wales 1-0 in the

other group match after the

Welsh were reduced to 10

men in the second half.

Haris Seferovic opened

the scoring for Switzerland

in the sixth minute when he

took a pass from Steven

Zuber before pivoting and

driving a left-footed shot

into the net from just outside

the penalty area.

Switzerland doubled their

lead in the 26th minute after

Zuber picked up a blocked

shot and slipped it to Shaqiri

who took a touch and then

unleashed a vicious longrange

shot that gave the

sprawling keeper no chance.

Sohan, Shykat

shine as Sk

Jamal win

SPORTS DESK

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi

Club began the Super

League Stage of the ongoing

Dhaka Premier League on a

winning note, beating Prime

Bank Cricket Club for two

wickets, reports UNB.

Sheikh Jamal skipper

Nurul Hasan put the

finishing touches on the

chase with a belligerent

innings after a solid opening

stand between Shykat Ali

and Imrul Kayes.

Chasing a challenging 165,

Sheikh Jamal were off to a

flyer with openers scoring 10

off the first over.

But Shoriful came into the

attack and made an

immediate impact by getting

veteran Mohammad

Ashraful out. The young fast

bowler gave him a send-off

as well.

Despite losing his partner,

Shykat Ali continued to be

aggressive. The righthanded

batter reached fifty

off just 28 deliveries.

He put on a hundred-run

partnership with Imrul

Kayes before getting out.

Rubel Hossain sent him

back for 65 off just 36 balls.

Shykat struck six fours and

three sixes.

Shortly after his dismissal,

Imrul Kayes departed as

well for 44. Imrul's dismissal

put Sheikh Jamal under a bit

of pressure. They needed 48

off five overs.

But Nurul Hasan was in a

hurry to finish the chase. He

struck Shoriful for two sixes

in the 16th over.

Richardson scorches

to 100m victory at

US trials

SPORTS DESK

Rising sprint star Sha'Carri

Richardson surged to

victory in the 100m at the

US Olympic track and field

trials in Oregon on

Saturday, punching her

ticket to Tokyo in 10.86

seconds, reports BSS.

Richardson got out of the

blocks slowly, and trailed

behind Javianne Oliver at

the halfway stage.

But the 21-year-old from

Texas hit the front with 30

meters to go, and pulled

clear to score a decisive

victory at Hayward Field.

Oliver finished second in

10.99sec while Teahna

Daniels was third in 11.03.

Richardson is the second

fastest woman in the world

over 100m this year,

running a 10.72sec in

April.

West Indies chase 324 to beat

South Africa in 2nd Test

SPORTS DESK

The West Indies' hopes of saving their two-

Test series against South Africa rose and fell

on the third day of the second Test, subsiding

in the face of a dogged half century from

Rassie van der Dussen, reports UNB.

Leading by 149 after the first innings,

South Africa slumped to 73-7 in the second

on Sunday as it struggled against quality fast

bowling from Kemar Roach and Kyle

Mayers.

But van der Dussen made an unbeaten 75

and shared a vital 70-run partnership for the

eighth wicket with Kagiso Rabada, who

made 40 from 48 balls, to diminish the home

team's chances.

South Africa was finally out for 174,

building its lead to 323 which may be beyond

the reach of the West Indies whose best total

of the series so far is 162.

Openers Kraigg Brathwaite (5 not out) and

Kieran Powell (9 not out) batted out the last

six overs of the day in fading light to guide

the West Indies to 15 without loss at stumps

when they still trailed by 309.

The task of chasing that total in the fourth

innings is difficult on a wearing pitch,

especially for a West Indies team whose

batsmen have struggled throughout the

series. The home side might also be without

Roston Chase who has a leg injury.

But Brathwaite will take heart from the

memory of the West Indies' successful chase

for a similar total against England at

Headingley in 2017, when he scored 134 in

the fourth innings.

Van der Dussen showed Sunday that runs

can be scored with application. He batted

through more than 40 overs to steady the

Proteas' innings.

"I was a bit of a hiccup at the start of our

innings," van der Dussen said.

"But we came into the day knowing that we

were on the front foot and we wanted to play

like we're on the front foot.

"We're happy with the position we're in

now. It would have been nice to have a

wicket tonight but we'll be backing ourselves

to get the job done tomorrow."

Roach and Mayers swung the Dukes ball in

mostly overcast conditions as the West

Indies romped through South Africa's top

and middle order on a rain-affected day.

Roach took 4-52 and Mayers 3-24.

Only 24 overs of play were possible before

tea because of the weather. Rain wiped out

the whole of the first session on Day 3 in St

Lucia and returned in the afternoon to force

an early end to the second session.

South Africa began its second innings

Sunday after dismissing the West Indies for

149 on the second day, in reply to its own

298.

The West Indies made inroads straight

away when Kemar Roach removed Aiden

Markram to an edge to the slips in the first

over of the innings. Roach also sent South

Africa captain Dean Elgar back for 10.

Mayers' introduction saw South Africa slip

further as he dismissed Keegan Petersen

(18), Kyle Verreynne (6) and Wiaan Mulder

(0) in quick succession.

Caption: South Africa's Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen run

between the wickets during the fourth day of the second cricket test match

between Pakistan and South Africa at the Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi,

Pakistan.

Photo: AP

As France chases title at Euros, its

league faces a $400 million hole

SPORTS DESK

French soccer's new television deal was

supposed to save the league and its clubs

from a financial meltdown, reports UNB.

Instead, it may have made a bad situation

worse.

