Prominent persons of the country Wednesday demanded that the massacre perpetrated by the Pakistani forces in Bangladesh in 1971 be declared genocide. They were speaking at a programme at the East West University (EWU). Mofidul Haque, trustee of the Liberation War Museum, Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, director of the Center for Genocide Studies of Dhaka University, Prof MM Shahidul Hassan, vice-chancellor of EWU, and Prof Mohammed Farashuddin, former PS to Bangabandhu and chief advisor of EWU, were present at the programme. Read more: 'Recognising the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971': ICSF welcomes US Congress initiative They said the killings and massacres that took place in Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War were cruel and terrible. "More than 30 lakh people were killed, 5-6 lakh women were mercilessly raped and more than 1 crore people became refugees." "Similar incidents occurred in Bosnia and Rwanda, which were recognised as genocide by the UN. Even though the number of genocidal activities in Bangladesh was higher than those during 1971, the UN is yet to recognise it as genocide," they added. The speakers demanded recognition of genocide from the UN as soon as possible.  

The ritual began with a thunderous roll of leather drums, its clamor echoing through the entire village. Women dressed in colorful saris broke into an Indigenous folk dance, tapping and moving their feet to its galloping rhythm. At the climax, 12 worshippers — proudly practicing a faith not officially recognized by the government — emerged from a mud house and marched toward a sacred grove believed to be the home of the village goddess. Led by the village chieftain Gasia Maranda, they carried religious totems — among them an earthen pitcher, a bow and arrow, winnowing fan and a sacrificial axe. Maranda and others in Guduta, a remote tribal village in India’s eastern Odisha state that rests in a seemingly endless forest landscape, are “Adivasis,” or Indigenous tribespeople, who adhere to Sarna Dharma. It is a belief system that shares common threads with the world’s many ancient nature-worshipping religions. On that day inside the grove, worshippers displayed their reverence for the natural world, making circles around a Sal plant and three sacred stones, one each for the malevolent spirits they believe need pleased. They knelt as Maranda smeared the stones with vermillion paste, bowed to the sacred plant and laid down fresh leaves covered in a cow dung paste. “Our Gods are everywhere. We see more in nature than others,” said Maranda, as he led the men back to their homes. But the government does not legally acknowledge their faith — a fact that is increasingly becoming a rallying point for change for some of the 5 million or so Indigenous tribespeople in the country who follow Sarna Dharma. They say formal recognition would help preserve their culture and history in the wake of the slow erosion of Indigenous tribespeople’s rights in India. Citizens are only allowed to align themselves with one of India’s six officially recognized religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. While they can select the “Others” category, many nature worshippers have felt compelled by the country’s religious affiliation system to associate with one of the six named faiths. Tribal groups have held protests in support of giving Sarna Dharma official religion status in the run-up to the upcoming national census, which has citizens state their religious affiliation. The protests have gained momentum after the recent election of Droupadi Murmu, the first tribal woman to serve as India’s president, raising hopes that her historic win will bring attention to the needs of the country’s Indigenous population, which is about 110 million people as per the national census. They are scattered across various states and fragmented into hundreds of clans, with different legends, languages and words for their gods — many, but not all follow Sarna Dharma. Read: Various religions coexist in harmony in China: diplomat Salkhan Murmu, a former lawmaker and community activist who also adheres to Sarna Dharma, is at the center of the protests pushing for government recognition of his religion. His sit-in demonstrations in several Indian states have drawn crowds of thousands. At a recent protest in Ranchi, the capital of eastern Jharkhand state, men and women sat cross-legged on a highway blocking traffic as Murmu spoke from a nearby stage. Dressed in a traditional cotton tunic and trousers, Murmu explained how anxieties over losing their religious identity and culture are driving the demand for formal recognition. “This is a fight for our identity,” Murmu told the crowd, who held their fists in the air and shouted: “Victory to Sarna Dharma.” Thunderous applause washed over the venue. Murmu is also taking his religion recognition campaign beyond city centers and into remote tribal villages. His message: If Sarna Dharma disappears, one of the country’s last links to its early inhabitants goes with it. It is a convincing argument evidenced by the increasing number of tribal members rallying behind Murmu, who are helping fuel the slow morphing of the campaign into a social movement. “If our religion will not get recognized by the government, I think we will wither away,” said Murmu, as a group of villagers huddled around him in Odisha’s Angarpada village. “The moment we get into any other religion by force, by pressure or by gratification we will lose our entire history, our way of life.” Murmu’s efforts are just the latest push for