‘The constitution is sacred. The government should not add anything to the constitution suddenly without unanimity,’ said Hossain.

“It is not a matter to be done in haste. The 5th Amendment was done in a hurry under martial law ordinance which the people didn’t want so the High Court in its historic verdict in 2005 cancelled it,” he said in Chittagong yesterday.

“We should be delighted that the court verdicts are ridding the constitution of controversial matters,” he said.

The eminent jurist was talking to journalists after attending an advocacy workshop on “Improving City Governance and Private Sector Development” at Hotel Agrabad.

THE?CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH

(As modified up to 17 May, 2004)

Asked about the government initiative to form a parliamentary committee in this regard, Dr Kamal said, “Formation of a committee by the government should not get so much importance or create controversy. It should not be considered as a party outlook.”

Regarding BNP’s stance on the issue, Dr Kamal said, “I will politely appeal that as a major political party BNP should take it as a national issue and should play proper role in this regard.??

International Business Forum of Bangladesh organised the workshop in association with USAID and Progati.

Transparency International Bangladesh Chairman M Hafizuddin Khan, Chittagong City Corporation Mayor M Manjur Alam, BNP Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al Noman and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries Senior Vice-President MA Salam were special guests at the workshop in which newly-elected ward councillors and business leaders participated.

While presenting the keynote paper at the workshop, IBFB Research Director ABM Mafizur Rahman suggested reforms in the city corporation regulations and autonomy for all city corporations.

Dr Kamal urged the public representatives to listen to the needs of the citizens.

Hafizuddin Khan observed that the local government bodies including city corporations lack proper transparency.

Mayor Manjur Alam spoke for city corporations’ working with different utility service providers, like Wasa, PDB, PWD, in a coordinated manner for smooth development of citie
Sources :

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…………………………………………Search result here !!!!

Both the pass percentage and the number of GPA-5 scorers have increased this year compared to that of the last year. The pass rate increased by 1.44 per cent and the number of GPA-5 scorers by 8,682. Last year 72.87 per cent students passed the HSC and equivalent examinations and 20,322 of them obtained GPA-5.

A total of 5, 36,439 examinees, out of 7, 21,941, have passed the examinations this year. Of the successful students, 2, 90,889 are boys and 2, 45,550 girls.

Some 4, 20,057 candidates, out of 5, 84,480 have passed the HSC examination under the eight general education boards with a pass percentage of 71.87 against 70.43 per cent in 2009.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid Thursday disclosed the results before journalists at a press briefing in his secretariat office where chairmen of the ten education boards were present.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid formally handed over the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina around 9:30am.

About the increase in pass rate, Nahid said that hard studies by the students, relentless efforts by the college teachers and guardians, effective initiatives by the education boards and proper monitoring by the education ministry had contributed to the results.

Of the eight general education boards, Sylhet Board has topped the list in terms of pass-rate with 76.12 per cent students passing. Rajshahi Board is in second position with 75.43 per cent students coming out successful and Barisal Board in third position with 74.34 per cent students figuring well.

Comilla Board has become fourth with 73.13 per cent students passing while Chittagong Board is in fifth position with 72.65 per cent, Dhaka Board in sixth position with 72.10 per cent, Jessore Board in seventh position with 67.73 per cent and Dinajpur Board in eighth position with 67.54 per cent students passing.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board has topped the list of all other boards in terms of pass percentage with 86.55 per cent students passing against 84.60 per cent last year. A total of 63,864 students out of 73,790 have passed the Alim examination.

A total of 63,671 students appeared at the examination under the Technical Education Board. Of them, 52,518 examinees have come out successful making the pass-rate 82.48 against 80.74 per cent of the last year.

Some 3,070 examinees, out of 3,857, have passed the DIBS examination-2010, held under the Dhaka Board, showing 79.60 per cent pass percentage.

A total of 25,512 examinees have obtained GPA-5 under the eight general education boards this year against 18,222 of the last year. Of them, 11,020 are under Dhaka Board, 5,602 under Rajshahi Board, 2,236 under Jessore Board, 1,814 under Dinajpur Board, 1,618 under Chittagong Board, 1,457 under Barisal Board, 1168 under Comilla Board and 597 under Sylhet Board.

