Embassy in Thailand bins kidnap claimsn Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The Bangladesh embassy in Thailand has categorically refuted the claim that Bangladeshis were kidnapped to be sold as slaves in that country.

“It is very di� cult to believe that over 130 people were kidnapped with-out anyone knowing anything about it,” chief of consular section Muham-mad Ehteshamul Hoque told the Dhaka Tribune.

In the two operations in October, the Thai authorities said they had rescued 134 persons. Of them, there were 118 Bangladeshis and 16 Myanmar nation-als, he said.

“We are in touch with the Thai au-thorities to get information about them so that they can be veri� ed as Bangla-deshi citizens.”

A BBC report published yesterday claimed that on October 14, some 53 foreign workers were found in a rubber

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

APJ Abdul Kalam stresses need for poverty-free Saarc regionn UNB

He seeks leadership with vision, mis-sion and passion to achieve the goal

UNB Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam yesterday stressed im-proving physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity in rural areas for a poverty-free Saarc region.

Physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity can prove to be e� ective to prevent the � ow of rural people into cities as these will facilitate earning capacity leading to economic connec-tivity, he noted, expounding his de-velopment concept of Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA).

Abdul Kalam came up with the rec-ommendations while delivering his lec-ture at the 110th founding anniversary of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).

Kalam, the 11th Indian president, said when urban amenities to rural areas are provided, the investors of small scale industries can be attracted and e� ective � nancing systems like microf-inance can also be introduced there.

He said rural areas must have other infrastructures like schools, hospitals

and amenities for local populations.Kalam added that women education

should get the highest priority as they would play a vital role in reducing pop-ulation growth.

The former Indian president made his deliberation as the keynote speaker in the second session of the function while the inaugural session held with MCCI President Rokia Afzal Rahman in the chair was addressed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Commerce Min-ister Tofail Ahmed and Prime Minister’s Foreign A� airs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi.

In his long lecture, Abdul Kalam fo-cused on creating an honest, transparent

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Kartik 4, 1421Zilhajjj 23, 1435Regd No DA 6238Vol 2, No 195

20 pages | Price: Tk12

EXCERPTS OF SPEECHP9

3 | NewsThe government has nearly � nalised the For-eign Grant Regulation Act 2014, aiming to at-tract Japanese, Chines and Indian investment in the 13 Economic Zones mainly through re-laxing tax and citizenship issues.

4 | NewsDeputy commissioners of 32 border districts have been instructed to hold regular border conferences with their Indian counterparts to discuss and solve common problems.

12 | EntertainmentThis years Bengal Classical Music Festival 2 will take place from November 27 to December 1. The registration for the festival will be open from the � rst week of November.

9 | SpecialDr APJ Abdul Kalam discussed about “a world of nations where the divide between rural and urban, rich and the poor, developed and developing has to be narrowed down.”

5 | NewsA ride on a CNG-driven autorickshaw from Motijheel to Panthapath in the capital should not cost more than Tk100 even if the tra� c is heavy.

15 | Sport800 runs were heaped for the loss of 4 wickets and the double-centurion Ben Dunk � nished on the losing side as Queensland knocked Tasmania out of the tournament.

CHINA INC’S SPENDING CUTS DEEPEST IN SIX YEARS

B4 | BUSINESS

HOW LONGCAN WE HOLD IT IN?

11 | OP-ED

RONALDO DOUBLE PROPELS REAL TO ANOTHER ROUT

14 | SPORT

UNCONVENTIONAL CAREERS: THE WORLD OF CREATIVE WRITING

7 | CAREER

I N S I D E

Revered scientist and former Indian president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam delivers his speech yesterday while addressing the celebration event of 110th founding anniversary of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka RAJIB DHAR

Thai police rescue a group of Bangladeshis from a jungle BBC

Militants building regional networkLaw enforcers so far arrested50 Pakistani nationals, mostof who are LeT operativesn Mohammad Jamil Khan

Di� erent regional militant organisa-tions are reportedly working to build an inter-country militant network, with Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) playing a key role in establishing a safe haven for fugitive militants in Bangla-desh as well as using the country as a hub to carry out their illegal fund-rais-ing activities.

Local banned militant out� ts includ-ing Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul-Jihad and Ansarullah Bangla Team were also carrying out a concerted e� ort to emerge in the top tier under the same umbrella with the help of the regional militant network, the chief of DB police told the Dhaka Tribune.

Intelligence sources said local militants were also active in establishing com-munication with militant out� ts from India, Pakistan and Nepal, in a bid to share and develop new strategies for committing violence including attacks on important persons of state.

The regional militant network was � rst noticed by intelligence o� cials following the October 2 bomb blast at a suspected JMB hideout in the West Bengal town of Bardhaman, which killed two suspected radical Islamists.

Intelligence o� cials said militants have chosen three locations – Nepal, West Bengal in India, and Rajshahi in Bangladesh – as bases for quickly spreading their network.

Pakistan-based terrorist organisa-tion LeT has also reportedly been using Bangladesh as a hideout for its mem-bers, as well as using the country as a transit route for spreading counterfeit Indian rupees – one of the main ac-tivities of the out� t. The LeT was also providing assistance and giving inspi-ration to di� erent local militant out� ts, according to intelligence sources.

Shipment of counterfeit rupee was coming to Dhaka from Karachi, while the fake money was later tra� cked into India with the help of JMB members.

Over the past � ve years, members of DB police and RAB have arrested at least 50 Pakistani nationals with coun-terfeit Indian rupees in Bangladesh. Most of these arrestees were LeT op-eratives who brought the counterfeit currency into the country by bribing unscrupulous airport o� cials, said in-telligence sources.

Monirul Islam, the chief of DB po-lice, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had information that a major portion of pro� t from the trade of counterfeit ru-pees was deposited to the funds of the LeT. A number of arrested Pakistani na-tionals have provided the police with some “sensational” information about the business of fake money, he added.

With the support of local militant groups, many regional militant leaders had sought refuge in Bangladesh; but many of those militants including In-dian militant leaders Abdur Rauf Mer-chant, Arif Hossain, Mufti Obaidullah alias Abu Jafor and Emdadullah alias Habibur Rahman have been arrested by the police, said a senior o� cial of DB police. However, there may be more militants still hiding in the country and trying to carry out subversive activi-ties, he added.

Seeking anonymity, a top o� cial at the Police Headquarters said militants hiding in di� erent areas in the capi-tal were trying to pass information to other members of their respective or-ganisations who are spread across the country.

In order to put a stop to communica-tions between militants, police superin-tendents of all districts have been given special instructions to stay vigilant – es-pecially in residential hotels, mosques and police checkpoints – as well as keeping an eye on local Jamaat-Shibir activists, the o� cial added.

Meanwhile, in a recent report on militancy funding, prepared by a top intelligence agency of the country, it was claimed that local militant groups were receiving � nancial support from some NGOs in Nepal.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

With the support of local militant groups, many regional militant leaders had sought refuge in Bangladesh

Disgruntled JCD men lock o� ce, burn e� giesn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

In what appears to be another outburst of anger since a new committee has been formed, a group of disgruntled leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal yesterday locked the main gate of its central o� ce at Nayapaltan in the capital.

They not only locked the o� ce but also assaulted a leader of the new com-mittee and burnt e� gies of the former student leaders.

The Chhatra Dal o� ce is situated on the third � oor of the BNP headquarters.

Party’s Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday night approved the 201-member new committee mentioning the names of 153 persons. Protesting the move, a group of student leaders started staging demonstrations the following day.

On Wednesday, they hurled several handmade bombs in front of the BNP’s Nayapaltan o� ce and brought out a procession demanding cancellation of the new committee.

Around 10pm the same day, some other members of Chhatra Dal blast-ed several crude bombs in front of the Gulshan o� ce of the party chairperson when the Chairperson was still inside the o� ce.

Not only the deprived ones, but many other leaders, despite getting posts in the new committee, have di-rectly expressed dissatisfaction de-manding cancellation of the committee terming it a “pocket committee of the central leaders.”

The Nayapaltan o� ce, which had a deserted look since the Eid-ul-Adha,

PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Alauddin Alo: Rising star in Chittagong’s crime worldn Tarek Mahmud

A couple of years ago, Alauddin Alo was a nobody in Chittagong, living in pov-erty and barely managing three meals a day. Now, he is a millionaire and a role model among the rising criminals in the port city.

Alo’s name and “fame” came from the dark world of crime in Chittagong. He earned an impressive amount of wealth in the span of two years by sell-ing stolen mobile phones and dealing drugs, especially yaba, according to Chittagong police.

A middle-aged man, Alo’s name � rst popped up when a mobile thief named Sher Ali, arrested by Sadarghat police on July 21, confessed before a Chit-tagong court that he had sold stolen mobile phones and a laptop to Alo.

Based on Sher Ali’s statement, po-lice then started looking into Alo’s background and found out about his rapid rise out of poverty.

Sources at the Detective Branch of police said Alo owns a two-storey building – without a holding number – in the city’s Dhopar Pukurpar area. But he lives in a rented � at in Khulshi, a posh residential area in Chittagong, as the Dhaka Tribune found out.

He also owns a motorcycle, a car, two microbuses and shops in Reaz Ud-din Bazar, a hub of criminals in Chit-tagong, police said.

One of the shops, Zunayed Telecom, co-owned by Alo and his brother Zu-nayed Zunu, is at Tamakumundi Lane in Reaz Uddin Bazar. He has another nameless shop at Bata Goli in the same market, police said.

The Dhaka Tribune learned that he has one more shop in Tamakumundi Lane, which Alo claimed to have sold months ago when the Dhaka Tribune contacted him over phone.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

News2 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

Khaleda lashes out at intelligence agenciesn Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yes-terday alleged that the governmenthad been using the country’s intelli-gence agencies to split her political party.

“I want to say to them [the agencies] to stop it. This is not your job. We know your job. Awami League is not the per-manent government of the country and they will have to step down. If you say the Awami League said so, that’s why we did it...it will not work. So stop it immediately,” she said.

Exchanging views with elected chairmen and vice chairmen of Chit-tagong division upazilas at her Gulshan o� ce, the former premier called upon party leaders and activists to overcome their fears and get united.

“There is nothing to be frightened of. Get united and sensitise the peo-ple across the country. When I will call for a movement, you will take to the streets,” she told the leaders.

Issuing a note of warning, the BNP chief said there would be dire con-sequences if the government hin-ders the party’s future movementprogrammes.

“We have tolerated enough and we will tolerate any more in the future. The way they will behave, the same way we will respond,” she said.

Claiming that her decision to boy-cott the January 5 election was correct, Khaleda said: “During the 1986 elec-tions, senior leaders of the party said if the BNP boycotts the election then it would be like the Muslim League. But we did not participate in that election held under Ershad. In 1991, the people elected the BNP. This time again we are on the right track.”

The BNP chief said the government was using RAB to kill and abduct BNP leaders and activists and for this, RAB o� cials will be tried one day.

Khaleda alleged that the govern-ment had destroyed the country’s edu-cation sector and that is why students, after securing GPA 5 in public exams, failed to pass university admission tests.

She said the incumbent government was not elected but the upazila chair-men and vice chairmen were elected, adding that the government was bar-ring BNP-backed elected chairmen and vice chairmen from working for the people. l

Speakers stress p reservation of archaeological sitesn Tribune Report

Speakers at the 9th monthly general meeting of Bangladesh Asiatic Society opined that Bangladesh can become an example in preservation of archaeo-logical sites if the people of this highly populated country become conscious about importance of the sites.

Dr Shahnaj Husne Jahan addressed the meeting as the key note speaker. Describing the government’s initiatives

inadequate to preserve the archaeolog-ical sites, she pointed out some prob-lems remaining in this sector.

She told: “Everyday we are losing the sites because of people’s careless-ness. Who will be responsible for this? Even research or preservation permis-sions are di� cult to obtain from the Department of Archaeology.”

The monthly general meeting was also addressed by university teachers and government o� cials. The guests

illustrated the vulnerable situation of many archaeological places in di� erent districts of Bangladesh. For example, Sitakot Bihar of Dinajpur, Mahasthang-ar in Bogra, Bhitargarh in Panchagarh districts are being destroyed by the locals and some government o� cials, who constructed buildings or even army camps. In some cases construc-tion of di� erent facilities are going on in those sites violating the high court rule, told the speakers in the meeting. l

AL leader's body exhumedn Our Correspondent, Sylhet

Complying to a court order followed by a murder allegation, police yes-terday exhumed the body of a localleader of the ruling Awami League in Darbasto area of Jaintiapur upazila.

In presence of Executive Magistrate and Jaintiapur upazila nirbahi o� cer (UNO) Khaledur Rahman and Jaintia-pur OC Harunur Rashid, police dig up the grave of Mukhlesur Rahman, who was general secretary of the upazila

unit AL, around 9:30am.Acknowledging it, the UNO said the

body was later sent to the morgue of Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospi-tal for autopsy.

On September 12, Mukhlesur's body had been recovered from Sylhet-Tama-bil highway in Morgahari area near to the upazila town.

What was initially believed to be an accidental death was later suspected to be a premeditated murder prompting his son to � le a case. l

Transport strike isolates Netrakonan Our Correspondent, Sunamganj

Communication by road between Nerakona and rest of the country snapped as the transport workers went on a strike for an inde� nite period onFriday.

Transport workers waged the move-ment after a new committee of Ne-trakona District Bus Owners’ Cooper-ative was formed, though the term of the existing committee was not over.

When Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity’s General Secretary Md Enayet Ullah and Bangladesh Sramik Federa-

tion’s General Secretary Osman Ali were informed of the new committee, they

decided in a meeting to go on a transport strike for an inde� nite time period.

Arif Khan, general secretary of the old committee, said there are 17 months to go before their committee’s term is over. Some opportunity seek-

ers have formed a new committee and took over the bus terminal, he added.

When contacted, convener of the new committee Obaiul Haque Ratan said though the older committee’s term was not over, a new committee was formed on the basis of the opinion of the members of the organisation. He also said the new committee’s activi-ties would begin after getting approval of the central committee.

Bangladesh Sramik Federation’s General Secretary Osman Ali said the transport strike would continue as long as the issue is not resolved. l

Embassy in Thailand bins kidnap claims PAGE 1 COLUMN 1plantation in southern Thailand. The group, who come from Bangladesh and Myanmar were discovered yesterday. They are thought to be Rohingya Mus-lims, said the BBC report.

It said the rescued men were promised well-paid jobs before being drugged, bound and kidnapped.

Ehtesham said he spoke to a victim, Manirul Islam from Satkhira. “Monir told me that he was kidnapped. But when I contacted his mother, she told me that her son and three others from the same village went to Malaysia.”

The BBC reporter also approached the embassy o� cial for comments on the matter.

“I told the reporter that it was not possible to kidnap so many people without raising any hue and cry. I also told the reporter that it was not possi-ble for 20-25 crew members to manage a large number of kidnapped persons on a boat,” Ehtesham claimed.

The BBC report did not mention any

of the quotes from the Bangladesh em-bassy.

Ehtesham also said a news story ear-lier claimed that the Thai authorities had not been giving food to the Bangla-deshi victims who were taken to shel-ter homes.

“We came to know the fact after contacting the victims. They said they were given Thai food in the shelters which they did not want to eat,” the of-� cial said.

According to media reports, a large number of people travel to Malaysia, Thailand and even to Australia through the waters with a view to getting lucra-tive jobs. A strong tra� cking network is active in the country to pick the peo-ple, mainly those living in the coastal districts including Cox’s Bazar.

Many Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals were rescued by the BGB and the Coast Guard recently.

A good number of Bangladeshis, who were either illegally going to Ma-laysia in boats or intruded into Thai

territory, have been in detention in Thailand.

Ehtesham said so far he had inter-viewed 700 Bangladeshis. Some of them, out of fear or for other reasons, claimed that they had been kidnapped. “But I never found a single case of kid-napping.”

He said the victims, however, nev-er disclosed the names of tra� ckers. “They also do not take any legal action against those agents.

“We sent about 300 Bangladeshis to Dhaka from March until October. I told all of them that the authorities would provide them with support if they � le cases against the agents. But none of them did.”

He said over 50 Bangladeshis were expected to be repatriated this month from Bangkok. “The Thai authorities requested us to take back another 400 veri� ed Bangladeshis by December. We are working to this end,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has urged the relevant ministries and

agencies to raise awareness among the people about the dangers of tra� cking.

“We had an inter-ministerial meet-ing on illegal migration recently and asked them in written to aware people about tra� cking,” said an o� cial of the Foreign Ministry.

Talking to UNB yesterday, State Min-ister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan said the government would take steps to bring back the rescued Bangladeshis in Thailand after their identities were con� rmed.

He, however, noted that all of them should not be considered as Bangla-deshis just because they speak Bangla.

“And it must be taken into account that many people from Myanmarare illegally migrating to foreign coun-tries using Bangladeshi passports,” he added.

In response to another question, As-aduzzaman admitted that the govern-ment was yet to ensure 100% vigilance against tra� cking activities along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. l

Militants building PAGE 1 COLUMN 2The report also read that Indian law enforcers arrested LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim and Indian Mujaheeden founder Yeasin Vatkal from the In-do-Nepal border in August last year; both of them were reportedly planning to enter Bangladesh via Nepal.

State Minister for Home Asaduz-zaman Khan Kamal said all necessary steps have been taken to stop militant activities. Commenting on the Bardha-man blast, the state minister said they were yet to get any o� cial comment from India. l

Disgruntled JCD men lock o� ce PAGE 1 COLUMN 5yesterday turned the opposite as some 100 aggrieved student leaders took po-sition there around 11am. They locked the Chhatra Dal o� ce at 12:15pm.

Apart from blocking gate by forming a human shield, they also took position in the lanes around the building.

When new Vice-President Moniruz-zaman Monir tried to enter the area, he was assaulted and forced to leave the area.

Around 1:15pm, party’s acting secre-tary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alam-gir went in front of the o� ce and faced slogans against the new committee.

To quell the situation, Fakhrul as-sured them of looking into the matter.

Around 2:30pm, Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed went to the party o� ce. At that time, some student leaders complained to him about the new committee.

Some other leaders who were stand-ing behind the negotiating leaders chanted slogans calling Salahuddin a “dalal” (agent).

When Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi came out of the o� ce around 5pm, some student leaders cordoned him o� and raised their demands. Rizvi was also labelled as an agent.

Following rumours in the afternoon that the new Chhatra Dal leaders would come to the Nayapaltan o� ce, the de-prived leaders brought out processions with sticks. But the new leaders did not visit the o� ce.

The aggrieved leaders alleged that BNP’s Student A� airs Secretary Sa-hiduddin Chowdhury Annie and Assis-tant Student A� airs Secretary Sultan Salahuddin Tuku misguided the party chairperson and announced the “pock-et committee” comprising of their own people.

They hanged and burnt e� gies of Annie and Tuku in front of the main

gate of the building.In the demonstrations, former

vice-presidents Abu Sayed, Jabed Hasan, Tarun Dey, Raju Talukdar and Kamal Ahmed; former organising secretary Anisur Rahman Talukdar Khokon; former joint secretaries Ferd-ous Munna and Tarikul Islam Titu; for-mer assistant joint secretary generals Rakibul Islam and Abdul Mukit were present among other leaders.

Newly-selected Vice-President Sa-diul Kabir Nirob, Joint Secretary Kazi Reaz and Organising Secretary Ishak Sarker were also present with the ag-grieved leaders in solidarity.

Akramul Hasan, general secretary of the new committee, told Dhaka Trib-une that they had been trying to solve the problem bringing all the aggrieved leaders under a common platform.

However, many of the new com-mittee leaders alleged that Organising Secretary Ishak Sarker was behind the demonstration. Though Ishak did not take part in the programme directly, he also unhappy with the committee.

Senior Vice-President Mamunur Rashid Mamun also said he would not work with the new committee.

Asking his friends to not congrat-ulate him, International A� airs Sec-retary Bayezid Are� n, joint secretary of the previous committee, wrote on Facebook: “I was showered with peo-ple’s love and a� ection from around the country. My realisation is that this is my best achievement in politics.”

Even though Khaleda since Febru-ary had been saying that young and regular students and dedicated leaders would be given posts in the new com-mittee, it was found that at least 20 leaders are married.

Of the new leaders, Mamunur Rashid is married while Ishak Sarker, aged around 48, is not a student. l

APJ Abdul Kalam stresses poverty-free Saarc region PAGE 1 COLUMN 5leadership who will have qualities of “vision, mission and realisation”.

He said a leader must have a vision, a passion to accomplish the mission and must be able to travel into unex-plored path. “Leader must know how to manage a success and failure.”

About the Bangladesh-India mul-tidimensional relations, Abdul Kalam said both countries have long-shared history and culture. Focusing on the trade relations between the two neigh-bouring nations, he said Bangladesh and India shared signi� cant natural re-sources, including 54 rivers.

He proposed to replicate his PURA programme in the development of

Khulna region where one of the primary agro-product is jute, and said new tech-nologies can help jute manufacturers under a cooperative structure aligned with the concept Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas programme to make them independent enterprises.

The former president said a private company in Kolkata developed the Jute-thermoplastic composite based shoe components with the help of In-dian Jute Industries Research Associa-tion. Bangladesh and India can reap the advantage of such new technology for mutual bene� ts.

He also said it is a great opportunity for the two nations to take a visionary action to replace and eliminate plastic

products throughout the world by tech-nology, development and marketing.

Kalam put in place the idea of devel-oping ecotourism and forest products in the mangrove forest-based Khulna region which can generate multiple employment opportunities.

Sharing his experience on globalisa-tion, the former Indian president said: “When I walked into a multinational software company in Bangalore, I was fascinated to � nd that it truly present-ed a multicultural environment. A software developer from China, work-ing under project leader from Korea, working with a software engineer from India and a hardware architect from the US and communication expert from

Germany, were all working together to solve the banking problem in Australia.”

“When I see all of them working to-gether like one family forgetting about the culture from which they come or the language they speak, I feel that only the hope for such borderless in-teraction to continue is to inculcate the spirit of borderlessness in every human activity on our planet Earth.”

In delineating his vision about the world in 2030, Abdul Kalam wants to see a world of nations where the divide between rural and urban, rich and the poor, developed and the developing is narrowed down and all can enjoy an equitable distribution and adequate ac-cess to energy and quality water. l

Alauddin Alo: Rising star in Chittagong’s crime world PAGE 1 COLUMN 6Kotwali police said Alo started as an ordinary sta� in a mobile shopin Tamakumundi Lane, where hecame in contact with many mobile thieves.

He purchased stolen mobile phones from the thieves and sold them to peo-ple. Soon, he was able to get a shop of his own, which he made his base for stolen goods trade.

There are claims that Alo is also in-volved with drug smuggling with his brother as his accomplice, said Santos Kumar Chakma, sub-inspector at the

Detective Branch.“Based on the information received,

police will take action against all who are involved with criminal activities,” said Shah Alam Rouf, assistant com-missioner of the Kotwali circle at Chit-tagong Metropolitan Police.

Police are also getting information from Tamakunundi Lane Bonik Samity in this regard.

“We have warned Alo and others involved in criminal activities sever-al times. We are also helping police with information about them,” said Mahmudul Haque, general secretary of

the association.However, talking to the Dhaka Trib-

une, Alo claimed it was all a conspiracy against him.

“I am an ordinary businessman and a victim of trade politics. Police inten-tionally included my name in the case � led with Sadarghat police following the instructions of some in� uential people,” he said.

But when asked about how he was able to amass such a wealth in such a short period of time, he said he was not obligated to provide the details to the Dhaka Tribune. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with � ve honorary consuls general of Bangladesh poses for photograph at Hotel Carlton Baglloni in the Italian city of Milan yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

Transport workers leader Osman Ali said the strike would continue

3NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

Proposed foreign grant regulation act expands FDI hopesn Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has nearly � nalised the Foreign Grant Regulation Act 2014, aiming to attract Japanese, Chines and Indian investment in the 13 Economic Zones mainly through relaxing tax and citizenship issues.

During a meeting in the last week of September, a high-level meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair, discussed the draft act and placed initial recommendations. Sources said, the draft will be � nalised once the prime minister gave time.

If the FGR act is passed, there will not be any limitation on the amount of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in the economic zones (EZs); lo-cal investors will be able to take over assets and industries owned by for-eign farms; foreign investors will en-joy elongated tax holidays and duty exemptions; and be able to repatriate their entire income.

Reportedly, Bangladesh o� cials, in consultation with Japanese, Chines and Indian o� cials, have already pre-pared a list of 26 categories of incen-tives including relaxed citizen ship fa-

cilities; customs, VAT and income tax stipulations; foreign exchange, capital gain, share transfer, local sales and sub-contract issues.

Moreover, a further nine-point in-centive package will be o� ered to those foreign and local investors interested in developing the 13 proposed EZs.

Currently, � ve EZs are being devel-oped under a World Bank-� nanced proj-ect on 3567.71 hectares of land in Khulna, Sirajganj, Chittagong and Sylhet. Apart from these, 13 other economic zones will be developed under the government’s public-private partnership scheme.

O� cials of EZ authorities said China had expressed interests about invest-ing in the EZ in Mirsorai in Chittagong and Japan had sought a separate EZ near Dhaka. The government howev-er has proposed to give Japan space in Chittagong.

Other than Japan, China and India, investors from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar are also inter-ested in investing in Bangladesh, o� -cials said.

In December 2013, the amount of total foreign direct investment was $8.6bn, of which China’s contribution

was $116.98m and Japan’s $342.77m.In the FY2014-15 budget, the gov-

ernment allocated Tk300 crore for de-veloping the 13 EZs.

Incentive for EZ developers According to a presentation of the draft law given during the September meet-ing, those who are interested in devel-oping the EZs will be o� ered tax and VAT holidays of up to 15 years.

The proposal said the developers would enjoy full holiday in the � rst 10 years; and 70% waiver for instance for the 11th year, 30% discount for the 12 years, and so on.

