7 | DYNAMIC MEETS DASHING

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Boishakh 21, 1421Rajab 4, 1435Regd. No. DA 6238Vol 2, No 34

News4 The government has suddenly got a move on with the proposed Bureau of Counter Terrorism, which was supposed to be formed � ve years ago.

5 Grameenphone, the leading mobile phone operator in the country, has started a process to recycle or resell the unused numbers which do not have any activity since last one year from the expiration of last recharge.

Nation6 Boro paddy output has gone up by 12.69% com-pared to its target across the

country this season, which agriculture o� cials attribute to increased use of agriculture technology and congenial weather.

World9 As club sandwiches go, this undoubtedly is the biggest one in the solar system.

Op-Ed11 As the Rana plaza tragedy completed one year on April 24, Md Atiqul Islam, President of BGMEA and his colleagues are still seen on television talk shows explaining what measures they have taken so far to ensure workplace safety in the apparel sector.

INSIDE

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

8 | DOZENS KILLED IN UKRAINE RIOT AND FIREB1 | ACCORD & ALLIANCE ACTIONS 13 | WALSON STRIKE SEALS BROTHERS WIN

10 dead, over 30 missing in launch capsizen Tribune Report

At least ten people died and over 30 went missing as a passenger launch capsized in Ramnabad river in Gola-chipa of Patuakhali yester-day afternoon after being caught in storm.

Only 13 passengers of the Potuakhali-bound MV Sathil managed to swim ashore while the rest re-mained missing, the Dhaka Tribune Barisal correspond-ent reports.

Deputy Commissioner of Patuakhali Amitav Sarkar told the Dhaka Tribune over phone seven bodies were

recovered till 8:30pm. The Dhaka Tribune Cor-

respondent, however, said the death toll was eight till 7pm.

Of the ten, six have been identi� ed as Rishat, 5, Lut-fa, 50, Runia, 20, Monwara, 50, Esahaq, 6, and Nebu Be-gum, 35.

The identities of the rest two could not be known im-mediately

Amitav Sarkar said at 8:30pm rescue vessel and � remen started from Barisal and they would start rescue operation soon.

He, however, failed to PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Police blamed for reacting late10 held over Nazrul abduction, murder; hartal tomorrow in Narayanganjn Ashif Islam Shaon with our

Narayanganj correspondent

Six days after the abduction of Narayanganj city panel mayor Nazrul Islam, 10 people were arrested yes-terday, but main accused Nur Hossain remained untraced, amid allegations that he could be arrested and Nazrul rescued alive if the raid was conducted immediately after the incident.

In a four-hour long drive, law enforc-ers raided in Narayanganj the Shiddhir-ganj home of Nur Hossain, vice-presi-dent of a local unit of the ruling Awami League, and also seized a microbus and some wooden sticks.

Nazrul’s wife Selina Islam slammed the raid saying it was nothing but an “eyewash.”

She told the Dhaka Tribune over phone: “If law enforcers had conduct-ed the raid immediately after the ab-duction, he [Nazrul] could have been rescued alive... We informed police

right after the abduction. But they did not arrest Nur Hossain. Even on Tues-day [two days after the abduction], local people saw him [Nur] roaming around in the city.”

However, Nur Mohammad, a neph-ew of Nur Hossain, claimed that the ac-cused’s family members had gone into hiding right after the abduction case was � led.

The raid began at Nur Hossain’s Tekpara house around 11am yester-day. Before that, police kept the house cordoned o� for around half an hour. Journalists were not allowed in the area until 2pm.

Refusing to disclose the names of the detainees, Md Zakaria, additional superintendent of Narayanganj police, said they would be interrogated.

Additional DIG Khondokar Golam Faruque said they had also recovered a shirt with some spots. “After forensic test we will be able to con� rm whether they are bloodstained,” he said.

Later at a press brie� ng, police o� -cials said they had called up forensic experts from the Criminal Investiga-tion Department (CID) to inspect the microbus.

However, seeking anonymity, a source in the police told the Dhaka Triune last night that Nur Hossain’s body guard, house security and some domestic helps were among the detainees.

On April 28, a day after the abduction of Nazrul, his wife Selina � led a case against Nur Hossain, another local ruling party leader Hazi Yasin and four others.

The bodies of Nazrul, lawyer Chan-

dan Sarkar and � ve others were found � oating in the Shitalakkhya River on Wednesday and Thursday. They were abducted in broad daylight in Narayan-ganj on Sunday.

When asked why the raid was not conducted before, Narayanganj police chief (SP) Khandokar Muhid Uddin said: “We did not conduct the raid be-fore because we were not sure if the accused was there or not.”

He also snubbed out suspicions that the perpetrators might have � ed the country.

Earlier yesterday, Narayanganj Dis-trict Lawyers’ Association formed a hu-man chain and held a rally in front of the local Press Club in support of their tomorrow’s hartal called to protest the murder of Chandan and Nazrul.

Meanwhile, 22 councillors of the Narayanganj City Corporation have an-nounced 48 hours of work abstention demanding the arrest of Nazrul’s mur-derers. l

Wife: Nazrul sensed danger 2 months backn Ashif Islam Shaon with our

Narayanganj correspondent

Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam had been in fear for his life over the last two months. He shared his feelings with his family members and relatives, saying that lo-cal Awami League leader Nur Hossain, the prime suspect for abduction of sev-en people and killing them, could be a threat.

Followers of local AL leader Nazrul had informed him that Nur Hossain had been hatching a plot to kill him. As both Nazrul and Nur Hossain belong to the same party, Nazrul wanted the par-ty men to mediate between them, but his attempt failed.

Fearing that he could be attacked or killed by his rivals, Nazrul had started living in the capital instead of Siddhir-ganj in Narayanganj, said his wife Seli-na Islam. After the abduction, she on Monday � led an abduction case against Nur Hossain, councillor of ward-4

and also vice-president of Siddhirganjthana AL.

The bodies of Nazrul Islam, senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and � ve others were found � oating in the Shitalakkhya River on Wednesday and Thursday af-ter they were kidnapped in broad day-light in Narayanganj on April 27.

Selina yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that she had � led case against six named and six unnamed persons considering death threat they issued to Nazrul. She claimed that a feud be-tween Nazrul and Nur Hossain had recently intensi� ed centring the con-struction of a road.

The accused named in the case are Nur Hossain and his close aides Haji Ya-sin Miah, general secretary of Siddhir-ganj thana AL, Nazrul’s relative Hasmat Ali Hasu, also a BNP activist, Aminul Islam Raju, Swechchhasebak League leader, Anwar Hossain, general secre-tary of Sramik Dal and Iqbal Hossain, a realtor.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

‘We did not conductthe raid before because we were not sure ifthe accused wasthere or not’

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

Workers of Supreme Smart Knit Wear in Adamjee EPZ of Narayanganj fell sick after they drank poisonous water FOCUS BANGLA

With the scorching heat sweeping over the country acute water crisis has added to the woes of people, especially living in cities. The photo was taken yesterday from the Old Dhaka RAJIB

Wife: Nazrul sensed danger 2 months back PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Of them, Yasin went into hiding soon af-ter � ve of the abductees were found dead. Locals set � re to his petrol pump later.

Selina said the killers’ main target was Nazrul. The rest were killed as they witnessed the abduction, she said, add-ing that the lawyer and his driver had no connection with the incident at all.

“Professional people mastermind-ed the plan and executed it. I strongly suspect that Nur Hossain Hossain hired them,” she claimed.

Feud between Nazrul and Nur HossainNur Hossain was elected chairman of Siddhirganj union parishad in 1992 with BNP ticket. He was controlling the crim-

inal world here during the BNP regime. In the 1997 UP election, he defeat-

ed Nazrul, acting general secretary of Narayanganj district BCL, backed by in� uential AL leader Shamim Osman. But, Nazrul took control over crime and extortion world during the AL regime from 1996-2001. He became a member of central Jubo League.

The feud between them started dur-ing the election in 1997. Nazrul wanted to kill Nur Hossain several times. Nur Hossain was once shot in 1998, but es-caped death.

After the election, Nur Hossain joined the AL and became vice-president of Sid-dhirganj Thana AL. Nazrul was elected councillor of ward-2 in the 2011 city cor-

poration election. The latest feud over the construction of a road resulted in the murder.

Feud with five other accused Nazrul was trying to capture the post of general secretary of Siddhirganj thana AL. Yasin, the incumbent secretary, did not want him to be the secretary which triggered a feud. Iqbal was an opponent of Nazrul in the city corporation polls.

Selina said Iqbal submitted papers of cases, where Nazrul was accused, to the election commission before the polls to cancel his candidature. The commission scrapped Nazrul’s candi-dature over the documents. Hasu, Raju and Anwar helped Iqbal collect the case

documents which accelerated the feud.As per an appeal made by Nazrul, the

commission allowed him to contest the polls and � nally, he won the election.

Latest feud over road constructionNazrul was supervising the construc-tion work of a road from Mouchak to Mijmiji area. To make the road wider, the contractor needed to remove a rice go-down, owned by one Mobarak Hos-sain, at Chowdhurypara. Nazrul talked with Mobarak to remove a portion of the go-down to make way for the road. But Mobarak contacted Nur Hossain, also brother-in-law of Mobarak, to look after the issue.

On February 19, Nur Hossain and

Nazrul arranged an arbitration to re-solve the problem where both of them locked in heated debate.

Over the issue, Nur Hossain’s men vandalised at least 20 shops at Chow-dhurypara. Nazrul and his associates left the area. Mobarak � led a false case accusing 16 men, including Nazrul. On April 27, he went to appear before a court from where he was abducted.

Nazrul had sought help of local po-litical leaders two months back to solve the case, but he failed. He sensed that something wrong was going to happen.

“So, he along with more than 50 fol-lowers went to the court. But, he could not escape abduction,” said Selina over phone. l

8 dead, over 30 missing in launch capsize PAGE 1 COLUMN 2con� rm how many passengers were on board, but said it might be over 40.

Over 50 people went missing after the launch MV Sathil caught in storm capsized in Ramnabad river in the mid-dle of Sikdarbari point 3 between Es-hadi and Kalagachhia launch stations while it was heading to Patuakhali from Golachipa.

Till � ling the report, the masses and local administration were trying to res-cue passengers. l

BARISAL 5 BY-POLL

AL to select party candidate May 8n Tribune Report

The ruling Awami League will � nalise its party candidate on May 8 for the Ba-risal 5 by-election through interview of the aspirants.

The party will sell nomination pa-pers from today until Tuesday, said a press release adding that the forms would cost Tk25,000.

The decisions were made yester-day at parliamentary body meeting at Ganabhaban with party President Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Senior lead-ers of the party Amir Hossain Amu, To-fail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Quader and Dr Alauddin Ahmed were present among others.

The by-poll is set to be held on June 12. The seat was vacated after the death of Awami League lawmaker Shawkat Hossain Hiron.

According the Election Commission schedule, the last dated of � ling nomi-nation paper is May 11. l

Marine Safety Week beginsn UNB

Marine Safety Week 2014 began yester-day aiming at raising awareness about people’s security in water vessels and on water routes.

The week will be observed through various programmes across the coun-try, including rallies and awareness ac-tivities on safe shipping.

The president and the prime minis-ter issued separate messages wishing success of the event this year.

In his message, President Abdul Ha-mid said it was of higher importance for the country as most of the internal and the international trades rely on riv-er and sea routes. He also called upon all concerned to abide by the laws to ensure marine safety.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the government had taken various measures to reduce accidents in water routes that include increasing the se-curity of river ports, modernising train-ings of marine o� cers and navigators, and building mass awareness about marine safety.

The premier hoped that all relevant institutions and agencies would be more active in ensuring environment-friend-ly and safe travel in river routes. l

DMP launched ‘Anti-Kidnapping Squad’n Kailash Sarkar

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has launched a 40-member specialised new unit named ‘Anti Kidnapping Squad’ to � ght against the increasing number of abductions.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, also the spokesperson to the DMP, made the disclosure at a press brie� ng on Saturday afternoon at DMP Media Centre in the capital.

Monirul said: “The newly launched Anti-Kidnapping Squad is tasked with the prevention of abduction, to arrest the criminals involved in the abduction and also to keep eyes on the movement of the accused after their bails.”

The DMP spokesman also said that hotline with four separate phone num-bers will remain on service for 24 hours in a day for contacts.

The numbers are—01713398327, 01713398619, 01713373214 and 01713373216.

“ Anyone able to provide informa-tion regarding abduction and abduc-tors, their secrecy will be maintained,” he said.

The additional deputy commission-er will lead the squad comprising of 40 personnel, he informed.

At the brie� ng, Monirul Islam said since the recent incidents of abduction in Narayanganj and elsewhere have created concern to people. “The squad has been formed to stop the repetition of such incidents.”

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanwar Hossain has been made the chief of the newly launched unit and two assistant commissioners—Jahang-ir Hossain and Nazmul—would assist him. l

Body to protect fundamental rights likely n Rabiul Islam

Members of the Committee for Protec-tion of Fundamental Rights likely to be � oated soon failed to hold a human chain in front of the Jatiya Sangsad yes-terday in the face of police protest.

The programme aimed at protesting abduction, forced disappearance and killing that were on the rise.

The members alleged that police of Sher-e-Bangla police station opposed them to hold the human chain and took away mike.

Contacted, O� cer-in-Charge of Ab-dul Momen of the police station did not talk and disconnected the call.

“We wanted to hold a human chain to protest abduction, forced disappear-ance and killing, but police opposed us and our mike and banners were taken away,” said one of the organisers Prof CR Abrar of Dhaka University. “Despite the opposition of police, we stood up to hold our programme,” he added.

Abrar said, “We have been working for about two months to � oat the com-

mittee to work for freedom of expression and freedom of assembly as these two fundamental rights are being violated.”

Eminent lawyer Shadeen Malik and lawyer ZI Khan Panna, among others, are also working for the committee which would be formed soon, he added.

“We have now focused on the incident of abduction as it is on the rise, he said, adding that we write to DMP for permis-sion, but we do not get any answer.”

“While we were holding the pro-gramme, police said the DMP order would be violated, but they did not show which law does not allow such programme,” Abrar said.

“We would write to the DMP to al-low us to hold the Human Chain on the same venue and if we are not answered within 24 hours, we would hold the programme at any cost,” he added.

Executive Director of Ain O Shalish Kendra Sultana Kamal, former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Chowdhury and Shadeen Malik, among others, attended the human chain pro-gramme. l

One RMG worker dies, 300 fall sickn UNB

At least one garment worker died and some 300 others fell sick yesterday after drinking contaminated water at Supreme Knitwear factory in Adamjee EPZ area in Narayanganj.

The deceased, Dalia, 20, was a knit-ting operator at the factory.

Sources said Dalia fell sick after drinking water in the factory around 9am. She was rushed to Khanpur 300-bed Hospital where doctors declared her dead.

Around 300 garment workers also fell sick as they allegedly drank water from the same supply in the factory. The sick workers were hospitalised.

Masud Khan, acting police superin-tendent of Narayanganj Industrial Po-lice 4, said the workers fell sick because of panic after they had heard the news of Dalia’s death.

An o� cial at the EPZ said they collect-ed samples from the water tank of the factory building for laboratory tests. l

47 RU Shibir men suedn UNB

Two cases have been � led against 47 leaders and activists of Islami Chha-tra Shibir of Rajshahi University unit in connection with Tuesday’s attack on two leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on the campus.

RU unit Shibir president Ashraful Alam Imon is among the accused.

RU unit BCL vice-president Atiqur Rahman � led the two cases, one for attempting murder and another under the Explosive Substance Act, against 32 identi� ed and 15 unidenti� ed Shibir men with Motihar police station yes-

terday evening, said Alamgir Hossain, o� cer-in-charge of the police station.

On April 29, the left leg of Togor M Salehi, student a� airs secretary of RU unit of BCL, was chopped o� by miscre-ants on the university campus.

The attackers also cut o� the ten-dons of the hands and legs of RU BCL activist Abdullah Al Masud during the attack.

Witnesses said miscreants attacked Togor and Masud came under when they were on their way to classes in a rickshaw from their dormitory in that morning and � ed the scene exploding two crude bombs. l

FM: BD, India must invest for each other’s futuresn UNB

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yes-terday said Bangladesh and India must invest for each other’s futures and work together to make the best use of India’s northeast’s potential ensuring a win-win situation.

“The destinies of our two people are inextricably linked. This is even more relevant for the northeast. We must in-vest for each other’s futures,” he told a function in the city.

Bangladesh Itihash Sammilani ar-ranged the two-day conference titled “1971 and North-Eastern Indian States: Historicising and Contemporising Re-lationship” at the Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad auditorium of Bangla Academy.

Prof Mesbah Kamal and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, Pankaj Saran, also spoke at the inaugural session of the conference, with noted education-ist and prominent writer Prof Muntasir-Mamun in the chair.

Speaking as the chief guest, the foreign minister said Bangladesh needs to com-plement India’s endeavour to develop its northeastern states for its own interest.

“Development of the northeast has an important security dimension which we should not lose the sight of. It will ultimately be a win-win situation,” said Mahmood.

Given the abundance of natural re-sources in India’s northeast, he said its huge economic potentials remains untapped. “Due to our geographical contiguity, we are in the best position to do so.”

The foreign minister said natural resources and raw materials of India’s northeast could be imported to Bangla-desh for value addition and re-export-ed to India or elsewhere.

“This is taking place but needs to be done on a much larger scale. The busi-ness communities of both the countries could think about more investment in the region in di� erent potential sec-tors,” he said.

On connectivity, the foreign minis-ter said India’s northeast comes as an important link of connectivity as part of Bangladesh’s plan to establish it as a bridge between South Asia and South-East Asia and beyond.

“We are working on establishing links with the northeast through reviv-ing old rail links, opening up new land customs stations, land ports, immigra-tion points, or reviving old ones, re-vamping trade infrastructures, looking at new road connectivity or reviving old ones,” he said.

Mahmood Ali hoped that there would be direct air link between Dhaka and Guwahati soon. “We have request-ed the government of India to allow us to open a Deputy High Commission in Guwahati and upgrade our Agartala visa o� ce to an Assistant High Com-mission to increase our diplomatic and commercial presence in the northeast.”

The foreign minister also said work was on by both sides to preserve the graves of the valiant freedom � ghters of Bangla-desh sparsed along the border of Bangla-desh and northeast India or to bring back their mortal remains to Bangladesh. l

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

Evidence of abduction in Narayanganj found Asaduzzaman: Abductors to be arrested within few days n Rabiul Islam

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said evidences against the perpetrators of the recent abduc-tion of seven people in Narayanganj has been found and would enable law en-forcers to arrest them within a few days.

“We have found evidences and hope that the abductors would be ar-rested within a few days,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

On April 27, seven people, including city councilor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, were abducted and two days later, their bodies were recovered from the Sitalakhya River.

On April 28, Nazrul’s wife Selina Is-lam � led a case with the Shiddirganj police station accusing Shiddirganj Awami League Vice President Nur Hos-sain over the abduction.

Asked about the home minis-try activities regarding abduction in Narayanganj and other parts in the country, Asaduzzaman said: “We have taken a lot of steps after the incident”.

“Airports and Border Guard Bangla-desh (BGB) have been asked to remain alert so that the criminals cannot slip out of the country,” the state minister said, adding that check posts have been set up and BGB has been deployed and are patrolling the areas.

Saying the abductors were profes-sional criminals, Asaduzzaman also said that it takes time to nab these criminals as they go into hiding after the incident.

“We have already arrested the sus-pects and now we would be able to ar-rest the criminals,” the state minister said.

Meanwhile, law enforcers have detained 10 persons, seized a blood-stained vehicle and a mobile phone in connection to the abductions and kill-ings in Narayanganj, our Narayanganj Correspondent reported.

A police team, led by the Narayan-ganj Police Superintendent Khandakar Mahid Uddin, raided the house of Nur Hossain, an Awami League-backed ward councilor, around 11am.

“The mobile phone belonged to law-yer Chandan Sarkar. A stained shirt has been found. We will see if the stains are of human blood,” Police Additional Deputy Inspector General Khandakar Golam Faruq told a press conference yesterday regarding the raid.

“We also seized a bloodstained mi-crobus from the house of Nur Hossain. We will also probe Nur Hossain’s pass-port,” he added.

He urged all to give him some time to restore a proper environment in Narayanganj. l

BNP holds mass fasting today n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The BNP will hold a mass fasting pro-gramme today protesting what it said were rampant killing, abduction and forced disappearance.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will join the programme to be centrally held at the National Press Club in the capital. Local units of the party at the grassroots levels will also observe the programme.

It will start at 9am and continue till 5pm across the country, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, told journalists at a press brief-ing at the Nayapaltan o� ce yesterday.

The BNP claims that at least 310 of its leaders and activists have been ei-ther killed or abducted in the country in the last one year.

“Various [security] forces of the illegitimate government have been

involved in the killing, abduction and force disappearance,” Rizvi said.

In July 2011, the BNP held a similar mass fasting in the capital protesting against “police attack” on the then op-position chief whip; arrest and torture of party members and annulment of the caretaker government system.

In June 2009, BNP observed a six-hour mass hunger strike in the capital. Khaleda Zia led that protest. l

Two friends allegedly abducted in Chittagongn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The families of two teenage boys, who went missing on their way to work in Chittagong city on Thursday, have claimed that the two friends were ab-ducted for ransom.

The missing teenagers, Rabbi, 17, and Hossain, 18, left their homes at Bayezid area on Thursday morning to join their new jobs at a juice factory in Agrabad, family members said.

Rabbi’s father, Mohammad Babul, a resident of Rasel Colony, told the Dha-ka Tribune that his son left the house after getting a call from Hossain around 11:30am on Thursday, which was a pub-lic holiday. Neither boy returned home that night.

The next day, around 1pm, Rabbi’s mother got a call on her mobile phone from Hossain’s number. Rabbi spoke to her, claiming that he was abducted by some people who wanted Tk32,000 to free him.

During the conversation, Rabbi said he would be tra� cked abroad if the ransom was not paid.

“I grabbed the phone from my wife and a person on the other side told me to send the money through BKash, but I refused to do it,” the father said.

On Friday afternoon, Babul in-formed the Bayezid police, while Hos-sain’s elder brother, Hasan, lodged a general dairy in this connection. But they could not give any speci� c reason or name any suspects behind the ab-ductions.

The police con� rmed that they had received complaints from the families and were looking into the matter.

The alleged kidnappers, meanwhile, phoned Rabbi’s father again yesterday afternoon demanding ransom.

Later, the detective branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police was in-formed about the matter.

Sairul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Bayezid police station, said they were investigating the incident. However, he had some suspicious whether the alleged kidnappings were staged by the teenagers.

Babul Akhter, additional deputy commissioner of DB, said they were taking the matter seriously, consid-ering the recent spree of abductions across the country.

An investigator, on condition of an-onymity, said the location of Hossain’s mobile phone was traced to Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar district.

Both Rabbi and Hossain used to work at Sadmusa Garments Factory in the port city’s Oxygen area. But Hos-sain lost his job recently and worked as a rickshaw puller. l

Zia Orphanage Trust trial court shiftedn Mohosinul Karim

The cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her two sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko would be tried in the place where the cases of BDR carnage were tried.

The decision was made to shift the tribunal to the ground beside the Government Alia Madrasah and Dha-ka Central Jail at Bakshibazar in the capital, declaring the places as tempo-rary tribunals. The ministry of law and justice issued a gazette noti� cation on Thursday in this regard.

The gazette said the decision was made considering the security mea-sures of the present Special Judge Court 3 as the place remained crowded during the trial. l

Draft of sawmill workers’ minimum wages unveiledn Mohosinul Karim

The Minimum Wages Board under the Labour Ministry yesterday unveiled the draft of the minimum wage struc-ture for sawmill workers � xing the basic salary of an expert worker at Tk7,500, employee at Tk6,000 and ap-prentice at Tk4,500.

The draft was unveiled publicly to receive opinions and recommenda-tions from stakeholders and experts by May 10.

The board will examine the sugges-tions after the deadline and will then submit those to the government.

It will be � nalised after the govern-ment publishes it as gazette noti� ca-tion, Chairman of the board Shahidul-lah Bokaul said.

According to the draft, an expert worker working in grade I post will get Tk7,500 as basic salary. He will get Tk2,250, 30% of the basic, as house

rent while both medical allowance and conveyance allowance will be Tk600.

Grade I workers will receive Tk10,950 in total as monthly payment. On a daily basis, it would be Tk420.

Expert workers working in grade II posts will get Tk6,000 as basic salary. They will get Tk1,800 as house rent, Tk600 as medical allowance, and Tk600 as conveyance allowance.

The monthly salary for grade II workers has been � xed at Tk9,000 which on a daily basis is Tk345.

As for semi-expert workers, they will be considered grade III workers.

Their basic salary will be Tk5,000 while Tk1,500 will be given as house rent. They will receive Tk7,770 in total as monthly wage including medical allowance and conveyance allowance. Tk295 will be their payment on a daily basis.

On the other hand, non-expert grade IV workers will get Tk4,000 as monthly salary and Tk1,200 as house rent. Tk6,400 will be their total monthly. For one day’s work, they will get Tk245.

Tk4,500 will be the gross pay of apprentice workers. The three-month apprenticeship could be extended for another three months following com-pletion of the � rst three months.

Meanwhile, the board recommend-ed sawmill employees be paid Tk9,000 for grade I, Tk7,700 for grade II and Tk6,400 for grade III posts while basic salaries will be Tk6,000, Tk5,000 and Tk4,000 respectively. l

Police arrest 12 abductors, rescue 2 in DhakaAt least six abductors’ gangs active in city with female members who trap people n Ashif Islam Shaon

Law enforcers yesterday rescued a busi-nessman from Jurain of the capital, two days into his abduction from Bangshal of Old Dhaka, and arrested � ve alleged kidnappers.

In another incident, detectives ar-rested three persons from Jatrabari for their alleged involvement in the abduc-tion of Narayanganj businessman Saiful Islam who was rescued on Friday night.

Moreover, Jatrabari police rescued a schoolboy, 13 hours after he had been abducted from Narayanganj.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the DMP, at a press brie� ng said police conducted a raid in Jurain area around 5am and rescued Abdul Hakim, 50, a spare parts trader, from a house.

After his abduction on Thursday, the

kidnappers had demanded Tk3 lakh as ransom from the family members, the police o� cial added.

The police team arrested Moham-mad Rana, 25, Shamsuddin Ahmed, 24, and Mohammad Hridoy, 20, from the place on charges of abducting Hakim. Based on their information, the law en-forcers later nabbed Nishi Begum, 26, and Bhagya Rani, 23, from Bangshal and Shyampur, he added.

“We recently found that at least six abductors’ gangs are active in the cap-ital. They have female members who trap people by developing fake love a� air or working as house helps,” said Monirul.

At the brie� ng, Hakim said on Thurs-day afternoon he had gone out from his Mokimbazar house and reached Bang-shal intersection on a rickshaw. As soon

as it stopped, some youths on a micro-bus intercepted him and forcefully took him inside the vehicle.

“They blindfolded me and took me to a house. From my phone they forced me to call my younger brother Matin and ask to send them Tk10,000 via bKash. Later they demanded Tk3 lakh. My brother initially gave them Tk10,000,” he said.

The victim said the abductors had tortured him with hammers. He also showed the reporters several injury marks on his body.

Meanwhile, the DB police yesterday arrested three persons including a cou-ple in connection with the abduction of Saiful from Narayanganj. The arrestees are – Nurjahan Begum, her husband Yunus Ali and a bKash agent of Jatrabari Md Akash.

He was abducted around 10pm on Thursday from Sanarpar of Narayan-ganj. Abductors left him on a road at Sa-var’s Nabinagar on Friday night with his eyes blindfolded and hands tied with ropes. Later, RAB members brought him before the media.

After his appearance, the DB con-ducted raids at Jatrabari and made the arrests.

Monirul said: “Akash made the ar-rangement of money transaction which was demanded from the victim’s family. All the arrestees were involved in the abduction,” he claimed.

Police said they would interrogate the arrestees to know about the abduc-tion plan, execution and the cause.