Soon after France's top soccer league,

Ligue 1, announced this month that it had

enticed Amazon to become its lead

broadcaster, its longtime television partner,

Canal Plus, reacted with fury.

Canal Plus would neither pay for nor

broadcast the two games per week to which

it owned the rights, the company said. Not

at the premium price in its contracts, at

least. And certainly not when Amazon was

paying roughly $100 million less for four

times as many games.

"Canal Plus will not, therefore, be

broadcasting Ligue 1," the company said in

a statement.

The implications of the Canal Plus threat

for the cash-strapped French teams could

not be more serious. Already reeling from

the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and

the collapse last year of their league's $1

billion television contract, clubs across

France that had been planning to trim their

budgets now face an urgent crisis.

While Amazon has agreed to broadcast

eight games a week for little more than

$300 million per season, Canal Plus was on

the hook to pay almost $400 million for the

two games a week it had picked up in a

previous rights auction. Now that it is

refusing to pay, many clubs have entered

the summer player-trading market worried

less about sales and signings than about the

possibility of bankruptcy.

And they may have only weeks to find a

way out.

The chaos behind the scenes at the

French league is in sharp contrast to the

international image of French soccer,

burnished by the success of its World Cupwinning

men's team. France started its

quest for the European championship last

week with a serene display against

Germany, tied Hungary on Saturday in

Budapest and remains the favorite to lift

the trophy next month.

Most of the players on France's Euro 2020

roster play for clubs outside of France, but

nearly all got their start with French teams.

Now those same clubs are trying to plan for

a future they cannot predict.Can they afford

to sign new players to strengthen their

squads? Can they even meet the payrolls for

the ones they have? Or is it wiser now to be

sellers - even in a depressed pandemic

market? The answers may determine how

many teams enter the season with their

financial futures in doubt.

Italy beat Wales 1-0 as both

teams advance to last 16

SPORTS DESK

Italy topped its group in the European

Championship after a third straight win on

Sunday, with a first-half goal from Matteo

Pessina giving it a 1-0 victory over 10-man

Wales, which also advances to the knockout

stages of the competition, reports UNB.

The Italians had already guaranteed their

progress, while Wales secured a berth too by

finishing ahead of Switzerland on goal

difference. The Swiss, who could still

advance as one of the four best third-placed

teams, beat Turkey 3-1 in Baku.

Italy manager Roberto Mancini made

eight changes to rest most of his first-choice

starters, but Italy still dominated and missed

several chances either side of Pessina's 42ndminute

goal, when he steered a low Marco

Verratti free kick into the far corner.

Welsh centre back Ethan Ampadu was

shown a straight red card in the 55th minute

for stamping on Federico Bernadeschi's foot,

and Wales then missed its best chance of an

equaliser in the 74th when Gareth Bale

volleyed over the bar from close range.

Italy will next face the runner-up of Group

C, while Wales will take on the runner-up of

Group B.

TUesDAY, JUNe 22, 2021

10

Mou with new telefilm

'Ondho Jolchobi'

TBT RepoRT

Sadia Islam Mou, popularly

known as Mou, is a

Bangladeshi model and

television actress.She has

won the hearts of millions by

appearing in some famous

television advertisements.

The talented artiste also

has appeared in some

audience-acclaimed dramas

and telefilms. Mou will now

be seen acting in a telefilm

titled 'Ondho Jolchobi' after

a long time.

Directed by Chayanika

Chowdhhury, Iffat Ara Tonni

has written the script for the

production. The shooting of

the telefilm took place at a

location in the capital on

June 16 and 17. Chayanika

Chowdhhury has confirmed

the news on a Facebook post

recently. She said, "For the

first time Mou has worked

under my direction. She was

very attentive to her work.

She came to the set 15

minutes before starting the

shooting. Mou has also

impressed me with her work.

I want to do more works with

her."

The story of the telefilm

revolves around the journey

and struggle of a successful

corporate woman named

Kaynath. Mou will play as

Kaynath. Kaynath is a hardworking

woman. She has

come to her today's position

with a lot of ups and downs.

Besides Sadia Islam Mou,

Khairul Basher, Moushumi

Mou and others will be seen

in the 'Ondho Jolchobi'.

Produced by Dolly Iqbal, the

telefilm will be released on a

private TV channel soon.

Sadia Islam Mou is a noted

model and actress. She

stepped into the modeling

world in 1989. Her first

advertisement on Mount

Shampoo was done by Saidul

Islam Tutul almost 31years

ago. However, it is

commonly accepted that till

today no one has surpassed

Mou.

Besides being a modelturned

actor, she is also

renowned for her enthralling

dance moves, an art that she

still practices with devotion.

Mou married actor and

director Zahid Hasan.

Together they have a

daughter, Puspita and a son,

Purno.

TBT RepoRT

Bangladesh Betar is going to air

"O Nodi re", a song specially

made for the radio, sung by

singer Mariom Maria.

Written by Rezaur Rahman

Rizvi and composed by Md

Sadek Ali, the recording of the

song was completed at the

studio of Bangladesh Betar

Transcription Service in

Agargaon, says a press release.

Ehsanul Lajuk, Tapsi Hadi

and Mujib gave their voice for

the chorus part while the

mixing and mastering was done

by Pulak Barua.

The song was also overseen

by Anwar H Mridha, director of

Transcription Service at

Bangladesh Betar.

Bangladesh Betar

to air Maria's song

'O Nadi re'

"'O Nadi Re' is different from

the melody of a traditional song.

The lyrics are so captivating,"

said singer Mariom Maria.

