বিভাগ/বিষয় নিরপেক্ষ

সুপারিশকৃত লিন্ক: জুলাই ২০১৫

আজকের লিন্ক

মুক্তাঙ্গন-এ উপরোক্ত শিরোনামের নিয়মিত এই সিরিজটিতে থাকছে দেশী বিদেশী পত্রপত্রিকা, ব্লগ ও গবেষণাপত্র থেকে পাঠক সুপারিশকৃত ওয়েবলিন্কের তালিকা। কী ধরণের বিষয়বস্তুর উপর লিন্ক সুপারিশ করা যাবে তার কোনো নির্দিষ্ট নিয়ম, মানদণ্ড বা সময়কাল নেই। পুরো ইন্টারনেট থেকে যা কিছু গুরত্বপূর্ণ, জরুরি, মজার বা আগ্রহোদ্দীপক মনে করবেন পাঠকরা, তা-ই তাঁরা মন্তব্য আকারে উল্লেখ করতে পারেন এখানে। […]

আজকের লিন্ক

এখানে থাকছে দেশী বিদেশী পত্রপত্রিকা, ব্লগ ও গবেষণাপত্র থেকে পাঠক সুপারিশকৃত ওয়েবলিন্কের তালিকা। পুরো ইন্টারনেট থেকে যা কিছু গুরত্বপূর্ণ, জরুরি, মজার বা আগ্রহোদ্দীপক মনে করবেন পাঠকরা, তা-ই সুপারিশ করুন এখানে। ধন্যবাদ।

৪০ comments

  1. মাসুদ করিম - ১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৪৬ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Move to measure actual current LDC status of Bangladesh

    The government moves to measure actual current LDC position of Bangladesh as the nation bids for graduating from the world’s poor-country club into the next stage by 2020, officials said.

    At a recent meeting at the economic relations division (ERD) the statistics and informatics division (SID) was asked to collect latest information from ministries and departments concerned in line with the LDC (least developed country) handbook to gauge Bangladesh’s present position in respect of the three criteria set for graduation.

    In the three-year review report 2015, published by the committee for development policy of the United Nations, it has been stated that Bangladesh has passed in only one criterion out of three considered for graduation of an LDC into a higher stage.

    The three yardsticks are: per-capita GNI (gross national income), human asset index (HAI), and economic vulnerability index (EVI).

    The 2015 review report shows per-capita GNI in Bangladesh at US$926 against the graduation requirement of $1242 or above. In case of human-asset index the country scored 63.8 points while the pass marks in graduation test are 66 or above.

    It shows Bangladesh’s position in economic-vulnerability index at 25.1 points against 32 or less needed to qualify for stepping into next stage of standing in the comity of nations. Sources said the meeting at the ERD observed that the UN panel might not have considered latest data in case of human-asset index in the 2015 review.

    The meeting was told that Bangladesh’s progress for graduation from LDC into next stage will be scrutinised at a high-level meeting soon.

    Officials said the meeting had discussed Bangladesh’s work-plan in line with the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) which chartered out the international community’s vision and strategy for sustainable development of LDCs for the next decade with a strong focus on developing their productive capacities.

    It highlighted the overarching goal of IPoA which aims to overcome the structural challenges faced by the LDCs in order to eradicate poverty and achieve internationally agreed development goals, with a special focus on MDGs. The IPoA is meant for enabling half of the LDCs to meet the criteria for graduation by 2020.

    With this end in view the Istanbul action programme focuses on reducing vulnerabilities of LDCs and addresses new challenges to development, including the effects of the interlinked food, fuel and economic crises and climate change.

    In this context, a strong focus is laid on structural transformation through increasing productive capacity.

    When contacted, ERD additional secretary Mohammed Abu Taher told the FE Tuesday the government is hopeful that the country would reach the graduation stage by 2020, as targeted in the IPoA.

    “Latest data are being collected from the ministries and departments concerned to reveal the country’s actual position in LDC criteria,” the official said.

    To a query he said the government is taking various programmes to overcome the lacking where it feels like staying behind the requisite position set for graduation into next stage.

  2. মাসুদ করিম - ১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৫২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Statement by the IMF on Greece
    Press Release No.15/310
    June 30, 2015

    Mr. Gerry Rice, Director of Communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement today regarding Greece’s financial obligations to the IMF due today:

    “I confirm that the SDR 1.2 billion repayment (about EUR 1.5 billion) due by Greece to the IMF today has not been received. We have informed our Executive Board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive IMF financing once the arrears are cleared.

    “I can also confirm that the IMF received a request today from the Greek authorities for an extension of Greece’s repayment obligation that fell due today, which will go to the IMF’s Executive Board in due course.”

    গ্রিসের ঋণখেলাপ

    প্রথম কোনো অগ্রসর অর্থনীতির দেশে হিসেবে ঋণখেলাপি হল গ্রিস।

    আন্তর্জাতিক মুদ্রা তহবিল (আইএমএফ) জানিয়েছে, তাদের ঋণের ১৬০ কোটি (১ দশমিক ৬ বিলিয়ন) ইউরো পরিশোধের শেষ সময় মঙ্গলবার মধ্যরাত পেরিয়ে গেলেও তা দিতে ব্যর্থ হয়েছে গ্রিস।

    আইএমএফের মুখপাত্র গ্যারি রাইস বলেন, কেবল বকেয়া পরিশোধের পরই আইএমএফের পরবর্তী তহবিল পাবে গ্রিস।

    শেষ মুহূর্তে গ্রিস ঋণ পরিশোধের সময় বাড়ানোর অনুরোধ করেছিল বলে জানান তিনি।

    আইএমএফের কিস্তি পরিশোধের জন্য গ্রিস ইউরোজোনভুক্ত দেশগুলোর কাছে নতুন করে দুই হাজার ৯১০ কোটি ডলার ঋণ সহায়তা চাইলেও তাতে সাড়া মেলেনি।

    ইউরোজোনের অর্থমন্ত্রীরা সন্ধ্যায় তাদের এ প্রস্তাব নিয়ে টেলিকনফারেন্সে আলোচনা করলেও কোনো সিদ্ধান্তে পৌঁছাতে পারেননি।

    তারা বলছেন, গ্রিসের প্রধানমন্ত্রী অ্যালেক্সি সিপ্রাসের সর্বশেষ ঋণ প্রস্তাব নিয়ে বুধবার আলোচনা করবেন।

    তবে ওই আলোচনায় গ্রিসের জন্য কোনো শুভ বার্তা আসবে কি না তা নিয়েও সংশয় রয়েছে। নতুন করে ঋণ চাওয়ার পাশাপাশি ঋণ পুনর্গঠনও চাইছেন সিপ্রাস, যে বিষয়ে কোনো ধরনের ছাড় দিতে রাজি নয় ঋণদাতারা।

    সম্প্রতি দুই পক্ষের মধ্যে তিক্ত আলোচনার পর এথেন্স ও ইউরোপীয়ান রাজধানীগুলোর মধ্যে আস্থার সংকট তৈরি হয়।

    গ্রিসকে দেওয়া ইউরোজোনের চলতি বেইল আউটের মেয়াদ শেষ হল মঙ্গলবার।

    নতুন করে সহায়তার জন্য (বেইল আউট) গ্রিসকে কর বাড়ানোর পাশাপাশি জনকল্যাণমূলক ব্যয় কমানোসহ কঠিন আর্থিক পুনর্গঠনের শর্ত দেয় ইউরোজোন। তাদের কঠোর ব্যয়সঙ্কোচনের শর্তে সায় দেয়নি গ্রিসের বামপন্থি সরকার।

    নতুন বেইল আউট প্রস্তাব নিয়ে ৫ জুলাই গণভোটের আয়োজন করেছে গ্রিস সরকার। কয়েকশ’ কোটি ইউরোর বেইল আউট তহবিল নেয়ার জন্য ঋণদাতাদের দেওয়া কঠোর শর্তগুলো গ্রহণ নাকি প্রত্যাখ্যান করা হবে,রোববারের গণভোটে সেই সিদ্ধান্তই জানাবে দেশের মানুষ।
    ৪০ বছর বয়সী প্রধানমন্ত্রী সিপ্রাস অবশ্য ‘না’ ভোট দিতে জনগণের প্রতি আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন।

    দাতাদের শর্ত মেনে বেইল আউট তহবিল নেওয়ার পক্ষে বেশি ভোট পড়লে দায়িত্ব থেকে সরে যাওয়ার কথাও বলেছেন তিনি।

    রাষ্ট্রীয় টেলিভিশনকে দেওয়া এক সাক্ষাৎকারে তিনি বলেন, “গ্রিক জনগণ যদি একজন লাঞ্ছিত প্রধানমন্ত্রী চান, তাহলে সরকারের বাইরে এ রকম প্রধানমন্ত্রী হওয়ার জন্য অনেকেই তৈরি আছেন। কিন্তু আমি তা হব না।”

    তার এ বক্তব্যে ক্ষুব্ধ হয়েছেন দাতারা।

    রোববারের গণভোটের আগে কোনো ধরনের সমঝোতার কথা নাকচ করেছেন জার্মান চ্যান্সেলর অ্যাঞ্জেলা মেরকেল।

    ইউরো জোনের অর্থমন্ত্রীদের গ্রুপের চেয়ারম্যান জেরোয়েন ডিজেলব্লোয়েম গ্রিসকে সতর্ক করে বলেছেন, নতুন সহায়তার ক্ষেত্রে আথেন্সকে স্বাগতম। তবে তাদের শর্ত মেনে আসতে হবে।

    “যা পরিবর্তন হতে পারে তা হলো গ্রিক সরকারের রাজনৈতিক অবস্থান, যা এই দুর্ভাগ্যজনক পরিস্থিতি তৈরি করেছে,” বলেন তিনি।

    ঋণখেলাপ

    ২০১০ সাল থেকে ইউরোপীয় ইউনিয়ন ও আইএমএফ থেকে দুটি বেইল আউটে প্রায় ২৪০ বিলিয়ন ইউরো নেয় গ্রিস। এই অর্থে চলতে থাকে দেশটি, যদিও তার জন্য নাগরিকদের অনেক ভোগান্তি পোহাতে হয়। এ সময়ে পেনশন, বেতন ও সরকারি সেবায় কাটছাঁট হয় গ্রিসে।

    ঋণখেলাপি হওয়ায় গ্রিস ইউরোজোন থেকে বেরিয়ে যাওয়ার পথে এলো, যাতে ইইউর একক মুদ্রা প্রকল্প ও বিশ্ব অর্থনীতির জন্য অপ্রত্যাশিত পরিস্থিতি তৈরির ঝুঁকি দেখা দিল।

    “ইউরো থেকে গ্রিস যদি বেরিয়ে যায় তাহলে কী হবে? একটি নেতিবাচক বার্তা যাবে যে, ইউরো সদস্যপদ উল্টো হতে পারে,” বলেছেন স্পেনের প্রধানমন্ত্রী মারিয়নে রাজয়।

    “মানুষ মনে করতে পারে, একটি দেশ যদি ইউরো ছাড়তে পারে তাহলে ভবিষ্যতে অন্যরাও পারবে।”
    ইউরোজোনের সঙ্গে টানাপোড়েনে এরইমধ্যে সংকট ঘনীভূত হয়েছে গ্রিসে। সপ্তাহজুড়ে ব্যাংকগুলো বন্ধ রাখার নির্দেশ দিয়েছে সরকার, পাশাপাশি এটিএম বুথ থেকে দিনে ৬০ ইউরোর বেশি না তোলার বিধান জারি করা হয়েছে।

    সার্বিক অনিশ্চয়তার মুখে গ্রিকদের মধ্যে আতঙ্ক ছড়িয়ে পড়েছে। ব্যাংক থেকে অর্থ তোলার পাশাপাশি সুপারমার্কেটগুলোতে লম্বা লাইন দিয়ে প্রয়োজনীয় জিনিসপত্র কিনে মজুদ করার চেষ্টা করছে সাধারণ মানুষ।

  3. মাসুদ করিম - ১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১০:৪২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    ISIS vows to topple Hamas in Gaza
    In video statement, Islamic State vows to not only conquer Gaza Strip, but also Israel and West Bank.

    Islamic State insurgents threatened on Tuesday to turn the Gaza Strip into another of their Middle East fiefdoms, accusing Hamas, the organisation that rules the Palestinian territory, of being insufficiently stringent about religious enforcement.

    The video statement, issued from an Islamic State stronghold in Syria, was a rare public challenge to Hamas

    [Hamas is a militant and political Islamist group operating in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, but enjoys wide support from Palestinians as a legitimate force against Israel’s occupation.

    The movement was founded as an offshoot of Egypt’s Islamic Brotherhood, and in 1987 Hamas spiritual leader and founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin established the movement’s military wing, which became known as Hamas. In 1988, in the wake of the outbreak of the First Intifada, Hamas published its official charter, in which it announced its departure from nonviolence in its struggle against Israel.]

    , which has been cracking down on jihadis in Gaza who oppose its truces with Israel and reconciliation with the U.S.-backed rival Palestinian faction Fatah. “We will uproot the state of the Jews (Israel) and you and Fatah, and all of the secularists are nothing and you will be over-run by our creeping multitudes,” said a masked Islamic State member in the message addressed to the “tyrants of Hamas”. “The rule of shariah (Islamic law) will be implemented in Gaza, in spite of you. We swear that what is happening in the Levant today, and in particular the Yarmouk camp, will happen in Gaza,” he said, referring to Islamic State advances in Syria, including in a Damascus district founded by Palestinian refugees.

    Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has also taken over swathes of Iraq and has claimed attacks in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. Hamas is an Islamist movement that shares the jihadis’ hostility to Israel but not their quest for a global religious war, defining itself more within the framework of Palestinian nationalism. Deemed a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, and viewed by neighbouring Arab power Egypt as a regional security threat, Hamas’s struggle against ISIS-linked jihadis has not won sympathy abroad.

    Israel’s intelligence minister, Israel Katz, accused Hamas on Tuesday of partnering with Islamic State affiliates in the Egyptian Sinai – a charge long denied by the Palestinian group. “There is cooperation between them in the realm of weapons smuggling and terrorist attacks. The Egyptians know this, and the Saudis,” Katz told a Tel Aviv conference organised by the Israel Defense journal. “At the same time, within Gaza, ISIS has been flouting Hamas. But they have common cause against the Jews, in Israel or abroad.”

  4. মাসুদ করিম - ২ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:২৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Ex-Nazi Admits Guilt but Offers No Apology in Trial in Germany

    Stating that he could “only ask forgiveness from the Lord,” a 94-year-old former SS soldier who worked at the Auschwitz concentration camp acknowledged again on Wednesday his complicity in the Holocaust but disappointed survivors by failing to apologize for his deeds.

    The former soldier, Oskar Gröning, a bookkeeper at Auschwitz-Birkenau whose main task was to strip Jewish inmates of their cash, made the plea in a statement read to a court in this town near Hamburg where he has stood trial since April.

    The court, convened in a converted meeting hall to accommodate spectators and the media, has charged Mr. Gröning with being an accessory to 300,000 counts of murder, almost all Hungarian Jews deported in the summer of 1944 to Auschwitz, in Nazi-occupied Poland. If convicted, he could face three to 15 years in prison.

    Scores of people showed up at Wednesday’s hearing in anticipation of Mr. Gröning’s statement, which he said was inspired by the impassioned testimony of Holocaust survivors and the relatives of victims who have testified since the trial opened on April 21.

    At that opening session, Mr. Gröning riveted the court with an hourlong account of his life, focusing particularly on his service at Auschwitz-Birkenau from 1942 to the fall of 1944. He acknowledged his “moral guilt” and complicity, but said that it was up to the court to judge his guilt before the law.

    His case, brought by state prosecutors and 65 plaintiffs — Holocaust survivors and relatives — may well be the last trial of a former Nazi complicit in the mass extermination of Jews. Of the roughly 6,500 SS members employed to administer Auschwitz-Birkenau, only 49 have been convicted of war crimes.

    As on the opening day, Mr. Gröning shuffled into court hunched over a walker, and was aided by two medical assistants. His frailty has increased over the trial, but he seemed fully alert once seated between his two defense lawyers.

    In the statement read by one of his lawyers, Susanne Frangenberg, Mr. Gröning readily acknowledged his complicity in the Holocaust, although he reiterated that his job at Auschwitz primarily involved collecting money from arriving prisoners, and not the extermination of Jews and others in gas chambers.

    “Even if I was not directly involved with these murders,” his statement read, “I did, through my activities, contribute to the functioning of the Auschwitz camp. I’m aware of this.”

    In his opening-day statement, Mr. Gröning described witnessing two acts of horrific violence — a baby being bludgeoned to death by a camp guard, and the gassing of prisoners herded into a hut. Significantly, however, both episodes occurred in 1942, shortly after his arrival at the camp, and not in the period in 1944 over which he is charged.

    On Wednesday, Mr. Gröning said in his statement that he had worked sporadically on the ramp where new prisoners were taken off incoming trains. It was there, he said, that he witnessed “terrible scenes” that led him to submit three requests for transfer from the camp to the war front. This was finally granted in the fall of 1944.

    Mr. Gröning attributed his involvement in the atrocities committed at Auschwitz to a form of psychological repression that he still cannot entirely explain. “Perhaps it was the habit of accepting facts as they appeared, in order to process them later,” his statement read. “Or perhaps it was also the comfort of obedience with which we were raised, and which did not allow for protests.”

    Two other Germans in their nineties have been charged with crimes related to service in the Nazi death camps, but their age and frailty make it unlikely that they will stand trial.

    The late trials — more than 70 years after Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz — became conceivable only after the 2011 verdict against John Demjanjuk, a former autoworker in the United States who was found guilty of accessory to mass murder at the Sobibor camp. He died before his appeal was heard, and thus the principle became established in German law that one could try ex-Nazis for atrocities, even if there was no evidence tying them directly to those deeds.

    On Wednesday, a survivor who had previously been unable to appear in court testified to the suffering.

    The witness, Irene Weiss, now 84, said she was unable to forgive Mr. Gröning. “He has said that he does not consider himself a perpetrator but merely a small cog in a machine,” she said. “But if he were sitting here today wearing his SS uniform, I would tremble and all the horror that I experienced as a 13-year-old would return to me.

    “Any person who wore that uniform in that place represented terror and the depths to which humanity can sink, regardless of what function they performed.”

    Mr. Gröning’s statement on Wednesday concluded with the reiteration of his belief that the enormity of his guilt makes it impossible for him to ask forgiveness from survivors and relatives of victims.

    “Considering the dimension of the crimes committed in Auschwitz and elsewhere, I don’t consider myself entitled to such a request,” the statement read. “I can only ask forgiveness from the Lord.”

    Thomas Walther, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed disappointment with the statement in a telephone call after the court session.

    “This is about earthly guilt, not guilt before God,” Mr. Walther said. “We’re not at the Last Judgment. We’re at the last Auschwitz trial on earth.”

  5. মাসুদ করিম - ২ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৩৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Cuba Becomes First Country to Eliminate Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission

    In what is being lauded as a major achievement in public health and an important step towards an AIDS-free world, Cuba has just become the first country to successfully stop the transmission of HIV and Syphilis from mother to child.

    In March, a panel of health care experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) visited Cuba to assess the country’s push to eliminate HIV and syphilis transmission. “Elimination,” by the WHO’s standard, is defined as the “reduction of transmission to such a low level that it no longer constitutes a public health problem.”

    Finding that only two babies were born with HIV and five with congenital syphilis in 2013, they announced that Cuba has met the standard and is the first country in the world to eliminate parental transmissions.

    “Eliminating transmission of a virus is one of the greatest public health achievements possible,” said WHO Director General Margaret Chan. “This is a major victory and a long fight against HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and an important step towards having an AIDS-free generation.”

    “This is a celebration for Cuba and a celebration for children and families everywhere,” added Michel Sidibe, executive director of the UN Programs on HIV/AIDS.

    According to the WHO, an estimated 1.4 million HIV-positive women become pregnant each year, and they have a 14-45% chance of transmitting the virus during pregnancy, labor, or breastfeeding.

    Scientists believe that HIV prevention is key for the eradication of AIDS, even without a cure. Cuba’s success in preventing transmission is therefore seen as a major breakthrough in the effort to rid the world of the viral disease.

    Cuba’s achievement is in part the result of a five year program launched in 2010 by the WHO in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization. The program partnered with several Latin American countries, including Cuba, to end HIV transmission in the region.

    The initiative included methods to reduce the likelihood of transmission, such as testing pregnant women and their partners for the virus, caesarian deliveries, and providing substitutions to breastfeeding. The countries also increased access to antiretroviral drugs and treatment, which drop the risk of transmission to a little over 1%.

    The number of children born with HIV has been halved in recent years, according to WHO data, dropping from 400,000 in 2009 to 240,000 in 2013. However, officials hope to see the number decline below 40,000. Cuba’s achievement will likely reignite these hopes and push others in the region and worldwide to reach the goal.

    “Cuba’s achievement today provides inspiration for other countries to advance towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis,” said Pan American Health Organization director Carissa Etienne.

    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/latam/20150702/1024101865.html#ixzz3ehZnHCGG

  6. মাসুদ করিম - ২ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১০:৪২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    হয়ত কমিউনিস্ট পার্টি ভাঙত না

    অর্ধশত বছর আগের একটি বৈঠক৷‌ ১৯৬৪ সালে দিল্লির সেই বৈঠকে শ্রীপদ অমৃত ডাঙ্গে তখনও অবিভক্ত কমিউনিস্ট পার্টির চেয়ারম্যান৷‌ ১৯২৪ সালে কানপুর কমিউনিস্ট ষড়যন্ত্র মামলায় তিনি ব্রিটিশ রাজের ‘গুপ্তচর’ হিসাবে কাজ করেছিলেন কিনা সেটাই ছিল ওই বৈঠকের বিবেচ্য৷‌ উচ্চতায় অতি খর্বাকৃতি কিন্তু বৃটিশ কমিউনিস্ট নেতা রজনী পাম দত্তের প্রিয় মস্ত বড় পার্লামেন্টারিয়ান প্রতিভা ভূপেশ গুপ্ত ডাঙ্গেকে অনুরোধ করেছিলেন– আলোচনাটি যখন তাঁকে ঘিরেই তিনি বরং বৈঠকের বাইরে থাকুন৷‌ বাইরে তখন রাজনীতির ঘনঘটা৷‌ ১৯৬১ সালে’র সম্মলনের পরেই বোঝা গেছে –বাম ও সংসদীয় ঝোঁকের ভেদে পার্টিতে ভাঙনের আশঙ্কা ঘনাচ্ছে৷‌ জ্যোতি বসু , ভুপেশ গুপ্ত প্রমুখ তথাকথিত মধ্যপম্হীরা কংগ্রস-বান্ধব ডাঙ্গেকে সরিয়ে যেন যেন প্রকারেন পার্টির ভাঙন রুখতে উদগ্রীব৷‌ সোভিয়েত কমিউনিস্ট পার্টি তথা সরকারের প্রধান নিকিতা ক্রুশ্চেভের , বিংশতিতম পার্টি কংগ্রেসের শান্তিপূর্ণ পথে শাসকদের নিয়েই বিপ্লব লাইনের অনুগামী পার্টির দোর্দন্ড প্রতাপ চেয়ারম্যান ডাঙ্গে ও তাঁর অনুগামীরা কংগ্রেসকে সঙ্গে নিয়ে বিপ্লব ছাড়াই সমাজতন্ত্রে যেতে মশগুল৷‌ অন্যদিকে, কংগ্রসের সঙ্গে কমিউনিস্ট পার্টির বিপ্লবী চরিত্র পরিচিতি ও জনপ্রিয়তা হারানোর আশঙ্কায় তখনই বোঝা যাচ্ছিল দল ভাঙার আশঙ্কা৷‌ সেই সময়ের বিশেষ করে পার্টি’র ঘাঁটি আগলানো বাংলার ও অন্ধ্রের তেভাগা, তেলেঙ্গানা অভিজ্ঞরা– যেখানে ট্রাম ও খাদ্য আন্দোলনে মথিত বামপম্হীদের কংগ্রসকে সরিয়ে রাজ্য সরকারে আসা শুধু সময়ের অপেক্ষা বুঝতে পারছিলেন কিছুতেই কংগ্রস সঙ্গ মেনে নিত না৷‌ প্রবীণ কমিউনিস্ট ঐতিহাসিক ভানুদেব দত্ত তাঁর দশ হাজার পাতার সি পি আই অনুমোদিত এবং মনীষা প্রকাশিত কমিউনিস্ট পার্টির ইতহাস-এর সদ্য শেষ পঞ্চদশ খন্ডে সেই ঐতিহাসিক মূহুর্তের উল্লেখে সিদ্ধান্ত টেনেছেন, ভূপেশ গুপ্তের কথা মেনে প্রকাশ্যে কংগ্রস সখ্যের কথা বলা ডাঙ্গে যদি সেদিন নমনীয় হয়ে বৈঠক ছেড়ে বেরিয়ে যেতেন তবে পার্টি ভাঙত না৷‌ বহু অর্ধ ও পূর্ণ অপ্রকাশিত তথ্য সম্বলিত ইতিহাসের এই বইয়ে দেখা যাচ্ছে ওই বৈঠকের পরেই পার্টির ভাঙন নিশ্চিত হয়ে যায়৷‌ ডাঙ্গেপম্হী ও মিলনপম্হীরা বাদে ৩৩ জন কেন্দ্রীয় কমিটির সদস্য অন্ধ্রের তেনালিতে আর এক কমিউনিস্ট পার্টি সি পি আই এমের বীজ পোঁতেন৷‌ ১৯৬৪তে প্রায় চল্লিশ বছর আগের একটি বিতর্ক–যা কানপুর ষড়যন্ত্র মামলার আসামি হিসাবে জেল থেকে ব্রিটিশ কতৃপক্ষ’র কাছে লেখা ডাঙ্গের কয়েকটি চিঠি, হঠাৎ করে এত বড় হয়ে উঠল কেন, এই প্রশ্নে ভানুবাবুর ইতিহাস চর্চায় সেই ব্যাখ্যায় উঠে এসেছে৷‌ কারণ, ওই সময়ের মধ্যে পার্টিতে ১৯৪২ সালে গান্ধীজীর ভারতছাড় আন্দোলনের বিরোধিতার ইস্যুতে , ’৪৮ সালের রণদিভে লাইনকে কেন্দ্র করে বা ৬২ সালে ভারত বা চীন কে কাকে আগে আক্রমণ করেছে তা নিয়ে পার্টিতে ভাগাভাগি থাকলেও ভাগ হয়নি৷‌ তাছাড়া ডাঙ্গের দাবিমতো এই চিঠিগুলি জাল না ঠিক তা নিয়ে পার্টির তৈরি করা ৭ জনের তদন্ত কমিশনও ৫ ও ২ জনে দ্বিধাবিভক্ত ছিল৷‌ তাই প্রবীণ ঐতিহাসিক ভানুবাবু দেশের কমিউনিষ্টদের এই দুঃসময়ে স্বগতোক্তির মতো করে উপসংহার টেনেছেন– সেদিন বহু পাণ্ডিত্যের অধিকারী ডাঙ্গে যদি ক্লাসের মনিটরের অনুরোধ না শোনা শিশু ক্লাসের পড়ুয়াদের মত জেদি না হয়ে একটু বাইরে বেরিÿয়ে যেতেন, তবে এদেশে কমিউনিস্ট পার্টির ইতিহাস অন্য ভাবে লেখা হতে পারত৷‌ যখন ১৯৭৮ সালে ভাতিন্ডা কংগ্রেসে কংগ্রেসকে সমর্থন ও জুরুরি অবস্হার দায় কাঁধে নিয়ে সি পি আইকে চিঁড়েচ্যাপটা করে দেওয়ার দায়ে ডাঙ্গে সাহেব দলের চেয়ারম্যান পদ এমনকি পার্টি থেকেই বহিষ্কৃত হন৷‌

  7. মাসুদ করিম - ৩ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:২১ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    With eye on Israeli Arabs, new Palestinian TV channel goes on air
    Palestinian channel F48 is operated by the Palestinian TV and Radio Authority and focuses on Israeli Arabs, but is aimed at Palestinians and the Arab world.