Schoolboy rescuedTen-year-old schoolboy Abir Alam,

who was reportedly abducted from Fat-

ulla in Narayanganj, was rescued from the city’s Jatrabari area on Friday night.

Police arrested Ismat Ali, 25, Jabbar Ali, 35, Monir Hossain, 25, and Meher Ali, 28, in this connection.

Abir was rescued from a house at Mo-minbagh of Konabari. On Friday morn-ing, Ismat, who is a relative of Abir, ab-ducted him alluring a trip to Dhaka.

Abir is a � fth grader of Pagla High School in Fatulla.

Sub-Inspector of Fatulla model po-lice station Mizanur Rahman said the abductors had demanded Tk5 lakh from his mother Ayesha Begum following the abduction. Police with technological as-sistance tracked the phone and arrested Ismat.

The three others were arrested around 11pm upon primary information extracted from Ismat. l

Khoka terms home state minister ‘stupid’n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Vice-Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka yesterday alleged that the govern-ment people had been trying to divert the Narayanganj killing incidents into a di� erent direction without investigation.

At a joint meeting with the party’s front and associate bodies at Bhasani auditorium, Khoka said people from all sections in Narayanganj knew about the masterminds of such killings and abductions.

“The elected mayor of Narayanganj directly blamed Awami League lawmak-er Shamim Osman for the killings.” The former Dhaka mayor said: “It seemed that the home state minister has a good soul with a gentle mind. But now it seems that he is a stupid.”

Urging the government to give him as-signment of the Social Welfare Ministry or ministries like this, Khoka said: “There are many expert people in the Awami League to run the administration. Those people should get the responsibility of the Home Ministry.” l

Government move for saving sea � sh resourcesn Mohosinul Karim

The government will reduce the num-ber of long-permitted trawlers as well as moving against illegal ones � shing in the Bay of Bengal- a move to protect the sea � sh resources.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque said yesterday they have decided about this in a meeting with Law Minister Anisul Hque and Attorney General Mahbube Alam last week.

Secretary of the ministry Selina Afroza, high o� cials of the ministry and Department of Fisheries also at-tended the meeting, he said.

“Everything will be done to protect the marine � shes and resources of the country. The measures to dispose writ petitions of the illegal trawler owners have been taken,” said Sayedul.

There needs only 75 trawlers for � shing in the bay while around 223 trawlers out of 323 now � sh there de-stroying the marine resources, accord-ing to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.

The remainder -100 trawlers have not been in operation for so long. Be-sides this, Of the 223 trawlers, 89 are � shing in the Bay with the directions of the High Court but without any per-

mission from the government, it says. Moreover, the licenses of the trawl-

ers that are not in operation will be cancelled. The licenses of 20/25-year-old trawlers will not be allowed any renewal or replacement, said Minister Sayedul.

A total of 148 writ petitions are pending in di� erent courts. Of those, 32 petitions are awaiting hearing. At the same time, the government is ex-pected to take the initiative soon for implementing nine court orders.

The appeals against 59 writ petitions are about to be heard. The o� cials are preparing for � ling appeals against 17 orders of the courts while 31 new � les have been sent to the solicitor’s o� ce for � ling appeals.

Relevant o� cials at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock say they have been asked for � ling appeals by June to resolve the cases. They have also been instructed to keep in touch with the so-licitors’ o� ce frequently.

Fishermen from Myanmar and Thailand also � sh in the waters of Ban-gladesh illegally.

About this, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul said, “We have asked the authorities concerned to resist ille-gal entrance of the foreign trawlers in the waters of country.” l

Lawyers bring out a procession in front of Narayanganj Press Club yesterday, protesting the abduction and killing of Advocate Chandan Sarkar DHAKA TRIBUNE

Police escort rescued businessman Saiful Islam to the court of Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate KM Mohiuddin for recording his statement, in the city yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

The board will examine the suggestions after the deadline and will then submit those to the government

4 NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

BUREAU OF COUNTER TERRORISM

Five years late, the government gets a move onn Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has suddenly got a move on with the proposed Bureau of Counter Terrorism, which was supposed to be formed � ve years ago.

A high-ranked government o� cial said the formation of the bureau from within the police force which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had ordered for half a decade ago, remained tangled in red tapes over the years.

However, in the wake of the February whisking o� of three JMB men from a prison van in Mymensingh and what is said to be “opposition sabotage” in the coming months, the government has revived the e� ort to form the bureau.

The Finance Ministry o� cial said the Prime Minister’s O� ce (PMO) has asked the Budget Wing of Finance Division to allocate fund in coming budget for setting up the bureau.

The matter came up in a recent inter-ministerial meeting at the PMO in which PM’s Adviser HT Imam slammed

o� cials for not being able to realise the premier’s pledge in so many years.

According to the o� cial, three ministries would have to take the necessary steps within a short time. They are the ministers for home, � nance, and public administration.

The proposed bureau would have information technology, modern banking and cybercrime experts, who would work to know in advance about any possible threat to the PM’s life and other high pro� le political � gures, source said.

The proposed activities of the unit include counter intelligence, stopping terror � nancing, anti-militancy campaign, terrorist tracking and maintaining a central database; simultaneously ensuring minimum violation of human and other basic rights enshrined in the constitution.

There will be 30-member district attaché o� ces headed by an additional superintendent of police in all the districts.

No fresh recruitments will be made for the bureau; instead, sta� s from di� erent government agencies will work for it by rotation.

The inspector general of police will be the chief of the proposed police unit.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the summary proposal for setting up the Bureau of Counter Terrorism on December 25 last year.

The announcement about forming the bureau � rst came in 2009, soon after the Awami League government assumed power. l

14 Jamaat-Shibir men held n Our Correspondent, Chittagong

Police in overnight special drives nabbed 14 activists of Jamaat-e-Islam and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir in di� erent areas of Satkania and Lohagara upazilas of the port city early yesterday.

AKM Emran Bhuiyan, assistant su-perintendent of police (ASP) of Satkania circle, told the Dhaka Tribune that Sat-kania police made the arrest during over night drives in the upazila’s Chhadaha, Dhemsha, Kanchana and other areas

Meanwhile, Lohagara police also con-ducted drives at the upazila’s Kolujan and Charomba areas and picked up four Jamaat-Shibir activists, he added.

The arrestees were allegedly involved in the violence during pre and post-na-tional election period in the upazilas, while they were also planning for further sabotage in the area ahead of the sentence of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, he also said.

Most of the arrestees are accused in several cases lodged with the respective police stations in connection with the recent political violence, the ASP added.

The arrestees were produced before court yesterday afternoon. l

Bangladeshi workers allege mistreatment against Maldivian employer n Rabiul Islam

Some Bangladeshis working for a com-pany in the Maldives have made alle-gations of mistreatment against their employer to a rights organisation in the South Asian nation.

“They were ill-treated, stripped of their basic rights and forced to work for 13 hours a day,” according to a report by Transparency Maldives.

The report, published on Thursday, said the Bangladeshi workers alleged that they had not been paid for six months.

They repeatedly requested their employer to pay their wages, as they needed money to support themselves and their families back home. But the employer refused to pay, claiming that the company was struggling � nancially. 

Under the circumstances, the work-ers � led a complaint against the com-pany at the Labour Relations Authority of the Maldives, the report said.

But instead of getting any redress, they were punished by the employer, who cut o� electricity from their living quarters.

The report did not name the em-ployer or the company.

Later, the desperate workers ap-proached the advocacy and legal aid centre of Transparency Maldives, an a� liation of the global corruption watchdog, Transparency Internation-al.

“We wrote to the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives explain-ing the situation and asking if a solu-

tion could be found,” the rights group said.

The group’s intervention helped to solve the immediate crisis _ electricity was restored within 24 hours to the workers’ quarters.

The HR commission is investigating the case now, and Transparency Mal-dives is monitoring the situation to ensure that the Bangladeshis get their dues.

However, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) in Dhaka said it had not received any such complaints from Bangladeshi workers.

“Such incidents may happen when migrants are undocumented,” BMET director Abdul Latif told the Dhaka Tri-bune over phone yesterday.

He also said the Maldives police were serious about such allegations, and if any get any complaint, they would compel the employer to pay.

Meanwhile, Khondaker Shawkat Hossain, secretary to the expatriates’ welfare ministry, said, “Let me get the information, I cannot tell you anything right now.”

According to BMET, around 30,000 Bangladeshi migrants are working in the Maldive islands. l

JU senate for extending retirement age n JU Correspondent

The senate members of Jahangirnagar University, at a special senate meeting yesterday, made a decision to extend the retirement age of the teachers, o� -cers and the employees of the universi-ty by two years.

Earlier, JU syndicate body approved this proposal at a syndicate meeting on March 22, while JU senate approved the proposal yesterday.

The senate convention was held at the senate hall room at the adminis-trative o� ce of the university around 4pm, while JU Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam was on the chair.

After the senate meeting, JU Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique told reporters that JU senate had approved the proposal of ex-tending the retirement age of the teach-ers, o� cers and employees by two years.

University sources said university teachers were supposed to retire at 65, while o� cers and employees were supposed to retire at 60. If the Univer-sity Grant Commission and the govern-ment � nally approved the proposal, the retirement age of university teach-ers would be 67, while the o� cers and employees would retire at 62.

JU Teachers’ Association (JUTA) Pres-ident Dr Farid Ahmed said: “Following the manifestos of last VC panel poll and

JUTA elections, current authorities have done this and we welcome the initiative.”

The government and politics de-partment teacher and a member of “Shikkhok Shomaj” said: “The incum-bent senate body has no validity and they cannot make decisions on such important issues.”

However, the JU VC said: “We have discussed with our legal adviser and learned that the incumbent senate body had no legal impede in arranging any special senate meeting.”

Anthropology Department teacher Prof Farzana Islam was appointed as the JU VC from the panel elected in February 19 VC panel poll. l

GRADE III, IV HEALTH WORKER RECRUITMENT

Health directorate to issue fresh circular for over 900 jobsn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

The Health Ministry has instructed the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to cancel the ongoing process of recruiting 911 third and fourth-grade employees in nine districts, although over one crore taka had already been spent on the written and viva tests for the job seekers.

A letter, issued by the ministry on Thursday, also directed the DGHS to serve a fresh circular regarding the re-cruitment process within three work-ing days, claiming that incidents of bribery, rules violation, and nepotism

had taken place during the recent re-cruitment attempt.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that the health directorate had spent around Tk1.37 crore to conduct the written and viva-voce exams that were held last year.

When asked about the issue, Dr Md Shah Newaz, director (administration) of DGHS and also a member secretary of the central recruitment committee, admitted to receiving the ministry di-rective and said the recruitment com-mittee would sit today to discuss the matter.

The � ve-member central recruit-

ment committee is headed by Dr Sub-ash Kumer Basu, additional director general of the DGHS, while other mem-bers include one representative each from the Public Service Commission, Health Ministry and Public Adminis-tration Ministry.

Many of the applicants, meanwhile, expressed their discontent at the latest decision, telling the Dhaka Tribune that they were planning to lodge cases if a new circular were to be issued.

More than 90,000 candidates sat for the written exam on April 26 last year, followed by the viva-voce on July 27. Although the results had almost been

prepared, it could not be published be-cause of an ongoing writ petition at the High Court, DGHS o� cials said.

Seeking anonymity, they added that although the case was resolved a couple of months ago, the recruitment committee sought the ministry’s ad-vice after Health Minister Mohammed Nasim raised objection to the recruit-ment.

There are allegations that several current and former ministers, state ministers, lawmakers, top bureaucrats and leaders of doctors’ organisations had been pocketing millions of taka from the job seekers by promising

them appointments. Sources said some lobbyists even

recommended over 250 candidates, while collecting sums of around Tk2 lakh to Tk6 lakh from each job seeker.

A senior health o� cial, preferring to stay unnamed, told the Dhaka Tri-bune that the directive to issue a fresh circular would create new opportunity for the unscrupulous quarter to exploit the candidates.

The districts where the recruitment tests were held are Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Naogaon, Narail, Jessore, Satkhira, Barisal and Noakhali. l

A day labourer walks past a high-voltage transformer placed just seven feet above the ground on a narrow lane in the capital’s Islambagh yesterday. Many plastic manufacturing factories in the vicinity, along with narrow lanes that are inaccessible to � re� ghters, make the area vulnerable to blazes MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

A student climbs over the main gate of the Home Economics College after it was locked by demonstrating students demanding resumption of Master’s classes RAJIB DHAR

Fire at CMCH n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A � re broke out at the angiogram room of Chittagong Medical College Hospital Cardiology Ward yesterday, resulting in a panic among the patients of the ward.

A total 164 patients were receiving treatment at the ward during the inci-dent, however, no casualty was report-ed, CMCH sources.

Witnesses said a � re suddenly broke out at an Air Conditioner unit at the an-giogram room of Ward 12 around 10am. Fire service sources said the � re origi-nated from an electric short-circuit.

Police and hospital sta� s doused the � re within half an hour, cutting o� the main power connection of the ward. A � re � ghting unit from Chandanpura Fire Station also went to the hospital and extinguished the � re completely, said Newton Das, senior station o� cer of Chandanpura Fire Station. l

Case � led against DU students n DU Correspondent

Police on Friday night � led a case against 70-80 anonymous students of Dhaka University, following a clash be-tween students and police on Friday af-ternoon centring a trivial issue.

“ASI Saifullah � led a case with the police station against 70-80 anonymous students on Friday night,” New market police station O� cer-in-Charge Yasir Arafath con� rmed the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, DU Proctor Amzad Ali said the university authority has formed a probe committee over the incident and stern action will be taken against the guilty. l

Master’s classes at Home Economics begin May 15n DU Correspondent

Principal of Home Economics College in the capital yesterday announced that classes for the master’s course would commence on May 15 in the face of demand raised by students who had asked for action to end the delay in be-ginning classes following Honours � nal exams.

Students of the college staged a sit-in outside the principal’s o� ce in the morning.

“Unlike public universities, it takes almost an additional year to begin classes for the master’s course,” one of the students participating in the sit-in told the Dhaka Tribune.

In the past, the students had raised the same demand on several occasions.

Farzana Yasmin Nipa, a fourth-year student at the college, said: “Because of session jam, it has already taken us six years to complete our Honours courses. We do not want to lose more time. That is why we urged the prin-cipal to start classes for the master’s course shortly.”

Principal of the college I� at Ara Nar-gis said she also supported the demand and announced that classes would start on May 15.

She said she would approach Vice-chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Are� n Siddique in this regard as students said they could not rely on her words.

“The Vice-chancellor is now abroad and is expected to return home on May 6. I will take the students to him for a solution then,” she said. l

According to BMET, around 30,000 Bangladeshi migrants are working in the Maldive islands

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the summary proposal for setting up the Bureau of Counter Terrorism on December 25 last year

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:01am Sunrise 5:22am Zohr 11:56am Asr 4:31pm Magrib 6:28pm Esha 7:50pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Source: Accuweather/UNB

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A Y

Dhaka 35 26Chittagong 33 26Rajshahi 36 26Rangpur 33 23Khulna 36 26Barisal 35 27Sylhet 34 23Cox’s Bazar 33 25

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:28PM SUN RISES 5:22AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW37.0ºC 19.0ºC

Rangamati Srimangal

WEATHER

SUNDAY, MAY 4

THUNDERSHOWERS

Road crash kills one in Chittagongn CU Correspondent

A CNG-run auto rickshaw driver was killed when a covered van rammed into his vehicle on Customs Bridge area in Chittagong yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Md Delwar Hossain, 25, hailing from Kachuya of Chandpur district, said police sources.

Bandar police station Sub-Inspec-tor Mosarraf Hosain said a covered van rammed the CNG-run auto rickshaw at the area around 6am, leaving the driver injured critically.

“Locals rushed him to the Chit-tagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where on duty doctors de-clared him dead,” the SI said.l

GP to resell unused SIMn Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Grameenphone, the leading mobile phone operator in the country, has started a process to recycle or resell the unused numbers which do not have any activity since last one year from the expiration of last recharge.

Sources of the operator informed that through the process some long term unused SIMs’ ownership might change.

The operator had already written about it to the Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), and was preparing for the recycling.

“We sent an intimation letter to the regulatory board two months ago. As the BTRC did not inform us anything about it yet, we are just going to start our recy-cling process,” Mahmud Hossain, chief

corporate a� air o� cer of Grameen-phone, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said they were working on it in full swing and would go public with-in a short time.

In the letter, Grameenphone men-tioned about the National Numbering Plan 2005, and said with the 11 digit mobile number plan an operator had the capacity of 10 crore mobile num-bers, whereas Grameenphone had al-ready used around 8.13 crore numbers.

As per the current status, introduc-tion of 3G had fostered the increasing number of GP customers, and around 1.39 crore SIMs were sold only in 2013, the letter mentioned, and added that Grameenphone would reach its highest capacity within a few months.

The letter also expressed concerns that if Grameenphone did not start

the recycling process soon, they would have to stop selling.

Currently, the total number of dis-connected GP SIMs were occupying almost 20% of number plan capacity of Grameenphone, the letter outlined, and said the company wished to imple-ment the recycling or reuse concept to utilise the huge number of disconnect-ed numbers as recycling was a common practice in global telecommunication industry as well.

Sources at the operator company claimed that if they could delete these disconnected numbers from their da-tabase, it would reduce their mainte-nance costs.

The letter, regarding the change in ownership of numbers, says: “As per the clause of our 3G license, it has been made clear that allocation of a num-

ber does not confer ownership of the number by the customer and Grameen-phone, as operator, can withdraw or change the number by giving a three months’ notice period.”

On the other hand, another mobile phone operator Robi also requested the BTRC and the NBR to allow them to re-use disconnected SIM’s.

“We have informally requested the regulatory bodies to allow us to use unused SIM’s,” Mahtabuddin Ahmed, chief operating o� cer of Robi, told the Dhaka Tribune recently.

Meanwhile, o� cials at the mobile operator companies claimed that if the BTRC directed them to add one more digit, which would increase their cost and the users would have to take the hassle of adding one digit to every number in their phonebooks. l

Con� scation of environment destroyers’ properties demandedn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Speakers at a human chain in Chit-tagong yesterday called for con� sca-tion of properties of people involved in activities like cutting hills and trees and � lling up water bodies which de-stroy the environment.

They also demanded introduction of a separate and strict law to stop de-struction of the environment.

Fight for Women’s Rights, a social organisation, formed a human chain and placed the demands before Chit-tagong Press Club in the morning. Ad-vocate Rehana Banu, president of the organisation, presided over the pro-gramme.

Some in� uential and notorious peo-ple are wreaking havoc on the environ-ment rampantly as there is no strict

implementation of the existing laws, observed the speakers.

“Hills in the port city are being cut and tall buildings are being erected� lling up the water bodies inviolation of the law. This is happening before the eyes of the administration,” they said.

“The age-old trees cannot be saved either as those are also being chopped down,” they added.

Speakers urged the countrymen to stand beyond political, ideological and religious contradictions in order to save the environment.

Poet and journalist Kamrul Hasan Badal, Chittagong University Professor Dr Gazi Salauddin, playwright Jahangir Kabir and several environment activ-ists spoke at the human chain among others. l

SSJ worried over recent abductionsn Du Correspondent

Leaders and activists of the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote (SSJ) yesterday ex-pressed their concerns over the recent multiple abductions and killings across the country and demanded exempla-ry punishment for the perpetrators of such crimes.

The platform raised their concerns while holding a demonstration on the Dhaka University campus and brought out a black � ag procession from the university’s TSC area in the afternoon.

Speaking at the demonstration, SSJ President Nasir-Uddin Yousuf Bacchu said: “Frequent killings and abductions creates doubt on government’s respon-sibility towards its people. People are

now losing trust on government and gradually peace has been disappearing from our society.”

Saying that the recent abductions and killings have caused a panic and insecurity in the society, he also urged home ministry to investigate every is-sue fairly and bring the perpetrators to justice, without considering their polit-ical or social status.

Meanwhile, SSJ Secretary General Hasan Arif said: “We have to raise our voice and create a strong social barrier against such misdoings.”

SSJ Vice President Golam Kuddus held the government responsible for the untoward situation in the country and demanded immediate steps to put an end to the menace. l

Chhatra League beats up JU JCD leadern JU Correspondent

Activists of Jahangirnagar University (JU) unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League yesterday beat up a leader of the uni-versity’s Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) unit over a trivial issue at Dairy Gate area of the university.

Chhatra League JU unit Litera-ture Secretary Sanwar Hossain of Mir Mosharraf Hossain dorm assaulted Benzir Ahmed, JCD joint convener of Maulana Bhashani dorm, around 1:30pm. Benzir studies � nance at the university.

Witnesses said Sanwar and some junior Chhatra League activists were at the Dairy Gate area when Benzir went to a bKash shop there to draw money.

Sanwar then asked Benzir toleave the place because he was a JCD leader.

Chhatra League activists who were with Sanwar, however, beat Benzir up with iron rod and iron pipe as the JCD leader refused to leave before � nishing his task, sources said.

The attackers promptly left the

scene while Benzir was rushed to the JU Medical Centre.

On-duty doctor Touhid HasanShah Chowdhury told the DhakaTribune the victim had receivedinjuries in his chest, arms, waist and legs.

“He has been referred to the Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar for better treatment,” he said.

Speaking about the attack, Sanwar told the Dhaka Tribune that Benzir did not pay any heed to his words and was therefore beaten up.

JCD JU unit General Secretary Abu Sayeed Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tri-bune that Chhatra League leaders were intentionally attacking our activists with naked support from the universi-ty authorities.

“We want immediate punishment of all attackers who have been tortur-ing our leaders and activists over the past few years with regard to political issues,” he said.

JU Proctor Prof Dr Tapan Kumar Saha said they would probe into the issue and take action if a written com-plaint was lodged. l

Rickshaw vans are seen parked at an empty space in Karwan Bazar which used to be a children’s playground. The space has been kept occupied by the Hawkers’ Welfare Association for a long time SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Authorities asleep at the wheel as many buildings ignore � re safetyn UNB

Although many high-rise commercial buildings have been occupied without ful� lling the � re safety standards, they are yet to be identi� ed because 99% of the owners are least bothered about having occupancy certi� cates follow-ing the approval of the building plans, claimed � re service o� cials.

The o� cials also raised concern over the increase in unplanned factory buildings in the city and stressed the need for having � rmer rules to regulate the � re safety measures of all kinds of buildings – residential, commercial and industrial – big or small.

Fire Service and Civil Defence Direc-torate’s instructor M Akram said only 1 in 100 owners of high-rise buildings cares about collecting the occupancy certi� -cate, leaving the authorities in the abso-lute dark about their � re safety standards.

Akram said buildings higher than six-storey were multi-storey ones and occupancy (suitable for accommoda-tion) certi� cates were to be collected for setting up such high-rise buildings.

He also noted that buildings having less than six-storey ones do not require the non-objection certi� cates (NOC), but have to be built complying with the Ban-gladesh National Building Code (BNBC).

However, Akram said, chemical in-dustry owners require to take the NOCs regardless of any height.

Sources at � re service said they have decided to issue notices on the owners who took the NOCs for their building plans, but did not receive occupan-cy certi� cates after completing their building construction.

They also said legal action would be taken against the errant owners.

Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan, director general of the Fire Service and Civil De-

fence Directorate, said they were oper-ating mobile-court drives to make sure owners build buildings complying with the building code.

Ali Ahmed observed that besides lack of information about the occu-pancy status of the buildings, another major concern over � re safety is the unplanned expansion of industries in the city area.

Roads in many areas in the capital, especially in its old part, were narrow for which � re � ghters in vehicles could not reach in time if a � re broke out, he said, adding that there was no adequate water source in di� erent spots of the city.

According to � re service rules, the DG can declare any structure un� t for accommodation if it lacks the � re safe-ty measures. As per the existing laws, errant owners can be given maximum punishment of 10 years’ imprisonment, including � ne. l

Relatives of abduction victims burst into tears while participating at a demonstration in front of the National Parliament in the capital yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

TCB to stock essentials to keep Ramadan market stablen UNB

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is set stock � ve Ramadan essen-tials in an e� ort to help ensure smooth supply of those items during the up-coming fasting month beginning in July, said o� cials yesterday.

The � ve items, demand for which generally peaks during Ramadan, are edible oil, sugar and lentil, gram/chick-peas and dates.

Although TCB o� cials did not men-tion anything over the quantity of the stock to be accumulated, they said the dealers will get the uninterrupted supply of the essentials as per their re-quirement during the holy month.

“There had been no problem over the last two years. There’ll be no prob-lem this year, too,” said TCB Chairman Brig Gen Sarwar Jahan Talukdar.

Saying TCB was preparing to keep up the success of the last two years, he also added: “Stocks are being built up… products are coming gradually. There’ll be no crisis.”

Asked about the prices of the es-sentials to be provided by the TCB, the chairman said they would � x the pric-es in consultation with the Commerce Ministry.

“We’ll � x the prices 15-20 days ahead of Ramadan.”

TCB spokesperson M Humayun Kabir said there is already an adequate stock of edible oil, sugar and lentil in the market right now.

“Gram/chickpea and date (import-ed) will arrive here by May 10-12 and the � rst week of next month respec-tively,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said the TCB will release the � ve Ramadan essentials to the market in three phases.

“The � rst instalment will be released 15 days before the Ramadan starts, the second instalment in the � rst week of Ramadan while the third instalment will be released in the middle of Rama-dan,” Kabir added.

He said some 174 open trucks will remain engaged in selling the TCB es-sentials across the country. l

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

25 shops torched n Our Correspondent,

Khagrachhari

At least 25 shops were torched by a group of criminals at remote Naraichha-ri Bazar under Dighinala upazila in Kha-grachhari district yesterday morning.

Quoting locals, O� cer-in-Charge of Dighinala police station Shahdat Hossain said a group of United Peoples Democrat-ic Front (UPDF) set � re on some 25 shops.

Assistant Press Secretary of Parbat-tya Chattagram Jana Sanghity Samity (PCJSS) Sajib Chakma blamed UPDF for the incident. But the UPDF Press and Publication Secretary Niron Chakma blamed their rival Santu Larma led PCJSS for the arson attack.

The shop owners claimed that the loss caused by the � re could go up to Tk 30 lakh. l

JL men murder accused heldn Our Correspondent, Jessore

Police yesterday arrested an accused in two Jubo League activists murder cases, after a gun-battle between the law enforc-ers and his accomplices in the district. The arrestee was identi� ed as Ra� qul Islam.

Apurba Hasan, o� cer-in-charge of Benapole port police station said: “The gun� ght took place at night while the law enforcers were conducting a drive in Shikri-Shibpur area."

"Sensing the presence of the police, the terrorists opened � re that triggered the gun� ght, leaving Ra� q injured,” he added.

The OC further said the police recov-ered a one-shooter gun, one round of bul-let and two crude bombs from the spot.

SI Ashraful and Constable Tazul Islam also received injuries in the gun� ght. On April 26, two JL activists-Iman Ali, 35, and Lalon Mia, 26, were killed in a clash between two groups of JL over sharing of money earned from smuggling. l

Amar Desh bureau chief commits suiciden Our Correspondent,

Barisal

Hanging dead body of GM Babar Ali, 57, Barisal bureau chief of the daily Amar Desh was recovered from the rented residence of his sec-ond wife in Sabujbug area of Patuakhali early yesterday.

Family members said Ba-bar recently became men-tally upset and often ex-pressed his frustrations and extreme � nancial crisis in maintaining his family as he had been remaining unpaid since long following the government enforced clo-sure of the daily Amar Desh.

Sub-Inspector Shamsul Alam of Patuakhali sadar police station said Babar Ali came to the house of his second wife Jharna Khan-am, a sta� of Marie Stopes clinic of Patuakhali on Fri-day around 5:30pm.

He and his wife engaged in an altercation over fam-ily issues and Jharna and Babar later stayed in sepa-rate rooms.

Around 12:30am, Jharna found the hanging body of Babar and informed police. l

Jatra pandel vandalised n Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

At least 20 people were injured as lo-cals vandalised a jatra (open air drama) stage at Sadhuhati village in Sadar upa-zila on Friday.

Locals alleged that some local in-� uential people have arranged jatrain the open space in Athangiri, Sher-pur, Sadhuhati, Aloha, Dighirpar areas recently.