"I would like to thank Anwar

H Mridha Bhai, Director of

Bangladesh

Betar

Transcription Service, for his

inspiration in making this

song," she added.

Lyricist Rezaur Rahman Rizvi

said, "So far I have written

hundreds of songs for different

artists of Bangladesh and India.

But this is the first time I have

written songs for Bangladesh

Betar." "It is also my first

working with singer Mariom

Maria and composer Md. Sadeq

Ali. All in all, this work has been

great," he informed further.

Md. Sadeq Ali, the composer

and music director of the

song, said, "Everyone worked

several weeks on this song.

The melody of the song was

quite different as well. I hope

everyone will like it."

'O Nadi Re' will be aired

regularly on the transcription

service of Bangladesh Betar

from this week.

Srabanti gets prepared for

fourth marriage!

Tollywood popular actress Srabanti

Chatterjee and businessman

Abhirup Nag Chowdhury these two

names has been heard for a long

time. There are rumours in

Tollywood that they are preparing

for marriage.

According to Indian media

reports, Srabanti lives in the

residential area of Abhirup.

Businessman Abhirup Nag

Chowdhury was seen with Srabanti

during the campaign for the West

Bengal Assembly elections.

The heroine is now in love with

him. The two have been quite close

for months. It was just Abhirup's

birthday and on this special day, the

heroine has put a ring on her

boyfriend.

Although Srabanti's gift was not

made public, Abhirup Nag wrote on

Facebook by posting a picture of the

ring, a gift from a special person...

Thank you.

As seen in that post, the ring is not

like that, the sign of the English letter 'I'

was shining on the diamond placed on

the platinum next to it. Right next to it

is the mark of the heart. It is clear that

the ring is made to special order.

A few days ago, Srabanti secretly

came to the mountains with her

boyfriend. Currently she is floating in

the tide of new love after the breakup.

Source: Times Of India

Mahi

disperse

her 2nd

marriage

rumours

TBT RepoRT

Dhallywood popular actress Mahiya Mahi

has announced her divorce with Mahmud

Parvez Opu on May 23. The happy family

has broken up within five years of

marriage. The formalities of their

separation are currently underway.

Meanwhile, rumours of Mahi's second

marriage have spread.

The buzz started on June 11, after the

actress posted a picture on Facebook

wearing henna (mehedi) on her hands,

katan sari and nosepin. The actress wrote

in the caption of the photo,

Two months after Fearless

(Taylor's Version), the first rerecorded

album in Taylor

Swift's six-album endeavor,

debuted at No. 1 on the

Billboard 200 chart, the pop

superstar has announced its

follow-up. Red (Taylor's

Version), the re-recording of

Swift's blockbuster 2012 album

Red, will be released on19

November , Swift announced

on Friday.

Swift announced the rerelease

on her Instagram

account, with a bit about what

"Red" originally meant to her.

The re-recording will feature 30

songs, including one

unspecified ten-minute track

that fans are already

speculating could be the nearly

legendary extended version of

"All Too Well."

"This will be the first time you

hear all 30 songs that were

'Alhamdulillah'.

Many people spread rumours of Mahi's

relationship and marriage with a person

named Rakib Sarkar. He was seen on

Mahi's Facebook Live.

It is known that the young man's name

is Rakib Sarkar. He is a businessman and

a politician. He lives in Gazipur. Rakib-

Mahi and many others have been seen in

various pictures posted on Facebook.

Rakib was also found on Mahi's Facebook

Live. It is heard that Mahi and Rakib are

going to visit Chapainawabganj together.

However, Mahi has claimed that all the

rumours are fake. "Rakib is just a friend

of mine," she said. If I would get married

secretly, how would my picture or video

come with him on Facebook? These are

nothing but lies that you are hearing. We

have formed a circle together along with

few friends for chatting.

Mahiya Mahi and Sylhet businessman

Mahmud ParvezOpu got married in 2016.

After five long years, their married life

took a turn for the worse, which came to

light on May 23 this year. On the same

day, Mahi hinted at divorce in a Facebook

post.

Taylor Swift announces 'Red' as

next re-recorded album

meant to go on Red," Swift

wrote in a note to fans. "And

hey, one of them is even ten

minutes long."

Following widespread fan

speculation that 1989 would

be the next album to receive

the re-recording treatment,

Swift has selected Red, her

fourth studio album which has

earned 7.5 million equivalent

album units to date, according

to MRC Data.

Released in October 2012,

the sprawling foray deeper

into the pop world included

Swift's first career Hot 100 No.

1 single in "We Are Never Ever

Getting Back Together," as

well as hits like "I Knew You

Were Trouble,""22" and

"Everything Has Changed"

with Ed Sheeran.

Source: Indian Express

H o Roscope

ARIes

(March 21 - April 20) : You may feel

nostalgic as you look through photo

albums, rearrange furniture, and

remember past times, Aries. Your mind will touch on

emotional events that you may not have fully dealt

with at the time they happened. Old feelings that you

thought were gone could well up and bring tears to

your eyes. Honestly face these feelings now instead of

stuffing them back down for another decade.

TAURUs

(April 21 - May 21) : You could

be operating based on an

assumption that's only a partial

representation of the truth. In your effort to

think about only the good side of the situation,

Taurus, you may not see the entire truth.

There's a downside to everything. Feelings of

anger, frustration, and even loneliness may go

along with it.