A total of 2,957 students have secured GPA-5 under the Madrasah Board against 1,894 of the last year, while 202 under the Technical Education Board against 22 of the last year and 333 in the DIBS examination this year.

Some 145 students appeared at the HSC examination from five overseas centres. Of them, 120 examinees have come out successful .

At least 714 educational institutions have achieved hundred per cent success in the examinations this year. On the other hand, not a single examinee from 25 educational institutions has passed the examinations. The number of institutions securing zero pass-rate was 41 in 2009.

A total of 608 examinees were expelled from the HSC, HSC Business Management, Alim and DIBS examinations-2010, held from April 1 to May 18. The number of expelled students was 664 during the previous year.

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Her works focuses on the effects of the ship-breaking industry in Chittagong. Each year hundreds of massive tankers, ferries and cargo ships from around the world are driven onto the mud flats in Chittagong, and then literally attacked by hundreds of men armed with little more than hammers, cutters and brute-force.

They strip the ships for their scrap metal, salvaging what they can, discarding what they can’t. Rizwana is the executive director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and has been fighting the industry for decades. BELA has launched numerous legal challenges against the shipyards, which it claims don’t care about the environment or the safety of their employees.

“All these ships contain very hazardous materials like asbestos, PCBs, and they are in-built in the system, so in a country like Bangladesh we do not have technologies to deal with this sort of hazardous substance,” Rizwana Hasan told CNN.

“There is a huge amount of waste oil and water that are eventually released into our coastal environments. In the process our soil gets contaminated, the fishery gets contaminated, the air gets polluted. And we are all inhaling it without knowing the effect of it,” she said.
The issue of worker safety also is a concern.

The casualties of the trade are easy to find — Mohammed Murad worked in ship-breaking for 10 years until a 20-ton slab of metal fell on his leg last year. He says that, with Rizwana’s help, he got some compensation, but the company had originally refused to pay anything after he lost his leg.

“It’s too dangerous, too dangerous. The company doesn’t give us any security,” Murad said. “They tell us to do it quickly, to cut quickly, If you die in the field, no problem, but you have to work quickly.”

There are 78 ship-breaking yards scattered along the Chittagong coast. As we found out when we traveled there, most are hidden from the road, often unmarked at the end of small lanes from the highway. The staff was unwilling to let us film inside or talk to the owners.

Last year, Rizwana says some 160 ships were dismantled in the yards — a process described as ship recycling by the International Maritime Organization, a U.N. agency responsible for maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships. Rizwana calls it an “old boys club” for the industry.

Rizwana grew up in a politically active family and after completing her masters at age 24 she joined BELA, rising to become one of the country’s leading lawyers and the association’s director. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental prize.

Rebuffing accusations from critics, she insists she does not want the ship-breaking industry to shut down. She realizes its importance as a source of employment, money and its potential as a good recycling initiative.

But she is determined that it should operate responsibly and within the law. She says ships containing hazardous material, such as asbestos, need to have these substances removed before they arrive in Bangladesh. She says the country simply doesn’t have the facilities to deal with them. In March 2009 Bangladesh’s Supreme Court ruled that ships entering the country for decommissioning must be “pre-cleaned” in line with The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, known more simply as the Basel Convention.

The international treaty was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations. Under the treaty, a country must not allow the export of a ship containing hazardous materials if it suspects that the waste will not be properly dealt with by the ship-breaking country.

Dr. Nikos Mikelis from the International Maritime Organization agrees that the ship-breaking industry needs better regulation but says it performs a vital role in Bangladesh, providing valuable jobs.

“It’s a benefit to the country, all that is missing is order and order can brought by suitable regulation and enforcement. I believe it can be done. You don’t close down the industry because it’s not doing correctly now, you adjust it,” Mikelis said.

According to Rizwana, the problem is that in countries like Bangladesh, rules such as the Basel Convention are not always observed and not applied to the ships themselves, only to their cargo. She maintains that ships often are re-registered in “flag of convenience” countries before being sent to Chittagong, with few checks about what hazardous substances are contained within the equipment and superstructure of the vessel.

