bangladesh
Industrial police have a key role to play in development of Bangladesh: BGMEA President
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan has said the next phase of Bangladesh’s development will hugely depend on the steady and strong industrial growth.
To that end, he said, industrial police has a key role to play in maintaining a peaceful atmosphere for industries.
Read: BGMEA sees the future in value-added, high-end apparel items
Since its inception the Industrial Police have been playing a crucial role in maintaining law and order in the country’s industrial hubs, a prerequisite for smooth functioning of industries, said the BGMEA chief.
Faruque Hassan came up with the remarks while speaking at a programme organized by the Industrial Police on the occasion of its 11th founding anniversary at Dhaka Industrial Police-1 office premises at Sreepur in Ashulia on Saturday.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan attended the programme as the chief guest while Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun and State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman were present as special guests.
Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed presided over the programme.
The BGMEA President expressed thanks and gratitude to the Industrial Police for providing its support and cooperation to the RMG industry through maintaining law and order situations and assuring security and a peaceful atmosphere in the garment sector.
Read:BGMEA seeks UN support for smooth, sustainable LDC graduation
He praised the role the Industrial Police has been playing in maintaining harmonious industrial relations between owners and workers of garment factories.
The BGMEA chief also expressed hope that the Industrial Police, a specialized unit of law enforcers, would continue its support to the industries.
4 km long tailback of vehicles at Daulatdia ferry terminal
An excessive pressure of vehicles on Daulatdia –Paturia ferry route created a four kilometres-long traffic jam at the Daulatdia ferry terminal on Sunday.
During a spot visit to the area the UNB reporter found at least 400 vehicles – carrying passengers and goods - waiting to cross in a line that started from zero point of the terminal and stretched to Bangladesh Hatcheries on Dhaka-Khulna highway.
Besides, 300 vehicles were seen stuck at Rajbari-Kushtia regional highway near Ahladipur area in Goaloudo waiting for their turn.
Also read: Paturia ferry accident: Salvage vessel ‘Rustom’ joins rescue operation on day 4
Some drivers said passenger carrying buses have to wait a minimum of five hours while some goods-laden vehicles have been waiting for three days.
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports fall in death, rise in case number
Bangladesh logged six more Covid-linked deaths and another 211 cases of infections in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
The country reported eight deaths caused by the deadly virus and 166 cases on Saturday.
However, the daily-case positivity rate declined to 1.22 per cent from Saturday’s 1.25 per cent.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 17,226 samples, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh numbers, the Covid-19 fatalities reached 27,868 while the caseload climbed to 1,569,539, according to the DGHS.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh registers 8 more deaths, 166 fresh cases
Among the deceased, two were men and four were women.
However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.78 per cent.
Also, the recovery rate increased to 97.70 per cent with the recovery of 276 more patients during the period.
Mass vaccination
Bangladesh on Thursday launched the second phase of its special nationwide mass vaccination drive, aiming to vaccinate 80 lakh people with the second shot in a day.
The 9am-3pm vaccination drive was part of the special campaign that was first unveiled on September 27 to mark Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday.
On September 28, the first phase of the special nationwide mass vaccination drive was launched.
However, that target to inoculate 80 lakh people was not met in a single day. Across eight divisions, 66,25,123 people were vaccinated, "which is a record number of jabs inoculated in Bangladesh in a single day", the DGHS said.
Besides, 80,93,236 people were vaccinated with the first dose under this campaign, which spilled over to September 29.
Bangladesh on August 7 kicked off its mass vaccination drive to inoculate some 35 lakh people in six days.
Also read: Bangladesh reports 6 more Covid deaths, 294 fresh cases
Vaccinating school students
A new campaign to vaccinate school students, aged 12-17, against Covid-19 will kick off at 12 centers in Dhaka on November 1.
Some 40,000 students will be vaccinated every day under the campaign, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque while talking to reporters after the cabinet meeting on Thursday.
No doubt govt behind communal violence: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that there is no doubt that the government incited the recent communal violence to make political gains.
“Let there be no doubt the government carried out the communal incidents through its agents. Awami League tried to make political gains with it,” he said.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion, the BNP leader also said there was surely a political motive behind the communal violence centring Durga Puja. “Those who have been illegally staying in power by force did it to perpetuate their power and win the game in the name of the next election.”
Nari O Shishu Odhikar Forum, a platform of BNP, arranged the programme on communal violence at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU).
