The first round of reform talks produced a wide range of agreements and disagreements
Government should prioritise reform recommendations that help with holding the election in time.
Troubling development involving fine exemptions comes to light
The dismal state of a thirty-four kilometer highway section between Bogra and Sherpur in northern Bangladesh has been depicted in a front-page report in our paper on Tuesday last. This road is regarded as an arterial one which has assumed vital importance following the construction of the Jamuna Bridge that has reduced by a half the travel time from Dhaka to the northern region. This was one of the best highway when constructed in 1978 but now it has as many as 13 thousand potholes along a 13 kilometers stretch, it is learnt. Another measure of how bad the road has become can be gauged from the long queues of vehicles stranded and one and a half hours time being taken to cover the short distance. Bumpy craters are a hazard to movement and on Sunday alone, several lorries were found...
In the post 9/11 era, 'Inter-Cultural Dialogue (ICD)' has slowly assumed a functional status. It has gradually become a symbol of the fight against terrorism and radicalisation. It is also now seen by some as an attempt to establish a positive relationship with disparate groups through mutual exchange of views on different issues marked by an inclination to listen.
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The government's decision to make an allocation of Tk. 18 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal year as funds for the police to bear the cost of investigations certainly goes some way toward meeting their requirement. Alongside this, the provision of 30 per cent of their basic salary as allowances for traffic policemen clearly argues the case for greater efficiency on their part. All of this goes towards fulfillment of a long-felt need on the part of the police department.
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Over the past 72 hours water supply in the old part of the city has sharply declined. WASA authorities have attributed this shortage to inadequate power supply. The Executive Engineer of WASA has confirmed that in order to operate each of the pumps in the locality the required supply has to be 400MW whereas only 350MW is available. We fail to understand as to why the situation cannot be improved since power generation is of a record level this year as recently reported in the local media compared to last year.
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More or less our problem is more of less. Our leaders are more of less than leaders, our ministers are more of less than ministers, our judges are more of less than judges, and more so of the less goes on. Our governments have been more of less than governments, people more of less than people, and the state more of less than a state. We have increasingly diminished as a nation, contracting in expansion.
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The classes of Jahangirnagar University (JU) were closed sine die following the recent unfortunate and unexpected crisis in the country. But as offices remained open and some had to do their research and other official works, a very negligible number of teachers used to come to the respective departments.
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That there was dearth of good political leaders in Bangladesh there was no doubt, but one was not sure how bad the situation was till the other day. Two developments have brought the issue of leadership bankruptcy to the fore. It has exposed a grave situation encumbered by the depletion of the pool of leaders that party men could call upon. That is the case of at least one leading political party.
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Drug Administration (DA) is the sole authority of the government entrusted with the task of standardising manufacture of drugs in the country, with an emphasis on quality assurance and the pricing aspect. Of late, it has been revealed through the media that this important organisation had been overlooked and neglected by governments for years. The DA has been in perennial shortage of manpower that has led to the near breakdown of its monitoring system. It is indeed suffering from acute budgetary constraints. We wonder as to how the organisation with its 178 supervisory staff can monitor a drug market worth Tk 500 crore. As a result it is forced to leave two-thirds of the drug market unchecked. The drug authority has only 32 supervisors, overseeing price control and manufacturing...
The decision by the Bangladesh government and the visiting team of the International Monetary Fund not to negotiate a deal on the IMF's Policy Support Instrument is a step that will be welcomed by broad sections of people in Bangladesh. One reason for that is that both sides have taken clear note of public opinion about the PSI and have, therefore, acted in accordance with public sentiment. In the last several days, some leading economists as well as media experts have pointed out the probable negative fall-out of any Dhaka-IMF deal that might have been reached on the issue. Overall, therefore, this move by the government and the IMF to step back from the PSI issue has been a good instance of rethink on their part and will certainly go down well with the nation.
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