    People entering a café in the Dodge Center shopping mall in Upper Nazareth, overlooking the Galilean city, in the past two weeks have run into a man with a microphone and ear piece, who directs them to a distant place and says “shhhh, shooting in session.”

    In a few minutes they realize that the café is an open television studio, operated by the new Palestinian channel F48 (short for Palestine ‘48). The channel, operated by the Palestinian TV and Radio Authority, focuses on Israeli Arabs and its programs are part of a package offered by the Egyptian satellite company Nilesat, aimed at Palestinians and the Arab world.

    The Palestinian Authority and especially President Mahmoud Abbas pushed to launch the project, citing the vital need to bring the story of Israeli Palestinians to those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as to the entire Arab world.

    Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to check whether the channel was legal and threatened to close it down. An Israeli Arab activist suggested that the government fears losing control over the Arab public in Israel.

    This is the channel’s only studio so far and it operates from 10 A.M. to noon and from 11 P.M. – 3 A.M. The live broadcast is transmitted to Ramallah and broadcast from there by satellite. Almost all the Arab satellite channels broadcast from Israel to their home stations in the Arab world, from which they are transmitted by satellite.

    The presenters and crew members have no make-up room or air conditioner and cannot compete with the hundreds of other Arab satellite channels.

    “Don’t forget this is a pilot broadcast,” says night show host Fadi Zayira. “It’s a very light program similar to ‘The Circle’ with Dan Shilon, but [is held] outdoors and consists of light subjects. Even if we host politicians and MKs, we talk about matters that are far from politics and the acute everyday issues. We’re in Ramadan format. People don’t want to hear news and heavy stuff at night, so we talk about art and culture, fashion and social activity in a festive atmosphere.”

    Doraid Liddawi, who co-hosts the morning talk show with Afaf Shini, joins in. “We’re trying to build a line-up, but the project is just taking it first steps,” he says, while the make-up artist tries to do her work outside under the scorching sun and the director attempts to set up the cameras in the yard.

    The show consisted of 20 minutes about vegetarians – why it’s healthy to eat a vegetarian diet and how it affects life, especially during the Ramadan fast. This is followed by a conversation with a professional photographer, a talk about fashion and Jewelry making and the highlight – a children’s show with two actors, Roni Rock and Amal Hazan, and a group of children and artists in Mickey Mouse costumes and other Disney characters.

    The channel has also purchased a special quiz show for Ramadan, which is filmed each day in another Arab community for 20 minutes. The winners get prizes worth up to $500. There’s also a religious talk show broadcast from the Ramallah studio. During most of the day the channel broadcasts Ramadan series, including one starring the popular Egyptian actor Adel Imam, whose copyright was bought from the Saudi MBC channel.

    It is difficult to estimate the channel’s rating after two weeks of broadcasting and even more difficult to believe it can last among all the other Arab-language channels. A former advisor to the channel says that unless it portrays a real picture of Israeli Arabs’ life it won’t survive.

    “Meanwhile it looks like another beginner channel which brings nothing new. It’s a format we see on almost all the channels in the Arab world – entertainment and more entertainment,” he says.

    Ja’afar Farah, director of the Mossawa Advocacy Center and a member of the channel’s advisory board, understands the problems ahead but says the channel has great potential if it combines content and funding successfully.

    “The Arab public in Israel is interesting to the Arab world and a lot more can be done, but the economic issue is very important because without money the channel won’t survive or it will become irrelevant,” he says.

    Farah says there’s an urgent need for an Arab channel in Israel, because the government has lost the Arab public. “They wanted to control Arab television broadcasts so badly that they lost control over the Arab viewers and content. The establishment, including the defense establishment and regulator, didn’t understand the change that satellite broadcasts generated in the world and viewing habits,” he says.

    “Instead of developing a local Arab TV industry, they drove away the Arab viewer, who is sick of seeing the Jewish Zionist tribal campfire,” he says.

    “The Palestinian-Israeli issue is the focal point of the Middle East and the Palestinian Authority lets all the Arab players take advantage of it. You can no longer control the remote control, politically or economically. [Israel] doesn’t get that. Abbas woke up late. Bibi hasn’t even woken up,” he says.

  8. মাসুদ করিম - ৫ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৭:২০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Hasidic pilgrims and Ukrainian sex workers: Prayer and pleasure in Uman

    Yitzhak, 35, a father of three, first visited Uman three years ago. He prostrated himself at the graveside of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement, for the sake of spiritual enrichment and for the mitzvah, hoping to secure a good living, answers to his problems, and a happy life. “When we finished the evening prayer … my friend suggested we take a walk and get fresh air,” says Yitzhak. “He took me to a neighborhood at the edge of town. We went into one of the houses. I didn’t think about my wife at all and she knows nothing about this. I know about other Hasidim who go to prostitutes in Uman: married, single – Hasidim of all types.”

    Uman is a central Ukrainian city where Rabbi Nachman of Breslov was buried after his death in 1810. Each year, a quarter of a million people, from the decidedly secular to the most fervent of believers, make the pilgrimage to the city because, according to tradition, the rabbi promised to intercede on behalf of anybody praying at his grave on Rosh Hashanah.

    Most of the pilgrims to the Uman go there to pray, but about 5 percent, estimates Israel Cohen, a writer for the ultra-Orthodox website Kikar HaShabbat, have something else in mind too. This works out to thousands of johns a year.

    Last month, Labor Knesset member Merav Michaeli sparked a Facebook storm when she uploaded a video of herself discussing another Knesset member, Likud’s Oren Hazan (who allegedly used hard drugs and coordinated escort services for clients at the casino he managed in Bulgaria before entering politics). In the video, she also mentioned prostitution in Uman. With that, Michaeli touched on a sore point, which the Hasidic pilgrims tend not to discuss.

    “At first just a few dozen would visit prostitutes while in Uman,” says Jacky, a Breslov Hasid. “It might happen at the park, in houses on the edge of town, or in the hostels. Nobody talked openly about it.”

    But that drip became a torrent, so much so that special “modesty patrols” were set up to punish errant Hasids, Jacky says (though they didn’t last). As the women throng about them, in the last couple of years rabbis have taken to wearing shawls with which they can cover their eyes.

    Israeli crime bosses get involved

    The pilgrimage to Uman has become a huge thing for Jews in general and Israelis in particular over the last 15 years. “People break savings accounts to make the trip to Uman during Rosh Hashanah,” says Matan Meshi, a 22-year-old Breslov Hasid who’s already visited Uman 30 times. “It is a great mitzvah, which is rewarded by great successes and miracles. One week in Uman costs $1,700, which is a lot of money for simple people or yeshiva students. But they’ll turn the world upside down, scrape for every shekel in order to win this mitzvah,” he says.

    Daniel is another Breslov Hasid who’s had to replace his passport twice already because of his frequent visits to Uman, and who admits he visits prostitutes there. “My wife knows nothing about it,” he says. “It inflames and excites me. Then I go home, calm down for some months, and fly out again. For me it’s prayer and pleasure, too.”

    Rabbi Nachman-related tourism is big business, turning over hundreds of millions of shekels a year. After the gravesite became a hit, the local authorities fixed it up, helped by Jewish tycoons from around the world. New hotels and hostels were built and even the locals fixed up their houses.

    Modestly dressed ladies of the night

    That’s the upside for Uman, but there has been a downside too. One is Israeli criminals fleeing the long arm of the Israeli law, some of whom settle down in Uman and resume the lifestyle they know best: pimping. One Haredi who’s been to the city dozens of times claims the prostitution is controlled by Israeli crime bosses in league with Ukrainian pimps.

    Ukraine is the second-poorest country in Europe: some 24% of its population lives below the poverty line. Inflation runs at over 10% a year, GDP per capita is $3,900 (compared with $14,600 for Russia, $2,240 for Moldova, $1,500 for India and $36,500 for Israel – all figures for 2013). Ukraine is also suffering from demographic decline: low fertility rates combined with high death rates translates into population contraction. Unemployment runs at about 10% and economic growth is negligible.

    Poor women in rural Ukraine may have few options other than prostitution, and many wind up in Kiev, which has earned itself the soubriquet of the sex capital of Europe. Some 50,000 women are believed to engage in prostitution in Kiev itself (and one of of every five is believed to be a minor); about 30% of them are believed to be addicts; and 20% to carry AIDS. (In the previous decade, thousands of Ukrainian women seeking a living reached Israel, too).

    Uman’s whole population is 85,000, including its suburbs. It has five universities, and the visiting Hasidic clients claim that some female students wind up selling sex services to pay tuition. One Haredi who knows Uman well claims some families are so desperate that mothers try to pimp their daughters right by Nachman’s grave itself.

    “Some even learned the rules, and wear modest dress in order not to offend the feelings of the Hasids,” says an Israeli who now lives in Uman. He believes the customers for the Uman prostitutes are mainly reborn Jews, at some point in their process of discovering religion. “They go to the girls because they’re weak in character, and fall,” he suggests. “Happily, there aren’t many of them. It’s mainly men coming to Uman for the first or second time, who had not been exposed to things like this before, and they stumble. Ultimately, Haredi men also have base urges and can go wrong.”

    Of the roughly 250 Israelis who have taken up residence in Uman, one is Shimon Buskila, who’s been there 12 years and is very active in the local Israeli community. “Even Rabbi Nachman said that a man must be careful not to fall to temptation,” says Buskila. “The people who come here want to become stronger, to reach higher levels of spirituality. It’s a long process.” Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities have become concerned about the problem, or at least the image problem, he says, and in contrast to other cities, police do take action, not least because they want the general population of religious tourists to feel safe and comfortable.

    S., a freshly-married young man, eschewed sexual services, though his (equally married) roommates did not, and came back to their shared quarters as excited as schoolboys, he says. He personally was worried that somebody would snitch to his family or wife.

    Moreover, sometimes what’s done in Uman stays in Uman, but not for the better – S. says he knows of “at least” 10 cases of men who wound up abandoning their families in Israel for local Ukrainian women. “Uman has become a city of sanctuary. It’s very hard to track them down and force them to sign divorce papers and pay child support,” S. says.

    The Haredi establishment is not unaware of the problems. Some rabbis have actually banned their followers from flying to Uman, lest they fall to temptation to sin, says Cohen of Kikar HaShabbat.

    “Uman is a place with a lot of sanctity,” says Cohen. “But remember that the Breslovs don’t have an admor (or Hasidic rabbi) to guide them, as other Hasidic groups have, like Vizhnitz and Belz. [The Breslov] is a hasidic movement that embraces a lot of reborn Jews and secular Jews, meaning, it has a core of people who come from somewhere else.”

    Modesty blasé

    About three years ago, less out of concern for the women than the chastity of their men, the Breslov Hasids decided it was high time to curb the phenomenon, and set up modesty patrols.

    Buskila says the patrols – paid for mainly by donations from the religious tourists – did a good job in deterring men from visiting prostitutes, though a hard core of customers not deterred by the patrols did remain.

    In any case, after a year the whole idea fell through because even though they weren’t asked for more than about a dollar each, the travelers balked at paying anything for the pleasure of being policed by the zealous modesty patrols.

    Wait a moment. What do the rabbis say about hiring sex? It turns out that some rabbis over the ages have ruled that a man may have sex with a woman whom he met in a distant country, on condition they not do it openly, and that he wear black throughout the act in order to be reminded of his shame. Some others have ruled that a man may have sex with an unfamiliar woman if they it is done in secret and nobody can see him.

    Daniel, the Breslov who admits to hiring women for sex, says he did get caught by patrols. So what. “It wasn’t pleasant but I got over it. I don’t owe any answers to anybody, after all. Only to God.”

  9. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৪:১৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Greeks Say ‘No’ to Deal With Creditors, With 90% of Votes Counted

    Greek voters reject international creditors’ cash-for-reforms proposal with almost 90 percent of the votes counted.

    Greek voters say ‘όχι’ (No) in Sunday crucial referendum on whether to accept or reject international creditors’ cash-for-reforms proposal, backing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

    More than 61 percent of Greeks have rejected demands for more austerity, reported the Interior Ministry after almost 90 percent of the votes had been counted.

    • মাসুদ করিম - ৭ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৪৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      Minister No More!

      The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage.

      Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.

      Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.

      I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum.

      And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.

      We of the Left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office. I shall support fully Prime Minister Tsipras, the new Minister of Finance, and our government.

      The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning.

      Tsipras Taps Longtime Ally to Soothe Debt Confrontation

      Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is counting on a change of style, if not necessarily substance, by turning to a longtime ally to seek a deal with creditors to keep his nation in the euro.

      Euclid Tsakalotos was named finance minister to replace Yanis Varoufakis, who resigned Monday after more than five months of fruitless back-and-forth. An Oxford-educated economist who was previously deputy foreign minister, Tsakalotos had already begun to take a leading role in debt talks before Tsipras’s surprise referendum call brought them to a halt on June 27.

      Tsipras is betting that a new, less confrontational face will help him bring German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders back to the table after Greeks voted to reject further austerity in Sunday’s vote. Varoufakis had vowed to “cut off my arm” rather than sign a bad deal, and was involved in a long series of spats with negotiating partners in his six months on the job.

      “It’s an important symbolic and necessary move,” Famke Krumbmuller, an analyst at political consultancy Eurasia Group, said by e-mail. Creditors “now really need to see the trust restored by a serious and credible commitment from the Greek side to implement reforms,” she said.
      Clock Ticks

      Time is running short: Greek banks are almost out of cash and commerce is grinding to a halt in the absence of a new bailout deal and lifeline from the European Central Bank. Tsipras’s government has extended bank closures and capital controls through Wednesday to stem withdrawals.

      Unlike Varoufakis, who joined just before elections in January of this year, the new finance minister has been a member of Tsipras’s Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, since 2004. He first won election to parliament in 2012.

      Born in 1960 in the Netherlands — the home of Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the group of euro-region finance ministers with whom Varoufakis sparred repeatedly — Tsakalotos was educated in the U.K., at the universities of Sussex and Oxford, where he received his doctorate in 1989. Like the U.K.’s Conservative Party chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, he attended St. Paul’s, a London private school that traces its roots to the 15th century.
      ‘Crucible of Resistance’

      Tsakalotos became more prominent in Greece’s debt negotiations in June as relations between Varoufakis and creditors worsened. Varoufakis today said he was resigning because “there was a certain preference” among some European governments that he be “absent” from the next round of talks, if and when they begin.

      Though Tsakalotos’s button-downed style may help endear him to creditors, he’s still a staunch supporter of Syriza’s more radical policies and a harsh critic of European austerity, putting him on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum from key politicians including Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble.

      “I don’t expect Tsakalotos’s appointment to lead to a significant change in Greece’s policies but his less confrontational approach should definitely help negotiations,” said Diego Iscaro, an economist at research group IHS Inc.

      The new minister’s likely approach to talks can be divined from the most recent book. Co-written with the economist Christos Laskos, it was titled “The Crucible of Resistance: Greece, the Eurozone and the World Economic Crisis” and printed by self-described “radical publisher” Pluto Press.

      It criticized “permanent austerity” and argued that Syriza represents a model for other European countries to emulate. The book was endorsed, among others, by Varoufakis.

  10. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৭:৩৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Lloyd-inspired USA crowned in style

    USA ended their 16-year FIFA Women’s World Cup™ drought in the most emphatic manner imaginable with a Carli Lloyd hat-trick lifting the Stars and Stripes past holders Japan for their third title.

    A scarcely believable four-goal salvo inside the opening 16 minutes meant there was only ever going to be one winner to the joy of the largely pro-USA 53,341 crowd in Vancouver.

    USA were quickest to the ball from the opening whistle and immediately reaped greater rewards than they could ever have imagined. A low driven Megan Rapinoe corner from the right deceived a flat-footed Japan defence and Lloyd finished first time from near the penalty spot to put a perfect flourish to a training ground move.

    Barely 150 seconds had passed on the stadium clock but, incredibly it was about to get even better for the Stars and Stripes. A low free-kick from Lauren Holiday evaded a swathe of players before the ball found its way, almost magnetically, to Lloyd who applied the finishing touch from close range. USA were 2-0 up inside five minutes and Lloyd had nabbed the two fastest goals in Women’s World Cup Final history.

    Japan were looking uncharacteristically shaky at the back and when central defender Azusa Iwashimizu failed to deal with a Tobin Heath delivery, Holiday latched onto the loose ball to volley home. Only fourteen minutes had elapsed but USA already had one hand on the trophy.

    Just two minutes later the contest was effectively over as Lloyd completed a 13-minute hat-trick with a goal straight from the realms of fantasy. Collecting the ball inside her own half Lloyd advanced before unleashing a high shot from the halfway line over the head of Ayumi Kaihori, whose desperate back-peddling only resulted in finger-tipping the ball onto the inside of the post and into the net.

    Incredibly Lloyd, playing the match of her life, almost immediately scored another, heading just wide and narrowly failing to become the first person to score four in a World Cup Final of either gender.

    Then it was the turn of Alex Morgan who made a trademark driving run into the box and although she didn’t make full connection with her shot Kaihori was still forced into a diving save.

    However, Japan grabbed a much-needed goal midway through the opening half thanks to inspired finishing from Yuki Ogimi who ended Hope Solo’s run of 540-minute unbeaten run by superbly spinning away from marker Julie Johnston and coolly firing home.

    The Nadeshiko momentarily looked like they would pull another goal back three minutes later and only some fine scrambling defening prevented a clear shot on goal with Aya Miyama’s final shot unable to trouble Solo.

    Japan coach Norio Sasaki threw caution to the wind making two substitutes inside 40 minutes. The heroine of the 2011 Final Homare Sawa firstly entered the fray soon followed by forward Yuika Sugasawa, in place of central defender Iwashimizu and Nahomi Kawasumi.

    Five minutes after the break Morgan Brian forced Kaihori to push a long-rage effort over the crossbar, but it was Japan who managed to reduce the deficit further as Johnston could only get a glancing header on Miyama’s perfectly-flighted free-kick inadvertently directing the ball past Solo.

    Yet USA restored their three-goal margin almost immediately as Heath netted from close range after Morgan Brian provided the assist after Kaihori was unable to deal with a corner.

    Striker Morgan then looked to get her name on the scoresheet with a sharp turn and shot narrowly wide. While there were to be no further goals, some of the biggest roars of the day were reserved for the late introductions of veterans Abby Wambach and Christie Rampone.

  11. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:১৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    ‘BD makes remarkable progress in well-being of women and children’

    Bangladesh has made a remarkable progress in many areas of the well-being of women and children, but large disparities still remain from its one part to another and from rich to poor, said a joint study on Sunday.

    The study carried out by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UN Children Fund (UNICEF) shows the concerning state of stunted children as well as poor prevalence of child marriage where large disparities remain between households from different geographical regions, rural and urban households with different wealth and education level of mothers.

    The survey titled ‘Progotir Pathey’ (road to development): Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2012-13 was released at a ceremony in Dhaka. Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal released it as the chief guest. State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan and Secretary of Statistics and Information Division (SID) Kaniz Fatema were present as the special guests.

    Director General of BBS Mohammad Abdul Wazed chaired the launching ceremony and UNICEF Representative Edouard Beigbeder attended it as the guest of honour.

    The survey that covered a total of 70 social indicators of which 16 millennium development goals (MDGs) found that country’s challenges still remain in taking timely initiative of breastfeeding, reduction of child and infant mortality, preschool attendance and checking dropouts.

    The concerning part is stunt among children under five. While overall 42 per cent under-5 children were stunted in the country, more than half of them (52.8) belong to poorest households. In comparison, 27 per cent children from the richest group were found stunt.

    Eastern districts were found to have higher levels of stunting while Meherpur has the least and Netrakona has the highest proportion of stunted children.

    The infant mortality rate in Bangladesh is 46 per 1000 live births and under-5 mortality rate is 58 per 1000 live births.

    “Substantial disparities exist along the dimensions of education, living standards and between different divisions for this estimate,” the BBS-UNICEF said in its summery.

    Children in the poorest households are four times as likely to die before reaching one and five years of age compared to children living in the richest households, it added. The survey found that three in five breastfed babies get it within one hour of birth, but early initiation of breastfeeding is still low. More than half of 0-5-month-old babies exclusively breastfed with Dhaka as lowest position Chittagong as highest position.

    In the case of birth attended by skilled health personnel, 43.5 per cent get service during delivery, but mothers from the poorest households get it only in 26.5 per cent cases and rich mothers in 72.8 per cent of cases.

    Though deliveries attended by skilled health personnel is in general more prevalent in western part of the country as compared to the eastern part, Feni and Bandarban districts show respectively highest and lowest portions of deliveries attended by skilled personnel.

    Prevalence of child marriage continues to be high with about 52.4 per cent of women of age 20-24 getting married before the age of 18 years and 18.1 per cent getting married before 15 years. Every three women out of five of 20-49 years get married before 18 while almost one in four before age 15.

    The joint survey was conducted in 64 districts between December 2012 and April 2013 with engaging 224 field survey personnel to cover 51,895 households.

  12. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:৩৭ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Transition: Acclaimed novelist Abdullah Hussain passes away

    Outspoken novelist and intellectual Abdullah Hussain died on Friday after putting up a long fight against blood cancer. He was 84. His funeral was held at his residence in Defence, Lahore, with several literary figures in attendance.

    Hussain rose to worldwide fame as a literary giant following the publication of his masterpiece Udas Naslain in 1964. Field Marshal Ayub Khan honoured him with the Adamjee Award for the novel which is considered as one of the greatest contemporary works of Urdu fiction. Unesco published a translation of the novel called ‘The Weary Generations’.

    A child of circumstances, Hussain was a towering figure both in terms of physique and writing prowess. “I remember him from our time in Gujrat when he would walk past our playing field in his signature blue shalwar-kameez and black khedi,” said Hussain’s lifelong friend and Pakistan Academy of Letters Chairman Fakhar Zaman.

    While working at a chemical factory in Dadukhel, he set about penning down his emotions, partly to kill boredom and partly to vent his frustration at the happenings around him. “I used to spend my time looking at a blank wall,” the late writer had remarked at the Lahore Literary Festival earlier this year.

    Sharing an incident related to the late octogenarian’s most influential work, Zaman said once Hussain arrived at his office in Gujranwala. “I, at that time, wasn’t aware that it was he who wrote that novel with a different name. I sang songs of praise for the author in front of him and all he did was smile,” he said, adding Hussain later revealed the secret and he was overwhelmed.

    Born Mohammad Khan, Hussain adopted a co-worker’s name when he started writing to avoid confusion with his namesake, celebrated humour writer Colonel Muhammad Khan. A man of letters but few words, Zaman said Hussain rarely talked about his works or turned up to accept awards. He said the writer could ably produce compelling reads in both English and Urdu.

    “He told me a few years ago that he has written another novel in English which is with his publishing house. Let’s hope they publish it soon.”

    “He completed Udas Naslain in five years. Had he not set about to kill boredom, he’d have never discovered the writer in him,” said renowned playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed. Talking to The Express Tribune, Syed said he had known Hussain for over 30 years. He said while Hussain was working on his own masterpiece, Quratulain Haider’s ‘Aag Ka Darya’ had recently come out. “He chose to express himself in simple language. He was greatly influenced by Haider and glimpses of her writing can be seen in his works too,” he told The Express Tribune.

    Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the sad demise of Hussain. He termed the death a great loss for Urdu literature.

    The weary life of Abdullah Hussain

    Abdullah Hussain, one of the most prominent Urdu novelists and short story writers of the post-independence era, shot to fame with his debut novel, his magnum opus, Udas Naslain, which won the 1963 Adamjee Prize for Literature.

    His later works — novels Baagh and Nadaar Loag, novellas Qaid and Raat and collections of short stories Nashaib and Faraib — too, became quite popular among the lovers of Urdu fiction. The Weary Generations is the self-translated English version of Udas Naslain.

    Born in 1931 to the fifth wife of an excise inspector and small landowner in Gujrat, Punjab, Abdullah Hussain’s real name was Muhammad Khan. Having graduated from Gujrat’s Zameendar College, he worked as a chemist for a cement factory.

    Later, Abdullah Hussain went to Canada to obtain a diploma in chemical engineering. He married a medical doctor and they had a son and a daughter. Having stayed in the UK for about 40 years where he ran a pub, Abdullah Hussain returned to Pakistan a few years ago.

    Abdullah Hussain’s descriptive style is replete with vivid sensory details, depicting the milieu minutely.

    Known for his accurate characterisation, with frequent use of swear words to enhance the effect, Abdullah Hussain is sometimes criticised for describing a scene too coarsely and in a parlance too uncouthly which could offend some readers.

    But it made him stand out among the first few Urdu novelists who were undeterred in their realistic portrayal of modern and contemporary sensitivity. His maiden work especially mourns the tragedy of rural Punjab in a sorrowful tone.

    Written against the backdrop of the First World War and the events that took place in the run-up to Independence in 1947, Udas Naslain captures the essence of the social and political upheaval that the subcontinent was passing through. The question, ‘what did the lost generations get from Independence’ that he had asked in Udas Naslain was answered by himself in his Nashaib — the rat race.

    A bit averse to the literary critics and wary of their assessments of his literary merits, Abdullah Hussain had requested critics not to review his novel Nadaar Loag for at least six months after its publication so that ordinary readers would be free to judge the book on their own.

    This was, perhaps, a reaction to the criticism he had to bear with after the publication of Udas Naslain. Among other things, he was accused of plagiarising from Qurrat-ul-Ain Hyder’s Aag ka Darya. Hyder herself in her autobiographical work Kaar-e-Jahan Daraaz Hai has pointed out the portions which, according to her, were “copied down” from her memoirs.

    But Abdullah Hussain was right when he complained that no serious and detailed study of Udas Naslain had been carried out and most critics had ignored him. But, then, it is, perhaps, in perfect rhythm with the notion that runs throughout most of his works — life is a sad affair.

  13. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:৪৮ অপরাহ্ণ)

    French literary honour for Intizar

    In an impressive ceremony at a hotel on The Mall, veteran short story writer, novelist, journalist and poet Intizar Husain was conferred upon the ‘Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters’ by the French Ambassador to Pakistan Philppe Thiebaud.

    The French government has given this award to Mr Husain in recognition of his huge contribution to Urdu literature. He is the first Pakistani writer who has been given this award by France.

    Speaking on the occasion, Mr Thiebaud held Husain’s huge contribution towards enriching the Urdu literature in high esteem. The ambassador said: “It is certainly a great privilege for me to confer an award upon Mr Intizar Husain on behalf of the French government”.

    He said the award was established in 1960s and had been given to personalities related to different genres of art such as painters, writers and musicians.

    Addressing Husain, Thiebaud said: “This major contribution you have made will remain a milestone in the journey of Urdu literature”. Paying rich tributes to Mr Hussain the ambassador said that he was a humanist who had upheld human dignity through his literary works. He said the works by Husain also carried a rich cultural heritage and unique flavour of language.

    Intizar Husain, in his address thanked the French Government for extending such an honour to him. Being highly proud of the Urdu language and the literary tradition attached to it, he said that very tradition justified the award.

    Naming three towering personalities of Urdu literature — Saadat Hassan Manto, Meera Jee and Muhammad Hassan Askari – he said they had a great contribution in introducing French literature to Urdu readers through translations. He said in begining of his literary career Manto did a number of translations of French short stories. Meera Jee also did translations of the poetic works by leading French poets, he added.

    Pointing out Muhammad Hassan Askari’s contributions in this connection, Husain mentioned how Mr Askari used to keep inform his readers through his columns about what was current in French literature.

    Khalid Ahmed said Husain spent his life walking through the streets of Lahore and developed relations with the literary folk in tea houses of the city.

    Asif Farrukhi from Karachi read a detailed paper on the literary journey of Intizar Husain with a focus on his monumental novel ‘Basti’.

    Prominent on the occasion were Kishwar Naheed, Director French Center, Lahore Dominique Scobry, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Masood Ashar, Shahid Mehmood Nadeem and Madeeha Gauhar.

    COVER STORY: Basti by Intizar Husain

    THE publication of Basti’s translation is an important literary milestone. The author, Intizar Husain, is perhaps the greatest living Urdu writer and his genius rightly deserves a wider audience than just readers of Urdu or Hindi fiction. Intizar Sahib’s stories have been translated earlier and they showcased his taut, lyrical, hauntingly evocative prose to those who were not familiar with the world of Urdu. However, the novel as a genre and as a kaleidoscope of society conveys a discreet vision of the world. This is why Basti’s publication by New York Review Books is a landmark with respect to globalising the beauty and intricacy of Urdu literature.

