Source :The UK will press world leaders to agree to an ambitious action plan to get the Millennium Development Goals back on track for 2015. The plan is to target six countries—including Bangladesh—which are home to half of all undernourished children in the world.

International development secretary Douglas Alexander launched the new strategy at a conference in London on Friday.

The meeting took place ahead of the publication of an international assessment of what is needed to achieve the MDGs of the UNDP. The report is expected to lay out in stark terms the areas where progress has been weak and set out concrete action to achieve the goals by 2015.

The conference organised by the Department for International Development is aimed at tackling the most off-track MDGs – agreed in 2000 – including hunger and nutrition, maternal and child mortality and education. It is estimated that up to two-thirds of countries could fail to meet these crucial targets.

Alexander used the gathering of development experts to put forward a number of bold proposals that will be incorporated into the international negotiations ahead of a key UN summit in September.

“There has been some real progress towards the Millennium Development Goals but we must accelerate progress if we are to realise them by 2015″, Alexander told the conference.

“Business as usual is not enough. We need leaders from all countries around the table to endorse a global action plan which will benefit hundreds of millions of people in the developing world.

“We are now just five years from meeting the MDGs – it’s not too late but time is short”.

“I firmly believe there is more the international community can do and that is why I am using today’s conference to identify how best we can work together to get the goals back on track.”

He proposed doubling of aid for basic education and health services for mothers and children. He also underlined Britain’s commitment to playing its part to achieve the goals with funding for new vaccines that will protect children from pneumonia and diarrhoea in over 40 countries, saving 800,000 lives over the next five years.

The new strategy will address the devastating impact that malnutrition has on life-expectancy, health and long-term productivity, and will have a direct impact on the life chances of 12 million children by 2015.

Under the new strategy, efforts will be focused on Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Each country will draft an action plan to address the particular challenges of local conditions. The efforts will first focus on India, a country which is home to 40 percent of the world’s malnourished children.

DFID will invest an additional £110 million over the next five years in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, where every second child is underweight. The plan will set out how to save two million children from malnutrition.

Douglas Alexander said at the conference that the UN Summit in September must be used as a turning point towards achieving the MDGs.

This conference will set out proposals for:
-International partners to double aid for basic education in low-income countries from $3 billion to $6 billion per year;

• a global programme to tackle malnutrition;

• the global community to increase levels of aid to fragile countries from the current 30 percent to 50 percent by 2015; and,

• a doubling of global aid for maternal, newborn and child health from $4 billion to $8 billion per year.

Alexander said that the UK would continue to identify new and innovative programmes that would maximise aid efforts.

He announced a package of measures to help developing countries tackle issues such as immunisation, climate change, lack of access to financial services, malnutrition and maternal health:

The package includes:

• New vaccines against pneumococcus in 42 countries and a vaccine against rotavirus in 44 countries, potentially saving 800,000 children’s lives by 2015 from the biggest child killers – pneumonia and diarrhoea. An amount of £150 million would go to the GAVI Alliance (formally the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) for the purpose.

• To fight global malnutrition, a new strategy will target 12 million undernourished children, whose lives would otherwise be blighted by physical stunting, reduced mental ability, and poorer prospects in education and employment. Measures to swiftly address malnutrition will include vitamin and mineral supplements for pregnant women and infants; promotion of breast feeding for newborns; providing zinc to combat the effects of diarrhoea and promoting better hygiene.

• A push for more free healthcare in the developing world, by providing financial support and expert advice to help countries to deliver free healthcare for women through a new (£5m) Centre for Progressive Health Financing. Through UK support, Sierra Leone will launch free health care next month.

US energy Giant Conoco Philips was initially selected for 8 blocks- 10,11,12,15,16,17,20 and 21while Irish Company Tullow was selected for block 5.But the economic committee for purchase in its meeting held on 24^th August 2009 approved to award only 3 blocks to the selected IOCs. Tullow was approved for block 5 and Conoco Philips for blocks 10 & 11.

