Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda

Yeh Zameen
Yeh Falak
In Say Aagay Talak
Jitni Dunyaeen Hain
Sub Main Teri Jhalak

Yeh Zameen
Yeh Falak
In Say Aagay Talak
Jitni Dunyaeen Hain
Sub Main Teri Jhalak

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda

Har Sehar Phoot’ti
Hai Naye Rang Say
Sabza-o-Gul Khilay
Seena-e-Sang Say

Har Sehar Phoot’ti
Hai Naye Rang Say
Sabza-o-Gul Khilay
Seena-e-Sang Say

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda

Har Sitaaray Main
Aabaad Hai Ek Jahaan
Chaand Sooraj Teri
Roshni Kay Nishaan

Har Sitaaray Main
Aabaad Hai Ek Jahaan
Chaand Sooraj Teri
Roshni Kay Nishaan

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Jis Nay Ki Justuju
Mil Gaya Usko Tu
Sab Ka Tu Rehnuma

Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda
Aye Khuda

Artist: Adnan Sami
Song: Aye Khuda
Album: Kisi Din

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On their concern and objections to the proposed amendments, the parliamentary standing committee on post and telecommunications ministry said it would carefully examine those and bring amendments to the bill, if necessary.

Representatives of the telecom operators also opposed the proposed amendments that provide the government with sweeping authority by curtailing jurisdiction of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The telecom industry is among the largest contributors to growth, accounting for approximately 6 percent of GDP. Under Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission regulations, the industry shares 5.5 percent of revenue collected in the form of rent and call charges as well as pays for the lease of Bangladesh Railways’ fibre optic network. Not to talk about the large money the government realises in the form of SIM tax. During the caretaker government’s time, owners were forced to pay additional fees for transfer of ownership too. Altogether it is around 10 percent of the government’s revenue collection.

As mentioned earlier, on June 13, 2010, the Bangladesh Telecommunication (amendment) Bill 2010 was placed before parliament for review by the parliamentary standing committee on posts and telecommunication ministry. The Mobile Operators Association (AMTOB) highlighted a few key provisions in the new regulatory framework that are detrimental to the future growth of the industry and against the spirit of free markets.
The new law proposes raising the maximum fine for offenses from Tk 10 lakh to an astounding Tk 300 crore, higher than any comparable fines in the region; Pakistan currently has the highest with a maximum fine of PKR 35 crore (approximately BDT 28 crore). Given the industry’s high rate of taxation, mandatory revenue sharing and strict regulatory framework, this incentive adds an incremental contingent cost on industry players, discouraging further domestic and foreign investment. While our government is trying hard to market overseas investment, this will obviously send a wrong message to the rank and file. Especially when nobody less than our prime minister is continuously focusing on policy continuity, despite political changeover.
Against the spirit of due process, the new law provides no scope for appeal against expanded powers given to regulators. Telecom-related offenses are now made cognizable under the law, allowing the arrest of industry professionals without warrants, against all tenets of the Criminal Procedure Code. I thought we live in a respectable democratic country, known for its hospitality to the foreign guests. The other day, a minister was speaking high about the country’s potential as a ‘business process outsourcing’ (BPO) hub, with growing and reasonably priced IT savvy and English literate young men and women.
The new law also gives the regulator unilateral power to amend licence conditions at any time. The current cost of renewing a licence represents a significant investment in a capital intensive and highly competitive industry. The potential for abrupt and/or unfavorable changes in licence conditions in light of the high cost of renewal is a significant barrier towards future growth and casts a pall over the business and investment climates in Bangladesh.
The telecom industry is among the largest contributors to growth, accounting for approximately 6 percent of GDP. Under Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission regulations, the industry shares 5.5 percent of revenue collected in the form of rent and call charges as well as pays for the lease of Bangladesh Railways’ fibre optic network. Not to talk about the large money the government realises in the form of SIM tax. During the caretaker government’s time, owners were forced to pay additional fees for transfer of ownership too. Altogether it is around 10 percent of the government’s revenue collection.
Mobile phone operators have been very serious in implementing measures and technologies in the spirit of Digital Bangladesh. Among other things, the industry has brought mobile connectivity to over 90 percent of Bangladesh, introduced data and Internet services to mobile users, provided valuable services such as the facilitation of inward remittance from Bangladeshis living abroad, and generally introduced among the lowest cost mobile phone services in the world.
The industry has promoted significant foreign investment in Bangladesh, sparked growth in Bangladesh capital markets and brought the gift of communication to far-flung corners of rural Bangladesh. The industry is the epitome of a healthy, competitive market and fostering growth for the sector and will continue to provide benefits for the people of Bangladesh.
The people of this country voted this regime, because we wanted change, change for better, biased towards a forward-looking Bangladesh, more technology-driven solutions. No going back, look forward with confidence. If one looks at the telecom bill put up in the parliament, s/he will obviously doubt the sincerity of purpose of the change. I know many ministers, many parliament members who truly believe Bangladesh has a future, based on better education, access to information and shared vision. And that can only happen with better connectivity, using technology for poverty alleviation, investing more in agricultural and tropical health research. Professor Jeffrey Sachs (the author of ‘End of Poverty’) mentioned in 1999 ‘the future of Bangladesh depends on – how fast it can reach technology to rural masses, how better they can use technology for poverty alleviation’. Let’s not kill the golden goose, let’s not send a wrong message to the rest of the world. I am convinced senses will prevail among our people’s representatives, they are the listening people, they represent the toiling masses, and they in togetherness can give us a better Bangladesh. They are the change ambassadors.? can they kill change!