GeMINI

(May 22 - June 21) : If you're

experiencing emotional upheaval,

Gemini, you may take heart in

knowing that other people are going through

their own emotional turmoil as well. You will

know that you aren't alone in your quest for

emotional stability. Share your feelings with

others instead of shutting them up inside. It will

help you feel better.

cANceR

(June 22 - July 23) : You may

feel like someone's giving you

the third degree, Cancer. You

sense that you're being accused of something

and that you need to defend your feelings and

actions. Try not to fall into this trap. Don't let

self-doubt sneak into the situation just

because someone else questions your way of

life. No one but you fully understands your

situation.

Leo

(July 24 - Aug. 23): Today may

be filled with "I told you so!" You

could find fault with others who

haven't dealt with the truth of a situation. Be

careful about accusing someone of the very

thing that you're guilty of, Leo. Penetrating

emotions will cut to the heart of the matter, and

there will be no way to escape the hole you dig

for yourself. Don't criticize others when until you

take an honest look at yourself.

VIRGo

(Aug. 24 - Sept. 23): Most of the time

you deal with the facts, Virgo. Facts

are things you can grasp, categorize,

and make rational sense of. Unfortunately, today

some of your facts may be challenged by one of the

things you fear most - intense emotions. The

ensuing friction is like dealing with apples and

oranges.

LIBRA

(Sept. 24 - Oct. 23): It will be

hard to deal with emotional

issues that arise. A strong misleading force

is feeding the illusion that things are fine

when they really aren't. Stop pretending

that everything is going well, Libra. The

sooner you face the truth, the sooner it will

stop plaguing you. Confront the deception

directly.

scoRpIo

(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22): Don't automatically

assume that people are going to

understand your needs, Scorpio. Your emotions may

be powerful today, and you could end up scaring

people away instead of drawing them closer simply

because you act irrationally and emotionally instead of

reasonably and civilly. Be careful about targeting your

frustration at the people who can help you the most.

sAGITTARIUs

(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21): You're in a

difficult position. Things aren't

exactly what they seem,

Sagittarius. Your emotions run the show today,

and you may jump from one extreme to the other.

There's a good chance that much of what you

experience is based on misinformation. Don't get

so caught up in the drama that you fail to

recognize the truth of the situation.

cApRIcoRN

(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20): When faced

with an emotionally intense

situation, you're likely to flee,

Capricorn. You'd rather change the subject to

something more lighthearted. This form of

escapism is doing nothing to solve the

problem. In fact, by avoiding the emotional

topic, you're only creating more friction than if

you just approached the problem directly.

AQUARIUs

(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) : With your

psychic abilities, you're liable to

shed some light on issues in

which the truth has been unclear

for quite a while, Aquarius. You can use your

sensitivity to cut to the heart of the matter and

expose the truth. This kind of behavior probably

won't come without friction from others. You

can almost guarantee that it will. Don't let it faze

you. It's important to reveal the truth.

pIsces

(Feb. 20 - Mar. 20) : Control issues in

your home are apt to be of concern today,

Pisces. Be careful about feeding into

others' misconceptions of the situation.

You're dealing with powerful, opinionated forces that

aren't going to want to budge. Someone may have a

warped view of the true issue at hand. Lay all the facts on

the table before you start drawing any conclusions.

TUeSDAY, JUne 22, 2021

11

Biden and Congress face a summer

grind to create legislation

WASHINGTON : Until recently, the act

of governing seemed to happen at the

speed of presidential tweets. But now

President Joe Biden is settling in for

what appears will be a long, summer

slog of legislating, reports UNB.

Congress is hunkered down, the

House and Senate grinding through a

monthslong stretch, lawmakers trying

to draft Biden's big infrastructure ideas

into bills that could actually be signed

into law. Perhaps not since the drafting

of the Affordable Care Act more than a

decade ago has Washington tried a

legislative lift as heavy.

It's going to take a while.

"Passing legislation is not a made-for-

TV movie," said Phil Schiliro, a former

legislative affairs director at the Obama

White House and veteran of

congressional battles, including over

the health care law.

Biden appears comfortable in this

space, embarked on an agenda in

Congress that's rooted in his top

legislative priority - the $4 trillion

"build back better" investments now

being shaped as his American Jobs and

American Families plans.

To land the bills on his desk, the

president is relying on an old-school

legislative process that can feel out of

step with today's fast-moving political

cycles and hopes for quick payoffs.

Democrats are anxious it is taking too

long and he is wasting precious time

negotiating with Republicans, but

Biden seems to like the laborious art of

legislating.

On Monday, Biden is expected to

launch another week of engagement

with members of both parties, and the

White House is likely at some point to

hear from a bipartisan group of

senators working on a scaled-back $1

trillion plan as an alternative.

At the same time, the administration

is pushing ahead with the president's

own, more sweeping proposals being

developed in the House and Senate

budget committees, tallying as much as

$6 trillion, under a process that could

enable Democrats to pass it on their

own. Initial votes are being eyed for late

July.

"This is how negotiations work,"

White House deputy press secretary

Andrew Bates said during last week's

twists and turns of the infrastructure

negotiations.

"We continue to work closely with

Democrats of all views - as well as

Republicans - on the path forward.

There are many possible avenues to

getting this done, and we are optimistic

about our chances," Bates said.

During his administration, President

Donald Trump had the full sweep of

Republican control of the House and

Senate for the first two years of his

tenure, but the limits of legislating

quickly became clear.

Trump tended to govern by tweet,

rather than the more traditional

legislative process, bursting out with

policy ideas and official administrative

positions often at odds with his party in

Congress.