It has been reported that the draft proposal of EMRD now under preparation includes recommendation to consider award of remaining 6 blocks 12,15,16,17 &21 to Conoco Philips through MOU .EMRD proposal is said to include recommendation to award block 6 instead of block 5 to Tullow. Tullow informed EMRD on January 18^th 2010 that it is not possible for them to work at block 5 as India has already claimed about 70% of the block as its own territory.

Protracted decision making is one of major barriers of attracting major investment in Bangladesh. Energy world is very dynamic these days. Here investment priorities changes very often. Moreover, at this time of global economic unceernities IOCs are choosy about making investment. Bangladesh is not preferred destination for investment .In such situation if Bangladesh delays to take decision or changes decision even before signing PSC then it will only establish inefficiency of managing such matters.

It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh after initial initiative in 1974 did not take any positive action to explore for petroleum in its potential deep water prospects. Next door neighbours India and Myanmar went for several rounds of block bidding in adjacent areas and disputed zones. Engaging exploration companies both the neighbours have met with significant successes. There are reasons to believe that some of their discoveries and present blocks under exploration have possibly encroached Bangladesh maritime area and exclusive economic zone. We are aware that Bangladesh is now locked into disputes with neighbours over maritime boundaries. These may be resolved through arbitration or through mutual discussions. But any dilemma for finalising PSCs with selected IOCs will only dent Bangladesh efforts further in accessing its untapped resources.

Engr Mahamudur Rahman Energy Advisor to PM Khaleda Zia at the last stage of 4 Party Alliance Government took aggressive initiative to engage IOCs for offshore exploration. But at the same time alliance government for some reasons best known to them delayed engagement of surveyors to acquire required data and information to acquire preliminary information of our maritime petroleum resources. But nevertheless substantial works of drafting new PSC and bidding documents were made during the tenure of Mahmudur Rahman,

The new modified draft PSC prepared by duly constituted expert committee was examined by at various levels, it was vetted by eminent energy Lawyer and originator of mother PSC document Dr Kamal Hussain, it was also examined by a Dutch expert. During Care Taker Government after approval of competent authority offshore bidding was initiated. The draft documents were in Petrobangla website for several months. Concerned professionals and potential bidders provide significant inputs. But there are some concerns that many of the recommendations were not taken into account which among other reasons discouraged major IOVCS to stay out of bidding.

During Care Taker government a road show was organised at Dhaka. There was tremendous response .About 70 companies were represented. Some intending bidders requested for extension of bidding time .But these were ignored.Petrobangla at that time was showing such urgency that they would conclude PSCs within 2007 . In 2007 there was Global energy crisis .Offshore drilling rigs were pre occupied in other region. It was really extremely difficult for genuine IOCs to submit good offers within tight schedule. Requested extensions might have attracted several more good offers.

India and Myanmar also went for damaging campaign against Bangladesh efforts. They managed to persuade major IOCs to stay away from bid. Companies like Chevron, Shell, Exxon Mobil, and PETRONAS did not participate. While talking to these writer responsible representatives of some of these companies told the draft PSC did not have attractive fiscal incentives to attract major investments. It was extremely difficult to produce competitive compliant offers.

However 7 companies submitted proposals for 15 blocks. Many blocks both at deep water and shallow water failed to attract even a single offer. The offers were evaluated by a properly constituted committee and recommendations were made and placed for approval. But care taker government thought it wise to leave it for elected government to take decision.

If one carefully scrutinise the offers and recommendation of the committee it will not be difficult to find that it was not possible to compare the attractiveness of recommended offers against other apple to apple bidders. There is allegation that at least one good bid of a well conversant bidder of regional resources was knocked out for silly reasons to give advantage to a certain bidder. In any case the bidding round could be scrapped for absence of competitive offers.

However, Mahajote government took up this matter in its priority agenda. Mr Jajal Ahmed, Chairman Petrobangla has reputation as a fair and honest officer was removed and replaced by a Controversial person as acting chairman. Many consider preferred IOCs in Bangladesh lobbied for the change.