Obscene dances and gambling were going on at the venue under the nose of law enforcers.

Under the banner of ‘Socheton Na-gorik Somaj’ earlier on April 24 local people submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner demanding immediate stop of gambling and ob-scene dances. But the administration

did not take steps.Later, the agitated people went to

the venue at Sadhuhati village to talk to the organizers.

At one stage, they got lock in a clash with the organisers and their men. 20 people were critically injured during the clash.

On information, police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

The injured were admitted to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital.

Of the injured Shahed Ahmed and Mujibur Rahman had been shifted to MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital as their condition deteriorated.

Md Abdus Saleh, o� cer-in-charge of Moulvibazar Sadar model station con-� rmed the incident. l

Lightening kills � vein three districtsn Tribune Report

At least � ve people, including two teenage boys, were killed and nine oth-ers were injured in lightening strike in Tangail, Satkhira and Meherpur yester-day.

In Tangail, two teenage boys were killed and two others were injured in lightening at Gopalpur upaizla. The de-ceased were identi� ed as Md Alam Mia, 15, of Golpacha village and Md Shelim, 15, of Baliadanga village of the upazila, our correspondent reported.

Dr Hasib Ahsan, residential medi-cal o� cer of Gopalpur Upazila Health Complex, said a team of youth were playing football in Golpacha Govt Pri-

mary School playground. Suddenly lightening struck them around 3pm, leaving four critically injured. Alam and Shelim succumbed on the way to hospital.

In Satkhira, a farmer was killed be-ing struck by lightning at Umrapara vil-lage in Sadar upazila, UNB reports.

The deceased was identi� ed as Ab-dus Sattar, 43, of the same village.

O� cer-in-Charge of Sadar police station Inamul Hoque said a thunder-bolt hit Sattar while he was harvesting paddy in � eld, leaving him dead on the spot.

In Meherpur, two people were killed and seven others injured by lightning in Sadar upazila, UNB reports. l

Police looking for 2 rapists in Jessoren Our Correspondent, Jessore

The law enforcers are yet to arrest two rapists for separate incidents of rape and attempted rape in Abhaynagar upazila of the district last week.

Two cases were � led with Abhayna-gar police station on Friday afternoon.

Tawhid Sheikh of Gopinathpur vil-lage under the upazila violated an eight-year-old girl who is a class II student by taking her inside a house nearby her residence around 1am on April 28, OC Mollah Khabir Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune referring to the case statements.

In another incident, Torab Sheikh of Bagdah village attempted to rape an 11-year-old girl at her residence around noon on April 30. The victim is a la-bourer at Super Jute Mills Limited in Phultala upazila of Khulna. l

508 pry schools without headmastern UNB, Jessore

A total of 508 government primary schools in Jessore district are running without any headmaster.

Besides, a total of 693 posts of as-sistant teacher are lying vacant in the district’s government primary schools for long.

Consequently, academic activities in these institutions are being seriously hampered as recruitment to these va-cant posts has remained stalled for dif-ferent complications.

District Primary Education O� ce sources said the eight upazilas of the district have a total of 1,274 govern-ment primary schools, including the 600 which have recently been nation-alised.

There is a sanctioned post of head-master in each of the schools but only

766 of them have appointed headmas-ters.

In Manirampur upazila, there are 262 primary schools and 65 of them are running with headmas-ters while there is no headmaster in 41 schools in Keshabpur upazila, 22 schools in Sadar upazila, 27 in Bagharpara upazila, 25 in Chougaccha upazila, 23 in Jhikorgachha upazila, 22 in Abhaynagar upazila and seven in Sharsha upazila.

Apart from this, a total of 693 posts of assistant teacher are lying vacant in the government primary schools of the district, of which 155 are in Sadar upa-zila, 55 in Manirampur upazila, 127 in Keshabpur upaizla, 86 in Chougachha upazila, 78 in Sharsha upazila, 65 in Ab-haynagar upazila, 58 in Jhikargachha upazila and 38 in Bagharpara upazila.

Subrata Kumar Banik, an o� cial of

the district primary education o� ce, said 65 percent posts of the govern-ment primary schools are � lled up through promotion while the rest 35 percent through recruitment.

He linked such a large number of posts of headmaster lying vacant for long to the stoppage of the assistant teachers’ promotion to the post of headmaster because of a case � led by the teachers appointed under a project.

Besides, the government has cre-ated � ve posts instead of four inthe recently nationalised primary schools. As a result, the number of va-cant posts of assistant teacher has risen further.

“The authorities are well aware of the fact and we’re hopeful that the gov-ernment will take immediate step to � ll up these vacant posts,” added Subrata Kumar. l

BORO PADDY

Output goes up by 12.69% in Bogran Our Correspondent, Bogra

Boro paddy output has gone up by 12.69% compared to its target across the country this season, which agricul-ture o� cials attribute to increased use of agriculture technology and congen-ial weather.

”The government had a target of achieving 28.3 million metric tonnes, but got 31.9 million tonnes, up by 3.6 million tonnes,” s ays Deputy Director at Bogra Department of Agriculture Ex-tension AH Bazlur Rashid.

“Boro paddy yield was estimated at 3.86 metric tonnes per hectare, but in the beginning of the season, it has been learnt that 4.38 metric tonnes was pro-duced per hectare,” he says.

Prices are also satisfactory for which farmers say they are happier this season.

A farmer, Enamul Haq, 45, of Nandi-gram upazila’s Ronbagha says they have got 8.10 metric tonnes of paddy per hectre this year, up by 0.8 metric tonnes from the last year.

Every 40 kilograms of paddy was sold for Tk 620 last year while it is being sold for Tk 830 this year, he said.

Per 40 kilograms of paddy was sold for Tk 800 to 830 depending on qual-ity last year while it has been sold for for Tk 850 at the very beginning of this season, says another farmer Abdur Razzak, 55, of Datmaniza village.

“Every 40 kilograms of paddy could be sold for Tk 1000 if there were no big-ger calamity within 20 days next,” he predicts.

Another farmer Md Emran Al Sarcar of Kalinjira village at Dinapur’s Ghora-ghat upazila says he sold 40 kilograms of BR-28 and 29 varieties of paddy for up to Tk 580 while it is being sold for Tk 680 now.

“Irrigation crisis has dented the out-put but it is not a� ecting farmers be-cause prices are better this year,” he says.

Deputy Director at Bogra Depart-ment of Agriculture Extension AH Bazlur Rashid, says, “Boro paddy has been grown on around 4.7 million hec-tares of land across the country.”

“Less prevalence of insects and con-genial weather and use of modern ag-riculture technology like seed dealers and paddy planters have played a role in the bumper yield,” he says. l Tribal women are busy harvesting Boro paddy at Bogra’s Nandigram upazila. The district has witnessed a bumper output this season. The snap is taken recently DHAKA TRIBUNE

Comilla Photojournalists Forum takes out a rally in the city yesterday, marking the World Press Freedom Day DHAKA TRIBUNE

Interviews closed rightn Career Desk

While the way em-ployees are recruited, selection criteria for individual positions and the role of HR in the hiring process has all changed over the years, the majority of

employers still continue to use com-mon practices to select their number one candidate.

Whether the job is as a research assistant, lab technician or public re-lations content developer, doing an interview right and sealing the deal requires about the same tactics for all jobs – foreseeing the interviewer's ex-pectations and playing to it.

Arguably, the most important part of the interview is the closing. It is what the interviewer will remember most when recalling all the interviewees lat-er, and yet it is the one step that is often overlooked. The following steps will make for an interview closing that will put you at the top of your interviewer's mind. You may use all of them, or a few using your best judgment regarding the situation.

Exchange cards This is the most basic step, and you will probably receive one without having to ask for it at the very beginning of the interview. If it is your � rst job, the in-terviewer will not be expecting you to present one, but if you are a seasoned employee you should have a few cards ready prior to an interview.

In case you are not presented a card at the beginning of the interview, wait till the interview is over and then ask for it before saying thank you and making your way out.

Plant the follow up seed Before leaving, make sure you plant a seed, that is, make an excuse for a follow up. You may do this by simply telling your interviewer how exciting you � nd the work that the company does and how you can see yourself working for a company such as this, adding that you’ll be in touch with them. This way when you do a follow up call or email, it will not be an out of the blue cold call, but one that is expected.

Thank in person, and onlineThe faster you do a follow up after the interview, the higher the chances of your interviewer remembering you. However, doing a follow up on the same day as the interview makes you seem not only desperate but obstinate.

Instead of doing a full-� edged fol-low up, it is better to email them a sim-ple thank you note right after the inter-view. It might not make a big di� erence but it is one more way to inserting yourself in the employer's mind.

Follow up bright and earlyOn your way out of the o� ce following your interview, � nd out from the front desk what the company’s hours of op-erations are and how early the person who interviewed you comes to work. While the front desk executive may be reluctant to divulge such information about individual employees, if you are tactful and friendly and explain why you need to know what you need to know, it should not be a problem.

Using this information, when you make a follow up call, make sure it is right after your interviewer gets to work. Generally people make more positive decisions in the morning be-fore the day begins to settle in, and it also proves that you are an early bird and will be a punctual employee. l

Dynamic meets dashingThe growing role of public relations in Bangladeshn Ahamed Naveed Hasan

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talk-ed about, and that is not being talked about.”

Oscar Wilde’s words point towards the in-

� nitely important aspect of publicity, both for organisations and individuals. In today’s social and business arena, organisations and individuals often need to engage in public relations (PR), the process of gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public inter-est and content that do not necessarily ensure direct payment.

The goal of PR for a company is to persuade the public, current and fu-ture investors, vendors, sta� , and oth-er stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about the company - its leadership, goods and services, or tac-tical decisions. Public relations can be thought of as a communication pro-cess that builds mutually bene� cial relationships between organisations and the public. Ideally, a typical PR executive has to undertake reputation management and stakeholder manage-ment, for a client, � rm or person.

Public relations is considered an integral part of business in the de-veloped markets particularly North America and Europe. The popularity and reach of public relations has been growing steadily in South Asia as well, and the PR industry in India is quite large. However, in the case of Bangla-desh the PR industry is still quite small in terms of number and volume of cli-ents. Bangladeshi � rms often confuse public relations with media buying, and overlook the enormous scope for reputation-building and stakeholder con� dence that it o� ers.

The nature of public relations is such that it can be tailored, and in Ban-gladesh, this type of service is sought

by a niche market. In recent times, with the in� ux of a good number of glob-al � rms and internationally-educated business managers, more and more companies are starting to comprehend the importance of investing consistent-ly in public relations. It is undertaken by companies either by contracting specialised agencies or by establishing an in-house service.

Bangladesh’s public relations indus-try consists of a number of PR and mar-keting agencies. The prominent � rms include ForethoughtPR, Concito PR,

Impact PR and Masthead PR. In addition to these specialised PR agencies, the full service marketing � rms, including Ogilvy, AdComm and Grey also provide public relations services, often as a part of their brand service packages. Cur-rently, the total number of professionals in Bangladesh’s PR industry is around 100, but the number is rising steadily.

Most of the corporate � rms operating in Bangladesh don’t have specialised PR wings, so they have to outsource their entire public relations management tasks to the PR agencies. However, sever-

al companies, including Grameenphone, Unilever and Pran, undertake a large portion of PR functions in-house, with specialised PR personnel. These large companies spend exorbitant amounts of money for publicity, so it is more useful for them to manage PR in-house rather than depend on agencies.

The world of public relations is ex-tremely dynamic and challenging, more so in the emerging corporate sec-tor of Bangladesh.

“The PR industry in Bangladesh is thriving; the agencies require a good

number of young graduates every year, and we recruit people from all types of academic backgrounds - business, com-puter science, sociology, communica-tions - all of these,” says Adel Ahmed, the head of strategic planning at Concito PR.

He adds: “The art of public relations is not taught at Bangladeshi universi-ties, and you have to learn on the job.”

The people who excel in the public relations jobs are usually extroverts, tactful, diplomatic and are able to � nd solutions to complex problems under pressure. The brand reputation and

market position of clients depend on their ability to think quickly and com-municate with the public e� ectively.

The day-to-day work of a PR profes-sional typically includes client service, client acquisition, crisis management and maintaining relationships with stakeholders - which can be both long-term and short-term depending on the needs of the client. As part of PR man-agement, they often have to arrange press conferences and disseminate in-formation to the press through briefs.

“Although public relations manage-ment can include press releases and conferences, many people in Bangla-desh often consider these to be the main parts of PR, which is unfortu-nate,” explains Adel Ahmed.

The public relations services are also regularly sought by various local and international NGOs working in Ban-gladesh’s development sector. Bangla-desh’s corporate sector is growing at a rapid pace, and the need for reputation and stakeholder management is rising. This is the perfect time for smart grad-uates to explore the � eld of public rela-tions, especially the young people who enjoy constant challenge and immense opportunities for personal growth.

Adel Ahmed points out: “Our PR industry is still very young, so it takes only a few years of hard work to reach the leadership positions in the public relations � rms.”

While academic record is important, the skills that recruiters value most in any prospective candidates are excel-lent communication skills, the ability to make an impression through social media, and the ability to present infor-mation � awlessly. l

This research article was developed by Ahamed Naveed Hasan, lead manager of marketing at GradConnect, an international career information and advisory � rm. For any questions, send an email to hello@grad-connect.com, and learn more about GradConnect on www.grad-connect.com

Career 7DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

End of HR?n Javeed Ahsan

Are organisations getting rid of HR de-partments? If you think the answer is “yes,” I have quite a number of factors to blame. Let us look at what is hap-pening in the corporate world that may question the need for a HR department.

When you plan to recruit sta� , it is usually the respective department that knows best what the incumbents are expected to do and what criteria will determine their best � t with the roles. Hence, the responsibility of writing the terms of reference usually falls on the team rather than on HR.

Furthermore, thanks to the boom in online job portals, placing an ad is now so easy that even your average front desk executive can do it. If the criteria are spelled out, anyone can do the sort-ing and shortlist the CVs received in response to the job ads. Of course, the team management is in the best posi-tion to make the selection decision. So, where does one really get so stuck that HR has to step in?

HR for motivation? Well, in theo-ry, maybe this is true. But in practice, the scenario is usually otherwise. “We have six HR sta� in our organisation and all they notice is when I am absent or late, but never do they notice when I do overtime and work on the day o� ,” says Fatima Zohra, a reporter at a na-tional daily.

Though HR is supposed to motivate

the sta� , traditionally in Bangladesh they have been known for doing things that often spoil the employee morale. And as far as appraisals are concerned, how can HR have a hand in it when they hardly understand the roles of the employees in other departments and what exactly is expected of each em-ployee?

It is again the managers who assess the team members, and often the co-work-ers and the subordinates, if the organ-isation follows 360 degree appraisal system.

More importantly, employees usual-ly look up to their manager for a break, be it positive appraisal, salary hike, pro-motion, or training and development, leaving no room for HR to intervene. Hence, each employee is constantly busy trying to please the manager, and hardly has time for HR.

On top of that, the phenomenon

that has put the biggest ax on the HR department is the recent trend of out-sourcing. Almost every HR function can easily be outsourced and managed even more e� ectively and professional-ly than it is done in-house. If you have watched the movie “Up in the Air” you have no di� culty believing that there can be very specialised � rms only for employee terminations.

Even in Bangladesh, many organi-sations have grown that specialise in the functional areas of HR including recruitment, training, and talent man-agement.

Now that many international and multinational organisations are closing the HR departments, localorganisations might soon follow suit. Given this, what should the HR profes-sionals do?

Well, they can look into their own talent development and explore close-ly related and emerging areas like or-ganisational development, training and development, and the like.

Many may prefer to stick to their � eld and join the outsourcing organisa-tions where they can specialise in spe-ci� c areas of HR. Nevertheless, changes are inevitable in the corporate world and adaptation is the key to success. l

Javeed Ahsan is a communication and social awareness consultant at the Central Procurement Technical Unit of IMED at the Ministry of Planning

Changes are inevitable in the corporate world and adaptation is the key to success

BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

BIGSTOCK

Right word, right time

n Career Desk

The return of the � nal season of Mad Men has seen a marked rise in how-to’s the likes of “How to dress like Don Draper” and “How to get that perfect tie dimple.” But being a creative pow-erhouse like Draper is a lot more than looking dapper. This week’s Biz Vocab looks at how to speak the language of advertising like a professional.

AIDAAttention, Interest, Desire, Action - the aim of all advertising

Broad-sheet

Newspaper printed in a large format

Circula-tion

Average number of copies of newspapers or maga-zines sold over a period of time

Classi� ed ads

Small advertisements in newspapers or magazines, divided into categories

CouponPart of a printed advertise-ment to be used to order goods or samples

Direct mail

Advertisement sent by post to prospective customers

Dou-ble-page spread

Advertisement printed across two pages in a newspaper or magazine

Eye-catcher

Something that particular-ly attracts one’s attention

Features Special characteristics of a product

Generic advertis-ing

Advertising for a whole sector, such as tourism, rather than a speci� c product

HoardingWooden structure or signboard, used to carry advertisements

HypeExcessive or intensive publicity; exaggerated claims made in advertising

MailshotPiece of advertising material sent to potential customers by post

Mass media

The main means of mass communication (newspa-pers, TV and radio)

PlugFavourable publicity in the media for a commercial product

Prime time

Hours on radio and TV with the largest audience, usually the evening

SlotSpeci� c time in a broad-casting schedule allotted for a commercial

Sound-bite

Short extract from a recorded interview or speech

SpamUnsolicited advertising sent through the internet as an email message

SpotPosition of a commercial in a radio programme or TV schedule

TabloidNewspaper printed in small format, usually with a lot of photographs

USPUnique Selling Proposi-tion; a declaration of what makes a product di� erent

Sunday, May 4, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

First US case of deadly mers virus con� rmedn Reuters

A healthcare worker who had traveled to Saudi Arabia was con� rmed as the � rst US case of Middle East Respirato-ry Virus (MERS), an often fatal illness, raising new concerns about the rapid spread of such diseases, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

The male patient traveled via a British Airways � ight on April 24 from Riyadh to London, where he changed � ights at Heathrow airport to � y to the United States. He landed in Chicago and took a bus to an undisclosed city in Indiana.

On April 27, he experienced re-spiratory symptoms, including fe-ver, cough and shortness of breath. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, the man visited the emergency department at Com-munity Hospital in Munster, Indiana, on April 28 and was admitted that same day. l

MERS death toll in Saudi climbs to 107n AFP, Riyadh

Saudi health authorities announced yesterday two new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, raising to 109 the number of fatalities since the dis-ease appeared in the kingdom in September 2012.

A 25-year-old man has died in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and a wom-an of 69, who su� ered from tubercu-losis and anaemia, died in Mecca, also western Saudi Arabia, the health min-istry said.

At the same time, 35 new cases of the severe respiratory disease have been recorded, raising the number of su� erers in the Gulf state over the past two years to 396, the world’s highest tally.

On Friday, US health o� cials said the � rst case of MERS has been con-� rmed in the United States.

The person infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavi-

rus (MERS-CoV) is a health care pro-vider who had travelled to Riyadh for work, they said.

And last week, Egypt recorded its � rst infection after a person who arrived from Saudi Arabia tested positive.

Public concern in Saudi Arabia over the spread of MERS has mounted after the resignation of at least four doctors at Jeddah’s King Fahd Hospital who refused to treat patients for fear of infection.

Some research has suggested that camels are a likely source of the virus.

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent that experts are still struggling to un-derstand. l

Kerry vows all possible help for Nigeria girls rescuen AFP, Addis Ababa

US Secretary of State John Kerry yes-terday vowed that Washington will do “everything possible” to help Ni-geria deal with Boko Haram militants, following the kidnapping of scores of schoolgirls.

“Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime,” Kerry said in a policy speech in the Ethiopian cap-ital Addis Ababa.

“We will do everything possi-ble to support the Nigerian gov-ernment to return these young women to their homes and hold the per-petrators to justice. That is our respon-sibility and the world’s responsibility,” he said.

The US, he added, was “working to strengthen Nigeria’s institutions and its military to combat Boko Haram’s cam-paign of terror and violence.”

Gunmen believed to be Islamist � ghters stormed the girls’ board-ing school in the country’s north-east nearly three weeks ago, forcing them from their dormitories onto trucks and driving them into the bush after a gun battle with soldiers.

Nigerian police on Friday said Boko Haram militants were holding 223 girls of the 276 seized from the school, revis-ing upwards the number of youngsters abducted.

The girls’ abduction has triggered global outrage and prompted protests in a number of Nigerian cities, as des-perate parents call on the government to secure their release.

Nigerian mothers yesterday vowed to hold more protests to push a greater rescue e� ort from authorities.

“We need to sustain the message and the pressure on political and mil-itary authorities to do everything in their power to ensure these girls are freed,” protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman told AFP.

She said that women and moth-ers will on Tuesday march to the o� ces of the defence minister and chief of defence sta� “to ask them what they are doing to rescue our daughters.”

“We believe there is little or no e� ort for now on the part of the military and government to rescue these abducted girls, who are languishing in some din-gy forest,” she said. l

Merkel: give Iran talks a chance, but be ready to act if neededn Reuters, Washington

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have to be given a chance, but sanctions could still be re-instated if needed.

Merkel said Iran had to comply with an agreement under which Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear work in return for the easing of some sanctions.

“If Iran does not meet its obligations, or does not meet them adequately, we remain ready to take back the current limited suspension of sanctions,” she said at a US Chamber of Commerce event.

“But � rst of all, we have to give the negotiations a chance.” l

Talks continue over rebel withdrawal from Syria’s Homsn AFP, Damascus

Talks for rebels to withdraw from a handful of besieged neighbourhoods in Syria’s Homs city have entered their � nal phase, regime and rebel represen-tatives told AFP yesterday, a day after a cease� re began.

Homs was dubbed the “capital of the revolution” at the start of the 2011 uprising against President Assad.

A pull-out would mean the regime has regained complete control of it af-ter a two-year siege.

A cease� re began on Friday, as a � rst step toward implementing a deal be-tween the two sides.

Talks, which began two months ago, are near completion, according to Gover-nor Talal al-Barazi and rebel representa-tive and negotiator Abul Harith al-Khalidi.

“The cease� re is still in place, and I hope we will reach the end of the ne-gotiations. Talks to rid the city of arms and of armed men ... are ongoing and we are near the end,” said Barazi. l

Dozens killed in Ukraine riot and � reOSCE monitors free d

n Reuters, Odessa/Slaviansk

At least 42 people were killed in street battles between supporters and oppo-nents of Russia in southern Ukrainethat ended with dozens of pro-Russian pro-testers incinerated in a burning build-ing, bringing the country closer to war.

Pro-Russian rebels in the east freed seven European military observers yes-terday after holding them hostage for eight days, while Kiev pressed on with its biggest military operation so far to reclaim rebel-held territory in the area.

The riot in the Black Sea port of Odes-sa, ending in a deadly blaze in a besieged trade union building, was by far the worst incident in Ukraine since a Febru-ary uprising that ended with a pro-Rus-sian president � eeing the country.

It also spread the violence from the eastern separatist heartland to an area far from the Russian frontier, raising the prospect of unrest sweeping more broadly across a country of around 45 million people the size of France.

The Kremlin, which has massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the Ukraine’s eastern border and proclaims the right to invade to protect Russian speakers, said the government in Kiev and its Western backers were responsi-ble for the deaths.

Kiev said the violence was provoked by foreign demonstrators sent in from Transdniestria, a nearby breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova where Moscow has a military garrison. It said most of the dead who had been identi-� ed so far were from there.

On yesterday morning, people placed � owers near the burnt-out doors of the trade union building, lighting candles and putting up the yellow, white and red � ag of the city. The burnt remains of a tented camp of pro-Russian demonstrators nearby had been swept away. People spoke of their horror at what happened.

About 2,000 pro-Russian protesters gathered outside the burnt-out build-ing, chanting: “Odessa is a Russian city.”

At the nearby hospital, residents queued up to o� er blood and others tried to � nd out what medicine was needed so they could go out to buy it.

Oleg Konstantinov, a journalist cov-ering the events for a local Internet site, said bullets had � own in the melee before the blaze: “I was hit in the arm, then I started crawling, and then got hit in the back and leg.”

The Odessa bloodshed came on the same day that Kiev launched its biggest push yet to reassert its control over separatist areas in the east, hun-dreds of kilometres away, where armed pro-Russian rebels have proclaimed a “People›s Republic of Donetsk.”

The rebels there aim to hold a ref-erendum on May 11 on secession from Ukraine, similar to one staged in March in Ukraine’s Crimea region, which was seized and annexed by Russia in a move that overturned the post-Cold War diplomatic order.

A group of military observers who were seized last week by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk has been released, the Orga-nization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) con� rmed yesterday.

“We can now con� rm the release of the military observers,” said a spokes-woman for the OSCE, under whose aus-pices the military veri� cation o� cers led by German defence ministry sta� were in Ukraine, at Ukraine’s request.

“Sta� of the special monitoring mis-sion are now waiting to receive them,” she said, referring to a larger OSCE mis-sion gathering information and trying to reduce tensions on the ground.

Earlier, Slaviansk’s pro-Russian sep-aratist leader said he had released the observers, and said the move was vol-untary and made to coincide with his birthday. l

Assad set to extend his power amid Syrian war and theatre n Reuters, Beirut

In the ornate, wood-panelled theatre that is Syria’s parliament, an unusual ritual has played out this week.

It is part of an electoral process designed to portray all the drama of a presidential race, while ensuring nobody seriously challenges the one name on the ballot paper that counts: Candidate Assad.

Every day at around noon, sheaves of documents in super-sized enve-lopes have been delivered to Speaker Mohammad al-Lahham, who has sol-emnly unsealed them and read out the names of nominees for Syria’s presi-dential election next month.

When the deadline for nominations closed on Thursday, 24 names had been announced to deputies. Twenty-three are largely unknown and, despite o� -cial e� orts to portray the vote as a gen-uine race, are destined to remain so.

The name in the 24th envelope was “Dr Bashar Hafez al-Assad,” the man who inherited power from his father 14 years ago. On Monday Assad declared that he will seek another term in the midst

of a civil war which grew from protests against four decades of rule by his family.

Assad’s de� ance of opposition de-mands to step aside and pave the way for a peaceful political transition re-� ects his growing con� dence that he has turned the tide of a con� ict which has killed 150,000 people.

It has also provoked an angry re-sponse from his foes who say the June 3 vote will be a charade, designed to lend him a legitimacy they say he lost when he responded with force to the � rst wave of protests in March 2011.

Pointing to the upheaval caused by the con� ict, they say it would be im-possible to hold a credible vote in a country split between government and rebel-held areas, where 6 million peo-ple have been displaced and 2.5 million have � ed abroad.

Authorities say people who left Syria illegally are barred from voting, meaning the majority of refugees will have no say.

A new law approved before the elec-tion also ensures that no dissenting voice will be o� ered to the voters. Syr-ians who spent time outside the coun-

try in the last 10 years are ineligible to stand, ruling out any of the opposition in exile.

In addition, the � eld of presiden-tial hopefuls is likely to be trimmed to a maximum of three by another constitutional clause which requires each candidate to get the support of 35 members of the overwhelmingly pro-Assad parliament.

All week deputies have been casting secret ballots inside the speaker’s par-liamentary o� ce, a ceremony which has been dutifully aired live on state television to highlight that due process is being seen to be followed.

But any suspense which that per-formance may have created was punc-tured this week by a parliamentarian from Assad’s Baath Party, who said all 161 Baath deputies in the 250-seat par-liament were backing the president. Without exception.

The MP, Jamal Qadiri, told Al-Watan newspaper that the remaining 89 dep-uties might throw their weight behind one or two other candidates whose names would go forward onto the bal-lot paper to challenge Assad. l

Cuba calls terrorism designation by US absurd, manipulative n Reuters, Havana

Cuba labeled as absurd and manipu-lative an annual US State Department report that once again designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a set-back for advocates hoping for a change in Washington›s Cuba policy this year.

The annual Country Reports on Ter-rorism issued on Wednesday continued to list Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as countries that have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terror-ism.” Cuba has been on the list since 1982.