While Rizwana has won a number of key legal battles, she says many of the shipyards’ bad practices continue, with new yards opening each year. Her opponents at the yards themselves remain acutely angry with her — so much so that she feels it would be unsafe for her to even travel to Chittagong. But Rizwana says simply shining a spotlight on the industry is an achievement in itself.

“We have been able to give a bad name to the industry, and the industry deserves a bad name,” she said.

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The export of bamboo shoot is on the card as successful trial production has started since June 1 following setting up a Treatment and Scientific Processing Plant (TSPL), at a cost of Taka 85 lakh, beside Karnaphuli Tea Estate in Fatikchari upazila.

Project director Mohammad Jashim Uddin told BSS that nearly 450 acres of land was brought under bamboo shoot cultivation this year in Fatikchari and three other hill districts.

The production is expected to be in full swing from July this year. In this connection nearly five metric tons of bamboo shoot will be processed by the TSPL in first three months and the production will be increased after expanding the processing centers in December next, Jashim said.

As huge demand of Molly Bamboo in China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia for its deliciousness, we expect to export the bamboo shoot at six US dollar per kilogram, he added. The project director said the export growth rate is increasing to 20 percent every year. Bangladesh has a huge potential to utilize the Chinese technology and earn huge foreign currency like readymade garments and shrimp sectors, he added.

Mohammad Jashim Uddin, Project Director and head of the agriculture research division of Forest research Institute in Chittagong said China produces 2500 items of goods from bamboo including food, medicine and cosmetic and exports it to different countries including Japan and the United States. In this connection an agreement was signed between the Forest Research Institute in Chittagong and the International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) of China in September 2008.

Under the agreement ICBR transferred the technology in bamboo shoot production, processing and marketing from China to Bangladesh free of cost. The ICBR has also set up a TSPL over three acres of land in Fatikchhari beside the tea estate of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BARC), according to the agreement.

A total of Taka 1,37 crore was received as Common Fund for Commodity (CFC) by Bangladesh for bamboo cultivation project from International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBER), an organization of worldwide aiding for Bamboo production through International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR), an organization of Bamboo and Rattan production aiding in China.

The project tenure is three years from January 2008 to December 2010.

After receiving the fund, the Forest Research Institute in Chittagong had started work to attract the farmers and big entrepreneurs to cultivate bamboo shoots.

A huge number of entrepreneurs and individuals had started cultivation of bamboo shoots in three hill districts and Fatikachhri upazila.

The cultivation will be doubled in next year, he said adding that the BFRI had organized four training programmes for the individuals and farmers of bamboo shoots in the last fiscal year.

The authorities also organized a training programme for the big entrepreneurs like BRAC and the officials of Forest Research Institute last month and three motivation programmes for the farmers and entrepreneurs in three hill district during the last six months for introducing the sectors and conveying the prospects about the cultivation of bamboo shoots.

The main objective of the project is to promote the grassroots level farmers about the cultivation and marketing of bamboo shoots and reduction poverty through creating employment, the project director said.

He said that they were contemplating to import different kinds of high yielding variety bamboo sapling from China from August next.

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Bangladesh’s Finance Minister, A.M.A. Muhith, signed the deal with the Jeddah-based development lender in the capital of Azerbaijan last week. The facility would help unload both crude and refined petroleum from mother vessels in the deep sea without landing in the port, said the finance minister on his return from Azerbaijan Saturday, adding that the unloaded oil would be brought ashore via pipeline.

BPC currently pays $5.50/mt to small vessels owned by the state Bangladesh Shipping Corp. to ferry petroleum ashore from larger vessels moored at the outer anchorage in the Bay of Bengal. The platform would save BPC around $8/mt incurred by the vessel transfer.

The floating platform would be built southwest of Kutubdia Island in the Bay of Bengal, 70 kilometers from the port of Chittagong. A 77-km, 36-inch diameter pipeline would link Bangladesh’s lone state-owned Eastern Refinery with the single point mooring.