    Earlier, Qurratulain Hyder had translated her own novels (Aag ka Darya and Aakhir-i-Shab ke Hamsafar among others); her many admirers had been quick to point out that in the English translations she had been unfair, above all, to herself. The original Urdu novels are far more majestic than their translations. Except a few other novels, such as Abdullah Hussain’s Weary Generations (Udas Naslain), there is little that the world knows about Urdu literature. The Urdu short story has had a better deal in terms of translations, but the Urdu novel has largely been ignored.

    Basti, at the outset, is the tale of a reminiscing Zakir, the novel’s protagonist who is a professor of history and a migrant to his new homeland from across the border. The novel primarily relates the various stages of his life.

    Zakir lives in a dynamic, conflictual and contradictory world. There is no Hardyesque feeling of an individual pitted against the larger forces at work. Instead, throughout the novel, there are threads of nostalgia, displacement and ruptured continuities. The Partition of India in 1947 is the centre of the novel’s sombre, impressionistic landscape. That year turns everything topsy-turvy, and more so, it transforms the fate of the basti (settlement). Unlike other Partition literature, Basti avoids direct, graphic reportage on the psychological and physical violence inherent to Partition. The political chaos at one level is also interiorised by Zakir. There is, then, an intense feeling of alienation and emptiness that Zakir, as a migrant in a new country, feels. It should be remembered that Husain, now considered a torchbearer of progressive thought in Urdu language and literature, was never a firebrand revolutionary in the way that other luminaries in Urdu are known as. In fact, Zakir’s ambivalence towards politics and resistance is partly reflective of Intizar Sahib’s ideological moorings in the new discourse on jadeediyat or modernism.

    Basti was criticised when it was first published in Urdu. Critics, often driven by ideological imperatives, considered it to be a lesser novel for its evident refusal to apportion blame or affix responsibility. However, the novel has proved to be a formidable work of art. Almost like “rocks beneath” (to borrow a phrase from Emily Bronte), it is a narrative that is neither noisy, nor voluminous or polemical. Its melancholy mood, layered plot and composite portrayal of human emotion ensure its timelessness and universal appeal.

    Another intriguing question which has been raised is whether Zakir is an autobiographical character. Of course, the parallels are strong. Intizar Sahib spent his early youth in Bulandshehr, a town in Uttar Pradesh, and migrated to Pakistan after 1947. Not unlike Zakir’s ruminations, a large body of Intizar Sahib’s work has invoked the pangs of separation from the more familiar basti, and has consistently delved into existential issues through the lens of mythology. Intizar Sahib’s mastery over Indian mythology and its most inventive use as a literary device is a different subject, for there is much to be said about his tremendous output over the past many decades. It is somewhat tragic that only now is he getting the global recognition that he undoubtedly deserves.

    To his credit, Intizar Sahib has defied the charge of living in perpetual nostalgia and glorifying it. Even in Basti, nostalgia is seldom a source of comfort or a perverse pleasure. It is like heavy air that lingers throughout, especially when Zakir is trying to find his bearings in the new city that history has presented him as a gift of existence. In Husain’s more recent works, nostalgia has taken another shape, as it turns more of a reminder and a marker of the present. Occasionally it takes the form of sleep or dreams and helps navigate the murky present. Intizar Sahib can take big and small steps into history and through his clever technique keep the past fully relevant. This is perhaps the hallmark of his literature; it blends the past with the present in a most unnoticeable and gentle manner. No wonder that Zakir of Basti is a history buff.

    Sabirah is another real and metaphorical character of Basti, who remains a perpetual fascination for the protagonist. Zakir can never let go of thoughts about her, even when they are separated after 1947. The trauma of 1947 is seconded in the novel by the 1971 war, which resulted in the subcontinent’s second partition. Sabirah, though, re-emerges as a sign of renewal towards the end of the book. Yet, Zakir’s response to the 1971 war is also intriguing: “sometimes I have absolutely no idea where I am, in what place.” Deep down, Zakir’s fear of a permanent partition, an evergreen wound, becomes fortified with the events of 1971. Displacement, thus, turns into a permanent state of being. This is a feeling that is shared across cultures, if one thinks of the Afghan and Iranian émigrés, of the Congolese and the Rwandans, and so many other people disconnected by history from their bastis. The compact canvas of the novel, as a result, becomes even more poignant. The grand nature of Basti’s tale, therefore, grows on the reader; like an anti-hero, Basti weaves an epic and also challenges it from within by underlining the grains of nothingness in our everyday lives. Basti does not have a well-defined ending, as it reinforces the melancholy mood and raises more questions about the emptiness of human existence.

    Frances W. Pritchett’s translation is competent, though it struggles to address the intractability of the Urdu language. In her introduction, she mentions the issues with the text, but she seldom falters on this account. There are, though, moments when certain sentences are a wee bit dull, shorn as they are of their cultural mooring. Simple Urdu prose in itself was an innovation compared to its ornate origins and the poetics of Persian literature. Intizar Sahib’s minimalist style, if not carefully translated, could engender lifeless prose. Overall, Pritchett does an efficient job for which she must be commended.

    Basti’s capable translation will likely attain a varied audience for Intizar Sahib’s exceptional writing. Asif Farrukhi’s compelling introduction adds much value to this edition as it sets the context of the novel and helps the unfamiliar reader about the significance of this book. Basti’s publication might also be a great development for many Pakistanis who have stopped reading Urdu literature in their quest for a globalised identity. An important step that now needs to be taken is ensuring that Basti turns into a vital part of English curricula across the spectrum of public and private educational institutions. Unlike historical narratives in both India and Pakistan, literature has been a great antidote to prejudice and bigotry, and a vehicle for remembrance and forgetting. This is why celebrating this important novel, once again, is an imperative feat.

    Basti

    (NOVEL)

    By Intizar Husain

    Translated by Frances W. Pritchett

    New York Review Books

    ISBN 9781590175828

    272pp. Price not listed

    COLUMN: In Ghalib’s own words
    Intizar Husain — Published May 31, 2015 06:46am

    To my pleasant surprise, I discovered that Mirza Ghalib’s autobiography has been published by Book Home, Lahore, under the title Ghalib Ki Aapbiti. But how could this have happened, since Ghalib never cared to write his autobiography? The very idea of writing an autobiography was foreign to him. It so happens that we owe this valuable account to Professor Nisar Ahmad Farooqi. He noticed something precious buried in Ghalib’s letters written to friends on different dates. He started delving into the letters, and found that there lay buried a whole account of the poet’s life starting from birth and ending with agonised complaints about his old age bringing in its wake a number of diseases, and his being under the spell of his fast approaching death.

    The book that has been put together was created out of titbits from letters. These scraps of information had to be picked out and compiled in a systematic format. The extracts carry many intricacies and required much input from the compiler so as to make them appear meaningful. Professor Farooqi arranged all the material sourced from letters in such a way that it would be read as Ghalib’s life story written by the poet himself.

    How strange that Ghalib unwittingly left behind a store-house of writings which now appear carrying a number of meanings and serving a number of purposes. He had not planned it so. If he intended to shift from Persian to Urdu in his letter writing, the purpose was simple. As he explained himself, in his old age he did not want to undergo the labour of writing letters in Persian in accordance with the formalities of Persian letter writing. Writing letters in Urdu would be easy for him as he would address friends in an informal way, caring little for embellishment. And so he did.

    Of course, on one occasion Ghalib had expressed the desire to come out of the narrow format of the ghazal and enjoy a broader space for his expression.

    In his letters when he addresses friends in Urdu in an informal way, he is conscious of the fact that he discovered the broader space he was hankering for. He felt elated and wrote to a friend saying, “I have devised a mode of expression where letter writing has transformed into conversation.” He had now evolved an easy style of talking about everything under the sun, ranging from the destruction of Delhi at the hands of the British army after the occupation, to minor details such as the market prices of wheat and maize.

    In between he is seen talking about this own miseries. He was, as he feels, fated to have two janams. Now he finds himself born as a lonely man in his second janam. Most of his friends and contemporaries had been hanged. The rest had been banished from the city. He was a soul trying to reconcile with newly emerged unsavoury conditions. At this point came his journey to Calcutta and return with a new vision. He also issued a warning to Sir Syed — forget about what happened in the past. A new age is in the offing. Get ready to reconcile with the new realities coming in the wake of this age.

    Here I am reminded of Maulana Ghulam Rasool Mehr’s experiment in writing Ghalib’s biography. While going through Ghalib’s letters and other prose writings he found that all the content for the biography was available in his writings. So he compiled the biography with the assertion that the source of information for each event and detail of his life is Ghalib himself, in the form of his letters or his statements in other writings. The biography was first published in 1936.

    Professor Farooqi took that a step forward. So now we have Ghalib’s autobiography created out of his own writings. Ghalib speaking in the first person, coming alive for us.

  14. মাসুদ করিম - ৭ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৩৫ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    ‘​48 hours of hell’: UK’s biggest sex festival scandalizes sleepy village

    Residents of a sleepy village in Gloucestershire were left scandalized over the weekend when the UK’s largest sex festival set up camp, bringing with it ‘intolerable’ levels of noise.

    Swingfields 2015 took place in the hamlet of Flaxley in the Forest of Dean, a small community of just 30 people.

    Some 500 swingers turned up for the event, which is dubbed the biggest UK lifestyle festival of the year, outnumbering local residents nearly 17 to one.

    The villagers, who had no idea the festival was taking place until they saw banners reading “3 is the magic number,” expressed their shock at the “intolerable” noises emanating from the field.

    “It was quite a shock when we went down to the gates on Thursday night to ask them to keep the music down,” one local said.

    “Let’s just say when we saw a banner with the words ‘3 is the magic number’ and a variety of interesting images we knew this wasn’t just your usual music festival.”

    Villagers said they should have been told in advance about the event, which began last Thursday at 12pm and ended Sunday at 2pm.

    The location was kept secret from ticket holders until two days before it began in order to keep the festival “discreet and secure.”

    The sex festival boasted hot tubs, a sauna, market stalls selling adult toys and a “pamper zone” offering massages and manicures.

    “The fact is, it is not even about the nature of the festival as people can do what they like in private,” another villager said.

    “It’s the noise which has just been intolerable. It has been 48 hours of hell. I have had just four hours of sleep since Thursday.”

    “We keep going to ask the organizers to turn the music down and have contacted Environmental Health and the police, but nothing has been done,” they added.

    Another villager said the location of the festival was inconsiderate given that children live in the area.

    “The fact that people can come into our village without any regard for our community which includes a large number of young families is just repulsive,” the unidentified resident said.

    Tickets to camp at the festival started at £315 (US$490) for a two-person bell tent and went as high as £555 ($865) for a North American hand painted Sioux tipi.

    The only dress code stipulated was that attendees must have their bottom halves covered up.

    While single men were able to attend, there were a limited number of places in order to ensure “a perfect balance for all guests.”

    The first Swingfields festival was held in 2013 in Worcestershire and saw 250 swingers attend.

  15. মাসুদ করিম - ৮ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:৫১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Sound and fury as Azarenka blasts scream queen critics

    Victoria Azarenka claimed that women players are unfairly pilloried for their on-court shrieking and grunting and blasted boozy Wimbledon fans for mocking her as well as rivals Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

    Azarenka and Williams cranked up the volume on Centre Court on Tuesday during their gruelling quarter-final, which the American won 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to set-up a semi-final clash with Sharapova.

    As the encounter’s tension increased so did the mimicry of the fans inside the 15,000-capacity arena.

    “I’m so tired of these questions all the time. It’s so annoying because guys grunt. I was practicing next to Rafael Nadal, and he grunts louder than me, and nobody noticed that,” said former world number one Azarenka.

    “Why? Both the women on court are trying their hardest and giving everything they have, and they make a noise. Is that a problem of tennis?

    “It happens in every sport. So I think maybe it’s time to just put it aside and not talk about it all the time because this is not what is important when there are two players playing on the Centre Court.

    “We’ve got to look a little bit past that and see, Oh, my God, Serena played 24 aces.

    “Look at the good stuff. Stop bringing this ridiculous stuff. Let’s put aside the noise and how she looks, and look at the game.”

    Azarenka believes fans on Centre Court, many of them revelling in the tournament’s status as a major English social summer event as well as a sporting spectacle, should learn to behave.

    The Belarusian advised them to ease up on their alcohol intake when they are sprending all day in the sun watching the tennis.

    “I think they might have had a little too many glasses of Pimm’s or whatever,” she said in reference to the gin-based cocktail which is as closely associated with Wimbledon as strawberries and cream.

    “When people are drinking, every time the announcer says, Make sure you hydrate yourself, I think he means with water, not with alcohol.”

    Sharapova has long been derided for her grunting and shrieking. Britain’s famously inventive tabloid press have even utilised a “gruntometer” to measure the often ear-splitting shrieks of the top players.

    Back in 2012, the WTA pledged a crackdown on the worst offenders.

    But Sharapova said she was bored by the issue.

    “I have nothing to say. It’s nothing new. It’s not a new question, so…,” said the Russian after her 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 win over Coco Vandeweghe on Tuesday.

    Serena said the laughing from the crowd often made it difficult for the players to make out line calls, but stopped short of telling spectators to shut up between the points.

    “I don’t think it’s done in a disrespectful way. I just know that me and Vika, we were just giving our all out there. Literally we gave everything that we had,” said the world number one and five-time champion.

    “I’m done with controversy. I’m tired. I have to do an ice bath. If you have any other questions, I’m cool, but I’m done with that.”

  16. মাসুদ করিম - ৯ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৩১ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    শুনেছিলাম ‘প্রাণ’ প্রতিষ্ঠাতা আমজাদ খান চৌধুরী কাদিয়ানি, সত্যমিথ্যা আজো জানি না।

    শুনেছিলাম আমজাদ খান চৌধুরীর এক সন্তান, আজকে জানলাম এটা সত্য নয় – চার সন্তান।

    পত্রিকায় পেলাম সেনাকর্মকর্তা আমজাদ খান চৌধুরী ১৯৭৩ সালে বাংলাদেশে ফিরে এসেছেন, কিন্তু ১৯৭১ সালে তিনি কোথায় ছিলেন কী করছিলেন তা পত্রিকায় পাওয়া গেল না। পত্রিকা বলছে দেশে ফিরে আসার পর তিনি কুমিল্লা ও বগুড়ার জিওসি ছিলেন, ১৯৭৫ সালে কুমিল্লা সেনানিবাসের জিওসি ছিলেন কিনা পত্রিকা বলছে না।

    শুনেছিলাম ১৯৭১ সালে তিনি বাংলাদেশে ছিলেন এবং মুক্তিযোদ্ধা নির্যাতক যুদ্ধাপরাধী সেনাকর্মকর্তা ছিলেন – পত্রিকা এবিষয়ে কিছু বলছে না।

    পত্রিকার দ্বারা এসমস্ত বিষয় জানা কি কঠিন – যদি কঠিন হয় তাহলে তারা পত্রিকা বের করেছেন কেন?

    Pran-RFL MD Amzad Khan Chy passes away

    Noted industrialist and Pran-RFL Group Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amzad Khan Chowdhury died in a US hospital on Wednesday at the age of 76.

    Major General Amjad Khan Chowdhury (Retd) was undergoing treatment for old-age complications along with diabetes and cardiac problem in North Carolina Duke Hospital.

    The deceased left his wife Sabiha Chowdhury, two sons – Azhar K Chowdhury and Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, two daughters – Uzma Chowdhury and Dr. Sera Huq, and a host of relatives and well-wishers.

    Pran-RFL Group Deputy Managing Director (DMD) and late Mr Chowdhury’s son Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, in a press statement, requested all to pray for the departed soul.

    “The deceased will be buried at the military graveyard in Dhaka after his dead-body is brought from the US,” he said.

    Mr. Chowdhury was born in 1939 in Natore. He started his education in Nobokumar Institute in Dhaka. In 1956 he joined Pakistan Army and graduated from both Pakistan Military Academy and Australian Staff College.

    Repatriating to Bangladesh in 1973 he held many important positions, including General Officer Commanding (GOC) at Comilla and Bogra cantonments. His last position was the Quarter Master General of Bangladesh Army.

    He started business career after retirement from Army in 1981, and became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country. Under his leadership Pran-RFL group has emerged as one of the leading conglomerate.

    The leading business group owns: Agricultural Marketing Company Ltd, Rangpur Foundry Ltd, RFL Plastic Ltd, Bangladesh Lift Industries Ltd, Pran Foods Ltd, Pran Dairy Ltd, Pran Agro Ltd, Pran Beverage Ltd, Pran Exports Ltd, Pran Agro Business Ltd, and Banga Agro Processing Ltd.

    In last two and half decades, more than 10,000 workers have been employed in PRAN-RFL Group.

    Mr Chowdhury was the founder-president of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) and Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association (BAPA) as well as former president of Underprivileged Children’s Education Programme (UCEP).He was also elected the President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) twice.

  17. মাসুদ করিম - ৯ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:৫৩ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    চাকমা ভাষা এখন মোবাইলে

    এবার চাকমা ভাষায় লেখালেখির জন্য তৈরি হচ্ছে মোবাইল অ্যাপস। বাংলা ও ইংরেজীর পর দেশে তৃতীয় কোনো ভাষায় মোবাইল ফোন থেকে লেখালেখি সম্ভব। আর মোবাইল ফোনে ভাষাগত সংখ্যালঘুর ভাষার সংযোজন এটি প্রথম।

    একটি বেসরকারি এফএম রেডিও’র প্রকৌশলী জ্যোতি চাকমা এবং আরেকটি বেসরকারি প্রতিষ্ঠানের কর্মকর্তা সুজ মরিজ চাকমা মোবাইলে চাকমা ভাষায় লেখালেখির এই প্রযুক্তির উদ্ভাবক। তারা জানিয়েছেন, বছর দুয়েক আগে ‘রিবেং ইউনি’ নামে এ ভাষার ইউনিকোড ফন্ট তৈরী করেন। এতে করে ইতোমধ্যে বিলুপ্ত প্রায় লেখ্য ভাষাটি প্রাণ ফিরে পেতে শুরু করেছে।

    উৎসাহী চাকমা ভাষাভাষীরা এখন এই ফন্ট ব্যবহার করে কম্পিউটারে বইপত্রসহ সব ধরণের লেখালেখি করছেন। ফেসবুক, ব্লগ, টুইটারসহ সামাজিক যোগাযোগের মাধ্যমগুলোতেও তারা নিজ ভাষাতেই লিখতে পারছেন।

    সব মিলিয়ে ক্রমেই বাড়ছে প্রাচীণ এ ভাষার প্রসার। এর আগে ইউনিকোডে চাকমা ফন্ট না থাকায় সংশ্লিষ্টরা বাধ্য হয়ে অন্তর্জালে বাংলা বা ইংরেজি হরফে চাকমা ভাষায় লেখালেখি করতেন।

    চাকমা ইউনিকোড ফন্ট ‘রিবেং ইউনি’র নির্মাতা জ্যোতি চাকমা ও তার বন্ধু সুজ মরিজ চাকমা নিউজনেক্সটবিডি ডটকম-কে জানান, এ কাজে তাদের সহায়তা করেন পোল্যান্ডের গবেষক জান জুরাস্কি। প্রথমে তারা ভাষা গবেষকদের সহায়তায় প্রাচীন চাকমা লিপিটিকে সুসংহত করে এর নাম দেন ‘আলাম’। বছর খানেক চেষ্টা চালানো হয় ফন্টটিকে ইউনিকোডে রূপান্তরের জন্য। নানা পরীক্ষা-নিরীক্ষার পর তারা চাকমালিপি ইউনিকোডে রূপান্তরে সক্ষম হন।

    তারা আরো জানান, ইউনিডট হিলএডু ডটকম – ওয়েবসাইটটি থেকে বিনামূল্যে ‘রিবেং ইউনি’ চাকমা ইউনিকোড ফন্ট ও কিবোর্ড লে-আউট সফটওয়্যার ডাউনলোড করা যাবে। সাইটটি থেকে একই সঙ্গে পাওয়া যাবে কম্পিউটারে উইন্ডোজ অপারেটিং সিস্টেমে সেটিংস এবং ফন্টটির নানা খুঁটিনাটি তথ্যও। সাইটটিতে ‘রিবেং ইউনি’ ফন্ট ব্যবহারের নির্দেশাবলিও দেওয়া আছে। এছাড়া প্রযুক্তিগত সহায়তা ও ফন্ট নিয়ে আলোচনার জন্য সাইটে যোগ করা হয়েছে একটি বিশেষ পাতা।

    মোবাইলে চাকমা ভাষা : ‘চাকমা ভাষা কম্পিউটারে সীমাবদ্ধ না রেখে হাতের মুঠোয় আনার চেষ্টা অনেকদিনের’, এ তথ্য জানিয়ে রাঙামাটির যুবক জ্যোতি চাকমা নিউজনেক্সটবিডি ডটকম’কে বলেন, ‘এ জন্য আমরা বিভিন্ন সফটওয়্যার নির্মাতা প্রতিষ্ঠানের সাথে যোগাযোগ করেছি। তরুণ প্রজন্ম তথ্য আদান-প্রদানে এন্ড্রয়েড অপারেটিং সিস্টমের ওপর অনেকটা নির্ভরশীল বলে চেয়েছিলাম আমাদের মাতৃভাষা চাকমাকে অ্যানড্রয়েড অপারেটিং সিস্টেমে আনতে। অ্যান্ড্রয়েড এপস নির্মাতা যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের হেনসো’র (ইউএস) সহায়তায় আমরা প্রথম চাকমা অ্যান্ড্রয়েড কি-বোর্ড তৈরিতে সক্ষম হই।’

    জ্যোতি চাকমা জানান, অ্যাপসটি পরীক্ষামূলকভাবে চলতি মাসের প্রথমদিন গুগল প্লে স্টোরে অবমুক্ত করা হয়েছে। আগ্রহী যে কেউ এটি বিনামূল্যে ব্যবহার করতে পারবেন। ভবিষ্যতে এটিকে আরো উন্নত করা হবে।

    তিনি বলেন, ‘এছাড়া আমরা আরেকটি অ্যান্ড্রয়েড ফনেটিক অ্যাপস তৈরি করছি। শিগগিরই এটিও অবমুক্ত করবো। ভবিষ্যতে আমাদের পরিকল্পনা রয়েছে আইফোন, ম্যাক অপারেটিং সিস্টেমে সফটওয়্যার তৈরি করার।’

    অন্তর্জালে ক্ষুদ্রজাতির ভাষা : গবেষকদের মতে, বাংলাদেশে প্রায় ৭৫টি ভাষাগত সংখ্যালঘু ক্ষুদ্র জাতিগোষ্ঠি বসবাস করেন। তাদের জনসংখ্যা প্রায় ২৫ লাখ। এর মধ্যে সাঁওতাল জনগোষ্ঠীর পরই চাকমারা সংখ্যায় সবচেয়ে বেশি। পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামে বাঙালি ও ১৩টি পাহাড়ি জনগোষ্ঠি মিলিয়ে প্রায় ১৬ লাখ লোকের বাস। এদের প্রায় অর্ধেকই পাহাড়ি। আবার তাদের মধ্যে চার লাখেরও বেশি চাকমা জনগোষ্ঠী। পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম ছাড়া ভারতের ত্রিপুরা, আসাম, অরুণাচল, মিজোরামসহ অন্যান্য অঞ্চলে রয়েছে অল্প কিছু চাকমা জাতিগোষ্ঠির বাস।

    বর্তমানে বিশ্বে ১০০টি লিপি ইউনিকোডে অন্তর্ভুক্ত হয়েছে। নানা ভাষার এক লাখ দশ হাজার ১৮১টি অক্ষর স্থান পেয়েছে ইউনিকোডে। চাকমা ভাষায় ইউনিকোড ‘রিবেং ইউনি’ব্যবহার করে এখন মুক্ত বিশ্বকোষ ইউকিপিডিয়া লেখার কাজও চলছে। বাংলা ভাষাতে ইউকি নির্মাণ হয়েছে আগেই। বাংলাদেশের অপর দুই আদিবাসীর ভাষা বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী ভাষা ও সাঁওতালী উইকিতে যুক্ত হওয়ার কাজ এখন দ্রুত এগিয়ে চলছে।

    মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের কম্পিউটার বিজ্ঞানী ড. রাগিব হাসান নিউজনেক্সটবিডি ডটকম’কে বলেন, ‘অনলাইনে ও মোবাইলে চাকমা ভাষা বিস্তারের এই উদ্যোগকে স্বাগতম জানাই। তথ্যপ্রযুক্তির এ যুগে যে সব ভাষায় মোবাইলে বা ইন্টারনেটে কথা বলা, লেখালেখি করা, এসবের সুযোগ নেই, সে সব ভাষা বেশ হুমকির মুখে রয়েছে। সময়মতো ব্যবস্থা না নিলে অনেক সমৃদ্ধ ভাষার সংস্কৃতি, সাহিত্য ও ঐতিহ্যকে হারাবার ভয় থাকে।’

    বাংলা ইউকিপিডিয়া’র অন্যতম উদ্যোক্তা রাগিব হাসান আরো বলেন, ‘তাই চাকমা ভাষায় লেখালেখি করার এই ব্যবস্থাটি চাকমা ভাষার বিকাশ, ব্যবহার ও প্রসারের ক্ষেত্রে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ একটি কাজ। আশা করি বাংলা ও চাকমা ছাড়াও দেশের অন্যান্য সব ভাষাতে এভাবে লেখার সুযোগ সেসব ভাষাভাষীরা পাবেন। নিজের ভাষায়, নিজের হরফে লেখার আনন্দই তো আলাদা।’

  18. মাসুদ করিম - ১১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:১০ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Web-based kala-azar surveillance system launched

    A new web-based surveillance system has been introduced in the country to track the potentially fatal, parasitic disease kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis (VL), reports UNB.

    The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) with technical support from ICDDR,B has introduced the web-based kala-azar surveillance system.

    The online platform, which was jointly developed by programmers from ICDDR,B and German international development company GIZ, will improve the existing VL disease surveillance and reporting system by reducing transmission control response time, automatically identifying patients who have been lost to follow up and providing health authorities with a better understanding of the disease burden in Bangladesh.

    ICDDR,B helped develop the web- based system, which contains clinical information about kala-azar patients and can be accessed anywhere by registered users, according to an ICDDR,B web post.

    Until now, the kala-azar disease surveillance system was paper-based: the documents were signed at the local sub-district health complex, sent by post to the district-level statisticians and then mailed to the national level authorities.

    “This web-based surveillance will increase the effectiveness of our existing kala-azar elimination strategies,” says M Mamun Huda, the co-principal investigator of the project and assistant scientist with the Centre for Population, Urbanisation and Climate Change.

    “Currently the CDC sends a team to conduct house to house screening for further VL and post kala-azar dermal leishamaniasis cases, with or without indoor residual spraying and larvicide, around the house of a recently reported VL case,” he said. “This system has worked well to control the transmission of kala-azar so far, but now the CDC will be able to mobilise their resources even more quickly.”

    Kala-azar is found in parts of Asia, Africa and South America. According to WHO, around 200,000 to 400,000 new cases of VL occur worldwide every year. About 60 per cent of the cases occur in the Indian subcontinent where 186 million people are at risk. The disease burden is highest in India, followed by Bangladesh and Nepal.

  19. মাসুদ করিম - ১১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:০৮ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Everyone in India thinks they are ‘middle class’ and almost no one actually is

    Only 2% of Indians are actually middle income, according to a Pew survey.

    In a country quite as large as India, it’s hard to identify anything that actually counts as being in the “middle.” Yet most of us claim we are middle-class, no matter where we fall on the spectrum, whether compared to the rest of India or the globe. As far as the Pew Research Center is concerned, all those stories about India’s burgeoning middle-class have little to do with reality: India is, as it has always been, woefully poor.