Mr Mohsin the immediate past controversial Secretary EMRD and Major (Retd) Muktadir Ali immediate past Chairman Petrobangla submitted the proposal to award 9 blocks to 2 IOCs .But PM Hasina differed with the recommendation .She stressed upon her assertion that it would not be wise to give more than two c blocks to one company.EMRD obliged to PM instruction and PM as energy minister approved the summary on 21 st June 2009. The proposal was sent to cabinet committee on economic affairs. The committee in its meeting on 24^th August 2009 approved to award block 5 to Tullow and blocks 10 and 11 to Conoco Philips.

In the meantime some section of civil society which included some parties of ruling alliance started demonstration against PSC award. The draft PSC included provision for export of IOCs share of gas in the form of LNG .It also has provision for IOCs to negotiate gas sales to third parties inside Bangladesh.Petrobangla will get about 20% of gas produced and Petrobangla fail to evacuate the gas after constructing offshore pipelines Petrobangla share of gas could be exported as well.

Present situation of Bangladesh can not make any Bangladeshi to dream about gas export in any form when Government itself is contemplating about import of LNG and Coal to meet the emerging energy crisis. However, provision of allowing IOCs to negotiate selling their share of gas to third parties inside Bangladesh will not hurt Bangladesh in anyway.

Since inordinate delays have already been made, it is suggested that government should scarp the bidding round altogether, review the d bid documents and after making amendments go for fresh bidding. In the meantime government may advance its negotiation to resolve maritime boundary disputes with neighbours.

We would suggest among others the following actions before letting out next bidding round.

Blocks need to be of substantial size in the deep water

Fiscal terms have to be sufficiently encouraging.

Export provisions in any form may be reviewed depending on size of discovery and after CONSIDERING ENERGY SECURITY OF Bangladesh.

Bangladesh must not bow down to persistent demand of Conoco Philips and Tullow to alter the approval of the Government under any circumstances.

We must keep in mind that offshore exploration is extremely expensive. Bangladesh does not have sufficient data and information. The successful IOC will require acquiring these through several surveys. These days offshore drilling are not only expensive to hire .These are also very difficult to source. Bangladesh needs to explore its vast untapped petroleum resources .It needs to engage reputed IOCs .Hence there must be enough incentives in the Bid document to attract them. Bangladesh must also expedite its decision making process. Our records so far is very discouraging even compared to India and Myanmar.

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy. A chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index (normally the Consumer Price Index) over time.
Inflation can have many effects that can simultaneously have positive and negative effects on an economy. Negative effects of inflation include a decrease in the real value of money and other monetary items over time; uncertainty about future inflation may discourage investment and saving, or may lead to reductions in investment of productive capital and increase savings in non-producing assets. e.g. selling stocks and buying gold. This can reduce overall economic productivity rates, as the capital required to retool companies becomes more elusive or expensive. High inflation may lead to shortages of goods if consumers begin hoarding out of concern that prices will increase in the future. Positive effects include a mitigation of economic recessions,] and debt relief by reducing the real level of debt.
Economists generally agree that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by an excessive growth of the money supply. Views on which factors determine low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied. Low or moderate inflation may be attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services, or changes in available supplies such as during scarcities, as well as to growth in the money supply. However, the consensus view is that a long sustained period of inflation is caused by money supply growing faster than the rate of economic growth.
Today, most mainstream economists favor a low steady rate of inflation. Low (as opposed to zero or negative) inflation may reduce
As price indices largely remained high, Finance Minister AMA Muhith Thursday said that inflation is one of the major concerns for the government in the ongoing fiscal year. Belying government projection that the overall inflation rate would not cross 6.5 percent in the current fiscal, the overall inflation on a point-to-point basis in December last year shot up to 8.51 percent.

In the urban areas food inflation climbed a double-digit high after 14 months, mainly on account of rising price of rice. The inflation rate was 7.24 percent last November.