The designation carries with it eco-nomic sanctions beyond those already imposed in the US trade embargo of Cuba.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry “energet-ically rejects the manipulation of a matter as sensitive as international ter-rorism by turning it into an instrument of policy against Cuba and it demands that our country be de� nitively exclud-ed from this spurious, unilateral and arbitrary list,” the Cuban government said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Opponents of Washington’s Cold War-era policy on Cuba had hoped it would drop Cuba from the list this year in a sign US President Barack Obama might want to normalize relations with the communist-ruled island 90 miles (145 km) from Florida.

“Many of the reasons for keeping Cuba on the list are no longer valid,” said Alana Tummino, director of policy at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York, which is critical of US policy towards Cuba.

“Sadly, unless the State Department has more evidence than it’s providing, it appears that political motivations have once again driven this determination.”

Cuba remains on the list “because it fails to meet the statutory criteria for being removed,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the US-Cuba De-mocracy PAC, the most powerful Cu-ban exile lobby group in Washington, who said Cuba continued to support terrorist groups and harbor fugitives from US courts. l

West struggles for winning formula on Russian sanctions n Reuters, London/Washington/

Brussels

Western states used targeted sanctions to isolate Libya’s Muammar Gadda-� and push Iran into nuclear negoti-ations. Using similar tactics against President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a challenge on an entirely di� erent scale.

Not only is the volume of Russian money in the international system much greater than anything tied to Gadda� or Tehran but the sophistica-tion with which it is moved, held and sometimes hidden is also much greater.

Some of the Western bankers, mon-ey managers and oil traders who help keep that money moving are uncon-vinced sanctions will have a truly sig-ni� cant e� ect.

There is also a question about polit-ical will in the European Union, which relies on Russia for a third of its energy needs, to go further.

US experts travelled to Brussels this week and held what one US o� cial called “exceptionally tense” meet-ings with representatives from EU and some non-EU nations.

The Americans expressed concern that the Europeans would not be able to agree tougher trade, energy and � nancial sanctions, said the o� cial, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sanctions “are having an im-pact economically but they are not changing behaviour, that’s the paradox and that’s why we need to tighten the squeeze,” the o� cial said.

As pro-Russia militants seize more public buildings in Ukraine’s turbulent east and violence escalates, President Barack Obama and Germany’s Angela Merkel met in Washington and agreed that further measures would be taken if Moscow continued to destabilise its neighbour ahead of elections on May 25.

But Obama acknowledged that some

of the 28 EU member states would be more vulnerable to such sanctions than others. “Not every country is go-ing to be in exactly the same place,” he told a White House news conference with Merkel.

In turn, Merkel said that if required “we will move to a third stage of sanc-tions. I will underline this is not neces-sarily what we want.”

Existing sanctions have largely tar-geted individuals and, while there has been an out� ow of capital from Russia, there is little evidence that the mea-sures are forcing Putin to rethink.

Russian buyers have pulled back on new New York real estate deals while Russian banks and � rms are turning to Asia to borrow money as Western lend-ers shy away.

But there are no signs of any e� ect on London’s superheated property market, where oligarchs like to park their money. l

Particles of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus that emerged in 2012 are seen in an undated colorized transmission electron micrograph from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) REUTERS

A protester walks past a burning pro-Russian tent camp near the trade union building in Odessa May 2. At least 38 people were killed in a � re on Friday in the trade union building in the centre of Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa, regional police said REUTERS

9Sunday, May 4, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World

Former warlord joins Abdullah in Afghan electionn AFP, Kabul

A former Afghan warlord nicknamed “the bulldozer” joined front-runner Abdullah Abdullah’s presidential cam-paign yesterday, as deal-making hots up before the decisive run-o� vote next month.

Gul Agha Sherzai, from Kandahar, won less than two percent of the vote in the April 5 election, but is seen as able to deliver some support from Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group.

Abdullah, whose support is stron-gest in Tajik ethnic areas, came � rst by a large margin in the election, though he fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed for outright victory, according to preliminary results.

“I, as a representative of my team, join Dr. Abdullah’s team to bring se-curity and welfare to the people of Af-ghanistan,” Sherzai told a press confer-

ence with Abdullah.“We have joined together for the

country and the people.”Sherzai, a former governor of

Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces, earned his nickname “the bulldozer” for pushing though major road and in-frastructure projects – as well as for his forceful personality.

Abdullah and ex-World Bank econo-mist Ashraf Ghani will compete in a head-to-head election scheduled for June 7.

The eventual winner will lead Af-ghanistan into a new era as US-led Nato combat troops end their 13-year war against the Islamist insurgency that erupted after President Hamid Karzai took power in 2001.

“We are proud of joining together, we were in touch from the very begin-ning,” Abdullah said. “We have a long way ahead of us, we will use every op-portunity for any alliances.” l

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede may have ‘club sandwich’ layers of oceann Reuters, Washington

As club sandwiches go, this undoubted-ly is the biggest one in the solar system.

Scientists said on Friday that Jupi-ter’s moon Ganymede may possess ice and liquid oceans stacked up in several layers much like the popular multilay-ered sandwich. They added that this arrangement may raise the chances that this distant icy world harbors life.

NASA’s Galileo spacecraft � ew by Ganymede in the 1990s and con� rmed the presence of an interior ocean, also � nding evidence for salty water per-haps from the salt known as magne-sium sulfate.

Ganymede, which with its diameter of about 3,300 miles (5,300 km), is the largest moon in the solar system and is bigger than the planet Mercury.

A team of scientists performed com-

puter modeling of Ganymede’s ocean, taking into account for the � rst time how salt increases the density of liq-uids under the type of extreme condi-tions present inside Ganymede. Their work followed experiments in the lab-oratory that simulated such salty seas.

While earlier research suggested a routine “sandwich” arrangement in which there is ice at the surface, then a layer of liquid water and another lay-er of ice on the bottom, this new study indicated there might be more layers than that.

Steve Vance, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said the arrangement might be like this: at the top, a layer of ice on the moon’s surface, with a layer of wa-ter below that, then a second layer of ice, another layer of water underneath that, then a third layer of ice, with a � -

nal layer of water at the bottom above the rocky sea� oor.

“That would make it the largest club sandwich in the solar system,” Vance said in a telephone interview. “I sup-pose I’m also a fan of club sandwiches. My � ancée points out that I order them every time we go out to eat.”

Ganymede boasts a lot of water, perhaps 25 times the volume of Earth’s oceans. Its oceans are estimated to be about 500 miles (800 km) deep.

With enough salt, liquid water on Ganymede could become so dense that it sinks to the very bottom, the researchers said. That means wa-ter may be sloshing on top of rock, a situation that may foster condi-tions suitable for the development of microbial life.

Some scientists suspect that life � rst formed on Earth in bubbling thermal

vents on the ocean � oor.“Our understanding of how life

came about on Earth involves the in-teraction between water and rock. This (research) provides a stronger possibility for those kinds of inter-actions to take place on Ganymede,” added Vance, whose study was pub-lished in the journal Planetary and Space Science.

Ganymede is one of � ve moons in the solar system thought to have oceans hidden below icy surfaces. Two other moons, Europa and Callisto, orbit the big gas planet Jupiter. The moons Titan and Enceladus circle the ringed gas planet Saturn.

“We’re providing a more realistic view into ocean structure in Gany-mede’s interior. We’re showing that the salinity has a tangible e� ect on the ocean,” Vance said. l

Nine more Muslims killed in sectarian attack in India’s Assamn Reuters, BARAMA, India

Security forces in northeast India found the bodies of nine Muslims yes-terday, raising the death toll to 31 in a spate of attacks by suspected tribal mil-itants as a weeks-long general election re-opens ethnic divisions.

The election has rekindled the ques-tion of religious animosity across India with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looking set to win, but the violence in the tea-growing state of Assam stems from friction over migration.

Police said six of the nine Muslims found shot dead were women and children. Security forces rescued three children found nearby hiding in forests close to the border with Bhutan.

“Shoot-on-sight orders are issued to troops deployed in troubled areas,” L. R. Bishnoi, inspector general of As-sam’s police, told Reuters.

Assam has a history of sectarian vio-lence and armed groups � ghting for great-er autonomy or secession from India.

Police suspect militants from the Bodo tribe were behind the latest at-tacks in a region where tension be-tween ethnic Bodo people and Muslim settlers has simmered for years.

In 2012, clashes erupted in which dozens of people were killed and 400,000 � ed their homes.

Bodo representatives say many of the Muslims in Assam are illegal immigrants from neighboring Ban-gladesh who encroach on ancestral Bodo lands.

Soldiers in convoys of trucks mount-ed with ri� es were patrolling yesterday in Baksa district where some of the at-tacks took place.

Polling in the Bodo region ended on April 24. Residents say it is a tight race between a Bodo and a non-tribal candidate. A policeman was killed on polling day.

“There’s heightened tension be-cause of the election,” said Ajai Sahni, the executive director of the Institute for Con� ict Management in New Delhi, although he said it was too early to be

certain about exactly what provoked the attacks.

‘Bags packed’Modi said last week that illegal immi-grants from Bangladesh in the nearby state of West Bengal should have their “bags packed” in case he came to pow-er, accusing the state government of being too soft.

Arun Jaitley, the BJP’s leader in the upper house of parliament and a strong contender for � nance minister should the party come to power, denied that Modi’s comments risked stirring com-munal tension.

“It just shows a determination that we want to stop in� ltration. Any govern-ment should try to stop that,” Jaitley said.

The communal clashes in Assam two years ago triggered violent pro-tests by Muslims in cities elsewhere in India.

About 30,000 migrants from the northeast temporarily returned home after threats of reprisals by Muslims circulated by text message. l

Thai opposition leader wants election delayed to allow reforms, rules himself out of reform committeen Reuters, Bangkok

Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday urged that a general election planned for July be delayed by up to six months to allow time for reforms aimed at ending a protracted political crisis that threatens to explode.

Protesters have been trying to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra since November, part of a long-running crisis that broadly pits Bangkok’s mid-dle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poor, rural support-ers of Yingluck and her brother, ex-pre-mier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin was ousted by the military in 2006 and now lives in exile to avoid a jail term handed down in 2008 for abuse of power. His opponents accuse him of corruption and nepotism.

Thailand’s Election Commission and Yingluck agreed on Wednesday to hold

a general election on July 20, but an-ti-government protesters who disrupted a vote in February said they still wanted electoral reforms before a new poll.

Former Prime Minister Abhisit, who launched a mediation e� ort on April 24, told a news conference the vote should be delayed by � ve or six months while a committee thrashed out reforms that would be put to a referendum.

While that was being done, he want-ed the country to be run by a neutral in-terim government with limited powers.

The panel should include represen-tatives of the People’s Democratic Re-form Committee (PDRC), the protest group led by Suthep Thaugsuban, who was a deputy prime minister under Abhisit until 2011.

“I have said from the start that no side will get what they want 100 per-cent from what I am proposing. But ... the government will see an election,

people will get to vote in the next � ve to six months. The PDRC protesters will get their neutral government,” Abhisit said.

He said he would not be part of the re-form committee and that no politician should sit on it, but he gave few details on its likely composition. He also said he would not take up a political posi-

tion in future if his plan was accepted, although his medium-term intentions are unclear.

“I would like to ask Yingluck: is there any part of my proposal that damages the country?” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Yingluck on his plan.

But Jarupong Ruangsuwan, leader of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told Reuters that the government could not accept Abhisit’s proposal and that the cabinet will deliberate a draft royal decree for the July 20 election date on Tuesday.

“The government cannot accept Abhisit’s plan because it is outside the framework of the constitution. Abhis-it’s plan will only increase divisions in Thai society,” Jarupong said.

“Asking the government to resign is tantamount to ripping up the constitu-tion. We will push ahead with prepar-ing the draft (election) decree.” l

Indian politician hugged by ‘human torch’ dies of burnsn AFP, Lucknow

An Indian politician hugged during a television election debate by a “human torch” has died of burn injuries, the family said yesterday.

The politician died late Friday in hospital, his family told AFP, after su� ering burns to 75 percent of his body when a member of the audi-ence doused himself in petrol and grabbed him.

The local leader of the Bahujan Sa-maj Party, Kamruzzama Fauji, and his attacker were engulfed in � ames in front of the horri� ed audience as the television debate was being recorded for broadcast later.

India’s media had described the at-tacker as looking like a “human torch.”

The attack occurred as India’s state-owned national TV channel Doordar-shan was recording the debate for broadcast later.

The programme was being recorded in a park in Sultanpur, a town 160 kilo-metres (100 miles) from Uttar Pradesh state capital Lucknow.

Fauji’s attacker, who su� ered 95 percent burns, died shortly after the incident, police said.

Police have not come up with any

motive for the attack on the politician who was a father of nine children.

But Khalikurzama, the elder brother of Kamruzzama, called the attack “po-litically motivated” and demanded “a proper probe.”

India’s numerous television chan-nels are holding nightly debate shows during the nation’s marathon parlia-mentary election.

The debates are often staged in vil-lages and towns with politicians taking questions in front of local voters.

The election, the world’s biggest, will end May 16 with results expected to show the Hindu nationalist opposi-tion Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) com-ing to power after 10 years of rule by the leftist Congress party.

The show Monday which featured � ve local politicians was just ending when the attack took place.

Two other local politicians on the show su� ered minor burn injuries while trying to douse the � ames en-gul� ng the two other men.

“This man suddenly came on the stage, poured petrol on himself and set himself on � re before tightly hugging one of the political guests,” photogra-pher Pankaj Kumar Gupta told AFP af-ter the incident. l

This artist’s concept of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, illustrates the ‘club sandwich’ model of its interior oceans REUTERS

Villagers carry their belongings as they leave their locality after attacks at Baksa district in the northeastern Indian state of Assam May 3. Security forces in northeast India found the bodies of nine Muslims yesterday, raising the death toll to 31 in a spate of attacks by suspected tribal militants as a weeks-long general election re-opens ethnic divisions REUTERS

Afghan villagers look on at the scene in Argo district of Badakhshan province on May 3, 2014 after a massive landslide May 2 buried the whole village. Rescuers searched in vain for survivors May 3 after a landslide buried an Afghan village, killing 350 people and leaving thousands of others feared dead amid warnings that more earth could sweep down the hillside AFP

Anti-government protesters who disrupted a vote in February said they still wanted electoral reforms before a new poll

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

ACROSS1 Flow back (3)3 Tentacle (6)8 Summit (4)9 United (3)10 Long, angry speech (6)11 Force (6)14 Comforts (5)17 Shy (5)20 Whole (6)24 Esculent (6)26 Heavenly body (3)27 Power of rejecting (4)28 Appeared to be (6)29 Fastener (3)

DOWN1 Poem of heroism (4)

2 Fragrant ointment (4)3 Festivity (4)4 Banishment (5)5 Burdens (5)6 Conclude (3)7 Scottish dances (5)12 Kimono sash (3)13 Hawaiian dish (3)15 Insect (3)16 Corn spike (3)17 Long lock (5)18 American state (5)19 Research thoroughly (5)21 Require (4)22 Metal (4)23 Direction (4)25 Owing (3)

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a dif-ferent letter of the alphabet. For ex-ample, today 10 represents A so � ll in A every time the � gure 10 appears.

You them in the appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALV

IN A

ND

HO

BBES

PEAN

UTS

Be heardWrite to Dhaka Tribune

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What Rooppur is costing usApril 26

DispassionateObserverRussians have a great deal of a� ection for Bangla-desh. This is more so for the Soviet-generation of Russians, many of whom hold positions of power in today’s Russia. Bangladesh government will do well to leverage this advantage in getting a better deal on Rooppur. Russia recognises Bangladesh as an emerging economy and would be keen to re-engage with renewed vigour after a hiatus of many decades. I see a win-win deal for both parties.

Married at twelveApril 27

JillI wish more young women like yourself cared about the child brides. Without having programs that o� er education, health care and mentoring, there are no other venues to delay early marriages for the rural girls.

‘Pohela’ is okayApril 27

TaziaLanguage is part of the culture and culture is

part of the language. They are intermingled to a great extent. The culture is “Pohela.” Changing

the culture for the sake of the purity of lan-guage, which really is a potpourri of a number of

foreign languages, is a step towards separating the cultural aspect from the language.

NS Tazia: Right you are.

Menendez no friend to RMG workers

April 27

WaliulHaqueKhondkerSomeone should have asked this guy, if his

threat is implemented (God forbid), hundreds of thousands of poor garment workers would be

out of a job and many of them may even die of starvation! Wouldn’t that stain his hand with the

blood of the Bangladeshi poor?

Zero tolerance for abductions

In the last week, 24 people have been abducted across the country. Eight of these people have been found dead, 11 have been rescued alive and � ve remain missing.

These are highly disturbing � gures. While progress is being made in some cases, with police managing to rescue a businessman on Saturday who had been kidnapped in old Dhaka, and a number of people have been apprehend-ed, much more needs to be done to restore public con� dence.

The recent abductions and murders in Narayanganj in particular make it more urgent than ever for authorities to tackle the spate of abductions. The numbers paint a grim picture of our present law and order situation.

It is vital that all support be given to law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in incidents of forced disappearance and abduction, and arrest them immediately.

The problem of abductions which was highlighted by the high-pro� le kidnapping of Abu Bakar Siddique, is far from over, even though in that case the victim was returned home safely. This is a serious national problem that must be addressed in order to ensure the basic security of all citizens.

The formation of special squads by the police and RAB to prevent abductions are a step in the right direction.

Catching the culprits and rescuing victims is the highest priority.

Don’t play blame games

The public is ill served when politicians blame opponents for law and order problems.

Families of people who have been abducted want to see their loved ones safely found. They and the public at large want to see culprits caught and future abductions prevented.

These goals are not helped when senior � gures indulge in politically motivat-ed allegations and speculation.

Regrettably, both the prime minister and BNP leader have been among � gures alleging that their opponent’s party members and activists have been involved in these incidents. When peoples’ overrid-ing concern is to see an end to abductions, it does not serve the public interest for politicians to indulge in name calling and to make allegations without evidence.

It is for law enforcers to � nd out and arrest the perpetrators. Political parties should limit their involvement to re� ecting public concern by supporting the police and the machinery of law and order in bringing criminals, regardless of political a� liation, to justice.

They should recognise the public expects the government and opposition parties to work together in guaranteeing public safety as law and order is a pre-eminent concern for all citizens.

This includes expecting that all political parties will support credible, inde-pendent investigations into recent forced disappearances across the country.

It is absolutely essential that all appropriate action is taken to help law encroachers apprehend the perpetrators and for the government to hold an independent inquiry to help it take steps to bring down the highly concerning rate of abductions.

Parties should support justice regardless of political a� liation

More needs to be done to ensure the basic security of all citizens

For lack of a credible alternativeApril 26

kabdullahAL and BNP are two sides of the same coin. I feel there will never be a “we are not them” party in Bangladesh. Both these parties behave like mercenaries.

Ekram KabirKhaleda Zia needs to reorganise the party with some people who’d love the party, who’d never utilise it to make money and gain influence; right at the moment, BNP is full of opportunists who, I believe, haven’t joined it for the love of the party. Good one, Esam. Best regards.

Ronnie Ekram Kabir: Yes. That’s not a half-bad point, Ekram. Gosh, I wish we could rid the party of some of those infesting the ranks, and carefully induct some true new believers in the party. It’s got to be done!

WaliulHaqueKhondkerTo prove “we are not them” is easier said than done. Both have had their tenures in power, and people have closely watched them and found no di� erence in terms of either governance or policies. So people have voted for both, turn by turn, with a hope to see better days. Alas! It never happened!

Besides the interchange of chants from Joy Bang-la to Zindabad and switching of August 15th and No-vember 7th from holidays to working days, and vice versa, people saw no tangible change or di� erence during either party’s watch. Nor are these two parties capable of displaying any qualitative change with the existing mettle of leadership that they both possess.

To tell you the truth, there are only two “we are not them” parties in Bangladesh and neither has the capacity to poll enough votes to be in power. Must I name them? Okay, its Jamat-e-Islami and CPB. :)

RonnieEsam Sohail intelligently invokes the very point that I

had already brie� y cited, twice, in two long, separate posts on this site pertaining to BNP. I truly despair at the party’s strange inability and/or unwillingness to recognise the political urgency today of skillfully articulating to the public, nationwide, of BNP’s cred-ible, worthier alternate future vision for Bangladesh. And I’m sure it must have one. So why the inexpli-cable reticence? They don’t even have to be highly speci� c (who does?) right now, on every single pol-icy idea they have in mind. But it’s imperative that Begum Zia and her ablest colleagues at least begin to think about and broadly spell out BNP’s vision and agenda, going forward – assuming as millions do, that BNP will return to power in the near future.

BNP is not the � ip side of the same political coin (with AL its alleged alter ego on the other side) as too many people glibly suggest to be the case. BNP has, at least notionally, and often visibly espoused and e� ect-ed radically di� erent approaches, in the past, to sundry areas of policy and governance. So, it’s frustrating to see this current di� dence, lack of focus, and lethargy.

I’m not alone in urging the party to revamp, remobilise and robustly represent itself as the party of renewed innovation and ingenuity – in multiple sectors that continue to determine the fate of development and prosperity of the country. BNP is the natural home of genuine progressives and optimists, and in my view, the natural party of government in an essentially “centre-right” Bangladesh. It’s high time BNP stepped up to the plate and responsibly showed it means business. It’s the least the majority of people in this country – not necessarily all of them BNP supporters – expect and deserve from this great party that fought to defeat an abominable autocracy to establish democracy, and inarguably, first paved the road to real development in Bangladesh. Today calls for an urgent encore, with an effort and determination just like before.

11Op-Ed Sunday, May 4, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Mamun Rashid

I had applied for a business visa from the local Indian High Commission. My application was supported by large business bodies from India and

Bangladesh. While the application was being processed, the political and information o� ce here took the intelligent opportunity to let me know that a few of my newspaper writings aggrieved them.

Maybe for this reason, they could not ultimately consider a long term visa issuance for me. This – who they let into their country – is, of course, the host country’s prerogative,despite the fact that I studied and worked there.

However, soon the situation at their political o� ce became quite interesting. The political counsellor asked me: “Are you pro-growth or pro-distributive justice?” This is how all of India, and possibly for the � rst time the Indian civil bureaucracy, is divided now. Narendra Modi has been identi� ed as pro-growth, and Congress as pro-distributive justice, or what some call “inclusive growth.”

The gentleman went on: “Are you watching NDTV these days, or reading The Times of India?” He continued: “I don’t think our governments have done a good job with regards to nar-rowing the regional gaps or income inequality.”

I was at the receiving end, and therefore, had to be very cool and calm. I told him that as a humble stu-dent of economics, I was pro-growth and � rmly believed that national wealth creation would ultimately en-sure distributive justice through better

institution-building. Our economics professors in the West termed it “trick-le-down theory.”

He was loud about equitable distri-bution, maybe without knowing that this was exactly what Rahul Gandhi had been advocating for all these days. NDTV these days seems to be keen on bringing back the growth fever in India and facilitating the creation of more investment, and thereby more em-ployment, and reducing poverty. The Times of India, for many years, has been focusing on communal harmony and inclusive politics.

Though Congress is trying to establish Modi as the messiah of the large corpo-rate houses, I have heard some Indian analysts saying that the economic policies of Congress and now Modi are the same. The only di� erence is that Modi is quite loud while Dr Singh was quite feeble and did not have adequate energy to � ght corruption or adminis-trative glitches.

Modi was quite focused with his economic agenda: Establish 100 new cities and satellite towns, establish IIMs and IITs in every state, start the bullet train and ensure quality education in every state. He was also vocal about bringing back the money

stashed in Swiss banks.My Indian banker friend told me the

other day that Modi’s vision approxi-mated to the higher growth model of China and what Dr Manmohan Singh unsuccessfully tried to accomplish dur-ing a tenure hampered by corruption, administrative bottlenecks, and SOPs enforced by Ms Sonia Gandhi’s national advisory council. My friend said Modi was a “muscular” version of Mr Singh. He said that while Modi was almost “on your mark, get set, go,” Mr Rahul Gandhi was still stuck with the plans of secularism and inclusive growth.

Modi focused on rapid urbanisation, reviving shuttered plants, modernising railways, setting up gas grids, connect-ing India through � ber optics net-works, building infrastructure, setting up mechanisms to monitor real-time plantation and harvest of crops, and setting up courts to try hoarders and black marketeers.

What I liked most in his economic agenda was the plan to brand India through the 5 Ts – talent, tradition, trade, tourism, and technology – and his quoting from the Gujarat model: The government should behave like a responsible promoter.

My readers may say these are all

pep talks. They may see Sonia Gandhi constantly praying to God to “save India from the Gujarat model.” Who knows, India’s youth, entrepreneurs, and farmers may be thinking otherwise. They need jobs, they need more investment, and they need India’s wealth to � y beyond and create synergy in the global platform.

If he can � x his parliamentary party or group, Modi may be quite lucky with a new and focused governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with a much more stabilised rupee. India’s growth is on “rebound mode.” In� a-tion also has to come down.

Analysts are expecting in� ation to come down from 10% plus levels to below 7%. RBI has already signaled a consumer in� ation target of 8% by December. The procurement prices of food grains, the major cause of administered food in� ation in India, which rise with a one-year lag, rose at an average rate of 13.5% between 2007 and 2012 and rose at less than half that rate in 2013, meaning food in� ation is highly unlikely to go beyond 7% this year. Interest rates are also likely to go down further with an expectation of 6.5% to 7% annual GDP growth.

Many think whatever happens, the new order is likely to be signi� cantly to the right of the heavily populist in-cumbents. Given the economic policy matter for growth, strong reformist policies need to add a further 1% to 2% to the economy. India’s GDP growth is set to be around 8% after a gap of three years. Good for Modi, better for India, best for the Indians. l

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and � nancial sector entrepreneur.

n Sushovan Dhar

In 1856, Russia lost the Crimean War to an alliance of the British, the French, the Ottoman Empire, and

the Kingdom of Sardinia (predecessors to the modern Italian nation-state). However, that did not subdue the � ames of Greater Russian national-ism. 158 years later, as if to herald the centennial “celebrations” of the WWI, with its annexation of Crimea, Russia has won the � rst round of the Second Crimean War.

However, its opponents, the West-ern powers, are stupe� ed over their concrete role in this con� ict. It would not be naïve to presume that the US and the EU are confounded. Of course, we hear about certain sanctions against oligarchs linked to Putin like the Rossi-ya Bank and others, or the European Union’s visa bans and asset freezes of 30 odd top honchos of the Russian political order including the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

However, any serious retaliation looks unlikely. In essence, Russia’s “zone of in� uence” over the peninsula is taken as a fait accompli by all major powers. And, besides, Russia has ensured the tacit support of China and India ad libitum.

The Western media, cacophonous about this annexation, barely fails to conceal the fact that the Western powers have managed to turn Ukraine into a protectorate. The NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) established in 1997, through a charter to allow western mil-itary presence on the Ukrainian soil, was one of the � rst attempts to carve out Ukraine from Russian control.

The infamous troika – International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, and the European Commis-sion – which had earlier devastated several countries of Europe has set its sights on Ukraine for quite some time. Even though Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, is controlled by supporters of the exiled president Viktor Yanu-kovich, the provisional government is nothing but a mere puppet at the hands of the imperialist powers.

A few question about the referendum The referendum of March 6 over-whelmingly voted (96.7%) for Crimea’s accession to Russia. Considering such irresistible will of the Crimean popu-lation, what deters us from accepting this as a legitimate expression of the peninsula’s population? Western critics term it as illegal, citing the invi-olability of the Ukrainian constitution which clearly speci� es that any change to the country’s territory can only be made through a national referendum.

This takes us back to a century-old debate about territorial integrity and the aspirations for self-determination. The concepts around the latter argue that if a section of the population struggles to secede and hold a referen-dum with that goal, they have the right to do so in toto.

There can’t be an iota of incertitude about the majority of the Crimean population’s volition for uniting with Russia. Nevertheless, we need to look into its actual dynamics. What was instrumental for this referendum? Did the outcome of a mass movement from below that arose as an answer to the success of the Maidan movement in Kiev help this referendum? No. It came about in precisely the other way.