Read: Now ‘extreme anarchy’ everywhere: Fakhrul
Fakhrul said their party’s two committees formed over the communal attacks visited the violence-hit areas and carried out an investigation into the incidents. “We’ve no doubt that the government is solely responsible for the violence.”
He also said the government carried out communal incidents to shift the blame on BNP and thus divert people’s attention to a different direction from the ongoing movement on different issues.
The BNP leader said a ‘mentally imbalanced’ man was used in a planned way to keep the holy Quran at a puja mandap in Cumilla and then Muslims were provoked to indulge in violence by circulating that Islam was attacked and ruined. “Police also opened fire in Hajiganj of Chandpur. So, it’s clear that the government incited the violence.”
He said two Chhatra League leaders--Saikat Mandal and Md Robiul Islam--led the arson attacks on Hindu houses in Rangpur in the presence of police.
Fakhrul said the leaders of Awami League and its associate bodies were involved in all communal incidents under the rule of the current government. “But none was punished and brought under trial. They (AL) want to use communal incidents as their weapons to resist and suppress those who have been in a movement to restore democracy and people’s voting rights.”
He said the country has been facing political instability and violence since 2012 as the government annulled the caretaker government system to cement its power.
“We would like to clearly say that no election can be held in a fair and credible manner under Awami League. Lack of democracy is the main cause behind all the problems in Bangladesh. We must restore democracy. Or else, we won’t get rid of the crisis,” the BNP leader said.
Read:Govt out to clear election field: Fakhrul
He said the country’s majority of people now want a change in power. “But the youths should come forward first to bring that change. The political parties must play their role, but the youths will have to work as the vanguard of the political forces.”
He said those who are destroying communal harmony in Bangladesh are working very cleverly to obliterate democracy and keep a party in power permanently. “So, we must have a goal to establish a pro-people government through a credible and acceptable election.”
Stating that their party has been on a movement to restore democracy, he said they are confident about the success as the people of this country never got defeated in the past.
“We believe we’ll be able to reach our target of building a democratic society and state through our movement and struggle by uniting people. We’ll surely turn victorious,” he added.
Steps taken for smooth transition into new economic environment: Munshi
The government has taken proactive steps to prepare the country for the graduation from LDC and smooth transition into a new economic environment, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Sunday.
He said Bangladesh has made impressive socio-economic progress and urged all to overcome the upcoming trade-related challenges meeting the demand for skilled trade professionals.
Tipu Munshi came with the remarks while addressing an MoU signing ceremony between Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institution (BFTI) and BRAC University for Conducting Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) on International Trade in the capital.
Also read: Bangladesh needs concerted efforts to avail new GSP plus in EU: Tipu Munshi
The minister said he believes that collaboration between BFTI and BRAC University would ensure quality education and contribute to building skilled manpower in the area of international trade and business in Bangladesh.
Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh hoped that BFTI would play its role as a centre of excellence on trade and commerce.
He said the proposed BFTI’s Postgraduate diploma (PGD) will provide trade professionals with practical efficiency of international trade and business.
Also read: Economy faces challeges of revenue shortfall and defaulting bank loans: Document
Dr Md Jafar Uddin, former commerce secretary and now CEO of BFTI, Dr Vincent Chang, Vice-Chancellor, BRAC University, Tamara Hasan Abed, Chairperson, Board of Trustees of the university, AHM Ahsan, Vice-Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau, additional secretaries of commerce ministry Maleka Khairunnesa (Admin Wing), Md Hafizur Rahman, (Export Wing), Md Hafizur Rahman (WTO Cell), Md Monsur Alam, (Administration Wing), Bablu Kumar Saha, Director General of Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection, Sheikh Shoebul Alam, Registrar of Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms and Brigadier General Md Ariful Hassan, Chairman, TCB, among others, joined the event.
Dengue: 146 more hospitalised in 24 hours
Bangladesh reported hospitalisation of 146 new patients with dengue fever in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With no fresh death reported, the number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease this year remained at 91, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Dengue claims 2 more lives, 152 more hospitalized
Of them 84 people died in Dhaka division alone, two each in Chattogram and Khulna divisions and one each in Rajshahi, Barishal and Mymensingh divisions.
Among the new patients, 104 were undergoing treatment at hospitals in Dhaka while the remaining 42 cases were reported from outside the division.
Some 762 patients diagnosed with dengue are receiving treatment in the country as of Sunday.
Of them, 611 patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals in the capital while the remaining 151 were listed outside Dhaka.
Read: Dengue: 1 more dies, 184 patients hospitalized
Since January, some 23,655 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue in the country. So far, 22,802 dengue patients have left hospitals after recovery, said DGHS.