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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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During the meeting, Zillur Rahman said the Bulgarian businessman could import world standard Bangladeshi products like readymade garments, leather and jute goods, ceramic and pharmaceuticals considering their very competitive prices.

He also said the Bulgarian entrepreneurs might come forward for individual or joint investments in the fields of RMG, textile, energy, petroleum, leather ceramic, pharmaceuticals and agro- processing in Bangladesh.

The President mentioned that Bangladesh and Bulgaria have enormous possibilities for expanding their ties in trade, commerce and cultural sectors but the volume of trade between the two countries does not reflect the true potential.

Saying that Bulgaria was one of the countries who recognized Bangladesh immediately after its independence, Zillur Rahman said Bangladeshis are grateful to Bulgaria in this regard.

Zillur Rahman also congratulated Bulgarian leadership for their efforts in ascending to the European Union as a full-fledged member sate.

The new envoy appreciated the achievement of Bangladesh for maintaining a ‘high’ 5-6% percent of GDP growth rate over the years amid ongoing global economic crisis.

He also appreciated Bangladesh for playing the leading role in raising its voice against the adverse effects of climate change worldwide.

Kostov emphasised increasing high level political, business and cultural visits between the two countries for further increasing the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Bulgaria.

The evoy sought President’s cooperation in discharging his new responsibilities and assured the president that he would do this to his level best to bring the trade and commerce relations between the two countries to new heights.

Secretary to the President’s office M Safiul Alam, Press Secretary AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan and Additional Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Ministry Mostafa Kamal were present during the meeting.

Earlier, the Ambassador was given a guard of honor by a contingent of the President’s Guard Regiment.

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Over 11 500 health-care facilities have registered!

The First Global Patient Safety Challenge team is extremely pleased to announce that the 2010 call to action has been answered and the results are far beyond expectations. Although a goal of 10 000 was set, more than 11 500 health-care facilities have registered their commitment with WHO to improve hand hygiene at the point of patient care!

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The World Bank has urged the central bank of Bangladesh to coordinate and speed up implementation of information technology and to formulate a comprehensive project plan that identifies all the dependencies.

?The current global financial crisis has underscored not only the importance of a sound legal and regulatory framework, but also the need to have legal rules for cross-border insolvency and crisis management,? the World Bank said in an Information Note issued in Dhaka on Sunday.

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) findings show that the Bangladesh Bank Order (BBO) and Banking Companies Act (BCA) do not have adequate provision to cope with a changing global financial situation.

?There is thus an urgent need to improve the provisions of BBO and BCA,? the World Bank said, adding that the Bangladesh Bank needs to ensure that it has legal powers to own and supervise payment systems including the automated clearing house and securities depositor
“We’re now working to implement the ongoing Central Bank Strengthening Project (CBSP) along with IT components within the stipulated timeframe,? a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank, the country?s central bank, told in Dhaka.
There is no alternative but to implement the automated system in the central bank to bring dynamism in its overall activities, the bank official added.