In marched the Russian soldiers, then a movement demanding this referendum was constructed and thus, executed. Therefore, even if the right of self-determination of the masses was formally realised, the masses who were stimulated to determine them-selves were not the ones in control of the situation. Hence, they didn’t determine their destiny themselves – as much as it happened in the past, Crimea was made a part of Ukraine without their consent from outside.

Putin’s hypocrisyPutin’s harangues about the rights of ethnic minorities in Ukraine are loaded with hypocrisy, considering the violence he has unleashed within Russia. These duplicities and selec-tive concern are also evident even inside Crimea. The Tatars, the oldest inhabitants of the Crimean peninsula, treat this Russian annexation with the deepest suspicion and hostility.

After all, during the Stalin-era, it was the Soviet state dominated by Russians which ethnically cleansed the Tatars during WWII. The total Crimean Tatar population was deport-ed to Central Asia and parts of Russia, resulting in lakhs of deaths and the painful disintegration of this national community.

No Crimean Tatars were permitted to return to their homeland until 1967, then a part of Soviet Ukraine. The existence of such painful historical memories motivated the Crimean Tatars to vocally oppose the Russian maneuver. They even boycotted the referendum.

Only time will tell us about the fate of Crimean Tatars inside the Russian Federation. The post-Soviet Russian state has a savage practice of violently in� icting its will on any de� ant people in its periphery – like it did with the Chechen people, for instance. Even so, loyalties of the Tatars could be bought through clientelism.

The way forwardIt would be unprincipled and political-ly abhorrent to endorse either Moscow or Washington as the lesser oppressor. It only compounds the trouble. The nationalists at Kiev make full use of the Russian military takeover of Crimea to perpetrate their vicious politics under the pretext of resisting Russi� cation or foreign domination. In a similar way, Kiev’s reactionary maneuvers to a� rm its dominance provides Putin all the pretence he needs to predicate Russian military and economic might to salvage the Ukrainians of the fascists. Both the Russian aggression and the US-EU imperialism must be defeated. Therein lies the way out for the people of Ukraine. l

Sushovan Dhar is an activist. He is based in Kolkata.

n Syed Ishtiaque Reza

As the Rana plaza tragedy com-pleted one year on April 24, Md Atiqul Islam, President of

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and his colleagues are still seen on television talk shows explaining what measures they have taken so far to ensure workplace safety in the apparel sector.

BGMEA leaders as well as the government policymakers, in loud voices, promised a new journey for the country’s garment industry towards a safer and more sustainable future. The industrial tragedy in 2013, that shook and shocked not only the garment industry but also the entire economy, was also seen by the policymakers as well as the owners as an opportunity to rectify all its weaknesses.

Anti-corruption watchdog Trans-parency International, Bangladesh (TIB) praised the industry owners and the government for the initiatives tak-en and implemented so far to ensure workplace safety. It however said that the industry still has to go a long way to win the con� dence of the interna-

tional community.In the TV talk shows, newspaper

interviews, and interactions with the buyers, civil society members, media people, and others concerned, BGMEA leaders promised maximum e� orts to ensure workplace safety to clean up their image globally. In one such meet-ing with newspaper editors and tele-vision news chiefs, BGMEA leaders, in detail, clari� ed the measures and arrangements taken to prevent such industrial accidents in the future.

BGMEA President Atiqul Islam hoped that the apparel industry of Bangladesh would have a totally di� erent picture after the � ve years time given by the buyers for the factory remediation. He was also hopeful of reaching the $50bn export mark soon. Newspaper editors and senior journal-ists reminded the BGMEA leadership that the process to bring back a good image for the industry is not an easy task as it involves bridging daunting cultural and economic challenges in the way business has been done in the past.

The RMG industry that accounts for nearly 79% of the country’s total export earnings, the industry that created direct employment of nearly

� ve million people, of whom most are women, with another four million people in the associated sectors, needs to go beyond the traditional markets at the earliest. Why are the new markets required? Experts, economists, ex-porters, and civil society people were of the opinion that market diversi� -cation will not only help Bangladesh manufacturers reduce dependency on selected markets, but it will also raise our bargaining power in setting the prices of products.

Rich nations like EU countries, the USA, and Canada may not remain rich markets forever. Alternative markets are lucrative in another sense too, as these buyers will not set tough conditions at the initial stage. The new market exploration will also force the industry towards quick product diver-si� cation. And for all those initiatives, Bangladesh has to ensure that it will not do the kind of business that kills people because of negligence.

All the discussions during the past year focused on workplace safety. Promises for it have been made by the owners and the government. But after one year of such a big disaster, the RMG industry is yet to set a real goal

for itself. It appears that the industry lacks philosophy or concept. In televi-sion talk shows, in media interviews, in seminars and roundtables, the BGMEA leaders and ministers are all talking about workplace safety and di-versi� cation of markets and products, but no one is talking about a concrete vision towards the future.

What actually is the destination of our RMG sector? What are the areas where Bangladesh’s RMG has compar-ative advantages? Is it the high-end market, the low-end section, or the mid-segment? These questions so far remained unanswered. Considering Bangladesh’s infrastructure and abili-ty, it is perceived that Bangladesh can become the leader in the mid-segment very soon, provided other factors work

favourably for the sector. The issue is not only of getting the

right workplace for the workers, but also being a real and e� cient player in the international market. As the exporters � ght each other over the buyers, there should be more consist-ency among the players.

Since the Rana Plaza tragedy, the

Bangladesh garment sector is facing serious negative publicity around the world. BGMEA held so many press meets in Dhaka. Even foreign journalists were called in to brief them about the in-itiatives. But it did not think of opening an o� ce in Europe or America to face the criticisms there or going for direct management of the pressing issues.

Many exporters go to the buying houses as they do not go directly to the

foreign buyers. As the BGMEA or other organisations and companies are hard-ly representing Bangladesh in Europe or USA, there is a lack of contact there. For new concepts and new ideas, the BGMEA must have direct contact with buyers associations in Europe and North America.

The 30 years experience ensured the right skills for the Bangladesh RMG industry to be able to take a fair amount of orders in the days to come. But it needs a comprehensive foresight so that the industry owners, the work-ers, the policy makers, and the media too can talk along the same lines.

The Rana Plaza collapse and the Taz-reen � re threw the RMG industry under monstrous pressure. Already, the rise in wages and necessary safety precautions have raised the costs of this business. It is now time to think about productivity enhancement. It is also time to think about knowledge sharing and capabili-ty enhancement through collaboration. The vision for the RMG industry is to observe new possibilities and develop-ing a strategy to grab opportunities. l

Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

It is now time to think about productivity enhancement. It is also time to think about knowledge sharing

Modinomics 101

Ukraine’s way out

A concrete vision for garments

What kind of economy is Modi picturing? REUTERS

Though Congress is trying to establish Modi as the messiah of the large corporate houses, their economic policies are the same

Both the Russian aggression and theUS-EU imperialism must be defeated

T H I R D E Y E

Arrest warrant issued against Ram Leela teamn Entertainment Desk

A local court in Muza� arpur (Bihar) on Friday issued arrest warrants against Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela actors Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh, and director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali in connection with a case alleging that a few scenes in the movie hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus.

Warrants were also issued against another producer Kishore Lulla, as well as the musicians and lyricists of the movie. Issuing the arrest warrants, Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) SP Singh directed Mumbai Police Commissioner to arrest the persons concerned and produce them at his court on June 4.

The warrants were issued based on a complaint case under various sections of the IPC � led by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha in November last year which alleged Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela was o� ensive to the religious values of Hindus.

The CJM took cognisance of the case on February 14 this year and summoned the actors and the director, who did not turn up following which yesterday the warrants were issued. l

EntertainmentDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 201412

ExhibitionGermany – A Sporting Nation Time: 11am – 6pmGoethe Institut BangladeshRoad 9(new), House 10Dhanmondi

‘Water Rhymes-2’Time: 11am – 8pmGalleri Kaya, House 20Road 16, Sector 04, Uttara

Bonded Stitches & StruggleTime: 3pm – 8pmDrik GalleryHouse 58, Road 15A (New)Dhanmondi

‘Nature ‘n Craft’Time: 12pm – 8pm Zainul Gallery-1, CharukalaDhaka UniversityShahbag

Film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3D & 2D) Jonakir AloThe Legend of Hercules 3DAvatar in 3DFrozen in 3DEnder’s GameTime: 10am – 10pmStar Cineplex, Level 8Bashundhara City

TODAY IN DHAKA

‘I don’t know if my audience can accept me as a serial killer’n Afrose Jahan Chaity

Jaya Ahsan, who is already famed for her versatility has accepted the role of a serial killer in the upcoming psychological thriller Zero Degree. Directed by Animesh Aich and produced by Playhouse Productions, the � lm will hit the theatres this September. Jaya stars oppo-site Mahfuz Ahmed. Other members of the cast include model and actor Dilruba Yeasmin Ruhee, Iftekhar Zaib, Mir Rabbi, Tarique Anam Khan, Teli Samad, and Iresh Zaker, to name a few.

Jaya Ahsan, who has previously experimented and skillfully portrayed a wide range of characters, said that she is unsure about how the audience would react to her role of a serial killer.

“The character does not portray a straightforward protagonist or antagonist, but is morally grey and the audience will have a hard time identifying it as a positive or negative role. It was a challenging character to say the least, I will be seen as a deranged serial killer and that, took some work,” said Jaya in an interview with the Dha-ka Tribune.

Jaya Ahsan’s previous release, Purno Doirgho Prem Kahini made waves among the audience of the country. It was her debut in a mainstream commercial � lm. This new role is completely di� erent.

“My role in this � lm is not conventional and that is why I grabbed the opportunity as soon as it came my way. This is a multi-dimensional character. The story and script of the � lm are also mind blowing.”

It is also evident that the role is demanding on a phys-ical as well as emotional dimension. Jaya sustained inju-ries during the course of � lming Zero Degree. She is still recuperating from the accident.

While asked about her next venture in the main-stream � lmdom, the glamourous actor said: “A sequel to Purno Doirgho Prem Kahini’s is in talks. I have been approached to work in this � lm. In addition to this, there

are a few more projects on the table, but I’ve not signed any of those yet.”

Jaya won the National Award twice for her brilliant performances in Guerrilla and Chorabali. l

From Siraj to the Nawab of Bengal n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Theatre production Siraj Jokhon Nawab Sirajuddaula, an adaptation from playwright Sachindranath Sen-gupta’s historical play Sirajuddaula (written in 1938), brings to light a dark chapter in the history of Bengal – the fall of Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah and the fate of the people of Bengal.

The � fth staging of the play was showcased at the Main Hall of Nation-al Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpaka-la Academy on May 2 in the capital.

The play has been adapted and directed by Abdul Aziz who retained the original story of Sachindranth’s play but abridged and added � rst and � nal acts to the new play. The � rst act of the play shows a theatre activist named Siraj who is deeply inspired

by Anwar Hossain’s performance as the Nawab and desperately wants to play the role in a production. The entirety of the original play is depict-ed as a dream sequence, where Siraj envisions the Darbar hall in the days of Nawab Sirajuddaula and relives the conspiracies, the battle of Polashi and the fall and demise of the Nawab.

When the dream of Siraj ends, the � nal act shows a theatre direc-tor choosing him to play the coveted role of the tragic Nawab.

As the play has been showcased repeatedly for the last � ve to six de-cades in the region and the dialogues and scenes from the play have be-come familiar to the audience, the director wanted to keep the dia-logues and scenes as they were the Sachindranath’s play.

Khandokar Shah Alam who played the role of Siraj ud-Daulah received much applause in his delivery of the famous dialogues of Sirajuddaula.

The production is also enriched by Abdul Aziz’s costume design, Firoz Khan’s music and Thandu Rai-han’s light.

Bangladesh Theatre staged the production as tribute to Anwar Hos-sain after the demise of the veteran actor who was the title role in the landmark � lm Nawab Sirajudduladi-rected by noted actor-director Khan Ataur Rahman. After the release of the � lm in 1967, people started ad-dressing Hossain as “Nawab.” Apart from acting in the � lm Anwar also played the role of Sirajudaula in var-ious stage performances that rein-forced his image as Nawab. l

After Chorabali, Rony comes up with Morichikan Entertainment Desk

After the success of his directorial debut Chorabali, director Re-doan Rony is going to shoot his second � lm in August. Recently, the director, who also wrote the story and script of the � lm, reg-istered the name of the � lm Morichika.

About his second feature � lm, Redoan Rony said: “The story of this � lm is based on a true love story. It will

add some new features and expressions to the conven-tional way of portraying a love story.”

He further added: “I want to depict the sorrow and happiness of a couple in a practical way. Right now I am working on the script and I have plans to release Morichika at the end of this year.”

The cast of the � lm has not yet been � nalised. l

Actors of Tin Goyenda announcedn Entertainment Desk

Based on teen thriller story book Tin Goyenda, a TV drama serial is all set with cast and crew for production. According to a recent announcement by Maasranga Television, producers of the seri-al, Ayan, Kabya, and Badhon will play the roles of Kishore, Musa, and Robin respectively.

More than three thousand teenagers lined up to audition for the coveted roles. Going through a tough selection round, the top ten shortlisted actors were short-listed for the grooming session. Finally Ayan, Kabya, and Badhon were chosen.

Scripted by Mazaharul haque Pintu and directed by abul Hos-sain Khokon, the shoot of the series will start from May 14 in various locations in Cox’z Bazaar

and Bandarban. The plot of the drama series

revolves around the three young friends, Kishore Pasha, Musa Aman and Robin Milford who form a teenage detective team. They thrive on the thrill, suspense and challenges thrown their way.

Tin Goyenda is very popular and one of the most famous se-ries of juvenile detective novels published in Bangladesh by She-ba Prokashoni, and as the name explains, is the tale of three teen-age detective. It is actually the Bengali translation of the famous English series The Three Inves-tigators by Robert Arthur. Rakib Hassan started this famous se-ries and later Shamsuddin Nawab took over from him. The Tin Goyenda series is a sub-series of Juvenile Thriller series of Sheba Prokashoni. l

n Entertainment Desk

The Dark Horse singer Katy Perry has been miles ahead

on the fashion scene for quite some time now. Katy Perry fans have long lust-ed after the star’s style but some striking similarities suggest that her entire pop persona is based on comic book character Katy Keene.

Katy Perry’s out� ts that she uses in all of her music videos come from the comic

book character. From Roar to Last Friday Night, and even

all the way back to California Gurls, Katy Keene has been giving Miss Perry fashion tips and ways to style her music

videos for years! l

Katy Perry’s entire pop persona

inspired by Katy Keene

Famed actor Tisha arranged a surprise birthday party for her husband, eminent director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki on May 2 at the Cox’s Bazaar sea beach. Farooki was busy � lming a shoot while Tisha made a sudden entrance via helicopter. Later the cast and the crew of the production had a fun party

A scene from Siraj Jokhon Nawab Sirajuddaula

The newly announced actors of Tin Goyenda

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, May 4, 2014

Sport 1414 Bayern crush struggling Hamburg

Barcelona title hopes ended by Getafe draw

15 US sprinter Tyson Gay banned one year for doping

Did you know?There have now

been eight Premier League goals scored

inside the � rst minute this season; no single campaign has ever seen more

Brothers Union’s Haitian forward Augustine Walson goes ecstatic after scoring the winner against Chittagng Abahani at BNS yesterday MUMIT M

Forhad sparkles for North Zone in BCL

Bangladesh Cricket Board North Zone batsman Forhad Hossain blasted a century that enabled his side to a good start against Walton Central Zone while Islami Bank East Zone continued to stutter as the opening day’s play of the third and � nal round of the Bangladesh Cricket League 2013-2014 resumed at BKSP, Savar yesterday.

Forhad struck 109 to lead BCB North Zone to 287-4 by the end of the � rst day’s play in the four-day � rst-class franchise-based competition. Islami

Bank East Zone on the other hand were dismissed for 135 in 69.4 overs, cour-tesy of national spinners Abdur Raz-zak and Sohag Gazi who shared seven wickets between themselves for Prime Bank South Zone.

Replying to Islami Bank East Zone’s modest 135, Prime Bank South Zone, by stumps, had posted 108 for the loss of Imrul Kayes’ wicket in 34 overs.

BCB North Zone v Walton Central ZoneElecting to bat � rst, BCB North Zone made a good start to their innings as openers Hamidul Islam (60) and Junaid

Siddique (65) added 88 runs for the opening stand.

After the departure of Siddique, centurion Forhad arrived to the crease and put on a further 85 runs alongside Hamidul for the second-wicket part-nership.

Forhad smashed 14 boundaries and a six in his knock and despite Hamid-ul’s dismissal, BCB North Zone main-tained their momentum with Forhad and Naeem Islam (38) posting 102 runs for the third wicket.

Following Forhad’s dismissal, Nasir Hossain was not out on 11 while Tanvir

Haider was unbeaten on one. Walton Central Zone’s Elias Sunny

picked up two wickets while Marshal Ayub and Mosharraf Rubel, playing his � rst game after being cleared of wrongdoing in the match-� xing scandal of the Bangladesh Premier League’s second edition, scalped a wicket apiece.

Islami Bank East Zone v Prime Bank South ZonePrime Bank South Zone left-arm spin-ner Razzak snared four wickets conced-ing 34 runs while right-arm o� -spinner

Gazi picked up three wickets giving away 41 runs to bundle out Islami Bank East Zone for a paltry 135.

Islami Bank East Zone skipper Alok Kapali chipped in with 56 but none of the other batsmen crossed 33 in the face of some disciplined bowling by Razzak and Gazi.

In reply, Prime Bank South Zone were 108-1, needing 28 more runs to overhaul Islami Bank East Zone’s � rst innings tally.

Kayes (38) and Anamul Haque (59 not out) registered 81 runs for the opening wicket stand before Kayes was

sent back to the dressing room o� the bowling of Enamul Haque Jr. Soumya Sarker was undefeated at the other end on six. l

Walson late strike seals Brothers win

Haitian forward Augus-tine Walson’s late strike saw Brothers Union grab full points against Chittagong Abahani with a 2-1 win in the second phase of the Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier League at the

Bangabandhu National Stadium yes-terday.

Chittagong Abahani drew � rst blood in the 13th minute through a combined move. Guinean forward Ousmane Cherrif made his way through the left � ank and cut a neat cross for mid� elder Ismael Jahed who headed the ball into

the near post.However, an own goal from Chit-

tagong Abahani saw Brothers Union restore parity in the 15th minute. Ni-gerian mid� elder Simon Ezeodka shot towards the Abahani net and the ball de� ected o� the foot of defender Naz-rul Islam before landing into the far post netting.

With the match destined to end in a draw, Haiti’s Walson sealed the fate of the match in the 86th minute with a side-footed placing shot from close range.

Brothers Union took their tally to 19 points from 13 matches while Chit-tagong Abahani still had their previous collection of seven points from the same number of matches. l

Upbeat Russel leave for Colombo today

Sheikh Russel KC, the reigning champion of Bangladesh Premier League will eye a � nal round berth in the AFC President’s Cup from group A which kicks o� in Colombo from next Wednesday. Russell � ies to Colombo today to take part in the competition.

The eleven teams of the tournament have been drawn into two groups of four teams and one group of three teams. Each group is played on a single round-robin basis and winners and runners-up from each group will advance to the � nal stage.

However, the treble winners of

last season will be hoping dearly for a change of luck to achieve their target as their poor domestic form has seen them fail to defend their Federation Cup and Independence Cup titles and are struggling in the � fth position in the point table of Bangladesh Premier League with only 16 points.

The club management sacked their last season’s treble winning coach Maruful Haque halfway through the league and handed over the responsibility to Montenegrin coach Dragan Dukanovic whose two matches in charge so far have earned Sheikh Russel a draw and a loss. After his arrival, the Montenegrin coach hoped his motivational job will lift the team

spirit and sounded even more upbeat in yesterday’s press conference held at the BFF House.

‘I had little time to settle the things in the league. But now things are di� erent and our target is to win the group,’ said Djukanovic.

“I believe in my players. They are capable of winning the group. We must make the optimum use of the available players and we hope to attain success with them,” said Dukanovic.

Russell included Haitian mid� elder Pascal Millien and Serbian holding mid� elder Ivan Kurtusic to complete the foreign quota in the 20-member squad.

Russell will start their Group A

campaign against Khan Research Laboratories of Pakistan on May 7. They will then meet Sri Lanka Air Force SC and Bhutan’s Ugyen Academy on May 9 and May 11 respectively to complete the group campaign.

The President’s Cup, which will be scrapped after this year, has always turned out to be an elusive one for the clubs from Bangladesh as no club has reached the � nal round till date.

Abahani Limited have played in the meet on � ve occasions but have failed on every occasion while 2010-11 league champion Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club didn’t take part in the 2012 edition in Pakistan due to security reason. l

Decision on Jurgensen tomorrow

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will take decision on the issue of nation-al head coach Shane Jurgensen’s ‘sur-prising’ resignation tomorrow. The BCB president Nazmul Hasan informed that he would talk to Jurgensen in person be-fore heading into tomorrow afternoon’s meeting with the board directors.

The BCB boss told so to the media yesterday in the Apollo Hospital after meeting Bangladesh skipper Mush� qur Rahim. Mush� qur was admitted to hospital on Friday and later diagnosed with contracted viral hepatitis. It was understood that apart from visiting the ill Mush� qur, Nazmul also talked about the Jurgensen issue.

Prior to visiting Mush� q at the hospi-tal, Nazmul also sat in person with BCB chief of cricket operations Akram Khan and though it was learned from close sources that the agenda discussed with Akram was the Jurgensen one, Nazmul said, “The meeting (with Akram) was for some other issue. We have a board meeting on Monday (tomorrow) and a decision on Jurgensen will be made there. We are still to decipher why he (Jurgensen) actually resigned.”

“Everyone is sad for the poor run in

the last three months. This might be a reason for his (Jurgensen) resignation,” Nazmul added.

A change of coach after poor perfor-mance in a World Cup is a norm in the cricketing arena but Nazmul thought the situation for Bangladesh wasn’t that bad to have a change.

“We never took any decision of keeping him or not. So we will have to know the reason for his stance. We have a series against India at home and an away series in West Indies followed by the 2015 World Cup. So we are great-ly in need of a coach at the moment. What we can do at best is give him (Jurgensen) assurance of his post if he is su� ering from insecurity. We won’t stop him if he wants to leave even after tha,” said Nazmul.

Jurgensen was skeptical of the cur-rent environment in the BCB regard-ing his position in the team. Thus the 38-year-old decided to move on which he considered the best thing to do for the team and his coaching career.

The rumor of a change in Bangla-desh team’s head coach began last month when BCB president Nazmul Hassan said he foresaw “many chang-es” in the national team although he was not speci� c. l

Archrivals set for another derby

It will be the � fth time that traditional rivals Abahani and Mohammedan will lock horns with each other this season as the country’s two most crowd-puller clubs meet in the second

phase of the Bangladesh Premier League at the Bangabondhu National Stadium today at 6 pm.

Apart from the previous meeting, the Sky Blues have enjoyed success against their arch rival in recent times which includes two victories and a draw this season. The Black and Whites, however, had the last laugh in

the Independence Cup semi� nal when they edged past Abahani before lifting the trophy eventually. The victory arrived after not winning six games since May 22, 2012.

Mohammedan will try to carry the momentum and reduce the gap with Abahani in the points table where they are now � ve points behind their rivals as they sit in the third place. While for Abahani, anything but a win today will be a blow to their title hopes as they are six points behind leaders Sheikh Jamal with a game to spare.

In the very next game after losing to Mohammedan in the Independence Cup, Abahani kicked o� the second phase in the league with their maiden defeat this season.

However, they managed to return

to winnings ways in their next two games while Mohammedan saw their 11-match unbeaten streak come to an end against Team BJMC in their last match.

Ali Akbar’s major worry would be to � nd the key that can unlock Mohammedan defense led by their Cameroonian defender Baybeck. The good thing for the Iranian coach is that his Portuguese signing Leonildo Suares has started to � nd rhythm in his debut season in Bangladesh.

“This is a very important match for both teams and we want to win the game to keep our hopes alive for title. We lost to them in the Independence Cup for our defensive mistakes and we want to rectify them. If we can win tomorrow (Sunday), it will make

our next step easier,” said Ali Akbar yesterday.

The Iranian coach said that Waly Faisal and Saikat might miss the game due to injury but Md Sujon is � t to start.

On the other hand, Mohammedan would miss the services of winger Jahid Hossain and Damien Chigozie, con� rmed their Portuguese coach Rui Capella Batista. However, in-form national striker Zahid Hossain Emily, who missed the previous game against BJMC due to injury, has returned to the squad.

“The pressure will be on Abahani. We have no alternative than winning the game to keep us in the title race. Hopefully we will overcome our defensive problems,” said the Portuguese coach. l

At BKSP – 3, SavarBCB North Zone 287-4 in 90 overs (Forhad Hossain 109, Junaid Siddique 65, Hamidul Islam 60, Elias Sunny 2-57) v Walton Central Zone At BKSP – 4, SavarIslami Bank East Zone 135 all out in 69.4 overs (Alok Kapali 56, Abdur Razzak 4-34, Sohag Gazi 3-41) v Prime Bank South Zone 108-1 in 34 overs (Anamul Haque 59 not out, Soumya Sarker six not out)

BRIEF SCORES

Fide Master Fahad Rahman receives his prize after emerging as the champion of Open Group in the Mohammedan International School Chess yesterday COURTESY

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Pirlo extends at JuventusJuventus mid� elder Andrea Pirlo has signed a new two-year deal that will see him remain with the Italian champions until 2016, reports said Friday.

Gazzetta dello Sport said Juventus, who crashed out of the Europa League semi-� nals on Thursday after a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Ben� ca, have tied the Italy mid� elder to a new deal that will expire in June 2016. Pirlo joined Juventus in 2011 on a free transfer from AC Milan, with whom he won two Serie A titles and two Champions League crowns, in 2003 and 2007. In his three-year spell in Turin Pirlo has won two league championships. –AFP

Hales makes county loan moveWorcestershire have signed England Twenty20 opening batsman Alex Hales on loan from Nottinghamshire as cover for Moeen Ali ahead of his upcoming

absence on England duty. Ali, a top-order batsman and o� -spinner, has retained his place in England’s squad for next week’s one-day international against Scot-land in Aberdeen and Worcestershire have responded by bringing in Hales from Midlands rivals Nottinghamshire where he is currently surplus to requirements in four-day County Championship cricket. The 25-year-old averaged just 13.94 in 10 Championship appearances last season, with only two half-centuries. –AFP

‘Gerrard to get new deal until 2016’Liverpool will o� er captain Steven Gerrard a new contract at the end of the season to keep him at An� eld until at least 2016, according to manager

Brendan Rodgers. The 33-year-old mid� elder, whose current contract expires at the end of next season, has played a major role in the club’s drive towards a � rst English League title since 1990. “Steven will be one we look to get a contract to in the summer,” Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo. “With a year to go, it’s some-thing we will address. I believe Steven will play beyond 2015. He is a player who has really shown his qualities this season. –Reuters

FIXTURES Almeria v Real Betis Levante v Atletico Madrid Sevilla v Villarreal Real Madrid v Valencia

FIXTURES Saint-Etienne v Montpellier Lorient v AC Ajaccio Reims v Evian TG Sochaux v Nice Toulouse v Nantes Valenciennes v Bordeaux Marseille v Lyon

Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng and Hamburg’s Kerem Demirbay (R) argue during their Bundesliga match in Hamburg yesterday REUTERS

Barcelona title hopes ended

Barcelona’s slim hopes of retaining their La Liga title were all but ended after they were held 2-2 at home by struggling Getafe on Saturday.

The Catalans now trail leaders Atlet-ico Madrid by three points with just two games remaining and having played a game more, whilst Real Madrid are just three points further back but with two games in hand over Barca.

Lionel Messi opened the scor-ing with a � ne � nish, but Barca were pegged pack when Angel La� ta levelled just before half-time.

The Spanish champions improved go-ing forward after the break and deserv-edly went back in front when Alexis Sanchez drilled the ball home 23 min-utes from time, but they were stunned in injury time as La� ta rose to head home Jaime Gavilan’s cross to secure a vital point for Getafe.