EZ authorities have also sought ex-emption of custom, land stamp and credit registration duties and income tax on dividend and service taxes.

Incentive for foreign investorsThat meeting, held at the Finance Min-istry, also decided to o� er a similar tax exemption scheme for the foreign investors as well. A proposal says they would be o� ered 100% holiday for the � rst 10 years and gradually reduction by 10% in the subsequent 10 years.

The investors will also be allowed to

fully repatriate their capital and divi-dend incomes, which the existing rules do not permit. Moreover, capital gain of � rms and transfer of shares will be considered tax free incomes and re-in-vestment through dividend and pro� t would be treated as FDI.

The incomes of the experts who will work in the EZs and the foreign � rms, royalties and technical fees will also be tax-free. Industry owners can import two cars without paying taxes for � ve years. Electricity to be consumed by the factories will be tax-free as well.

Investors can also bring up to 5% of their workforce from abroad; the re-maining 95% will have to be recruited from Bangladesh.

Foreign investors will be able to bring in their capital in the EZs in joint venture with Bangladeshi � rms and will be able to operate foreign exchange dealings in the local commercial banks.

Investors will now have to put in at least $100,000 to qualify for perma-nent residence permit. Under the ex-isting rules, the ceiling is $75,000. Any foreigner, who invests more than $5m in an heavy industry, will not require visa to stay in Bangladesh. l

Chinese � rm picked to set up dual fuel power plant in Chittagong n Asif Showkat Kallol

Power Division has selected a Chi-nese joint venture company to install a 150MW peaking power plant at Shi-kalbaha in Chittagong under the dual fuel system, o� cial sources said.

An o� cial of Power Division said due to gas crisis in Chittagong district, the 150MW peaking power plant at Shi-kalbaha usually remains inoperative. “So, an initiative has been taken to set up a new peaking power plant which will also run on fuel,” he added.

Bangladesh Power Development Board � oated a tender in last February and later the tender evaluation com-mittee selected the Chinese joint ven-ture company.

Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Compa-ny Ltd now gets around 247 million cubic feet of gas from the national grid against the demand for over 402 million cubic feet due to acute crisis of gas in Chit-tagong. The company is currently sup-plying gas to fertiliser factories and can-not supply enough gas to power stations.

A proposal signed by Power Secre-

tary Monwar Islam will be placed at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase this week for approval.

Since its inception in July 2010, Shi-kalbaha 150MW peaking power plant was in operative for 13,716 hours till August 2014 while it did not work for 21,169 hours.

According to the proposal, Chinese joint venture � rm M/S Fujian Electric Power Engineering Company and CCC Engineering will implement the project at a cost of Tk222.74 crore.

According to a proposal made by BPDB, the estimated cost for imple-menting the project was only Tk43.77 crore in 2009. But the project cost went high due to hike of equipment.

Although a German company signed a contract, it did not start the construc-tion work of the dual fuel power plant at Shikalbaha as the warranty was over, the proposal said.

Apart from Fujian Electric Power Engineering Company, German � rm Siemens, AG, Islam Enterprise Ltd, Dhaka and Chinese � rm Sinohydro Cor-poration took part in the tender. l

Ershad: My house is a lobbying centren Manik Miazee

Even though they are not participating in the party programmes and its regu-lar activities, the central leaders and activists of opposition Jatiya Party are going to the residences of party Chair-man HM Ershad and other ministers for personal gains.

Sources at Ershad’s “President Park” and other ministers’ houses say more than 100 party leaders and activists visit the top leaders every day for rec-ommendations to get jobs and govern-ment tenders.

Secretariat sources say on every working day, many leaders and activ-ists go to the o� ces of the party’s rep-resentatives in the government – the water resources minister and the state ministers for LGRD and labour.

Many of them reportedly are bene-� ted while some driven away or asked to come again later.

Recently this reporter visited a state minister’s o� ce to verify the “open-se-cret” allegation and found many leaders waiting at his o� ce to meet with him.

A JaPa leader from Comilla was sit-ting in his o� ce when two reporters entered the room. The state minister � rst spoke to the newsmen and after that dealt with the local leader.

When contacted, LGED State Min-ster Moshiur Rahman Ranga said: “There are many people waiting at the o� ce to meet me for lobbying. I cannot do my work properly because of them.”

There are some other leaders at the party’s Kakrail headquarters and Ershad’s Banani o� ce and his house who openly convey the demands of the party men to the minister and the state ministers at their o� ces. Doing this, they are earning handsome amount of money, say party sources.

During a recent meeting with report-ers at his o� ce, Ershad, also a special envoy to the prime minister, said: “I am annoyed with the people who come

to see me at my house every day to get recommendation on di� erent issues. Now I term it a ‘lobbying house.’”

According to party sources, leaders who withdrew their nomination papers following the order of Ershad before the January 5 election visit the party chief’s residence and o� ce.

On the other hand, others who are known as loyal to Rawshan Ershad, the opposition leader in parliament, usual-ly � nd it easy to knock the minister, the state ministers and party lawmakers.

At least 50 party leaders were seen waiting to meet JaPa Secretary Gener-al Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu at the party’s Banani o� ce within 30 minutes on a day before the Eid.

All of them had papers in their hands, intended to manage a recom-mendation of the JaPa leader. At one point, Bablu felt embarrassed and left the room.

A Presidium member, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The leaders have now become minis-ters and MPs using the banner of the party. So, as leaders of the party, we also have the right to gain some bene-� ts from them.

“However, these ministers and MPs do not give work to the party’s dedicated leaders and activists. They favour their relatives and those party supporters who maintain close link with them.” l

LNG terminal installation proposal to be placedn Aminur Rahman Rasel

Energy and Mineral Resources Division will place a proposal at the next meeting of the cabinet committee on econom-ic a� airs to get the go-ahead to set up a � oating storage and re-gasi� cation unit, � rst of its kind in the country, at Mo-heshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal.

“We will submit the proposal at the next cabinet committee meeting to get approval for setting up the � oating stor-age and re-gasi� cation unit popularly known as Lique� ed Natural Gas Termi-nal,” a senior EMRD o� cial told the Dha-ka Tribune yesterday.

On June 26 this year, Petrobangla

signed a term sheet with US-based Astra Oil and Excelerate Energy Consortium (AE). However, the state-owned agency was undecided about the signing of the term sheet under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2014.

Petrobangla, a state-owned oil com-pany under the Ministry of Power, En-ergy and Mineral Resources, will imple-ment the project.

“We will sign the � nal deal on setting up the terminal after getting approval from the cabinet committee on econom-ic a� airs,” Petrobangla Chairman Hos-sain Monsur told the Dhaka Tribune.

They would set up the terminal with-

in 16 months from the date of signing the � nal agreement. “We hope that we will be able to import LNG by June 2016,” he added.

AE would have to invest $500 mil-lion as infrastructure cost and other expenses to set up the terminal on a build-own-operate-transfer basis.

According to the term sheet, Petro-bangla will pay 0.474 cents per mmbtu for 15 years. The terminal will have the LNG storage capacity of 138,000 cubic metres.

Besides, Petrobangla would pay port service charges and tax on behalf of AE during the period. Petrobangla would receive LNG within a range between

500mmcfd and 600mmcfd.The government will have to import

LNG from Qatar or other countries by paying $16-18 per unit.

At present, the country’s gas produc-tion is about 2,350 mmcf per day against the demand of 3,000 mmcf.

The Awami League-led government during its previous tenure decided to import LNG to feed the national grid by 500 mmcfd from the year 2013.

Meanwhile, state-owned Gas Trans-mission Company Ltd (GTCL) has taken a move to install a 91km Moheshkha-li-Anwara gas transmission pipeline to carry re-gasi� ed LNG from the terminal to shore. l

Study suggests forming Ilish conservation fundn UNB

Building an Ilish conservation fund through innovative policy measures can boost Ilish production by ensuring sustainable incentive-based conserva-tion, says a new study.

The study, revealed at a discussion yesterday, suggested considering 1% tax on Ilish export to build an Ilish con-servation fund for sustainable support to incentive-based conservation of the iconic � sh.

Executive Chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman revealed the � ndings of the study, conducted in � ve coastal districts - Barisal, Patuakhali, Bhola, Laxmipur and Chandpur.

The PPRC organised the programme at the National Consultation on Ex-ploring Conservation-Livelihood Win-Wins: PPRC Research Findings on Hilsha Fishermen at The Daily Star’s conference hall in the capital. Zillur said the government can form a fund imposing tax on Ilish export. “Ilish

could be conserved by giving � nancial support to � shermen from the fund.”

About the potential of Ilish, he said it has an untapped growth potential and it could be a global brand like salm-on and tuna � shes.

The study shows that the govern-ment’s compensation to the � shermen not to catch Ilish during the ban peri-od has increased its production. “Total Ilish catching has increased from 1.99 lakh metric tonnes in 2002-03 to 3.51 lakh metric tonnes in 2012-13,” it says.

About the status of � shermen, the study shows about 17% of them are still illiterate as 69% � shermen completed primary education.

About 33% of � shermen are land-less, while 40% have no boat and 29% no net to catch � sh.

Zillur said the � shermen are not only economically poor, but also so-cially poor. “Their community is the part of the poor. But the microcredit contributes to cutting poverty in the country but the � shermen are not get-ting the bene� t of it,” he added. l

‘Cancel lowering female marriage age’n UNB

Women’s rights activists yesterday de-manded withdrawal of the instruction for lowering the minimum age of mar-riage for girls from the draft Child Mar-riage Restraint Act 2014.

They came up with the demand at a human chain organised by Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra in front of the National Press Club. Addressing the human chain, Nari Mukti Kendra’s Dhaka unit President

Sultana Akter Rubi said while societ-ies all over the world are stepping ahead, the Bangladesh government is trying to take the nation to the dark age with steps like reducing the marriage age for girls.

While experts are thinking about setting the age of marriage for girls at 25, the government has taken the deci-sion to set the marriage age for girls 16 years only, she added.

Kendra’s central committee Presi-dent Sima Dutta said the state minister for women and children a� airs, the state minister for health and other leaders of the ruling party are highlighting unrea-sonable and ridiculous information to implement the government instruction. l

‘These ministers and MPs do not give work to the party’s dedicated leaders and activists. They favour their relatives and those party supporters who maintain close link with them’

A � sherman readies his � shing equipment to catch shrimps and small � shes as the water level of the Padma River gradually started decreasing ahead of the winter season AZAHAR UDDIN

Bloggers and online activists formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday protesting the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2014 that proposes to bring down the minimum age for marriage from 18 to 16 for females SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

News4 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

CU BCL demands judicial probe into VC’s corruptionn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

A faction of Chhatra League Chittagong University unit has demanded judicial probe into the alleged corrupt activ-ities of Professor Anwarul Azim Arif, vice-chancellor of the university.

Led by former joint secretary Sumon Mamun, the faction raised seven-point demands including resignation of the VC, at a press conference held at the Chittagong Press Club yesterday.

CU BCL former assistant secretary

Moazzam Hossen James read out the demands in presence of 50 leaders and activists of the faction.

The leaders alleged that Professor Anwarul Azim Arif had appointed BNP and Jamaat-Shibir backed o� cials to important posts of the university like registrar, exam controller, director of CU agricultural project and director of CU transport department.

They also alleged that the VC had directed a section of “desperate” BCL men to engage in controversial ac-tivities on campus by forming a “VC League,” in order to gain his personal interest.

They blamed the VC for nepotism as he had appointed his son, son-in-laws, and daughter-in-law to di� erent posts in the university.

Other demands include removal of all BNP-Jamaat backed sta� s from the university, ban on politics of Ja-maat-Shibir, declaring the VC League leaders “unwanted” and reopening the student dormitories after driving out the Shibir men form there. l

WORLD EGG DAY

Call for safe egg production to ensure nutritional securityn BAU Correspondent

State Minister for Fisheries and Live-stock Narayan Chandra Chanda at a programme yesterday urged poultry scientists, researchers, industry own-ers, and concerned entrepreneurs to produce safe eggs and other poultry products for ensuring nutritional secu-rity of the people of the country.

The state minister said this at a seminar titled “Eggs for me, eggs for you, eggs for all” at the Zainul Abedin auditorium of Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) to mark the World Egg Day. Department of Poultry Science of BAU and the World’s Poultry Science Association (WAPSA) jointly organised the programme to raise awareness among people about the food value of egg.

“We, the common people, are look-ing forward to you as you are the right persons who can ensure quality food for consumption,” the state minister added.

He also warned of taking legal action

against the dishonest businessmen and poultry industry owners who are using harmful components, medicine and in-dustry wastes to prepare poultry feeds and products that are detrimental to public health.

“We will take stern action against those who are leading common peo-ple to gradual death by using harmful chemical components and tannery wastes in poultry feeds.”

He addressed the seminar with the Dean of Animal Husbandry faculty Pro-fessor SD Chowdhury in the chair while BAU Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Ra� qul Hoque was present as the chief patron.

Prof Shubash Chandra Das of Poul-try Science department presented the key note paper.

Among others, Director General of the Department of Livestock Services DLS Ajay Kumar Roy, DG of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute BLRI Dr Md Nazrul Islam, Prof Md Ashraf Ali and Head of Poultry Science Depart-ment Prof Fowzia Sultana, were pres-ent at the event. l

Seminar on startup funds for entrepreneurs at DIUn Tribune Report

Bangladesh Venture Capital Limited (BVCL) and Da� odil International Uni-versity (DIU) have jointly organised a seminar on “Scope of Startup Funds for Entrepreneurs” at DIU Auditorium re-cently in its campus in the capital, says a media release.

Md Rabiul Islam, managing director of Islamic Finance and Investment Lim-ited was present there as the chief guest while Md Sabur Khan, chairman of the BVCL and chairman of Board of Trust-ees of the DIU were as the special guest.

The speakers shared lot of e� ective tips about Entrepreneurship develop-ment, Entrepreneurial behaviour, An-gel Investor, success secrets, capitals, motivation and marketing with the students.

The seminar also included frequent-ly asked questions about the rules, pol-icy, techniques of investment by the venture capital and funding process of di� erent � nancial institutions.

More than 100 new entrepreneurs from the capital attended the seminar as well. l

DCs instructed to hold regular border conferences with Indian counterpartsn Mohosinul Karim

Deputy commissioners of 32 border districts have been instructed to hold regular border conferences with their Indian counterparts to discuss and solve common problems.

The border conferences will be held dividing the border districts into 13 clusters. But, there will be no bar to ar-range border conferences between dis-trict and district in times of need.

The instruction was given yesterday during an orientation programme for the deputy commissioners, ehich or-ganised to brief them about the govern-ment’s policy and stance regarding the border crisis and border management.

The day-long orientation programme was organised at the secretariat’s cabi-net conference room in the capital.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hos-sain Bhuiyan, senior secretary and sec-retaries and high o� cials of di� erent ministries, divisions and organisations

were also given instructions on their respective duties.

According to the cabinet division of-� cials, the instructions were given on cabinet division, home ministry, for-eign ministry, land ministry, commerce ministry, internal resources division, shipping ministry and road transport and highways divisions issues of the government.

After the meeting, Musharraf Hos-sain Bhuiyan said the DC’s were in-structed to hold the border conference between DC’s and Indian districts mag-istrates regularly, which were not being held for the last few years.

“There were some limitations from both countries in holding the meeting regularly. But, some meetings were also held during this period on some speci� c issues. We are keen to hold the meeting regularly to resolve the crisis on border management,” he added.

“Border conference is the home min-istry’s issue, but cabinet division looks

after the DC’s. The division briefed the DC’s about the government’s decision and policy. As the foreign ministry maintains relations with other coun-tries, they also briefed the DCs of their policies. Though the DC’s act locally, but they implement the central deci-sions of the government,” he said.

Bhuiyan said border trespass, boundary pillars disputes, border man-agement including human tra� ck-ing and drugs and smuggling, border protection and border killing issues of home ministry, border lands and land boundary issues of land ministry, bor-der trading of commerce ministry, customs issues of internal resources division, land port issues of shipping ministry and roads connectivity issues of road transport and highways divi-sions were included in the instructions.

“We asked them to prepare agenda of the conferences prioritising local problems and crisis. The agendas will be � nalised consulting with the coun-

terparts. But, before sending to the counterparts DC’s will take opinion of their higher authorities about the agen-da,” the cabinet secretary added.

He said the government usually holds bilateral meeting with India on di� erent issues. BGB-BSF meetings are also being held time to time. But, the DC-DM border conference will help government to resolve major problems prevailing in the border areas.

He also informed that Bangladesh has a 200km long borders with Myan-mar. We are also planning to hold such meetings with the country after begin-ning with India.

“The border conferences would help strengthening relationship between the countries and expedite economic development. It will also help bring down border killings. Various issues, including smuggling, border killing, drug and human tra� cking, will be re-solved holding the border conference,” he added. l

ULAB signs MoU with VSOn Tribune Report

The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) has signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding with Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) Ban-gladesh on its campus in the capital, says a media release.

ULAB VC Prof Imran Rah-man and VSO Country Direc-tor Shahana Hayat signed the document on behalf of their organisations yesterday.

Under the MoU, VSO would recruit ULAB students as volunteers and interns for its various projects.

ULAB Pro-Vice Chancel-lor, Lt Col Md Foyzul Islam (Retd), Registrar Mohammad Ali Khan were present the programme among others. l

Seminar on enterprisers held at NSU n Tribune Report

Noticing fresh graduates for being prepared for the chang-ing world by improving their knowledge and skills to meet the demands of employers and the realities of the work-place, Alumni Association of North South University has organised a seminar titled “Investment and Expecta-tions from Fresh Graduates as Potential Entrepreneurs” in its seminar hall recently.

Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh, Shiro Sadoshi-ma, was the chief guest while NSU Vice Chancellor Dr Amin U Sarkar chaired the event, says a media release.

Vivek Sood, CEO of Grameenphone and Nahar Mahmood, MD of Novartis also addressed the programme while Dr KG Moazzem placed a resourceful presentation on foreign investment of Bangla-desh as keynote speaker. l

They blamed the VC for nepotism as he had appointed his son, son-in-laws, and daughter-in-law to di� erent posts in the university

In memory of Bhasha Matin, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote arranged a programme at the Dhaka Central Shaheed Minar yesterday RAJIB DHAR

WEATHER

5NewsDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

PRAYER TIMES Fajar 4:42am Sunrise 5:57am Zohr 11:44am Asr 3:52pm Magrib 5:29pm Esha 6:45 pm

Source: Accuweather/UNB

D H A K ATODAY TOMORROW

SUN SETS 5:29PM SUN RISES 5:58AM

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW33.4ºC 19.5ºC

Cox's Bazar Dinajpur

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

F O R E C A S T F O R T O D A YDhaka 30 20Chittagong 30 22Rajshahi 31 18Rangpur 31 19Khulna 31 20Barisal 30 20Sylhet 30 19Cox’s Bazar 31 23

PARTLY CLOUDY

College professor killed in Chittagong road crashn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

A college professor was killed in a road crash in Sitakunda upazila of Chit-tagong yesterday morning.

The dead Joynul Abedin, 60, was son of late Hamidur Rahman of Sitakunda upazila, said police sources. He was a professor of Bijoy Smarani Degree Col-lege of Bhatiary in the upazila.

Sub-Inspector Kamal Uddin of Sitakun-da police station said a Chittagong-bound

stone laden truck ran over the professor while he was waiting for transport beside the road in Edulpara Bypass Road un-der Sitakunda Municipality area around 9:30am, leaving him spot dead.

The body was handed over to the family members without autopsy after completing all the legislative process, the SI said adding that police have seized the truck involved in the accident.

A case was lodged in this connection while the truck driver and its assistant managed to � ee after the incident. l

Youth hacked to deathn Our Correspondent, Comilla

A youth was hacked to death by un-known miscreats at Pihar area in Burichang upazila on Friday night.

The deceased was identi� ed as Naz-mul Hasan, 14, student of class VI, and son of Abdur Rab Miah. Nazmul was a an auto-rickshaw driver. In the morning, he went out of the house with his au-to-rickshaw and went missing.

Later, locals spotted the body early Saturday and informed the police. SI Imam Hossain of Burichang poilce sta-tion said, on information, police went to the spot and recovered the body. l

Man held with Tk3,75 crore goldn Tribune Report

Custom o� cials detained a man along with 64 gold bars worth Tk3.75 crore at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday.

Detained 37-year-old AbdulLatif hails from Satkania upazila in Chit-tagong.

Umme Nahida Akter, an assistant director of the Customs Intelligence at the airport, said they stopped and checked Latif as his movement was suspicious and found the 7.5 kg gold in three packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes at around 8:30am. l

RAPED RMG WORKER’S SUICIDE IN CHITTAGONG

Police yet to nab 3 accused even after 7 days into Kohinur's suiciden Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Law enforcers are yet to arrest the three persons accused of gang raping Kohi-nur Akhter, a garment factory worker who took her own life following the in-cident, even after seven days after her death.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the victim’s family said they were now anxious to get fair justice for Kohinur and claimed the families of the accused were now trying to in� uence law en-forcing agencies to close the case.

On October 12, Kohinur Akhter, 18, worker of a garment factory in Karna-phuli EPZ, committed suicide in her residence in the city’s Patenga a day after of a Chittagong court released her with the three alleged rapists, Md Mok-tar, 25, and his two friends Md Iqbal,

22, and Md Belal, 23, who were arrested from a city hotel on prostitution charg-es on October 10.

“A case was lodged with Patenga Police Station against the trio under section 9(A) of Women and Children Repression Prevention Act as the vic-tim’s suicide note blamed Mokthar, Iqbal, and Belal for her death, said Kazi Shahabuddin Ahmed, o� cer-in-charge of the police station.

The victim's father, Md Sharif, said his daughter committed suicide as Moktar, and his two friends raped her as she refused their indecent proposals adding that the men used to stalk and harass for a long time.

“They followed her when she was returning home from work on October 12, and forced her into a CNG auto-rick-shaw. They took her to a hotel at Sta-

tion Road and repeatedly raped her,” he added.

Sharif also alleged that the trio con-� ned her in a hotel room until the po-lice arrived. The girl and the three men were arrested from the hotel on charg-es of prostitution. They were produced before a Chittagong court on October 11 and given bail.

On the next day, Kohinoor and her roommates left for work. When one of the roommates, Kamrun Nahar, returned home, she found the door locked from inside. As she peeped through the door, she saw Kohinoor’s body hanging from the ceiling.

OC Shahabuddin said they conduct-ed several drives at Anwara upazila along with the police station concerned but could not nab the trio till � ling this report. l

Commuters caught in CNG autorickshaw drivers' whimIt will be hard to � nd an autorickshaw driver in city who is ready to traverse a distance at the fare � xed by the governmentn Rafe Sadnan Adel

A ride on a CNG-driven autorickshaw from Motijheel to Panthapath in the capital should not cost more than Tk100 even if the tra� c is heavy. Every such autorickshaw has electronic me-ters installed on them that display the fare � xed by the government.

But it will be hard to � nd an au-torickshaw driver in the city who is ready to traverse the distance at the fare calculated by the meter. A passen-ger will have to pay at least Tk200 for the ride. On rainy days or on days of ex-tra heavy tra� c, the fare may go up to as much as Tk250-Tk300.

A driver said the fare on the meter covered only a small fraction of their expenses, which include paying a part of their daily income to the owner of the autorickshaws, let alone leave them with any surplus. So, instead of following the meter, they ask for fares on their whims.

The driver said they could not fol-low the meter reading because the owners charge them hundreds of taka more than what the government had � xed as the daily deposit.

The daily deposit and the meter fare are considered in pair. The government generally � xes the meter fare in such a way that drivers are left with sizable incomes at the end of the day after pay-ing the government-� xed daily deposit to the owners.

When asked why they charged more, an owner said the costs of oper-ating the vehicles had increased mani-fold over the years but the government had not increased the daily deposit.

The authority in charge of the mat-ter said they had no plan to increase the deposit or the fare for the time being.

So, the cycle turns vicious and the Dhaka commuters, who have very little or no comfortable public transport op-tions, are badly stuck in it.

The Dhaka Tribune has talked to a number of drivers about why they charge passengers twice, often thrice, the government-� xed rate. They said not just the high daily deposits, but their incomes had not risen either in line with the ever increasing price of essentials. Moreover, they have to pay the tra� c police a signi� cant amount of their daily income as extortion.

Mo� z Mia from the capital’s Khil-gaon area told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have to pay Tk600 to the owner if I drive an autorickshaw for half day [six hours]. If I drive it for the whole day that is 12 hours, he charges me Tk1,100. But the government has � xed only Tk600 for the whole day.

“We also need to pay Tk2,000 every month on an average in the forms of extortion and bribe to tra� c police and sergeants. Add to that the repairing cost in case there is any accident. The owners do not pay for the repairing. So, you can understand that it is not possible for us to follow the govern-ment-� xed fare chart.”

Shamsher Sheikh is a driver from the capital’s Mirpur area who is the only earning member of a four-mem-ber family. While talking to the Dhaka Tribune, he described why he could not follow the government’s fare chart.

“Because of the terrible tra� c on the roads of Dhaka we cannot help but charge passengers double the govern-ment-� xed rate. According to that rate, we can earn only Tk100 per hour. For a 12-hour working day, we can therefore earn maximum Tk1,200. But for driv-ing the vehicle for 12 hours, we have to pay the owner more than Tk1,000. Add to that another Tk600 or so that we have to pay policemen every day. In our calculation, we need to earn at least Tk200 an hour to take something back at home,” he said.

It has been four years since the government last � xed the meter fare

and the daily deposit amount for CNG-run autorickshaws. According to that rate, the fare for the � rst 2km is Tk25 and every kilometre afterwards costs Tk7.64. The waiting charge is Tk2 per minute. The government also � xed Tk600 as daily deposit, which is the in-come of the owners, for a 12-hour day.