    A Pew Research Center study looking into the break-up of income levels across the world released last week offers a wake-up call for those familiar with headlines in the English press touting the promises of India’s massive middle-class. The study, which looked at changes in income levels across the world’s population, points out that the first decade of the 2000s saw a dramatic, historic reduction in global poverty. Yet, despite this, the actual number of people who could be considered middle-income remained under 15%.

    The study divided the population in each country into five groups based on a family’s daily per-capita consumption or income. The thresholds are based on various things, with $2 being the daily per capita income level under which people are globally considered poor, and $2-$10 fitting people in under the low-income category. As per this measure, the middle-class falls into those who earn between $10 and $20 a day. (As a reminder of how low this still is, the study reminds us that the poverty line in the United States, comes in at around $16 – on the upper end of what this report considers middle income).

    A look at India’s break-up, based on these parameters, would leave you asking where that celebrated middle-class actually is.

    Up to 95% of India still qualifies as poor or low-income, the vast majority of India’s 1.2 billion citizens. For the globe, the equivalent proportion is 71%. As far as middle-income Indians go, only 2% of the country actually falls into this zone, compared to 13% of the globe, which is itself a disappointing number.

    “Although the poverty rate in India fell from 35% in 2001 to 20% in 2011, the share of the Indian population that could be considered middle income increased from 1% to just 3%,” the report said. “Instead of a burgeoning middle class, India’s ranks of low-income earners swelled. Many of these were people hovering closer to $2 than $10 in daily income, and thus still a way from the transition to middle-income status.”

    As the graph shows, most of the Indians who left the poor category travelled into the low-income zone, but the mobility into higher classes proved to be much smaller. Indians are clearly some way away from achieving higher standards for the vast majority of the population, and have been completely eclipsed by its northern neighbour China, which saw its middle-income proportion go up from 3% in 2001 to 18% in 2011.

    What makes it slightly more ironic is the share of Indians who call themselves middle class. Middle income and middle class aren’t the same thing, of course, but one would expect a fair amount of overlap between the two categories. Yet research done by Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav based on a multi-year panel survey by the Centre for Advanced Study of India suggests that about half the Indians in practically any bracket – urban, rural, lowest-income, highest-income – all self-identify as middle class.

    The Pew Research Study points out the essential problem with having such a broad definition for middle-class. Although we keep hearing about India’s massive middle class, probably because so many Indians think they fall into the category, the reality is that only a tiny amount of Indians qualify to be in a very conservative middle-income category, and the gap in living standards between economically advanced nations and developing ones is not narrowing.

    “The first decade of this century witnessed an historic reduction in global poverty and a near doubling of the number of people who could be considered middle income. But the emergence of a truly global middle class is still more promise than reality,” the report said.

  20. মাসুদ করিম - ১১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:৪৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Lunch with the FT: Sheikha Moza

    Roula Khalaf

    Over chicken and avocado salad in Qatar, its former first lady talks about her education empire, foreign ‘hypocrisy’ and Arab revolutions

    Moza bint Nasser al-Miss­ned is famous for her style. The majestic floor-skimming gowns, the elegant turbans and the vivid west-meets-orient outfits have established this tall and imposing 56-year-old member of the Qatari royal family as one of the world’s most glamorous women.

    Today, though, she enters the Club in Doha dressed all in black, save for the sparkle of a thick blue-grey eye shadow. As we shake hands, I notice a special Moza touch to the look: the abaya, traditional garb of the conservative Gulf, is slightly open and flows loosely; her headscarf is casually wrapped, liberating a strand of hair. “Here, this is how I dress,” she explains when I tell her I had hoped for a grander entrance. She jokes that we should have had lunch in London instead.

    Sheikha Moza, as she is known in Qatar, has also made headlines for her power in the tiny oil state and her role in its big ambitions, from the breakneck development of Doha, fuelled by massive exports of liquefied natural gas, to its appetite for political intrigue and overseas investments. In London alone its portfolio includes Harrods and the Shard skyscraper. As the wife of the former emir, and through the work of her ever-expanding education empire, the Qatar Foundation, the Sheikha has embodied the country’s quest for global influence.

    We are ushered to a window table picked by her aides, who sit several tables away. The Sheikha gets the view of the garden where the restaurant grows organic vegetables. Fair enough: the half-moon-shaped restaurant, a simple modern hall with wooden floors, is part of a 980,000 sq m equestrian centre that belongs to her foundation.

    We glance at the menus, both opting for the chicken and avocado salad — hers without the pita bits because she’s on a gluten-free diet. Alcohol is served only in hotels in Qatar, so is not an option here. She orders a blackberry and lavender lemonade and I pick the (sparkling water) bellini.

    Though it is two years since her husband, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, shocked his Arab peers by abdicating, handing power to his son Tamim, the Sheikha remains Qatar’s most recognisable face. At the time she was thought to have blessed the deliberate succession: Tamim is one of Moza’s seven children — the emir has children from three wives. But she has had to keep a lower profile since then, while there has been speculation that her husband, now known as “father emir”, still pulls the strings behind the scenes. She insists he’s enjoying his retirement. “He has an office and he pursues his own things,” she says. “He travels a lot now because he likes diving and swimming.”

    Does she miss hobnobbing with world leaders and first ladies? Recently, the release of a cache of Hillary Clinton emails from 2009 offered a glimpse into Moza’s behind-the-scenes diplomatic manoeuvring. They revealed how Cherie Blair, the former UK prime minister’s wife, lobbied Clinton, then US secretary of state, for a “women to women” meeting with the Qatari royal. Moza’s aim, they suggested, was to improve relations with the US.

    It is hard to believe but Moza claims not to miss her first-lady status, saying it never really existed in any official sense. “What changed is maybe going on official visits with my husband,” she continues. “I don’t see that as something I’m missing because what I enjoy mostly is my work as a social activist.”

    The Sheikha’s activism impresses foreign diplomats who meet her and praise her as a formidable force; less so some Arabs, who are irritated by Qatar’s maverick projection of its power and Moza’s presumed involvement in the small state’s controversial policy making.

    The Qatar Foundation, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, has been central to her ambitions, importing campuses from institutions such as Georgetown University and Weill Cornell Medical College in the US and University College London in the hope of establishing Qatar as an education hub. She tells me her “obsession” with education was instilled by her father, a businessman who was sent to prison and then into exile after falling out with the ruler of the time — who, remarkably, was her husband’s grandfather.

    “My father educated himself when he was in prison before exile, so we appreciate education, we cherished it,” she says. She attended school in Egypt and, before marrying the emir, wanted to become a doctor. She finished her first degree, in sociology, at Qatar University later on, and says the learning process should not stop at any stage of life.

    Indeed, the night before our lunch, she had graduated with a master’s in public policy in Islam from Hamad bin Khalifa University. She shows me her graduation ring. “I thought it would be interesting to see how it worked on the other side, through the life of a student,” she says of her return to the classroom. She didn’t really attend classes and write papers, I say? “You can ask around,” she replies. “You had to choose either two or three days a week [of classes]. It took me three and a half years to finish the master’s.” What, I ask, does public policy in Islam consist of? One example, she explains, is that public places in Islamic countries might be designed differently to keep with tradition, but she admits she still hasn’t figured out exactly what it’s about.

    Returning to the work of her foundation, I suggest it might have been much cheaper to send Qataris to be educated abroad, rather than spending billions of dollars bringing foreign university campuses to Doha. Is the foundation more than just a vanity project? It was never about educating “a few” individuals, she says. “The vision is really to build an infrastructure for a knowledge-based society.” She says I am not taking the bigger picture into account and lists a series of research projects that the western universities are involved in, with local hospitals and government agencies. “I’m creating an ecosystem [that] needs pillars, and the pillars are the academies and research institutions.”

    I point out a recurring criticism of Qatar: that the pursuit of knowledge and promotion of critical thinking are bizarre contradictions in a country that remains an autocracy with a media that does little more than parrot the government line. While Qatar claims to promote democracy elsewhere in the Arab world, a press-freedom centre in Doha that Moza backed fell apart amid charges that Qatari officials had resisted its independence. A poet, meanwhile, is serving a 15-year sentence on charges of insulting the emir.

    The Sheikha says the world should be patient with Qatar. “I agree the media is not developed as we want, but things are changing, maybe slowly but steadily. We know change is going to happen anyway. We’re trying to manage change, so when it happens our young people understand and know how to deal with it.”

    I mention that I’m surprised she never took up the cause of women’s issues in the Arab world. Was that too sensitive? “You should not look to one segment of the society and focus on it,” she replies. “If you want to teach women you have to teach men as well. If you have educated men they will enable their women to be educated.” I tell her that when the FT wrote about her after her husband’s abdication, some readers’ comments were critical of our description of Qatar as a “modern” state because Moza is the second wife of a man married to three women at the same time.

    She is visibly annoyed by the criticism but not particularly defensive. No one has the right to impose cultural concepts on others, she says. “I’m a person allowed to be educated and to have a public life. Wearing the hijab or being a second wife doesn’t prevent me from doing that; it doesn’t hinder my progress. I respect other wives, and their children are like my children.”

    . . .

    Whatever outsiders think, for many people in the Gulf it is hard to accept the Sheikha and her husband have not been on a very deliberate path to stand out. Qatar practically makes it its business to shock and annoy its neighbours, whether by forging conflicting policies — befriending radical Arab groups and Israel at the same time, for example — or using the power of Al Jazeera, the television network funded by the state, to take shots at other Arab states.

    Moza insists there was never a grand plan to make waves or break taboos by acting like the first lady of a western state. “Everything was done in a natural way — it wasn’t a strategy to be breaking [norms]. My husband believes in me, in my work, in my ability to change things, to be a partner with him in his role . . . and he gave me the space to do that.”

    It was also widely assumed the Sheikha shared, if not encouraged, her husband’s enthusiasm for the Arab revolutions of 2011, particularly his backing for Islamists in Egypt, where she grew up, and Libya where her father worked (she insists she had no say in his policies). This pitted him against Saudi Arabia and isolated him within the Gulf. When the uprisings unravelled, Moza became the main target of widespread Qatar-bashing by Egyptian supporters of the military coup that pushed out an Islamist government.

    Though the hope for change in the Arab world has faded, replaced by an almost generalised state of chaos, Moza takes a sanguine view of the Middle East’s disintegration. “Of course it’s sad to see that. It’s very daunting, but at the same time I still have hope that things will change. There are setbacks but [the repercussions of the revolts are] not concluded,” she says. Sensing that I am puzzled by her optimism, she goes on: “What happened during this Arab spring I think is still vibrant in the minds and hearts of people.”

    After a spectacular rise, Qatar’s image has taken a battering recently. Allegations of corruption in its 2022 World Cup bid (strenuously denied by Moza) could yet strip Doha of the tournament. Charges of inhumane treatment of migrant workers have added to the pressures. The Sheikha has also been slammed in the British media for apparently trying to convert separate listed houses in London into one mansion — a project she tells me is her son Tamim’s and something she’s never set eyes on.

    In any case, she says, when a French aristocrat bought an English palace, the media portrayed him as saving British heritage — but when it’s an Arab prince buying a listed building, he’s seen as damaging British culture. “For me this is hypocrisy,” she says.

    The stereotype of dumb Arab money infuriates the Sheikha and the Doha royals. “We’re portrayed in the media as rich people who have a lot of money and don’t know what to do with it. We are blessed with our wealth but we know how to deal with this wealth,” she says.

    Many Qataris see the hand of their Gulf neighbours in every controversy about their country. The Sheikha suggests I should know there has been an orchestrated campaign against her and Qatar, and that all the attacks are connected, whatever the subject. “Why were we all of a sudden under the spotlight? We understand that this has been done according to a certain agenda,” she says.

    In May, Qatar was again condemned by human rights organisations for making little progress in its promise to end abuses of migrant labour. The Sheikha says the Qatar Foundation worked on a charter the government is now adopting for the whole country. But why single out Qatar, she asks, trying to shift the subject on to more comfortable ground. What about the way migrants are treated in Europe? Our lunch is taking place amid a fierce debate in Europe after hundreds of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean. And what, she asks, about the “sad, sad” treatment of Muslim minorities in Europe? “I see the problem is of a bigger scale than our problems here because our migrants, they come and go . . . but the migrants [in Europe] are supposed to be part of their society, and they are ill-treated.”

    . . .

    The Sheikha has been picking at her food and I have slowed down partly to give her more time but also because of a nagging fly that seems determined to share my salad. As she does often during our two hours together, she brings the conversation back to education. However, the Doha rumour mill has been spinning with tales of pressure on the Qatar Foundation, subjected by her son’s new government to the same budgetary discipline as other spendthrift institutions. Some have even speculated she is coming to the end of her tenure as chairwoman.

    She has heard the whispers but says Tamim visited the campuses a few months ago to put an end to any suggestion of an erosion of support. It was her idea, she tells me, to rationalise the budget. “I’m trying to make everyone understand that it’s not an open account any more . . . We started without knowing how much it was going to cost us. Today we know.”

    Our salad plates are cleared and the French chef tells us about a special dessert he’s prepared — a gluten-free raspberry and chocolate tart with gold leaf, which turns out to be excellent. I order an espresso and, 10 minutes later, the Sheikha decides she wants one too.

    I still want to know more about fashion. Moza has launched the Qatar Luxury Group under the Qatar Foundation, and a local brand, Kala, to encourage fashion design graduates. She says she is her own stylist: she likes to sketch and sometimes works with top designers on her outfits. “It’s my mental treat. When I’m exhausted, I go to my dressing room and go through my closets and I try to mix things and fix things. I don’t have a stylist because I wouldn’t find anyone that would understand what I want.”

    She won’t reveal her favourite designer, telling me she has a favourite style instead. “My style is to be in something that respects tradition and is at the same time modern and practical.”

    What about shoes? I ask her to show me who her open-toe platforms are made by. She obliges, slipping her foot out of a pair by Gianvito Rossi. They’re very simple, she says, very practical, and she has them made specially for her. Being royalty, she was able to buy them in a range of different colours.

  21. মাসুদ করিম - ১১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১২:৫৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Angela Merkel faces a ‘lose-lose’ choice on Greece

    Stefan Wagstyl in Berlin

    In five years of managing the Greek crisis, German chancellor Angela Merkel has maintained and even enhanced her reputation as Europe’s most successful political leader — both at home and around the world.

    Not any more. As EU leaders this weekend make a last-ditch effort to keep Greece in the eurozone, the cautious 60-year-old chancellor faces what one of her MPs calls “a lose-lose situation”.

    She must decide whether to back a new loan programme and keep a troubled country in the common currency — or save the money and face the unpredictable consequences of Grexit and the ignominy of a first-ever reversal in the long history of EU integration.

    For the chancellor, a rescue risks widespread complaints from German taxpayers, who have already borne the brunt of two Greek bailouts. It could also provoke a large revolt in her conservative CDU/CSU bloc where MPs are fuming not only at the demands by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras but also his seeming contempt for the country’s creditors.

    But, given her stature, a Grexit would leave her carrying much of the international criticism for a manifest failure of EU solidarity.

    “Merkel cannot risk political fragmentation at home by being seen as giving too much to Athens, but the demands of shepherding Europe through a Grexit would also be steep,” says Daniela Schwarzer, Berlin office director for the German Marshall Fund think-tank.

    Whatever choice she makes, the road ahead will be unpredictable. With Greece on the edge of bankruptcy, stabilising the country inside the eurozone could be difficult and costly. But even a Grexit will demand support from European partners if the country is to avoid social chaos. With or without Greece, Europe’s single currency zone will face calls for institutional reform.

    As Greece moved ever closer to the edge this week, with its banks under capital controls and citizens unable to access their cash, Ms Merkel declined to speculate about the outcome of the latest hunt for a deal. But she did say this weekend’s planned EU emergency meetings in Brussels would be “decisive”.

    Ms Merkel will be judged not only at the next German election, in 2017, but by history on how she handles Greece. Berthold Kohler, a publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, wrote this week that there has never been a German chancellor who would risk going down in history as having “endangered or even gambled away the European legacy” of former German leaders such as Helmut Kohl, her one-time mentor.

    It is a particularly grave warning considering the key role European co-operation has played in Germany’s re-emergence since the second world war.

    Since 2009 Ms Merkel has managed the Greek crisis by fudging agreements and postponing tough decisions — such as a possible big cut in Greece’s €320bn foreign debt, mostly owed to EU institutions. Instead, as she is fond of saying, she has dealt with the problem “step by step”, always keeping Grexit at bay.

    Her allies insist this was beginning to bear fruit with Greece last year showing signs of recovery. But Mr Tsipras’s decisions to tear up the existing rescue programme after he swept to power in January and then spurn compromise offers and finally walk out of the negotiation have made her step-by-step impossible.

    The mood has become poisonous, with many German policymakers simply doubting that Mr Tsipras will ever implement reforms even if he agrees them. After he called a referendum and urged voters to reject a compromise offer from creditors, even Sigmar Gabriel, the social democrat leader, criticised Mr Tsipras for having “pulled down the last bridges over which Europe and Greece could have moved to a compromise”.

    Ms Merkel has kept her cool. As Mr Kohler wrote, she is a “down-to-earth” facts-based politician. If the situation changes, so does she.

    The top MP in her CDU party says that in her “lose-lose situation” Ms Merkel must “go for the smaller loss”. He argues that if the chancellor resists a new rescue she alone will be blamed for the consequences, including possible instability in the Balkans, US fury and a plunge in the EU’s standing in the world. So better to take the hit at home, he says.

    To do that will require winning over her increasingly hostile party, not least her hawkish finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, who favours Grexit. As Ralph Brinkhaus, a CDU/CSU deputy budget spokesman, told the Financial Times: “We are looking sceptically at what is happening in Brussels.” Some 29 of the 311 CDU/CSU MPs in the 630-strong Bundestag voted against the last Greece aid plan in February. Their numbers would swell in a new vote, which would be required to authorise new negotiations for another Greek bailout.

    Ms Merkel would still prevail with the help of social democrat and opposition votes. But Europe’s most powerful leader would no longer look all-knowing or invulnerable.

  22. মাসুদ করিম - ১৩ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৫৩ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    India: The Stormy Revival of an International University

    1.

    Classes began in early September last year at a small new international university, called Nalanda, in Bihar in northeast India—one of the most backward parts of the country. Only two faculties—history, and environment and ecology—were holding classes for fewer than twenty students. And yet the opening of Nalanda was the subject of headlines in all the major newspapers in India and received attention across the world. “Ritorno a Nalanda” was the headline in Corriere della Sera.

    The new venture is meant to be a revival of Nalanda Mahavihara, the oldest university in the world, which began in the early fifth century. By the time the first European university was established in Bologna in 1088, Nalanda had been providing higher education to thousands of students from Asian countries for more than six hundred years.

    The original university at Nalanda was run by a Buddhist foundation in what was then the prosperous region of Bihar—the original center of Buddhist religion, culture, and enlightenment. Its capital was Pataliputra (now called Patna), which also served, beginning in the third century BC, as the capital of the early all-India empires for more than a thousand years. Nalanda drew students not only from all over India, but also from China, Japan, Korea, Sumatra, and other Asian lands with Buddhist connections, and a few from elsewhere, including Turkey. It was the only institution of higher learning outside China to which any Chinese in the ancient world ever went for education.

    By the seventh century Nalanda had ten thousand students, receiving instruction not only in Buddhist philosophy and religious practice, but also in a variety of secular subjects, including languages and literatures, astronomy and other sciences, architecture and sculpture, as well as medicine and public health.

    As an institution of higher learning, where the entry qualifications were high, Nalanda was supported by a network of other educational organizations that provided information about Nalanda and also helped to prepare students for studying there. Among the Chinese students was the well-known Yi Jing (635–713 AD), who studied in Nalanda for ten years, and wrote what was perhaps the first comparative study of different medical systems, comparing Chinese and Indian medical practices. Before coming to India, he went first to Sumatra (then the base of the Buddhist Srivijaya empire and now a part of Indonesia) to learn Sanskrit. By the seventh century, there were four other universities in Bihar drawing on Buddhism, all largely inspired by Nalanda. They worked in collaboration, though by the tenth century one of them—Vikramshila—emerged as a serious competitor to Nalanda in higher education.

    After more than seven hundred years of successful teaching, Nalanda was destroyed in the 1190s by invading armies from West Asia, which also demolished the other universities in Bihar. The first attack, it is widely believed, was led by the ruthless Turkic conqueror Bakhtiyar Khilji, whose armies devastated many cities and settlements in North India. All the teachers and monks in Nalanda were killed and much of the campus was razed to the ground. Special care was taken to demolish the beautiful statues of Buddha and other Buddhist figures that were spread across the campus. The library—a nine-story building containing thousands of manuscripts—is reputed to have burned for three days. The destruction of Nalanda took place between the establishment of Oxford in 1167 and the founding of Cambridge in 1209.
    2.

    A proposal to revive Nalanda as a modern international university, though originating in India (particularly in Bihar), has been a pan-Asian initiative from the beginning. The idea was endorsed by all of the sixteen governments that attended the so-called East Asia Summit in January 2007, meeting in Cebu in the Philippines. They represented mostly Asian countries, including (in addition to India) China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, but also Australia and New Zealand.

    The aim of the founders of the new Nalanda was not only to have a first-rate university but to encourage cooperation and interchange of ideas across national borders (again, reflecting the traditions of the ancient Nalanda). They endorsed a “vision” of a new university that would be “open to currents of thought and practice from around the globe.”

    Following the summit decision, the project to reestablish Nalanda was led by a “mentor group,” formally appointed by India but with members drawn also from other Asian countries. Distinguished intellectuals, serving as members, come from India as well as China (Wang Bangwei), Japan (Susumu Nakanishi), Singapore (Wang Gungwu and George Yeo), and Thailand (Prapod Assavavirulhakam). The university was established by an act of the Indian Parliament in 2010, and following that, the mentor group became the governing board of the revived Nalanda University. I have until recently been serving as chair of the board and chancellor of the new university.

    The funds for rebuilding Nalanda have come mostly from the government of India, which made a further financial commitment in January 2014 to meet the basic costs until 2021. However, the citizens and governments of a number of other countries have also made contributions, including China, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and Laos. All the land for the university has been donated by the government of Bihar, which is also assisting with ground and other facilities.

    The reestablished Nalanda University will eventually have its new campus in the ancient town of Rajgir, a few miles away from the old Nalanda. The design and planning of the new campus, by the well-known architectural firm Vastu Shilpa Consultants (chosen by an international competition), are now completed, and the work of construction is about to begin. Since even the first phase of the work will take a few years, Nalanda has started functioning, on a small scale, in rented premises in Rajgir, under the incisive leadership of the vice-chancellor, Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, and the dean of academic planning, Dr. Anjana Sharma.

    Most of the first students at Nalanda have come from India, but there are some from other Asian countries as well (Japan and Bhutan in particular), and the teachers have been recruited not just from India, but also from the United States, Germany, and South Korea. In addition to classes now being taught in history, environmental studies, and ecology, plans are being made for teaching economics and development studies, public health, and Buddhist philosophy and comparative religions. Eventually, Nalanda will offer courses in international relations, linguistics, and literature, as well as information science and technology.

    In my visits to the campus, I have been impressed by the quality of teaching and discussion among the faculty and students. In view of the deep skepticism that many critics had earlier expressed about the possibility of having a successful international university in a remote and backward part of India, there is something very reassuring about what has been achieved, and about the academic climate that has already become palpable.
    3.

    “Ritorno a Nalanda” was a remarkable and hopeful moment. But relations have become troubled between the newly elected government of India and the governing board of Nalanda University. The previous coalition government, with the National Congress Party as its dominant partner, initiated the revival of Nalanda University in collaboration with the government of Bihar and the East Asia Summit. When the national government lost the general elections in the spring of 2014, it was replaced by members of a very different political alignment, with a new prime minister, Narendra Modi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)— a part of the powerful Hindutva movement, which is dedicated to promoting India’s Hindu traditions, with Modi himself supporting not only Hindutva but also the goals of private business.

    At the time of the general elections, I saw it my duty, as a citizen of India, to argue publicly against Modi’s sectarian political leadership, which posed a threat to India’s long-standing commitment to secularism. While critical of some features of the Congress-led coalition government (particularly its growing inefficiency and corruption), I strongly feared that minorities, particularly Muslims as well as Christians, would be insecure under Modi’s rule. This fear was based partly on his long history as a member—and a public advocate (or pracharak)—of the Hindu right-wing movement called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

    The fear was also based on the history of communal violence in Gujarat when Modi was chief minister of the state. More than a thousand people, mostly Muslims, perished in the riots there in 2002. Modi had a good reputation as an economic administrator in Gujarat but he failed to take effective action to protect non-Hindus from attack. My worries, I am afraid, have not been dispelled (despite verbal reassurances from Modi). Under the new regime, there have been sporadic occurrences of church burning and the concerted efforts of Hindutva activists to encourage conversion of non-Hindus to Hinduism, called ghar wapsi (“returning home”).

    I was, therefore, not entirely surprised to find that the new government opposed my continuing as chancellor of Nalanda University. However, the larger issue concerns the academic independence of institutions of higher learning. The new government and its allies have been active in trying to impose their own views on many academic institutions, and Nalanda’s academic independence has been under considerable threat over the last year. Many of the statutes concerning the governance of Nalanda that were passed by the board (as it was authorized to do) have not been acted on or even presented by the government to the Visitor of the University—the president of India—for endorsement. (All such statutes require formal government approval before they become effective.) The government tried suddenly, without any consultation with the governing board, to make radical changes in the board’s membership—a move that did not work because the proposed changes violated provisions of the Nalanda University Act passed by the Indian Parliament in 2010.

    The government has also tried, much more successfully, to remove me as chancellor, overruling the unanimous decision of Nalanda’s governing board that I should continue—a decision arrived at in the board’s meeting in January chaired by George Yeo, the former foreign minister of Singapore. While I appreciated the unanimous support, it soon became clear to me that the tension between the government and the governing board of Nalanda over my continuing as chancellor was proving to be a barrier to the work of rebuilding the school. It also became obvious that the government’s hostility would prevent me from being an effective leader. I told the board that, under the circumstances, I will not accept reappointment when my present term comes to an end in mid-July of this year.

    In fact, I strongly believe that it should not be difficult to find a very distinguished candidate who understands the vision that lies behind Nalanda’s revival and appreciates what Nalanda has to offer to contemporary higher education in India and elsewhere. It is, however, extremely important to make sure that the academic independence of Nalanda under the new chancellor is respected. The university must not be subject to partisan political pressure.

    The central issue goes well beyond the headline of a well-researched recent report in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: “Il Nobel e il Premier: Sen contro Modi.” While it is certainly true that the Modi government is not pleased with the political positions I have taken, the confrontation is ultimately not about personalities. It is about the principles governing public institutions, particularly the importance of academic independence.
    4.

    Unfortunately, the government’s pressures on Nalanda are part of a general pattern of interference in academic leadership across the country. For example, in January of this year, Dr. Sandip Trivedi, a widely respected physicist, was appointed the director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)—perhaps the most prestigious scientific institution in India—by a selection committee chaired by one of India’s most well-known scientists, C.N.R. Rao. But the institute was told by the prime minister’s office that Trivedi had to be removed from his post, and Trivedi stepped down. This led to a good deal of public criticism, and the government told the TIFR in June that Trivedi could return as director.

    In December, Raghunath Shevgaonkar, the well-known director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, also resigned from his position, alleging government interference in the IIT’s decisions. In March, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, one of the leading nuclear scientists of India (and a former chair of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission), who chaired the governing board of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, protested against meddling by the government and made it clear that he was unwilling to serve in future activities.

    In late February the government asked the famous writer Sethumadhavan to leave his position as chairman of the National Book Trust, which was set up decades ago as “an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education.” The trust has had an excellent record of supporting the publication of worthy books. Following Sethumadhavan’s removal, his position was given to a Hindutva ideologue, Baldev Sharma, a former editor of the journal Panchajanya, which The Times of India described as “the RSS mouthpiece.” More recently, the government has proposed a bill that would give it direct control over India’s thirteen Institutes of Management (IIM), the country’s main institutions for postgraduate education in management. This has been sharply protested by the directors and chairmen of the institutes themselves.