The World Bank-funded project began in 2003 and was scheduled to take four years. Unable to complete the major components of the project on time, the central bank had received a two-year extension from the World Bank, which is providing US$ 37 million of the total project cost of $46.13 million.

The Washington-based multilateral lending agency had also agreed to extend the timeframe of the project to the end of 2011, another Bangladesh Bank official said, adding that networking of the central bank has almost completed under the CBSP.

The World Bank is supporting the government initiative to enable the central bank to play its role as country?s monetary authority, bank regulator and supervisor

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BPC, Bangladesh’s only fuel importer and distributor, normally buys up to 3.8 million tonnes of refined and crude oil annually at costs between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion, its chairman Anwarul Karim said.

“But for the next fiscal year our import may rise to 4.4 million tonnes as the government plans to set up several oil-fired power plants,” he told.
Bangladesh now imports oil from Vietnam, Malaysia, Maldives, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India and United Arab Emirates.

But officials said it was also looking for other sources to buy the additional fuel.

To meet the rising fuel bill, Bangladesh has asked the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to provide more funds, Karim said. The IDB gives Bangladesh about $1.2 billon a year now to pay for oil imports.

“We have also asked Bangladesh’s central bank to allocate additional funds for oil import,” Karim added.

The new power plants fuelled by diesel and furnace oil will add more than 1,350 megawatts of power to the national grid, a partial fulfilment of promises by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ease a nagging power crisis that affects households and industries.

But BPC, which sells many fuels below cost as part of a complicated subsidy programme, has accumulated losses of $2.83 billion that may rise to $3.05 billion at the end of the current fiscal year ending in June 2010

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Sources :The Bangladesh government has doubled cash incentives to 20 percent against exports of potatoes to encourage exporters,

Potato exporters will receive the subsidy against the net repatriation of the free-on-board (FOB) prices of their products between April 1 to June 30, according to a circular issued by the central bank of Bangladesh.?The government has doubled cash incentive on potato exports following bumper production of the perishable item. It will also help to ensure fair prices of the vegetable,? said a senior official of Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank.

The official said the subsidy would be re-fixed to 10 percent from the existing 20 percent for fiscal 2010-11.

Last week, the government allowed cash incentives at 5.0 percent against exports of crust leather and shipbuilding to facilitate the exporters of those sectors.

The government earlier announced a list of 15 exportable products that would receive the cash subsidy for the current fiscal year

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Power state minister Enamul Haque said at a seminar on Tuesday that it would not be easy to reduce power shortage to below 10 percent within 2015 as the government had proposed.

Replying to comments the minister said the suggestions were simply not feasible. “We need more time and planning.” He said the government had come up with a plan. But if other had alternative suggestions they could come forward with the plan.

“Nothing can be achieved from just criticism.”
The country has a shortfall of 30 percent compared to the power demand. “But we will resolve the power crisis completely by 2021,” said Haque.

Ijaz Hossain, a professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, said that the so-called system loss was actually not system loss at all.

Outlining the government’s plan for developing the country’s rickety power infrastructure, State Minister for Power Enamul Haque yesterday underscored the need for addressing the problem holistically by integrating the available resources.

Besides, developing the regional grid to exchange electricity with the neighbouring countries, which have high prospect in different types of power projects, is also imperative to solve the crisis, he said.

“We are emphasising solution to the energy and power crisis at regional and sub-regional level considering the fact that we are living in a global village. We can’t move without the help of others,” Haque added.

The state minister made the remarks while speaking at the plenary session of a conference on ‘energy for growth’, organised by the Bangladesh chapter of International Chamber of Commerce at a city hotel.

Haque said additional 9,000 megawatts (MW) electricity will be required to be produced within the next five years under short, medium and long term plans, out of which more than 5,000MW would be produced under the private sector.

The total generation addition in 2015 will be 9,426MW and the new addition will be made through implementation of more than 50 projects under fast track, short, medium and long-term plans, he said, adding that the primary fuel for the projects would be liquid fuel, gas and coal.