In September, the country recorded the highest number of 7,841 dengue cases of the current year with 22 deaths.
Woman beaten to death in city over land dispute
A 50-year-old woman was beaten to death and a man was injured over a land dispute in Boro Berait area of North Badda on Sunday, her family said.
The deceased was identified as Rubina Begum, wife of Sharif Hossain of the city's North Badda.
Read: Man beaten to death in Laxmipur
Rubina’s son said Sahibul, his two sons Badshah and Faisal along with few others beat Rubina Begum with a rod when she resisted them from occupying her land in Boro Berait area, leaving her seriously injured.
Later, she was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in a critical condition where the doctor declared her dead on arrival.
Md. Bachchu Mia, police inspector of DMCH police camp said the body has been kept in the DMCH morgue for an autopsy.
Hasina, Patrick seek greater funding for CVF countries for climate prosperity
Greater ambition from the world is needed to fend off the climate crisis and greater funding for CVF countries will enable them to move from climate vulnerability to climate prosperity, read a new article published by global news magazine Newsweek.
"That will be good for the 48 countries in greatest peril right now, but also for all those facing increasing threats. It is quite simply the right thing to do," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, wrote jointly with CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation Patrick Verkooijen.
In their joint opinion piece titled "More Funding is Critical for the Most Vulnerable to Survive Climate Change" they mentioned that though climate emergency is global, yet it does not affect everyone equally.
"For the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)—a group of 48 countries spanning four continents—climate change is quite simply an existential threat. This is not hyperbole," according to the article published in Newsweek, a global news magazine.
Small island states such as Vanuatu, the Maldives and the Marshall Islands are being engulfed by rising sea levels.
The vast and low-lying Delta region of Bangladesh, food basket for more than 160 million people, is being poisoned by saltwater infiltration and may soon become infertile wasteland, the article said.
Extreme temperatures and severe droughts threaten to make large swathes of the Middle East, which is warming at twice the global average, uninhabitable.
For the countries that make up the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), action on climate change, already urgent, simply cannot be delayed any longer.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), between $6 trillion and $10 trillion needs to be invested over the next decade to green our economies, read the article.
Read:PM Hasina off to Europe to join COP26, other events
Yet most CVF members are least developed, low or at best middle-income developing nations.
They need support through both funding and expertise to help devise adaptation strategies to counter the effects of climate change, which scientists warn are already locked in for centuries.
CVF Call
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the CVF will ask greater ambition to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit on warming, a matter of survival for many of the most vulnerable nations.
"We are also spotlighting the need to be more ambitious on adaptation because we are already living inside the eye of the storm that is the global climate emergency," the article read.
And because of that, vulnerable nations are asking major emitting countries to join annual platforms at every U.N. climate conference to constantly raise ambition.
But for the poorer nations, funding is essential to realize ambitious goals.
"That is why developing nations have been so concerned that the climate finance promises at the U.N. of $100 billion in annual funding to developing countries is not being met," Hasina and her co-writer mentioned.
They are calling for the two pillars of annual ambition raising and a delivery plan on the $100 billion a "Climate Emergency Pact," which we hope to see in the outcome of COP26.
First, they will ask that rich countries finally make good on their pledge before the landmark 2015 Paris agreement to provide $100 billion a year to fund carbon emissions reduction and climate-adaptation projects in the developing world.
Because climate-vulnerable countries are already living with the devastating effects of our warming planet, at least half of this funding—$50 billion a year—must be earmarked for adaptation.
"We can then work on ways to transform these billions into the trillions needed to allow countries to move from climate vulnerability to climate prosperity," the article reads.
"We know this is possible because investing in climate adaptation delivers great value for money," according to the article.
According to figures from the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), investing $1.8 trillion in five key areas of early-warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, improved dry land agriculture, mangrove protection and increasing water resilience by 2030 could reap $7.1 trillion in benefits.
And studies show that the benefits of adaptation almost always return more than double what they cost, and often more than five times as much.
"Second, and with these returns in mind, we will ask that the private sector steps up with discounted and targeted funding."
Pension funds, with their $35 trillion in assets under management, and other banks and institutions that are custodians of the savings of millions of people, must look to direct their investments toward climate-change resilience.
"As part of this, we will encourage financial institutions to offer innovative instruments such as resilience bonds, lending made for specific resilience projects at below market rates, or debt-for-climate swaps where repayments are redirected from creditors toward domestic climate-change projects. Look to the Seychelles, for example, which has swapped some of its national debt (held by the Nature Conservancy) in return for creating the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust," the article reads.