Over the past few years, the owners have been demanding that the daily deposit amount be increased to Tk900.

According to a survey conducted by the Consumers Association of Bangla-desh (CAB) in 2009-2013, the price of essentials and services rose at the rate of 12% per annum. As a result, the av-erage cost of living increased by 10.32%

during the period.Moreover, aggregate wages expe-

rienced a 12.92% rise over these � ve years in agriculture, � sheries and in-dustries sectors. But the government has not thought about increasing the fare or deposit for the CNG-run au-torickshaws.

Two separate reports by economic think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and global lender World Bank (WB) suggest that despite declining trends in recent years, the level of in-� ation in Bangladesh is still very high.

The in� ation rates in Bangladesh in 2013 were 7.5% and 7.7% according to the WB and CPD respectively.

Barkatullah Bulu, president of the Dhaka Metropolitan CNG Autorick-shaw Owners' Association, told the Dhaka Tribune recently: “The govern-ment-� xed daily deposit amount has remained at Tk600 since 2010. It would not be very normal to think that the owners will keep the deposit at the lev-el � xed � ve years ago, when during the same period the price of per kilogram of rice rose from Tk30 to Tk50.”

Claiming that he would have to start begging if he rented out his autorick-shaws at the Tk600 rate, he said he had no other option but to raise the rate to Tk700 entirely on his own decision.

He also blamed the bureaucracy’s

unwillingness for why they had failed to press home their demand for a high-er deposit.

Earlier this year, during a meeting with the owners, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader categorically said there was no chance that the de-posit amount would be increased an-ytime soon. At that time, the owners were in the middle of a movement de-manding increased lifespan for the old autorickshaws.

Bulu also alleged that it would not be possible for them to carry on with their business for long if the law enforc-ers continued to harass them on roads.

“We have to pay at least Tk1,000 every day to law enforcers in the form of bribes. If, for any reason, one of our autorickshaws is con� scated, it takes at least two weeks to get it freed from police. These have also narrowed down the scope of pro� table business and following all the regulations. In order to reduce losses, we have to increase the deposit and the drivers cannot fol-low the meter,” he explained.

However, Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Ahmed, head of one of the four tra� c divisions of Dhaka Metropoli-tan Police, said: “We do not have any speci� c allegation [regarding bribery and extortion]. CNG autorickshaws are � ned whenever they break rules.”

Dr Ahsan Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute Bang-ladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Poli-cymakers should think about bringing competition in the CNG autorickshaw trade. In fact, the government can think about introducing a suitable al-ternative. That is in fact the only option to bring back discipline in this sector.”

He, however, said: “Then again, it is also true that living costs have been rising in line with the increasing prices of essentials. To bring harmony there, the fares should be updated – ideally, at two-year intervals.” l

Houses, shops and AL party o� ce gutted in Chittagongn FM Mizanur Rahaman,

Chittagong

At least 11 dwelling houses, four shops and a local Awami League o� ce were gutted in two separate � re incidents in Chittagong’s Kattoli area and Bakalia area early yesterday.

However, no causality was reported following the incidents, said � re bri-gade sources.

Jasim Uddin, deputy assistant di-rector (DAD) of Fire Service and Civ-

il Defense Headquarter in Agrabad said a � re gutted � ve semi-pucca, six thatched houses and a tin shed local ruling party o� ce at Kalirhat area of Uttar Kattoli area under Akbar Shah po-lice station.

The � re originated from an electric short circuit in a house around 3:30am and soon engulfed to the other estab-lishments, burning down valuables worth Tk6 lakhs, the o� cial added. After receiving information, a unit of Agrabad � re service managed to douse

the blaze after two hours.The other � re incident burned

down four roadside shops in Abu Zafar road of Bakalia area during the same time.

Fire brigade sources said the � re had originated from an electric short cir-cuit at one of the shops and spread to the neighbouring shops, burning down Tk2.5 lakh worth of valuables.

A unit from Lama Bazar Fire Station extinguished the blaze after an hour of e� orts. l

Two held with 4,500 Yaba pills in Ctgn Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Police in separate drives early yester-day arrested two persons with 4,500 pieces of Yaba tablets from Chittagong city’s Shah Amanat Third Karnaphuli Bridge area.

Bakalia police arrested the two - Al Amin, 42, and Nurul Islam, 22, - from separate buses of Saudia Paribahan. Po-lice said they were attempting to smug-gle the illegal drugs from Cox’s Bazar to the port city.

O� cer-in-Charge Mohammad Moshin of Bakalia police station said they had arrested Amin around 2am

and Nurul around 3:30am following on a tip-o� .

The OC said they found 4,000 piec-es of Yaba pills inside a fake bandage in Amin’s hand while another 500 pieces were recovered after searching Nurul’s body.

Legislative measures were being taken against the duo in this connec-tion, added the OC.

According to Department of Narcot-ic Control, around 37 Yaba factories are at Mongdu in Myanmar which is close to Teknaf while about 90% of smug-gled Yaba are entering into the country through the Naf River and distributed

across the country through the port city.Sources said Chittagong is consid-

ered as a golden transit point for drug smugglers especially for Yaba peddlers.

Admitting the increase in Yaba smuggling through the port city, CMP Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder told the Dhaka Tribune that they have increased their vigilance to � ght the smuggling.

“We have also increased our watch at the entrance points of the city es-pecially Shah Amanat Bridge area by which point vehicles enter into the city from Cox’s Bazar,” he said. l

A driver of a CNG-run autorickshaw waits for passengers at the capital's Shahbagh intersection on Thursday RAJIB DHAR

A hawker uses an innovative idea to attract customers by carrying a mannequin to sell hairbands. The photo was taken from capital's Mohakhali area yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

6 NationDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

60,000 students su� ering from drinking water crisis n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

About 60,000 students of 146 institu-tions in Muksudpur upazila of Gopal-ganj district have been su� ering from fresh water crisis due to arsenic con-tamination in groundwater.

According to sources, tube wells of the institutions had been marked with red colour by a non government organ-ization about 8-10 years ago. But now there is no red sign on the tube wells as the colour had been washed way for several reasons.

The tub wells also have no pitcher � lter system for obtaining pure water.

Inhabitants of the upazila demand arsenic-free tube wells for their safe-ty. They become angry when they see health workers or outsiders coming to advise them.

They say only after arsenic-free tube wells have been installed, they would talk to them.

According to health engineering de-partment sources, arsenic test cannot be conducted for the tube wells in 43

high schools and 103 primary schools in the upazila due to fund shortage.

The o� cials overseeing ground-water, said that an extensive survey should be carried out in the area that is known to be arsenic-prone.

The sources said 91 primary schools out of 194 had been given pitcher-� lter and the rest would be given gradually.

People in the upazila have been chronically exposed to arsenic in their drinking water, which is considered as a great threat to public health.

Students and teachers of SJ High School and Pilot School alleged that they had to face the problem of drink-ing water as the tube wells of the schools have been lying uncared for long time.

While many schools were visited it was found that there was some sort of arrangements of drinking water as the tube wells were arsenic contaminated.

Teacher Suil Kumer of SJ High School said they had to fetch water from a tube well in a madrasa near by.

“We have informed the matter to the

higher authority,” he said.“The students and youngsters must

be educated on the importance of fresh water and should be taught to use it consciously,” he also said.

It is predicted that the people in the area face water crises due to arsenic problem. By the development of new technologies many a governmental and non governmental organisation are working to mitigate the e� ect of such a crisis, said an o� cer of the department.

The guardians of these schools al-leged they had to buy fresh water bottle from the shops for their kids as there is no drinking water in their schools.

Upazila Family Planning O� cer AR Das said:“Tube well water in the upazi-la is su� ering from a high level of arse-nic concentration.”

“The water of the tube wells is vul-nerable to human health,” he said.

Upazila Primary School Education O� cer Nazrul Islam said: “The govern-ment should take step for setting up arsenic contamination free deep tube wells in these schools immediately.” l

Three detained with gold bar in Noakhalin Our correspondent, Noakhali

Three people were detained with two pieces of gold bars at Sonaimuri upazila in Noakhali on early Saturday night.

The detainees were Habibur Rah-man, Sohag and driver of an auto-rick-shaw Md. Abul Kalam, all hailing from village Vimpur under Chatkhil upazila of the district.

Ashraful Alam, o� cer in-charge of Sonaimuri police station said, the detainees were going to Chatkhil by a CNG run auto-rickshaw from Chaumu-hani. While the vehicle was crossing Sonaimuri college gate at around 2am, on duty patrol police searched them and found two pieces of gold bars in their possession.

A case was � led with the police in this connection. l

Microbus hijacked, driver killedn Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Driver of a microbus was killed after being hijacked by a group of miscreants from Malekerbari area under Gazipur city corporation early yesterday.

The deceased was identi� ed as Parvez, 18, son of Abdur Razzak of the area. Police recovered the body from Ghorashal area on Narsingdi-Ghorashal highway and arrested Ra� q, 26, for his alleged involvement in the killing.

Owner of the microbus Nuruzzaman said, six men had rented the microbus for a trip to Narsingdi on Friday evening. When the microbus reached Ghorashal area at around 9:30pm, they fastened the neck of the driver Parvez with a rope. They threw helper Suruz out of the vehicle and took o� with

the microbus and the driver. Later, Suruz informed the owner about the incident.

Sub-inspector of Joydebpur police station Nazmul Haque said, upon in-formation police � rst rescued Suruz and detained him. According to his information, police then went on an operation and arrested Ra� q from Sha-rifpur area of Gazipur. The microbus was recovered from Uttara on Saturday morning.

According to the information of Ra� q and Suruz after interrogation, Po-lice later recovered the body of driver Parvez from a waterland beside Nars-ingdi-Ghorashal highway.

Police said, the arrestee Ra� q hail-ing from Sharifpur area was involved in various crimes in the area. l

Child abducted, skeleton foundn Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

Police yesterday morning recovered parts of remains of a child 34 days af-ter abduction from a bush in Atushal village of Manohardi upazila, Narsing-di. Clothes worn by the child during abduction was also found at that time.

Four-year old Ashraful Jahan Sony was abducted on September 16 by neighbour Majeda Begum and her son Haris Mia to avenge a tri� e family rival-ry. The abductors after being arrested by law enforcers confessed the murder.

According to police, Haris Mia dam-

aged the motorcycle owned by Sony’s father Shaheen’s brother-in-law while rid-ing it. In a salish by respected locals, Haris was made to pay for the damage. But this enraged Haris, who threatened Shaheen of grave consequences. Two days after the incidents, Shaheen’s son Sony was abducted while playing near the house. Failing to � nd the boy, a general diary was lodged on September 20 and a missing note was also published in the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the abductors sent Sha-heen a Bikash number and demanded one lakh Taka ransom for the child. Sha-heen sent Tk60,000 in two instalments

and promised to pay the rest soon. After being informed, police and RAB-

11 arrested suspects Manzil Mia, Abul Kalam, Nayan Mia, Zahir Mia and Roksa-na by using mobile device tracking tech-nology. However, no information about the child could be obtained from them.

Finally, when Haris Mia and Majeda Begum were arrested and interrogated on Friday, they confessed the murder. According to their information, police recovered Sony’s skull, teeth, bones and clothes from a bush. Sony’s father con� rmed the remains to be his son’s by identifying the clothes. l

7CareerDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

BIGSTOCK

Getting rid of negative habits that are holding you back at workn Career Desk

We employ a number of com-munication techniques in our day-to-day interactions to

make a point, persuade, demand, sug-gest etc. Many of these “techniques” such as examples, allegories, anecdotes, hypotheses etc. comes so naturally to us that we hardly ever think about it.

Similarly, like bad habits, there are a number of negative communication be-haviours and styles that we are all guilty of to an extent without being aware of it. One can imagine how detrimental this might be at the workplace, where how ef-fectively and well we communicate may determine how fast and far we succeed.

These negative behaviours get in the way of e� ective relationship build-ing, networking and simple civility. At the work place, they are more notice-able, as one wouldn’t be as forgiving of a colleague as they would of a family member, and thus they seem more am-pli� ed and reproachable.

Getting rid of certain negative com-munication behaviours which we are not even aware of is not an easy task. It means having to be aware of what you are saying, how, when and where you are saying it at all times.

Following is a short list of common negative communications behaviours or styles that many of us are guilty of. If you spot any that you think may ap-ply to you, you de� nitely have room for improvement.

Constant disagreementsA number of people get used to routine-ly disagreeing with everybody, espe-cially when their job involves constant public interface. Next time you � nd yourself disagreeing with something again, whether you are right or not, try some tact. Unless you are talking about something related to work, most chatter at work is usually exactly that – chatter and small talk. If someone says something you disagree with, your life

does not depend upon turning your cafeteria into the parliamentary � oor.

ComplaintsThere are a number of levels to this par-ticular problem. Continuous whining about the heat, tra� c or your workload may all be legitimate complaints or even common grounds to start a con-versation with a colleague, but you do not want to be known as a complainer. Ask yourself if you are always com-plaining about something or the other, and how interested others are to hear about it. It doesn’t matter whether your complaints are legitimate or petty. This isn’t a di� cult habit to eliminate.

Knowing-it-allPeople with this character � aw are usually guilty of pushing others with words. No matter how much more ex-perience and wisdom you have than the person you are communicating with, nobody likes to constantly hear “you should”. Stop telling people what they should or shouldn’t do.

InterruptionsDisrupting others’ train of thought is something we have always been told not to do. This is something all parents teach their children from an early age and yet a surprisingly large number of people nev-er pay heed. Do not start talking while another person is still talking. If you have something to say wait till the other person is done, or interject politely. Do not hijack the conversation.

Seeking approvalDon’t persistently look for approval. It comes o� as insincere because most of the times when someone is seeking for approval, they hardly care for feedback or suggestions and just want everyone else to agree with them. If someone agrees with you, they’ll make it clear. Do not attempt to engineer situations where you try to get others to agree with you or compliment you. l

n Ahsan Sajid

Your 30s are fast approaching and you are getting increasingly stuck in an industry you never

cared for. Everyone you know seems to be more successful than you. You always valued one of your skills which you have not had an opportunity to use in years; you don't even know if you are good at it any more. You hate the peo-ple you work with.

There can be any number of reasons for you to hate going to work; if you know the reason you are lucky and if you don't, you at least know that you need to make some kind of change to start enjoying working again.

However, in the real world of early morning commutes, and paperwork and red tape, this is not so easily done. Some of the biggest stress-inducing events in life are the death of a close one, the end of a relationship, mov-ing out and joblessness. When you are without a job, every single decision be-comes a dire one and every single ex-pense calls for well-thought planning.

If you must make a change and pull the plug on your current job, unless you already have one lined up, you will be jobless and no matter how well you think you can take it, you will be unpre-pared for it. The following are a few tips and suggestions to tackle joblessness and life in-between jobs.

No matter when you plan to take the

leap, if you are already thinking about it, It is prudent to start preparing for it right now. Preparing for unemploy-ment is di� cult enough for a single person; if you have people depending on your pay check, then you are head-ing for troubled waters. Consider the following suggestions on how to get ready for it.

SaveThe most important step to preparing for unemployment is to have a negli-gible rainy day fund. Negligible in this instance means enough money to last you three to six months without a job. There is no such thing as unemploy-ment bene� ts in Bangladesh, so unless you already have emergency money set aside, there is no time like right now to start saving. You do not want to lose your job and � nd yourself without a safety net.

Stay within meansBeing thrifty is not a process, it is a way of life, which makes it di� cult to attain unless you are used to living within your means. You don't just turn thriftiness on and o� . You have to accli-matise yourself to it. I know plenty of people who will be broke and penniless on the second half of every month and never pick up the lesson when they are splurging on pay day the next month. If you know you are heading towards unemployment, stop spending money

on things unless you absolutely need them, and cut corners at every avail-able opportunity.

Use your contract to your advantageFringe bene� ts such as medical in-surance or coverage are often the last things on one’s mind before leaving a job, especially when the decision is based on passion. However, if you know the day you leave is imminent, now may be the time to schedule any medical or dental appointments you have been putting o� all these years and still get it under your company's health coverage. You do not want to be jobless and suddenly be hit with a huge medical expense.

Throw away your cardsUnless you absolutely need to, stop us-ing your credit cards right now. If you are leaving your job today, it is just one more extra payment to deal with to-morrow. If you know that your job is coming to a close, stop charging any-thing on your credit cards.

Create a portfolio Once you get laid o� , you will no lon-ger have access to your workstation or work email; start collecting samples of your work (such as written pieces, pro-posal drafts, presentations or any tan-gible examples of your work) on a pen drive or email the � les to your person-al account. When you look for a new job, they will want to look at samples of your previous work, and you do not want to � nd yourself without access to them.

Do not forget networkingNetworking is not a one-o� activity but a constant development. Howev-er, unless the job expressly requires it, it is common to fall out of the practice. When you are heading towards unem-ployment, you need to scurry towards your closest acquaintances and be on the lookout for opportunities. Keep an eye open for potential opportunities at all times, whether you are at a work event or a friend’s child’s birthday party.

Study your contract Go through your employment contract thoroughly and � gure out if you have any unused leaves left. It may be a good time to use them up before it is too late. Also look through the sections regard-ing resignation and how long a notice you have to provide your employer, so you know how best to prepare for it.

Have the talkUnemployment is a di� cult and emo-tionally stressful time, not just for you but everyone who cares about you. If you are looking at an upcoming remov-al, have a talk with anyone who will be impacted by the loss of your job, such as your spouse, parents, children etc. Make sure you are on the same page, and most importantly, can start prior-itising and setting � nancial goals to-gether. l

Unconventional careers: the world of creative writingn Nakibul Hoq

Jack Kerouac had it right when he mentioned that the world is actually changed by people who are passionate about their cause, and crazy enough to

think that they can change the world. After all, what use is human emotion if we cannot channel it into ways that ensure their proper utilisation?

One of the primary frustrations of today’s youngsters is not being able to study what their hearts actually want to. They want to major in subjects they enjoy studying and thinking about, and desper-ately want to make their degrees aligned to what they hope to do in the world.

But this is exactly where the average Bangladeshi youth is constantly facing problems. In the public universities you don’t get to choose which subject you will study for your undergraduate ed-ucation that easily. It depends on how well you have done in the admissions exams, how good your past academic records are and how competitive the selection pool is. And undoubtedly, in a country with such a huge population, there is an enormous demand for every seat at a public university where there is not only prestige but also low tuition rates subsidised by taxpayers’ money.

Bangladeshi parents are not very helpful either when it comes to their children choosing their own subject of interest. They want their children, for whom they have invested a huge amount of time and resources for schooling, to study things that will pay a good return in the near future. They want their children to become doctors, engineers, business executives, law-yers and other established profession-als so that they can have a smooth ca-reer waiting for them.

This is why it is often seen that stu-

dents who actually want to study phys-ics are studying business, and those who want to study the � ne arts are forced to enroll in engineering. But in terms of opportunities, the unconven-tional majors are nowhere behind.

Careers for creative writing majors

tend to be centered towards the tradi-tional professions in literature. They are often editors of books, magazines and newspapers that have widespread circulation both online and o� ine.

In Bangladesh, majors in literature and creative writing often presume that

they will have no jobs or a prospect in any of the traditional careers. But in re-cent times, it has been seen that many of these graduates are � nding work in embassies as translators and also work-ing as translators of books from Bengali to English and vice versa. While these

may be on a project to project basis, they do strengthen the candidate’s portfolio and exposure to a circle.

The reason the majority of young students choose creative writing as their major is because they aspire to be-come a writer. They want to travel the

world, write about their experiences in life and make readers read about what they have to say. But this is where the catch has always been: time and again it has been proved that you need not be a creative writing expert to become the author of a bestseller. Probably the most famous example in the subcontinent is Chetan Bhagat, a writer who was actu-ally an investment banker and had stud-ied engineering and business, but later went on to become a fulltime writer.

Globally, publishing houses have been the highest recruiter of candi-dates who have majored in creative writing. But even then, the publishing houses choose a prospective employee not just based on glowing recommen-dations and a great portfolio, but also on how creative the individual is.

The case is similar for screenplay writers or writers who write for the vi-sual media. It is hardly their degree that matter. It is more about their achieve-ment and their creativity, and how well they know their audience. Their job is to use the art to engage the mass-public and for that, professional certi� cations might be helpful but it is always more about their talent.

A talented mind will go a long way in this pathway, but such talents are often hard to come by. As earlier mentioned, the myth that creative writing majors become novelists is only that: a myth. The truth is, most of the world’s famed writers weren’t necessarily hard-pressed on learning how to write. They used their skills to tell a story in a way that appealed to the audience, and that is what made most of the di� erence. l

Nakibul Hoq is the Lead Manager of Content and Analytics of GradInsights, the research service of GradConnect. More articles from the team can be found at - www.grad-insights.com

In-between jobs

‘There can be any number of reasons for you to hate going to work; if you know the reason you are lucky and if you don’t, you at least know that you need to make some kind of change to start enjoying working again’

BIGSTOCK

BIG

STO

CK

Sunday, October 19, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE World8

N E W S B I T E S

Cautious optimism over Nigeria’s kidnapped girlsn AP

There’s no dancing in the streets, but people in the hometown of more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are cautiously optimistic about news of a cease-� re with the Islamic extrem-ists who abducted their daughters six months ago.

“We don’t know how true it is until we prove it,” said Bana Lawan, chair-man of Chibok Local Government Area. “We will know the negotiations were successful when we see the girls phys-ically. And then we will know it is true. And then we will celebrate.”

Community leader Pogu Bitrus says “people rejoiced, but with caution.”

Both men said residents have been disappointed too many times in the past by reports of progress by Nige-ria’s government and military that later proved to be false. That is why they are skeptical of the army’s announcement Friday that Boko Haram extremists have agreed to an immediate cease-� re.

Some reports said the truce includes an agreement to free the girls missing from Chibok town.

But government spokesman Mike Omeri would say only that authorities

are “inching closer to the release of the Chibok girls.”

On Friday, French President Fran-cois Hollande welcomed the “good news” and told a news conference in Paris that the girls’ release “could hap-pen in the coming hours and days.” France has been involved in negotia-tions that led to the release of several of its citizens kidnapped by Boko Haram in Cameroon.

Neither Hollande nor Nigerian govern-ment o� cials gave any details.

There was no immediate word from Boko Haram, which limits its public engagement to video announcements by its leader, Abubakar Shekau. Last year, when a government minister an-nounced an agreement, Shekau quick-ly denied it. He said at that time that whoever the government negotiated

with did not speak for him, and that he would never talk to in� dels.

Chibok community leader Bitrus told The Associated Press in a tele-phone interview, “We are waiting, hoping that it is really true and that the people who negotiated on Boko Haram’s side, that they are the genuine leaders.”

Boko Haram — the group’s nickname means “education is sinful” — drew international condemnation with the April kidnapping of 276 girls and young women at a boarding school in the re-mote northeastern town of Chibok. Dozens escaped in the � rst couple of days, but 219 remain missing.

Boko Haram had been demanding the release of detained extremists but Jonathan originally said he could not countenance a prisoner swap. On Satur-day, an o� cial at the presidency said the current negotiations are about releasing Boko Haram members in exchange for the girls. He spoke on condition of ano-nymity because the matter is sensitive.

“Sometimes these people, they will say something and they will not act,” said Lawan, speaking from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital in the northeast. “We just pray that this is true.” l

Kurds thwart new Kobane IS bidn AFP

Kurdish forces in the Syrian town of Kobane repulsed a new attempt by Is-lamic State � ghters to cut o� the border with Turkey Saturday as troops battled the jihadists in neighbouring Iraq.

A Kurdish o� cial reported � ve new US-led strikes around Kobane over-night as the coalition kept up its air support for the town’s defenders.

But the US military said that while it saw some “encouraging” signs, the strikes might not prevent Kobane’s fall and its priority remained the cam-paign against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq.

Heavy IS mortar � re hit the Syrian side of the border crossing with Turkey which is the Kurdish � ghters’ sole av-enue for resupply and the only escape route for remaining civilians, Kurdish o� cial Idris Nassen told AFP.

The jihadists launched a � erce attack from the east towards the border gate before being pushed back, he added.

IS su� ered heavy losses in the � ght-ing and was forced to send in reinforce-ments, the Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights said.

The jihadists lost 21 of their people to air strikes and another 14 in ground � ghting on Friday, the Britain-based monitoring group said. The Kurds lost three of their � ghters.

An AFP correspondent on the Turk-ish side reported sporadic mortar � re very close to the border crossing on Saturday afternoon. l

Obama calls for end to Ebola ‘hysteria’n AFP

US President Barack Obama told Amer-icans on Saturday not to “give in to hysteria or fear” over the deadly Ebola virus, calling for patience and a sense of perspective.

In his weekly address to the nation, Obama also played down the idea of a travel ban from West Africa, the epicen-ter of the outbreak, saying such restric-tions would only exacerbate the crisis.

“All of us – citizens, leaders, the me-dia – have a responsibility and a role to play,” Obama said.

“This is a serious disease, but we can’t give in to hysteria or fear – because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need. We have to be guided by the science. We have to remember the basic facts.”

It comes a day after the World Bank warned the � ght to stop Ebola was be-ing lost and the World Health Organi-zation said that, as of October 14, 4,555 people had died from the disease out of 9,216 registered cases.

The United States – where a Liberian man died from Ebo-la on October 8 and two American nurses who treated him have tested pos-itive – was not seeing an “outbreak” or

“epidemic,” Obama stressed.But as fear of Ebola heightens across

the United States, Obama admitted more “isolated” cases were possible.

“But we know how to wage this � ght,” he said.

“And if we take the steps that are necessary, if we’re guided by the sci-ence – the facts, not fear – then I am ab-solutely con� dent that we can prevent a serious outbreak here in the United States, and we can continue to lead the world in this urgent e� ort.”

However, cutting o� West Africa, for example by way of a travel ban, was not the answer, he cautioned.