“We’ve about three billion tonnes of estimated proven coal reserve in five coal fields and we’re seriously thinking about the extraction of the indigenous coal and its use for power generation,” he said.

The minister further said initiatives are also being taken for ensuring a mix of conventional and renewable fuel in power generation.

He said the government is putting its best efforts to develop the indigenous energy resources, renewable energy and nuclear power plants.

Enamul Haque said initiatives have also been taken to establish LNG terminals for importing LNG vis-?-vis the efforts for increasing gas exploration.

He called upon the private investors to join hands with the government for the development of renewable energy side by side contribution in the conventional energy.

Paul J Heytens, country director of Asian Development Bank, said the current situation calls for measures in the short-term to rapidly close the gas supply and power generation gaps that also lay the foundation for long-term development of the sector, through better integration of power and gas policy, planning and investment.

He said the ADB is keen on assisting Bangladesh in setting up more new plants and expanding transmission and distribution networks.

“Over the next three years, Asian Development Bank plans to provide another $900 million in financial support through its public sector window for the power and energy sectors,” Heytens said.

Chaired by Dr Victor K Fung, chairman of International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), the session was also addressed by Dr Thomas von Schwarzenberg, chief geologist of RWE Power International GmbH, Germany, Vinod Kumar, executive director of CESC Limited of RPG Enterprises, India, and Tawhid Ali, senior vice president and director of Research Alliance Bernstein

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“The inflationary pressures on economy has slightly gone up during the period due mainly to the increase in prices of food items in the local market as well as in the global markets,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told gurumia in Dhaka.

The official also said the existing upward trend of inflation might continue in the third quarters but it particularly in food inflationary pressure would decline in the fourth quarters of the current fiscal year due to arrival of new ?Boro? rice crop along with the government?s market intervention.

Food price inflation rose to 10.93 percent in February from 10.56 percent in January this year on the point-to-point basis due mainly to raise the prices of essential items including rice and sugar during the period.

Despite good domestic output of the ?Aman? rice crop, a recent surge in domestic prices of essential commodities including rice, sugar, edible oil, pulses, onion, garlic and vegetables is the reason for higher inflation during the period under review, the central bank officials said.

The inflation rate moved up to 5.95 percent in February from 5.67 percent of the previous month on the annual average basis, according to the state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, released on Monday.

The central bank in its latest monetary policy projected a further rise in the country’s CPI inflation on a point-to-point basis in the coming months. However, it expressed hope that the 12-month average CPI would be within a 6.5 percent range by the end of the fiscal year 2009-10, as earlier projected by the BB

…BAck Story:(February2010)
Bangladesh’s consumers’ price index (CPI) inflation rose to 7.24 percent on the point-to-point basis in November 2009, up?from 6.71 percent of the previous month, officials told AHN Media on Tuesday.

The rate of inflation went up by 0.53 percentage point in November, over that of the previous month,?mainly because of the increase in prices of both food and non-food items.

And?that marked an upward trend since the inflation rate moved up to 5.21 percent in November 2009 from 5.11 percent in the previous month on annual average basis, they added.

Food prices rose by 7.84 percent in November from 7.78 percent in October 2009 while non-food items’ prices rose by 6.44 percent from 5.07 percent, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) said.

“The inflationary pressures on [the] economy has slightly gone up during the period due mainly to the increase in prices of food and non-food items in the local market as well as in the global markets,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told AHN in Dhaka.

He also said the existing upward trend of inflation might continue in the near future because of the?recovery of major economies from the global meltdown with a rising trend of prices of commodities in the international market that would also?push inflationary expectations in the country.

The central bank of Bangladesh in its monetary policy projected a further rise in the country’s CPI inflation on a point-to-point basis in the coming months of the fiscal 2009-10 (FY10). However, it expressed the hope that the 12-month average CPI would be within the budgetary target by the end of FY10.

Food and non-food commodity prices in the global market have firmed up with an up-trend in many cases, according to a report by the?monetary policy, released on Jan. 19. That is why the domestic prices of food grains are holding firm even in the harvesting seasons, it added.

Accordingly, the 12-month average CPI inflation instead of declining is expected to?creep up in the second half of this fiscal year. But it is expected to remain within a?6.5 percent range by the end of FY10, as earlier projected by the central bank of Bangladesh.

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