“The progress on the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) is less, inflation is a major concern. We will have to be aware of inflation,” he told reporters after a delegation of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DDCI), led by its president Abul Kasem Khan, called on him at his ministry office.

Notwithstanding his concern over inflation, the Finance Minister was optimistic about the investment situation in the country. “Domestic investment is now high and the trend of export order is also good,” he said about the balancing factors that could spur economic growth and job creation to cushion the pressure of inflation.

Muhith termed the budget-implementation performance of his government in the current fiscal year “best in the history of the country”.

Answering to a question, the Finance Minister said that he would place the statement on the half-yearly budget-implementation performance in parliament on March 16. He was earlier scheduled to place the budget review on March 9.

“The trend of revenue collection and revenue expenditure, the trend of development expenditure, trend of import-export, revenue, overall macroeconomic performance will be highlighted,” he added.

After placing the review, they would be able to project where they would be able to go in the last three months of the current fiscal.

Asked about the Asian Development Bank’s recent projection that GDP growth could slip to 5.5 percent from 5.9 percent in fiscal 2009- 10, he declined to make any specific comment. “I don’t want to make any comment. We have earlier said that the GDP growth will be six percent and I will mention this while making the budget review in parliament.”

The custodian of government exchequer, however, observed that the domestic demand is very good and the prospect of agriculture is also bright as there has been a bumper production of aman paddy.

“People are moving towards investment. Indicators are all good and the price of petrol and edible oils didn’t skyrocket,” he said.

According to the ADB, the industrial sector continued to be affected by power and gas shortages. Subdued trade, transport, and real-estate activities affected the performance of the services sector during the same period.

The donor agency’s prediction is based on appraisal of the country’s economic performance up to December 2009-halfway through the fiscal year.

About the demands placed by the DCCI delegation, Muhith said there should be diversified use of jute like in pulp industry.

He also said that the DCCI would raise their proposal about income-tax card.

The Finance Minister also said that the government would look into the allegation raised by the DCCI that there is no guideline or motivation for the investors to enter the market.

Regarding the complexities in submission of income tax under self- assessment system, he said, “We don’t want to give opportunity to whiten black money, but those who want to make investment must get equal opportunity.”

Responding to their request, he also emphasized the need for collecting more taxes instead of giving tax concessions.

Muhith also assured the DCC delegation of considering their suggestion that the customs remain open round the clock to facilitate trade between Bangladesh and India.

During the meeting, the chamber leaders apprised the Finance Minister of the slow pace of investment mainly due to present energy and power crises, delay in finalization of the PPP guidelines for fast-pace implementation of projects under the PPP model, especially for infrastructure, finalization of the national coal policy as a long-term strategy for the country’s economic development

They also vented concern about the discretionary powers of NBR officials as the revenue board declared that 22 categories of files of both individuals and companies under universal self-assessment system will be examined by the tax officials, which may cause unnecessary harassment to taxpayers.

The chamber proposed implementation of a new concept introducing ‘Tax Card System’ providing direct incentives and services to taxpayers in the country, promoting the diversified use of jute, particularly pulp and paper making as Bangladesh has the potential to become a major pulp and paper producer from green jute.

Measures

Annual inflation rates in the United States from 1666 to 2004.

Inflation is usually estimated by calculating the inflation rate of a price index, usually the Consumer Price Index.The Consumer Price Index measures prices of a selection of goods and services purchased by a “typical consumer”.The inflation rate is the percentage rate of change of a price index over time.

For instance, in January 2007, the U.S. Consumer Price Index was 202.416, and in January 2008 it was 211.080. The formula for calculating the annual percentage rate inflation in the CPI over the course of 2007 is

It is true fact that though the “One eleven ” is criticised in various way but the blooming demand for democracy and development was remarkable . This is my personal observation that the contry is getting a reformed political activities through the revulation against the typical political system of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a mine of resources ,including Human resource. by dignifying the resources it is also a great potential .
Despite some improvement in the government’s human rights record, there were slight increase in the number of extrajudicial killings by security forces, custodial deaths, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment of journalists in Bangladesh, according to a Human Rights Report 2009 released by U.S. Department of State Thursday.