“Our medical experts tell us that the best way to stop this disease is to stop it at its source – before it spreads even wider and becomes even more di� cult to contain,” he said.

“Trying to seal o� an entire re-gion of the world – if that were even possible – could actually make the situation worse.

“It would make it harder to move health workers and supplies back and forth. Experience shows that it could also cause people in the a� ected region to change their travel, to evade screen-ing, and make the disease even harder to track.” l

WAR AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE

Pentagon gears up for the long hauln AP

Ten weeks into its war against Islam-ic State extremists, the Pentagon is settling in for the long haul, short on big early successes but still bank-ing on enlisting Syrians and Iraqis to � ght the ground war so that US troops won’t have to.

The US general overseeing the cam-paign on Friday predicted that the ji-hadists will be “much degraded” by airstrikes a year from now, in part be-cause he is focusing attacks on those resources that enable IS to sustain itself and resupply its � ghters.

On Friday, for example, the US mil-itary said one of its six airstrikes over-night in Syria hit several IS petroleum storage tanks and a pumping station — sites that are central to the militants’ ability to resupply their forces and gen-erate revenue. Likewise, it said two coalition airstrikes in Iraq damaged or destroyed IS military targets near the contested town of Beiji, home of Iraq’s largest oil re� nery.

In his � rst public overview of the campaign he leads from the Florida headquarters of US Central Command, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin cautioned against expecting quick progress. He said he cannot predict how long it will take to right a wobbly Iraqi army and build a viable opposition ground force in Syria.

“The campaign to destroy ISIL will take time, and there will be occasional setbacks along the way,” Austin told a Pentagon news conference, “particu-larly in these early stages of the cam-

paign as we coach and mentor a force (in Iraq) that is actively working to re-generate capability after years of ne-glect and poor leadership.”

While hammering the jihadists daily from the air, the US military is talking of a years-long e� ort — one that will re-quire more than aerial bombardment, will show results only gradually and may eventually call for a more aggres-sive use of US military advisers in Iraq.

“This isn’t going to get solved through 18 airstrikes around a partic-ular town in a particular place in Syr-ia. It’s going to take a long time,” the Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Thursday, referring to a recent concentration of American airstrikes on the Syrian city of Kobani, near the Turkish border.

That is one reason why the Penta-gon is preparing to set up a more for-mally organized command structure, known in military parlance as a joint task force, to lead and coordinate the campaign from a forward headquar-ters, perhaps in Kuwait. On Wednesday it formally named the campaign “Oper-ation Inherent Resolve.”

As of Thursday the US had launched nearly 300 airstrikes in Iraq and nearly 200 in Syria, and allies had tallied fewer than 100, according to Central Command. Those figures don’t capture the full scope of the ef-fort because many airstrikes launch multiple bombs on multiple targets. Central Command said that as of Wednesday, US and partner-nation air forces had dropped nearly 1,400 munitions.

O� cials say the strikes have squeezed IS and slowed its battle� eld momentum. More speci� cally, they claim they have destroyed an array of Islamic State military targets: com-mand posts, sniper positions, artillery guns, armed trucks, tanks, mortar po-sitions, buildings, mobile oil re� ner-ies and more. The Pentagon has shied from providing a body count, but Kir-by said several hundred IS � ghters have been killed in Kobani alone in recent days.

Yet the militants are making gains in some parts of Iraq, particular in Sun-ni-dominated Anbar province, even as they stall or retrench in other areas. At times they have appeared within reach of taking control of Syria’s Kobani. Baghdad is not believed to be in immi-nent danger of falling but it is “certain-ly in their sights,” Kirby said.

Some US analysts call Obama’s ap-proach overly cautious, given the com-paratively small number of airstrikes launched thus far and the president’s refusal to involve US soldiers more di-rectly in the ground war.

Calling it an “unserious air war,” analysts Mark Gunzinger and John Stil-lion of the Center for Strategic and Bud-getary Assessments wrote this week on the center’s website, “In the end, no matter the reason, the timorous use of air power against Islamic State � ghters in Iraq and Syria is unlikely to reduce the territory under their control, curb the brutal murder of innocent civilians or prevent the creation of a sanctuary for an enemy that has sworn to contin-ue its � ght on a more global scale.” l

Philippine rebels free German hostages

n Agencies

Two German hostages have been freed by the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines, the Philippines military and the group have said, on the day the group had threatened to kill one of them.

The AP news agency on Friday quot-ed the Philippine defence secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, as saying the group had released Stefan Okonek, 71, and Henrite Dielen, in her 50s.

An Abu Sayyaf spokesman told a local radio station that they had been freed after the payment of a ransom of $5.6m.

The rebels had demanded the ran-som and for Germany to stop support-ing US-led air strikes in Syria, and had threatened to kill Okonek on Friday if their demands were not met.

Gamzin said he was “not privy” to information about a ransom payment.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Zamboanga City, said the release came after a day of tense negotiations involving a former German ambassador.

Germany’s foreign ministry has con� rmed that the hostages had arrived at its embassy in Manila, according to the AFP news agency. l

Cameroon kills 107 Boko Haram � ghters

n AFP

Cameroon said Friday its army killed 107 Boko Haram � ghters, while a police of-� cer told AFP at least 30 civilians were murdered by the Islamist guerrilla group before the ambush.

The combat occurred Wednesday and Thursday after militants from the Nigeria-based Boko Haram drove into the border towns of Amchide and Lima-ni, Cameroon’s defence ministry said in a statement read on state radio.

O� cials said eight Cameroonian sol-diers died in the battle, which the minis-try called “� ghting of rare violence.”

It was not possible to independently verify the information or the toll.

Boko Haram rebels, who have been waging attacks in northern Nigeria and who kidnapped more than 200 school girls in April, frequently cross into neigh-bouring Cameroon. l

Power out for thousands in Bermuda as hurricane moves away

n Reuters

Power was out for tens of thousands in Bermuda on Saturday morning after Hurricane Gonzalo pummeled the island with torrential rain and howling winds through the night, but there have been no reports of serious injuries.

The eye of the strongest storm to sweep the subtropical British territory in a decade was 200 miles northeast of the island by early Saturday morning after making landfall the night before, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Gonzalo whipped the island with maximum sustained winds of around 110 miles per hour (175 kph), forecast-ers said, with hurricane force winds extending out some 45 miles (72 km) from the eye.

Damage from the storm was believed to be widespread in Bermu-da, a tourist destination and a� uent insurance industry hub, but authorities were waiting for daylight to assess the full extent of it, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Measures Organization said early on Saturday. l

South Korea concert planner found dead in Seongnam

n BBC

A man involved in planning a concert that ended in tragedy in South Korea on Friday has been found dead in an apparent suicide, police say.

Sixteen people died and 11 were in-jured when a ventilation grate collapsed during the concert in Seongnam.

The 37-year-old man, identi� ed as Mr Oh, worked for one of the sponsors and handled safety measures, o� cials say.

He is believed to have jumped from a 10-storey building near the venue after being questioned by police.

The body of Mr Oh, an employee of the Gyeonggi Institute of Science and Technology Promotion, was found early on Saturday morning, city spokesperson Kim Nam-jun said.

O� cials say he left a note to his wife which reads: “I am sorry for the dead victims. Please take a good care of my children.”

Police have questioned 15 others in relation to the incident, including em-ployees of the local online news service who organised the event, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. l

Israeli survivors from the blizzard hug each other, as they get ready to board a bus to the airport to head back to their country in Kathmandu October 18. Nepali troops on Saturday searched rugged snow-covered Himalayan terrain in their most intensive e� ort to � nd any remaining survivors of a blizzard that killed 30 people and injured 175 in one of the country’s worst mountain disasters. More than 40 people are still missing after unseasonal weather in peak trekking season unleashed avalanches on the 240-km (150-mile) route around Annapurna, the world’s 10th-tallest peak, which takes enthusiasts three weeks to � nish REUTERS

Iraqi government complete amid � erce � ghtingn BBC

Iraq’s parliament has approved new defence and interior ministers, com-pleting the new Iraqi government after weeks of delay.

Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a Shia, was appointed interior minister, while Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni, was con� rmed as defence minister.

It comes as Iraq’s military seeks to tackle Islamic State (IS) militants who have seized large parts of the country.

On Friday, a curfew was imposed in the city of Ramadi amid � erce � ghting.

The vote by Iraqi MPs will be a big relief both inside and outside Iraq after weeks of wrangling, says BBC Arab af-fairs editor Sebastian Usher.

A more inclusive cabinet is seen as an essential � rst step in countering IS � ghters, particularly among Iraq’s Sun-ni minority, our correspondent adds.

The previous Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was forced to resign in Au-gust, as the Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities accused his administra-tion of pursuing sectarian policies.

IS militants had exploited discon-tent with Mr Maliki’s government, ini-tially gaining the co-operation of some Sunni rebels.

A new unity government was sworn in on 8 September, headed by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, with Sunni and Kurdish deputy prime ministers.

However, the key posts of interi-or and defence minister had not been � lled until now, with previous nomi-nations by Mr Abadi rejected by parlia-ment.

Car bombsIraqi government forces, supported by US-led air strikes, are battling IS mili-tants near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and the city of Tikrit, which was seized by IS earlier this year.

Anbar is a strategically important province, and home to Iraq’s sec-ond-largest dam, the Haditha dam.

Seizing Anbar would give IS con-trol of a stretch of territory across much of Syria and Iraq, enabling it to establish a supply line and po-tentially launch attacks on the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

On Thursday, o� cials said more than 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of attacks in main-ly Shia areas of Baghdad.

The capital was rocked by further at-tacks on Friday night, as a series of car bombs killed at least 23 people.

Meanwhile, US military o� cials said in a statement that they had conducted 10 airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq, and 15 air strikes against IS targets in Syria, on Friday and Saturday.

IS buildings, oil facilities and armed vehicles were among the targets de-stroyed, the statement added. l

Residents have been disappointed too many times in the past by reports of progress

T H E J O Y O F R E U N I F I C A T I O N

Former Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam dis-cussed about “a world of nations where the divide between rural and ur-

ban, rich and the poor, developed and developing has to be narrowed down” at a ceremony marking the 110th Anni-versary of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in Dhaka yesterday.

Dr APJ Kalam presented the keynote address titled “Sustainable develop-ment system for a peaceful and pros-perous global society.” Following are the excerpts from his address:

I would like to share with you some points of my address and a joint call to the heads of states and governments who attended the 14th Saarc Summit at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 3rd April 2007. The subject I discussed with Saarc chiefs was Realizing the unique-ness of Saarc.

“Together we Saarc nations repre-sent 1.47 billion people (now 1.7 billion) of this planet, which is around 25% of the world population. The inspiring and unique aspects of Saarc countries, that we share, are: � rstly, the high intensity of bio-diversity in our region; secondly, we have the largest population of youth

of the world; thirdly, our combined pur-chasing power has the potential to be the highest in the world; and also we are blessed and interconnected with a civilizational heritage that goes back for thousands of years.

“What better environment can any region in the world have, which is more favorable for socio-economic develop-ment, promoting peace and prosperi-ty of the region as a whole, if we share a common vision and work together to realize our vision through dynamic mis-sions.”

As you all might know, India and Bangladesh are historically linked as friends and share trade, natural re-sources and people.

In terms of trade, over 15% of Bang-ladeshi imports come from India and Bangladesh is now India’s largest trading partner in the subcontinent with total trade volume crossing $6bn mark. In fact, experts predict that this number may even cross $10bn mark by 2018. Of course, for this to happen there has to be focused e� ort from the government and industries from both nations to reach out to each other.

This aspect needs to be addressed too as it harms industries for both India and Bangladesh. Both nations have to regulate their trade and business with border agreements and legal frame-work for trade and this will assist the economic progress of both the nations.

Global challengesToday, the challenges in some part of the world are poverty, illiteracy, need of safe drinking water, clean and green energy, equitable distribution of re-sources, quality education with values for all, overcoming societal imbalanc-es, curing diseases, quality healthcare for all and good living conditions.

Individual nations are working to � nd a solution to these challenges. However, we are clearly witnessing that challenges faced by nations are not only of their making or the solu-tions amenable only by the individual nations. There are many international dimensions for the cause and solu-tions. Hence, working for solutions is a collective responsibility of the global community.

Also, when nations start working on the common enemies of illiteracy, poor health care etc, their tendency to focus on national, regional and global peace with better mutual trust is ena-bled. The global challenges take vari-ous manifestations based on the local dynamics which are interconnected on

various factors.

Dynamics of global manifestationsThe world today is integrally connect-ed through four rapid connectivities. They are environment, people, econ-omy and ideas. We all know the glob-al warming and climate change are no loner problems of individual nations, they are planetary problems.

In the present time, a single prod-uct may be made out of components sourced from multiple continents and provide services to markets far o� from their place of origin. We also saw, how the economic turbulence originating in one part of the globe shook the whole world.

GlobalisationWhen I was traveling in an aircraft in USA, I was told that much of its con-trols were software driven and most probably developed in India. When I presented my credit card, I was told that it was being processed in the back-end server located in Mauritius. When I walked into a multinational software company in Bangalore, I was fascinated to � nd that it truly presented a multi-cultural environment.

A software developer from China,

working under a project leader from Korea, working with a software engi-neer from India and a hardware archi-tect from the US and communication expert from Germany, were all working together to solve the banking problem in Australia.

When I see all of them working to-gether like one family forgetting about the culture from which they came or the language they speak, I feel that the only hope for such borderless interac-tion to continue is to inculcate the spir-it of “borderlessness” in every human activity on our planet Earth.

Based on detailed discussions in many educational institutions across the world and with many citizens in India and abroad from multiple organ-izations, and disciplines, I am happy to present to you on distinctive pro� le for the Nations of the World in 2030, as follows:

Out-of-the-box Ideas needed: Focus SaarcThe Saarc region, to which we all be-long, today represent about 1 out of every four human beings on the planet. Moreover, the region has a high con-centration of youth of the world and is rich with great traditions, cultures, and religions. At the same time, because of the high population the region is also marked by low per capita resources availability which necessitates a focus on e� cient and eco-friendly manage-ment of the resources. Some of the na-tions of the region are within the trop-ics and near the coasts, which makes

them vulnerable to the changing cli-mate conditions, both in terms of hab-itat variations and natural calamities. Moreover, they have a high rural pop-ulation percentage, mainly involved in agricultural activities, about 50% of the total employed workforce.

The region, while it represents emergent economies, also has the chal-lenges of overcoming poverty, inequity and societal disparities which are more than other regions in the world. Thus, with such a human resource and op-portunities, how can we empower the people of the Saarc region with eco-nomic prosperity and security, peace and harmony?

This will be the most vital question to address in our quest towards a World Vision 2030. We will need systems of sustainable development for the inter-national rural community which today account for about half of humanity. Empowering of these 3 billion people worldwide, out of which more than half are in Saarc region, will be the ba-sis of our discussion further. One such system of empowerment is that of Pura or Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas.

In my view for achieving sustainable development system in our rural com-plexes, we need Pura – Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, which envis-ages four types of connectivity, name-ly; physical, electronic and knowledge

connectivity leading to economic con-nectivity of the complex. Such Pura is driven by rural entrepreneurship and becomes a growth centre for the entire region.

Pura: Connectivities which lead to itPura essentially requires four levels of connectivity which have to be custom-ised according to local competencies and needs. It means that:

l The villages must be connected with in themselves and with main towns and metros through by good roads and wherever needed by rail-way lines. They must have other

infrastructure like schools, colleg-es, hospitals and amenities for the local population and the visitors. This is physical connectivity.

l In the emerging knowledge era, the native knowledge has to be pre-served and enhanced with latest tools of technology, training, and research. The villages have to have access to good education from best teachers wherever they are, must have the bene� t of good medical treatment, and must have latest in-formation on their pursuits like ag-riculture, � shery, horticulture and food processing. That means they have to have electronic connectivity.

l Once the physical and electron-ic connectivity are enabled, the knowledge connectivity is enabled. That can facilitate the ability to in-crease the productivity, the utili-sation of spare time, awareness of health welfare, ensuring a market for products, increasing quality conscience, interacting with part-ners, getting the best equipment, increasing transparency and so in general knowledge connectivity, that progresses core competence of the rural environment with addi-tional to technology. Hence, these three connectivities integrated way lead to economic connectivity.

l Once the three connectivities viz physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity are ensured, they fa-cilitate earning capacity leading to economic connectivity. When we provide urban amenities to rural areas (Pura), we can lead to uplift-ment of rural areas, we can attract investors, we can introduce ef-fectively useful systems like rural BPOs, Micro Finance and small-scale industries.

India will need 7000 Pura complex-es with the four connectivities which I have discussed. There are numbers of operational Pura in our country, initi-ated by mane educational, healthcare institutions, industry and other insti-tutions. Government of India is already moving ahead with the implementa-tion of Pura on the national scale across several districts of India.

Bangladesh, with over 100 million rural citizens would need about 1000 Pura complexes to make its rural areas vibrant engines of development and growth. These Puras can be based on agriculture, such as jute and � sh prod-ucts, industry including Hi-tech and tourism. I am sure MCCI, with wide

scale industrial partnerships can play an active role in realising such a sus-tainable development mission.

Khulna division Pura complexes in BangladeshLet me now present a Pura Model for the Khulna Division of Bangladesh. It represents a population of over 15 mil-lion out of which over 10 million are ru-ral. The region represents forecast and deltaic conditions - and we calculate that about 150 Pura complexes need to be developed in the region.

One of the primary agro products of the region is Jute and Jute Products. As new products are coming, we need to

� nd how technological advances in the Jute Industry can help the empower-ment of the jute manufacturers of Khu-na Pura Complexes and improve their income. For this we need a cooperative based structure by the farmers who manage production, processing, tech-nological reinforcement and marketing of the Jute products in the regions as independent enterprises.

Recently, I came across the Jute-thermoplastic composite based shoe components (toe pu� & counter sti� eners) that have been developed under a project launched by a pri-vate company with technology sup-port from the Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA), Kolka-ta. The project aimed at developing jute-thermoplastic composite compo-nents such as toe pu� , counter sti� en-er, insoles etc. for footwear thus giving value addition and competitive advan-tage to the Jute products. There should be a free � ow of such knowledge and skills of the Jute industry between var-ious nations to the mutual bene� t of India and Bangladesh. About 50 Puras can be built around this core compe-tency. MCCI can act as a facilitator for such a mission.

Another skill based industry of the Khulna Division Puras would be that of the Bamboo based products which has been traditional product of the region. This would need formation of Self Help Groups who are trained and developed as entrepreneurs. About 30 Puras can be built around this core competency. India has a rich experience of Bamboo products in its North Eastern regions.

The scienti� c community also need to � nd ways to enhance the value of the products. For example, coir, jute and bamboo are not providing continuous � bre. In addition, they absorb moisture and they are not � re proof. Research and development input is needed to

make these � bres, moisture proof and � re proof. I would like to suggest MCCI to come together and create a Platform for natural � bres.

For India and Bangladesh, it is a great opportunity to take a visionary action to replace and eliminate plas-tic products throughout the world by technology, development and market-ing.

The largest mangrove forest in the world – the Sundarban – is spread over the three most southern districts of Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat with-in the Khulna Division. This is a great opportunity to focus on development of forest products and eco-tourism which can be the core economic ac-tivity of about 25 out of the total Puras discussed. There can be allied industry of hospitality, tour guide which can generate multiple employment oppor-tunities.

The key human development needs, which are largely derivatives of the ex-treme poverty, can be enlisted as, and need to focus on in the Khulna Pura mission:l Literacy level and vocational train-

ingl Focus of social entrepreneurs who

can bring clean water, hygiene and sanitation to the people. Recently, the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has developed Green Toilets based on Vaccum and Bacteria Digesters for the Indian Railways which can be employed in the rural develop-ment domain as well.

Lack of access to � nancial services, with only few commercial bank o� ces present in the area. More � nancial ser-vices are the need of the hour.

Lack of healthcare facilities propels the demand of innovatively laid out healthcare services. l

9Sunday, October 19, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE Special

Building bridges

Distinctive pro� le for the Nations of the World in 2030l A world of nations where the divide

between rural and urban, rich and the poor, developed and developing has narrowed down.

l A world of nations where there is an eq-uitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.

l A world where core competencies of each nation are identi� ed. Missions synergizing the core competencies of di� erent nations lead to economic advantage and faster development for all the societies.

l A world of nations where all the students of all societies are imparted education with value system.

l A world of nations where a� ordable quality health care is available to all.

l A world of nations where the gover-nance is responsive, transparent and corruption free.

l A world of nations where crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated.

l A world in which every nation is able to give a clean green environment to its citizens.

l A world that is prosperous, healthy, se-cure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.

l A world of nations with creative leader-ship who ensure e� ective mechanisms to resolve con� icts between nations and societies in a timely manner keeping overall peace and prosperity of the world as a goal.

Qualities of Leadershipa. Leader must have a vision.b. Leader must have a passion to

accomplish the mission.c. Leader must be able to travel into an

unexplored path.d. Leader must know how to manage a

success and failure.e. Leader must have courage to take

decision.f. Leader should have Nobility in man-

agement.g. Every action of the leader should be

transparent.h. Leader should work with integrity

and succeed with integrity.I have been discussing these es-

sential traits of creative leaders with people of eminence in di� erent areas and students from India and abroad. Apart from this what is needed is the spirit among the youth that “I can do it, we can do it and the nation can do it.”

APJ Abdul Kalam delivering his keynote speech RAJIB DHAR

I feel that the only hope for such borderless interaction to continue is to inculcate the spirit of ‘borderlessness’ in every human activity on our planet Earth

The region [Saarc], while it represents emergent economies, also has the challenges of overcoming poverty, inequity and societal disparities which are more than other regions in the world

Dhaka Tribune presents excerpts from APJ Abdul Kalam’s keynote address from the 110th anniversary of MCCI

Make abortions safe, not life-threateningA growing number of women are resorting to abortions in

unsafe conditions and facilities.The number of unwanted pregnancies is especially high

among teenage girls and our reporters in Dhaka found more than 150 unsafe illegal abortions taking place every day in Mirpur and Shyamoli alone.

There are believed to be over half a million women su� ering from complications from unsafe and illegal abortions. With the demand for abortion growing, there is a marked risk of this � gure rising.

The government needs to review the law and facilities available to ensure that more women do not su� er the life threatening risks inherent in illegal and unsafe abortions.

At present, the law makes it illegal for women to get an abortion after 10 weeks of conception and severely limits the facilities and options available for most women.

The lack of available legal facilities willing to do abortions has only increased the number of women undertaking procedures in poorly monitored or unsafe facilities.

No woman should have to � nd herself in a situation in which she has to resort to back alley abortions that might, and at times do, cause irreparable harm, or, worse, may even cost her life.

Women should have the fundamental right to get an abortion, at least anytime during their � rst trimester and partly through their second trimester. It needs to be viewed as a medical procedure that medical professionals are able to provide in ways which are inexpensive and safe. There should be no harassment or unfair treatment to women who consider or undergo abortions.

Building new cities helps

Singapore has expressed interest in constructing an independently-operating city which would incorporate modern-day facilities on the outskirts of Dhaka at Purbachal.

Bangladesh can bene� t greatly by building this type of proposed new urban centre. It could both improve infrastructure and support moves towards decentralisation to relieve pressures on Dhaka.

Although building an entirely new city is a massive undertaking, the experience and capability available from Singapore should provide a � llip to its construction and quality.

With people from all parts of the country migrating in at an inexorable rate, the resources and infrastructure of Dhaka are being exhausted well beyond the city’s capacity. This is a direct result of the capital being considered the sole urban zone which can o� er a decent living in the minds of many Bangladeshis.

We need to build more modern centres and facilities all around the country to reduce the pressures caused by this perception. In terms of costs, building a city from-the-ground-up is more likely to save money in the long run than simply pouring increasing amounts of funds into improving the condition of Dhaka alone, which, in the past, has yielded little in the way of desired results.

New cities are just what the country needs in order to shift the brunt of the focus away from Dhaka – a city which we’ve been continuously failing to take better care and preserve the heritage of – and bring the rest of the country up to standards.

Aamir Khan made UNICEF ambassador for South AsiaOctober 12

Tousif Jamal Well deserved, and someone who will sin-cerely work to make a positive impact.

Shakil Khan Yes, Aamir Khan is the best.

Police: Zubair was murderedOctober 13

Samia Khan Waiting to hear what kind of punishment will be given to Kadir, the killer.

Bullet from own gun kills a SIOctober 11

Sulaiman Shaheed Reyha He probably had no idea that there was a trigger lock in his gun.

Editorial10 DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

ACROSS1 Sooty matter (4)6 Short sleep (3)7 Conceal (4)9 Miss achievement (4)10 Trees (5)11 Singer (5)12 First woman (3)14 Evil spirit (5)17 Lowest point (5)20 Land measure (3)21 Whole sum (5)23 Cried, as a cat (5)25 Fissure (4)26 Minute particle (4)27 Facial twitch (3)28 Expensive (4)

DOWN1 Make more malleable (6)2 Combined (6)3 Story (4)4 Loud noise (3)5 Acceptance (3)7 Employ (4)8 Interior decoration (5)10 School of whales (3)13 Manservant (5)15 Evil intent (6)16 Drink of the gods (6)18 Article (4)19 Slender stick (3)22 Dry (4)23 Insane (3)24 A� iction (3)

CROSSWORD

How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

SUDOKU

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a di� erent letter of the alphabet. For example, today 2 represents U so � ll U every time the � gure 2 appears.You have two letters in the control grid to start you o� . Enter them in the appro-priate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.As you get the letters, � ll in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check o� the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS

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Will the real Muslim please stand up?October 12

RoonieThe writer is confused. I couldn’t get his message. It seems it’s easy these days to become famous overnight by writing anything against Islam. The writer tried to do exactly this.