official recognition. In 2011, a government agency for Indigenous tribespeople asked the federal government to include Sarna Dharma as a separate religion code in that year’s census. In 2020, the Jharkhand state, where tribespeople make up nearly 27% of the population, passed a resolution with a similar objective. The federal government did not respond to either request. One argument for granting Sarna Dharma official recognition is the sheer number of nature worshippers in India, said Karma Oraon, an anthropologist who taught at Ranchi University and has studied the lives of Indigenous tribes for decades. The 2011 national census shows Sarna Dharma adherents in India outnumber Jains, who are officially the country’s sixth largest faith group. Hindus are No. 1, making up nearly 80% of the 1.4 billion people in India. Read: Leaked data shows China's Uighurs detained due to religion More than half — a number close to 4.9 million — of those who selected the “Others” religion option in the 2011 national census further identified as Sarna Dharma adherents. Comparably, India’s Jain population is slightly more than 4.5 million people.   “Our population is more than the recorded believers who follow Jainism. Why can’t then our faith be recognized as a separate religion?” Oraon said. Decades ago, there were more options for Indigenous tribespeople. The census, started in 1871 under British rule, once allowed for the selection of “Animists,” “Aboriginal,” and “Tribes.” The categories were removed in 1951 when the first census in independent India was conducted. Some hope giving Sarna Dharma official status could stem the various existential threats to the faith. The natural environment is integrally linked to worshippers’ identity, but fast-disappearing ancient forests and encroachment by mining companies has led many to leave tribal villages, creating a generational disconnect among followers, Oraon said. Plus, many from younger generations are abandoning their centuries-old religious customs for urban life. “We are going through an identity crisis,” said Oraon. His concerns have heightened after Hindu nationalist groups, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, have sought to bring nature worshippers into the Hindu fold. They are motivated by potential electoral gains but also want to bolster their agenda of transforming a secular India into a distinctly Hindu state. These efforts stem from a long-held belief that India’s Indigenous tribespeople are originally Hindus, but adherents of Sarna Dharma say their faith is different from monotheistic and polytheistic ones. Sarna Dharma has no temples and scriptures. Its adherents don’t believe in heaven or hell and don’t have images of gods and goddesses. Unlike Hinduism, there is no caste system nor rebirth belief. “Tribespeople might share some cultural ties with Hindus, but we have not assimilated into their religion,” said Oraon. The gradual embrace of Hindu and Christian values by some Indigenous tribal groups has exacerbated his concerns. Read: India gets its first tribal President In the late 19th century, many tribespeople in Jharkhand, Odisha and other states renounced nature worship — some voluntarily and others coaxed by money, food and free education — and converted to Christianity. Hindu and Muslim groups also encouraged conversion, further chipping away at nature worshipper numbers. In some cases, the conversions were resisted, said Bandhan Tigga, a religious leader of Sarna Dharma. When Hindu groups showed up, some tribespeople sacrificed cows, a holy animal for Hindus. They also slaughtered pigs, considered unclean in Islam, when Muslim missionaries arrived. “In each case, the women smeared either pig or cow fat on their foreheads so that no Hindu or Muslim man could marry them,” said Tigga, wearing a white and red striped cotton towel around his neck, a design that also makes up for the Sarna Dharma flag fluttering atop his house in Murma, a village in Jharkhand. Most Christian missionaries are met with resistance these days, but conversions can still happen, said Tigga, who travels to remote parts of eastern India to persuade converts to return to their ancient faith. For Sukhram Munda, a man in his late 80s, much is already gone. He is the great-grandson of Birsa Munda, a 19th-century charismatic Indigenous leader who led his forest-bound community in revolt against British colonialists. Munda’s legend grew after his death and bronze statues of him appeared in almost every tribal village in the state. Soon, a man who worshipped nature was worshipped by his own people. But Munda’s religion barely survived the onslaught of conversions in his ancestral Ulihatu village in Jharkhand. Half of his descendants converted to Christianity, Sukhram said. Now, the first thing visitors to Ulihatu see is a church, a large white building that stands out against the green of the surrounding forests. “This used to be the village where we worshipped nature,” said Sukhram. “Now half of the people don’t even remember the religion their ancestors followed.”

Md Asaduzzaman from Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur, who works as a mason, has set up libraries in 16 villages. He also nurtures a dream to create a “library village,” where anyone will be able to study without paying a single taka. On Saturday, he won the Joy Bangla Youth Award in recognition of his dedicated efforts. The Joy Bangla Youth Award has been instituted by the Centre for Research and Information (CRI), a nonprofit organisation, and it has been conferred for the last six years to recognise young changemakers.