With the return of an elected government, reports of politically motivated violence increased 3.3 per cent, said the report prepared by Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

The failure to investigate fully extrajudicial killings by security forces, including the deaths in custody of alleged mutineers from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border force, remained a matter of serious concern, the report said.

Violence against women and children remained a serious problem, as did trafficking in persons. Violence against religious and ethnic minorities still occurred, although many government and civil society leaders stated that these acts often had political or economic motivations and could not be attributed only to religious belief or affiliation.

Members of the security forces committed numerous extrajudicial killings. The police, BDR, military, and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) occasionally used unwarranted lethal force.

According to government statistics, there was a 3 per cent increase in the number of killings by all security personnel, and the government did not take comprehensive measures to investigate these cases despite public statements by high-ranking officials that the government would show “zero tolerance” and would fully investigate all extrajudicial killings by security forces, the report added.

According to media reports, local and international human rights organizations, and the government, law enforcement officials were responsible for 154 deaths, 129 of which were attributed to crossfire.

There were hundreds of daily and weekly independent publications. Although there were significant improvements over the previous year, newspapers critical of the government experienced some government pressure.

Attacks on journalists continued to be a problem. There was an increase in individuals affiliated with the government or ruling party harassing, arresting, or assaulting journalists. According to Odhikar and media watchdog groups, at least three journalists were killed, 84 were injured, one was arrested, 45 were assaulted, 73 were threatened, and 23 had cases filed against them during the year. According to some journalists and human rights NGOs, journalists engaged in self-censorship for fear of retribution from the government.

The government generally respected this right in practice. Religion shaped the platforms of some political parties, but the government was sensitive to the religious sentiments of most citizens. Violence against religious and ethnic minorities was a problem occasionally.

Discrimination against members of religious minorities, such as Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists, existed at both the governmental and societal levels, and religious minorities were disadvantaged in practice in such areas as access to government jobs, political office, and justice. The secular AL government, however, appointed some members of the minority communities to senior government and diplomatic positions. In the new cabinet, three of the 38 ministers were non-Muslims.

On January 22, the country held elections to the newly created upazila parishads, or subdistrict councils, throughout the country. There were reports of violence, intimidation, vote rigging, and low voter turnout. The candidates backed by the ruling party won most of the upazila posts, although the election was not officially party based. The election commission organized repolling in a number of upazilas where elections were suspended due to violence.

According to Odhikar, there were 454 reported incidents of rape during the year, including 211 against women and 243 against children. According to human rights monitors, the actual number of rape cases was higher because many rape victims did not report the incidents due to social stigma. Prosecution of rapists was not consistent.

Bangladesh’s army chief General Mohammed Abdul Mubeen will pay a visit to India next week to boost military ties between the two nations. On an invitation by his Indian counterpart General Deepak Kapoor, Mubeen will visit the country on a five-day goodwill tour.
He will be accompanied by his wife and a four-member army delegation. During the tour he will call on Kapoor and discuss on the matters of professional interests, bilateral military issues and visit Indian Army establishments, an ISPR statement said here.
This would be Mubeen’s maiden India tour after his appointment as the chief of army staff last year.
Kapoor had visited Dhaka on a six-day tour in July 2008, five months after his the then counterpart and Mubeen’s predecessor General Moeen U Ahmed visited India on a weeklong tour