Evil people politics Roonie: There’s nothing in this article that explic-itly spells out the writer being against Islam. Give the article a thorough read before you attempt to talk smack about it.

Momoaswan Roonie: On the contrary, the writer’s message is very clear, and there’s nothing in his piece to suggest he is trying to become famous by stigma-tising Mulsims.

The piece clearly implies Maher could play the Joker without any make-up (correct), and states he is wrong to stereotype all Muslims as the same. An obvious point but one that constantly needs to be made – it is one thing for a privileged Western atheist to criticise all religions, but when the same person goes on to say Islam is a uniquely bad re-ligion, that is not only unfair, but is Islamophobic as, regardless of Maher’s views, it appeals to rac-ists who care little about religion vs atheism, but are afraid of brown people.

Kashef Golam MdRoonie: The writer isn’t confused. Nor is he writ-ing anything against Islam. He’s actually defending

it against allegations of supremacy. I can see how some people might get angry that he puts Islam on the same level as other religions, but that’s just the inability of those people to soften their hearts and minds or to see beyond the super� cial.

Qtiya Roonie: If one writes about garbage itself, there would be plenty of mention of garbage. Hardly circular logic. He has only stated well understood (but less echoed) facts.

Thanks for truly identifying what the religion actually is.

Faceless ManAs per the Islamic rules, s/he who follows the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad is the quintessential Muslim. So there isn’t none is not an acceptable statement to the religious Muslim because there are many who are constantly and relentlessly trying to be so.

Kashef Golam Md Faceless Man: Yes they are, and they’re ending up in di� erent places. That’s what this article is say-ing. That’s a reality of the world and that’s a reality only a blind and fanatic fool will deny, religious or irreligious.

Faceless Man Kashef Golam Md: That doesn’t necessarily disprove my point though that there are quintes-sential Muslims and searching them is not a fool’s errand.

John Faithful HamerThere is, in your approach, a basic decency, a kindheartedness, a commitment to fairness, and a sense of humour, which are all sorely lacking in most writing on this subject. Thank you for bring-ing some sanity into a discussion that’s so often shrill, stupid, and – as you say – sophomoric.

New cities are just what the country needs in order to shift the brunt of the focus away from Dhaka

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

No woman should have to take the risks inherent in unsafe abortion

Piash Karim passes awayOctober 13

Sheikh Jinat MahmidRIP sir.

Naushad Ehsanul Huq One of the last, very few presentable intelligent people on the BNP side. I didn’t agree with all that he said, but it was inspiring to see how he dealt with some of the political hawks.

Parvej Ahmed ChowdhuryMay God ensure you a restful peace. Goodbye, boss. Heaven for you, insha’allah.

No impunity for sexual harassment

October 12

Bushra Mollick “Attitudes which normalise sexual harassment make

it harder to deter violent crimes against women.”This is a good piece.

OMSome etymologists think eve teasing only goes back to the 1960s, even though the very use of

the Biblical name Eve, with its old-school connota-tions of woman=temptress, re� ects attitudes that

are more Stone Age than Space age.

n Faisal Mahmud

I unknowingly fell in love with Milan Kundera’s work during my childhood. Renowned physicist

Dr Ali Asgar used to live on the fourth � oor of our building, and his younger son Vaskar was my classmate, and probably the � rst friend I’d ever made. Almost every time I went to his house, he secretly brought out a book from his father’s library (a huge library, which probably had over 10,000 books), and we both read a part of that book intensely.

Now, I feel no shame to admit that it was a guilty pleasure. The book was a Bengali translation of one of Kundera’s � nest work – The Joke. And the part we used to read was the one where Helena inadvertently stripped in front of Lud-vik. I can’t remember properly right now for how long we continued to do that, but it was after my SSC exams that I actually thought of reading the whole book.

I read the whole book (an Eng-lish translation), and it was a mixed journey back then. It was hard for me to understand the complex nature of Ludvik and I was too naïve to compre-hend the jokes of Ludvik’s life. But the book did one good thing for me – it up-graded my reading habits from Je� ery Archer to a whole new level.

Four years later, when I was a sec-ond-year university student, I read the book again. But things had changed a bit by then. I was kind of in� uenced by Samajtantric Chhatra Front (socialist student union) and I used to read a lot about communism. The journey was amazing then. “A healthy atmosphere stinks of stupidity!” “Long live Trot-sky!” I was actually able to grasp the humour of that amazing line.

My a� ection for Kundera started then. PG Wodehouse is the writer who I would claim to be my favourite, but Kundera was something else. The hunt for his book in the old bookstores at Nilkhet had begun. The � rst one I found was Slowness. I read it; how much it had in� uenced me I can now say by giving one example – I enrolled for the French language course in Alliance Francaise, and when the in-structor asked the customary question “why do you want to learn French?” I had replied “I want to read Slowness in French.” Slowness was one of Kunde-ra’s books originally written in French instead of Czech.

Anyway, I dropped out only two semesters later, and the only line in French I can remember is – “Je re-viendrai à apprendre le français” (I will

be coming back to learn French).Within a year, I found � ve of his ten

novels. I could have easily gone to the large bookshops or asked my brother living abroad to send me Kundera’s books, but I just didn’t want to miss the sheer joy of hunting down his books one-by-one in the vast jungle of old books at Nilkhet.

My favorite Kundera novel to date is The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It explores the artistic and intellectu-al life in Czech society during their Communist period, from the Prague Spring to the Soviet Union’s August 1968 invasion and its aftermath. I really can’t explain why, but I think the character Sabina, which Kundera sketched in that book as the epitome of the “lightness” of being, is a haunt-ing character. Through her character, Kundera tried to portray love as � eet-ing, haphazard, and an endless string of insigni� cant coincidences. It was kind of scary to me.

Later, I saw its � lm adaptation, and the character was portrayed by Lena Olin in the � lm. She was amazing in her part, which consolidated my idea of considering Sabina the “haunting character,” who would repeatedly come to someone’s dream and whisper “life is insigni� cant, and decisions do not matter.”

I haven’t read any of Kundera’s works for the last six years. Somehow, my literary appetite has reached a place where I now prefer reading Read-er’s Digest (no o� ense, it’s the greatest magazine of all time) instead of pure literature. But for every year since 2005, I have been eagerly waiting for the announcement: “This year, Czech writer Milan Kundera gets the Nobel prize for literature.” Unfortunately, I have been reminded time and again that Santa isn’t real. That blasted little prize! l

Faisal Mahmud is a journalist with Dhaka Tribune.

n Niaz Saki

Latif Siddique has gotten him-self into quite some trouble for saying things he shouldn’t have.

He has done that before, but this time he has said things so sensitive that he has ended up being shunned by both his party and the government. This outcome doesn’t seem to have made anyone upset either. If someone in a high-ranking position talks without using common sense, he could possi-bly be cut some slack for that mistake only.

However, the issue didn’t quite end there. The two initiatives by both the government and the opposition are no-ticeable. The opposition is desperate to turn the words of an overly talkative minister into the government’s fault. The public is not really buying that. It’s as though the BNP has turned politics that is detached from public sentiment into its own special brand in the last two years. The BNP will have to pay the price for its own faults – there is

not much more to say to that. However, the behaviour of the rul-

ing party is questionable as well. The Awami League has proven its political wisdom by announcing the immediate expulsion of Latif Siddique from both

the parliament and the party, and by quickly making it e� ective. However, the problem is somewhere else. We have noticed, with much surprise, that a bunch of allegations of corruption and even possible cases against Latif

Siddique have come forward shortly after he created trouble for the party by mouthing o� in the wrong way. If there are credible allegations of corruption against any minister, they should be properly investigated. If there is evidence, cases should also be � led. However, one question still remains: Why is there a sudden rush to prove him corrupt now?

The � rst and main crime of Latif Siddique was his horribly o� en-sive comment about religion. Being expelled from the parliament and the party was the proper punishment for him. But allegations and cases about corruption being part of the punish-ment for his crime is quite strange. Does this mean that as long as minis-ters can get away with saying insen-sible things, they don’t need to worry about their actual conduct?

Also, were the allegations that have come forward against Latif Siddique completely unknown till now? If they were known, how did he manage to stay as minister for so long? Does this

mean that as long as the wrong words don’t come out of your mouth, you can stay minister as long as you want?

It can’t be said that he has be-come the focus of the ACC because

of his corruption. His real crime was embarrassing his party by saying insensitive things. So, you can engage in corruption, but you have to watch your mouth when you talk – is that the lesson to be learnt for those who are left in the cabinet?

If this is not the message the government is trying to send, then before some new “Latif” is discovered, the government should pay attention to three things when it comes to minis-ters: Do they regularly talk too much? Are they incompetent in their work? And, are they corrupt? If someone is guilty of one or more of the faults mentioned above, then they should be scrutinised a bit more. Get rid of them before something really bad happens.

Eating a mango to see if it gives you stomach ache is not the best way of identifying rotten mangoes. If you think a bad odour is coming from a basket full of mangoes, examine them. If there are rotten mangoes there, toss them out before they reach your mouth.

Until the government is being more vigilant about picking its ministers, my advice towards our honourable minis-ters would be this: No matter what you do, watch what you say! l

Niaz Saki is a researcher and columnist.

11Op-Ed Sunday, October 19, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Iffat Nawaz

Imagine a scenario: You are in a long car ride, not with your fam-ily, but say, your co-workers. Im-agine you are a working woman and you leave Dhaka frequently

for work. Most of your colleagues are men, and they are passionate about their work just as you are. You go visit locations, collect stories, or work to-wards the development of something or other.

You wake up early and walk down village roads, sit near rivers, talk to people, collect data, take videos — whatever the work requires. And then you head back, presumably in a car. Your days are so consuming that you don’t think about timely meals or other bodily needs, including the need to use the toilet.

Then you sit in cars for hours, two, three, four, six, seven. The highways support your movement and teach you how to hold it in. You do not mention your need to use the toilet as you doubt the existence of decent toilets, in the rest stops or CNG stations, for women. And even if you are okay with those poorly maintained out� ts, you are embarrassed to tell the driver or your colleagues to stop.

And you hold it in longer, you hold it in till it burns, till your lower abdomen is in pain. Even if you want to, you cannot squat in the bushes, even if you are okay with a hole in the ground, you stop yourself because oth-ers would be uncomfortable. So you look at the houses by the highway and ponder which home may have had a

decent toilet for you to use. Your bodily needs make you feel

like a lesser being. You cannot stand and pee facing a wall like your male counterparts, you are afraid to drink water or any other liquid for hours at a time, worried it will make the situation worse.

Have you been in this position before? If you are a man then you probably have not, but if you are a woman, then you have, at least once

in your life, haven’t you? Some of you have developed urinary tract infec-tion, you have taken antibiotics trying to balance between being a capable professional woman and just a human with humanly needs.

With all the development around the country, with all the women’s em-powerment talk, no one has thought about the need for women who travel, and how they might need toilets, that they also need to empty their insides. And the capable professional wom-an has also kept quiet in the fear of

seeming weaker, with the “if it is not a problem for him, then it should not be a problem for her” logic.

I have done this countless times, others I know have too. Some reading this may say, it is my fault for not speaking up. And perhaps it is, but you see, this problem dates back a long while, starting from school, when our mothers discouraged us to make use of school toilets because they were pub-lic and hence unhygienic. Same thing

continues into college and university and then in the workplace. Now my question is, does the perfect Bengali girl not pee?

And say you do express yourself and ask someone – most likely a man – that you need to use a restroom. You will notice the shyness on his face, and then of course the silent urgency for him to go � nd a toilet. He will most likely go consult a few others and � gure out the best place for you to be “fresh” (most commonly used term towards woman referring to the need

to pee), he will return with one or two more people, and the whole bazar is now aware that you are looking for a place to urinate, so you walk down the road and go to the toilet found for you, and the entire time everyone looks at you from the corners of their eyes, you are no longer the perfect Bengali woman, you are open about your bod-ily needs, you talk about the needs of your privates. How unwomanly of you!

Every educated person talks about gender equality these days, people say they support treating each other right. Yet, even after long gender trainings and awareness in this issue, we skirt over these basics which make us feel uncomfortable and often lead us towards illness, all for one of the most natural needs.

Dear prime minister, will you build us a thousand toilets so we can work around the country? We promise we won’t challenge our cultural norms too much, we will not talk about urination openly, we will just point to these out� ts and tell our male colleagues “ektu fresh hotey hobe.” We will keep the toilets clean, we will even pay for it if that makes it easier.

And dear male colleagues, we have an ovary, we have a uterus, but we also have a liver and kidneys and the same organs which urge you to empty yourselves, so please don’t be embar-rassed, it’s not news, we do it every day. Please don’t make us feel sorry for it, it’s as natural for us as it is for you, seriously, shotti bolchi. l

I� at Nawaz is Acting Editor, Art & Letters, Dhaka Tribune.

How long can we hold it in?S A L T A N D H O N E Y

BIGSTOCK

With all the women’s empowerment talk, no one has thought about the need for women who travel, and how they might need toilets

Were the allegations that have come forward against Latif Siddique completely unknown till now?

I have been waiting for the announcement: ‘This year, Czech writer Milan Kundera gets the Nobel prize’

Kundera and the little prize

Any more Latifs in the cabinet?

WIKIMEDIA

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Exhibition The Macabre WorldBy Subrata Das, Time: 9:30am – 8:00pmEMK Centre, MIDAS Center, Dhanmondi

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InspirationTime: 3pm – 8pmDrik Gallery, House 58, Road 15A

Kill Bill: Vol 1HBO, 7:32pm

Uma Thurman and David Car-radine in an action crime movie about a bride who wakes up from a four-year coma.

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US Marshal Teddy Daniels is as-signed the task of investigating the disappearance of a patient from Shutter Island.

Thor 2: The Dark WorldStar Movies, 9:30pm

Thor battles to save all the Nine Realms from a mysterious enemy older than the universe itself.

DHAKA TRIBUNE Entertainment Sunday, October 19, 201412

Bengal Classical Music Festival starts on November 27, registration starts early Novembern Entertainment Desk

This years Bengal Classical Music Fes-tival 2014 will take place from Novem-ber 27 to December 1 at the Bangladesh Army Stadium. The registration for the festival will be open from the � rst week of November.

Organised by Bengal Foundation and supported by ITC Sangeet Research Academy, the � ve day event will be fea-ture the major proponents of classical music from both Bangladesh and India.

Bidushi Girija Devi, Pandit Shivku-mar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaur-

asia, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Ustad Rajan Misra and Sajan Misra, Sandeep Banerji, Pandit Samar Saha, Uday Shankar Malaka, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Ulhas N Kashalkar, Kaushiki Desikan, Bishal, and Krishna Mukh are among the stel-lar names who are scheduled to per-form in this years roster. Promising ar-tistes Kishori Amonkar and Shamihaan Kalshkar will also showcase their craft.

Supriya Das, Rajrupa, Dr Asit Roy, Moniruzzaman, Nishit Dey, and Sho-rup are among the Bangladeshi artistes who will be featured in the show. l

Rabbu Bhaiyer Bou: a real-life story depicted on screenn Entertainment Desk

Very few real-life lovers live a life that makes a story worth telling. Ask Partho Barua, and you will get a dif-ferent answer. Enter, Rabbu – Partho's childhood friend, who's stories were so good that Partho though it had the elements of a drama-series. Partho then shared the idea with Imrul Ra-fat, a director.

Now, Partho, Rafat, and Sayeduz-zaman Mithu from Tom Creations

have realised the idea to a point where Channel 9 will air Rabbu Bhai-yer Bou at 9:30 every Saturday, Sun-day and Monday.

Speaking about his creation, and its naming, Partho said: “The title of the drama could be changed to some-thing di� erent other than mentioning Rabbu. But we kept the original name to convey reality.”

Partho plays the character of Rabbu while Aparna Ghosh plays the wife.

Based on Partho Barua'a story, Im-

raul Rafat has written the screenplay and has directed the drama serial. His take on style of the drama is: “Every story will take three episodes to por-tray. Sometimes the audience loses concentration when the story seems long. So we are presenting Rabbu through short stories.”

Kochi Khondokar, Shirin Alam, Irfan Sazzad, Tousif Mahbub, Toya, Ishika Khan, Joynal Jack and oth-ers played in the drama along with Partho and Aparna. l

Nagorik presents Nam Gotrohin Mantor Meyeran Entertainment Desk

Theatre troupe Nagorik Natya Sam-pradaya will stage “Nam Gotrohin Mantor Meyera” as part of the “Bot-Tala-RangaMela 2014” festival on October 29 at the National Theatre of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The 44th production of the troupe is based on Saadat Hasan Manto’s novels “Kaali Shalwar,” “License” and

“Hatak,” the play is directed by famed Indian theatre activist and director Usha Ganguly.

“Kaali Shalwar,” the � rst story por-trays Sultana, a sex worker who recently migrated from Ambala to Delhi with her escort Khodabox. Because of war and poverty, Sultana and Khodabox su� er and she presses Khodhabox to return to their previous living arrangement.

The second story was on Man-

to’s “License,” which showed how a woman cannot get a license to drive a horse carriage but can easily get to sell her body and dignity on the back-drop of a patriarchal society.

In the third story “Hatak,” Sugond-hi is approached by a police constable who promises to meet all her expecta-tions and demands, in return he wants her to leave her profession as a sex worker and lead an honourable life. l

n Entertainment Desk

Haseena Parker … you probably have heard of the name … Does Dawood Ibrahim ring a bell?

Haseena was Dawood’s younger sister and aide, her-self prominent enough to warrant a biopic. And Apoor-va Lakhia is making just that. Rani Mukherjee, who,

after “Mardaani,” only chooses tough and challenging scripts, has been o� ered the lead reole in the movie. The � lm is titled “Haseena” for now; shooting is ex-pected to start by November.

Hassena became well known after her husband Ismail Parkar was gunned down by members of

the Arun Gawli gang in 1991. Dawood avenged his brother-in-law’s murder by gunning down the mur-

derers in the infamous J J Hospital shoot-out. Later, Haseena moved into an apartment in Nagpada

and soon became the “godmother” of the area. On July 4, she passed away at Dongri hospital following a mas-

sive heart attack. About the movie, a source close to the � lmmaker said, “Till late last year, Apoorva was in touch with Haseena and her family. He wants to ensure that every detail is right. He himself spent a lot of time with Haseena to understand the com-plexities of her life.”

Explaining the director’s choice of Rani, the source added, “Apoorva believes that Rani

will do complete justice to the role. She can pull o� the part with con� dence and aplomb, which is why he zeroed down on her.”

For the role, Rani Mukherjee had to gain some weight and the lead stars need to at-

tend a workshop to understand the manner-ism and culture of the powerful yet dangerous lady. l

RANI MUKHERJEE to play Dawood Ibrahim’s sister

FARHAN AKHTAR sings for Zoya in Dil Dhadakne Don Entertainment Desk

Apart from acting in his sister Zoya Akhtar’s upcoming directorial venture “Dil Dhadakne Do,” Farhan Akhtar is also co-producing the � lm. The multi-talented star has now also recorded a song for the multi-starrer.

According to an insider close to the production, the lyrics of the track have been penned by Zoya and Farhan’s father and veteran writer Javed Akhtar. “Even though Farhan is currently busy shooting for Bejoy Nambiar’s next � lm, he has been making the time to visit the recording studio regularly. He has also been exchanging notes with Zoya on how the � lm’s sound track should shape up,” says the source.

Incidentally, for this song, this will be the third time that Farhan will team up with composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. He began his singing career with them in “Rock On” in 2008 and also worked with them for the number “Senorita” from Zoya’s second � lm, “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” in 2011.

“Dil Dhadakne Do” is about a dysfunctional Punjabi family where

Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh will be playing siblings. The � lm will be shot extensively on a cruise liner exploring various interesting locations in Europe such as Spain,

Turkey, Italy, France etc. “Dil Dhadakne

Do” will also star Anushka Sharma and Anil Kapoor in prominent roles and is slated

to release on June 5, 2015. l

CHRISTIAN BALE to play Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's latest creationn Entertainment Desk

Former Batman actor Bale, 40, has reportedly been in discussions with Sony about the movie after Leonardo

DiCaprio turned it down. Fellow Oscar-winner Aaron Sorkin is writing the script.

Sorkin, who worked on “The Social Net-work” and “The West Wing,” has revealed

that the � lm will be split into three parts including the launch of the Mac comput-

er, the start of Jobs' computer company NeXT and the birth of the iPod.

Talking to US website the Daily Beast Sorkin, 53, says of Jobs, who died three years ago from pancreatic

cancer at the age of 56: "It's a little like writing about The Beatles.

"There are so many people out there who know him and re-vere him."

The � rst big-screen e� ort about Jobs starring 36-year-old Kutcher and directed by Josh-ua Michael Stern was univer-

sally panned, with Rotten To-matoes describing it as shallow:

"It is an ambitious but skin-deep portrait of an in� uential, complex

� gure."If everything goes to plan the

forthcoming - as yet unnamed - � lm will start shooting early next year. l

Aparna and Partho in a scene from ‘Rabbu Bhaiyer Bou’

13DHAKA TRIBUNESunday, October 19, 2014

Sport 1414 Cavani sent o� after sniper celebration

Ronaldo double propels Real to another rout

15 Queensland chase down 399, Dunk’s 229 in vain

Did you know?Sergio Aguero (61)

has now scored more Premier League goals

for Manchester City than any other player

BFF sacks national coach de Kruifn Shishir Hoque

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has sacked national head coach Lodewijk de Kruif and assistant coach Rene Koster yesterday. National coach Saiful Bari Titu will step in temporarily to take charge of the Red and Greens for the two international friendly matches against Sri Lanka later this month.

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin con-� rmed the decision of � ring de Kruif and stated ‘lack of sincerity’ from the Dutch coach, who spent 210 days on va-cation during their 16-month job with the national team, as the reason.

“He (Kruif) is no more with the Ban-gladesh Football Federation. As long as I’m in this chair, these coaches will not be working here again. The reason is their lack of sincerity. They are with the national team for 16 months now and we have paid them for 12 months, but they were not in the country for seven months,” said the BFF chief at the BFF House yesterday.

“We provided car, � at and air tickets for them and their family. Yet they did not seem satis� ed. They always com-plain and it keeps on getting published in the media. I wanted this non sense to end,” he added.

After de Kruif and Koster’s appoint-ment in July 2013, the con� ict between the coaches and the federation sparked when the Dutch duo started complain-ing about several issues especially their unpaid dues as BFF paid them wages of 12 months while their salary for three

months remains unpaid.De Kruif cited his father’s illness

and returned to Holland after the Asian Games while Koster also accompanied him and the duo was asked to return on October 9 before the national camp for the Sri Lanka friendlies kicked o� . However, both de Kruif and Koster disagreed to return if the dues aren’t cleared instantly.

De Kruif later changed his mind and decided to return as BFF sent him his air

ticket and he was scheduled to land in Dhaka yesterday night, but yet another demand from the Dutch irked the BFF chief. After completing the internation-al friendlies de Kruif wanted to attend a Fifa seminar in Malaysia and head to-wards Holland for another vacation.

“He (de Kruif) said he will come to Dhaka and take his salary then he will be on the � eld during two matches against Sri Lanka and then he wanted to go to Malaysia for a coaches’ seminar and after that he wanted to go back to Netherlands.

“I don’t understand this,” said Sala-huddin before continuing with, “I pay him day after day but he will work two days and spend three days on vacation. It cannot go on.”

“Two and half months ago, 98% vot-ed against keeping the coaches during an executive committee meeting as they were not sincere in their job but i tried to keep him. It was my mistake and now I will follow the board’s deci-sion,” he added.

Salahuddin said he still prefers high pro� le coaches and talked about his next plan regarding the head coach. “We will sit for a meeting within 10-12 days to look for a new coach. In the meantime, Titu (Saiful Bari Titu) will guide the national team in the two friendly matches against Sri Lanka. After that we will decide on our new coach,”

On the other hand, de Kruif recently stated he lodged a complaint against BFF to Fifa regarding the four months of unpaid wages and also termed BFF as ‘liars’. Salahuddin said they will also send a report to Fifa today providing the details and their side of the story.

De Kruif and Koster joined the Ban-gladesh team in July 2013 initially on a one-year contract with a provision of extension for further one year. Under his management, Bangladesh played seven international matches – winning two, losing three and drawing two. He also guided Bangladesh Under-23 na-tional team in the recently concluded Asian Games. l

Dutch head coach of Bangladesh national team Lodewijk de Kruif was sacked by the Bangladesh Football Federation yesterday a day after his compatriot and assistant Rene Koster (R) was sacked FILE PHOTO

Hathurusingha keeps hopes highn Minhaz Uddin Khan

National head coach Chandika Ha-thurusingha believes the home advan-tage will � nally see the Bangladesh side end their losing streak in 2014. The Sri Lankan rated his charges above the visiting Zimbabwe team who will lock horns for the three-match Test series starting from October 25.

Bangladesh has been experiencing a terrible time on the � eld, but despite the down trend Hathurusingha said the chances of winning are “Realistic” as they are the home team.

“But there is no room for us to un-derestimate Zimbabwe because they played South Africa and Australia at home and I saw they beat Australia. But having home advantage here we should win this series,” he added.

The squad for the Test series will be announced tomorrow as the cricketers completed their preparation for the 45-day long home series with the three-day warm-up game yesterday at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

The match played between the two sides made up of the camp cricketers produced positive and motivating outputs with Mush� qur Rahim’s BCB Red winning by eight wickets.

The result of the match is not of a concern to Hathurusingha, but the fact the batsmen and bowlers fared well made the coach a happy chap.

“I am very happy with the prepara-tion,” he said. “This is more so as the guys who are in contention for the Test match bowled and batted well and their attitude o� the � eld was also re-ally good.”

“They practiced with the other coaches and did � elding and � tness. I think they all covered everything and I am very happy with the preparations,” said the former Sri Lanka cricketer.