    It is hard not to conclude that the government has difficulty in appreciating the distinction between (1) an autonomous institution supported by the government, using state resources, and (2) an institution under the direct command of the government currently in office. For many hundreds of years universities in Europe have been helped to become academically excellent by governments that respect their autonomy. The British protect academic independence with much care in their own country even though the British rulers of colonial India very often violated the independence of public academic institutions. The government of India seems to prefer the colonial model.

    This is, of course, not the first time that a ruling Indian government has interfered in academic matters. The record of noninterference of the previous Congress government was far from impeccable. And yet the extent of intervention has become both unprecedented and often politically extreme under the present regime.1

    The newly appointed head of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, is perhaps more well known for his Hindutva-oriented opinions than for any historical research he has done. For example, in his paper “Indian Caste System: A Reappraisal,” Rao praises the caste system, which—we are told—is often “misrepresented as an exploitative system.” Rao’s strong links with the group called Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana (ABISY), which is known as the “history wing” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has been a source of concern in the academic community, especially after four ABISY activists were appointed to the council of the ICHR. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, a leading historian and the chief editor of the official journal of ICHR (the Indian Historical Review), resigned in protest against the transformation of the ICHR.

    The new head of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Dr. Lokesh Chandra, appointed by the Modi government, has informed The Indian Express that “from a practical point of view [Modi] supersedes the Mahatma [Gandhi].” Chandra has also expressed the view that Modi is, in fact, “a reincarnation of God.” Chandra has said he believes that six million Koreans trace their ancestry back to an Indian princess from Ayodhya.

    In view of the general record of the Modi government it was not particularly surprising that the government chose to interfere in the governance of Nalanda. But the confrontations between the governing board and the government, and the removal of the chancellor, got unusual public attention, with wide coverage in the press and editorial criticism of the government in several papers. These reactions have certainly helped to have a restraining effect on the government, unlike the case of many other academic institutions. The widespread public attention and questioning have, in effect, helped the minister of external affairs, Sushama Swaraj, to seek a solution that would be publicly defensible—rather than insisting on the unilateral extremism that characterizes many of the academic interventions by the Modi government.

    The presence of intellectuals from other Asian countries on the governing board of Nalanda has also helped to protect the university from the government’s sectarian pressures. The board, which I continued to chair until July, decided in early May to name three non-Indian Asian members of the board, putting George Yeo of Singapore at the top of the list, as possible chancellor with Wang Bangwei of China and Susumu Nakanishi of Japan as reserves. Yeo has just accepted the position with the assurance that he will have the independence that will be required for running the university. Given his commitment to the principles of Nalanda, in addition to his vast knowledge of Asian traditions and remarkable intellectual and administrative skills, his appointment is a very good outcome.2 It will remain extremely important, however, for the government to give Yeo the independence he will need to make Nalanda an academic success.
    5.

    When the old Nalanda began functioning in the fifth century, there was no other university in the world. There are now 687 universities in India—and others are being established. Why do we need one more? What makes Nalanda so special?

    The history of education at the old Nalanda, which inspires the teachers and students of the reestablished Nalanda, remains powerfully relevant here. The tradition of Nalanda insisted on high educational standards, which are certainly important in India today where there is a conspicuous lack of official commitment to improving the quality of education. But it is also important now to follow the Nalanda tradition of global cooperation, a systematic attempt to learn across the barriers of regions and countries. What the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore called “the Nalanda trail” in its remarkable exhibition during 2007–2008 (when the proposal to restart Nalanda University was being planned) emphasized the spread of knowledge and understanding from one country to another across Asia, driven by intellectual curiosity and interest rather than the pursuit of material profit.

    The pedagogy that prevailed in the old Nalanda is strongly relevant here. The school regularly arranged debates between people—teachers, students, and visitors—who held different points of view. The method of teaching included arguments between teachers and students. Indeed, as one of Nalanda’s most distinguished Chinese students, Xuan Zang (602–664 AD) noted, education in Nalanda was not primarily offered through the “bestowing” of knowledge by lecturers, but through extensive debates—between students and teachers and among the students themselves—on all the subjects that were taught.

    I have been impressed to find that the emphasis on debate is already strong in the pedagogy of the new Nalanda, not just on the topics in the syllabus, but also on more general subjects. For example, when I visited Nalanda last October—a month after classes started there—we discussed the respective roles of “the Silk Route” and “the Nalanda trail” in the development of intercountry connections. There has been much historical discussion of the trading links between Asia and Europe, and particularly the Silk Road linking China with regions in the West. Originally established between the third century BC and the third century AD, during the Han dynasty, the Silk Road was of great importance not only for trade and commerce, but also for the intermingling of people and ideas.

    A critical question can be asked, however, whether an exaggerated focus on trade of commodities, and related to that, an excessive emphasis on the role of the Silk Road, may result in the neglect of intellectual influences—in religion, science, mathematics, art, and architecture—that were not dependent on trade. If trade is a big influence in getting people to take an interest in one another, as David Hume famously noted, so is the sheer pursuit of human curiosity, as Hume also observed. The “Nalanda trail” is, in this sense, a kind of rival to the Silk Road. The rightly admired exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum during 2012–2013, called “Buddhism Along the Silk Road, 5th–8th Century,” merged the two; but the disparate elements in the two types of routes in that grand history can be usefully distinguished.3

    Unlike Yi Jing, who journeyed to Nalanda by sea in the seventh century, Xuan Zang came, in the same century, on the land route, which coincided in some parts with the Silk Road (even though Nalanda is quite far away from that route). But what motivated Xuan Zang—no less than Yi Jing—to undertake that long voyage (and to spend a decade in Nalanda) was his huge curiosity about Buddhism, Buddhist enlightenment, and the subjects taught at Nalanda, in all of which the influence of trade and material pursuit was minimal.

    Knowledge of arts, culture, mathematics, science, and engineering, along with religious and ethical reasoning, has moved people across regions for thousands of years. In our divisive world today, the need for nonbusiness and nonconfrontational encounters is extremely strong, and here Nalanda has an important vision to offer.
    6.

    It is not hard to see how profoundly the intellectual commitment reflected in the pursuit of the Nalanda Trail was inspired by Gautama Buddha’s emphasis on enlightenment without borders—for all people, irrespective of caste, class, and nationality.4 The issue of the spread of knowledge was raised in a conversation in the seventh century when Xuan Zang completed his studies and was considering going back to China. The professors at Nalanda asked Xuan Zang to stay on as a member of the faculty. He turned them down, observing that Buddha had taught the world not to enjoy enlightenment by oneself. If one learns something, it is one’s duty to share it with others, and therefore Xuan Zang believed he must go home to do just that. (He was in fact very warmly welcomed back in China.)

    Indeed, it can be argued that the vast sweep of Buddhist enlightenment across China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and much of East Asia was so successful because it was not just an imposition of foreign ideas, but was mainly based on cultural interests and intellectual engagement.5 Buddha himself was eloquent on that subject, and yet in recent years, some Buddhist groups have been much occupied in fomenting prejudice, for example against Rohingya Muslims in Rakine in Burma. As a result of such persecution, and the violations of human rights by the militarist government, there has been a huge flight of Muslim refugees seeking a new home. Some formally Buddhist institutions badly need to learn from Buddha’s advocacy of reasoning and dialogue instead of confrontation and violence.

    The town of Rajgir where the campus of the new Nalanda is being built is exactly where the first “Buddhist Council” met two and half thousand years ago, not long after Buddha’s death, “to resolve differences by discussion,” including divergent views on religious beliefs and social practice. A later Buddhist council, the third, was very large and met in Pataliputra (now Patna) at the invitation of Emperor Ashoka in the third century BC. It was the most famous of these councils, but the approach of resolving difference through discussion had been already established three hundred years earlier in Rajgir.

    Nalanda has thus been revived near the site of the very first attempt at what John Stuart Mill and Walter Bagehot would celebrate in the nineteenth century as “government by discussion.” The powerful vision behind Nalanda is important for India, for Asia, and for the rest of the world. It must be free of authoritarian and sectarian pressures.

    1

    The interferences have sometimes been accompanied by the planting of false reports, typically through public statements by Hindutva leaders (or by journalists friendly to Hindutva). An example of the crudeness of the attack can be seen in the much-publicized public statement of a prominent BJP leader that the Nalanda chancellor is “paid an annual salary of Rs. 50 lakhs” ($80,000) rather than no salary at all, or that “so far about Rs. 3000 crores,” or about $484 million, have already been spent by Nalanda University. In fact, rather less than 2 percent of that sum (Rs. 46 crores, or $7.42 million) has been expended altogether, including construction costs, from the beginning of the university until the end of the last fiscal year (2014–2015). ↩
    1

    O n misinformation put out to the media by the government itself, see the news interview with Professor Sugata Bose, a member of the Nalanda governing board (and also a member of Indian Parliament), published in The Telegraph, Kolkata, April 1, 2015. ↩
    2

    For Yeo’s analysis of the things that bind Asia together and give us such strong reasons to be hopeful about its future, see George Yeo on Bonsai, Banyan and the Tao, with a foreword by Amartya Sen (World Scientific Publishing, 2015). ↩
    3

    See William Dalrymple, “The Great and Beautiful Lost Kingdoms,” The New York Review, May 21, 2015. ↩
    4

    I have tried to discuss related issues in my essay “The Contemporary Relevance of Buddha,” Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2014). ↩
    5

    On this subject, see also Dalrymple, “The Great and Beautiful Lost Kingdoms.” ↩

  23. মাসুদ করিম - ১৩ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৫৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    জেলে বসে মধ্যম আয়ের দেশের পরিকল্পনা করেন হাসিনা

    বাংলাদেশকে মধ্যম আয়ের দেশে উন্নীত করার যে পরিকল্পনা, তা সেনা নিয়ন্ত্রিত তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকারের সময় কারাগারে নিঃসঙ্গ দিনগুলোতেই তৈরি করেছিলেন বলে জানিয়েছেন শেখ হাসিনা।

    সেই পরিকল্পনা বাস্তবায়নে গত ছয় বছরে অনেকটাই এগিয়েছে আওয়ামী লীগ নেতৃত্বাধীন সরকার। বাকি সময়ের আগেই কাঙ্ক্ষিত লক্ষ্যে পৌঁছানোয় আশাবাদী আওয়ামী লীগ সভানেত্রী।

    রোববার রাজধানীর কৃষিবিদ ইনস্টিটিউটে বিশ্ব পরিবেশ দিবস ও জাতীয় বৃক্ষরোপণ অভিযানের উদ্বোধনী অনুষ্ঠানে কারাগারের দিনগুলোর কথা তুলে ধরেন শেখ হাসিনা।

    ২০০৭ সালে সেনা নিয়ন্ত্রিত তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকারের সময় গ্রেপ্তার হন শেখ হাসিনা। সংসদ ভবন এলাকার একটি বাড়িতে বিশেষ কারাগারে বছরকাল বন্দি থাকতে হয়েছিল তাকে।

    “আমাকে সলিটারি কনফাইনমেন্টে রাখা হয়েছিল, একদম একা। আমি সেই সময় বসে বসে…; আমি জানি আমার বিরুদ্ধে অনেক মামলা, আমি যাতে নির্বাচন করতে না পারি, আরও অনেক রকম পরিকল্পনা ছিল বা আমি যেন আর রাজনীতিতে থাকতে না পারি সেই ধরনের অনেক ষড়যন্ত্র।”

    “সেই সময় বসে বসে আমি লিখে রেখেছিলাম, ২০০৮-এর মধ্যে নির্বাচন হলে যদি আওয়ামী লীগ ক্ষমতায় যায় তাহলে দেশের জন্য কী করব?”

    “২০১১ সালে আমরা কী করব, ২০১২ সালের মধ্যে কী করব, ২০১৩ সালের মধ্যে কী করব, ২০১৪ সালে মধ্যে, ২০১৫ সালের মধ্যে কী করব, এভাবে আমি প্রত্যেকটা বিষয় লিখে রেখেছিলাম।”

    জরুরি অবস্থার অবসানের পর ২০০৮ সালের নির্বাচনে জয়ী হয়ে সরকার গঠন করেন শেখ হাসিনা। রাজনীতির জটিল পথেও দ্বিতীয় মেয়াদের সরকার নিয়ে চলছেন তিনি।

    শেখ হাসিনা বলেন, “অর্থাৎ আমাদের শিক্ষার হার, স্বাস্থ্য সেবা জণগণের দৌড়গোড়ায় পৌঁছে দেওয়া, পরিবেশ উন্নত করা, খাদ্যে স্বয়ংসম্পূর্ণতা অর্জন করা-অর্থাৎ মানুষের মৌলিক চাহিদাগুলি পূরণ করার কাজগুলি কী হবে, দারিদ্র্যমুক্ত বাংলাদেশ গড়ার জন্য কী কী করণীয় তখনই এগুলি আমি নিজে হাতে লিখে রেখেছিলাম একটা খাতায়।”

    কারাগারে যাওয়ার সময় একটি খাতা সঙ্গেই নিয়েছিলেন তিনি। পরে আরও কিছু খাতা কিনিয়ে নেন। সেসব খাতাতেই সব কিছু লিখে রাখেন বলে জানান তিনি।

    জেলখানার সেই খাতাগুলোতে লেখা পরিকল্পনাই ঘষেমেজে ‘ভিশন-২০২১’ রূপকল্প তৈরি করা হয়েছিল বলে জানান শেখ হাসিনা।

    “পরবর্তীতে ২০০৮ এর নির্বাচনী ইশতেহার যখন প্রস্তুত করি তখন আমি সেখান (জেলাখানার খাতা) থেকে সব পয়েন্টগুলি বের করি। এবং সেখানে আপনারা দেখবেন যে, ভিশন ২০২১ ওই ভাবে সাল ধরে ধরে সেটাকে আরেকটু সময় উপযোগী করে ঘোষণাটা আমরা দিয়েছি।”

    গত ছয় বছরে আর্থ-সামাজিক ও মানব উন্নয়নসহ বিভিন্ন ক্ষেত্রে বাংলাদেশের অগ্রগতি আন্তর্জাতিক মহলেও প্রশংসিত।

    বিশ্ব মন্দার কারণে উন্নত দেশগুলোর অর্থনীতিতে মন্থর গতি দেখা দেওয়ায় গত ছয় বছরে বিশ্ব অর্থনীতির প্রবৃদ্ধি যেখানে গড়ে চার শতাংশের কম, সেখানে বাংলাদেশ এই সময়ে গড়ে ছয় শতাংশের উপর প্রবৃদ্ধি ধরে রেখেছে।

    গত ছয় বছরের দারিদ্র্যের হার অর্ধেকের মত কমে নেমে এসেছে প্রায় ২৪ শতাংশে।

    গত ২ জুলাই বাংলাদেশকে নিম্ন আয়ের দেশ থেকে নিম্ন-মধ্য আয়ের দেশের কাতারে এনেছে বিশ্ব ব্যাংক। বাংলাদেশের মাথাপিছু আয় এখন ১ হাজার ৩১৪ ডলার। মাথাপিছু আয়ের এই হিসাবে (নমিনাল) বাংলাদেশের অর্থনীতি বিশ্বে ৫৮তম। ক্রয় ক্ষমতার ভিত্তিতে বাংলাদেশের অর্থনীতি বিশ্বের ৩৬তম।

    শেখ হাসিনা বলেন, “কাজেই আজকে এটুকু বলব, এই দেশ আমাদের। আমরা সরকার চালাই নিজেদের স্বার্থে না, দেশের স্বার্থে, মানুষের স্বার্থে, জনগণের কল্যাণে। জনগণের কল্যাণে কাজ করলে যে দেশকে উন্নত করা যেতে পারে, সেটা আমরা ইতোমধ্যেই প্রমাণ করেছি।”

    ২০১৩ সালে সম্ভাব্য দুর্নীতির অভিযোগ তুলে দেশের সবচেয়ে বড় নির্মাণ প্রকল্প পদ্মা সেতুতে অর্থায়ন থেকে বিশ্ব ব্যাংক নিজেদের সরিয়ে নিলে তাদের চ্যালেঞ্জ জানিয়ে নিজস্ব অর্থায়নে ওই সেতু নির্মাণের ঘোষণা দেন শেখ হাসিনা।

    সেতুর কাজ ইতোমধ্যে বেশ কিছুটা এগিয়ে গেছে এবং ২০১৯ সালেই যান চলাচলের জন্য উন্মুক্ত করে দেওয়া হবে বলে সরকারের পক্ষ থেকে বলা হচ্ছে।

    বিশ্ব ব্যাংকের প্রসঙ্গ টেনে শেখ হাসিনা বলেন, “হ্যাঁ, আজকে বিশ্ব ব্যাংক..এক সময় যে বিশ্ব ব্যাংক আমাদের পদ্মা সেতু নিয়ে অনেক যন্ত্রণা দিয়েছে। আজ কিন্তু.. যখন ঘোষণা দিয়েছিলাম যে, কারও উপর নির্ভরশীল হয়ে নয়, কারও কাছে হাত পেতে নয়। আমরা নিজের পায়ে দাঁড়াব। নিজেরা নিজেদেরকে উন্নত করব।

    “আমরা মুক্তিযুদ্ধ করেছি, বিজয় অর্জন করেছি, আমরা বিজয়ী জাতি। দেশের প্রতিটি নাগরিককে সব সময় একথা মাথায় রেখে চলতে হবে যে, আমরা বিজয়ী জাতি। বাংলাদেশ কারও কাছে মাথা নত করে না। আমরা মাথা নত করিনি। বিরাট চ্যালেঞ্জ ছিল, আমরা সেই চ্যালেঞ্জ মোকাবিলা করেছি।”

    নিম্ন মধ্য আয়ের থেকে উচ্চ আয়ের দেশে বাংলাদেশকে তুলতে সবার সহযোগিতা প্রত্যাশা করেন প্রধানমন্ত্রী।

    আত্মবিশ্বাসের সঙ্গে কাজ করার আহ্বান জানিয়ে তিনি বলেন, “জাতির পিতাই বলে দিয়েছিলেন যে, বাঙালিকে কেউ দাবায়ে রাখতে পারবা না। বাঙালিকে কেউ দাবায়ে রাখতে পারবে না- একথা আমি বিশ্বাস করি।”

  24. মাসুদ করিম - ১৩ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:৪৩ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Troop and police contributors

    Our military and police personnel are first and foremost members of their own national services and are then seconded to work with the UN.

    They come from nations large and small, rich and poor. They bring different cultures and experience to the job, but they are united in their determination to foster peace.
    Contributions by Country

    Find out which countries provide military experts, troops and police to UN Peacekeeping. You can sort contributions by type, or search individual countries for the most recent statistics.

  25. মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:৫৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Landmark deal reached on Iran nuclear program

    After arduous talks that spanned 20 months, negotiators have reached a landmark deal aimed at reining in Iran’s nuclear program.

    The agreement, a focal point of U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, appears set to reshape relations between Iran and the West, with its effects likely to ripple across the volatile Middle East.

    Representatives of Iran, the United States and the other nations involved in the marathon talks were holding a final meeting in Vienna on Tuesday.

    Obama praised the deal reached Tuesday morning, saying the agreement met the goals he had in place throughout negotiations.

    “Today after two years of negotiation the United States together with the international community has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama said from the White House, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.

    “This deal is not built on trust. It’s built on verification,” Obama said Tuesday.

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also praised the deal, speaking after Obama finished, as televisions in Iran broadcast the U.S. President’s statement live, translated into Farsi.

    “Negotiators have reached a good agreement and I announce to our people that our prayers have come true,” Rouhani said in a live address to the nation following Obama.

    The essential idea behind the deal is that in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities, Iran would get relief from sanctions while being allowed to continue its atomic program for peaceful purposes.

    After news of the deal emerged, Yukiya Amano, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he had signed a “roadmap” with the Iranian government “for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.”

    What’s in the deal

    The deal reduces the number of Iranian centrifuges by two-thirds. It places bans on enrichment at key facilities, and limits uranium research and development to the Natanz facility.

    The deal caps uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent and limits the stockpile to 300 kg, all for 15 years.

    Iran will be required to ship spent fuel out of the country forever, as well as allow inspectors from the IAEA inspectors certain access in perpetuity. Heightened inspections, including tracking uranium mining and monitoring the production and storage of centrifuges, will last for up to 20 years.

    The U.S. estimates that the new measures take Iran from being able to assemble its first bomb within 2-3 months, to at least one year from now.

    Far from over

    But the deal between Iran and world powers, brokered during lengthy negotiations in a Vienna hotel, is far from the end of the story.

    The accord is expected to face fierce opposition from Republicans in the U.S. Congress, as well as from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longstanding critic of the negotiations.

    “From the initial reports we can already conclude that this agreement is a historic mistake for the world,” Netanyahu said Tuesday. “Far-reaching concessions have been made in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability.”

    For his part, Obama called Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the deal. According to a White House statement, Obama reassured the Israeli leader of his administration’s “stalwart commitment to Israel’s security.”

    “The President told the Prime Minister that today’s agreement on the nuclear issue will not diminish our concerns regarding Iran’s support for terrorism and threats toward Israel,” the statement said.

    Congress has 60 days to review the agreement, giving its opponents plenty of time to dig into the details and challenge the Obama administration’s position.

    In Tehran, the deal will need the clear backing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to fend off any objections from hardliners suspicious of an accord with the United States after decades of hostility and mistrust.

    Rouhani said on Twitter that the deal shows that “constructive engagement works.”

    “With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges,” he tweeted.

    Key players celebrate deal

    Speaking ahead of the session, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the deal a “historic moment,” although he cautioned that it was “not perfect.”

    Lead negotiators on both sides addressed the press in a joint statement from Vienna on Tuesday morning as well.

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Iran nuclear deal reached early Tuesday morning, saying from Vienna that the agreement is a step toward peace and a step away from conflict.

    “This is the good deal that we have sought,” Kerry said at a press conference, adding that “contrary to the assertions of some,” this deal has “no sunset”.

    Secretary John Kerry ended his statement in Vienna praising Obama “who had the courage to launch this process, believe in it, support it, encourage it, when many thought the objective was impossible, and who led the way from the start to the finish.”

    EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday. She added, “Under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons” and promised to release full details of the agreement on Tuesday.

    There was even a moment of levity that drew some limited laughter from the press conference. When Zarif announced with a smile that he was about to read in Persian the same statement Mogherini had delivered in English, he added “Don’t worry, it’s the same thing.”

    Leaders of the Western nations involved in the talks have backed a deal as the best way to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

    Iran, meanwhile, has been eager to get rid of international economic sanctions that have been squeezing its economy.

    “It’s a good day for diplomacy, it’s a good day for compromise, it’s a good day for a new beginning between Iran — a pivotal state in the Middle East — and the United States,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle East studies at The London School of Economics.

    Two years of negotiations

    It’s an agreement roughly two years in the making.

    Diplomats from the United States, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany have been negotiating with the Iranians since 2013.

    The official talks began after the election in Iran that year of Rouhani, widely seen as a reformer. He seemed open to warmer ties with the West and said he would work to end international sanctions.

    Discussions in November 2013 led to an interim deal called the Joint Plan of Action that offered some sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program, pending further talks toward a permanent solution.

    Three months ago, negotiators made a further breakthrough, settling on a framework deal that established the broad principles for the final agreement.

    The talks in recent weeks to reach a comprehensive deal had stretched way past their original deadline of June 30. As recently as late Monday, sticking points remained, including Iran’s insistence on the lifting of an embargo on the sale of conventional weapons and missiles, multiple sources said.

    Iran gets the opportunity to develop this programme, including uranium enrichment, under IAEA control and with the gradual lifting of sanctions imposed against Tehran, something we have long called for. This is also important for the implementation of large-scale plans of peaceful nuclear cooperation between Russia and Iran that got support in the documents approved today.

    We expect that all the parties concerned, primarily the six states involved in the negotiations, will comply with the deal in full. The political will demonstrated by these six states and Iran in the course of these negotiations is a guarantee of the successful implementation of the plan of action designed for the long term. Our bilateral relations with Iran will receive a new impetus and will no longer be influenced by external factors.

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১০:৪২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      Nuclear restrictions and inspections in exchange for lifting of sanctions: The details of the Iran deal

      Before the economic sanctions are lifted, the IAEA will have to confirm that Iran has fulfilled certain technical steps and reported them to the UN Security Council.

      After more than two weeks of marathon talks, a deal on Iran’s nuclear program was announced in Vienna on Tuesday.

      The preamble includes an Iranian pledge never to develop or purchase nuclear weapons. The rest of the 159-page agreement, along with its five annexes, detail all the provisions meant to ensure this pledge is kept.

      But Tuesday’s announcement is just the start of a lengthy process that will be overseen by an eight-member committee, comprised of representatives of the eight parties that negotiated the agreement – Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union.

      The first step, expected in the coming days, is to pass a UN Security Council resolution that will repeal all previous resolutions related to Iran, endorse the agreement just signed and detail which sanctions against Iran will remain in place and for how long.

      Implementation of the deal will begin no later than three months after the resolution is passed. A crucial part of the implementation phase will be the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on whether Iran has met all its commitments regarding the limits placed on its nuclear program. Only after the IAEA confirms this will international sanctions on Iran be removed.

      As part of the deal, Iran is also obligated to give the IAEA written responses by August 15 to all the agency’s questions about the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program. By October 15, it must allow IAEA inspectors to visit the military facility at Parchin, where nuclear experiments are thought to have taken place. By December 15, the IAEA must report on whether Iran has met its commitments on this issue, and here, too, a positive report is a condition for lifting certain sanctions.

      Neutralizing the bomb

      The agreement limits the number of centrifuges Iran can possess. At its Natanz facility, it can have only 5,060 old-model centrifuges. The thousands of additional centrifuges currently at Natanz will be dismantled and stored in a warehouse under IAEA supervision.

      Moreover, for the next 15 years, Iran will be able to enrich uranium only to a level of 3.67 percent. It will also be allowed to stockpile no more than 300 kilograms of uranium enriched to this level. The rest of its 12 tons’ worth of enriched uranium will have to either be diluted or shipped to another country in exchange for raw uranium.

      Iran will not be able to set up any new uranium enrichment facilities during these 15 years.

      The underground enrichment facility at Fordo will be turned into a nuclear physics research center. For the next 15 years, Iran will be forbidden to bring any fissionable material of any kind into this facility.

      Of the 2,800 centrifuges currently installed at Fordo, only 1,044 will remain; the rest will be sent to the IAEA-supervised warehouse. But Iran will not be able to use the Fordo centrifuges to enrich uranium. Instead, 348 centrifuges will be used to make medical isotopes and the rest will be used to provide spare parts for any centrifuges that break down.

      A senior American official said the agreement would increase Iran’s breakout time – meaning the time needed to obtain enough fissionable material for a nuclear bomb – to a year or more during the deal’s first 10 years. After that, its breakout time will decrease, but only modestly. “It won’t be like falling off a cliff,” he said.

      The reason, he explained, is that the ban on Iran possessing more than 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium will remain in force for 15 years. That quantity isn’t sufficient to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb.

      One key issue addressed by the agreement is what kind of research and development into advanced centrifuges Iran can pursue. Developing advanced centrifuges that can enrich uranium much faster would significantly reduce its breakout time.

      The agreement restricts R&D on new centrifuges for the first eight years, but those restrictions will be gradually lifted in the subsequent years. For the first 10 years, Iran will be able to operate no more than 100 of the 300 advanced centrifuges it currently possesses, and it may not use those centrifuges to enrich uranium.

      The senior American official said that Iran will submit its R&D plans for new centrifuges to the IAEA and the agreement’s other signatories, but these will not be made public.

      Iran, however, claims that the deal imposes no restrictions on its R&D into advanced centrifuges.

      Regarding the heavy-water reactor in Arak, the agreement states that it will be reengineered so that it can produce only one kilogram per year of plutonium – not nearly enough for an atomic bomb. The reactor will also be under IAEA supervision to ensure that this plutonium isn’t misused.

      Additionally, the deal limits the amount of heavy water Iran can possess to the amount needed to run the Arak reactor at a low capacity.

      All these steps will make it harder for Iran to produce a plutonium-based nuclear bomb.

      Iran has also promised not to conduct any activities that could be related to nuclear weapons development, such as developing missile warheads, conducting computer modeling of a nuclear explosion and experiments with neutron explosions or nuclear detonators. It will need permission from an arbitration committee if it wants to conduct activities of this type for civilian purposes. This Iranian commitment includes no time limit.