The Trump-era results were mixed,

and Republicans were unable to clinch

their top legislative priority, repealing

and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

But they went on to secure a sizable

achievement when Trump signed the

GOP tax cuts into law at the end of

2017.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is a

leader of today's bipartisan

negotiations, said Sunday on NBC's

"Meet the Press" that Trump, too,

proposed an infrastructure package. If

Biden sticks with the bipartisan talks

he could not only fulfill a campaign

promise but "keep his pledge of doing

things across the aisle and getting

something done," Portman said.

"Everybody wants to do

infrastructure," he said.

Even as Biden reaches for a

bipartisan deal, skeptical Democrats

are wary of a repeat of 2009, when

Barack Obama was president and they

spent months negotiating the details

of the Affordable Care Act with

Republicans. Eventually Democrats

passed the package that became

known as "Obamacare" on their own.

Lawmakers also have been

energized by the speed at which

Congress was able to approve COVID-

19 relief - the massive CARES Act at

the start of the pandemic in 2020 and

more recently Biden's American

Rescue Plan in February. They are

eager for swift action on these next

proposals.

Biden's strategy this time is a twopart

approach. He is trying to secure a

bipartisan deal on roads, bridges and

broadband - the more traditional

types of infrastructure - while also

pursuing the broader Democratic

priorities package.

Seven gamblers with cash money were arrested from gambling board in Sunamganj yesterday.

Photo : Mozammel Alam

Companies give vaccines

to workers, boosting

Japan's rollout

TOKYO : Thousands of

Japanese companies began

distributing COVID-19

vaccines to workers and

their families Monday in an

employer-led drive reaching

more than 13 million people

that aims to rev up the

nation's slow vaccine rollout.

Yuka Daimaru, among the

Suntory workers getting the

shot on a sprawling office

floor, was visibly relieved

after spending more than a

year worrying about the

coronavirus.

"I was nervous, but it

didn't hurt as much as I

thought it would," she said.

"Now I don't have to worry

as much on commuter trains

or at meetings."

The Tokyo-based beverage

maker plans to inoculate

51,500 people, including

part-time workers and

employees' families, with the

Moderna vaccine.

US envoy hopes N. Korea responds

positively on offered talks

SEOUL : President Joe Biden's special

envoy for North Korea said Monday he

hopes to see a positive reaction from the

North soon on U.S. offers for talks after the

North Korean leader ordered officials to

prepare for both dialogue and

confrontation.

Sung Kim, Biden's special representative

for North Korea, is in Seoul to speak with

South Korean and Japanese officials about

the U.S.'s stalled diplomacy with the North

over its nuclear program and U.S.-led

sanctions.

The trilateral talks followed a North

Korean political conference last week where

leader Kim Jong Un called for stronger

efforts to improve his nation's economy,

further battered last year by pandemic

border closures and now facing worsening

food shortages.

After his meeting with senior South

Korean diplomat Noh Kyu-duk, the U.S.

envoy Sung Kim said the allies took note of

the North Korean leader's comments and

are hoping the North will give a "positive

response to our proposal for a meeting

soon."

Sung Kim spoke later with Noh and

Japanese nuclear envoy Takehiro

Funakoshi over the stalled push to resolve

the nuclear standoff with North Korea.

"South Korea and the U.S will maintain

close cooperation to keep the situation in

the Korean Peninsula stable and find a way

to resume the dialogue with North Korea as

soon as possible," Sung Kim told reporters.

North Korea's economic setbacks followed

the collapse of Kim Jong Un's ambitious

summitry with then-President Donald

Trump in 2019, when the Americans

rejected the North Koreans' demands for

major sanctions relief in exchange for a

partial surrender of their nuclear

capabilities.

Kim Jong Un in recent political speeches

has threatened to bolster his nuclear

deterrent and claimed that the fate of

diplomacy and bilateral relations depends

on whether Washington abandons what he

calls hostile policies.

Rajghat Union Parishad Chairman Bijoy Bunarjee addressing before budget announcement. Photo : TBT

Ethiopia votes in greatest

electoral test yet for Abiy

ADDIS ABABA : Ethiopia

was voting Monday in the

greatest electoral test yet for

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

as war and logistical issues

meant ballots wouldn't be

cast in more than 100

constituencies of the 547

across the country.

The election, delayed from

last year, is the centerpiece

of a reform drive by Abiy,

whose rise to power in 2018

seemed to signal a break

with decades of

authoritarian rule and led to

his Nobel Peace Prize the

following year. He has

described the poll as "the

nation's first attempt at free

and fair elections."

Long lines of voters were

seen in some parts of the

capital, Addis Ababa, while

security was stepped up

across Africa's second most

populous country. Military

vehicles were parked in key

locations in the capital.

More than 37 million

Ethiopians were expected

to vote.

"I hope for a peaceful

Ethiopia because that is the

greatest thing that we

need," voter Atalay

Anteneh said.

Abiy's ruling Prosperity

Party, formed in 2019 by

merging groups who made

up the previous ruling

coalition, is widely

expected to cement its hold

on power. The party that

wins a majority of seats in

the House of Peoples'

Representatives will form

the next government.

Opposition groups have

accused Ethiopia's ruling

party of harassment,

manipulation and threats

of violence that echo abuses

of the past. Some

prominent opposition

parties are boycotting the

election. Others say they

were prevented from

campaigning in several

parts of the country.

Abiy is facing growing

international criticism over

the war in Ethiopia's

northern Tigray region,

sparked in part because

Tigray's now-fugitive

leaders objected to

Ethiopia postponing the

election last year while

citing COVID-19. No date

has been set for voting in

Tigray's 38 constituencies.