Bangladesh in their last bilateral se-ries in West Indies in August failed to register a single win despite going close on several occasions. There were ele-ments of positives as long as individ-ual performances were concerned but they were overshadowed by the overall team e� ort.

“This was due to injuries and other things like we lost (Sohag) Gazi ear-ly on for the Test series as well and some of the guys. The positive thing now is that some of the batsman scored runs and getting into form and because of that I think if we can score runs we can do well here,” said Ha-thurusingha. l

BCB mulls franchise based age-level tournamentn Minhaz Uddin Khan

In a meeting with the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) franchises the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ex-changed views and thought of arrang-ing a franchise-based league involving the Under-19 cricketers of the country.

Sources revealed both the board and the franchises reached a common ground of starting the competition fol-lowing the end of the third season of BCL which was scheduled in December this year, but has been postponed until March 2015.

The three franchisees of BCL – Wal-ton, Islami Bank and Prime Bank com-plied with BCB’s proposal and have asked for the overall budget and game plan of the league in details as early as possible.

“BCB Game Development is mull-ing to formulate a game plan with the involvement of the age-level groups, especially Under-19. We’ve just shared our plan with the BCL franchisees at

the meeting,” informed Khaled Mah-mud, chairman of BCB Game Develop-ment Committee yesterday.

Mahmud further informed Islami Bank and Walton showed great interest in the tournament.

“Now we are waiting to know the consent of Prime Bank. Hopefully they will also express their solidarity with the novel initiatives like the other fran-chises,” said Mahmud.

Mahmud also said, “We have decid-ed to start the BCL-3 in March next year. However, if Bangladesh can break the super eight phase, they would have to stay in Australia-New Zealand till April. In that case the BCL could be deferred.”

The BCB currently sponsors the North Zone while Walton takes the ownership of Central Zone. The East and South are owned by Islami Bank and Prime Bank.

Mahmud, the former national skip-per informed the BCB looks to lock the fourth franchisee – for North Zone – be-fore the start of the BCL-3. l

Bangladesh look to upset Indian Shishir Hoque

The high � ying hosts will face a tough test when they face the strong India side in their third match AFC U-16 Women’s Cham-

pionship 2015 quali� ers at the Bangab-andhu National Stadium today at 5pm.

The Bangladesh U-16 women’s

showed immense progress and dis-played beautiful ‘passing’ football in their � rst two matches picking wins against Jordan and United Arab Emir-ates (UAE). However, playing against India who are ranked 67 places above them in the Fifa women’s football rank-ing won’t be an easy task.

Momentum is the key and home side coach Golam Rabbani Choton also

emphasised on continuing their free � owing game.

“The way we played against Jordan and UAE in our last two matches, we want to keep up the momentum and continue play like that. If we can re-peat similar performance and rectify the mistakes we have done on those matches, we can produce a positive result,” said choton after their training session at the Buet � eld yesterday. He also revealed to follow a zonal marking strategy against India.

“We know India is very strong oppo-nents, but I believe, if my players can play in accordance with their ability and can execute their technique, any-thing can happen.”

India, who were considered one of the favourites to qualify from the group, are also looking forward to registering their � rst victory after they lost to Iran 1-2 in their only match so far.

Meanwhile in the day’s � rst match, Jordan will play against UAE at 2pm at the same venue. l

Coach Golam Rabbani Choton (C) leads the training session of the Bangladesh U-16 women’s team at the BUET ground yesterday COURTESY

Anamul to lead BCB XI in Kolkatan Minhaz Uddin Khan

The Bangladesh Cricket Board yesterday announced a 15-member BCB XI squad for the SK Acharya Memorial Trophy 2014 in Kolkata. The team led by Anamul Haque also comprises Nasir Hossain meaning the two regular members of the national side won’t be seen in the whites during the Test series against Zimbabwe.

The national selection panel emphasised on � lling the squad with cricketers who are likely to be part of the upcoming � ve-match ODI home series against Zimbabwe next month.

Initially pacer Mashrafe bin Mortaza was in line to lead the XI but the selectors opted to provide the veteran cricketer some rest ahead of the ODI series. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak also had to miss being a part of the squad following a right hamstring strain he picked during training.

The Bangladesh side will be participating in the 50-over invitational tournament from October 25 to November 1. The tournament has been arranged by the West Bengal Cricket Association (WBCA) to commemorate 150 years of Eden Gardens stadium.

BCB XI will begin their campaign in the four-side tournament facing Mumbai on October 26. In the following days they will face Karnataka and Bengal. All the matches will be played at Eden Gardens including the � nal on November 1. l

Anamul Haque plays one o� the front

foot during the three-day warm-up game between BCB Red and BCB Green

at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium

yesterday

MUMIT M

Anamul Hoque (Captain), Naeem Islam (Vice-Captain), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sark-er, Nasir Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Aratat Sunny, Elias Sunny, Mohammed Shahid, Abul Hasan, Kamrul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Muktar Ali

SQUAD

BFF named Saiful Bari Titu as the stand in coach for the national side

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE14 Sunday, October 19, 2014

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring during their EPL match against Tottenham Hotspur at the The Etihad Stadium in Manchester yesterday AFP

Cavani sent-o� after sniper celebrationn BBC

Paris St-Germain striker Edinson Ca-vani was sent o� for his trademark gun celebration and subsequent protest as the French champions beat Lens.

The Uruguayan was booked after bending on one knee and � ring an imaginary shot during a 3-1 victory.

He reacted by touching referee Nico-las Rainville’s arm, with the o� cial then showing him a red card.

PSG president Nasser Al Khela� backed Cavani and said the 27-year-old “did not deserve” to be dismissed.

He told Canal Plus television: “Why did he get the yellow card before? He always celebrates the same way.”

Cavani, a keen hunter, performed his usual celebration after scoring a 55th-min-ute penalty to give PSG a 3-1 lead.

The striker, signed from Napoli for £55m in July 2013, is yet to respond to the dismissal on social media.

Goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu told the PSG website: “Cavani? I still don’t know why he was sent o� . I feel really bad for him.”

PSG coach Laurent Blanc said: “I’m not going to make any comment about the refereeing. It’s a di� cult game to analyse.”

Ten-man Paris Saint-Germain won a stormy encounter at the Stade de

France on Friday as they overcame nine-man Lens 3-1 to move within four points of Ligue 1 leaders Marseille.

Despite taking an early lead through Adamo Coulibaly, Lens self-destruct-ed as they conceded three goals in 27 minutes and had two players sent o� in front of a packed house at the national stadium, just outside of Paris.

Adama Coulibaly’s 20-yard shot had put Lens ahead but former Newcastle mid� elder Yohan Cabaye equalised.

Maxwell gave PSG the lead with a lob before Jean-Philippe Gbamin was sent o� for shoving Cavani in the area.

Jerome Le Moigne was dismissed for the newly-promoted hosts just before the hour in a game played at the Stade de France because Lens’s Bollaert sta-dium is being renovated.

Victory moved PSG above Bordeaux into second in Ligue 1, four points behind Marseille, who have a game in hand. l

PSG forward Edinson Cavani gestures during the French L1 football match against Lens (RCL) at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris on Friday AFP

Chelsea march on, Aguero hits four for CityBrilliant Saints thrash Sunderland 8-0n Reuters, London

Chelsea maintained their iron grip on top spot in the Pre-mier League with a 2-1 win at Crystal

Palace on Saturday and Sergio Aguero � red a four-goal warning that Man-chester City will not relinquish their title without a � ght.

Goals from Oscar and Cesc Fabregas made it seven wins from eight games for Chelsea, who overcame the send-ing-o� of Cesar Azpilicueta before half-time to stay � ve points clear.

Aguero lit up the day’s early kicko� , scoring all four goals as Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 in a match of four penalties and a red card for Spurs defender Fabrizio Fabio.

The Argentine scored twice from the spot and had another penalty saved.

Pride of place, however, went to Southampton who thrashed Sunder-land 8-0 to stay in third place. West Ham United moved into the top four after a 3-1 victory at struggling Burnley.

Arsenal’s mediocre start to the sea-son continued as they were held to their � fth draw in eight matches, Danny Wel-beck scoring late to salvage a 2-2 home draw with Hull City. Everton returned to form with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

Newcastle United’s home game against Leicester City was a delayed kicko� after a pre-match safety is-sue with a new video screen inside St James’ Park.

Southampton recorded one of the biggest victories in Premier League history when they crushed a woeful Sunderland side 8-0 at St Mary’s on Saturday.

The thumping win fell one goal

short of Manchester United’s record 9-0 triumph over Ipswich in 1995 and maintained the south coast club’s re-markable start to the season under manager Ronald Koeman.

Top scorer Graziano Pelle was among seven names on the scoresheet, netting twice to take his tally for the season to six.

Southampton continue to confound predictions they would struggle after they sold several � rst-team players in the close season. They remain third in the table on 16 points, six behind lead-ers Chelsea.

Two days before they ventured north to face Premier League cham-pions Manchester City, their manager Mauricio Pochettino described Sergio Aguero as the best striker in the world -- calling him the Mozart of football.

Aguero duly delivered a virtuoso performance to destroy Tottenham on Saturday, bagging all his side’s goals in a 4-1 victory that was never as comfort-able as the score suggested.

The fact that two of them came from the penalty spot and he also had anoth-er spot-kick saved took a little gloss o� his feat, but the Argentine maestro was simply a class apart as he became City’s all-time leading Premier League hitman.

While Carlos Tevez, whose record he surpassed, was a relentless warrior, Aguero plays his football with classical elegance combined with soaring pas-sages of brilliance.

Aguero has nine Premier League goals this season, the same as Chelsea’s Diego Costa, and if City are to retain their title he could be the di� erence.

City might have dropped points with-out him against a Tottenham side whose lively attack often worried City’s rear-guard, but whose defence was fragile. l

Suarez is ‘not fat’: Enriquen AFP, Madrid

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique insisted Friday that Luis Suarez is not fat as the controversial Uruguyan striker prepares to make his return to competitive action.

After his ban for biting an opponent at the World Cup, Suarez should make his Barcelona debut against bitter rivals Real Madrid on October 25 and Enrique rejected comments made by some me-dia about Suarez’s � tness.

“It’s di� cult to evaluate if he’s at 70, 80, 90 or 100 percent but what is sure is he feels much better in training,” said Enrique.

“He’s been in a certain dynamic for a while and the fact that he has been able to play for his country has allowed him to rediscover the daily life of a footballer.

“We see him training every day, he’s a player like any other and what’s clear is that he’s not fat.

“He never has been, despite every-thing that’s been said. He’s been in shape for several months so everything is � ne.”

Suarez moved from Liverpool to Barcelona for 95 million euros in the wake of the storm of controversy after he bit Italian defender Girogio Chiellini at the World Cup and was banned for four months. Suarez was banned for nine internationals.

Although Suarez has played in friendly matches for both club and country during his ban, scoring twice against Oman on Monday, he has not been allowed to appear in o� cial � x-tures.

Barcelona lead La Liga after seven matches and host minnows Eibar on Saturday.

Suarez said this week, as he received the Golden Boot award for Europe’s top score -- which he shared with Cristiano Ronaldo -- that starting with Barcelona was “a dream come true.”

Asked if he was 100 per cent ready for the Real match, he said: “If you had asked me that a week ago, before the two games with Uruguay, I may have had doubts.

“But I have played in those two (friendly) games and I am probably in better condition than I thought I was. So I think I can say now, yes, 100 per cent, I am ready to play.” l

Brazil con� dence back with Dunga, former coach saysn AFP, Rio de Janeiro

Three months on from their World Cup semi-� nal hiding by Germany, Brazil have recovered their poise, former coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said Friday.

Parreira served as technical assis-tant to 2002 Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari as the � ve-times champi-ons were humbled 7-1 on home soil by eventual winners Germany.

He and Scolari stepped down after-wards and former handler Dunga has overseen four straight friendly wins since he returned for a second spell, having been sacked after the 2010 World Cup.

“Dunga’s main task was to recover con� dence and respect for Brazilian football after the Cup.

“I thought it would take a little lon-ger and I don’t think we’re quite there yet but it’s four matches and four wins, one over Argentina. He’s been doing a good job,” said Parreira, who led the Se-lecao to 1994 World Cup glory.

Dunga took over on July 22 and has masterminded wins over Colombia and Ecuador in the United States and Ar-gentina and Japan, the latter thrashed 4-0 last week, on an Asian swing.l

Mazzarri wants ‘attacking’ Inter for Napolin AFP, Milan

Under-� re Inter coach Walter Mazzarri has called for a “fast and ag-gressive” approach to Sunday’s home clash against former club Nap-

oli amid rumours a third consecutive defeat could prompt his dismissal.

Inter welcome Rafael Benitez’s men looking to get back to winning ways fol-lowing two embarrassing defeats.

Having succumbed 4-1 at home to then-basement side Cagliari three weeks ago, when they were whistled and jeered o� the park, Inter su� ered a 3-0 defeat away to Fiorentina a week before the international break.

Speculation is mounting that Maz-zarri could be sacked if Inter, who sit 10th and well behind their target of a top-three � nish in Serie A, su� er a third

consecutive defeat.It is a scenario the Nerazzurri coach

believes can be avoided with a committed performance by his players at the San Siro.

“I want to see the players’ determi-nation to bounce back tomorrow,” Maz-

zarri told reporters on Saturday.“They know exactly what I want

from them -- for us to get in their faces and play a fast and aggressive game. I want us to do what we have to to get a result.”l

Nepal FA chiefs ask Fifa to investigate own presidentn Reuters

Senior o� cials at Nepal’s football asso-ciation (ANFA) have asked FIFA’s eth-ics chief Michael Garcia to launch an investigation into their own president Ganesh Thapa.

The request, via an emailed let-ter seen by Reuters, comes after the country’s public accounts committee ordered an investigation of Thapa, an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice president, over what it said was alleged embezzlement of funds. Thapa has repeatedly denied all allegations, saying he has done nothing wrong.

This episode marks the second incident involving an Asian FA this week, after Mongolian football chief Ganbold Buyannemekh was banned by FIFA for “soliciting and accepting” bribes from ex-FIFA executive Mohamed Bin Hammam. l

FIXTURES Fiorentina v Lazio Atl Bergamo v Parma Cagliari v Sampdoria Palermo v Cesena Torino v Udinese Verona v AC Milan Inter Milan v Napoli

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (C) celebrates scoring with Chicharito (L) and James Rodriguez against Levante during their Spanish La Liga match at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in Valencia, Spain yesterday AP

RESULTSArsenal 2-2 HullSanchez 13, Diame 17, Welbeck 90 Hernandez 46

Burnley 1-3 West HamBoyd 60 Sakho 49, Valencia 54, Cole 70

Crystal Palace 1-2 ChelseaCampbell 90 Oscar 6, Fabregas 51

Everton 3-0 Aston VillaJagielka 18, Lukaku 48, Coleman 76

Man City 4-1 TottenhamAguero 13, 20-P, 68-P, 75 Eriksen 15

Southampton 8-0 SunderlandVergini 12-og, Pelle 18, 69, Cork 37, Bridcutt 63-og, Tadic 78, Wanyama 79, Mane 86

Ronaldo double propels Real to another routn AFP, Madrid

Real Madrid ensured they will head into a big week full of con� dence with a 5-0 thrashing of Levante ahead of their meetings with Liverpool and Barcelona.

Cristiano Ronaldo stretched his � ne scoring streak at club level to nine games as he opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Javier Hernan-dez headed home to double Madrid’s lead before half-time.

Ronaldo powered home his 15th league goal in just seven appearances this season to make it 3-0 before sweet � nishes from James Rodriguez and Isco rounded of a seventh consecutive win for the European champions.

Madrid now lie just a point adrift of leaders Barcelona, but the Catalans can restore their four-point advantage with a win over Eibar later on Saturday.

Real boss Carlo Ancelotti was miss-ing a host of � rst team regulars as Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane missed out due to a fever, Sergio Ra-mos was sidelined by a calf injury and Gareth Bale handed a rare rest after his exertions with Wales in the past week.

However, the visitors could still have put the game to bed inside the � rst 15 minutes as Ronaldo was uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal.

The Portuguese captain sliced wide with just Diego Marino to beat after a wonderful through ball from Luka Modric and then pulled another shot

wide from the edge of the box mo-ments later.

Ronaldo, though, wasn’t to be de-nied on 12 minutes as Hernandez was tripped inside the area by Juanfran and the World Player of the Year slammed home the resulting penalty.

Levante reacted well to going behind and came close to an equaliser twice in a matter of seconds midway through the � rst-half as Marcelo diverted Pape Diop’s e� ort inches past his own goal.

And from the corner Modric had to make a � ne clearance o� the line to prevent Victor Camarasa punishing Madrid’s slack marking. l

RESULTLevante 0-5 Real Madrid Ronaldo 12-P, 61, Hernandez 38, Rodriguez 66, Isco 82

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Gatlin out of World Athlete of the YearControversial United States sprinter Justin Gatlin is out of contention to win the IAAF’s athlete of the year award after failing to make the � nal three-man shortlist, the sport’s governing body announced on Friday. As widely expected, double-doper Gatlin was among those cut from the � nal shortlist after a two-week-long poll conducted by the “world athletics family”. The 32-year-old was included on the original 10-man shortlist thanks to a stellar year of sprinting in which he posted six of the fastest 100 metres times. Gatlin, who served a one-year ban for testing positive for a banned stimulant in 2001 and then failed a second test in 2006, which led to a four-year ban, ran 9.77 seconds in Brussels last month -- the fastest-ever time by an over-30. However, his inclusion was heavily criticised and fellow nominee, Germany’s Olympic discus champion Robert Harting, felt so strongly about the former Olympic champion’s nomination that he asked to be removed from the list.

–Reuters

Russia tennis chief banned for ‘Williams brothers’ jibeThe president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev has been � ned $25,000 and banned from the women’s tour for a year after referring to Serena and Venus Williams as “the Williams brothers” on a television chat show last week. Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Stacy Allaster said the comments were “insulting, demeaning and have abso-lutely no place on our sport”. Allaster added: “Mr. Tarpischev’s statements questioning their genders tarnish our great game and two of our champions. His derogatory remarks deserve to be condemned and he will be sanctioned. “As a result of his comments I have ordered Mr. Tarpischev to be � ned $25,000, the maximum allowed under WTA rules.” She added that he would be suspended from any involvement with the WTA for a year. World number one Serena Williams has won 18 grand slam singles titles while her sister Venus has won seven majors. Dave Haggerty, president of the United States Tennis Association, called on Tarpischev to issue an apology.

–Reuters

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AFC U16 Women’s ChampionshipQuali� ers2:00PMJordan v UAE5:00PMBangladesh v IndiaStar Sports 48:00PMMotoGP World ChampionshipMain Race4:00PM

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Major League Soccer LA Galaxy v Seattle Sounders

DAY’S WATCH

India mulls ‘serious action’ against WICBn AFP, New Delhi

India’s cricket chiefs could take “se-rious action” against the West Indies, including possibly refusing to play a return series, for abandoning their tour because of an internal payment dis-pute, a top o� cial said Saturday.

The West Indies cut short the tour of India on Friday even though a � fth one-day international, a Twenty20 match and three Tests still remained to be played.

“What has happened is very disap-pointing and calls for serious action,” Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel told AFP.

“We want to take adequate mea-sures to ensure such a thing is not re-peated.”

The BCCI’s decision-making work-ing committee will meet in Hyderabad on Monday to take stock of the situa-

tion, he added.Asked if refusing to tour the West In-

dies in future was an option, Patel said: “Everything will be taken into consid-eration.”

According to the International Crick-et Council’s Future Tours Programme, India are scheduled to tour the Carib-bean during February and March 2016 to play three Tests, � ve one-dayers and

a Twenty20 international.Patel has drawn the line at barring

players from the West Indies from tak-ing part in the cash-rich Indian Premier League, according to a report in the

Mumbai-based Mid-Day newspaper.“Our problem is with the West In-

dies Cricket Board (WICB) and not their players,” Patel told the newspaper.

Current one-day captain Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine are among the top West Indies cricketers who play in the glitzy IPL Twenty20 tournament.

A WICB statement issued late Fri-day said it was the players’ decision to withdraw their services for the remain-der of the tour.

Skipper Bravo had said before the start of the tour on October 8 that the players had not accepted the payment agreement signed on their behalf by the West Indies Players Association.

But the players took the � eld for three one-dayers in Kochi, New Delhi and Dharamsala, while one match in Visakhapatnam was cancelled due to a severe storm on India’s east coast.l

Windies chiefs slam Bravo n AFP, New Delhi

The West Indies Cricket Board attacked one-day captain Dwayne Bravo after con� rming Friday that the team’s tour of India had been abandoned following a strike by their own players in a pay dispute.

As India won the fourth of what were supposed to be � ve-one-day in-ternationals by 59 runs in Dharamsala, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the tour was over -- some-thing which their Caribbean counter-parts revealed Friday was a possibility right from the outset.

Several hours later, following a tele-conference, the WICB issued a state-ment from their headquarters in St John’s, Antigua, blaming the collapse of the tour -- with a � fth one-dayer, a Twenty20 match and three Tests all remaining on the itinerary -- on their

players.“The WICB clari� es that players

in the West Indies Squad currently in India represented by Mr. Dwayne Bra-vo indicated to the WICB through the West Indies Team Management that the players have taken a decision to withdraw their services for the remain-der of the tour of India,” the WICB’s lat-est statement said.

In the course of a 10-point state-ment, the WICB said it would hold an emergency board meeting in Barbados on Tuesday to “conduct a thorough as-sessment of all the rami� cations of the premature end to the tour”, with a me-dia conference after that meeting.

Several points in the statement saw the WICB “unreservedly apologise” to West Indian fans, global cricket fol-lowers, the BCCI and their sponsors for “this most regrettable situation and the premature end to the tour”.l

Virat Kholi of India celebrates after scoring a century during the 4th One Day International against West Indies at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala, India on Friday BCCI

Kohli knock helps India clinch curtailed seriesn Agencies

Virat Kohli struck a brilliant 127 as In-dia fashioned a 59-run win over the West Indies here on Friday, e� ectively sealing the ODI series 2-1 after the vis-itors dramatically pulled out from the remainder of the tour over an acrimo-nious pay dispute with their board.

Kohli reassured that he is back in form and struck a sublime knock o� 114 balls to push India to 330 for six after the West Indies put them in to bat on a wicket expected to favour the bowlers.

Opener Ajinkya Rahane (68) and Suresh Raina (71) were the other big contributors to the formidable score. Loose bowling and sloppy � elding from the West Indies also went in favour of the Indians.

The West Indies, who made their mind of going back home on Thursday and were somehow convinced to play at least Friday’s game, found it tough to give their best. Their negative body language expectedly a� ected their overall game, culminating with their unsuccessful chase that ended at 271 all out in 48.1 overs.

A rare positive for them on the day was Marlon Samuels (112 o� 106), who raced to his seventh ODI hundred and second in three matches.

The Caribbean batsmen crawled to 27 for two in 11 overs, making it di� cult for them to get near the sti� target. l

Queensland chase down 399 against Tasmania, Dunk’s 229 in vain

n Cricinfo

Eight-hundred runs were heaped for the loss of four wickets and the dou-ble-centurion Ben Dunk � nished on the losing side as Queensland knocked Tas-mania out of the domestic limited-overs tournament in an a� air of gluttonous batting at North Sydney Oval.

The ground’s short boundaries com-bined with a pristine pitch and sunny day to create the perfect environment for run-making, leaving the bowlers with a thankless task. The Bulls captain James Hopes returned 10-0-38-0, the only � gures not to cost at least seven per over. A more typical analysis was the 1 for 101 collected by Peter George.

Tasmania’s 1 for 398, built on an Aus-tralia domestic record opening stand of

277 between Dunk and Tim Paine, was swiftly made to look inadequate by Us-man Khawaja and Chris Hartley, who added an even faster 280 to break the newly minted mark. Dunk’s 229 usurped David Warner’s 197 on the same ground

in last year as the highest score ever made in an Australian domestic one-day match. It was also the third highest List A score of all time, bettered only by Ali Brown and Shikhar Dhawan.l

Tasmania 398 for 1 (Dunk 229*, Paine 125) Queensland 402 for 3 (Khawaja 166, Hartley 142)

Queensland won by seven wickets

BRIEF SCORE

Abandoned cricket toursWest Indies in England 1939The outbreak of the Second World War saw the last seven matches of the tour cancelled, with the West Indies’ party boarding a boat in Scotland to sail back to the Caribbean.

England in Pakistan 1968/69Political and student unrest dogged the tour throughout but it seemed the series would be played out to a � nish when the teams arrived in Karachi for the third and � nal Test. However, a riot on the third

morning saw the match abandoned and the series tied at 0-0.

India in Pakistan 1984/85The assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sparked 13 days of national mourning and saw the � nal three matches cancelled.

Sri Lanka in Pakistan 2008/09Sri Lanka were travelling in their team bus on the way to the second Test in Lahore when terrorists opened � re, injuring six

members of the Lankan tour party. Sri Lan-ka went home and no major international matches have since taken place in Pakistan because of security fears.

West Indies in India 2014A protracted pay dispute between the West Indies players and their own board eventually saw Indian o� cials announce the end of the tour after Friday’s fourth one-day international amid suggestions from their Caribbean counterparts it might still continue. l

India330 for 6 (Kohli 127, Raina 71, Rahane 68; Benn 1-30) West Indies271 (Samuels 112, Bhuvneshwar 2-25, Akshar 2-26)

India won by 59 runs

BRIEF SCORE

Prizes of the Fair & Lovely Max Fairness consumer promotional campaign “Con� dence Jar Bike Tar” were distributed to the winners of the week on 16th October. The winners are: Kamrul Hasan (Narayanganj), Rashidul Alam (Kishoreganj), Nazmul Sakib (Dhaka), Mamunur Rashid (Chapainawabganj), Faishal (Dhaka), Alak Sarkar (Chittagong) and Dr. Shariful Abedin Komal (Comilla). O� cials of Bangladesh Limited and Bronze Limited were present in the prize giving ceremony COURTESY

Bayern demolish Bremen as Dortmund lose againn Reuters, Berlin

Champions Bayern Mu-nich crushed Werder Bre-men 6-0 in the Bundesli-ga on Saturday to protect their four-point lead at the top as last season’s

runners-up Borussia Dortmund con-tinued their poor run with a 2-1 loss at Cologne.