Third, also at COP26, vulnerable nations are asking that the agreed revenues from carbon exchange schemes under the Paris agreement are channeled at the level of at least a 5 per cent levy on transactions to countries suffering the worst consequences of climate change.
They are often the ones who have done least to cause it.
The monies raised from carbon abatement schemes could be substantial—and so make a substantial difference.
Read: PM’s France visit to elevate Dhaka-Paris ties: FM
Research suggests that the IMF recommended benchmark of a global $75-per-ton carbon tax is equivalent to $0.17 a litre extra at fuel pumps, which would generate $40 billion additional tax revenues annually across Africa alone.
Finally, they will ask that pandemic recovery resources be used with climate adaptation in mind, including some of the $650 billion of newly allocated IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
These unprecedented resources should be channeled toward resilient infrastructure—roads and bridges that can withstand flooding, for example—and increased food and water security. Options are already being explored to channel SDRs from wealthier to poorer and more vulnerable member countries to climate-proof their economic recovery.
A new Resilience and Sustainability Trust being considered for this purpose would be a very good start.
Bangladesh, for example, is already sharing best practices and adaptation knowledge with other climate-vulnerable countries through the GCA's regional office in Dhaka, the article read.
This includes its experience of adopting the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan, which aims to ensure funds are used to promote green growth as well as that the country's investment focus is on resilient infrastructure and renewable energy as well as the Climate Change Trust Fund which undertakes mitigation and adaptation programs to offset climate-induced impacts.
Bangladesh spends, on average, 2.5 per cent of its GDP or $5 billion each year on climate adaptation and resilience-building.
Nearly 800 adaptation and resilience projects have been implemented across the country, including 12,000 cyclone shelters and 200,000 hectares of coastal green belts at a cost of $450 million.
"To make the most of this co-operation, we also need more adaptation initiatives," reads the article.
The newly created Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C), for example, was founded to help equip farmers on the frontline of climate change with new climate-smart solutions and tools.
With its three objectives of increasing investment in agriculture innovation, enabling co-ordination and collaboration and increasing co-operation, AIM4C is in a position not only to enhance existing efforts but also encourage their expansion.
The response by governments around the world to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown what is possible when we face imminent peril.
"We must harness this same drive in our response to existential climate threats," read the article.
HC turns down writ seeking enactment of law for EC formation
The High Court on Sunday rejected a writ petition seeking its directive to enact a law for the formation of the Election Commission as per Article 118 (1) of the Constitution. A bench of Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah turned down the petition. Advocate Md Yarul Islam appeared for the writ petitioner while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state.
Read: HC orders judicial probe into attacks on Hindus in 6 districts On October 13, the writ petition was filed with the High Court seeking its directive to enact a law for the formation of the Election Commission as per Article 118 (1) of the Constitution. The writ petition sought the suspension of all activities related to the formation of the Election Commission till the enactment of the law. The writ petition was filed by Advocate Md Yarul Islam, a lawyer of the Supreme Court and secretary general of Bangladesh Congress, a registered political party. The Law Secretary and the Chief Election Commissioner were made respondents to the writ. Advocate Md Yarul Islam said, "It’s possible to formulate a law to form the EC within a week if the government wants. Part VII of the Constitution states what would be the law for the formation of the Election Commission.”
Read:HC summons ACC assistant director over allegation of bribery On October 7, Law Minister Advocate Anisul Huq said the Election Commission will be constituted through a search committee. “It won’t be possible right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic as the tenure of the current EC will expire in February next,” he added.
Govt to procure 9.5 lakh mts foodgrains this fiscal year: Minister
The government will procure a total of 9.5 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains from the farmers across the country in the current fiscal year, according to a decision on Sunday.
Under the programme, three lakh metric tonnes of paddy, five lakh metric tonnes of boiled rice and 1.5 lakh metric tons of wheat will be procured.
The decision was taken at an online meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) chaired by Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Sunday.
Read:Food grain storage capacity to be increased to 35 lakh mts by 2030: Food Minister
The government has fixed the paddy procurement price at Tk 27 per kg, boiled rice at Tk 40 per kg and wheat at Tk 28 per kg, said Sadhan Chandra.
The paddy procurement drive will begin on November 7 while the wheat procurement drive on April 1 in 2022, he said.
In order to ensure fair prices to the farmers and increase food stock, the government procures paddy and rice every year during the Boro season but only rice is collected during the Aman season.