A video tribute was played along with a minute’s silence to mark the death of former Barca coach Tito

Vilanova before kick-o� in the Catalans’ � rst home game since he passed away at the age of 45 on April 25.

Possibly a� ected by that emotional start to the game, the hosts began slowly but went in front with their � rst clear opening on 23 minutes when Messi swept home Dani Alves’ low cross to register his 41st goal of the season.

Instead, Getafe were level in controversial circumstances eight minutes before half-time when La� ta controlled Pablo Sarabia’s looping free-kick before � ring low into the far corner.

The goal was initially ruled out by the assistant referee for an infringe-ment by La� ta, but referee Jose Anto-nio Teixeira Vitienes overruled his col-league and allowed the goal to stand.

However, Gerardo Martino’s men upped the tempo of their game at the start of the second period and Cesar did well to parry a thunderous volley from Messi three minutes after the restart.

Barca did � nally go back in front midway through the second-half as substitute Cesc Fabregas had an instant impact when his low cross fell perfectly for Sanchez to ri� e home his 20th goal of the season.

However, there was nothing the keeper could do to prevent La� ta pow-ering home his second of the afternoon in stoppage time to move Getafe three points clear of the relegation zone. l

Atletico, Real out to seal perfect week

Fresh from reaching a � rst Champions League � nal in 40 years on Wednesday, At-letico Madrid insist they are already focussed on their La Liga title run-in, starting

with a trip to Levante on Sunday.Atletico will face bitter neighbours

Real Madrid in a historic Champions League � nal in Lisbon next month but in the meantime they are in the driving seat as they need just two wins from their last three games to seal their � rst La Liga title for 18 years.

Diego Simeone’s men are on a run of nine straight league wins and anoth-er victory away to mid-table Levante will give Los Rojiblancos the chance to

wrap up the championship at home to Malaga next weekend and avoid need-ing to get something from their daunt-ing visit to Barcelona on the � nal day of the campaign.

Even in the wake of his side’s fa-mous 3-1 win over Chelsea, Simeone insisted he was immediately “prepar-ing and focusing on the objective of beating Levante.”

Real Madrid could be nine points adrift of Atletico, albeit with two games

in hand, by the time they kick-o� later on Sunday at home to Valencia.

Los Blancos enjoyed a fantastic win in midweek themselves as they hammered European champions Bayern Munich 4-0 at the Allianz Arena to qualify for their � rst European � nal for 12 years.

Having already lifted the Copa del Rey, Real could still win an historic tre-ble this season should Atletico stumble in their � nal few league games.

And coach Carlo Ancelotti is savour-ing the success of his � rst season in charge.

“Obviously I am very happy, you have to enjoy the good moments be-cause, sooner or later, the bad mo-ments will come,” he told Sky Italia.

“It gives me great satisfaction to take Real Madrid to the � nal 12 years later.”l

Chelsea downcast, but summit in sight

Despite manager Jose Mourinho’s insistence that Chelsea cannot win the Premier League this sea-

son, beating Norwich City on Sunday would leave them top of the table with a week remaining.

Title rivals Manchester City and Liv-erpool will each have a game in hand by then, but although Chelsea need both teams to slip up if they are to � nish above them, Mourinho’s men remain in contention.

The last home game of the season

also gives Chelsea an opportunity to leave their fans with a positive memory of the campaign.

Chelsea need only a point to make sure that they � nish above fourth-place

Arsenal and qualify automatically for next season’s Champions League.

Arsene Wenger claims he will look back on the season as a missed oppor-tunity even if Arsenal clinch a place in

the Champions League this weekend.Wenger’s side can guarantee their par-

ticipation in Europe’s elite club compe-tition for the 17th successive year with a victory over West Brom on Sunday. With silverware proving elusive to Arsenal for most of the last decade, maintaining a Champions League presence has become a cause for celebration for Wenger.

Wenger is determined to � nish with two more wins in case either City or Chelsea slip-up, which would give the Gunners a chance to secure third place, thus avoiding a play-o� to qualify for the Champions League group stages next season. l

Juve eye on Scudetto, Milan dream of derby win

Juventus turn their focus back on securing a third consecutive Serie A title this weekend only days after a painful exit from the Europa League semis

at the hands of Ben� ca.Elsewhere, AC Milan host Inter in

the city derby with Europa League plac-es, and plenty of pride, at stake while Catania, Livorno, Bologna and Sassuolo continue their quest to beat the drop.

With a home � nal on the horizon, Juventus were on route for a dream double -- until a scoreless draw at home to 10-man Ben� ca on Thursday handed the Portuguese side, 2-1 winners in the � rst leg, their ticket to a second con-

secutive Europa League � nal, against Sevilla.

Juve’s disappointment was palpa-ble, with coach Antonio Conte lashing out: “The team that least deserves it is going to the � nal.”

Juventus host Atalanta in Turin on Monday, when Verona are away at Lazio in one of several matches this weekend that could help determine the league’s Europa League representa-tives next season.

But Juve, who have an eight-point cushion on Roma, can clinch the title as early as Sunday if Rudi Garcia’s side slip up at Catania.

Given Catania are propping up the table with � ve wins in 35 games so far, that scenario appears unlikely.

And Garcia seems intent on pushing

Juve all the way -- especially after a re-cent war of words between the French-man and his Italian counterpart.

AC Milan sit a whopping 42 points

o� Juve’s pace ahead of a league der-by they have not won since April 2011, when current coach Clarence Seedorf was still wearing the red and black.

The seven-time European champi-ons have been reduced to � ghting for

a Europa League place and desperate-ly need to beat Inter on Sunday if they are to � ght Torino, Lazio, Verona and Parma for a crucial sixth-place � nish which, exceptionally, has o� ered an extra Europa League spot via the Italian Cup, the � nal of which is being played by Napoli and Fiorentina on Saturday.

Milan captain Riccardo Montolivo told Corriere della Sera: “Firstly, we have win this to restore some pride and try to make up for this season. If we do, it will boost our Europa League bid and give us some revenge for the derby ear-lier in the season.

“It’s not just one game, this can help us get over an entire season which has been negative.”

A � fth consecutive derby win in the league, meanwhile, would push

Walter Mazzarri’s side closer to a � fth-place � nish and con� rm their return to Europe, albeit in the continent’s sec-ond-tier competition.

Fiorentina and Napoli are not in ac-tion until Tuesday when they respec-tively host Sassuolo and Cagliari.

A Napoli win, irrespective of Fioren-tina’s result in Florence, would secure third place and the � nal Champions League spot for Rafael Benitez’s side. With a nine-point lead on sixth-placed Torino, Fiorentina have virtually se-cured their Europa League spot.

Only � ve points separate Catania from Livorno, Bologna and fourth-from-bottom Sassuolo meaning de-feats for either side in their respective games against Roma, Udinese, Genoa and Juventus could prove costly. l

Marseille, Lyon focus on more modest aims

Unable to compete with the � nancial might of Paris Saint-Germain and Mo-naco in Ligue 1, old rivals Lyon and Marseille have more modest ambitions as they prepare to meet at the

Stade Velodrome on Sunday.Nearing the end of what has been a

draining campaign for both clubs for di� erent reasons, OM and OL clash in the ‘Olympico’ with the only prize on

the line a top-� ve � nish and quali� ca-tion for next season’s Europa League.

Once upon a time these sides might have turned their noses up at the pros-pect of playing in Europe’s second-tier club competition, but they can no lon-ger a� ord to as they look to cling onto a modicum of prestige.

For Lyon, this will be their 59th match of a long season which has al-ready seen them lose in the � nal of the League Cup and the quarter-� nals of the Europa League. l

Unhappy Mourinho issues Hazard warning

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho accused his mid� elder Eden Hazard on Friday of “not sacri� cing himself 100 per cent” for his team mates, two days after their Champions League semi-� nal exit.

Hazard, 23, criticised Mourinho’s tactics and told French TV station beIN SPORTS that Chelsea “were not made to play football.”

“Chelsea are not made to play foot-ball, we are good on the counter-attack, a bit like Real Madrid against Bayern Munich,” Hazard said after the match.

“Often, I am asked to do it all by my-self and it’s not easy.”

Mourinho, speaking to reporters be-fore Chelsea meet Norwich City in their penultimate Premier League match of the season on Sunday, responded by seemingly questioning Hazard’s com-mitment.

“The media was reporting that he was being critical, but there was nothing critical in what he says,” Mourinho said.

“But Eden is a player who is not mentally ready to look back to his left back and leave his life for him.

“When the comments come from a player like Eden it’s normal because he is not a player ready to sacri� ce himself 100 per cent for the team and his team mates. l

Bayern Munich’s new President Karl Hopfner speaks during a general meeting of the Bundesliga club in Munich on Friday REUTERS

FIXTURES Catania v Roma Chievo v Torino Genoa v Bologna Parma v Sampdoria Udinese v Livorno Milan v Inter

FIXTURES Arsenal v West Brom Chelsea v Norwich City

RESULTSDortmund 3 2 Ho� enheimGrosskreutz 29, Roberto Firmino 5, Mkhitaryan 31, Piszczek 34 Suele 66

M’gladbach 3 1 Mainz 05Stranzl 22, Kruse 54, Choup-Moting 66Kramer 77

VfB Stuttgart 1 2 VfL WolfsburgGentner 62 Bruyne 13, Olic 90+1

Werder Bremen 2 0 Hertha BerlinHunt 49, 90+1

Nuremberg 0 2 Hanover 96 Huszti 5, Schmiedebach 51

Freiburg 0 2 Schalke 04 Ayhan 13, Huntelaar 65

Hamburg 1 4 Bayern MunichCalhanoglu 70 Goetze 32, 70, Mueller 55, Pizarro 75

Braunschweig 0 1 Augsburg Bobadilla 90+4

Frankfurt 0 2 Leverkusen Castro 28, Can 36

Bayern crush struggling Hamburg

Bayern Munich mid� eld-er Mario Goetze scored twice to help the champi-ons beat struggling Ham-burg SV 4-1 on Saturday and bounce back in style

from their 4-0 demolition by Real Ma-drid in midweek.

It took a long time for the Bundesli-ga champions to get started with Bay-ern needing more than half an hour to carve out their � rst chance against the battling hosts.

That was, however, all Goetze need-ed to score after he played a quick one-two with Arjen Robben, charged into the box and slotted in for the lead in the 32nd minute.

Former European champions Ham-burg, who are the only team never to have played in the second division since the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963, have 27 points in 16th place with Nuremberg, who lost 2-0 to Hanover 96, on 26.

Eintracht Braunschweig lost 1-0 at Augsburg thanks to a stoppage time chip by Raul Bobadilla to remain in last place with 25 points.

Schalke 04 took a big step towards securing automatic quali� cation to the Champions League, easing past Freiburg 2-0 with goals from defend-er Kaan Ayhan and forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to move up to 61 points, three ahead of Bayer Leverkusen in fourth.

Borussia Dortmund edged past Ho� enheim 3-2 but with Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski, moving to rivals Bayern next season, failing to score in his last home game despite the crowd urnging him on. l

RESULTSBarcelona 2 2 GetafeMessi 23, Sanchez 67 La� ta 37, 90+1

Rayo Vallecano 0 3 Athletic Bilbao San Jose 20, Marcos 30, Herrera 74

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Sony Six08:30PM Indian Premier LeagueBangalore v Hyderabad

NBA Play-O� 2013-146:00AM Oklahoma City v Memphis8:30AM La Clippers v Golden StateStar Sports 23:00PMMotoGP: SpainMain RaceStar Sports HD 1

La Liga4:00PMAlmeria v Real Betis9:00PMLevante v Atletico Madrid 11:00PMSevilla v Villareal1:00AMReal Madrid v Valencia 7:00PM

Italian Serie ACatania v AS RomaStar Sports 46:30PMEnglish Premier LeagueArsenal v West Brom9:00PMChelsea v Norwich City12:45AMItalian Serie AAC Milan v Inter MilanTen ActionLigue 19:00PMFC 56 Lorient v AC Ajaccio

Cash boost for Beck’s Miami dreamDavid Beckham’s dream stadium project for his new Major League Soccer team in Miami took another step Friday toward becoming reality. The Florida state legislature approved a bill that allows professional sports teams to receive up to $2 million in annual subsidies to build or renovate stadiums or infrastructure. Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, must now enact the law. Former England and Manches-ter United star Beckham reportedly traveled to the state capital Tallahassee to push the measure. “We appreciate the work done by our government o� cials and their recognition of the enormous popularity of soccer,” he said. “Today is not only good for Orlando and Miami, it’s great for all of Florida. I look forward to continuing the work with our fans and the community.” Beckham wants to build a stadium for 25,000 fans at a cost of $250 million in the port of Miami, but has faced resistance from a coalition of business groups.

–AFP

Marseille o� cially announce Bielsa arrivalFrench giants Marseille on Friday an-nounced the signing of Argentine coach Marcelo “El Loco” Bielsa for the next two seasons. The 58-year-old former Argen-tina, Chile and Athletic Bilbao coach will o� cially sign his contract “the next time he comes to Marseille after the season is over,” said the club on their website. Marseille are currently coached by the unpopular Jose Anigo, who replaced Elie Baup on a temporary basis in December. Bielsa had long been rumoured to be the former European champions’ � rst choice to take over from Anigo at the end of this season. Those rumours went into overdrive when he watched Marseille’s 3-1 victory over Ajaccio on April 4 and the 3-2 success at Montpellier a week later, with the club then admitting they were in negotiations.

–AFP

Birmingham stage great escape, Brighton in play-o� sBirmingham City staged an astonishing great escape as they fought back to pre-serve their Championship status at Don-caster’s expense, while Brighton also left it late to snatch the last play-o� spot. On a dramatic � nal day in the second tier, there were incredible scenes at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium, where Birmingham looked dead and buried after falling 2-0 behind, only to snatch a stoppage-time equaliser to earn the 2-2 draw which lifted them out of the relegation zone on goal di� erence. With 14 minutes remain-ing, second-half strikes from Bolton’s Lee Chung-yong and Lukas Jutkiewicz had left Lee Clark’s men on the verge of falling into the third tier for the � rst time in 20 years. But the Blues were given a lifeline when Nikola Zigic headed home in the 78th minute and Paul Caddis then nodded in from close-range in the � nal moments to spark scenes of wild cele-bration from Clark and his players.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH

QUICK BYTES

A.F.M Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the additional secretary of Walton hands over the sponsorship money to Solaiman Sikder the GS of � oorball federation yesterday COURTESY

Floorball makes its debut in the country

The � rst National Floorball Champion-ship sponsored by Walton starts at the Shahid Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium to-day. Floorball resembles ice hockey but is played on a hard surface and each team comprises of six players each. The participant teams are Dhaka Warriors, Dhaka Commerce College, Lalbagh He-roes and Rajshahi Young Tigers in the male section while the women’s sec-tion will see Dhaka Warriors and Dhaka

Commerce College vie for the title.State minister for youth and sports

Biren Sikder will inaugurate the meet as the chief guest. In a press conference held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday, Floorball association general secretary Solaiman Sikder presented the meet to the press. A.F.M.Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn - the additional director of Walton, Kamal Hossain - the director of marketing of Walton and ATN Bangla news presenter Shamim Ara Munni were also present on the occasion. l

Fahad unbeaten champion in MSC School Chess

FM Mohammad Fahad Rahman of Gul-shan Model School emerged as the un-beaten champion in the open group of the Mohammedan International School Chess Championship at the club audi-torium yesterday. Fahad earned 5.5 points to clinch the title.

Three players were locked on 4.5 points each in the open group but through the tie-breaking system, Raf-shan Bin Omar of Government Science College School became runners-up, Arka Sengupta of Kolkata International School sealed 3rd position while Anata Choud-hury of Nalanda School clinched 4th.

WFM Arpita Mukharjee of Shahid Rameswar Girls School, Kolkata was the unbeaten champion in the girls’ class 6-10 category. Asmita Das Dolna of Day School, Kolkata became run-ners-up with four points and Nushrat Jahan Na� sa of Bibi Marium School � n-ished 3rd with three points.

Sayantan Mukharjee of Kolkata Boys School was the unbeaten champion in the boys’ class 5-7 group with maximum six points. Jamim Al-Hamid of Lily Chil-dren Academy became runners-up while Nova Tasha of DPS-STS School � nished 3rd with � ve points each.

Jannatul Ferdous of Ideal Primary School became champion with 5.5 points in the girls’ class 3-5 group, Rumaysa Hasnat of DPS-STS School was the run-ners-up with � ve points while Maliath Chowdhury of DPS-STS School became 3rd with four points. Abdullah Al Shah-ran Saikot of Khulshi Child Grammar School became unbeaten champion with 5.5 points in the boys’ class 3-4 group. l

Berdych battles through as Raonic exits in Portugal

Top seed Tomas Berdych toughed out a battling 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over quali-� er Leonardo Mayer while second seed Milos Raonic was eliminated from his quarter-� nal at the ATP-WTA Portugal Open on Friday.

Berdych, who only took a wild card to get more clay matches with the French Open just three weeks away,

almost found himself on the sidelines as he dropped the � rst set to his 88th-ranked Argentine opponent.

The sixth-ranked Czech survived a roller-coaster � nal set and will Satur-day face Romania’s Victor Hanescu who beat home hope Gastao Elias 6-1, 7-5.

“I have to be ready for tough battles like this,” said Berdych. “He hit the ball hard and played well at times, but he was also up and down. l

Cardi� , Fulham relegated from EPLSunderland stun Giggs’ United and move closer to safety

The trap door closed on Cardi� City and Fulham as crushing away defeats con-demned both to relegation

from the Premier League on Saturday with Sunderland moving to the brink of survival.

Sunderland’s surprise 1-0 win at Manchester United meant that Cardi� ’s 3-0 loss at Newcastle United ensured a return to the Championship for the Welsh club a year after returning to the top � ight for the � rst time since 1962.

Fulham, members of the Premier League since 2001, were thumped 4-1

at Stoke City.Sebastian Larsson’s 30th minute

winner for Sunderland at Old Tra� ord, where Ryan Giggs was in charge of United for the second time, meant Sun-derland moved to 35 points, � ve more than Cardi� and four ahead of Fulham who both have one game left.

Peter Odemwingie, Marko Arnau-tovic, Oussama Assaidi and Jonathan Walters scored for Stoke while Shola Ameobi, Loic Remy and Steven Tay-lor were on target for Newcastle who snapped a bad run of form that prompt-ed a fans’ protest against manager Alan Pardew and owner Mike Ashley during the game.

Defeat for Norwich City (32) at Chel-sea on Sunday would essentially rele-gate them too.

In an early kicko� West Ham Unit-ed guaranteed their safety, reaching 40 points with a 2-0 win over 10-man Tottenham Hotspur - their third victory over their London rivals this season.

An own goal by Spurs striker Harry Kane and Stewart Downing’s free kick put West Ham in control before half-time after Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul was red-carded for bundling over Downing who was racing towards goal.

Southampton won 1-0 at Swansea City with Rickie Lambert’s stoppage

time winner while Aston Villa, who be-gan the day not mathematically safe, beat FA Cup � nalists Hull City 3-1.

Earlier, West Ham United secured their Premier League status after stem-ming a run of four straight defeats with a 2-0 win at home to 10-man Totten-ham Hotspur on Saturday.

Victory took West Ham to 40 points ahead of their trip to Manchester City on the season’s � nal day and will re-lieve some of the pressure on manager Sam Allardyce, who has fallen out of fa-vour with some of the club’s fans.

Spurs, meanwhile, are now in dan-ger of being pipped to sixth place, which brings with it a berth in next sea-

son’s Europa League.The defeat left Tim Sherwood’s men

six points above Manchester United, who have two games in hand and a vastly superior goal di� erence. l

US sprinter Gay banned one year for doping, returns Olympic medal

Former world double sprint champion Tyson Gay has been suspended for one year after testing positive in 2013 for a banned anabolic steroid, the U.S. An-ti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Friday.

Gay has also returned the silver medal he won with the U.S. 4x100 metres relay team at the 2012 London Olympics but will be eligible to return to competition as early as next month after admitting his o� ence and co-op-erating with investigators.

“We are thankful he decided to come in and be truthful in his cooper-ation with us,” USADA chief executive Travis Tygart told Reuters.

“With the loss of results since 2012, including an Olympic medal, he has su� ered serious consequences, but by cooperating he has tried to help the sport move forward for the good of clean athletes.”

As part of the suspension he accept-ed, Gay, the joint second fastest man in

history, was disquali� ed from all com-petitive results since July 15, 2012, the date he � rst used a product that con-tained a prohibited steroid.

The start of his ban was backdated to June 23, 2013, the day his doping sam-ple was collected at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and when he voluntarily stopped competing after

being noti� ed of his positive test.His � rst race back is planned for

July, Reuters has learned.The American 100 metres record

holder had tearfully admitted last July he had failed an out-of-competition doping test, saying “I basically put my trust in someone and I was let down.”

The 31-year-old could have been suspended for two years for his � rst doping o� ence but received a reduc-tion because of his substantial assis-tance, USADA said.

The circumstances of his case is still under investigation and could produce additional suspensions, track and � eld sources said.

The ban is also subject to appeal by the International Association of Athlet-ics Federation and the World Anti-Dop-ing Agency.

The United States Olympic Commit-tee (USOC) con� rmed it had received the medal Gay won at the London Olympics and would be forwarding it to the Inter-national Olympic Committee (IOC). l

Haas reaches into Munich semi-� nals

Title-holder Tommy Haas was made to work before defeating Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday to qualify for the Munich ATP tournament semi-� nals.

The 36-year-old second seed spent almost two hours on court before � nally seeing o� the world number 33 in their quarter-� nal tie on the German clay.

The world number 16 will next face Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, who des-patched Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-1. Haas produced a brilliant sequence of backhand, forehand and then winning volley to earn the deci-sive break in the � rst set. l

(L-R) Manchester United’s English defender Rio Ferdinand, striker Robin van Persie and defender Nemanja Vidic leave the � eld at the end of their English Premier League match against Sunderland at Old Tra� ord in Manchester, northwest England yesterday. Sunderland won 1-0 AFP

RESULTSAston Villa 3 1 HullWestwood 1, Bowery 28-ogWeimann 41, 45

Man United 0 1 Sunderland Larsson 30

Newcastle 3 0 Cardi� Ameobi 18, Remy 87, Taylor 90+1

Stoke 4 1 FulhamOdemwingie 39, Richardson 80Arnautovic 54, Assaidi 73, Walters 82

Swansea 0 1 Southampton Lambert 90+3

West Ham 2 0 TottenhamKane 27-og, Downing 44

‘Banana’ racism is storm in teacup, Pele says

Brazil legend Pele said Friday that out-rage at the throwing of a banana toward compatriot and Barcelona defender Dani Alves was a social media storm in a tea cup.

Alves ate the fruit thrown on the pitch near him during a match at Vil-larreal and the host club banned the culprit who lobbed it for life, while the twittersphere buzzed with acclaim for the player’s cool reaction.

But for Pele the incident has been blown out of proportion.

“It’s not just in football where there’s racism. It’s been around in all sectors of society for a long time,” Pele said.

“Such banality. A guy threw a ba-nana. It’s a storm in a teacup.”

Barcelona and Brazil star Neymar was one of those who praised Alves af-ter launching an anti-racist campaign on social media. Brazilian President Dilma Rousse� likewise hailed Alves’s reac-tion. But Pele insisted: “I do not agree there is a wave of racism.

“In my day, people threw guana-bana fruit and mangoes” at players, he added. l

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

Afghan landslide rescue operation called o� Casualty � gures vary from 300 to 2,100 or moren Agencies

Afghan o� cials gave up hope on Sat-urday of � nding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, putting the possible death toll at more than 2,100, as rescuers turned their at-tention to helping the over 4,000 peo-ple displaced.

O� cials expressed concern the un-stable hillside above the site of the disaster may cave in again, threaten-ing the homeless as well as the UN and local rescue teams that have arrived in Badakhshan province, which borders Tajikistan.

“More than 2,100 people from 300 families are all dead,” Naweed Forotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan pro-vincial governor, told Reuters.

On the other hand, o� cials later said that a maximum of about 500 peo-ple died in the landslide that engulfed a village.

“The � rst � gure that we announced was obtained from local people, not from our technical team,” Gul Moham-mad Bedar, the deputy governor of Badakhshan province, told AFP.

“We think the dead toll will not rise beyond 500.”

Many villagers were at Friday prayers in two mosques when they were entombed by a tide of debris, and a second landslide hit people who had rushed to assist those in need.

Rescuers abandoned the search for survivors on Saturday, with o� cials say-ing 300 people were now con� rmed dead.

“Based on our reports, 300 hous-es are under the debris,” Badakhshan governor Shah Waliullah Adeeb told reporters at the scene. “We have a list of around 300 people con� rmed dead.

“We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the hous-es are under metres of mud. We will o� er prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave.”

However, the BBC estimates the death count at 2,500 and the Guardian says 2,700 and more people have been a� ected by the disaster.

Villagers and a few dozen police, equipped with only basic digging tools,

resumed their search when daylight broke but it soon became clear there was no hope of � nding survivors bur-ied in up to 100metres of mud.

“Seven members of my family were here, four or � ve of them were killed ... I am also half alive, what can I do?” said an elderly woman, her hair covered in a pink shawl.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said the focus was now on the more than 4,000 people displaced, either directly as a result of Friday’s landslide or as a precautionary measure from villag-es assessed to be at risk. Their main needs are water, medicine, food and emergency shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The impoverished area, dotted with villages of mud-brick homes nestled in valleys beside bare slopes, has been hit by several landslides in recent years.

Humanitarian catastropheThe side of the mountain above Ab

Barak collapsed at around 11am on Fri-day as people were trying to recover belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit a few hours earlier.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the landslides that were triggered by torrential rain. O� cials worry another section of the mountainside could col-lapse at any time.

The Afghan military � ew rescue teams to the area on Saturday, as the remote mountain region is served by only narrow, poor roads which have

themselves been damaged by more than a week of heavy rain.

“We have managed to get one ex-cavator into the area, but digging looks hopeless,” Colonel Abdul Qadeer Sayad, a deputy police chief of Bada-khshan, told Reuters.

He said the sheer size of the area a� ected, and the depth of the mud, meant that only modern machinery could help. Nato-led coalition troops are on standby to assist but on Satur-day said the Afghan government had not asked for help.

“I call on the government to come and help our people, to take the bodies out,” said a middle-aged man, standing on a hill overlooking the river of mud where his village once stood. l

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

National DNA database centre put on holdn Moniruzzaman Uzzal

E� orts to set up a national DNA data-base centre is forced to be put on hold as the country is yet to see the enactment of a DNA act, although over six months had passed since the draft of the act was approved by the then interim cabinet.

Sources said President Abdul Hamid has already given his nod to the draft of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Act, and it was likely to be placed in the next parliament session.

Dr Sharif Akteruzzaman, head of the National DNA Pro� ling Laboratory at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune that the DNA database centre would be set up in the lab to make it easier to solve crimes by identifying criminals.

He said the indexing system at the centre – the � rst of its kind in the coun-try – would preserve DNA data of con-victed criminals and missing persons along with crime scene evidence, which could later be used to solve cases.

The database would not only save time and money for the law enforce-ment agencies, but would also be cru-cial in ensuring justice for the victims, he added.

Dr Sharif said all convicts would need to submit their DNA samples through the jail authority, while those

samples would be preserved at the DNA database centre to be later cross-checked with biological evidence (bloodstain, semen etc) from crime scenes to see if any convict had com-mitted any crime after being released.

He added that a DNA database cen-tre could save up to 90% of investiga-tion costs for law enforcers.

Di� erent medical college and dis-trict hospital morgues reportedly re-ceive around 2,000-3,000 unidenti� ed bodies each year. A large number of those bodies could later be identi� ed, if DNA samples are preserved properly at the DNA database centre.

On the other hand, the courts are reportedly unable to pass judgements based on DNA evidence as the country was still using a century-old evidence act.

The work of the DNA lab is also ham-pered regularly, as scienti� c o� cers of the lab have to appear before the court to present the reports prepared by them. The passage of the act would waive them from having to appear be-fore the court.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a DNA act, the law enforcement agencies are unable to collect DNA sample from a suspect without getting their consent. The passage of the act would allow law enforcers to force o� enders to provide DNA samples. l

Govt to form ‘Coal Club’ n UNB

The government is considering form-ing a “coal club” aimed at sharing knowledge and experience among the public and private sector operators of the coal-� red power plants.