With a great pleasure of nature sitakunda Eco park ..Hill walk of 2 hours through Eco park ,you will reach Chandranath-Dham An International Vedic Conference Shiva Chaturdashi observe at Sitakunda Shrine Estate in Sitakunda Chandranath Dham, Chittagong on the occasion of Shiva Chaturdarshi, a Hindu festival in worship of Lord Shiva. Chandranath Dham at Sitakunda, Kanchannath at Fatikchari and Adinath at Maheshkhali have been honoured from time immemorial for having Vedic roots and are profoundly regarded as holy places of pilgrimage. The Sitakunda Chandranath Dham is, of course, among the most ancient holy places.
Millions of Hindu pilgrims, devotees, tourists and representatives of shrines and temples all over the world especially from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Bali, USA, UK, Australia and other countries assemble at Sitakunda on the occasion. In this International Vedic Conference of Hindus, a healthy and fruitful discussion continues on Hinduism, a religion of tolerance and service to the mankind, as well as on problems of shrines, temples and places of pilgrimage in different countries by the saints, religious leaders and other dignitaries of the community. Besides these, religious and cultural functions including Kirtan, Bhajan are arranged with the spirit of total surrender to God and the hope to receive the divine blessings.

Sitakunda Chandranath Dham is a holy place of pilgrimage known all over the sub-continent for centuries. It is mentioned in the puranas that Lord Ramchandra visited this place during his exile in the forests. The great sage Vargaba, brought into existence by his supernatural powers a reservoir for Sita Debi (wife of Ramchandra) to bathe in, which was called ‘Sitakunda’ after her. Later, when people came to live around it, the whole locality took the same name.

We know that there is no unbroken history of the Hindu holy places. None is available of Chandranath either, specially because of the long conflicts between Hindus and others in Chittagong, the destructive work of which has made the collection of evidence for a complete history impossible. In the Sanskrit Rajmala we find that in 610 Bengali era, that is to say about 800 years ago, Raja Biswambhar Sur, a descendant of the famous Adisur of Gour, made an attempt to reach Chandranath by sea. We find in the Nigamkalpataru that poet Joydeb Goswamy lived for a long time in Chandranath. We also find in the Rajmala that at the time of Dhanya Manikya, ruler of Tripura and a votary of Siva, Chandranath received almost all its endowments. Dhanya Manikya reportedly attempted to remove the icon of Shiva from Chandranath to his own dominion but failed. Whatever the stories of Chandranath, the place is known to the people for time immemorial.

In the 8th century, Sankaracharya advanced greatly the prosperity of Hindu places of pilgrimage by establishing the Sanyasi Sect and setting up four principal monasteries in four corners of India. Of the ten different sects of the Sanyasis, ‘Tirtha’ and ‘Ashram’ were founded by Biswarupacharya, the first disciple of Sankaracharya. From his 2nd disciple Padmacharya came ‘Ban’ and ‘Aranya’; from his 3rd disciple Trotokacharya ‘Giri’, Parbat’ and ‘Sagor’; and from his forth disciple Sarupacharya, ‘Saraswati’, ‘Bharati’ and ‘Puri’. Biswarupacharya was at the head of Sringery Math at Rameswar in the southern India, Trotokacharya of Joshi Math in Badrikasram in the North, Sarupacharya of Saroda Math in Dwarka in the west and Padmacharya of Gobordhan Math in the East. Chandranath is within the jurisdiction of Gobordhan Math.

Now, as ever, traditional rules regulate the work of this Shrine. And through the munificence of the pious rich of this country as also the devotion of the late poet Nabin Chandra Sen for improvement of this beautiful and unique place of pilgrimage, the work proceeds and progresses as days pass and the glory of the shrine grows. The place is easily accessible today. The natural beauty of this place is excellent. Water from the spring is available night and day, Sitakunda Shrine Committee is vested with the responsibility for managing the said Sitakunda, Adinath and Kanchannath shrines. And Shiva Chaturdashi happens to be main or one of the main occasions for these shrines.

 Bangladesh is developing the digital Infrustucture for the Nation .By 2021 the largest sector in Bangladesh is going to be information technology, not textiles and garments.

Globalization is must good for Bangladesh. Bangladeshi as a proud Nation Having the ultimate resources of Nature and human resource can make benificial Bangladesh resulting globaliszation competetion. Bangladesh put entry in the Information Highway.Now to see the better result- The sky is the limit for what can be achieved here

The government of Bangladesh has begun work on an ambitious new scheme to tackle poverty with the help of the internet. It plans to improve schools, hospitals, businesses and government services by linking them to the web by 2021.