      Stringent inspections

      As part of the deal, Iran pledged to sign the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which enables more stringent supervision by the IAEA. It also agreed to additional supervisory measures, including monitoring of its uranium mines and its production of raw uranium for 25 years. Its production of centrifuges and centrifuge parts will be under supervision for 20 years.

      A key section of the agreement deals with access by IAEA inspectors. The deal states that inspectors must be allowed to enter any suspect facility in Iran within at most 24 days. If they aren’t, this will be considered a violation that could lead to renewed sanctions.

      The procedure for those 24 days is as follows: If IAEA inspectors suspect that illicit or undeclared nuclear activity is taking place at an unmonitored facility, like a military base, it must first request explanations from Iran. If the explanations don’t satisfy the inspectors, they can ask to visit the facility.

      The Iranians can then suggest ways of resolving the issue that don’t involve a visit. But if the inspectors remain unsatisfied 14 days after first broaching their suspicions to Iran, the matter will be transferred to the eight-member committee overseeing the deal’s implementation.

      The committee will have seven days to try to find a solution that satisfies everyone. But if no such solution is found, the committee will then vote on whether Iran must allow the visit.

      That decision requires only a simple majority – five of the eight members. Since Iran enjoys reliable backing from only two other panel members, Russia and China, it will have trouble preventing a decision ordering it to allow the visit.

      If such a decision is made, Iran must permit the visit within three days.

      Iran also agreed to increase the number of IAEA inspectors stationed in the country to 150. But only inspectors from countries with which Iran has diplomatic relations will be allowed to enter its facilities, so American inspectors won’t qualify.

      Removing sanctions

      The Security Council resolution will cancel all the sanctions the council previously imposed on Iran. But it will also reinstate certain sanctions for specified periods of time. The sanctions on selling sensitive nuclear equipment to Iran will remain in force for 10 years, those on selling it missile technology for eight years, and those on conventional arms sales by or to Iran for only five years.

      After the IAEA confirms that Iran has met its commitments, all EU sanctions will be removed, first and foremost the embargo on oil imports from Iran and the sanctions on Iran’s banking system. Senior American officials said that as a result, $100 billion in Iranian bank accounts overseas that have hitherto been frozen will be released. However, a few Iranian banks involved in financing terror will remain under sanctions.

      Washington, for its part, will suspend the sanctions it imposed on foreign companies that buy Iranian oil. It will also let American companies sell civilian aircraft to Iran, let American-owned companies located outside the United States do business with Iran and permit imports from Iran of Persian carpets and foodstuffs. However, Iranian companies will still be denied access to the American economy and the American banking system, and American banks won’t be able to do business in Iran.

      Reinstating sanctions

      The agreement contains a mechanism for reinstating sanctions if Iran violates its commitments. But the mechanism is extremely cumbersome and would be effective only if the violation were blatant. If the violation is questionable, it’s hard to see this mechanism leading to sanctions being reinstated.

      Any member of the eight-member committee can submit a complaint about ostensible Iranian violations. The committee will then have 65 days to resolve the dispute and decide whether a violation occurred. If the dispute isn’t resolved, the country that filed the complaint will be free to reinstate its own sanctions.

      The complainant country can also seek to pass a UN Security Council resolution on the matter. But since a resolution seeking to reinstate sanctions could be vetoed by any of the council’s five permanent members (America, France, Britain, Russia and China), the resolution in this case would instead call for continuing the process of removing the sanctions. Then, if any country vetoed that resolution, all the Security Council sanctions that had been canceled under the agreement would automatically come back into force.

      READ FULL DOCUMENT HERE.

  26. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৯:৪৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Bangladesh seal series with nine-wicket win

    Bangladesh 170 for 1 in 26.1 overs (Sarkar 90, Tamim 61*) beat South Africa 168 for 9 in 40 overs (Duminy 51, Shakib 3-33) by nine wickets (D/L method)

    Not reputation, not rankings, not even rain could stop Bangladesh from clinching a first bilateral series win over South Africa, and a fourth successive series triumph at home. Bangladesh dominated South Africa in every department, restricting them to a total of under 200 and then romping to the target themselves, with 13.5 overs to spare.

    On the way, Shakib al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza both picked up their 200th ODI wicket, Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar posted the best partnership for Bangladesh against South Africa – 154 – and Soumya scored the fastest fifty for a Bangladesh batsman against South Africa, off 41 balls. South Africa could only watch and wonder how Bangladesh seemed to be playing on a complete different surface to the slow, strangling one that had snared them earlier.

    South Africa’s top order struggled against the shrewd approach from Bangladesh’s bowlers, who collectively put in another disciplined performance. Only JP Duminy and David Miller had some measure of conditions, adding 63 runs for the fifth wicket. Duminy went on to a half-century but there were little resistance from anyone else, even the recognised batsmen.

    Quinton de Kock’s failure to find form extended to another innings as Mustafizur Rahman found his leg stump with a full delivery that angled in and evaded the batsman as he tried to play to mid-wicket.

    Shakib was introduced in the sixth over and immediately caused problems for South Africa’s most experienced pair. Neither Hashim Amla nor Faf du Plessis adjusted to the pitch of the ball, and when du Plessis attempted to counterattack, he was caught off a top edge.

    Four overs later, Shakib should have had Amla as well. Amla played a similar to du Plessis’, but Sabbir Rahman, who had to backpedal from mid-off to judge the catch, could not hold on. Shakib was not denied for too long, though. In his next over, Amla was caught behind to become Shakib’s 200th ODI wicket.

    Mahmudullah had Rilee Rossouw caught when he lost his balance trying to pull and South Africa were in trouble on 50 for 4 before Duminy and Miller dug in. Miller was more confident against spin and in his use of the sweep shot than he has been all series, and Duminy, realising the need to bat patiently, was happy to wait.

    That was just as well, because the wait lasted two hours and 55 minutes as rain interrupted South Africa’s innings after 23 overs with the score on 78 for 4. When play resumed, Miller continued in his role as aggressor and until he hit Mortaza in the air and Sabbir made up for his earlier drop with a diving catch at backward point to give the captain his 200th.

    Farhaan Behardien showed signs of the fight he displayed in the second match, but holed out off Shakib as South Africa looked to accelerate. Sabbir, stationed on the long-on boundary, caught the ball overhead, but seeing that the momentum would take him over the rope, threw it back in and then re-collected it once he was within the boundary. That left Duminy with the tailenders, who were unable to cope with the cutter from Mustafizur and the yorker from Rubel Hossain.

    South Africa lost four wickets for 19 runs to leave their bowlers with a tough task, especially as they did not have their premier pace pack to pull it off. They have previously successfully defended just three totals lower than this – 129, 140 and 149 – and not even Morne Morkel’s inclusion could help them add 170 to that list.

    Morkel bowled first change, behind Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada, but none of them could not find the right length or line to trouble Bangladesh. They were either too short or too full, and almost always too straight.

    Tamim delighted in riding the bounce to cut or lean into the on-drive, but Soumya held the early controls. He took three successive boundaries off Rabada, all on the leg side, to bring Bangladesh’s fifty in the eighth over, before Amla turned to spin. Neither Imran Tahir nor Duminy caused any problems, instead presenting opportunity for the openers to charge down the track.

    Soumya’s fifty came off from a leg-side ball from Morkel, eased to short fine leg, which only opened him up for more expansive strokeplay: The cover drive off Tahir, the hoick over mid-wicket for the only six of the innings, the pull, and the steer through the vacant slip cordon. Tamim, while being a spectator to all these, brought up his own fifty, off 70 balls, with a single.

    As the result became a foregone conclusion, Tamim did his best to get Soumya on strike in search of a century, but Soumya brought about his own downfall, chipping Tahir to short cover. Tamim, though, was on hand, along with Litton Das, to usher Bangladesh home and into the history books to conclude a limited-overs’ season to remember for a cricketing nation on the rise.

  27. মাসুদ করিম - ২২ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৭:২০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Most ancient Hebrew document since the Dead Sea Scrolls deciphered – it’s Leviticus
    3D scanning and advanced digital imaging enable verses from Leviticus in burned, 1,500-year-old scroll to be deciphered.

    Advanced technology has enabled researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority to decipher parts of a burnt scroll unearthed in 1970 at the ancient Ein Gedi synagogue.

    Scientists have dated the parchment scroll to the late sixth century C.E. The verses that have been deciphered are from the beginning of the Book of Leviticus, making it the most ancient Torah scroll found since the Dead Sea scrolls and the most ancient ever found in a synagogue.

    The synagogue, along with the entire Ein Gedi settlement, was destroyed by fire in the sixth century, toward the end of the Byzantine Era. The residents did not return to the site after the fire, leaving the Torah scroll, a bronze menorah, a collection of 3,500 coins and other relics to be discovered by archaeologists. The synagogue was excavated in the 1960s.

    Researchers, headed by Dr. Sefi Porath, believe the fire and subsequent destruction resulted from an attack by Bedouin raiders or as a result of a confrontation with Byzantine authorities.

    Charred scroll fragments were found in what the archaeologists believe was most likely the Holy Ark of the synagogue. One of them was a roll that looked like a cigar. Initial attempts to decipher it, including efforts by the police forensics unit, were unsuccessful. Eventually, it was put in storage in the Israel Museum.

    Scientists returned to the scroll recently, using new methods developed to scan and decipher ancient scrolls. High-resolution 3D scans of the scroll were sent to Professor Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky, developer of digital imaging software which allows the scroll to be virtually unrolled and the text visualized, according to an announcement by the authority.

    The text that was rendered legible by the software is substantial parts of the first eight verses of Leviticus. From the initial reading, there are no major differences between the text and the traditional text recognized today.

    Pnina Shor, curator and director of the Antiquities Authority’s Dead Sea Scroll Projects, said that the plan is to continue deciphering the rest of the scroll’s layers and additional fragments in similar condition.

    “The discovery absolutely astonished us; we were certain it was just a shot in the dark but decided to try and scan the burnt scroll anyway,” she said. “Now, not only can we bequeath the Dead Sea Scrolls to future generations, but also a part of the Bible from a Holy Ark of a 1,500-year-old synagogue.”

    “The historic discovery before us is fascinating and important,” said Culture Minister Miri Regev, who was at the press conference on Monday in which the Antiquities Authority revealed the discovery. “It is instructive about the Jewish people’s deep connection to its country and homeland.”

    “The finding reflects a tradition of thousands of years, which I am glad encountered the professional determination of Antiquities Authority workers who utilized all the existing scientific capabilities to present the world with this wonderful find,” said Israel Hasson, the authority’s director, who was also at the press conference.

  28. মাসুদ করিম - ২৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৩৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    These carbon-hungry blobs could help fix our oceans

    Hey, beachgoers: Have you ever ventured into the ocean on a steaming hot day, eager to splash around in the cold waves, and found yourself entirely surrounded by a bunch of translucent gooey blobs? Have no fear – you’re probably not being swarmed by tiny jellyfish or swimming in the remnants of a sea turtle’s messy meal.

    In fact, you most likely found some harmless salps, which are washing up along the coastal United States, National Geographic reports. Salps are barrel-shaped ocean invertebrates that belong to a group called tunicates, and they also feel extremely gross against your legs.

    But you’ll just have to deal with that squishy sensation, because salps are also tiny climate-change fighters! National Geographic has the details:

    Salps’ cloning tendencies also let them take advantage of algae blooms. The animals gorge themselves on the algae and pump out chains of salp babies. All that eating also produces large fecal pellets that “sink rapidly, as much as a thousand meters a day,” [says Larry Madin, executive vice president and director of research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts].

    This is a salp’s secret weapon against climate change. The algae that they eat uses carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow. The salps then eat the algae and all that carbon. When the animals produce their pellets, that carbon sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it’s essentially removed from the carbon cycle.

    Essentially, salps repackage carbon into big pieces that sink very quickly into the ocean, [says Paul Bologna, director of Montclair State University’s marine biology and coastal sciences program in New Jersey]. “It’s one way of trying to balance out how much CO2 is in the atmosphere.”

    However, we can’t all be perfect:

    Madin is skeptical that the salps will be able to keep up with the increased carbon in the atmosphere, but notes that salps can eat much smaller particles of plankton than animals like crustaceans and copepods. “One thing we see with warming temperatures is that the types of phytoplankton species are changing from larger ones, like diatoms, to smaller ones which we call picoplankton,” he explains.

    So, if the oceans keep warming, we might be seeing even more of our gelatinous friends. Surf’s up, salps!

  29. মাসুদ করিম - ২৬ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৫১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Meet the First Female Surfer in Bangladesh, 18-Year-Old Game-Changer Nasima Akter

    In a conservative Muslim country where it is taboo for most women to even swim in public, 18-year-old Nasima Akter is making waves as Bangladesh’s first female surfer. But Akter isn’t only a pioneer—she’s a survivor.

    Homeless at just seven years old (her parents kicked her out because she reportedly refused to earn money for the family as a prostitute), she found hope in the surfing community in Cox’s Bazar, home to the world’s longest uninterrupted sandy coastlines. It was there she learned to surf through a club, eventually besting the boys in local competitions. Her story caught the eye of Sausalito, California-based documentary filmmaker Heather Kessinger, who is submitting The Most Fearless to film festivals this month.

    The film chronicles Akter’s journey, which has been choppy at times: She’s been called a whore by locals just for getting into the water. “Nasima wants to be a good Muslim wife and a respectable part of her community—but she’s completely unwilling to let go of her passion for surfing for that,” Kessinger says. “And by telling her story, she’s broken the barrier for all girls to do the same.” That makes Akter a triple threat: pioneer, survivor, and now, role model.

  30. মাসুদ করিম - ২৭ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৬:২৫ অপরাহ্ণ)

    ১২শ বর্ষী মন্দিরে হিন্দু-বৌদ্ধ নিদর্শন

    দিনাজপুরে মাটির ঢিবি খনন করে বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরকে হিন্দু মন্দিরে রূপান্তর করার প্রথম প্রত্নতাত্ত্বিক নিদর্শন আবিষ্কার করেছেন একদল গবেষক।

    জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের প্রত্নতত্ত্ব বিভাগের অধ্যাপক স্বাধীন সেনের নেতৃত্বে আবিষ্কৃত এই মন্দির তৎকালীন বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলে বৌদ্ধ ধর্ম চর্চার ওপর পরবর্তীকালের হিন্দু শাসকদের রাজনৈতিক ও ধর্মীয় আধিপত্যের সরাসরি নিদর্শন বলে ধারণা করা হচ্ছে।

    খননকারীরা বলছেন, মন্দির দুটির নির্মাণকাল ৮ম থেকে ১১শ শতকের কোনো এক সময়কার।

    এর আগে বাংলাদেশে বৌদ্ধ স্তুপকে হিন্দু মন্দিরে রূপান্তরিত করার উদাহরণ পাওয়া গেলেও, বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরকে হিন্দু মন্দিরে রূপান্তরিত করার নির্দশন এটাই প্রথম বলে দাবি করছেন তারা।

    দিনাজপুরের সেতাবগঞ্জ উপজেলায় আবিস্কৃত এ মন্দির সংলগ্ন স্থান থেকে প্রথমবারের মত শারীরিক স্তুপের নিদর্শনও পাওয়া গেছে।

    গৌতম বুদ্ধের দেহাবশেষ দিয়ে স্তুপ নির্মাণ করার ঐতিহ্য মৌর্য সম্রাট অশোক সর্বপ্রথম শুরু করেন। এরই ধারাবাহিকতায় পরবর্তীকালে বৌদ্ধ ধর্মীয় গুরু ও গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ব্যক্তির দাহ করা দেহাবশেষের উপরে স্তুপ নির্মাণ করার ঐতিহ্য চালু হয়।

    জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের প্রত্নতত্ত্ব বিভাগের শিক্ষক-শিক্ষার্থীদের একটি দল অধ্যাপক স্বাধীন সেন ও অধ্যাপক সৈয়দ মোহাম্মদ কামরুল আহছানের পরিচালনায় গত তিন মাসেরও বেশি সময় ধরে খনন চালিয়ে আসছেন।

    দলটি একই উপজেলার মাহেরপুরে প্রায় এক হাজার বছর পুরানো একটি হিন্দু মন্দির আবিষ্কার করে।

    সংস্কৃতি বিষয়ক মন্ত্রণালয়ের অর্থায়নে এই খনন চলছে।

    অধ্যাপক স্বাধীন সেন বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে জানান, ২০১২ সাল থেকে তারা সেতাবগঞ্জ (বোঁচাগঞ্জ) এলাকায় আর্কিওলজিক্যাল সার্ভে করছেন। এ সময় প্রায় ১২৬ টি আর্কিওলজিক্যাল সাইট শনাক্ত করা হয়।

    সেতাবগঞ্জের রণগাঁও ইউনিয়নের বাসুদেবপুর ওয়ার্ডের ইটাকুড়া ঢিবি নামের প্রত্নস্থানে প্রায় ৩,৬০০ বর্গ মিটারেরও বেশি স্থানে খনন পরিচালনা করে মন্দির দুটো পাওয়া যায়।

    মন্দির দুটো পাওয়ার পরে প্রাচীন ভারতীয় স্থাপত্য বিষয়ে বিশেষজ্ঞ কলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের প্রাক্তন অধ্যাপক দীপক রঞ্জন দাশ, বিশ্বভারতী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের প্রত্নতত্ত্বের প্রাক্তন অধ্যাপক অরুণ নাগ ও কার্ডিফ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অধ্যাপক অ্যাডাম হার্ডির সঙ্গে আলোচনা করে অধ্যাপক সেন হিন্দু মন্দিরটিকে শনাক্ত করেন।

    পুরো মন্দিরটি পূর্বে, উত্তরে ও দক্ষিণে বেষ্টনী প্রাচীর দিয়ে ঘেরা ছিল। এই প্রাচীর ত্রি-রথ অভিক্ষেপ বিশিষ্ট। এই ত্রি-রথ অভিক্ষেপ হিন্দু মন্দিরের স্থাপত্য শৈলীর অন্যতম বৈশিষ্ট্য বলে তিনি জানান।

    বেষ্টনী প্রাচীর ও গর্ভগৃহের মধ্যবর্তী স্থানে পূর্ববর্তী বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরের দেয়াল ও ভরাট করা মাটির উপরে ৩০-৪০ সেমি পুরু মেঝে রয়েছে।

    অধ্যাপক সেন বলেন, “মন্দিরের প্রধান প্রবেশদ্বার পশ্চিম দিক দিয়ে ছিল। স্থানীয় মানুষজনের বাড়িঘর বানানোর কারণে ইট তুলে নিয়ে যাওয়ায় আয়তক্ষেত্রকার প্রবেশদ্বারটির মূল নির্মাণশৈলী বোঝা কঠিন। তবে সম্ভবত এখানে বড় সিঁড়ি ছিল।

    “পরবর্তীকালে হিন্দু মন্দিরে নির্মাণ উপকরণের পুনর্ব্যবহারের কারণে বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরটি ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত হয়েছে। মন্দিরটি একটি গর্ভগৃহ ও একটি মণ্ডপের সমন্বয়ে গঠিত। পূর্ববর্তী মন্দিরের গর্ভগৃহের উপরেই পরবর্তী মন্দিরের গর্ভগৃহ নির্মিত হয়। এর প্রবেশপথও পশ্চিম দিকে ছিল।”

    প্রাচীন মন্দির সাধারণত দুটি প্রধান অংশের সমন্বয়ে নির্মিত হতো। এর মধ্যে যে স্থানটিতে প্রতিমা রাখা হতো সেটিকে বলা হয় গর্ভগৃহ, আর যে স্থানে দাঁড়িয়ে পূজো-অর্চনা করা হতো সেটিকে বলা হয় মণ্ডপ।

    খননস্থলে চিহ্নিত বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরের দক্ষিণ-পশ্চিম কোণে তেরটি বুদ্ধ স্তুপ পাওয়া গেছে। দক্ষিণ-পূর্ব কোণে পাওয়া গেছে চারটি স্তুপ ও একটি বর্গাকার মন্দির। পরবর্তী মন্দিরের বেষ্টনী প্রাচীর ও সামনের মেঝে উত্তর-পশ্চিমাংশের স্তুপগুলো বালি চাপা দিয়ে তার উপরে নির্মিত হয়েছিল।

    এই স্তুপগুলোর মধ্যে চারটির মধ্য থেকে থেকে পোড়ানো মানবঅস্থির টুকরা, ছাই ও কয়লার অবশেষ পাওয়া গেছে। এছাড়াও একটি স্তুপসংলগ্ন স্থান থেকে একটি মাটির ঘটের মধ্যে পোড়া মানবঅস্থির টুকরা ও কয়লা পাওয়া গেছে। এই ধরনের স্তুপকেই শারীরিক স্তুপ বলা হয়ে থাকে।

    প্রত্নতাত্ত্বিকরা ভারতীয় উপমহাদেশে সাধারণত তিন ধরনের স্তুপের নিদর্শন পেয়েছেন। দেহাবশেষের উপরে নির্মিত শারীরিক স্তুপ, ব্যবহার্য সামগ্রীর উপরে নির্মিত পারিভাসিক স্তুপ এবং জীবন যাপনের উপরে নির্মিত উদেশীয় স্তুপ।

    এছাড়াও পূণ্য অর্জনের জন্যও স্তুপ নির্মাণের উদাহরণ রয়েছে, যেটিকে বলা হয় নিবেদন স্তুপ।

    অধ্যাপক সেন জানান, ইউনিভার্সিটি অব ক্যালিফোর্নিয়া, লস এঞ্জেলস -এর বৌদ্ধ শাস্ত্র বিষয়ক পণ্ডিত গ্রেগোরি সোপেন এই ধরনের শারীরিক স্তুপগুলোকে তৎকালীন মৃৎদেহ সৎকার ও সম্পর্কিত আচার-অনুষ্ঠানাদির সঙ্গে যুক্ত করে আলোচনা করেছেন।

    “দক্ষিণ এশিয়ায় এতকাল নিবেদন স্তুপ হিসাবে চিহ্নিত স্থাপনাগুলোর মধ্যে অনেকগুলোই আসলে শারীরিক স্তুপ ছিল যেগুলো গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বৌদ্ধ স্থাপনার (বড় স্তুপ, মন্দির, বিহার) কাছেই নির্মিত হত। কেবল গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ধর্মীয় মানুষজনই নন, বরং সাধারণ অনুসারীদের মৃতদেহ সৎকার করে সেই দেহাবশেষের উপরেও এই স্তুপ তৈরি করা হত।”

    তিনি বলেন, “এ ধরণের অনেক স্থানই পরে বৌদ্ধ ধর্মাবলম্বীদের কাছে তীর্থস্থানে পরিণত হয়। বাংলাদেশে এ-ধরণের শারীরিক স্তুপ পাওয়ার ঘটনা এই প্রথম।”

    এই আবিষ্কারের মধ্য দিয়ে তৎকালীন বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলের বৌদ্ধ ধর্মীয় সৎকার রীতিনীতি ও তীর্থ গড়ে ওঠার সামাজিক ও রাজনৈতিক প্রেক্ষাপট সম্পর্কে তাৎপর্যপূর্ণ তথ্য পাওয়া যাবে বলে মন্তব্য করেন জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের এ অধ্যাপক।

    তিনি জানান, দুই মন্দিরের সঙ্গেই সংশ্লিষ্ট প্রেক্ষিত থেকে বিভিন্ন পোড়ামাটির চিত্রফলকসহ বিভিন্ন প্রত্নবস্তু পাওয়া গেছে।

    এগুলোর মধ্যে বৌদ্ধ দেবতা যমান্তক-এর প্রতিমা, বৌদ্ধ সিদ্ধাচার্য ও একজন নারী সঙ্গিনীর বা বৌদ্ধ দেবী তারার বলে চিহ্নিত করেছেন তারা।

    অধ্যাপক সেনের মতে, পূর্ব ভারতে ৬ষ্ঠ থেকে ১২শ শতকে বরেন্দ্র নামে পরিচিত বাংলাদেশের উত্তরাঞ্চলে হিন্দু ধর্মীয় বিভিন্ন সম্প্রদায়ের সঙ্গে বৌদ্ধ ধর্মীয় সম্প্রদায়ের মধ্যে জটিল সংঘাত ও আপোষের সম্পর্ক ছিল। ধীরে ধীরে হিন্দু ধর্মীয় বিভিন্ন চিন্তা বৌদ্ধ ধর্মীয়দের প্রভাবিত করে, বৌদ্ধ ধর্মের উপরে আধিপত্য বিস্তার করে।

    “বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চলে এমন দুটি প্রধান ধারার মধ্যের সংঘাত ও আপোষের জটিল ইতিহাসের প্রত্নতাত্ত্বিক প্রমাণ খুব বেশি পাওয়া যায় নাই। এর আগে মহাস্থান গড়ের গোকুল মেধ ও বিরামপুরের বোয়ালা ঢিবিতে বুদ্ধ স্তুপকে হিন্দু মন্দিরে রূপান্তরিত করার প্রত্নতাত্ত্বিক প্রমাণ পাওয়া গেলেও গোকুল মেধের প্রত্নতাত্ত্বিক প্রমাণ তেমন বিশ্লেষণযোগ্য নয়।”

    তিনি বলেন “ভারতের পশ্চিম বাংলার বাকুড়ার বহুলড়ার সিদ্ধেশ্বর শিব মন্দিরটিও বুদ্ধ নিবেদন স্তুপের উপরে নির্মিত। কিন্তু বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরকে সরাসরি হিন্দু মন্দিরে রূপান্তরিত করার উদাহরণ বাংলাদেশে এই প্রথম।

    “একটি স্তুপের কাছ থেকে শিব লিঙ্গের আবিষ্কার আর দুটো মন্দির থেকেই অগণিত মাটির প্রদীপের প্রাপ্তি এ-কথা প্রমাণ করে যে, প্রাচীন বরেন্দ্রে বৌদ্ধ ও হিন্দু ধর্মীয় আচার-অনুষ্ঠানের সংমিশ্রণ ধীরে ধীরে ঘটছিল।”

    আবিস্কৃত মন্দিরগুলোর বিষয়ে ইতিমধ্যে প্রত্নতত্ত্ব বিভাগকে জানানো হয়েছে।

    তার আশা, গুরুত্বপূর্ণ এ স্থাপনাটি সংরক্ষণের উদ্যোগ নেবে সরকার।

    একই দল একই উপজেলার ছাতৈল ইউনিয়নের মাহেরপুরে খনন করে একটি এক হাজার বছর পুরাতন একটি ছোট হিন্দু মন্দিরও আবিস্কার করে।

  31. মাসুদ করিম - ২৭ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৭:১৭ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বর্ষায় কদর পায় পেখে

    তালপাতার পেখে৷ বর্ষা এলেই এক সময় এই পেখে কেনার জন্য গ্রামে গ্রামে হুড়োহুড়ি পড়ে যেত৷ বিশেষ করে চাষী পরিবারগুলিতে এই তালপাতার তৈরি পেখের কদর ছিল খুব৷ মাটির বাড়ির দেওয়ালে বা দুয়ারের খুঁটিতে থাকা পেরেকে ঝোলানো থাকত এই পাখা৷ কিন্ত্ত এখন আর এই পেখের তেমন চল নেই৷ গ্রামে গ্রামে ঘুরেও এই পেখের দেখা পাওয়া এখন অনেক কষ্টকর৷ তবুও আরামবাগ মহকুমার প্রত্যন্ত কিছু গ্রামের মানুষ এখনও বর্ষার আগে নিয়ম করে তালপাতা সংগ্রহ করে পেখে তৈরি করেন৷ সেই পেখে গোঘাটের বেঙ্গাই, মদিনা, আরামবাগের মায়াপুর, বাতানল প্রভৃতি হাটে এখনও নিয়ম করে বিক্রি হয়৷ অনেকেই এই পেখে কিনে এখনও ব্যবহারও করেন৷ যেমন আরামবাগের বাতানল গ্রামের চকফাজিল গ্রামের জীবন প্রতিহার৷ তিনি জানালেন, এই পেখে ব্যবহার করে চাষের কাজ করা অনেক সুবিধা৷ অনেক চাষীই এখন পেখের বদলে পলিথিন বা ত্রিপল কেটে ব্যবহার করেন৷ কিন্ত্ত জোরে বৃষ্টি নামলে বা ঝোড়ো বাতাস বইলে পলিথিন বা ত্রিপলের থেকে তালপাতার পেখে অনেক বেশি কার্যকর৷ মাঠে কাজ করার পক্ষে অনেক অনুকুল৷ তালপাতা পলিথিন বা ছাতার তুলনায় অনেকটাই বজ্রপাতের কুপরিবাহী৷ পাশাপাশি জীবনবাবু এও জানালেন, বর্তমানে সৌখিনতার জন্য অনেকেই তালপাতার পেখে ব্যবহার করতে চান না৷ তাছাড়া তালগাছের সংখ্যাও অনেক কমে যাওয়ায় তালপাতা সংগ্রহ করাটাও এখন কঠিন হয়ে দাঁড়িয়েছে৷ আরামবাগের বদলপুর গ্রামের গুরুপদ রায় বর্ষার আগে পেখে তৈরি করে এখনও বিক্রি করেন৷ অন্যদিকে গোঘাটের ব্রাক্ষণগ্রামের রামকৃষž হাজরা প্রায় ৩০ বছর ধরে পেখে তৈরি করছেন৷ আগে হাটে-বাজারে বিক্রি করতে বের হতেন৷ কিন্ত্ত প্রায় বছর পাঁচেক বিক্রি বন্ধ করে দিয়েছেন৷ তবে নিজেদের বাড়ির জন্য প্রতিবছরই এখনও পেখে তৈরি করেন৷ রামকৃষ্ণবাবু জানালেন, অনেকে গাছ পরিষ্কার করার জন্য বিনামূল্যেই তালপাতা কাটতে দেন৷ আবার কখনও টাকা দিয়ে তালপাতা কিনে পেখে তৈরি করতে হয়৷ অন্যদিকে আরামবাগের রাংতাখালির তারাপদ বাগ জানান, প্রতি বছরই পেখের চাহিদা আগের বছরের তুলনায় কমে যাচ্ছে৷ সারা বর্ষায় পাড়ায় পাড়ায় ঘুরে ১০০ টা পেখেও বিক্রি হয় না৷ আরামবাগে রথের দু’দিন কিছু পেখে এখনও মানুষ কেনেন৷ পাতার দাম, মজুরি মিলিয়ে এক একটা পেখে ৩০-৩৫ টাকায় বিক্রি করতে হয়৷ কিন্ত্ত এত দাম দিয়ে এখন আর অনেকেই পেখে কিনতে চান না৷ তবুও বাপ-ঠাকুরদার আমল থেকে বাড়িতে পেখে তৈরির চল আছে বলেই এখনও টিকিয়ে রেখেছি৷ তবে মনে হয় না আর বেশিদিন এ ব্যবসা চলবে৷

  32. মাসুদ করিম - ২৮ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১০:৩৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Salaam, President Abdul Kalam: The end came in the company of students

    It was a setting that had defined his life, first as a scientist and then as India’s 11th President. It was also one that summed up his final moments.