Tigray's former leaders,

who are fighting Ethiopian

forces and those from

neighboring Eritrea, have

reported fierce new combat

in recent days. Ethiopia's

defense forces have called

the fighting challenging

because of the rough

terrain. Thousands of

civilians have been killed

and famine has begun in

what observers describe as

a drawn-out guerrilla war.

Meanwhile, outbreaks of

ethnic violence have killed

hundreds of people in the

Amhara, Oromia and

B e n i s h a n g u l - G u m u z

regions in recent months.

International concern

has been growing about

the election. The U.S. has

said it is "gravely

concerned about the

environment under which

these upcoming elections

are to be held," and the

European Union said it

will not observe the vote

after its requests to

import communications

equipment were denied.

Israel's president

to visit the White

House

WASHINGTON : Israeli

President Reuven Rivlin will

visit the White House June 28

to meet with his US

counterpart Joe Biden, the

latter's spokeswoman said

Saturday.

Rivlin, whose term ends July

5, will be the first senior Israeli

official to meet with Biden

since he took office in January.

In Israel the post of

president is largely ceremonial.

Rivlin accepted an invitation

in late May when Secretary of

State Antony Blinken visited

Israel as part of a Middle East

tour.

The visit comes a month

after more than a week of

intense clashes between Israel

and the Islamist movement

H a m a s , E v e n t u a l l y

Democrats passed the

package that became known

as "Obamacare" on their

own.

Lawmakers also have been

energized by the speed at

which Congress was able to

approve COVID-19 relief -

the massive CARES Act at the

start of the pandemic in 2020

and more recently Biden's

American Rescue Plan in

February. which controls the

Gaza Strip. The violence

claimed the lives of 260

Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

In early June the Israeli

Knesset or parliament elected

Isaac Herzog, a former leader

of the Labor Party, to succeed

Rivlin in early July.

Syria regime shelling on Idlib

kills 9: monitor

BEIRUT : Syrian government shelling

on the rebel-controlled enclave of Idlib

Monday killed at least nine people,

including four civilians, a war monitor

reported.

The violence was the latest in a spate

of violations of a ceasefire deal that was

brokered by Turkey and Russia in

March 2020 and had largely held since.

Monday's artillery fire struck several

locations near the ceasefire lines and

one Syrian soldier was killed in

retaliatory fire, the Syrian Observatory

for Human Rights said.

In one incident in the village of Al-

Bara, two women were killed by regime

shelling, the Observatory said.

GD-1040/21 (6x4)

In the village of Ihsem, shelling struck

a police station, killing one policeman

and four members of armed groups

opposed to the government of President

Bashar al-Assad and its allies.

Another 13 people were wounded, the

monitor said.

Both areas are under the control of

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist

organisation that includes ex-members

of Al Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.

Smaller factions are also present in

those areas, said Rami Abdel Rahman,

the head of the UK-based Observatory.

The northwestern Idlib region, which

borders Turkey to the north and is

home to more than a million people, is

the last part of Syria controlled by rebel

or jihadist groups.

Assad's regime, backed by Russia and

Iran, has vowed to retake the region and

the enclave shrank under pressure from

deadly land and air offensives.

A ceasefire deal brokered by Ankarathe

main rebel backer-and Moscow was

reached 15 months ago.

Despite sporadic skirmishes along the

ceasefire lines, the truce has largely

held, averting a major assault that aid

groups warned could cause suffering on

a scale yet unseen in the decade-old war.

The past few weeks have witnessed an

uptick in violations, mostly by regime

and allied forces, Abdel Rahman said.

3843(2) 06/03

20/06

Tuesday, Dhaka, June 22, 2021, ashar 8, 1428 BS, Zilqad 10, 1442 hijri

102 Bangladeshis held

in Malaysia

DENGKIL : The Malaysian

Immigration Department arrested 309

illegal immigrants, including 102

Bangladeshis, during an integrated

operation at a settlement near a construction

site in Dengkil early Monday,

reports UNB.

The detainees also included 193

Indonesians, eight Myanmar nationals,

four Vietnamese, and two Indians.

Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud, director-general

of the Immigration

Department, said his department had

received information from members of

the public who claimed that there were

individuals at the settlement who were

believed to have violated the standard

operating procedures (SOPs) of the

Movement Control Order (MCO).

He said, as a result, the department

had raided the area and found that they

did not comply with the MCO SOPs.

"I arrived with the operations team

and found that their settlement was so

dense, dirty and did not have a proper

drainage system, apart from having a

place to gather and eat in large numbers,"

Khairul said. "They also admitted

that they lived in a group in one

room, which is about four to seven

people."

This showed that they were free to do

anything at the construction site without

any compliance with the MCO

SOPs, Khairul also said. "This was the

main purpose of the Home Ministry

which directed the Immigration

Department to help reduce positive

cases of the Covid-19 outbreak at the

workplace comprising immigrants."

"All these illegal immigrants will undergo

the Covid-19 screening test today.

After the test, they will be placed at the

Semenyih Immigration Depot to be

detained and investigated following

Section 6 (1) © of the Immigration Act

1959/63 and Section 15 (1) © of the same

law, before deportation," Khairul said.

During the operation, the

Immigration Department also inspected

10 Rohingya refugees who are the

UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) cardholders.

"Out of 10 the UNHCR cardholders,

only two of them were arrested for possessing

fake UNHCR cards while the

others were released," Khairul said.

On June 6, the Immigration

Department detained 156 immigrants,

including 62 Bangladeshis, during an

integrated operation at an illegal settlement

in Cyberjaya city.

The detainees also included

Indonesian, Myanmarese, Nepali,

Pakistani and Indian nationals.