The facility would help meet growing demand for fuel as Bangladesh’s annual oil imports are expected to grow 33% from 3.65 million mt/year to 4.85 million mt/year as Bangladesh’s new gasoil- and furnace oil-run power plants are expected to start operation shortly.
Bangladesh has approved installation of over a dozen oil-fired power plants to help ease the country’s electricity crisis within the shortest possible time.
We will float an international tender shortly for building the off-shore platform,” said the BPC official. Construction of the platform is targeted for 2011, he said. Forecast

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Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad, replying to lawmakers’ queries, told the House that the new channel, styled “Sangsad Bangladesh” would begin digital terrestrial test transmission in December in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.

Apart from telecasting parliamentary programmes, the new channel will also broadcast different programmes on development, reported BBC Monitoring.

Earlier, the Bangladeshi parliament passed a resolution setting up a separate television channel dedicated to broadcasting the parliamentary proceedings.

The information minister said the government is considering formulation of a time befitting policy to make private radios and television channels more neutral and pro-people.

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But apart from their choice of a candidate, be that from partisan or personal considerations, the very opportunity of the electorate to exercise its franchise in a free and fair manner is what constitutes democracy. From that point of view, can we then claim that the just held mayoral election in Chittagong bore the hallmark of a thriving democracy in Bangladesh?

And since, unlike most other elections held earlier — whether parliamentary or local government — the Chittagong poll was conspicuous by the absence of violence, can we not also say that our democracy is also getting more mature by the day?

Whomever the credit for the just held impartial election may go to — the Election Commission’s competence, the ruling party’s respect for democracy or the winning candidate’s popularity with the constituents — the result of the election has definitely gone to enhance the nation’s image in a big way.

But before rushing to such conclusions, one needs also to think in retrospect. What really has happened only about two months after the Bhola by-election that all the parties involved in the Chittagong mayoral poll have buried their differences and the electorate could be weaned from their attachment to their parties overnight?

It cannot be gainsaid that in Bangladesh, elections are highly partisan, though the advocates of the different political camps would like to call it political. And the voters’ choice for their candidates is determined more by their blind partisan allegiance than by any critical judgement of their party programs or the candidate’s merit. And the supporters’ allegiance to their party is comparable with the bond between the members of a clan and its guardians.

As a result, the leaders and activists of the different parties, especially of the most influential one’s such as Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), consider their sway over their supporters for granted. That is more so because it is the personal charisma of the top leadership of the contesting parties that outweighs other considerations in the choice of their candidates.

Even then, if there is ever any exception to this tradition and if that becomes evident from the party activists’ assessment of the pulse of the people in a constituency, then the likelihood of violence in that constituency gets higher. The power of muscle and money then prevails over that of logic and persuasion.

Now if one reflects on the result of the Chittagong mayoral poll, it may appear that some established notion about the voters’ loyalty to their favourite party or the leadership might have gone through a sea change. Otherwise, why this exception in the electorates’ behaviour as manifested through the outcome of the election in question?

Oddly enough, so far, neither of the major political parties throwing their weight behind their candidates has brought any allegation of rigging against the other. Even the prime minister and supreme leader of the ruling Awami League has congratulated the mayor elect from the second biggest city Chittagong. And the victor from the major opposition has even sought the cooperation of the defeated mayoral candidate from the ruling party in running his office once he takes charge.

Have then all the earlier calculations on the result of the election been proved wrong, or is it that we are witnessing a major shift in the pattern of the voters’ loyalty to their parties? At least, the winning party in the election would like to evaluate the polls outcome in such light.

One may recall here the parliamentary by-election in Bhola was held in the fourth week of April. The behaviour of the contending parties and their candidates was predictably different in that election as it was marked by serious instances of violence and charges and counter-charges of rigging and all kinds of criminality levelled against one another by the contending Awami League and the BNP.

One explanation may be that widespread violence and charges of rigging that dominated the electoral scene during and after Bhola election were due mainly to the fact that it was a parliamentary one and that it was a prestige constituency for both the ruling and the opposition party.

It would be worthwhile to point out what one of the prominent leaders of the ruling Awami League, Obaidul Kader, said in his post-election reaction when he warned the opposition saying that they should not go overboard with this election result simply because it was concerned with a local government and hence it had no political significance.