    On the dais was Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, delivering the first lines of a lecture on sustainable development, to be followed by a trademark interaction with over 135 students from the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RG-IIM) in Shillong.

    But then, at around 6.30 pm, just as he had clicked past the first two slides, he collapsed — 75 minutes later, it was official. “All efforts were made but Dr A P J Abdul Kalam could not be revived,” the Bethany Hospital said in a statement.

    The man who redefined the Presidency, crafted a political idiom that spoke to children in a country growing young, whose rise from a lab to the scientific establishment to Rashtrapati Bhavan had earned him the title Missile Man, had passed away. He was 83.

    Kalam’s body was later shifted to the Army Hospital in Shillong from where it will be flown by an IAF helicopter on Tuesday to Guwahati and onward to Delhi on an air force aircraft.

    “I had asked him whether he was tired when he alighted from the car and walked in to the guest house at 5.45 pm,” Prof Keya Sengupta, senior faculty at RG-IIM, told The Indian Express.

    Kalam, a visiting professor at RG-IIM, had just completed a 110-km journey by car after landing at the Guwahati airport at around 2.30 pm from Delhi. ”He smiled as usual, said he was perfectly alright,” said Sengupta.

    ”He was in good mood when he came in to the auditorium, and went up to the dais without any support. He was talking normally when all of a sudden he collapsed on his chair,” Sengupta said.

    Frantic security personnel and faculty tried to hold him up. “We hurriedly removed his shoes while our medical officer attempted artificial respiration. He was then rushed to the Bethany Hospital at Nongrim Hills where doctors tried to revive him but in vain,” Sengupta said.

    In the end, as Pranab Mukherjee, the man who now occupies the chair that Kalam did from 2002-2007, said: “Dr Kalam was a people’s president during his lifetime and will remain so even after his death.”

    And as Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted, “He loved students and spent his final moments among them.”

    Born on October 15, 1931 in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram, Kalam graduated from Madras Institute of Technology in aeronautical engineering before going on to establish himself as one of India’s most popular scientists and recipient of the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

    In between, he was responsible for the development of ISRO’s launch vehicle programme and was widely considered as the brain behind India’s missile programme at DRDO.

    Later, he went on to hit the headlines as the Principal Scientific Adviser to former PM A B Vajpayee who played an instrumental role in the Pokhran nuclear test of 1998.

    Yet, it was his election as President, following a nomination by the first NDA government that took him to the pinnacle.

    And in Kalam, the presidency acquired a new face: the bachelor and vegetarian who played the rudra veena also became the first Indian President to fly a Sukhoi jet, travel in a submarine, and visit the high-altitude battleground in Siachen.

    However, it was Kalam’s ability to communicate with children and youth during lectures, seminars and public interactions that became a hallmark of his life, even after his presidency (he declined to contest for a second term).

    As Kalam told journalists of The Indian Express during an Idea Exchange event in March 2009: “Tomorrow if I address a group of youngsters and talk about the flag flying in my heart and how I will uphold the dignity of the nation, I can get them to dream… the youth have fewer biases about their society…”

    Today, minutes after Kalam’s death was made official, Union Home Secretary L C Goyal issued a statement, saying that a “seven-day national mourning” would be declared by the government.

    বিজ্ঞান সাধক বিদায় নিলেন বক্তৃতা দিতে দিতেই

    সবথেকে ভালবাসতেন স্কুল–কলেজের ছেলেমেয়েদের সামনে ভাষণ দিতে। তাদের শেখাতে, বোঝাতে, স্বপ্ন দেখাতে। দেশের ভবিষ্যৎ প্রজন্মের মনে নতুন চিন্তাভাবনার স্ফুলিঙ্গ জ্বালিয়ে দেওয়ার চেষ্টা করতেন তিনি। প্রিয় সেই কাজটি করতে করতেই প্রয়াত হলেন প্রাক্তন রাষ্ট্রপতি ডঃ এ পি জে আবদুল কালাম। সোমবার শিলংয়ের ইন্ডিয়ান ইনস্টিটিউট অফ ম্যানেজমেন্টের এক অনুষ্ঠানে ভাষণ দিতে দিতে হৃদরোগে আক্রান্ত হন ৮৩ বছরের ডঃ কালাম। মঞ্চের ওপরেই অসুস্থ হয়ে পড়ে যান। সঙ্গে সঙ্গে নিয়ে যাওয়া হয় শিলংয়ের বেথানি হাসপাতালে। সেখানেই শেষ নিঃশ্বাস ত্যাগ করেন তিনি। নেহাতই জীবনের পরিহাস বলতে হয়, হৃদরোগীদের জন্য বিকল্প কৃত্রিম ধমনী বা স্টেন্ট উদ্ভাবনেও তাঁর এক গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা ছিল। তাঁর মৃত্যুতে সাত দিনের রাষ্ট্রীয় শোক ঘোষণা করা হয়েছে।

    আজীবন বিজ্ঞানসাধক ডঃ আবদুল কালামের অন্য পরিচয় হল, তিনি ভারতের ক্ষেপণাস্ত্র–মানব। দেশীয় ক্ষেপণাস্ত্র প্রযুক্তির উন্নতি ও আধুনিকীকরণে তাঁর অবদান ছিল সবার থেকে বেশি। ১৯৯৮ সালে পোখরানে ভারতের দ্বিতীয় পরীক্ষামূলক পরমাণু বিষ্ফোরণ সফল করার মূল দায়িত্ব ছিল তাঁরই হাতে। তাঁর কৃতিত্বের স্বীকৃতি হিসেবে প্রথমে পদ্মভূষণ, তার পর ভারতরত্ন খেতাব পান তিনি। ২০০২ সালে দেশের একাদশতম রাষ্ট্রপতি নির্বাচিত হন, সর্বসম্মতির ভিত্তিতে। ২০০২ থেকে ২০০৭, এই পাঁচ বছরের কার্যকালে এমন বহু উদ্যোগ এবং সক্রিয়তা দেখিয়েছেন তিনি, যা রাষ্ট্রপতি হিসেবে বিরল এবং বেনজির। তাঁর উৎসাহেই প্রথম ভারতের নাগরিকরা সরাসরি রাষ্ট্রপতির সঙ্গে ই–মেলে যোগাযোগ করতে শুরু করেন, যেসব চিঠির জবাব নিজেই দিতেন রাষ্ট্রপতি। দেশে বিজ্ঞানমনস্কতার প্রসারেও খুব যত্নবান ছিলেন ডঃ কালাম। বিশেষ করে স্কুলের ছেলে–মেয়েদের সঙ্গে একেবারে স্নেহশীল শিক্ষকের মতো মিশে যেতেন তিনি।

    ডঃ এ পি জে আবদুল কালামের আগে ১০জন রাষ্ট্রপতি এসেছেন, ভবিষ্যতে আরও আসবেন। কিন্তু তাঁর মতো মুক্তমনা, বিজ্ঞানমনস্ক, আধুনিক, উদ্যমী এবং শিশুর সারল্যে ভরপুর, লোকপ্রিয় রাষ্ট্রপতি সম্ভবত আর দ্বিতীয়টি হবে না। তিনি সব অর্থেই ছিলেন তাঁর আত্মজীবনীর মতো। আগুনের পাখি।

    I can get the youth to dream. They have fewer biases about society: APJ Abdul Kalam

    Which of the former Presidents inspired you the most?

    I believe every President before me contributed something in their respective fields — some in politics, some in education and others in social services. At Rashtrapati Bhawan I found a letter from our first President, Rajendra Prasad to Nobel laureate Sir C V Raman in 1954 asking him to come to Rashtrapati Bhawan to accept the Bharat Ratna. Anyone would have jumped at the offer. Then I read Sir CV Raman’s reply to the invitation. It said, “Dear Mr President, I thank you for giving me such a great honour, but I have a problem. I am guiding a scholar and he is submitting his thesis in December-January. I have to sign the thesis and won’t be able to accept the invitation.”

    For Sir CV Raman, his student’s research meant more than anything else. The Bharat Ratna, of course, was awarded to Dr Raman in absentia. Rajendra Prasad is one of our great Presidents, so is S Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and there are a number of other Presidents too.

    One of your passions is the youth of this country. But is there any reason to assume that the youth is any different from the older generation? What make you optimistic about the youth?

    It’s when children are 15, 16 or 17 that they decide whether they want to be a doctor, an engineer, a politician or go to the Mars or moon. That is the time they start having a dream and that’s the time you can work on them. You can help them shape their dreams. Tomorrow if I address a group of youngsters and talk about the flag flying in my heart and how I will uphold the dignity of the nation, I can get them to dream. But if I talk to people who are 40, 50 or 70 plus, it will not go down that well. Also, the youth have fewer biases about their society as compared to the grown-ups.

    Do you think India can successfully develop indigenous defence systems?

    Many economies in the world are driven by the type of defence systems they sell. If they don’t sell defence systems or products that country’s economy will collapse. So aggressive marketing is going on wherever defence systems are manufactured. India must learn to be competitive too. Competitiveness involves cost, quality and marketing.

    On your website, in your e-newspaper Billion Beats, and in all the issues you discuss, there is an engagement with ideas but it seems as if you are skirting the social context in which India lives.

    I will ask you three questions. One, is providing urban amenities in rural areas an abstraction? No, it is the reality. India has 6,00,000 villages but few towns and cities. So if you go to my website, all the lectures will be about how to establish this. Number two, my website talks about the importance of primary education. Third, a nation that does not have a vision dies. My 2020 Vision for India is to transform it into a developed nation. That cannot be abstract, it is a lifeline. That is what my website and my e-paper talk about.

    What was the reaction among senior leaders in the government, first in the NDA and later in the UPA, to your vision? Were they just polite or did they take you seriously?

    First of all, I don’t have a Kalam vision. India 2020 is a national vision. As Prime Minister, AB Vajpayee announced ‘India Vision 2020’ in Parliament and then he announced it at the Red Fort on Independence Day. And he definitely meant it. After Manmohan Singh took over, at a governors’ conference, he said the government would do everything to make ‘Vision India 2020’ a reality. No political system can survive without a vision for the nation.

    How did the political class respond to a technocrat President?

    When I took over as President, I studied the Constitution and the more I studied it, the more I realised that it does not prevent the President of India from giving the nation a vision. So when I went and presented this vision in Parliament and in legislative assemblies, everyone welcomed it, irrespective of party affiliations. Vision drives the nation.

    When you addressed your vision to politicians was there ever any friction?

    Yes, when I touched upon the political side. For example, when I suggested in Parliament that we need a two-party system, there was a lot of criticism. It is all part of the game. That is democracy and that is how we survive.

    Did any politician ever tell you this is the business of politics and that you are an oddball?

    No, they were very comfortable with me. Somehow it clicked because I had no axe to grind. When I say I have a vision for the development of the nation and its rural areas, who can say no? Can you find one politician who can say that development is not necessary for the country? He will not get votes if he does.

    In the run up to these elections, there is a general perception that regional parties are driving a hard bargain, that national parties have lost ground. What’s your assessment?

    This is the era of coalition politics, whether you like it or not. I had promoted the two-party system. But the coalition system is what has emerged. A new situation may emerge. We may have a coalition in the state and a coalition at the Centre and the two coalitions may become two important political parties – like groupings. Like-minded people may come together — even if the ideologies are different — for power or to make the nation prosperous. If you look at the country’s economic record, economic prosperity happened when coalition governments were in power.

    What’s the role of the media in nation-building and what will be the shape of media in 2020 and beyond?

    The media is the only system that can become a partner to national development and in building a good society. I call it ‘media for a billion’. That means, you can’t just be an urban media, you have to be the media of the nation.

    Does it worry you that there are not enough people in India who do science and engineering?

    Science leads to technology, technology leads to products and marketing. The type of technology we used in India has already been developed elsewhere. So if you want to be in the top 10 of the global competitive index, science — the fundamental nature of science – has to grow. I am promoting what is called ‘science cadre’. According to this, 400-500 people who do their MSc and PhD will have assured employment. And then, we need leaders like Sir CV Raman. For him, a Bharat Ratna is not important, a scholar is important.

    Most of our researchers go abroad. So unless our own education system is reformed, all our best people will go for research elsewhere.

    I saw the Professor Yashpal report. It talks about our university set up. We have two systems — the university system and the IIT system. The IIT-IEC is a powerful establishment for India as well as abroad. Regarding the university research, a movement has started. Out of 2% GDP for a science and technology. 8% is to be pumped into fundamental research.

    How did you tackle Mr Musharraf when he visited India?

    I met Musharrafji at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Just before that the SAARC countries chief paid a visit and I said that India and SAARC countries have two enemies: poverty and disease. When the former Pakistan President was with me, I gave a presentation to him on how instead of fighting each other, India and Pakistan should get together and fight disease, poverty through development. He calmly heard and smiled.

    On the issue of climate change, one of the ideas floating around now is to have sector-based reforms for those industries that emit less. Do you think we are ready for such sector-based reforms?

    The car you drive in New York, in Kolkata, in New Delhi, produces 30 billion tones of CO2. This car pollution is coming out of fossil fuels which we buy for $45-50 billion. I have been advocating that we go from fossil fuel usage to solar power, to nuclear power and bio-fuel. With bio-fuel, agriculture will also benefit out of that.

    You are known as the people’s President, but living in an establishment like Rashtrapati Bhawan, there is a tendency for officials to insulate you. How did you get over that barrier?

    I, personally, believe that nobody can cordon me off because when I go to schools and colleges there are thousands of students there. Nobody can control them. Only when I talk do they fall silent. It seems to me that I have a communication with the people. How do I communicate with the people? I have a website that is updated; every day I check my email; thirdly, I opened up Rashtrapati Bhawan as the people’s Bhawan. In 2005, a million people came to see the Mughal Gardens and they could meet me too.

    The story of your life story is inspirational. Tell us about your years in Rameshwaram and the environment you grew up in.

    I will recount two incidents. The first incident: in the fifth standard, I was a 10-year-old boy and I had a great teacher, CS Subramanyam Iyer. Subramanyam was a science teacher and he was teaching us about the way birds fly. The same evening, he took us to the seashore at Rameshwaram and showed us, practically, why they flap their wings, how they change their direction. That day he gave me a vision for life. A teacher can do that. That day I decided my area of work would have something to do with flying. I went into physics, then aeronautical engineering, I became a rocket engineer, then I became a rocket technologist, a space technologist. I also flew an aircraft. The second incident. When I was 12 years old, my father became the president of a panchayat board. The same evening, somebody came to visit us. My father had gone for namaaz. The man gave me a packet for my father. When my father came home and asked me what it was and I said it was a form of cake. He opened it and saw a number of silver vessels and other trinkets. He stared at me and then he gave me a beating. He said I had no business to receive the gift. The message for me was that God gives you whatever you need in life.

    We’ve talked of science and technology and IT but there is very little talk about Sociology, Political Science even though these subjects are so important. Why are we not even moving forward on certain subjects?

    Yesterday, I was addressing future IAS officers and I asked them are their subjects. Nearly 60% had taken sociology. Some were engineers, doctors, some commerce and history students. I am insisting that in technical institutions humanities should be included. I am also an advocate of creativity being given primacy up to class eight. My suggestion is that at school, in the afternoon session students should be given vocational training. So they leave school with a school certificate SSLC plus a certificate that they are capable of doing some work. Then their employment potential will increase.

    You write a lot about your ideas and views but you never write about going out with friends, watching a film. Don’t you indulge in such activities and if you do, who is your favourite actor?

    If you ask me about my favourite music, I like traditional music. I have not seen a film in the last 50 years.

    Do you think at this point in India’s history we are at a critical juncture where hate speeches are becoming a part of our daily life? How do we combat this?

    Don’t you think every citizen has a responsibility? I believe a person who has been educated, has a responsibility towards his nation. That is why I used to say every individual should be a good member of a family. Every individual has to be a good member of society. Every individual has to be a good member of the nation. Every educated individual should be a good member of the planet earth. The question is how to make the individual into a good member? Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation there is peace in the world. Who will give us that righteousness in the heart? Our parents, our teachers in a spiritual environment.

  33. মাসুদ করিম - ২৯ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৬:৩২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    উচ্চ শিক্ষার পথ হারাচ্ছে কওমীর শিক্ষার্থীরা

    কওমী মাদ্রাসাকে মূল ধারায় নিয়ে আসার চেষ্টা হলেও নিজেদের কর্তৃত্বে ভাটা পড়ার শঙ্কায় সাড়া দিচ্ছেন না তারা। এতে ইচ্ছে থাকলেও উচ্চ শিক্ষার পথ থেকে বঞ্চিত হচ্ছে বিপুল সংখ্যক শিক্ষার্থী।

    অবশ্য এ বিষয়টি নিয়ে মোটেও চিন্তিত নয় বাংলাদেশ কওমী মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষা বোর্ড।

    যাত্রাবাড়ি এলাকার একটি কওমী মাদ্রাসার নবম শ্রেণির শিক্ষার্থী যেমন নাম প্রকাশ না করার শর্তে বললেন, পরিবারের অন্যান্য সদস্য সাধারণ শিক্ষা গ্রহণ করলেও তাকে এখানে পাঠানো হয়েছিল। থাকার ইচ্ছে না থাকলেও এখন সে ফিরে যেতে পারছে না।

    “আমি কয়েকবার চেষ্টাও করেছিলাম। তবে পিএসসি এবং জেএসসি পাসের সনদ না থাকায় নবম শ্রেণিতে ভর্তি হতে পারিনি। একটি সুযোগ আছে তা হলো নতুন করে আবার শুরু করা।”

    ২০১০ সাল থেকে ইবতেদায়ী পরীক্ষা চালুর পরে কওমী শিক্ষার্থীদের মূল ধারার (আলিয়া) মাদ্রাসায় ভর্তির সুযোগ বন্ধ হয়ে যায়।

    মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষা বোর্ডের ভারপ্রাপ্ত চেয়ারম্যান এ কে এম ছায়েফ উল্যা জানান, শুধুমাত্র ইবতেদায়ী পরীক্ষা দিতে অল্প কিছু সংখ্যক শিক্ষার্থী এখনো আলিয়া মাদ্রাসায় ভর্তি হয়।

    তিনি বলেন, “ইবতেদায়ী পরীক্ষা চালুর আগে অনেক কওমী শিক্ষার্থী আলিয়া মাদ্রাসার বিভিন্ন শ্রেণিতে ভর্তি হয়ে (মাধ্যমিক পর্যন্ত) পরীক্ষা দিত। কিন্তু এখন ষষ্ঠ শ্রেণি থেকে ভর্তি হতে সনদ প্রয়োজন।”

    জানতে চাওয়া হলে বেফাক মহাসচিব আব্দুল জব্বার জাহানবাদীও শিক্ষার্থীদের এই সুযোগ না থাকার কথা জানান।

    “এটা ঠিক যে মাদ্রাসায় ইবতেদায়ী চালুর পর আমাদের শিক্ষার্থীরা আর সেখানে গিয়ে পরীক্ষা দিতে পারে না। আগে অনেকেই আলিয়া মাদ্রায় ভর্তি হতে ডিগ্রি নিত।”

    সুযোগ সৃষ্টিতে কোনো চেষ্টা-তদবির আছে কিনা সে বিষয়ে কথা বলতে চাননি তিনি।

    বেফাকের হিসাব অনুযায়ী, এই বোর্ডের অধীনে বাংলাদেশের পাঁচ হাজার দুইটি কওমী মাদ্রাসায় ২০ লাখ শিক্ষার্থী পড়াশোনা করছেন, যার মধ্যে ৯০৯টি আবার মহিলা মাদ্রাসা।

    দুর্বল পাঠ্যসূচির কারণে পিছিয়ে পড়ার বিষয়টি স্বীকার করে উত্তরার একটি কওমী মাদ্রাসার শিক্ষার্থী বলেন, “ডিজিটাল যুগে আমাদের পড়ানোর ধরন অ্যানালগের চেয়েও পিছিয়ে। একেতো আমরা সাধারণ শিক্ষা নিতেই পারছি না, তার সঙ্গে যুগের সঙ্গে তাল মিলিয়ে চলার পথও হারাচ্ছি।”

    সরকারের নিয়ন্ত্রণে গেলে যদি মান বাড়ে, সেক্ষেত্রে তা করা উচিত বলেই মনে করেন তিনি।

    বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের সাবেক গভর্নর ড. মোহাম্মদ ফরাসউদ্দিনও কওমী মাদ্রাসার শিক্ষার্থীদের পাঠ্যসূচিতে পরিবর্তন আনার বিষয়টি উল্লেখ করেছেন বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমে প্রকাশিত একটি লেখায়।

    ওই লেখায় তিনি মন্তব্য করেন, “আন্তরিক, গভীর ও আস্থা সৃষ্টিতে সক্ষম আলাপ-আলোচনার মাধ্যমে কয়েক লক্ষ কওমী মাদ্রাসার বিদ্যার্থীকে তাদের বর্তমান সিলেবাসের অতিরিক্ত হিসেবে দেশে-বিদেশে কদর আছে এমন বৃত্তিমূলক শিক্ষা ও সরকার প্রদত্ত বৃত্তির টাকায় পড়তে পারার সুযোগ প্রদান করা দরকার।”

    অবশ্য সরকারের নিয়ন্ত্রণে গেলে ধর্মীয় শিক্ষার ধারা থাকবে না এমন আশঙ্কা কওমী মাদ্রাসা নিয়ন্ত্রকদের।

    বেফাকের মহাসচিব আব্দুল জব্বার বলেন, “সরকারের প্রস্তাব থাকলেও আমরা মূলধরার শিক্ষা গ্রহণ করতে পারি না কারণ নৈতিকতার বিষয় আছে।

    “আমরাও যে সমাজের অংশ হিসাবে কাজ করছি সরকার এটা বিশ্বাস করতে চায় না। সরকারের মধ্যে এই বিশ্বাস না থাকলে তাদের সঙ্গে আলোচনায় বসা যায় না।”

    তিনি বলেন, “অর্থ দিয়ে সরকার আমাদের নিয়ন্ত্রণ করতে চাইলেও আমরা তা নিতে পারি না। তারা তো টাকা দিয়ে খবরদারি করবে। টাকা নিলে তাদের হুকুম মানতে হবে। কিন্তু ধর্ম কখনও কারো নির্দেশমত চলে না।”

    “বড়জোর তদারকি করতে পারে, নিয়ন্ত্রণ কথাটা আমরা শুনতে চাই না। আমরা কি এখনো ব্রিটিশ কলোনি নাকি?”