Khairul said: "Two hundred and two

immigrants from Indonesia,

Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and

India, including 12 women and two

children were checked."

"However, 156 of them were detained

for not having valid travel and identification

documents before being taken to

the Immigration Department's screening

centre in Putrajaya for further

action," he added.

4 public exams may cancel due

to corona infection increasing

Shafiqul iSlam (Shafiq)

The education sector is now the most

disrupted due to epidemic Corona

virus. Trying to turn around again and

again, but there is no hope. Despite the

best efforts of the government, it is not

possible to reopen the closed educational

institutions suddenly considering

the safety of the students.

Considering the overall situation, the

school-college is not expected to open

in July. A decision has already been

announced to cancel the final examination

of the primary. These students will

be promoted to the upper class

through evaluation of their homework.

However, to avoid controversy, the

word auto pass is being avoided this

time. Similarly, if it is not possible to

take this year's SSC and HSC examinations,

it is being considered to give them

an alternative result on the basis of

assignment and on the basis of previous

results. In other words, if the situation

does not improve, the announcement of

cancellation of four public examinations

from primary to HSC may come at any

time, the concerned said.

Meanwhile, sources in the Ministry

of Primary and Mass Education said

that this year's primary education final

and ibtedayi madrasha's final examinations

are not being held. However,

they say the Ministry of Primary and

Mass Education has taken a preliminary

decision to cancel the exam.

Instead, students will be assigned to a

new class through assessment with

'homework'. No one will be given auto

pass. However, the final decision will

be announced after the consent of the

highest level of government. A summary

in this regard will be sent to the

Prime Minister soon.

State Minister for Primary and Mass

Education Md Zakir Hossain confirmed

the information to reporters. On the

other hand, if SSC and HSC and equivalent

examinations cannot be taken by

next December, then alternative methods

will be implemented there. In this

case, two options are being considered.

However, about 44 lakh candidates are

passing the day anxiously for these two

public examinations.

According to the Ministry of

Education, the government had earlier

decided that their classes would be

taken in the light of a short syllabus of

60 working days for SSC and 84 working

days for HSC.

Voting at six unions of Kaliganj upazila under Gazipur district was held yesterday

peacefully.

Photo : Star mail

Germany to provide

EUR 339.54 to

Bangladesh under

two deals

DHAKA : Germany will provide EUR

339.54 million or approximately Tk

3463.3 crore technical and financial

cooperation support to Bangladesh for

development projects in various sectors,

reports UNB.

Bangladesh and Germany on Sunday

signed the financial and technical agreements

on development cooperation,

said the German Embassy in Dhaka on

Monday.

The cooperation under the agreements

will take place in the areas of

renewable energy and energy efficiency

(EUR237.5 million EUR), sustainable

urban development (EUR 30 million

EUR), good governance (EUR 5.5 million),

displacement and migration (EUR

19 million), training and sustainable

growth for decent jobs, (EUR42.5 million

EUR) and protection of biodiversity

(EUR 5.04 million).

Following the negotiations of the two

governments, the available amount

totalling EUR 339.54 million (approx.

Tk 3463.3 crore) has been allocated with

EUR47.04 million for technical cooperation

and EUR 292.5million for financial

cooperation.

Fatima Yasmin, secretary at

Economic Relations Divisions and Peter

Fahrenholtz, Ambassador of Germany

to Bangladesh, signed the agreements

on behalf of the two governments.

The signing ceremony was attended

by high officials from the German

Embassy in Dhaka, the German

Development Bank KfW, the German

technical cooperation agencies GIZ and

BGR, as well as fromBangladesh government.

"We are glad to continue our support

for the Bangladeshi success story," the

German ambassador said.

New poor from COVID-19

pandemic is temporary :Mannan

DHAKA : Planning Minister MA

Mannan yesterday said that the new

poor created in the country owing to

COVID-19 pandemic is temporary and

it is possible to eradicate such poverty in

a speedy manner through timely implementation

of the government programmes

and collecting more revenues.

"The new poor, created in the country

due to COVID-19 pandemic, is temporary,"

he said.

The Planning Minister was addressing

a virtual discussion on the proposed

budget for FY22 organized jointly by the

Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce

and Industry (MCCI) and the Policy

Research Institute (PRI).

Moderated by MCCI President

Barrister Nihad Kabir, Parliamentary

Standing Committee Chairman on

Ministry of Finance AH Mahmood Ali,

Parliamentary Standing Committee

Chairman on Public Accounts Waseqa

Ayesha Khan, Commerce Secretary

Tapan Kanti Ghosh, PRI Chairman Dr

Zaidi Sattar, Executive Director of PRI Dr

Ahsan H Mansur, MCCI vice president

Anis A Khan spoke, among others, at the

programme.

Research Director of PRI Dr MA

Razzaque and MCCI tariff and taxation

sub-committee chairman Adib H Khan

made two separate presentations.

Mentioning that the government has

been working very sincerely to alleviate

poverty further, Mannan said houses are

being built for the landless and homeless

people under the initiative of Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"The ownership of some 53,000 homes

was gifted to such landless and homeless

people yesterday along with power connections,

sanitation and safe drinking

water facilities. Besides, people are being

given cash support," he added.

The Planning Minister highlighted that

various initiatives have been taken in the

proposed budget for poverty alleviation

apart from the ongoing government programmes

to address the issue. "So, we

hope that those who have become poor

afresh would be able to make a turnaround

speedily,"

Opining that the revenue collection has

not increased to such extent compared to

the growth of resources in the country,

Mannan said had the revenue collection

increased into much higher level, then the

government could have undertaken

much wider programme to alleviate

poverty.