At the same time, he advised the opposition party to remember a similar victory that their just-defeated mayor had won during the four-party alliance government between 2001 and 2006. In the same breath, he also suggested that the defeat of their mayoral candidate in Chittagong was something that they themselves wanted to happen.

The ruling party leader’s view of the election result cannot be dismissed out of hand either. In fact, a strange combination of factors, including the disillusionment of a section of the electorate with the erstwhile Chittagong mayor, together militated against him to influence the polls result.

Despite the strangeness of the factors playing their part, it cannot be denied that, after all, the electoral result reflected the people’s choice. But then, such uniqueness of circumstance does also come into play in the case of national elections! Had it not been so, all the election results would become predictable.

So, once the parties, both in power and in opposition, started to reflect on this uniqueness of every election, they would not behave so violently to manipulate the results of various other elections. And they should already be wiser by now, if they consider the results of the previous national elections, notwithstanding all their efforts to influence those

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Hasina’s arch rival and opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) scored a major upset when its candidate Mohammad Manjur Alam was elected mayor of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Friday.

He defeated Awami League-backed incumbent A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury by the largest ever margin of votes in the corporation’s history.

The defeat was humiliating for the Awami League that has scored victories in all by-elections since it swept to power with a two-thirds parliamentary majority in in January 2009.

The League finished with 17 seats behind the BNP’s 21, with BNP ally Jamaat-e-Islami winning two.

Chowdhury was the first elected mayor of the port city and had been in the post for 17 years. Manjur bagged 479,145 votes defeating Mohiuddin by 95,528 votes.

While Hasina and her party were quick to congratulate the winners, calling it ‘victory of democracy’, Chowdhury accused the Election Commission and the Chittagong administration of ‘engineering’ his defeat.

However, The Daily Star said: ‘Domineering attitude, rudeness, failure to win party ranks’ confidence, low turnout and his rival’s clean image are believed to have ended Mohiuddin Chowdhury’s 17-year mayoral rule in the port city.’

Some local leaders put it down to allegations of corruption and nepotism and division among minority communities. The port town has a significant Hindu population.

Zia congratulated the people of Chittagong for ‘thwarting the conspiracies of the ruling party and their move to protract their dictatorship in a Nazi manner’.

BNP senior joint secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said ‘the election in Chittagong was fair as the military was deployed there’.

‘Had the military been deployed in Bhola, where a parliamentary by-election was held last month, the BNP would have swept the polls there too,’ he said.

Low turnout of young voters and inactivity of ruling Awami League workers made it only easier for Manjur to rout his once mentor Mohiuddin.

Political analysts say the scene now shifts to the nationwide strike that Zia has called against the Hasina government June 27.

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In a statement, the opposition leader said the poll result was a reflection of people’s mandate against the oppression and torture of the government.

She also expressed her gratitude to the law enforcing agencies, election commission, the media and others for conducting a peaceful election, Prothom Alo reports.

Earlier in the morning, the returning officer said Manjur was unofficially elected mayor of the Chittagong City Corporation

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In a letter of felicitation, she also thanked and greeted the Election Commission, law enforcing agencies, local administration and democracy-loving people of all walks of life of the city for holding the election in a free, fair, neutral and acceptable manner.

The premier said the election is a bright example of the government??s strong commitment to holding free and fair elections.

She further said the election has also proved the government??s sincerity and commitment to ensuring an independent and strong Election Commission.

In this regard, Hasina said during the last BNP-Jamaat alliance government the people of the city had to remain alert and on guard whole night to protect people??s verdict in a city corporation election.

??But the present government is the people??s government. People have voted us to power. That??s why we??re fully committed to establishing people??s rights and upholding people??s verdicts in the elections,?? she said.

Remembering the tough times before the 2008 general election, the prime minister said the foundation of the hard-earned democracy and the democratic institutions of the country will have to be further strengthened for maximum welfare of the mass people.

??We??ll continue to give our best to establish people??s rights,?? she said

The prime minister in her message also expressed strong commitment to continue the present government??s development projects across the country for balanced development and prosperity of the people.

Mentioning the introduction of electronic voting system in the Chittagong City Corporation elections, she said this is another step towards turning Bangladesh into a modern digital country

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