Fellow Champions League partici-pants Bayer Leverkusen spectacularly imploded, giving up a 3-0 halftime lead to draw 3-3 against troubled VfB Stuttgart.

With winger Franck Ribery making his comeback as a substitute on the hour, league leaders Bayern were in complete control with Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso giving them an early two-goal cushion.

With Werder unable to counter the Bavarian attacks, a 43rd-minute pen-

alty from Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze’s shot two minutes later killed o� the game before halftime.

It was a di� erent story for Borussia Dortmund, who despite having Ilkay

Guendogan back after more than 17 months out with a back injury, lost 2-1 at Cologne for their � fth defeat in eight league matches.

Dortmund keeper Roman Weiden-feller gifted their opponents the winner with a failed clearance in the 74th min-ute that allowed Simon Zoller to score, after the visitors had equalised through Ciro Immobile early in the second half.

Leverkusen looked set for an easy afternoon after two goals from South Korea’s Son Heung-min and another one from Germany international Karim Bellarabi gave them a comfortable lead.

Yet they inexplicably lost focus af-ter the break with Timo Werner, Flori-an Klein and Martin Harnik scoring at 10-minute intervals for the hosts with Leverkusen’s defence in tatters.

VfL Wolfsburg kept up their good form to climb to fourth on 14 points with a 2-1 win at Freiburg. l

RESULTSBayern Munich 6-0 Werder BremenLahm 20, 79, Xabi Alonso 27, Mueller 43-P, Goetze 45, 86

Mainz 05 2-1 AugsburgHofmann 20, Jairo 23 Werner 78

Hanover 96 0-3 M’gladbach Kruse 15, 90, Xhaka 49

Freiburg 1-2 VfL WolfsburgKerk 90+1 Caligiuri 8, 66

VfB Stuttgart 3-3 LeverkusenWerner 57, Klein 67, Son 4, 9, Harnik 76 Bellarabi 41

Cologne 2-1 DortmundVogt 40, Zoller 74 Immobile 48

Ben Dunk celebrates after his double ton

SportDHAKA TRIBUNE 15

16 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

Hong Kong activists regroup; police chief warns safety at riskn Reuters, Hong Kong

Hong Kong pro-democracy activists re-captured  parts  of a core protest zone from police early yesterday after hours of turmoil that the city’s police chief warned undermined order and jeop-ardised public safety.

Dozens of people were injured in the skirmishes, including 18 police, which raged through the night as several thousand protesters squared o� again police in the densely populated  Mong Kok district.

At least 33 people were arrest-ed,  Hong  Kong  public broadcast-er RTHK reported.

Police used batons and pepper spray, and scu� ed violently with activ-ists, but they were eventually forced to pull back less than 24 hours after they re-opened most of the area to tra� c.

The protests have been going on for three weeks and pose one of the biggest political challenges for China since the crushing of  pro-democracy  demon-strations inBeijing in 1989.

Hong  Kong  Police  Commissioner Andy Tsang broke three weeks of pub-lic silence to say his force had been “ex-tremely tolerant” but had failed to stop protesters becoming more “radical or violent.” “To these protesters, you may think that your illegal acts have pre-vented the police in going about our duties, disrupted our deployments and even forced us to retreat,” Tsang told a news conference.

“Super� cially, that may be the case. But let me tell you this: these illegal acts are undermining the rule of law, undermining (what)  Hong  Kong  has been relying on to succeed.”

After police retreated, demonstra-

tors swiftly stacked up barricades made out of packing crates and fences. Tsang said the reoccupation of the area “seri-ously undermined public order and se-riously jeopardized public safety”.

The protesters, led by a restive gen-eration of students, have been demand-ing  China’s  Communist Party  rulers live up to constitutional promises to grant full democracy to the former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong  Kong  is ruled under a “one country, two systems” formula that allows the thriving capitalist hub wide-ranging autonomy and free-doms and speci� es universal su� rage for Hong Kong as an eventual goal.

But Beijing ruled on Aug. 31 it would screen candidates who want to run for the city’s chief executive in 2017, which democracy  activists  said rendered the universal su� rage concept meaning-

less. The protesters are demanding free elections for their leader.

‘We will stay’The clashes came just hours af-ter Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Le-ung Chun-ying o� ered talks to student leaders next week in an attempt to defuse the protests that have grabbed global headlines with scenes of clashes and tear gas rising between some of the world’s most valuable o� ce buildings.

Leung’s chief secretary, Carrie Lam, announced on Saturday that between student leaders and the city govern-ment would take place for two hours on Tuesday.

The  Mong Kok  area was calm later yesterday with the number of protest-ers much smaller as  activists  rested. Police stood in formation away from the barricades. l

Jute sector battling downhill trendsn Abu Bakar Siddique

The country’s jute sector is currently undergoing a depression as the result of a gradual decrease in raw jute pro-duction, with farmers failing to meet their production costs because of a downhill demand in the domestic and international markets.

Over the last four years, the coun-try’s raw jute production decreased by 10 lakh bales, according to the Depart-ment of Agriculture Extension (DAE). In 2013-14 � scal, raw jute production at farmers’ level was 74.36 lakh bales while in 2010-11 it was 84.60 lakh bales.

Golam Mohammad, deputy director (jute production) of the DAE, said this year’s gross raw jute production would also be less than the previous year as the government had failed to cover the desired demonstrated acreage.

“The farmers are losing their inter-est to cultivate jute in recent years as they have not been getting fair price of their production because of lessened demand in the market,” he said, adding that diminished demands also resulted in farmers often not being able to sell o� their production.

“I usually cultivated jute in my two and a half acres of land each year. How-ever, this year I just cultivated one acre of land and kept the rest of it idle as I counted huge losses last year,” said Sajjad Hossain, a farmer from Dinajpur.

Quazi Shahabuddin, a professional fellow at Bangladesh Institute of De-velopment Studies (BIDS), blamed the crisis on the government’s failure to timely and appropriately operate and promote the jute sector.

The jute mills of state owned-Bangla-desh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) and private owners’ body Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association are the major con-sumers of raw jute in the country. But most of the mills did not procure any raw jute from the market in recent years

as they remained idle during the time.

Less export demandThe export of raw jute has also experi-enced a decline in recent years.

According to the Export Promotions Bureau, the export volume came down from $1.11493bn to $824.49m between 2010-11 and 2013-14 � scal year.

Market insiders said the downtrend was caused as the popularity of plas-tic and other synthetic-made products was outweighing the demand for jute-made products worldwide.

Badrul Alam, the chief executive of exporting company Sartaz Trade Inter-national, said foreign buyers including major players like China had stopped procuring raw jute and jute-made products from the local market in re-cent years.

BJMC sources also claimed that Mid-dle Eastern countries like Syria, Iran, Egypt and Iraq – which were major buy-ers of jute products from Bangladesh – had stopped buying � nished jute or jute products because of the political

turmoil and instability in their respec-tive countries.

Inefficiency in the millsRegarding the local demand of jute, BJMC Director (marketing) Babul Chan-dra Roy said the government-owned mills have been facing huge fund crunch as well as system loss in operat-ing their daily activities.

As an example, the BJMC director said it was a burden to pay Tk450 in daily remuneration to the seven lakh labourers at the government-owned mills. In addition, those mills also su� ered further losses for using old machineries that had low production capacity.

“We could improve the production level from the existing 680 tonnes of daily jute products to 900 tonne by adding new equipment,” Babul said.

Many of the private jute mills were also hurt by the recent downtrend in the market.

However, Sheikh Basir Uddin, man-aging director of Akij Jute Mill Ltd

which is the largest in Bangladesh, claimed that they have made a pro� t in recent years even though the global situation was bad.

Blaming ine� ciency for the losses at government-owned mills, Basir said the Akij factory alone could produce around 250 tonnes of jute products each day, while all the 27 mills of the BJMC produced only around 50 tonne of daily jute goods combined.

Government initiativeTo promote the jute sector, the govern-ment this January enacted the Manda-tory Jute Packaging Act 2010 – under which all kinds of packaging in the country’s business sector have to be made by jute. But the act is yet to be properly enforced.

BJMC sources claimed that the jute sector would regain it strengths over-night, if only the act could be enforced in even 20% of the business sectors.

Citing an example of the rice-pro-ducing sector, Babul Chandra Roy said the rice millers alone used around 14

lakh sacks annually as packages for their production. If only jute sacks in-stead of polythene sacks were used in this single sector, the whole situation would change, he claimed.

However, Nirod Baran Saha, con-vener of Naogaon Rice Millers Asso-ciation, said the price of rice would climb if they tried to use jute sacks, as the jute sacks for 50kg capacity cost around Tk30 more than the polythene sacks that were currently being used by the millers.

Meanwhile, in 2010, the government also discovered the genome sequenc-ing of jute which would help develop jute � bre, production of new jute seeds to curb diseases and develop jute in-dustry.

Alternative HopeA good number of countries including members of the European Union have recently introduced restrictions on plastic and other synthetic-made prod-ucts.

According to the UK-based Daily Mail Online, European MPs have vot-ed in favour of strict new targets that forced each country to reduce plastic bag use by 80% before 2019.

Economist Quazi Shahabuddin said the government could seize this oppor-tunity to create a market for jute prod-ucts in the countries which imposed re-strictions on synthetic-made products.

“We could create alternative mar-kets instead of sitting idle waiting for the Middle East countries,” Shahabud-din said, adding that the government has to take initiative to create multi-di-mensional jute products to capture the market and ensure pro� t for all parties concerned.

Akij Jute Mill MD Sheikh Basir Ud-din also recommended developing new types of alternative jute products to create new markets and generate de-mand in both home and abroad. l

Ebola-risk returnees given clean bill of health n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

More than 100 people out of a little over 175 African and Bangladeshi citizens arriving in Dhaka from Ebola-a� ected countries in the recent past have suc-cessfully passed the 21-day observation period as none of them was found to be carrying Ebola symptoms.

Of the 175, o� cials said 100 were Africans and the rest were Bangladeshi nationals. Five more people arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from Ebola-hit countries yesterday.

Professor Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, mem-ber secretary of the national Ebola monitoring cell, told the Dhaka Trib-une yesterday evening all the neces-sary precautionary measures had been taken to tackle any unwanted situation that might arise.

“There is nothing to be panicked about this,” he said.

The Health Ministry has decided to buy seven thermal scanners to install at airports. The primary decision was to purchase only two but there was a change in the plan later.

A top ministry o� cial said of the seven devices, three would be set up at Dhaka airport, one at Chittagong air-port, and one at Sylhet airport. The re-maining two would be stored.

No certain date to buy the scanners, however, has yet been announced.

Health o� cials had to contact for-eign � rms to inquire about the price of the device as there is no local agent that sells it. It was said they received several rates with large di� erences.

Be-Nazir said several small scanners had already been installed at airports to detect temperature. Fresh World Health Organisation � gures showed yesterday that more than 4,500 people died in Eb-ola outbreak that was � rst reported in West Africa in March this year. l

Teenager violated in cityn Tribune Report

A teenage girl who came to the capital looking for a job from Kurigram was al-legedly raped on Friday, the � rst night of her stay in Dhaka.

Police said a middle-aged man lured her into a rental at Darussalam by promising a job but two men violated her there.

The victim, who was admitted to the One-Stop Crisis Centre at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told reporters yester-day that the recent death of her father forced her to come to Dhaka in search of a job. “As my father passed away, I had to take the responsibility to support my family � nancially,” she said.

She reached Gabtoli bus terminal on Friday evening and was wondering where to go. A man named Masud Hos-sain approached her and o� ered to stay

the night at his place. He also said he could arrange a job for her.

Masud then took her to the � at at Lalkuthi Third Colony at Darussalam where she found an ailing woman and a man. Masud and the woman assured her of a safe stay there.

“At night, Masud and the other man named Kabir raped me. The ailing wom-an was asleep in another room when they violated me,” the victim said.

Ra� qul Islam, o� cer-in-charge of Darussalam police station said, a police source informed them about the girl and they rescued her in the afternoon.

Police held Kabir Hossain, 28, from the � at but Masud � ed.

“We came to know that three people live in the � at. We are looking for Masud now,” Ra� qul said, adding that a case would be � led. We will quiz the ailing woman too, said the policeman. l

A group of people including women selling drugs under broad daylight sitting on the railway lines in the capital’s Khilgaon area. Local goons reportedly guard the customers for uninterrupted trade of the contraband items SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

HIGH UNDER THE OPEN SKY

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial O� ce: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

www.dhakatribune.com/business SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2014

B3 Merkel urges EU to keep up reforms as crisis not over

B4 China Inc’s spending cuts deepest in six years as economy slows

BTRC to allow mobile operators to bring handsets n Muhamad Zahidul Islam

The telecom regulator is � nally going to allow the mobile phone operators to intro-duce mobile handsets in the local market on their own brands, which is currently prohib-ited, after an agreement with the importers or manufacturers.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regula-tory Commission (BTRC) is now busy draft-ing a directive in this regard, which is likely to be issued shortly.

The telecom watchdog came up with the decision as the third largest mobile phone operator Robi recently sought a permission at a meeting with BTRC o� cials for branding a handset of Maximus company, the model of which is M266.

The decision will go in favor of all the mobile phone operators as they would be able to import handsets to release in the market labeling their own brands, said BTRC sources.

“We’ve also heard about the regulator’s

decision to allow the mobile phone opera-tors to

introduce handsets on their own brand and I think it will be largely helpful for the industry,” Shihab Ahmad, Chief Com-mercial O� cer of Banglalink, told the Dhaka Tribune on Thursday at his o� ce in the city.

Hailing the decision, he, also said, “It is obvious that the subscribers can trust more on a mobile operator than a handset vendor while we can o� er better after sale services and users can also rely on the mobile opera-tors better than others.”

Before changing its mind, BTRC had earli-er � ned Tk3 lakh to a handsets vendor called Flowra Telecom Limited in 2010 as it put all their imported 2.5 lakh handsets under the brand of Grameenphone with a selling price of Tk2,500 each.

At that time, BTRC had argued that if mobile operators got involved in handsets business, the handsets vendors would loose their stakes and mobile operators would

grab the entire mobile market. But this time, BTRC has taken a u-turn,

just citing examples from di� erent coun-tries on this issue.

In India, mobile operator Reliance has branded two handsets product from Lenovo and Nokia. Same practices were seen in Sri Lanka while Europe is the pioneer in intro-ducing this services.

“We were trying to implement new idea in the country but the telecom regulatory authority did not allow us to do so, but now it has � nally changed its stance after four years.

But we are not yet sure whether we would take the chance or not,” a senior executive of Grameenphone told the Dhaka Tribune.

BTRC o� cials, however, fear that if BTRC � nally allowed the mobile phone operators to brand handsets, it could also come up with some extra charges along with fresh conditions.

Considering the decision a positive one,

Hasan Mehdi, head of Samsung Mobile Bangladesh said, “We may face some chal-lenges because of the policy shift but on the other hand it may also bene� t the consum-ers in various ways.”

Device locking proposal rejected At the same meeting, the BTRC also turned down both the two proposals from the Grameenphone and Banglalink for intro-ducing device locking system in the mobile handsets.

BTRC o� cials said the two mobile phone operators had earlier sought regulator’s permission for o� ering high-priced hand-sets along with packages of the respective companies with lower prices where users would be allowed to pay the amount in in-stallments.

In this regard, a senior BTRC o� cial said, if they were allowed, the mobile phone op-erators would only bring high-priced set to attract the customers, which might contrib-ute to destabilising the market. l

Bolstered rural economy stressed for sustainable development n Tribune Report

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation Chair-man Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed yes-terday said strong rural economy is necessary for sustainable development in the country.

Sustainable poverty alleviation is not possible only through micro � -nancing, he observed, saying that sustainable development also incor-porates into it education, health, social and environmental issues.

The observation came at a national convention on “Towards Poverty Alle-viation and Social Development: The Role of MFIs” jointly arranged by the Institute of Micro Finance, Micro-cred-it Regulatory Authority (MRA) and PKSF in the capital.

State Minister for Ministry of Fi-nance and Planning MA Mannan at-tended the � rst session of the conven-tion as chief guest.

Khaliquzzaman stressed the need for a boost to the rural economy to ad-vance the progress of the country.

He said stimulating rural economy

is a must in the best interest of the country’s GDP.

The 6% GDP growth will not be pos-sible to achieve if the rural economy is ignored, observed the PKSF chairman.

Speaking as special guest, Bangla-desh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury said micro � nance institu-tions have provided � nancial support for rural people.

The demand for loan among the rural poor has increased because of interaction between rural and urban economy, he said, adding that it is only due to increased � ow of money to the rural economy through micro � nance institutions.

Banks and non-bank � nancial insti-tutions are also providing support to the marginal farmers, he said.

Sur Chowdhury maintained that Bangladesh Bank is also trying to bring unbanked people under the banking services through � nancial inclusion programmes.

The central bank has created re� -nancing schemes to support farmers by giving loan at lower interest rate. l

MFIs capitalise on borrowers’ ignorancen Abid Azad

The micro� nance borrowers yesterday a programme demanded that the lend-ers increase their credit amount along-side bringing down the interest rate and facilitating loan reimbursement procedures.

They also alleged that NGOs that of-fer less than su� cient amount of credit to them do not come to their rescue at their austerity, rather ensnare them in a perpetual loan cycle.

The allegations surfaced on the sidelines of a national convention ti-tled “Towards Poverty alleviation and Social Development: The Role of Micro Finance Institutes” held in the capital.

The Institute of Micro� nance, Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation and Mi-cro credit Regulatory Authority jointly hosted the programme.

Several microcredit borrowers said due to weekly loan installment system they cannot a� ord their kids’ educa-tion properly and ensure better health for their family. They added that it was also tough for them to obtain microcre-dit and in most cases they fail to make out the lenders’ critical � nance system.

“I got a loan of Tk30,000 with 12% interest from an NGO, EC Bangla, which will be reimbursed within 45 weeks, but this is very di� cult to pay

back the amount soon,” Srimoti Sabi-ta Rani, an NGO member hailing from Munshiganj shared her view with the Dhaka Tribune.

Besides the weekly installments, the lenders also realise service charg-es, added Sabita. The borrowers vent-ed their frustration by saying that the little amount of loan the NGOs provide for them hardly helps them make both ends meet together. NGOs never give support during � nancial crisis, claimed another microcredit holder Halima Be-gum who came from Ramgati village under Noakhali district

“I am a member of a local NGO that demands Tk2,500 as service charge against a loan of Tk25,000. I hardly gained from my investment into Soya-

bin cultivation that was damaged due to heavy rainfall, but my lender was strict to realising the installment.”

Halima also said the micro � nancers capitalise on the borrowers’ ignorance.

“We are illiterate and we do not know their critical � nance system. They provide us with loan and we are bound to repay them.”

Another microcredit holder Peyara Bugum claimed that the NGOs allocate a good amount of loan only to those that have capacity to repay. “But like us, she said obtaining a big loan is a far cry and the small amount of credit makes us en-counter a continuous � nancial crises.”

Halima said she took a loan more than 10 years ago, but still she could not repay it and come out of the loan cycle.

“To pay my previous loan, I rush to-wards another NGO to save my skin.”

An NGO organiser, Manobi Bairagi, hailing from Jessore told the Dhaka Tribune the microcredit borrowers that invest money into business can pro� t, but those who use their loan for meet-ing family needs � nd themselves in dif-� cult situations.

“NGOs cannot provide su� cient loan for those that have little or no cap-ital while they are not much concerned about social development,” she said.

The woman entrepreneur said sometimes women are provided with training, but they hardly get such mar-ket as necessary to run their business, and ultimately they become prone to taking more and more loans. l

The micro credit lenders speak at a national convention held in the city yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

Muhith hopes to get out of 6% growth cycle Business seeks policy support to bring about a miracle as MCCI celebrates its 110 yearsn Tribune Report

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yester-day hoped to get out of the 6% eco-nomic growth cycle maintained by the country over the last several years.

“It seems we have done badly main-taining the growth rate within the boundary of 5.7% and 6.7% over the last several years. I am not very happy about it,” he said.

Muhith sees the coming months will be helpful to get out of the cycle.

He was speaking at the marking of 110 years of the country’s oldest trade body MCCI yesterday at the Bangab-andhu International Conference Cen-tre in Dhaka.

A book on the MCCI along with the body’s new logo was unveiled at the function.

“We have decided in the period of crisis to maintain the domestic de-mand at good level and pace of domes-tic resource mobilisation. These are the two policies in the last six years we are maintaining, which are fairly success-ful,” the � nance minister stated.

The minister appreciated the MCCI and other chambers bodies to formu-late various government policies, in-cluding income tax law in 1983 and VAT law in 1991.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the economy grew 6% annually with human development growing hand in hand.

He said poverty dropped nearly third coupled with improving life ex-pectancy, per capita income, literacy rate and food intake.

The minister hoped the country’s annual export volume will be around $60bn by the � scal year 2020-21.

“This year our RMG export stood at

$24.5bn and next year we projected the export will be $27bn. This is just by the dint of hard work of business people. Bangladesh is a miracle,” he continued.

He remembered that in 1972-73 the export earning was only $300m and the export items were only 25 while the volume has crossed $30bn now.

He said when the country had 75m people, it faced shortage of foods, but now the population is 160m and the country is self su� cient in food.

“We have surplus of foods. I say sur-plus because very recently we have de-cided to export 50,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka. This is the � rst time Bangla-

desh is going to export rice. That is the potential of Bangladesh today.”

Prime Minister’s Foreign A� airs Ad-viser Dr Gowher Rizvi said Bangladesh has progressed a lot in the last � ve years, as power generation increased 75% and transportation sector is mov-ing forward.

Many international analysts and or-ganisations described Bangladesh as a land of tremendous potentials, he cited.

Referring to the mega projects, in-cluding Padma bridge, taken by the government, PM adviser said these are possible to be implemented as “the in-dustrialists and traders are playing a

great role in the development of Bang-ladesh.”

MCCI President Rokia Afzal Rahman said in the last 110 years MCCI passes through a very tumultuous period of history starting with partisan of Bengal and birth of Pakistan and then inde-pendent Bangladesh.

She said MCCI has created a history of its own.

“If the history of 110 years has been epochal, the changes that are yet to come will be nothing short of revolu-tionary. We believe it will reshape a society in ways that we cannot even imagine,” she said.

According to her, globalisation has already fundamentally altered the way to do business at a technological revo-lution.

Rokia Afzal said MCCI � rmly be-lieves Bangladesh surprised the world in the past with its resilience and it will do so with its creativity and functions.

But for that, “we must have stronger and more trusting harmonisation and mutually bene� cial relation between the government and the private sector.”

She said much has been saying about Chinese success but what is of-ten overlooked is that the centre of success is the symbolic nature of coop-eration between government and the private sector.

“We cannot replicate the Chinese success but de� nitely bring about Bangladeshi miracle, if the government gives us that crucial policy support that Chinese and South Korea governments give to their private sector,” MCCI chief said.

She o� ered the government to sit to work out a detailed policy guideline that the government and business peo-ple can unleash to create a miracle. l

From right (sitting), MCCI President Rokia Afzal Rahman, former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and PM’s foreign a� airs adviser Gowher Rizvi smile while posing for photo at the 110 years celebration of MCCI in the capital yesterday RAJIB DHAR

B2 Stock Sunday, October 19, 2014DHAKA TRIBUNE

Weekly news from trade serverAGM/DividendDESCO: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date, Time and Venue of the AGM will be noti� ed later. Record Date: 13.11.2014. The Company has also reported net pro� t after tax of Tk. 668.64 million, EPS of Tk. 1.94, NAV per share of Tk. 32.82 and NOCFPS of Tk. 7.65 for the year ended on June 30, 2014 as against Tk. 804.65 million, Tk. 2.34, Tk. 35.97 and Tk. 10.77 respectively for the year ended on June 30, 2013.AL-HAJTEX: The Board of Directors has recommended 20% stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 20.12.2014, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: Alhaj Textile Mills Factory Premises at I.K. Road, Ishurdi, Pabna. Record Date: 05.11.2014. The Company has also report-ed net pro� t of Tk. 21.36 million, EPS of Tk. 1.68, NAV per share of Tk. 14.88 and NOCFPS of Tk. 9.67 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:NCCBLMF1: (Q3): As per un-audited quar-terly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to Sep'14), the fund has reported net pro� t/(loss) of Tk. 9.68 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.09 as against Tk. (0.86) million and Tk. (0.008) (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net pro� t was Tk. 34.48 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.32 for the period of nine months ended on 30th September

2014 (Jan'14 to Sep'14) as against Tk. 70.24 million and Tk. 0.65 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.GREENDELMF: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to Sep'14), the fund has reported net pro� t/(loss) of Tk. 27.12 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.18 as against Tk. (10.23) million and Tk. (0.07) respectively for the same period of the previous year.DBH1STMF: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to Sep'14), the fund has reported net pro� t of Tk. 16.56 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.14 as against Tk. 2.32 million and Tk. 0.02 respectively for the same period of the previous year.Fixed Assets/Right/Investment:ABBANK: The Company has informed that Bangladesh Bank has accorded its approval to AB Bank Limited's taking over of a further 10% shares in "Cashlink Bangladesh Limited", thereby rising its sharehold-ing in the Company to 100%. Cashlink Bangladesh Limited (CBL) was formed as a Company to carry on the business of providing integrated electronic � nancial payment and transaction processing solu-tions in Bangladesh including co-ordination and deployments of independent branded automated teller machines (ATM) and elec-tronic fund transfer through point of sales and to provide pre-paid card, debit card and credit card processing services. CBL also would facilitate e-commerce facility to

its Member Banks.PTL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to purchase Commercial � oor space in the Ground � oor 1,420 sft., 1st � oor 2,914 sft. and 2nd � oor 2,914 sft. total 7,248 sft. � oor space including 6 cars parking at Shikharaa Jolchhobi 40/8, Gulshan North Avenue (Madani Road), Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212 from Shikharaa Developments Limited for its own uses by � xing total Tk. 42,06,59,500.00 of which Tk. 12,61,97,850.00 only will be paid as down payment and the rest amount will be paid in 14 equal monthly installment i.e. Tk. 2,10,32,975.00 only.OLYMPIC: With reference to the Compa-ny's earlier news (news disseminated by DSE on July 08, 2013) the company has further informed that it has completed its installation of machineries for its 2 new Biscuit Lines (Line-6 and Line-7). The Company has further informed that the production of aforesaid 2 new Biscuit Lines will start from October 15, 2014 when its production capacity will increase from 5,000 tons to 7,500 tons per month and will be able to produce and sell many new-er types of international quality biscuits.Credit Rating:PROVATIINS: Emerging Credit Rating Limited (ECRL) has assigned the rating of the Company as "A+" in the long term and "ECRL-2" in the short term along with a sta-ble outlook to the Company based on the analysis of Company data for four � nancial years (FY 2010-2013).