He also urged the business community

to come forward in mobilizing more revenues

for the government.

The Planning Minister said the businessmen

of the country have already

termed this proposed budget as "business

friendly".

"Since the government is pledge-bound

to expedite the country's development,

we've undertaken various initiatives for

the expansion of the private sector. We're

listening to various proposals from the

businessmen regarding budget with open

mind. Rationale recommendations will

be considered with positive mindset," he

added.

Responding to a comment whether the

government has sufficient data to deal

with various things during this COVID-19

pandemic, the Planning Minister said

there is nothing to hide on behalf of the

government.

"We always want to give the right information.

Steps have been taken to

strengthen further the Bangladesh

Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to improve the

qualitative standard of its data." he

16 'Teen gang

members'

held in city

DHAKA : Members of Rapid Action

Battalion (Rab) have detained 16

members of 'Teen gang' from different

parts of Hazaribagh and Darus

Salam areas of the capital, reports

UNB.

All the detainees are members of

two local teen gangs-'Don Group'

and 'Munna Group', said a press

release of the Rab headquarters on

Monday.

They have long been involved in

many criminal activities including

robbery, mugging, drug abuse, eveteasing

and extortion.

The elite force detained 62 members

of eleven infamous 'Teen

gangs' from the city in the past one

month and the drive will continue,

said the release.

Information and

broadcasting

ministry signs

APA with its 13

organisations

DHAKA : The Ministry of

Information and Broadcasting on

Monday signed 'Annual

Performance Agreement' (APA) for

fiscal year 2021-22 with its 13 subordinate

bodies aimed at inspiring

the organizations to perform 'result

oriented' activities.

Information and Broadcasting

Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and

State Minister for Information and

Broadcasting Ministry Dr Md

Murad Hassan, among others, were

present at the APA signing ceremony.


Secretary Md Mokbul Hossain and

heads of Bangladesh Sangbad

Sangstha (BSS), Press Information

Department (PID), Press Institute

of Bangladesh (PIB), Bangladesh

Press Council (BPC), Bangladesh

Film Development Corporation

(BFDC), Bangladesh Film and

Television Institute (BFTI),

Bangladesh Television (BTV),

Bangladesh Betar, National

Institute of Mass Communication

(NIMCO), Bangladesh Film Archive

(BFA), Bangladesh Film Censor

Board (BFSB), Department of Mass

Communication (DMC) and

Department of Films and

Publications (DFP) signed the

agreements on behalf of their

respective sides at the conference

room of the ministry, said an official

release.


Secretary Md Makbul Hossain and

Managing Director and Chief Editor

of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

(BSS) Abul Kalam Azad signed the

APA and exchanged the documents

first. Then heads of PIB, PID, BPC,

BFDC, BFTI, BTV, Bangladesh

Betar, NIMCO, BFA, BFCB, DMC

and DFP signed the agreements.

Road development and repairs cripple

life for Cox's Bazar residents

locals are fishing in a newly constructed canal along the 300-foot road in the capital

Purbachal.

Photo: PBa

COX'S BAZAR : The condition of the

roads in Cox's Bazar city, including

bypasses and alleyways, has been ravaged

with the arrival of the monsoon

season. Potholes are everywhere on the

roads. During the monsoon, these fragile

roads become muddy. The roads are so

dilapidated that you hardly find a spot to

land your feet firmly, let alone drive a

vehicle. The city's residentsare facingextreme

sufferings.

The Cox's Bazar Development

Authority has dug a 3-4 feet trench

where eventually there will be thecompletelyrelaid

main road of Cox's Bazar

municipal town. Movement of passenger

buses and other vehicles on this old 5

km road is barred. No heavy vehicles can

enter this road from outside the city. Due

to the dilapidated condition of the road,

people cannot even walk.

Abul Kashem, a businessman on the

city's Hospital Road, fell 3-feet-deep into

the trench during construction and

broke his leg. He was bedridden for three

months.

He said, "Looking at the condition of

the road, it seems that the city dwellers

have committed a sin so they are suffering

in hell today. I have never seen any

road development work without leaving

a space for pedestrins anywhere on the

road. For example I have seen before

that development work was done on one

side of the road leaving the other side

free for commuting. Now I see the whole

road has been dug."

Meanwhile, Cox's Bazar Municipality

has started construction of new roads

for the last one and half years.

Simultaneously, 29 roads and bypasses

of the city were demolished and drainage

work was started. Construction of all the

drains has not been completed even in a

year and a half. As a result, every road

has remains unpaved. These roads have

become unsuitable for vehicular traffic.

People are not able to move freely. There

is no place to step on any street in the city

during this monsoon.

On June 9, State Minister for Civil

Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali MP at

a workshop at Hotel Shaibal in Cox's

Bazar said such a fragile condition of the

roads in the tourist city could not have

been imagined. "Nowhere else in

Bangladesh is there such a miserable

condition of the road on the way from

the airport. It is necessary to develop the

road quickly so that there is no misconception

among the domestic and foreign

tourists," he lamented.

Cox's Bazar Municipality Executive

Engineer Md. Nurul Alam said Cox's

Bazar Municipality started construction

of 29 roads and bypasses a year and a

half ago. The construction work spanning

32 km over the 29 roads has not

been completed yet. It is being implemented

with World Bank funding under

the Municipal Governance and Services

Project (MGSP) and UGP-3 project of

the Local Government Department. The

cost of this project is estimated at around

Tk. 500 crore.

22-06-2021

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