The Power Division has invited of-� cials of coal-� red plant projects to a meeting today at the Bidyut Bhaban to discuss the concept.

“The idea of the proposed coal club is to share and exchange the knowl-edge and experience among the spon-sors and operators of coal-� red power plants in the public and private sec-

tors,” said Anwar Hossain, a joint secre-tary of the Power Division.

The government has drawn up a Pow-er System Master Plan (PSMP) to increase power generation by setting up a large number of coal-based power plants.

As per the PSMP, 50% of the coun-try’s the power will come from the coal-� red power plants by 2030 when the country’s power generation is ex-pected to cross over 40,000MW to serve a demand of 38,000MW.

To achieve the target, the government has signed some contracts with local and foreign companies to set up a number of base-load coal-� red power plants. l

Hakaluki Haor has largest peat coal deposit n Aminur Rahman Rasel

A huge deposit of peat coal, commonly used to generate electricity, has been found at Chatal Beel in Hakaluki Haor of greater Sylhet division, says the Geo-logical Survey of Bangladesh (GSB).

The state-run agency claims that it is the country’s largest peat coal reserve having around 200m tonnes coal of low sulphur content. The GSB has detected the coal at a depth between one and � ve meters below the surface during a sur-vey under the second phase of a geo-sci-enti� c project for mineral resources.

The lion’s share of the reserve, stretching over Moulvibazar and Sylhet districts, is dry. The average thickness of this peat is two meters.

“Of the discovered reserve of 200m tonnes, the recoverable amount is 150m tonnes,” GSB Director General Sirajur Rahman Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The estimated cost of 200m tonnes peat coal would be around Tk1,000 crore.

Earlier, the highest amount was found at Baghia-Chanda Beel in Ma-daripur, around 100m tonnes.

Peat, an unconsolidated deposit of semi-carbonised plant, remains in a water-saturated environment, such as a bog or fen and of persistently high moisture content. It is an early stage or rank in the development of coal having 60% carbon content and 30% oxygen.

A team from the department found the coal after conducting the survey in two phases – one survey was conduct-ed from January to March last year and another from January to April this year.

The GSB has so far discovered con-siderable quantities of peat depos-its in various localities of the coun-

try. Amongst them, the deposits of Baghia-Chanda Beel in Madaripur, Kola Mauza in Khulna, and Pagla and Salla of Sunamganj are notable.

“Chatal Beel is the country’s larg-est reserve of the dry peat calculated to be 150m tonnes. It can be used to produce 40-50 megawatt electricity for 100 years, and also in brick kilns. The peat coal will be economically viable if we use it for electricity production,” said GSB Director (geology) Md Nehal Uddin, who heads the survey.

Nehal, also the project director, told the Dhaka Tribune that the geo-scien-ti� c survey was part of a three-year-programme for the development of mineral resources at a cost of Tk59.6m.

The project started in July 2011 and is expected to end in June this year. Around Tk12 lakh has been spent to conduct the peat coal survey.

“We found layers of dry and wet peat coal at a depth between one and � ve metres below the surface,” GSB’s Assis-tant Director Mohammod Masum, who headed the � ve-member survey team, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The GSB conducted surveys in six upazilas – Kulaura, Juri and Baralekha un-der Moulvibazar district, and Beanibazar, Fenchuganj and Gopalganj under Sylhet.

He said the geological team dug 2,000 boreholes at Chatal Beel having distance of 100-400 meters.

“The amount of sulphur is low in this coal which is useable for producing elec-tricity,” he said. “The peat coal is about 7,500 years’ old, and its samples are being examined in laboratory to deter-mine its chemical composition.” He es-timated that the coal deposit stretched over an area of around 70-80 sq-km.

Prof Ijaz Hossain of Buet said: “Peat coal is not used normally for power plant as the calori� c value is lower. Be-sides this, these power plants become dirty. But in Ireland they produce elec-tricity of 5,000MW with peat coal.

“We have a shortage primary fuel to generate electricity. So we can use it,” he observed. l

‘Dhaka, Delhi working to establish links with northeast’n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yes-terday said Bangladesh and India are working on establishing links with the northeast by reviving old rail links and looking at new road connectivity or re-viving old ones.

“We are working on establishing links with the northeast by reviving old rail links, opening up new land cus-toms stations/land ports/immigration points or reviving old ones; revamping trade infrastructures and looking at new road connectivity or reviving old ones etc,” he said while speaking at an international conference.

Bangladesh Itihash Sammilani has organised the two-day international con-ference on ‘1971 and North-eastern Indi-an States: Historicising and Contempo-rising Relationship’ at Bangla Academy.

The foreign minister said bridge over the Feni River, rail connectivity between Akhaura and Agartala and de-velopment of Ramgarh-Subroom are

the small links in the bigger picture of an interconnected region that both the countries strive for.

“We have proposed direct bus ser-vices between Dhaka-Shillong and Dhaka-Guwahati. I understand that there will be direct air link between Dhaka and Guwahati soon.”

He said Bangladesh had requested the Indian government to allow it to open a deputy high commission in Gu-wahati and upgrade Bangladesh visa of-� ce to an assistant high commission in Agartala to increase the diplomatic and commercial presence in the northeast.

The minister said Bangladesh can import natural resources and raw ma-terials from north-eastern states for value addition and re-export them to India or elsewhere.

“This is taking place, but needs to be done on a massive scale. Business com-munities of both the countries could think about more investment in di� er-ent potential sectors in the region.”

Mahmood said Dhaka had contrib-

uted to development of northeast’s power sector by allowing transporta-tion of over dimensional cargo for Tri-pura’s Palatana Power Plant through Bangladesh territory.

“In exchange, the Indian govern-ment is agreeable to supplying 100mw power from that plant. Once grid con-nectivity between the two countries is established for this purpose, it will open up more opportunities for power exchange.”

The minister said work is on to uti-lise northeast’s hydropower potential which would be economically viable if that surplus power could be transmit-ted through Bangladesh territory.

“We are also exploring joint venture investment in hydropower projects and the possibility of power import/ex-change through interconnection with the northeast,” he said.

Under the aegis of sub-regional coop-eration, discussions are taking place with joint working groups for cooperation in sectors of ‘water resources management

& power’ and ‘connectivity’ involving Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.

“India is keen to provide us with its surplus petroleum products through pipelines,” the minister said.

Indian High Commissioner in Dha-ka Pankaj Saran said when Bangladesh and India discussed the issue of north-east, they talked about connectivity.

“I don’t believe that countries which are so close geographically cannot live without connectivity,” he said.

Asian Highway, Bimstec, and recent initiative BCIM can help connect north-east with Bangladesh, he said.

The high commissioner acknowl-edged that in the past, there was a ten-dency to exploit each other.

“It is time for India and Bangladesh …to � nd a new development coopera-tion where we can help each other and not exploit each other’s weaknesses.”

He added: “We should not allow a small group of inimical forces to distort normal � ow of neighbourly relations between our two countries.” l

Afghan villagers gather at the site of a landslide at the Argo district in Badakhshan province, May 2, 2014. More than 2,000 people are trapped after a landslide smashed into a village in a remote mountainous area of northeastern Afghanistan REUTERS

‘We found layers of dry and wet peat coal at a depth between 1 and 5 metres below surface’

CID o� cials inspect a microbus, reportedly used in the abduction of Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam, at the residence of a local Awami League leader in Siddhirganj yesterday. Story on Front Page and Page 3 FOCUS BANGLA

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014

B3 Japan considers tax breaks to promote invest-ment, help companies

B4 The market opportunity with the next 3 billion

10,000 women entrepreneurs bene� ted from BB’s re� nance schemen Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has provided a total of Tk778 crore to 10,000 women entre-preneurs under its re� nance scheme, said Governor Atiur Rahman.

During the last one year, the banking sector has � -nanced Tk395 crore to 3,317 new women entrepreneurs which is 5% of the total new SME borrowers, he added.

The central bank chief was addressing the inaugu-ral session of a seminar on “Credit Access for Women Entrepreneurs - Challeng-es, Obstacles and the Way

Forward” held at the Bangladesh Bank Training Academy Auditorium in the capital yesterday.

He said if women are given

necessary supports including � nancial access, they can themselves ensure economic emancipation.

B3 COLUMN 4

BTA for withdrawal of VAT and income tax on tea estatesn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Tea Association (BTA) leaders have requested theNational Board of Revenue (NBR)for withdrawing 15% Value Add-ed Tax (VATs) and 5% income taxon the lease-value of the teaestates.

The government’s order for pay-ing VAT and tax on the lease-value of tea estates is not applicable in case of getting lease of tea estates or renewal of the leased lands, said BTA vice-president Shah Alam on Wednesday last.

The leaders of BTA came up with the demand while attend-ing a pre-budget meeting with theNBR o� cials held at itsheadquarters in the capital with NBR

Chairman Md Ghulam Hossain in the chair.

The BTA leaders also urged the NBR to re-introduce 20% supple-mentary duty on the import of tea as saying, “Local tea businesses are be-ing severely su� ered due to the ram-pant import of the low quality tea, just taking the bene� ts of less taxes on imported tea.”

There was 20% supplementary duty on the import of tea till 2012-13, which was withdrawn in the current budget.

Urging the NBR o� cials to pro-tect the local tea producers, BTA leaders said, “Local tea producers are now facing sti� competition be-cause of the whole-sale import of the sub-standard tea, taking the duty ad-vantage.”

Withdrawal of supplementary duty on baby food demandedAttending the same meeting, Ban-gladesh Milk and Milk Food Products Manufacturers Association (BMMF-PMA) also demanded withdrawal of 25% supplementary duty imposed on the import of baby food. Bangladesh imports a good number of alterna-tive food items of breast feeding for babies, which are very helpful for the growth of the babies and children, said the leaders of the association.

“A total of 56% taxes, including 25% supplementary duty have been imposed on these types of foods. If the supplementary duty is with-drawn, the prices of the imported baby foods will be a� ordable to most of the parents,” said Rebeka Yasmin, coordinator of the association. l

BB warns new banks of malpractices to woo clientsn Tribune Report

The new banks are doing aggressive banking even violating rules and ethics to get clients and business for survival in the competitive market as Bangla-desh Bank detected the malpractices.

In this backdrop, the central bank had a meeting with chairmen and man-aging directors of the nine banks at its headquarters in Dhaka late last week, asking them to abide by the rules and regulations properly.

“We considered the loopholes for the � rst year of operation as a new comer. But from now on you will be punished if any violations are found,” an executive, who was present at the meeting, quoted Governor Dr Atiur Rahman as saying.

The governor asked the banks to strictly comply with the prudential guideline in case of loan disbursement, and advised them to avoid big loans.

He said some banks were found dis-bursed loans exceeding single borrower limits and extended loan limit violating rules. “The central bank will no more consider such violations in the future.”

The new banks are following main-ly three ways to get business including lower interest rate, extending loan lim-it and allowing clients to pay loans of other banks, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank found such busi-ness tendency by analyzing their � nan-cial report of the year 2013 and minutes of board meetings, he said.

According to the Bangladesh Bank � ndings, Midland bank provided loan facilities to 11 clients who have existing loans in other banks and � nancial insti-tutions in order to pay those loans and to make the clients its own.

The banks followed the curved way instead of making new clients, which could be termed as aggressive bank-ing and the tendency is a threat for the banking sector, according to the report.

Bangladesh Bank is further examin-ing the loans to see whether abnormal facilities have been provided.

B3 COLUMN 5

New banks see pro� ts in � rst yearn Jebun Nesa Alo

All the new nine banks, which had launched their commercial operations just a year back, are lucky enough to see pro� ts in their very � rst year despite the sluggish investment climate, political unrest and slower credit growths.

All those new banks made pro� ts within a year in 2013 at a time when the overall banking business faced a seri-ous setback due to the political unrest over the January 5 national polls.

The banks are South Bangla Agricul-ture and Commerce Bank, Meghna Bank, Midland Bank, Union Bank, The Farmar’s Bank, NRB Commercial Bank, NRB Bank, Modhumoti Bank and NRB Global Bank.

Although the overall banking sector could not perform well due to the pre-vailing sluggish investment climate, the new banks made initial pro� ts as they were not burdened with the default loans like other commercial banks, and consequently they did not require maintaining necessary provi-sion, a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to BB data, provisional net pro� t of Meghna Bank stood at Tk3.5 crore, Midland Bank Tk3.03 crore, Mod-humoti Bank Tk6.3 crore, NRB Bank Tk1.2 crore, NRB Commercial Bank Tk2.3 crore, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank Tk4.6 crore, Far-mar’s Bank Tk5.4 crore while Union

Bank made a pro� t worth Tk8.7 crore. New banks have made the pro� ts

mainly by lending their paid up capital worth Tk400 crore to di� erent banks and � nancial institutions as term loan, said A K M Shahidul Haque, managing director of Midland Bank.

He said: “The real investments of all the commercial banks were not notably enough in the last year as the overall economic activities had come to an al-most halt amid political unrest. More-over, maximum banks continued to keep their operating cost lower till now to survive in the competitive market.”

The new banks made pro� ts despite the obstacles just because of the key role played by the experienced bank-ers, said Ra� qul Islam, managing di-rector of South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank.

“The new banks are also facing di� -culties in getting business as per expec-tation mainly due to the higher interest on loans. As a result, we are not getting any foreign fund,’’ he added.

As of February 20, 2014, the average advance-deposit ratio (ADR) of the nine new banks stood 54%, meaning the banks lent only Tk54 against a deposit of Tk100, which is much lower than the industries’ average of 70.35% against the Bangladesh Bank’s ceiling of 85%.

Of the new banks, ADR of NRB Commercial was 73.96%, South Ban-gla 65.36%, Meghna 65.65%, Midland 64.02%, The Farmar’s 23.46%, Union 72.83%, NRB 24.10%, NRB Global 83.72% while the ADR of Modhumoti Bank was 15%.

The central bank approved nine new banks in two phases in 2013 to take the country’s total number of scheduled banks to 56, of which, 39 are private, nine foreign and eight are state-owned. The nine new banks were established with the paid up capital of Tk400 crore each. l

Tea garden workers pluck tea leaves at a tea garden estate REUTERS

'The new banks are also facing di� culties in getting business as per expectation mainly due to the higher interest on loans'

Science ministry seeks increased budget fund for Rooppur nuke plant n Asif Showkat Kallol

The Science and Technology Ministry has sought raising of allocation in next � scal budget for Rooppur nuclear pow-er plant to pay contract advances to Russian � rm and sta� salaries.

In a letter to Finance Secretary Fazle Kabir, the ministry proposed an alloca-tion of Tk2,040 crore as the mid-term budgetary framework � xed amount at Tk1,284.93 crore.

Ninety percent advance of the second contract and 10% advance of third con-tract of � rst phase will have to be paid to Russian � rm Atomstroyexport, said the letter sent in second week this month.

The ministry also wants current � scal allocation of Tk246 crore be in-creased to Tk390 crore.

It called for � nance secretary’s spe-cial initiative to raise the allocations.

“We need your personal in� uence in this regard,” said the letter signed

by Science and Technology Secretary Khandoker Assaduzzam.

It feared as there is no allocation � -nalised yet, advances cannot be paid.

At present, the science and technol-ogy ministry is in negotiation with the Russian Firm to sign the third contract.

According to the third contract, the government will have to pay 10% ad-vance in 60 days of contract signing.

In this regard, increased allocation will be required. Of the amount sought for next � scal, a total of Tk1,284 crore will come as project assistance and the remaining part will be collected from local resources, according to the technology ministry letter. The mid-term budgetary framework mentioned Tk254 crore of total Tk1,284.93 crore will be collected from local resources, showed � nance division documents.

According to the the technology ministry, Tk1.48 crore of the mon-ey demanded for next � scal will be

spent to pay salaries, allowances and pensions of employees of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) under the project.

The Executive Committee of Na-tional Economic Council on April 2, 2013 approved the country’s � rst nu-clear power plant project (� rst phase) involving Tk5,242 crore ($655m). Un-der the � rst phase, the government will design the Rooppur Nuclear Power Station and complete other preparato-ry works before installing the reactors.

After completion of the � rst phase of the project by June, 2017, the BAEC will undertake the work on second phase where two nuclear reactors each of 1000-megawattcapacity will be set up.

The state-run BAEC is executing the � rst phase of the nuclear power plant project, where the Russian gov-ernment will provide Tk4,000 crore as loan and the rest Tk1,242 crore will be borne by Bangladesh government. l

ACCORD & ALLIANCE ACTIONS

Shut-down RMG factories may take Softex coursen Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The apparel factories so far faced shut down or production suspension for non-compliance have not decided yet whether they would take legal mea-sures like Softex Cotton Limited (Unit-2) to get rid of such actions by Alliance or Accord, which are working for im-proving factory condition.

Softex served a legal notice to Ac-cord on Wednesday demanding com-pensation worth US$100 million against the damage the factory would have in-curred since shutting down the factory on March 6. The legal notice claimed the factory inspection has not been done through following due process.

Owners of many of the ill-fated fac-tories were also considering wheth-er they would follow Softex in their e� orts for a remedy, suggested tele-phone conversations with the entre-preneurs yesterday.

Few of them are, however, thinking twice amid fears it might risk future

orders. What prevents them from tak-ing legal course against one shut-down unit is to save orders for other units supplying to the same buyers.

“We don’t want to take risk on oth-er units to save one unit,” said an en-trepreneur of a shut-down factory. He said the brands are the members of ei-ther Accord or Alliance and they would follow the orders of the two platforms.

Softex served the notice to Accord, Alliance, the labour department of the government, the inspection team of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and BGMEA.

“The inspection did not go through due process. They are responsible for the closure of the factory,” Rezwan Se-lim, managing director of Softex Cot-ton Limited, told the Dhaka tribune yesterday.

“Only the labour department can ask for the factory closure after having inspection done by the Buet engineers. But Buet engineers did not inspect the factory.”

According to the labour laws, there is no provision of forming review pan-el to suggest closure of factories, he added.

“I’m arguing with the inspection agency over the building code and hope, I’ll win,” said Shahabuddin Ahmed, managing director of Kent Garments, which faced closure on April 19. “If the argument on Bangla-desh National Building Code (BNBC) fails to succeed, I will go for legal ac-tion.”

Another factory owner, who pre-ferred not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I will take the decision for le-gal action after the negotiation, which is going on for fund to pay workers’ wages and for remediation as the Ac-cord still did not provide any fund to the closed factories.”

According to BGMEA, 19 factories have so far faced production suspen-sion as recommended by the Accord and Alliance. The factory closure left jobs of 14,325 workers at stake. l

Women seen working at a garment factory in Gazipur RAJIB DHAR

B2 Stock Sunday, May 4, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverBATASHOE: 105% � nal cash dividend in addition to the 195% interim cash dividend declared and paid in December 2013; thus making a total 300% cash dividend, AGM: 19.06.2014, Record Date: 08.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 59.44, NAV per share of Tk. 164.96.ASIAPACINS: 12% cash, AGM: 14.08.2014, Record Date: 08.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.55, NAV per share of Tk. 16.50.GHCL: 10% cash dividend for the share-holders except Directors (directors holding 4,90,65,000 shares which is 68.15% of total shares), AGM: 09.07.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.94, NAV per share of Tk. 50.39.ARAMIT: 50% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 07.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 11.68, NAV per share of Tk. 106.60.NTC: 30% cash, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 24.46, NAV per share of Tk. 125.50.GQBALLPEN: 15% stock, AGM: 25.05.2014, Record Date: 08.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 3.23, NAV per share of Tk. 253.68.CONFIDCEM: 27.50% cash, AGM: 25.06.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 8.09, NAV per share of Tk. 65.11 and NOCFPS of Tk. 10.42.**PEOPLESINS: 12.50% cash, AGM: 08.06.2014, Record Date: 12.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.27, NAV per share of Tk. 21.49 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.74.**PLFSL: 10% stock, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 0.95, NAV per share of Tk. 18.44 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.98.**

DHAKAINS: 20% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.24, NAV per share of Tk. 18.26 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.26.**FEDERALINS: 11% stock, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.21, NAV per share of Tk. 12.18 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.46.**SQUARETEXT: 20% cash & 10% stock, AGM: 16.06.2014, Record Date: 20.05.2014. NAV of Tk. 4,864.12 million, EPS of Tk. 4.37 and NOCFPS of Tk. 4.86.** The Board of Directors has also approved Tk. 30.00 crore for BMRE, Capital Ma-chineries and purchase of land for further expansion.NBL: 10% stock, AGM: 15.06.2014, Record date: 08.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.49, NAV per share of Tk. 16.86 and NOCFPS of Tk. 10.97.**BDWELDING: No dividend, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 0.24, NAV per share of Tk. 16.98 and NOCFPS of Tk. (0.11).****for the year ended on December 31, 2013.MARICO: 50% � nal cash, AGM: 19.08.2014, Record Date: 02.07.2014. EPS of Tk. 43.99, NAV per share of Tk. 54.16 and NOCFPS of Tk. 85.84 for the year ended on March 31, 2014.RDFOOD: 10% stock, AGM: 29.05.2014, Record Date: 08.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 0.89, NAV per share of Tk. 17.72.BGIC: 12% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record date: 12.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.36, NAV per share of Tk. 19.61.EASTERNINS: 20% cash, AGM:

24.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.46, NAV per share of Tk. 36.60.PREMIERBAN: 10% stock, AGM: 28.05.2014, Record Date: 11.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.53, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 15.59.JANATAINS: 12.50% stock, AGM: 22.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 0.59, NAV per share of Tk. 16.10.KARNAPHULI: 7.5% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 19.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.70, NAV per share of Tk. 19.87PHENIXINS: 20% cash, AGM: 18.06.2014, Record date: 11.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.71, NAV per share of Tk. 35.89.RANFOUNDRY: 22% cash, AGM: 25.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 2.84, NAV per share of Tk. 19.00.SONARBAINS: 12% stock, AGM: 19.06.2014, Record Date: 11.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.77, NAV per share of Tk. 15.46.PARAMOUNT: 10% stock, AGM: 25.06.2014, Record Date: 11.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.45, NAV per share of Tk. 13.92.ISLAMIINS: 15% stock, AGM: 09.07.2014, Record Date: 12.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 1.93, NAV per share of Tk. 13.83.BXPHARMA: 10% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 21.06.2014, Record Date: 18.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 4.01, NAV per share of Tk. 56.45.STANDARINS: 15% stock, AGM: 18.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. 3.05, NAV per share of Tk. 16.85.SONARGAON: No dividend, AGM: 07.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014. EPS of Tk. (0.81), NAV per share of Tk. 33.69.

Lower than expected earnings hit stocksn Tribune Report

Lower than expected earnings took a jolt on stocks in the past week as benchmark index DSEX almost hit 4500-mark after more than seven weeks.

During the week that ended Thursday, the DSEX lost 136 points or 2.9% to close at 4,567. The blue chips comprising DS30 was down 48 points or 2.9% to 1,672. The DSE Shariah In-dex DSES fell 22 points or 2% to 1,018.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 314 points or 3.5% to close the week at 8,771.

The average daily turnover in the past week stood at Tk423 crore, reg-istering a drop of 14% over the previ-ous week’s average of Tk494 crore. The stock exchanges shortened trad-ing session to four instead of usual � ve to mark “May Day”.

Maiden session of the week faced steep decline, dragging DSEX below 4,700 points as the investors ob-served apparent lack of market direc-tion. Having a vacuum on demand side, depressed earnings kept inves-tors in a watchful mood.

Panic started rebounding amid in-vestment community and took a toll of 58 points in the second day of the week. Later part of the week was not di� erent, keeping market scenario totally negative. The market man-aged to stay � at at the last session of the week amid revived turnover.

“The market tumbled heavily last week as the investors showed lack of con� dence in local companies by selling o� massive positions and becoming bullish in multination-al corporations,” said Lanka Ban-gla Securities in its weekly marketanalysis.

It said the bearishness in the lo-cal companies was on the backdrop of textile companies’ bad perfor-mance in January to March quarter and seven companies’ declaration of earnings recommending no div-idend, which is a record in recenttimes.

Some of the overexposed banks trying to lower their capital market exposure after Bangladesh Bank’s warning might also have impacted the market negatively, it said.

IDLC Investment said swift cor-porate declarations and quarterly earnings announcement prompted investors to move cautious during the week.

“Depressed earnings announce-ment started beating the market sen-timent from the very beginning of the week, putting investors in a cau-tious mood,” it said.

It said having called for larger cor-rection, panic started and fuelled in-creased level of sale pressure.

In the meantime, activity shrank a lot, putting average daily turnover at around Tk423 crore.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 301 issues traded during the week, 248 declined, 45 advanced and 8 issues remained un-changed on the DSE trading � oor.

Among the major sectors, top gaining sectors of the past week were miscellaneous with a rise of 4.9%, tannery 2.5% and cement 1.3% re-spectively.

Conversely, top losing sectors were IT sector that declined 13%, ce-ramic 8% and textile 7%.