For the first time, the Agriculture Ministry gave away its ‘Agriculturally Important Person (AIP)’ awards to 13 individuals at a programme held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium here on Wednesday. Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque handed over the awards as chief guest. The minister said that the AIP award is a great effort to honor the people who are the driving forces behind the agricultural revolution that’s happening in the country. “We want to make agriculture both a commercial and an honorable profession in the coming days. We want that more and more educated people will take part in agriculture. The AIP award will help us reach these goals,” Razzaque said. The government drafted the AIP policy in 2019 to acknowledge the efforts of the farmers, the scientists, and the entrepreneurs and encourage them to continue contributing to the country’s agricultural sector. The AIP award for the year 2020 was handed over today. The AIP-achievers will receive perks enjoyed by the Commercially Important Persons (CIPs’). Read: 3 officials of Labour and Employment Ministry get ‘Integrity Award’ Nurunnahar Begum, an AIP award recipient, said that she had never thought of receiving an award for doing agriculture. “I don’t want anyone to give me money for doing farming. But receiving an award is a different thing altogether. Such recognition makes our hard work count. I wholeheartedly thank the prime minister for such an initiative,” said Nurunnahar. Md Shamsuddin Kalu, another recipient of the award, said that one of his friends who hailed from a reputed family didn’t join him in his fish business fearing the loss of honor. “An uneducated, simple man like me receiving such an award shows that doing agriculture is a dignified profession. This award will inspire other people like me to value agriculture and take it up as a profession,” Kalu said.   The award-giving ceremony was presided over by Agriculture Secretary Md Sayedul Islam. Habibun Nahar, Deputy Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, spoke at the event as special guest while Wahida Akter, Additional Secretary of Agriculture Ministry, gave the welcome speech.

General Secretary of the Chattogram Divisional Sports Association. member of Bangladesh Olympics Association (BOA) and former Director of  Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir achieved an honorary Doctorate Degree from Global Human  Peace University (GHPU) of India on Saturday (June 18).  Founder and Chairman of the GHPU Dr P Manuel handed over the "Doctor of Sports" award to Sirajuddin M Alamgir at a convocation ceremony in Chennai on Saturday.Alamgir, who completed the BA (Hons) and MA Degree from Chittagong University and took BP Ed from National University, now serves as Deputy Director of Physical Education and Sports Science Department of Chittagong University. He also acted as senior vice president of Bangladesh District and Divisional Sports Organizers' Parishad  and senior vice president of the Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association.Meanwhile, BOA Secretary General Syed Shaheed Reza, president of Bangladesh District and Divisional Sports Organisers' Parishad & former Chittagong City Mayor  AJM Nasiruddin and Secretary General of Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association Tarafder M Ruhul Amin congratulated Sirajuddin M Alamgir for his feat

Three Bangladeshi scientists, all of them women, have made it to the list of "best and brightest" 100 Asian scientists for their contribution to research. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh's Dr Firdausi Qadri, Model Livestock Advancement Foundation's Dr Salma Sultana, and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology's Professor Saima Subrina have been included in the sixth edition of the list published by Singapore-based magazine Asian Scientist. Read Legendary Women in Bangladesh with Pioneering Contribution in Diverse Fields Scientists from China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have also secured a place on the prestigious list. Researchers and inventors from across a range of scientific disciplines have been picked based on their role in tackling this year's key challenges, including Covid-19 and climate change, said Asian Scientist. Read 2 Bangladeshi women named in BBC 100 Women 2020 list All three Bangladeshi scientists previously received an international award for their leadership and role in effective discovery. Dr Firdausi, an emeritus scientist at icddr,b, won the L'Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science Award 2020 for her work on understanding and preventing infectious diseases affecting children in developing countries and advocacy for early diagnosis and global vaccination. Read Bangladeshi young medical scientist shines in Japan Dr Salma, the founder of Model Livestock Advancement Foundation, previously won the Norman E Borlaug Award 2020 for field research and application by the World Food Prize Foundation for her work with Bangladeshi small-scale farmers – namely her efforts involving veterinary outreach, treatment, and education.  Professor Samia received the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award 2020 for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World for her research on the properties and uses of nanomaterials. Read Women continue making amazing contributions in STEM fields.

Beijing, July 12 (Xinhua/UNB) -- From a currency that barely registered in the international market to one with worldwide recognition, Chinese yuan's rise on the global stage over the past decade is a testament to China's growing economic clout and unwavering opening up.