At the moment, most villages – and even some communities in the capital Dhaka – do not even have access to electricity.

But the rapid spread of mobile phones to even the most remote and impoverished parts of the country in recent years, has shown what is possible.

“This will be a digitised nation depending on information technology, for information, for services, for all kinds of activities that individuals can do,” the finance minister, Abdul Muhith, told the BBC.

“This is a simple dream, and is really workable.

“It is the ideal solution for Bangladesh’s various problems. I’m sure that by 2021 the largest sector in Bangladesh is going to be information technology, not textiles and garments.”

Power cuts

This marks a big change with the past. Previous governments were suspicious of the internet, and imposed high charges on service providers.

Bangladesh is with a largely rural population, so relatively few people have ever gone online in their lives.

At the moment, the government’s plans are still vague and many Bangladeshis are sceptical of ministers’ boasts of the impending digital revolution, especially as power cuts are only getting worse. The country’s infrastructure is dreadful – gas and water supplies are also drying up – and the bureaucracy is famously corrupt.

But some organisations have already started connecting poor communities to the web, and begun to make a difference to people’s lives – which suggests that the government’s vision may indeed well work.

Aral Bazaar, a three-hour drive from Dhaka, is a typical small Bangladeshi town. Surrounded by paddy fields and banana groves, it is a sleepy place where the men gather to drink tea and the women stay at home to look after the kids.

But in its small row of shops, and sharing room space with a photo studio decorated with pictures of Bollywood actresses, Aral Bazaar now has its very own “Community Information Centre”.

It is one of 500 set up by Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone provider, which was founded with the help of Muhammed Yunus, the Nobel Peace laureate and micro-credit pioneer.

“The sky is the limit for what can be achieved here,” says Mahbub-el-Elahi Prince, owner of the centre, which is little more than two computers connected to the web.

E-farmers

A consultation on the web, is better than a two-day trip to meet an expert face-to-face

“People can come and communicate with their relatives who live abroad, but most of my customers are farmers who want advice on their crops.”

Prince is able to connect them to a Dhaka-based website called E-Krishok (E-farmer).

Faruque Mia, for example, wanted to know what was wrong with his pumpkin plant. He brought two brown leaves and a diseased looking fruit into the centre, where Prince’s assistant took digital photos. He submitted these to E-Krishok, where an expert was able to examine them and then send back advice on treatment.

“We used to go to a government-employed agriculture officer for this kind of help, but he works a long way away and it sometimes took two days to get anything from him. The CIC is close to where we live – that’s why everyone prefers to come here,” he said.

A more dramatic success story is taking place in an anonymous-looking hospital for diabetics in Faridpur, half a day’s drive and a river ferry ride from Dhaka.

Many of its patients are too poor to make the journey to the capital to see a consultant, so this hospital simply connects them over the web, using video-conferencing technology.

Two doctors sit with the patient, taking notes and conducting tests if required, while the consultant asks questions. They can all see and hear each other on large TV screens.

“This has brightened the possibility of taking care of the rural population as we would take care of the affluent and urban population,” Professor Tofail Ahmed of the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM), said. “It saves money, it saves time. It reduces all sorts of obstacles.”

According Zarina Begum, a patient with severely swollen limbs and face, she is now getting treatment that she would never have dreamed of receiving before.

“In my village we don’t have any good doctors. But fortunately I’ve been able to come here and see the Dhaka doctors anyway. My condition is now improving,” she said.

Bangladesh has been slow to benefit from the internet, but it is trying hard to make up for lost time.

“A woman one of the most beautiful creation of GOD, showering her respect as daughter, feel her care in the form of a sister, feel her warmth in the form of a friend.
Now we come to know why did God create man 1st before creating a woman ? Of course, because its alawys gud to make a rough draft 1st before making a MASTERPIECE..”

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