Fuel and power, and pharmaceu-ticals remained in the centre of in-vestors’ attention last week, making up 15% and 13% of the total turnover respectively. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Delta SpinnersA -42.17 -41.47 18.36 18.10 31.70 18.00 8.015 0.55 33.4Sonargaon Tex -A -38.82 -38.63 9.34 9.30 15.40 10.00 0.512 -0.81 -veShinepukur Ceramics-A -37.04 -36.53 10.27 10.20 16.50 10.00 4.597 -0.08 -veBangladesh Welding -A -36.76 -36.19 11.83 11.70 18.30 11.50 4.959 0.24 49.3Beximco Syn.-A -35.62 -33.56 9.78 9.40 15.00 10.00 6.935 -0.40 -veLegacy Footwear -A -25.39 -26.09 23.65 23.80 32.40 23.50 6.458 0.36 65.7BD. Thai Alum -B -19.44 -19.40 20.44 20.30 25.20 20.30 1.535 0.77 26.5Takaful Islami Insu-A -17.61 -17.41 27.60 27.60 33.50 27.00 0.171 1.98 13.9aamra technologies-A -16.25 -16.31 29.97 29.90 36.60 29.10 16.531 1.39 21.6City G Insu.-A -16.00 -14.70 21.29 21.00 25.00 20.80 0.121 1.73 12.3

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Delta SpinnersA -41.59 -41.65 18.42 18.40 32.00 18.10 81.948 0.55 33.5Shinepukur Ceramics-A -35.85 -36.29 10.20 10.20 16.50 9.50 26.138 -0.08 -veSonargaon Tex -A -34.87 -37.82 9.57 9.90 15.30 8.60 6.043 -0.81 -veBangladesh Welding -A -34.62 -35.97 11.75 11.90 18.40 11.40 25.861 0.24 49.0Beximco Syn.-A -33.79 -33.17 9.75 9.60 15.00 9.00 19.136 -0.40 -veLegacy Footwear -A -24.44 -25.97 23.57 23.80 34.60 23.30 9.258 0.36 65.5Kay & Que (BD) -Z -21.47 -21.62 12.80 12.80 16.30 12.80 0.301 -3.55 -veBD. Thai Alum -B -20.24 -20.50 20.21 20.10 25.50 20.10 18.558 0.77 26.2Fine Foods A -16.48 -16.59 15.38 15.20 18.20 15.20 5.952 -1.01 -veaamra technologies-A -16.29 -16.70 29.73 29.80 36.70 29.00 110.669 1.39 21.4

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BD Submarine Cable-A 437,994 81.10 6.77 180.70 -9.88 200.50 207.00 168.50 175.63LafargeS Cement-Z 1,041,000 67.99 5.67 67.30 7.17 62.80 69.90 63.00 65.68National Bank - B 3,244,502 43.69 3.65 13.20 -2.94 13.60 14.10 12.30 13.06Grameenphone-A 158,400 42.17 3.52 268.90 -0.37 269.90 272.00 260.40 269.43UNITED AIR-A 3,123,171 39.12 3.26 12.00 -9.09 13.20 13.30 11.90 12.04Meghna Petroleum -A 125,071 38.05 3.18 299.60 -3.07 309.10 310.90 295.00 299.40Matin Spinning-N 829,600 33.47 2.79 42.10 0.24 42.00 42.40 38.40 41.13Square Pharma -A 116,866 32.41 2.70 281.40 0.82 279.10 283.70 271.00 281.09Padma Oil Co. -A 91,209 31.35 2.62 346.00 0.35 344.80 350.00 315.00 344.64BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 1,035,622 28.67 2.39 26.80 -4.96 28.20 29.00 26.10 26.84

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Meghna Petroleum -A 2,957,737 901.72 5.32 300.50 -2.59 308.50 315.00 279.00 299.84Grameenphone-A 3,312,814 882.58 5.21 268.90 -0.52 270.30 271.70 249.80 269.68LafargeS Cement-Z 13,116,550 860.45 5.08 67.70 7.63 62.90 69.90 62.80 66.08Renata Ltd. -A 527,226 622.20 3.67 1240.00 5.48 1175.60 1399.00 1080.00 1197.87Square Pharma -A 2,168,882 600.06 3.54 281.70 1.08 278.70 283.30 255.00 281.19Olympic Ind. -A 2,353,786 562.48 3.32 240.30 -1.80 244.70 247.00 221.00 237.83HeidelbergCement -A 867,260 514.51 3.04 590.10 -3.69 612.70 619.50 571.10 589.33Padma Oil Co. -A 1,466,684 504.23 2.98 346.40 0.43 344.90 350.90 315.10 345.09Southeast Bank-A 17,718,902 391.21 2.31 21.70 -1.81 22.10 23.00 19.70 21.54BD Submarine Cable-A 1,794,119 334.93 1.98 182.10 -9.04 200.20 207.20 170.00 175.44

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Berger Paints-A 16.56 16.55 1242.40 1242.40 1250.00 1071.00 3.800 57.68 21.5ACI Limited- A 14.77 16.38 236.26 240.10 247.00 195.00 13.531 5.28 44.7AFC AgroBiotech-N 9.91 9.06 57.30 58.80 59.10 52.00 12.154 1.54 37.2Central Insur -A 9.50 9.47 26.48 26.50 26.50 26.40 0.064 1.98 13.4LafargeS Cement-Z 7.17 3.79 65.68 67.30 69.90 63.00 67.986 2.16 30.4Orion Infusions -A 6.44 6.52 44.63 44.60 45.10 40.60 1.120 4.81 9.3Premier Bank -A 4.76 3.97 11.00 11.00 11.90 10.30 17.621 1.53 7.2Prime Insur -A 4.49 4.49 25.60 25.60 25.60 24.00 0.012 2.23 11.5Grameen M F One-A 4.42 4.36 47.13 47.20 48.00 44.00 2.928 3.40 13.9Beach Hatchery -A 4.35 1.76 23.67 24.00 25.00 22.60 3.980 0.99 23.9

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Northern Jute -Z 20.52 20.76 147.50 147.40 147.90 134.50 0.086 -10.24 -veACI Limited- A 15.41 14.98 234.20 241.20 250.00 175.90 234.745 5.28 44.4Berger Paints-A 13.84 13.79 1,235.50 1,241.00 1,257.00 1,080.00 190.547 57.68 21.4AFC AgroBiotech-N 9.31 10.35 57.23 58.70 59.40 51.60 113.651 1.54 37.2LafargeS Cement-Z 7.63 4.79 66.08 67.70 69.90 62.80 860.448 2.16 30.6Reckitt Benckiser -A 6.44 3.40 1,285.99 1,306.30 1,312.00 1,182.50 21.122 41.12 31.3Orion Infusions -A 6.35 5.31 44.99 45.20 45.20 40.60 69.181 4.81 9.4Linde (BD) Ltd. -A 6.05 7.89 1,148.05 1,133.70 1,164.90 999.90 190.685 48.55 23.6Premier Bank -A 5.83 4.08 10.96 10.90 11.70 9.00 85.699 1.53 7.2Renata Ltd. -A 5.48 3.62 1,197.87 1,240.00 1,399.00 1,080.00 622.196 39.57 30.3

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 2635.33 15.56 223.75 16.12 2859.08 15.60NBFI 559.87 3.31 41.28 2.97 601.15 3.28Investment 494.61 2.92 24.01 1.73 518.62 2.83Engineering 1082.24 6.39 94.86 6.83 1177.10 6.42Food & Allied 933.89 5.51 64.72 4.66 998.62 5.45Fuel & Power 2461.31 14.53 152.27 10.97 2613.59 14.26Jute 9.44 0.06 0.00 0.00 9.44 0.05Textile 1203.93 7.11 144.97 10.44 1348.91 7.36Pharma & Chemical 2602.46 15.37 102.75 7.40 2705.21 14.76Paper & Packaging 3.16 0.02 55.35 3.99 58.51 0.32Service 190.47 1.12 10.13 0.73 200.60 1.09Leather 402.17 2.37 81.00 5.84 483.17 2.64Ceramic 75.25 0.44 10.48 0.76 85.73 0.47Cement 1722.05 10.17 111.11 8.00 1833.17 10.00Information Technology 168.89 1.00 22.77 1.64 191.66 1.05General Insurance 182.53 1.08 6.01 0.43 188.54 1.03Life Insurance 431.99 2.55 26.43 1.90 458.41 2.50Telecom 1217.51 7.19 123.27 8.88 1340.77 7.32Travel & Leisure 215.45 1.27 42.74 3.08 258.20 1.41Miscellaneous 342.17 2.02 48.87 3.52 391.04 2.13Debenture 1.86 0.01 1.34 0.10 3.20 0.02

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 4566.85991 (-) 2.88% ▼

DSE - 30 Index : 1671.92800 (-) 2.81% ▼

CSE All Share Index: 14043.3203 (-) 3.19% ▼

CSE - 30 Index : 11688.6101 (-) 3.36% ▼

CSE Selected Index : 8771.0460 (-) 3.45% ▼

DSE key features April 27-30, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

16,936.58

Turnover (Volume)

370,773,141

Number of Contract 358,625

Traded Issues 301

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

43

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

257

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

1

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,347.27

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.45

CSE key features April 27-30, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 1,225.43

Turnover (Volume) 36,205,647

Number of Contract 49,133

Traded Issues 245

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

36

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

206

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,240.68

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.16

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

ANALYSTThe market tumbled heavily last week as the investors showed lack of con� dence in local companies by selling o� massive positions and becoming bullish in multinational corporations

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

Bangladesh Commerce Bank Limited inaugurated its 43rd branch at Merajnagar Super Market in Shampur, Kadamtoli, Dhaka on April 30. The bank’s chair, Md Yousuf Ali Howlader launched the branch as chief guest

NRB Commercial Bank Limited launched its 13th branch at Gorai in Mirzapur, Tangail on April 30. The bank’s additional managing director, ASM Bulbul inaugurated the branc

Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director and CEO of Trust Bank Limited seen attending an international seminar on sustainable SME development on April 30 at CIRDAP CICC Auditorium in Dhaka. Dr Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank was chief guest at the seminar organised by a joint e� ort of Bangladesh Bank, CIRDAP, BIBM, MIDAS (UK)

Jamuna Bank Foundation recently organised eye, gynae, diabates and general treatment services free of cost at Barura Haje Nowab Ali Pilot High School in Comilla. Engr Md Atiqur Rahman, director of Jamuna Bank Limited was chief guest on the occasion

IDCOL has recently received the “Asia Power & Electricity Award 2014” in the category of “Solar project of the year” for its e� orts, accomplishments, and positive contributions under the solar home system (SHS) programme. Nazmul Haque, director (investment) and head of advisory at IDCOL received the award at the Resorts World Convention Centre in Singapore on April 23

Social Islami Bank Limited held its 310th board meeting at its corporate o� ce on May 3. The bank’s chair, major (retd) Dr Md Rezaul Haque presided over the meeting

Bill Gates on track to own no Microsoft stock in four yearsn Reuters, Seattle

Bill Gates, the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft Corp, will have no direct ownership in the com-pany he co-founded by mid-2018 if he keeps up his recent share sales.

Gates, who started the company that revolutionized personal comput-ing with school-friend Paul Allen in 1975, has sold 20 million shares each quarter for most of the last dozen years under a pre-set trading plan.

Assuming no change to that pattern, Gates will have no direct ownership of Microsoft shares at all four years from now.

With his latest sales this week, Gates was � nally eclipsed as Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder by the company’s other former CEO, Steve Ballmer, who retired in February, but has held on to his stock.

According to documents � led with the US Securities and Exchange Com-mission on Friday, Gates now owns just over 330 million Microsoft shares after the sales this week. Ballmer owns just over 333 million, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That gives both men around 4% each of the total outstanding shares, making them by far the biggest indi-vidual shareholders. Fund � rms The Vanguard Group, State Street Global

Advisors and BlackRock have slightly bigger stakes, according to Thomson Reuters data. Spokesmen for Gates and Microsoft declined comment.

Gates owned 49% of Microsoft at its initial public o� ering in 1986, which made him an instant multi-millionaire. With Microsoft’s explosive growth, he soon became the world’s richest per-son, and retains that title with a for-tune of about $77bn today, according to

Forbes magazine. Gates handed the CEO role to

Ballmer in 2000, and stood down as chairman in February. He remains on the board and spends about a third of his time as technology adviser to new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

For the past six years, his focus has been on philanthropy at the Bill & Me-linda Gates Foundation, which is large-ly funded by his Microsoft fortun e. l

Hwa Well gets nod to be listedn Tribune Report

The Dhaka Stock Exchange has ap-proved the listing of Hwa Well Textiles (BD) that raised Tk20 crore from public through initial public o� ering.

The approval came at a board meet-ing of the premier bourse on Wednes-day, DSE o� cials said. It is the 34th textile company that was listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

“Share trading of the company will be announced this week after comple-tion of some listing formalities,” said a DSE o� cial.

The IPO (Initial public o� ering) of Hwa Well Ltd has been oversubscribed by more than 44 times on o� er.

Investors had ordered shares worth over Tk881 crore against the o� er of Tk20 crore, according to the Chittagong Stock Exchange.

Of the total subscribed amount, resident Bangladeshis deposited Tk870 crore and non-resident Bangladeshis Tk11 crore against o� er.

The company o� ered two crore or-dinary shares of Tk10 each.

In December last year, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commis-sion approved the company’s IPO for purchasing and developing land, con-struction of factory building, changing existing machines and meeting the IPO expenses.

The company’s earnings per share stood at Tk3.66 each and net asset val-ue of Tk28.25, according to its � nancial statement at the end of June 30 this year. l

Japan considers tax breaks to promote investment, help companiesn Reuters, Tokyo

Japan is considering expanding tax breaks and loosening some rules to promote investment in start-ups as part of the second installment of the government’s economic growth strat-egy, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday.

Japan is also likely to say next month that it will lower the e� ective corporate tax rate to 20% from around 35% cur-rently, the Yomiuri newspaper said cit-ing several government sources, which could encourage � rms to boost much-needed capital expenditure in Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s gov-ernment is set to announce the second part of its growth strategy next month. Investor disappointment with the � rst installment of the strategy last year contributed to a decline in Japanese shares.

One proposal is to expand the value of an investment that a so-called angel investor can deduct from his or her tax-able income from the current limit of 10m yen ($97,800) to several times as much, the Nikkei reported without cit-ing the source of its information.

An angel investor is a wealthy in-dividual who invests in promising start-ups that sometimes struggle to get funding from large venture capital � rms.

The government may also expand the scheme to companies started within the past � ve years from the cur-rent limit of companies that have been

founded in the past three years, the Nikkei said.

In � scal 2013, angel investors used Japan’s current tax breaks to invest in only 48 � rms, which is only a tenth or even hundredth of the number of in-vestments in other countries such as

Britain, the Nikkei said. In addition to a lack of start-up ac-

tivity, established Japanese � rms have sometimes complained that Japan’s tax structure discourages investment because corporate taxes in other coun-tries are much lower.

Members of the ruling Liberal Dem-ocratic Party want to lower the corpo-rate tax rate gradually starting from � scal 2015, but they need to discuss the details with their coalition partner, the New Komeito party, the Yomiuri re-ported. l

Oil prices turn lower in Asian traden AFP, Singapore

Oil prices turned lower in volatile Asian trade on Friday after US crude stock-piles surged, with investors keeping an eye out for further clues on the health of the US economy.

New York’s West Texas Intermediate for June delivery was down three cents to $99.39 a barrel in afternoon trade, and Brent North Sea crude for June dipped six cents to $107.70. Both contracts had been up in mid-morning trade.

Prices eased on Thursday after the US Department of Energy’s weekly es-timate of crude oil stockpiles showed a gain of 1.7 million barrels to 339.4 mil-lion - the highest weekly level since 1982 - indicating weaker demand in the world’s largest economy.

That came a day after o� cial data showed the US economy grew just 0.1% year-on-year in the � rst three months of 2014, much slower than the 2.6% in the previous quarter and well short of forecasts.

However, research house Capital Economics noted that the US Federal Reserve’s statement on the economy “takes a more upbeat tone than the one issued after the last meeting in mid-March”. Wednesday’s statement said the economy had “picked up” after a bout of � erce winter weather.

Traders were awaiting fresh jobs � g-ures due out in Washington later on Fri-day for further signs of a US recovery. l

10,000 women entrepreneurs B1 COLUMN 6Atiur Rahman said many women have entrepreneurial skills and should be pro-vided with supports they require to bring about changes in the male-dominant economic system. “Since half the population are women, we will lose national output by under utilis-ing their skills and innovative ideas,” said Governor.

He stressed the need to promote self-employment in the face of relative decline of public sector jobs.

According to him, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be regarded as a potential lifeline to generate jobs and promote inclusive economic develop-ment.

“SMEs are the best option we are left with. In this backdrop promoting women entrepreneurship has become one of the key policy interventions of Bangladesh Bank,” Atiur Rahman said.

He said women entrepreneurship development is one of the important dimensions of that inclusive policy of the central bank.

“Engaging women in economic ac-tivity by providing enhanced access to � nancial services is the key target of (the central bank.”

“Due to our policy support and re-� nance scheme, � nancing to women entrepreneurs have increased substan-tially over the last four years.”

Governor said Bangladesh Bank would take initiative to motivate the Ministry of Industries to ensure that the SME strategy under consideration

should address speci� c issues in access to � nance for women entrepreneurs.

“We believe that the strategy should promote the gender perspective of en-terprise development by focusing on women entrepreneurship support.”

The seminar was organised jointly by Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM), Ministry of Industries, the European Union, Ban-gladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI), SME Founda-tion, Federation Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), IN-SPIRED, WEAB and Chittagong Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry. l

BB warns new banks B1 COLUMN 3It also found some new banks provided loan exceeding the single borrower ex-posure limit of 15% and some banks’ tendency to provide big loans where they were supposed to disburse small loan as new banks, said a senior execu-tive of the central bank.

The new banks are also collecting deposits at higher interest rate and dis-bursing loan at lower interest rate com-paring the market rate.

The interest rates on deposit of new banks are above 11% as compared to banks’ 9% to 10%. Of the new banks, NRB Bank charged lowest lending rate at 12.81%.

The governor also asked the manag-ing directors of the banks not to allow intervention by the bank owners in the management and recruitment. l

Online retail inpacebazar.com kicks o� n Tribune Business Desk

Inpace Management Services Ltd launched its e-commerce site at a city convention centre on April 30.

The new venture named inpacebazar.com aims at developing e-commerce sector in the country to create a conve-nient online marketplace by reducing pressure on other outlets along with saving electricity and fuel consumption.

The site currently o� ers wide-range of products from ICT, digital lifestyle, home appliances, consumer, electrical & electronics to boutique, according to a press release.

Managing Director of the company Md Kamrul Ahsan, who is also the chief exec-utive of the venture, chaired the launch-ing ceremony of the inpacebazar.com.

Addressing the ceremony, he noted that the company was poised to add value to the lives of its customers by its timely services.

The sector is far from reaching its mature stage as the currently lucrative online retailing has just begun its era in the country. According to the Bangla-desh Association of Software and Infor-mation Services (BASIS), the annual on-line sales amount to more than Tk200m in the country, said Kamrul Ahsan.

“Looking at the increasing demand of online retailing by consumers, we have come up with the new service to reach our customers’ products at their door step.” The ceremony was attend-ed, among others, by Abu Hanif Md Mahfuzul Arif, president of Bangladesh Computer Samity. l

Bill Gates takes part in an interview with Reuters in Singapore REUTERS

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, May 4, 2014

DILBERT

The market opportunity with the next 3 billionn Bijon Islam

What is the status quo of the world right now? The question can have multiple answers ranging from total population, consumption or production, to broader aspects like economic development or technological advancement. However how far have we really progressed as a civilisation over the last few centuries? We have rapidly advanced in terms of population growth for sure (more than 6.5 billion now), have moved on to the information age, but in terms of quality of living of the greater mass, maybe we were better o� in the past.

There are around 2.7 billion people who live below  $2 a day. That is two out of every � ve. The total wealth distribution of the world has become extremely skewed. The  richest 0.5% control over 35% of the total wealth. The US and Europe collectively own 60%+ of the world’s wealth.

The rise of capitalism propelled by the industrial revolutions, world trade, technology, and consumer-ism means that total resources of the world get controlled by those with economic might.

The story, however, is not totally bleak or that of only pro� t driven insti-tutions, the advanced economies have actually invested $2.5tn over the past 60 years  into the developing nations. Multilateral agencies, international NGOs, donor � rms, and local NGOs have done a fantastic job in transition-ing many developing countries into emerging economies.

Yet poverty is still rampant and un-

less traditional intervention models are altered, the status quo cannot be rapidly improved. Additionally, the recent � nancial meltdown followed by the Eurozone crisis means that the funding sources may dry up over the coming years resulting in downward pressure on � nancial aid or grants.

Conversely, we can look at this as an opportunity. Instead of focusing on aid based interventions can we focus on building sustainable models where we work not in isolation but hand in

hand with entrepreneurs, investors and business to explore new markets, discover more customers and in the process transform lives of this 2.7 bil-lion people? The solution lies in mak-ing them an integral part of the market economy, creating employment, and converting them into consumers and not keeping them in the fringes of the informal economy.

This is where the Zero-Based De-sign discussed by Paul Polak and Mal Warwick in their book The Business

Solution to Poverty: Designing Prod-ucts and Services for Three Billion New Customers can make a di� er-ence. The core idea is to look at the BOP market as a fortune (as often em-phasised by the late Dr CK Prahalad). With infusion of private capital into mission driven businesses, a� ordable essential goods and services need to be designed for the next market of ap-proximately 3 billion, while generat-ing income and employment for them.

The opportunity space for busi-

nesses focusing on frugal solution is immense, starting from providing safe drinking water, electricity, low cost nutritious foods to a� ordable educa-tion, housing and healthcare. To bring this approach to reality, development partners, private enterprise, and the government has to act in synergy.

Grameen-Danone launched “Shokti-Doi” in 2006, which provides essential nutrients to rural children at subsidised cost whilst cross-fertilising the rural business from premium sales in the ur-ban market. This means that the busi-ness is sustainable, generates income for future expansion, creates employ-ment and markets at the rural level. Uni-lever employs a business model where they employ a female intensive rural Salesforce who does door-to-door sales of hygiene and personal care products to the rural market (mainly in the form mini-pack shampoos, soaps), another example of tapping into the BOP market.

The  sheer volume of 3 billion means that if businesses can tap into this market via frugal market solu-tions, the economies of scale would provide the requisite sustainability. At the same time, employment would be generated for the BOP, and they come in as active consumers thereby enhancing the overall economic size. This seems to be the way forward for us to end poverty and develop. l

Bijon Islam is the director of strategy at LightCastle Partners, an emerging market-specialised business-planning and intelligence � rm. This article was originally published in the LCP blog

China underwhelmed by ‘world’s No 1economy’ datan AFP, Beijing

China may be poised to overtake the United States as the world’s top econo-my sooner than expected, according to one measure, but some underwhelmed Chinese would rather have clean air and political freedoms.

The World Bank on Wednesday pub-lished a vast study on the rankings of national wealth creation on the basis of 2011 � gures.

It was carried out with several interna-tional organisations to compare national production � gures in nominal terms, and also to re� ect di� erences in buying power - or purchasing power parity (PPP).

Gross domestic product (GDP) for the United States in 2011 amounted to $15.533tn, more than twice China’s $7.321tn. But after adjusting for PPP, the � gure for China rose to $13.495tn - which means that the rapidly growing Asian giant could overtake the United States as soon as this year.

Thursday was a public holiday in Chi-na so o� cial reaction was not immedi-ately available. Communist authorities have in the past played down such talk, keen instead to stress that in per capita

terms, their people remain a long way behind the world’s richest nations.

But there was scepticism, and cyni-cism, among Chinese social media users.

“They are talking about PPP, not GDP,” wrote one of them on Sina Wei-bo, China’s version of Twitter.

“As long as GDP, China is still far be-hind US,” continued the post, which was written in English and was echoed by several others.

Some weibo users suggested they were more interested in tangible indica-tors directly related to their quality of life.

“Low income, cannot breath freely, no freedom, why should I care even if it’s No 1 in the Universe? Not to men-tion No 1 on Earth,” wrote a user.

“Is this more important than blue sky and clear water?” posted another.

China’s decades-long economic boom has brought rising environmental problems, with large parts of the coun-try repeatedly blanketed in thick smog and both waterways and land polluted.

One user suggested that such rank-ings were more closely watched over-seas than in China. “No domestic re-ports about this, only foreign media always talk about it,” the post said. l

Facebook lets users limit data shared with appsn Reuters, San Francisco

Facebook introduced new features on Wednesday that let users limit how much personal information they share with third-party mobile apps, a move meant to quell privacy concerns as the social network seeks to become a top entry port to the Internet.

In recent years, Facebook Inc has successfully encouraged a growing number of third-party app makers to allow users to log in with their Face-book identity rather than, say, by en-tering an email address or creating a dedicated account.

The result has been an in� ux of valuable data for the world’s No. 1 so-cial network, but concerns have also mounted about third-party developers gaining access to private information.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said at Facebook’s developer confer-ence in San Francisco on Wednesday that a new version of Facebook’s log-in tool, called “log in anonymously,” would let users control what informa-tion they allow third-party apps to see. He told developers the tool would let users feel more comfortable about log-ging into apps using Facebook.

“By giving people more power and control, they’re going to trust all the

apps that we build more, and over time use them more. And that’s positive for everyone,” said Zuckerberg.

The revamped log-in screen will let users select which personal informa-tion stored on the social network, such as an email address, birthday or items that they have “liked” on Facebook, can be accessed by any particular app.

The user’s names and gender will re-main visible to the app.

On Wednesday, the social network also rolled out a new service to distrib-ute ads across a network of mobile ap-plications, opening the door to a new source of revenue.

The service, which has been in the works on for some time, allows mobile-app makers to insert various ads within their software, with Facebook sharing advertising dollars with the developers.

“This is really the � rst time that we’re going to help you monetize in a serious way on mobile,” Zuckerberg said.

Facebook faces tough competition in the active mobile ad network mar-ket. Google Inc’s AdMob service al-ready allows advertisers to distribute ads to mobile apps, while Twitter Inc said on Tuesday that its MoPub ad net-work can reach 1 billion mobile users.

Twitter’s MoPub, which serves as an

advertising management tool for app publishers, will allow mobile apps to feature ads for the Facebook audience as well as other networks, the two com-panies said.

Facebook began testing a mobile ad network with a limited number of ad-vertisers and mobile app publishers in January. It plans to expand the number of app makers that can use the ser-vice, although it did not provide a time frame for when the system will become broadly available.

The new mobile ad system, dubbed the Facebook Audience Network, will leverage Facebook’s more than 1 mil-lion advertisers and its own ability to target users based on their traits.

Facebook generates the bulk of its revenue from ads that appear on its own Web pages and within its own mobile app. By distributing ads across a constellation of independent mobile apps, Facebook e� ectively expands its advertising space, opening the door to more revenue.

To get access to the extra ad space, ad networks typically share the rev-enue with their partners. Facebook will share most of the ad revenue with apps makers, as is standard in the industry, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. l

Global tablet sales freeze up, survey showsn AFP, New York

The global market for tablet comput-ers went into hibernation in early 2014, ending a long run of sizzling growth, a survey showed Thursday.

The IDC report said sales of tablets including newly introduced convert-ible PCs totaled 50.4 million units in the � rst quarter of 2014.

That was just 3.9% higher than the same period a year earlier, and down 35.7% from the busy holiday season that included the fourth quarter of 2013.

IDC said that the market is su� ering from saturation, and that many people are using large-screen smartphones or “phablets” instead of tablets. The in-troduction of new “2-in-1” devices such as the Microsoft surface, which aims to serve as a PC and a tablet, failed to gain traction.

“The rise of large-screen phones and consumers who are holding on to their existing tablets for ever longer periods of time were both contributing factors to a weaker-than-anticipated quar-ter for tablets and 2-in-1s,” said Tom Mainelli, an IDC analyst.

“In addition, commercial growth has not been robust enough to o� set the slowing of consumer shipments.”

Tablet sales have been surging and grew roughly 50% in 2013, but that pace appears to be slowing. IDC said Apple remained the largest tablet vendor with 16.4 million iPads sold in the � rst quarter. But its market share slid to 32.5% from 40.2% in early 2013. l

India threatens WTO action over EU mango bann AFP, New Delhi

India on Friday threatened to drag the European Union to the World Trade Organisation over its ban on mango imports. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma warned the EU’s decision to slap the ban on import of the highly prized Alphonso mangoes, known as the “king of fruits”, could have “very negative fallout” on trade ties.

Sharma said he had written to EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht urging him to overturn the “arbitrary” import ban on mangoes as well as four vegetables from India including bitter gourd and eggplant.

“We do hope that the EU will see sense,” Sharma told reporters in New Delhi. He urged the 28-nation EU not to “precipitate the situation any further, which would lead us to go to the WTO”.

The Geneva-based WTO deals with trade disputes. In March, the EU plant health care committee said it would im-pose the ban after � nding pests in 207 Indian consignments of fruits and vege-tables. The EU said it was acting to tack-le what it called “signi� cant shortcom-ings” in India’s certi� cation system.

It noted that a high number of Indian consignments contained “pests, mainly insects, like non-European fruit � ies”. India, the world’s largest mango ex-porter, sells up to 70,000 tonnes of the fruit globally. l

World Bank approves$1 bn loan to Pakistann AFP, Islamabad

The World Bank said Friday it had ap-proved a $1bn loan for Pakistan and “en-visages” another $11bn package spanning � ve years. The loans are meant to support Pakistan’s struggling energy sector and bolster its e� orts to increase growth and investment and arrest poverty.

“The World Bank Group approved a package of assistance worth US$1bn to support Pakistan’s economic reforms on Thursday,” the bank said in a statement.

“The assistance package consists of two development policy credits (DPCs) to support the government of Pakistan’s e� orts to improve the power sector, and reinvigorate growth and investment for reducing poverty and building shared prosperity,” it said.

The bank also said it was “envisag-ing” $11bn worth of loans under a new country partnership strategy for Paki-stan over the next � ve years, covering � scal years 2015 to 2019.

The government, however, said the World Bank had approved the $11bn partnership strategy to tackle its four main challenges of energy, economy, education and � ghting extremism.

“The other landmark achievement of the day was the approval of country part-nership strategy under which Pakistan will get US$11bn in the shape of project loans and budgetary support,” it said.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has “congratulated the whole nation on this success and observed that the country partnership strategy is aligned fully with the vision of Pakistan’s de-velopment challenges around the four Es ‘Energy, Economy, Extremism and Education’, based on the manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and its commitment to the nation,” it said.

Philippe Le Houerou, vice presi-dent for the Bank’s South Asia region, praised Pakistan for stabilising its economy and starting reforms in the power sector. l

A menu displays a non-tipping policy in front of Japanese restaurant Riki, in New York on May thursday. A number of restaurants across the US have decided to discourage patrons from tipping and to include the service charge in the bill. In a country where waiters rely largely on the 15 to 20 percent expected tip for their earnings, some owners see doing away with tips as a way of paying their sta� a decent salary AFP