    কওমী শিক্ষার্থীদের যেসব বই পড়ানো হয় সেগুলোর মান নিয়ে জব্বারের দাবি, “(মান) সমান না হলেও কাছাকাছি আছে, ফেলে দেওয়ার মত না।”

    এসব বিষয়ে শিক্ষামন্ত্রী নুরুল ইসলাম নাহিদ বলেন, “কওমী মাদ্রসাকে মূল ধারায় নিয়ে আসার চেষ্টা চলছে। আমরা তাদের সহযোগিতা দিতে চাই এবং সেই চেষ্টা অব্যাহত রাখব।”

    কওমী মাদ্রাসা নিয়ে এ সংক্রান্ত কমিশন একটি প্রতিবেদন জমা দিয়েছে জানিয়ে তিনি বলেন, “এনিয়ে আলোচনা চলছে, তবে আরো সময় লাগবে।”

    • মাসুদ করিম - ৩১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৫৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      জাতীয় পতাকায় ‘আপত্তি’ কওমীর

      সাধারণ ও মাদ্রাসা বোর্ডের পাঠ্যপুস্তকের শুরুতে জাতীয় পতাকার ছবি ও জাতীয় সঙ্গীত থাকলেও কওমীতে নেই তা অনুসরণের বালাই, যাকে তারা বলছে ‘মুসলমানদের পাঠ্যধারা’।

      কওমী মাদ্রাসার বিভিন্ন স্তরের বই ঘেঁটে এবং তুলনা করে দেখা গেছে, তাতে উঠে আসা বিষয়বস্তু মূল ধারার পাঠ্য পুস্তকের তুলনায় বেশ দুর্বল।

      বাংলাদেশ কওমী মাদ্রাসা বোর্ড বা বেফাক বলছে, সাধারণ শিক্ষার ধারায় এখনও ব্রিটিশদের ছাপ রয়ে গেছে, অন্তত তা থেকে তারা ব্যতিক্রম।

      অবশ্য এনসিটিবির বইয়ের সঙ্গে কওমী মাদ্রাসার বইগুলোর কোনো তুলনা চলে না বলে মনে করেন মাদ্রাসা বোর্ডের কারিকুলাম বিশেষজ্ঞ শেখ আবু জাফর আহমেদ।

      তিনি বলেন, “এনসিটিবির বইগুলোর ছবি ও ব্যাখ্যামূলক চিত্র পরিবর্তন করে যেমন- সাধারণ বইতে হাফপ্যান্ট ও টি-শার্ট পরা ছবি থাকলে তা বদলে পাজামা-পাঞ্জাবির সঙ্গে মাথায় টুপি পরিয়ে দেওয়া হয়েছে। এভাবে আলিয়া মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষার্থীদের এনসিটিবির বই পড়ানো হয়।”

      জাতীয় শিক্ষানীতিতেও শিক্ষার বিভিন্ন স্তরে অন্যান্য ধারার সঙ্গে মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষায় সাধারণ আবশ্যিক বিষয়সমূহে অভিন্ন শিক্ষাক্রম ও পাঠ্যসূচি বাধ্যতামূলকভাবে অনুসরণের নির্দেশনা রয়েছে।
      এনসিটিবির প্রথম থেকে পঞ্চম শ্রেণির বাংলা বই ঘেঁটে দেখা যায়, এগুলো শুরু হয়েছে জাতীয় পতাকার ছবির সঙ্গে এর বিস্তারিত বিবরণ ও জাতীয় সঙ্গীত দিয়ে, যা পাওয়া যায়নি কওমীর কোনো বইয়ে।

      বরং একই স্থানে দেওয়া হয়েছে কওমী মাদ্রাসা বোর্ডের মহাসচিব মুহাম্মাদ আব্দুল জব্বার জাহানবাদীর বক্তব্য।

      এসব বিষয়ে মহাসচিবের বক্তব্য, “ব্রিটিশদের শিক্ষার ধারাই এখনও বহাল আছে। জেনারেল শিক্ষার চিন্তাধারার বিপরীতে আমরা না। কিন্তু জেনারেল শিক্ষায় গেলে আমরা শেষ হয়ে যাব। এখন আমরা সেই ম্যাকানিজম করছি যেন টিকে থাকতে পারি।”

      কওমী মাদ্রাসা বোর্ডের পাঠ্যক্রমকে সরকার ‘নেয় না’ স্বীকার করে তিনি বলেন, “আমাদের শিক্ষা ধারা মুসলমানদের, যা শুরু হয়েছে মদিনা থেকে। আর বর্তমানে চলমান ব্রিটিশদের শিক্ষার ধারা সাংঘর্ষিক। জেনারেল শিক্ষা হল ধর্মহীন।”

      সাধারণ ধারার শিক্ষায় তৃতীয় থেকে অষ্টম শ্রেণি পর্যন্ত ধর্ম ও নৈতিক শিক্ষাকে বাধ্যতামূলক রাখা হয়েছে। ২০১৩ সাল থেকে উচ্চ মাধ্যমিকেও যুক্ত করা হয়েছে নতুন বিভাগ ‘ইসলাম শিক্ষা’।

      এছাড়া বিভিন্ন বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ও কলেজে আরবি, ইসলামের ইতিহাস ও সংস্কৃতি ছাড়াও ধর্মীয় বিভিন্ন বিষয়ে স্নাতকোত্তর পর্যন্ত পড়ানো হয়।
      এ বিষয়ে দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করা হলে জব্বার জানান, এরই মধ্যে শিক্ষার্থীদের ‘যোগ্য’ করে গড়তে আররির বাইরেও বাংলা, ইংরেজি, গণিত, ভূগোল ও সমাজ পরিচিতি, সাধারণ জ্ঞান, বাংলা ব্যাকরণসহ ‘সাধারণ শিক্ষার’ ৬০টি বই প্রণয়ন করে তা প্রথম থেকে অষ্টম শ্রেণির পাঠ্যসূচিতে যুক্ত করা হয়েছে।

      সাধারণ পাঠ্যধারা অনুসরণ না করলেও তাদের বইগুলো সময়োপযোগী করার চেষ্টা থেমে নেই বলেও দাবি করেন তিনি।

      “কিছু মাথায় নিয়ে আমরা ঘুমাইয়া পড়েছি তা নয়, সমাজের দিকেও আমাদের পুরো নজর আছে।”

      মাদ্রাসাগুলোতে খোঁজ নিয়ে দেখা যায়, ফজর এবং মাগরিবের নামাজের পরে মক্তবে কোরআন পড়ানো হয়। সকাল ৯টা থেকে আসর নামাজের আগ পর্যন্ত চলে সাধারণ শিক্ষা কর্যক্রম।

      আব্দুল জব্বার জানান, বাংলা, ইংরেজি, গণিতসহ সাধারণ শিক্ষার অন্য বিষয়গুলো পড়ানোর জন্য সাধারণদেরই শিক্ষক হিসাবে নিয়োগ দেওয়া হয়েছে। তবে ছেলেদের তুলনায় মেয়েদের পাঠ্যসূচি কিছুটা কম।

      কোথায় যাচ্ছে কওমী ‘ডিগ্রিধারীরা’

      ব্যবসা ও শিল্প-কারিগরিকে ইসলামের অর্থনীতি অ্যাখ্যা দিয়ে জব্বার বলেন, “কওমী মাদ্রসাগুলোতেই যে কর্মসংস্থানের সুযোগ রয়েছে সেই চাহিদাই পূরণ করা যাচ্ছে না, আমাদেরই বাইরের লোক লাগছে।”

      কওমী মাদ্রাসা থেকে পাস করে বাংলাদেশের মসজিদের ইমাম ও মুয়াজ্জিন হিসাবে চাকরি নেন অনেকেই।
      পরকালের আশায় বিভিন্নজনের অনুদানের টাকায় নতুন নতুন মসজিদ যত বাড়ছে তাদের চাহিদাও তত বাড়ছে বলে মন্তব্য করেন তিনি।

      বেফাক মহাসচিব জানান, এই পাঠ্যপুস্তক পড়েই তাদের শিক্ষার্থীরা দেশের বাইরে চাকরি পান।

      “কাতার, লন্ডন, আমেরিকা, সৌদি আরব, সুইজারল্যান্ডও বাংলাদেশ থেকে ইমাম নেয়। বিশ্বে ইসলামের অনুসারী বাড়ছে, ইমামের চাহিদাও বাড়ছে।”

      এসব বিষয়ে শিক্ষামন্ত্রী নুরুল ইসলাম নাহিদ বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, কওমী মাদ্রসার শিক্ষার্থীদের সহযোগিতা করতে সরকারের চেষ্টা অব্যাহত আছে।

      তবে কওমী মাদ্রসার শিক্ষার্থীদের বইয়ের বিষয়বস্তু নিয়ে কোনো মন্তব্য করেননি তিনি।

      • মাসুদ করিম - ৩১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৫৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

        কওমী মাদ্রাসা: বিভক্তিতে আটকা সরকারাধীন হওয়ার প্রক্রিয়া

        কওমী মাদ্রাসাগুলো সরকারের অধীনে না আসার পেছনে এর পরিচালনাকারীদের বিভক্তিই অন্যতম কারণ বলে অনুসন্ধানে উঠে এসেছে। আর ‘মাওলানাদের’ এই বিভক্তির পেছনে রয়েছে রাজনৈতিক মতাদর্শ।

        অন্যদিকে কওমী মাদ্রাসার শিক্ষার্থীদের সনদের স্বীকৃতি দিতে সরকার উদ্যোগ নিলেও হেফাজতে ইসলামের হুমকির পর তাতে ভাটা পড়েছে; হেফাজত ‘চুপ’ থাকায় চুপ রয়েছে সরকারও।

        খোঁজ নিয়ে দেখা যায়, ঢাকার ডেমরায় বাংলাদেশ কওমী মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষা বোর্ড (বেফাক), গোপালগঞ্জে বেফাকুল মাদারিসিল আরাবিয়া, সিলেটে আজাদবিনি এদারায়ে তামিল মাদারিসিল, চট্টগ্রামে এত্তেহাদুল মাদারিসিল আরাবিয়া এবং বগুড়ায় তানজিমুল মাদারিসিল নামে অঞ্চলভিত্তিক পাঁচটি ‘বোর্ড’ এর মাধ্যমে কওমী মাদ্রাসাগুলো পরিচালিত হচ্ছে।

        চট্টগ্রামের হাটহাজারী মাদ্রাসার মহাপরিচালক ও হেফাজতে ইসলামের আমির শাহ আহমদ শফী বেফাকের চেয়ারম্যান। আর গোপালগঞ্জ বোর্ডের পরিচালনার দায়িত্বে আছেন গওহরডাঙা মাদ্রাসার অধ্যক্ষ রূহুল আমীন।

        অন্যদিকে মাওলানা জিয়া উদ্দিন ও আব্দুল বাসেদ বরকতপুরি সিলেট বোর্ড, বগুড়া বোর্ডে আব্দুল হক হাক্কানী, মাহমুদুল হক বেওথা ও আব্দুর রহমান এবং চট্টগ্রাম বোর্ডে আব্দুল হালিম বোখারী পরিচালনার দায়িত্বে আছেন।

        বেফাকের অধীনে পরিচালিত পাঁচ হাজার দুটি কওমী মাদ্রাসায় ২০ লাখ শিক্ষার্থী পড়াশোনা করছে। অন্য চারটি বোর্ডের প্রতিটির অধীনে রয়েছে এক থেকে দেড় হাজার কওমী মাদ্রাসা।

        কওমী মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষার সুষ্ঠু ব্যবস্থাপনায় ২০১২ সালের ১৫ এপ্রিল শাহ আহমদ শফীকে চেয়ারম্যান, শোলাকিয়া ঈদগাহের খতিব ফরীদ উদ্দীন মাসঊদকে কো-চেয়ারম্যান এবং রূহুল আমীনকে সদস্য সচিব করে ১৭ সদস্যের কমিশন গঠন করে সরকার।

        কমিশনের বেশ কয়েকজন সদস্য ফরীদ উদ্দীন ও রূহুল আমীনকে সরকার সমর্থক হিসাবে অভিযোগ করলে আহমদ শফী কো-চেয়ারম্যান-১ পদে আশরাফ আলী ও সদস্য সচিব পদে আব্দুল জব্বারের নাম দিয়ে কমিশন পুনর্গঠনের দাবি জানান।

        এদের মধ্যে আব্দুল জব্বার বেফাকের মহাসচিব।

        একই সঙ্গে বেফাকের নামে কওমী সনদের স্বীকৃতি দেওয়া, বেফাককে অ্যাফিলিয়েটিং বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় করা, সরকারি অনুদান না নেওয়া এবং কওমী মাদ্রাসার পাঠপদ্ধতি পরিবর্তন না করাসহ আটটি প্রস্তাব তুলে ধরেন আহমদ শফী।

        বেফাকের এসব দাবি নিয়ে অন্য চারটি বোর্ড আপত্তি জানালে আহমদ শফীসহ বেফাক নেতারা ওই কমিশনে নিষ্ক্রিয় হয়ে পড়েন। পরে কমিশনের অন্যরা মিলে শিক্ষা মন্ত্রণালয়ে প্রতিবেদন জমা দেয়।

        আব্দুল জব্বার দাবি করেন, ২০১২ সালের ৮ এপ্রিল কওমী মাদ্রাসা বোর্ডের পক্ষ থেকে বোর্ডের প্যাডে হাতে লেখা দুই পাতার প্রস্তাব প্রধানমন্ত্রীর কাছে উপস্থাপনের জন্য দেওয়া হলেও রূহুল আমীন ও ফরীদ উদ্দীন তা সরিয়ে নিজেদের বানানো পাঁচ পাতার কম্পিউটার কম্পোজ প্রস্তাব প্রধানমন্ত্রীকে দেন।

        রূহুল আমীন ও ফরীদ উদ্দীনকে সরকারের ‘দালাল’ অ্যাখ্যা দিয়ে জব্বার বলেন, তাদের জালিয়াতির কারণে প্রধানমন্ত্রীর কাছে কওমী নেতাদের প্রকৃত দাবি-দাওয়া যায়নি।

        তবে গওহরডাঙা মাদ্রাসার অধ্যক্ষ রূহুল আমীন বৃহস্পতিবার বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে বলেন, “আমরা সরকারের লোক- এই অভিযোগ ঠিক না।”

        কওমী মাদ্রাসা সরকারের অধীনে রাখার বিষয়ে তিনি বলেন, “কোনো কিছুর জন্ম না হলে কী করে তাকে অলঙ্কৃত করবেন?”

        কমিশন যে প্রতিবেদন মন্ত্রণালয়ে জমা দিয়েছে, তা নিয়ে বেফাক নেতাদের কোনো অভিযোগ রয়েছে কি না- সেই প্রশ্নও তোলেন তিনি। তবে সেই প্রতিবেদন নিয়ে কিছু বলেননি বেফাক নেতারা।

        কমিশনের প্রতিবেদন পর্যালোচনা করা হচ্ছে বলে শিক্ষামন্ত্রী নুরুল ইসলাম নাহিদ সাংবাদিকদের বার বার বলে এলেও এনিয়ে সরকারের দীর্ঘ সময়ের মধ্যে আর কোনো তৎপরতা চোখে পড়েনি।

        কমিশনের প্রতিবেদন পাল্টে ফেলা নিয়ে জব্বারের দাবির বিষয়ে শিক্ষামন্ত্রী বলেন, “কওমী নেতারা তাকে এসব বিষয় কখনও বলেননি। এতদিন পর বেফাক নেতারা এ বিষয়গুলো কেন তুলছেন?”

        এদিকে কওমী মাদ্রাসার বেশিরভাগ নেতাই স্বাধীনতার পক্ষের শক্তিকে আন্তরিকভাবে গ্রহণ করতে পারেননি বলে মনে করছেন ফরীদ উদ্দীন মাসউদ।

        আওয়ামী লীগ সরকারের মেয়াদে কওমী নেতারা মাদ্রাসাগুলোকে সরকারের অধীনে দিতে চান না বলেও মন্তব্য করেন শোলাকিয়ার এই ইমাম।

        তিনি বলেন, “কমিশনের বৈঠকে আমি অংশ নিয়েছি। আমার মনে হয়েছে হাতেগোনা কয়েকজন বাদে কওমী বোর্ডগুলোর নেতারাই চান না কওমী মাদ্রাসাগুলো শৃঙ্খলের মধ্যে আসুক।”

        গোপালগঞ্জ বোর্ডের বাইরে কওমী নেতাদের অন্য চারটি বোর্ডের মাওলানারা চারদলীয় জোটের রাজনীতির সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত বলে নাম প্রকাশ না করার শর্তে বোর্ডগুলোর কর্মকর্তারা জানিয়েছেন।

        হেফাজত চুপ, চুপ সরকারও

        ২০১৩ সালের ৯ মার্চ শাহ আহমদ শফীর নেতৃত্বে দেশজুড়ে সংগঠিত হয়ে ওই বছরের ৬ এপ্রিল লংমার্চ ও ৫ মে ঢাকা অবরোধ কর্মসূচি পালন করে আলোচনায় আসে হেফাজতে ইসলাম।

        অনেক আগেই সরকারের পক্ষ থেকে বিভিন্ন সময় কওমী মাদ্রাসা শিক্ষার্থীদের জড়িয়ে জঙ্গি তৎপরতার অভিযোগ তোলা হয়েছে।

        মতিঝিলে হেফাজতের তাণ্ডবের পর ওই বছরের শেষ দিকে কওমী মাদ্রাসার শিক্ষার্থীদের সনদের স্বীকৃতি দেওয়া হচ্ছে বলে জানান শিক্ষামন্ত্রী। কিন্তু এনিয়ে হেফাজতে ইসলাম দেশে গৃহযুদ্ধের হুমকি দিলে পিছু হটে সরকার।

        হেফাজতে ইসলামের সঙ্গে জামায়াত-বিএনপির যোগসাজশ রয়েছে স্বীকার করেই আব্দুল জব্বার বলেন, “আওয়ামী লীগের ব্যর্থতার কারণেই তাদের সঙ্গে বিএনপি-জামায়াতের যোগাযোগ।

        “কিছু মিল আছে এটা ঠিক। কারণ রাজনীতি ডানপন্থি-বামপন্থি ভাগে ভাগ হয়ে গেছে। ওলামারা তো বামপন্থি রাজনীতি করতে পারে না, এটা বাস্তবতা।”

        আলেম-ওলামা ও ইসলামপন্থিদের কাছে টানতে না পারাকে আওয়ামী লীগের ‘দুর্বলতা’ মন্তব্য করে জব্বার বলেন, “আওয়ামী লীগ আছে বামদের নিয়ে। তাদের নেতৃত্ব-কর্তৃত্বও বাম ধারার।”

        মতিঝিলে হেফাহতে ইসলামের কর্মসূচিতে যোগ দিলেও মঞ্চে উঠেননি জানিয়ে জব্বার বলেন, “ওটা স্বতন্ত্র আন্দোলন, তবে গোষ্ঠী আমরা একই। কওমী শিক্ষার্থীদের বিরুদ্ধে জঙ্গি সংশ্লিষ্টতার অভিযোগ তুলে সরকার উদোর পিণ্ডি বুদোর ঘাড়ে চাপাতে চায়।”

        শিক্ষামন্ত্রী বলছেন, “কওমী মাদ্রাসাকে মূল ধারায় নিয়ে আসার চেষ্টা চলছে। আমরা তাদের সহযোগিতা দিতে চাই এবং সেই চেষ্টা অব্যাহত রাখব।”

  34. মাসুদ করিম - ২৯ জুলাই ২০১৫ (৮:৩০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Amazon Indians had common ancestor with Australian aborigines, says DNA study

    Harvard paper suggests Americans peopled in more than one wave; different study says there was only one founding group – but both could be right.

    Modern man reached to North America from Eurasia over an Ice Age-land bridge, slogging over as a single group about 15,000 years ago and spreading southwards, the thinking had been. That theory has now been trashed by the finding that a few Amazon Indian tribes are genetically closer to Australian and Melanesian aboriginals than to the Siberians from whom they were assumed to have arisen.

    One implication from the paper published in Nature is that these Amazonian groups arose from an earlier arrival in the Americas. A second is that indigenous American population had more than one founding group.

    Until now, genetic analysis had supported the theory of a single group of origin for indigenous American populations. But some morphological studies had been hinting otherwise: Early skeletons found in North America were discovered to be more similar to contemporary Australasians (natives of Australia, Melanesia, Southeast Asian islands) than to their postulated Siberian forebears. For instance, some skulls were longer and narrower in the Melanesian style, rather than rounder and broader in the native American style.

    Now a genetics group at Harvard headed by David Reich tested more populations – and demonstrated that the Surui, a small clan that today grows coffee, the Xavante and the Karitiana Indians of central Brazil are genetically closer to native Australians, New Guineans and Andaman Islander than to the Eurasians from which they were assumed to have arisen. “This [genetic] signature is not present to the same extent, or at all, in present-day Northern and Central Americans,” writes the team – and concludes that the set of founding populations of the Americas was more diverse than previously thought.

    It bears saying that the peopling of Australia – how, when – remains a controversial topic, but present theory has the founding population of today’s indigenous Australians reaching there about 50,000 years ago.

    So what we have is three groups in very different parts of the planet sharing a genetic signature. The team therefore postulates that they had a common ancestor in Asia. Over the generations this family split and migrated in multiple directions – one spreading to Australia, one heading for the Andamans, and one walking north to Siberia and crossing over to the Americas before the Eurasian surge.

    There’s no telling why no trace of this earlier American founding group has been discovered in North America or other parts of the southern continent. They might not have survived for any number of reasons, including possibly being wiped out by that later surge of migrants from Siberia. Or more testing could still find surviving groups.

    Meanwhile, a separate and rather enormous group of scientists from around the world published a paper in Science saying pretty much the opposite – that based on their genetic studies, all native Americans, from north and south, arose from a single group of founders that crossed over from Siberia “no later” than 23,000 years ago. (Which is coincidentally the age of recent findings in Israel of the earliest proto-agriculture: previously agriculture had been thought to have begun around 12,000 years ago.)

    Anyway, they say the group reached North America and split around 13,000 years ago, with one group spreading to South America. “Subsequent gene flow resulted in some Native Americans sharing ancestry with present-day East Asians (including Siberians) and, more distantly, Australo-Melanesians,” they write.

    But their finding need not negate the conclusions of the Harvard team. Indeed most of the native populations of the Americas could have arisen from the Eurasian crossing over the Beringia bridge; but some could still have arisen from an earlier crossing. None of the teams purport to have tested every human in the world.

  35. মাসুদ করিম - ৩১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১১:০৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Only 25 pc rice bran being used to produce edible oil

    A study by the Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) has revealed that less than 25 per cent of rice bran was being used by local oil companies in the country. Its use should be maximised to increase domestic edible oil production, it suggested.

    The BTC, in its latest finding said Bangladeshi rice millers produce 2.5 million tonnes of bran annually of which only 0.5 million tonnes are used to make edible oil.

    The local edible oil mills produce hardly 0.1 million tonnes of bran oil annually which could be increased by seven times if they ensure maximum use of rice bran, it said.

    The Commission in its analysis on ‘Rice Bran Oil and its Prospect in Bangladesh’ said the country’s 70 per cent of rice mills are automatic or semi-automatic while 30 per cent are yet to be modernised.

    BTC member and team leader of the study Md Abdul Quaiyum said paddy production in the country is now more than 51.0 million tonnes from which 2.5 million tonnes of bran is collected.

    He said bran production could be minimum 3.6 million tonnes if the rest of the mills become auto or semi-auto.

    “We have found out that nearly 0.7 million tonnes of oil could be produced by such volume of rice bran if 100 per cent rice mills come under automation by 2021,” he told the FE.

    “Within 2021, demand for edible oil will be nearly 2.47 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes presently. This means local producers will be able to produce 30 per cent of the then demand,” he said.

    The BTC report also recommended increasing awareness of consuming rice bran oil for its market promotion.

    The Tariff Commission report also found a positive trend that export of rice barn is on the wane.

    Bangladeshi exporters shipped rice bran to the tune of 90,781 tonnes worth Tk1.29 billion in financial year 2012-13 (FY’13) which declined to 27,076 tonnes worth Tk371 million in FY’14.

    Some refiners and feed companies also imported the same from India as BTC found a small import of 382 tonnes worth Tk11.3 million in 2013.

    Secretary of Bangladesh Rice Bran Oil Mills Association and a leading rice miller Md Abdur Rashid told the FE: “Fifteen local companies have capacity of producing maximum 7,000 tonnes per day but we are making less than 500 tonnes now.”

    Mr Rashid, also president of the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mills Owners Association expressed his optimism that rice bran oil will be in great most demand within next five years in Bangladesh with rising health consciousness.

    Md Arman Habib, executive director of Nilsagor Agro Industries Ltd, distributor of Spondon rice bran oil in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions, said the demand for the oil was increasing but in a slower pace.

    He said 52 tonnes of Spondon oil is now sold per month in the 16 districts of the two northern divisions against a total demand of 100 tonnes.

    He said apart from the private sector, the government will have to take steps to raise awareness on consuming rice bran.

    Health-related programmes on government and private media should focus the usefulness of the oil.

    When asked, he said prices of different brands are now nearly the same like soybean oil.

    “Different qualities of rice bran oil per litre, made in Bangladesh, are being sold at between Tk80 and Tk112,” he said.

    Prof Dr Golam Maula of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, Dhaka University said rice bran oil contains a high level of gamma oryzanol which increases HDL (good) cholesterol and lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides.

    He said rice bran oil is much healthier than that of soybean, palm oil or mustard oil.

    He said it also contains the relatively high fractions of tocopherols and tocotrienols, together known as vitamin E which is powerful antioxidant and has antimutagenic properties which prevent cancer.

    Vitamin E also helps boost immunity in body, he added.

    The nutrition specialist also echoed the need for raising awareness on the use of rice bran oil for better health of the people.

    However, the BTC study and recommendation will be made public within a few days, said officials.

  36. মাসুদ করিম - ৩১ জুলাই ২০১৫ (২:২৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    China is Headed for a Slowdown. Here’s Why India Should Be Worried.

    Just as the 2008 global recession was led by a property and stock market crash in the United States, there is growing consensus that China’s deepening financial crises – caused by excessive investment in property, commodities and stocks – will inevitably cause a hard landing in its real economy, sending deflationary ripples across other Asian economies which have deep trade and investment linkages with China. Indeed, some experts suggest the deflationary ripples caused by the slowing Chinese economy are already being felt across other Asian economies. The pain has just begun. There is more pain to come in the next year or two.

    “In a sense, a China-induced economic slowdown in Asia is already underway. It is happening and we have to see how long this will last. And India will be affected by China’s overcapacity, which is bound to get exported to all its trading partners in Asia.” says Arvind Virmani, a former Executive Director representing India at the IMF.

    Virmani argues the crisis will remain until China’s overcapacity works itself out and a new equilibrium is reached between supply and demand. This might take a few years, though.

    So China is the elephant in the room which all economies, especially those in the Asian neighbourhood, need to keep a very close watch on. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla recently said he was worried about the events in China much more than in Greece. The first big indicator of the deflationary effect from China is that Singapore is now facing negative GDP growth (-4.5%) in the last reported quarter. Singapore, largely dependent on foreign trade and investment flows, is seen as a bellwether economy that tells us about what may be coming.

    India is already facing a massive influx of cheap steel from China. Since 2014, April steel imports have risen by an unprecedented 70%, mostly from China. This is happening at a time when the domestic India steel industry has doubled its own production capacity over the past decade. Many steel companies have defaulted on loan repayments to both public and private sector banks in recent months, partly because of this evacuation of Chinese overcapacity at cheaper prices. The Indian steel industry owes about $50 billion in debt to banks and if China continues to slow down at the current rate, there will be mayhem not only in the domestic steel sector but also in banks that have lent huge sums to the sector.

    So India is not insulated from the Chinese crisis as some policymakers might like to believe. In fact, when Chinese stock markets crashed by about 30% in recent weeks sending ripples of fear across Asia, India’s leading business paper, the Economic Times, prone to excessive optimism, had a lead story on the front page suggesting that the Chinese market crash is actually good for India! Some analysts took a narrow finance capital view that more foreign portfolio investment could come to India as China becomes a less attractive destination. This is clearly a case of being myopic because China is one elephant whose fall can damage a lot of economies in ways beyond one’s comprehension.

    The fact is China today is the single largest contributor (over 35%) to world GDP. If an economy of this size were to have a partial hard landing in the months ahead, which is the consensus view among economists, China’s GDP is bound to slow down to about 5%. China is currently reporting 7% GDP growth quarter after quarter but objective observers believe it is closer to 6%.

    The reason why China will have a partial hard landing is because it injected a massive stimulus of $600 billion dollars after the 2008 global financial crises. Indeed, the fiscal and monetary stimulus helped China double its GDP from $5 trillion in 2009 to about $10 trillion today. However, a large part of the stimulus went into the real estate sector as China created massive overcapacity in housing. This resulted in a property market bubble that threatened to burst in 2014. To stave off an imminent bust in the property market, China eased its monetary policy further and government banks gave easy credit to support property prices. But a lot of this money got diverted into the stock market, sending the Shanghai index soaring by about 150%. Then came the big stock market crash in early June this year. China has taken unprecedented measures to support its stock markets. Government-run banks have been prevented from selling shares. Brokerage houses got massive liquidity support from the Chinese central bank in order to keep the stock markets steady. In short, massive capital controls have been imposed.

    But there is no knowing whether the markets believe that fundamental stability would return with just government efforts. The Chinese authorities do realize that the excess stimuli delivered after the 2008 global financial crisis has indeed created asset bubbles, whether in property, stocks or commodities, which need to work themselves out. Another stimulus of the same order as in 2008-09 is out of the question. So a semi-hard landing is inevitable in China. In 2009, China’s total debt – including those of the government, business and household – was about 130% of GDP. After the big stimuli packages of the past six years, this stands at roughly 270% of GDP. It is self evident that this cannot be repeated again. So some sort of partial hard landing will have to be managed, and other Asian economies will have to brace for its ripple effects.

    I have not seen any articulation of this fast approaching crisis from either the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister. Arvind Virmani says substantial parts of the Indian economy which are globally linked – in terms of being part of global trade and pricing regime -will be negatively impacted until the Chinese overcapacity plays itself out. However, Virmani holds out hope for those parts of the Indian economy which may not get affected by the severe Chinese, and consequently Asian, slowdown. The NDA government can dramatically scale up its activity in roads, railways and other transport infrastructure – largely public sector funded – to somewhat neutralize the negative impact of a China-induced recession in Asia. Otherwise India cannot grow at 8% when most other developing economies are either in recession or in a severe slowdown. The Modi government needs to articulate a clear strategy in the context of what is happening in China. So far, we have heard nothing.

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