Stocks pass week after Eid with limited gain n Tribune Report

Stock market inched up in the � rst week after a nine-day Eid-ul-Azha vacation, extending the gaining streak for the sixth consecutive ses-sion.

Out of usual � ve trading sessions in the week that ended Thursday, two sessions witnessed steep gain while three sessions saw prof-it-booking fall.

The benchmark index DSEX add-ed 48 points or 1% to 5,285.

The comprising blue chips DS30 index rose nearly 5 points or 0.3% to 1,997. The DSE Shariah Index closed at 1,242, rising 23 points or 1.9%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index - CSCX – was up 130 points to close at 9,911.

Trading activities still remained vibrant at the DSE, as the daily turn-over for the week averaged Tk962 crore, a slight increase of 0.3% over the previous week’s average Tk959 crore.

The investor’s attention was mostly concentrated on fuel and power and pharmaceuticals - the sectors that accounted for 19% and 14% respectively of the week’s total turnover.

IDLC Investments said dynamic trading pattern, mostly focused on re-balancing portfolio, kept the mar-ket movement positive in the � rst week after the prolonged Eid vaca-tion.

It said expectations of quarterly

earnings declaration and selected June-ending stocks from the fuel and power sector drew some wise participants into the market, said the merchant bank.

“Stock-wise swing was present alongside investors’ preference in fundamentally strong and lucrative issues centering on upcoming earn-ings declaration,” it said.

It said some investors pursued safe strategy, cashing out their hold-ing on the fear of crash after recent rally.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the benchmark index consolidated around 5,300-level in the follow-ing four trading sessions of the past week.

The major sectors showed mixed performance last week. Food and allied posted the highest loss among the large cap sectors with 1.4% decline. Telecommunication and NBFIs also edged 0.7% and 0.6% lower respectively.

Pharmaceuticals and power post-ed impressive yields of 4% and 4.2% respectively. Banks rose 1.6%.

Gainers outpaced losers as out of 312 issues traded, 199 advanced, 107 declined, 6 remained unchanged on DSE � oor during the past week.

Square Pharmaceuticals dom-inated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth Tk212 crore changing hands followed by Mo-bil Jamuna Limited Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Titas Gas and Delta Life Insurance. l

CSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Fu-Wang Food A -14.50 -14.03 23.53 23.00 27.20 22.70 16.029 0.96 24.5Rahima Food -Z -13.27 -12.98 47.82 47.70 51.00 47.00 0.880 -1.01 -veSamata LeatheR -Z -9.33 -9.33 20.40 20.40 20.40 20.40 0.010 0.09 226.7SAIF Powertec-N -9.17 -5.71 55.86 55.50 63.00 55.20 33.566 1.63 34.3Prime Islami Life -A -9.06 -9.00 83.32 83.30 86.00 83.00 0.333 4.95 16.8Envoy Textiles Ltd-N -8.81 -8.70 56.26 55.90 60.50 55.00 7.733 2.04 27.6Sandhani Life -A -8.26 -4.79 65.45 65.50 70.00 65.10 0.517 2.12 30.9 Argon Denims Limited-A -8.26 -7.04 43.55 43.30 53.70 43.20 16.708 3.86 11.3Meghna Life Ins. -A -8.08 -6.48 105.80 105.80 119.50 105.00 2.208 6.45 16.4Apex Tannery -A -7.51 -5.50 163.11 160.00 178.00 160.00 2.959 5.51 29.6

DSE LOSERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Fu-Wang Food A -14.23 -14.13 23.46 22.90 27.50 21.80 285.073 0.96 24.4Progressive Life-A -11.19 -12.03 92.78 92.90 113.00 89.00 8.539 2.30 40.3Rahima Food -Z -10.25 -9.89 47.39 47.30 52.80 46.30 9.385 -1.01 -veMeghna Life Ins. -A -9.80 -8.14 103.40 103.10 116.50 95.00 77.595 6.45 16.0Envoy Textiles Ltd-N -9.40 -9.10 55.61 55.90 62.00 51.00 163.574 2.04 27.3SAIF Powertec-N -9.27 -5.52 56.16 55.80 63.50 55.50 214.744 1.63 34.5Savar Refractories-Z -8.56 -6.67 56.00 56.60 59.00 56.10 0.031 0.52 107.7 Argon Denims Limited-A -8.26 -7.18 43.42 43.30 49.50 41.00 239.043 3.86 11.2Saiham Tex.A -7.96 -6.39 31.50 31.20 34.70 31.00 73.951 3.09 10.2BSRM Steels-A -7.16 -4.17 109.95 108.90 118.00 102.10 447.455 4.80 22.9

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 2,783,869 124.25 4.03 42.80 -5.73 45.40 47.00 41.90 43.02Square Pharma -A 387,728 107.14 3.47 278.70 5.81 263.40 287.30 250.00 280.03Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A 3,606,000 97.30 3.15 26.40 6.45 24.80 28.80 25.30 25.96MJL BD Ltd.-A 613,051 93.43 3.03 153.90 3.57 148.60 162.50 142.00 153.52Summit Power -A 1,832,252 81.91 2.66 43.20 1.89 42.40 46.50 41.00 43.73National Bank - A 6,252,752 81.24 2.63 12.70 -3.05 13.10 13.60 12.40 12.73LafargeS Cement-Z 524,500 72.09 2.34 136.50 -2.64 140.20 141.00 134.30 136.77Grameenphone-A 187,000 70.83 2.30 379.10 -0.34 380.40 385.00 372.80 380.10G Next Fashions-A 3,869,478 69.01 2.24 17.10 2.40 16.70 18.60 16.00 17.13RAK Ceramics-A 1,009,892 67.64 2.19 64.90 -0.31 65.10 70.00 64.10 65.37

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

Company Volume shares

Value in million

% of total turnover

Weekly closing

Price change

Weekly opening

Weekly high

Weekly low

Weekly average

Square Pharma -A 7,714,459 2126.75 4.42 279.60 5.63 264.70 295.00 241.60 280.34MJL BD Ltd.-A 13,144,403 2024.38 4.21 154.30 3.91 148.50 162.30 129.30 153.46Grameenphone-A 4,135,003 1561.48 3.25 377.80 -0.63 380.20 386.00 356.00 379.38Titas Gas TDCLA 15,856,042 1477.89 3.07 95.50 2.80 92.90 96.50 82.60 94.77Delta Life Insu. -A 6,073,525 1244.86 2.59 200.60 -0.94 202.50 215.00 185.00 202.99Summit Power -A 23,990,059 1070.02 2.22 43.00 1.90 42.20 46.40 39.00 43.43BEXIMCO Ltd. -A 21,930,376 979.22 2.04 42.70 -5.53 45.20 47.00 39.00 42.96Beximco Pharma -A 13,498,032 950.54 1.98 68.10 -1.73 69.30 73.00 62.00 68.66Khulna Power-A 14,562,619 890.84 1.85 60.60 12.43 53.90 64.90 50.00 61.21DESCO Ltd. -A 12,098,608 841.62 1.75 76.50 21.82 62.80 76.70 55.00 73.67

CSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Shinepukur Cera-Z 25.36 24.00 17.10 17.30 17.50 13.50 2.902 0.50 34.2Bangladesh Welding -Z 24.80 20.91 15.09 15.60 15.70 12.30 3.261 0.34 44.4DESCO Ltd. -A 22.36 18.18 73.40 76.60 76.60 57.00 19.202 1.94 37.8Central Insur -A 20.72 20.72 30.30 30.30 30.30 27.60 0.309 3.14 9.6Prime Insur -A 17.91 15.95 23.34 23.70 24.00 21.40 0.346 1.28 18.2LR Global BD MF1-A 16.98 16.98 6.20 6.20 6.80 5.50 0.564 0.64 9.7ISN Ltd. -Z 16.19 13.01 11.90 12.20 12.20 10.00 0.525 0.20 59.5AMCL 2nd MF-A 16.00 16.20 5.81 5.80 5.90 5.30 0.201 0.99 5.9Asia Pasi� c Insu. -A 15.91 15.91 25.50 25.50 25.50 23.00 0.333 2.26 11.3Pragati Gen. I -A 14.81 13.60 46.68 47.30 47.30 43.00 0.019 2.44 19.1

DSE GAINERS

Company Closing (% change)

Aver-age (%

change)

Closing average

Weekly closing

Weekly high

Weekly low

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Latest PE

Bangladesh Welding -Z 27.42 22.45 15.22 15.80 15.90 11.30 26.245 0.34 44.8Shinepukur Cera-Z 22.30 23.60 17.18 17.00 18.00 13.00 40.200 0.50 34.4DESCO Ltd. -A 21.82 18.16 73.67 76.50 76.70 55.00 841.616 1.94 38.0EBL NRB M.F.-A 19.05 17.74 7.50 7.50 7.50 5.90 0.445 0.85 8.8Standard Insurance-A 16.54 17.98 31.43 31.00 33.80 25.00 10.337 3.00 10.5EXIM Bank 1 MF-A 15.25 17.18 6.89 6.80 6.90 6.40 0.129 1.28 5.4IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A 14.81 15.84 6.29 6.20 6.80 5.50 21.746 1.07 5.9Fareast Finance-Z 14.68 13.93 12.35 12.50 13.00 11.00 27.061 0.78 15.8ISN Ltd. -Z 14.42 12.98 11.75 11.90 12.20 10.00 3.724 0.20 58.8NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A 14.29 13.38 6.44 6.40 6.70 5.70 19.352 0.43 15.0

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Sector DSE CSE TotalMillion Taka % change Million Taka % change Million Taka % change

Bank 5475.06 11.38 381.70 12.17 5856.76 11.43NBFI 3855.75 8.02 196.47 6.26 4052.22 7.91Investment 890.02 1.85 47.80 1.52 937.82 1.83Engineering 4921.04 10.23 336.64 10.73 5257.68 10.26Food & Allied 2390.22 4.97 104.81 3.34 2495.03 4.87Fuel & Power 9082.82 18.88 431.49 13.75 9514.31 18.57Jute 12.36 0.03 0.00 0.00 12.36 0.02Textile 3889.83 8.09 400.47 12.76 4290.30 8.37Pharma & Chemical 6763.54 14.06 353.06 11.25 7116.60 13.89Paper & Packaging 207.72 0.43 45.07 1.44 252.78 0.49Service 748.34 1.56 62.21 1.98 810.55 1.58Leather 474.24 0.99 26.82 0.85 501.07 0.98Ceramic 736.03 1.53 77.47 2.47 813.50 1.59Cement 1763.61 3.67 144.02 4.59 1907.63 3.72Information Technology 402.32 0.84 59.85 1.91 462.17 0.90General Insurance 746.32 1.55 26.50 0.84 772.82 1.51Life Insurance 1658.43 3.45 56.50 1.80 1714.93 3.35Telecom 1847.35 3.84 108.94 3.47 1956.29 3.82Travel & Leisure 809.01 1.68 119.71 3.82 928.73 1.81Miscellaneous 1425.18 2.96 157.92 5.03 1583.10 3.09Debenture 3.68 0.01 0.06 0.00 3.74 0.01

Weekly capital market highlightsDSE Broad Index : 5285.83938 (+) 0.92% ▲

DSE - 30 Index : 1997.79434 (+) 0.23% ▲

CSE All Share Index: 16309.4832 (+) 1.13% ▲

CSE - 30 Index : 13491.6140 (+) 2.55% ▲

CSE Selected Index : 9911.9386 (+) 1.33% ▲

DSE key features October 12-16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka)

48,102.88

Turnover (Volume)

1,179,346,724

Number of Contract 885,100

Traded Issues 312

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

213

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

99

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

-

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,786.21

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

33.77

CSE key features October 12-16, 2014Turnover (Million Taka) 3,062.79

Turnover (Volume) 93,955,696

Number of Contract 111,015

Traded Issues 262

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

172

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

88

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,688.63

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.59

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Dynamic trading pattern, mostly focused on re-balancing portfolio, kept the market movement positive in the � rst week after the prolonged Eid vacation

ANALYST

B3BusinessDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

Flytxt, the leading Big Data Analytics solution provider for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) was recently announced to be presented with the Bronze Stevie Award for the ‘Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year’ at a gala ceremony for ‘The 11th Annual International Business Awards’ in Paris on Oct 10, 2014. The Nokia handset promotional campaign executed by Flytxt’s mobile ad marketplace, mADmart, in Bangladesh, was adjudged as one of the top three campaigns in this category

City Bank has recently opened a branch at Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson, Rubel Aziz inaugurated the 106th branch

KFC and Pizza Hut has recently launched a month-long campaigned named World Hunger Relief to address widespread hunger in Bangladesh as to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Funds raised from the campaign will help WFP provide a mid-morning snack of vitamin and mineral forti� ed biscuits to primary school children in poor areas to help ensure that they complete a basic education. WFP representative in Bangladesh Christa Räder and Akku Chowdhury, MD & CEO of Transcom Food Ltd were presented at the launching ceremony on October 16

Jamuna Bank Limited has recently held its quarterly business conference for the on-going year at a hotel in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson, Shaheen Mahmud was present at the conference as chief guest

Following the launch of two Regus business centres in Bangladesh last July, many companies from several sectors have � ocked to its new � exible workplaces in Dhaka, o� cials said at a press brie� ng held in the capital recently

Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, acting managing director of Prime Bank Limited has recently handed over a crest to Inessa Tolokonnikova, regional industry manager for South Asia Financial Markets of IFC after signing an agreement for $70m of short-term � nance and guarantee facility in a function held at the bank’s head o� ce

Global CEO of Coats, Paul Forman is expect-ed to attend the celebration programme of 25 years of partnership of Coats Bangla-desh to be held today. Paul Forman was appointed as the Group CEO of Coats plc in December 2009. P rior to that, he was man-aging director at Unipart Automotive, the leading European automotive aftermarket distributor, with over 500 branches across three continents

Merkel urges EU to keep up reforms as crisis not over n Reuters, Berlin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told parliament on Thursday that Europe must push ahead with e� orts to cut public de� cits and improve competi-tiveness because the euro zone debt crisis has not yet been overcome and its causes have not been eliminated.

Speaking to the background of ner-vousness in � nancial markets about signs of a global slowdown, Merkel said European Union leaders must bear in mind, as they debate ways to boost growth, that painful � scal reforms have begun to pay o� .

“Early successes prove that we chose the right path from the start,” she said, citing improved productivity and � nances in some euro zone states and what she termed the “successful”

exit of Ireland, Portugal and Spain from their bailout programmes.

“But - and I will say this again and again - we are still far from our goal,” Merkel said.

“The crisis has not yet been per-manently and sustainably overcome because the causes, regarding the set-up of the European economic and cur-rency union and the situation of indi-vidual member states, haven’t been eliminated.”

“We have to press ahead deter-minedly with our e� orts for sustain-able growth and solid public � nances and the creation of jobs,” said Merkel, who is under pressure to allow member states such as France and Italy greater � exibility under EU de� cit rules so that they can focus on measures to create employment.

But, like Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who has faced repeated crit-icisms of Berlin’s stance at Internation-al Monetary Fund talks in Washington and from other EU � nance ministers, the chancellor showed little sign of be-ing swayed.

“All - and I stress here once again - all member states must fully respect the reinforced rules of the stability and growth pact,” she said, adding that the incoming European Commission would have to uphold these rules to defend the EU’s credibility.

Speaking ahead of an EU-Asia sum-mit in Milan where she and other EU leaders will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the � rst time in months, with President Petro Porosh-enko of Ukraine, Merkel called the situ-ation there “very di� cult”. l

Alibaba a� liate Alipay rebranded Ant in new � nancial services push n Reuters, Beijing

Chinese e-commerce � rm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday it has changed the name of its Alipay � -nancial services a� liate to Ant Finan-cial Services Group as it steps up its push into the � nancial services industry.

Alibaba has been aggressively of-fering new � nancial services around Alipay, including a money market fund for consumers, a mobile payment app and even a new private bank that was approved by the Chinese government in September.

Due to Alibaba’s dominant market position in e-commerce, Alipay has emerged as the online payment pro-cessing leader in China. It clears 80 mil-lion transactions per day, including 45 million transactions through its Alipay Wallet mobile app, the company said on Thursday.

The rebranding of the Alipay unit, whose legal name is Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co, is part of a strategy by Alibaba and its a� liated companies to accelerate devel-opment of � nancial business. The name

‘Ant’ was chosen to symbolize the po-tential strength of a number of smaller brands working together, executives said.

At a day-long presentation in Bei-jing, Ant Financial executives outlined a vision of turning its mobile payment app into a full-� edged, data-driven commercial platform. They have their sights set on a service where busi-nesses can deliver personally tailored smartphone ads and promotions based on Alipay data gleaned from an individ-ual consumer’s shopping habits.

“China has never been lacking banks; it has 200 of them,” said Ant Financial Chief Executive Lucy Peng. “But we have an opportunity to use Internet methods, Internet technology, Internet thinking to disrupt traditional � nance.”

Unique position Alibaba controversially spun out Ali-pay in 2011, but its executives includ-ing executive chairman Jack Ma main-tain control of the payment processor, considered by some analysts as one of the most valuable assets in the Alibaba universe due to its unique position in Chinese commerce. l

German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks away after addressing the German lower house of Parliament Bundestag in Berlin REUTERS

Employees and journalists take pictures and videos of a giant electronic board showing the online transaction value on Alipay, an online payment system of China's leading e-commerce retailers REUTERS

Dollar gains as eurozone concerns linger n AFP, New York

The dollar Friday climbed against other currencies following dovish comments from US and British central bankers and continued concern about the eu-rozone.

The dollar rose against the euro and yen for a second day running as glob-al � nancial markets steadied, in part in response to soothing commentary from central bankers.

On Thursday, James Bullard, head of the St Louis branch of the Federal Reserve, suggested the US central bank could extend its bond-buying program rather than winding it down, as had been expected.

Then on Friday, Andrew Haldane, chief economist of the Bank of Eng-land, said recent economic weakness implied the need for a “back foot,” or slower, approach to raising rates.

Kathleen Brooks, a research director for Europe and Britain at Forex.com, said the dovish commentary, coupled with eurozone uncertainty, could lift the greenback.

“If Eurozone sovereign fears rise once more, loggerheads at the ECB could hurt market sentiment, and Eu-ropean assets in particular,” she said. l

Fed’s Williams downplays global risks, eyes US in� ation n Reuters, Washington

A bellwether Federal Reserve policy-maker on Tuesday downplayed concerns about weakness in the global economy, saying the US central bank should only delay an interest rate hike next year if in-� ation or wages fail to perk up.

John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed, said in an interview with Reuters that the � rst line of defense at the central bank, if needed, would be to telegraph that US rates would stay near zero for longer than mid-2015, when he currently expects them to rise.

If the outlook changes “signi� cant-ly,” with in� ation showing little sign of returning to the central bank’s 2% tar-get, he said he would even be open to another round of asset purchases.

The comments from Williams, seen as a good barometer of the views of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, suggest the central bank has been little moved by grow-ing concerns in � nancial markets over weakness in Europe and China, and re-mains on track to lift rates. In the inter-view, Williams repeated he is comfort-able with his call for a rate hike about nine months from now.

But “if in� ation isn’t moving above 1.5 (%) and we get stuck into that gear, that would argue for a later lifto� ,” he said. “If we don’t see any improvement in wages, that would be a sign that we still have a lot of slack in the economy and we are not getting any in� ationary pressure to move in� ation back to 2%.”

Markets not far from fed rate view A key adviser to Yellen for years, Wil-liams will rotate into a voting spot on the Fed’s policymaking panel next year when the central bank is widely ex-pected to start moving benchmark bor-rowing costs higher for the � rst time in nearly a decade.

As signals of European weakness grew stronger last week, investors pushed back their expectations for when the Fed would raise rates from June to September of next year, and they see a more gradual pace of rate hikes than predicted by Fed o� cials.

Asked about shifting investor bets, Williams expressed little concern, say-ing markets had a fundamentally cor-rect view of the likely path of Fed policy.

“If the problem we are facing is the di� erence of a couple of (Fed) meet-

ings, I really think those are not that meaningful,” he said. “As the data come in, as the forecasts evolve, one view or another will be proved right.”

Rather than re� ecting a misreading of the Fed’s intentions, low rates for 10 and 30-year US government bonds instead show doubts about the global economy and other issues, Williams said. “The markets are pricing in a lot of other things that might happen and a lot of those are negative,” he said.

If US economic growth does pick up, Williams said the Fed could raise rates sooner than currently expected. But the bigger concern is a downturn, he said.

The Fed next meets on Oct 28-29, when some policymakers are pushing to ditch a promise to wait a “consider-able time” before raising rates, given a sharp drop in the US unemployment rate to 5.9%. Williams wants to leave that phrase intact for now, but said the central bank could adjust it as the out-look evolves.

The Fed is set to wrap up its third round of massive asset purchases, known as quantitative easing, or QE, later this month, leaving it with some $4.4tn on its balance sheet. l

Japan rolls out ‘long-held dream’ with � rst commercial jet in 50 years n Reuters, Nagoya

To the sound of drums and a children’s choir, Mitsubishi Aircraft yesterday rolled out Japan’s � rst commercial jet in half a century, amid doubts it can attain an ambition to sell more than 2,000 air-craft in a competitive market segment.

Developed by a subsidiary of Mit-subishi Heavy Industries that includes Toyota Corp as a shareholder, the $42m regional jet, with just under 100 seats, is Japan’s second bid to break into the commercial aircraft market.

“This has been a long-held dream of ours, and one that all of Japan has

waited for,” Hideaki Omiya, chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy, said at a factory in Nagoya in central Japan, which was also the site of the roll-out, 75 years ago, of the prototype of the World War Two-era Zero � ghter plane.

The ceremony, attended by about 500 people, kicks o� a sprint to com-plete � ight tests before the � rst deliv-ery of the aircraft in June 2017 to ANA Holdings Inc.

That target is three years later than initially planned. Japan failed in its last attempt to break into the commercial aircraft market in the 1960s, with a 64-seat turboprop dubbed the YS-11. Only

182 planes, built by a consortium that included Mitsubishi Heavy, were ever made.

Mitsubishi has so far won 191 � rm orders from customers including US re-gional groups Trans States Holdings and SkyWest Inc, and Japan Airlines Co Ltd.

Analysts say the � gure is less than the several hundred planes it needs to sell to break even and far behind the orders it needs to overtake the market leader, Brazil’s Embraer SA.

That goal presents a “signi� cant chal-lenge,” Rob Morris, head of consultancy at aviation market specialist Ascend, said before Saturday’s ceremony. l

B4 Back PageDHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, October 19, 2014

DILBERT

China Inc’s spending cuts deepest in six years as economy slows n Reuters, Beijing

Chinese companies are on a pace to cut capital spending by around 7% this year, the biggest annual reduction since the global � nancial crisis, deep-ening an economic chill.

Slower spending by companies un-derscores the challenges that China fac-es this year in containing an economic slowdown that is set to be its worst in 24 years, and which has been aggravat-ed by a sagging property market.

The cutbacks could persist, indicat-ing that China’s economy, which has relied heavily on investment, will need to speed up rebalancing to feed growth.

Economic uncertainty and a govern-ment campaign to curtail industries that are either heavy polluters or are stuck with a glut of unsold goods mean that investment could fall next year as well, interviews with companies and analysts showed.

A Reuters analysis of 335 Chinese companies, ranging from drug to ma-chinery makers, shows investment is expected to fall 7.3% this year - or 74bn yuan ($12.1bn) - from 2013 levels, accord-ing to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.

For many companies such as Yun-nan Tin Co Ltd, whose sales and prof-its have been hit by China’s softening economy, being frugal is a matter of survival. Analysts on average expect the � rm, which is the world’s largest tin producer, to slash capital expendi-ture by 81 percent this year.

“We feel that the economic downturn will continue, so it’s better to keep our eye on our wallet,” said Pan Wenhao, board secretary at Yunnan Tin, which posted a net loss of 1.27bn yuan last year.

Others are also staying lean in tough times. A Reuters study showed that cash balances at 726 companies rose 13% in the � rst six months of this year compared with the year-ago period, as � rms curbed investment in the face of uncertainty.

The � ight to safety comes as China’s economy is forecast to grow at its slack-est rate in � ve years in the third quar-ter, as slower investment growth and a housing downturn increasingly damp-ened activity.

Analysts polled by Reuters forecast China’s economy likely grew 7.2% in July-September, the weakest since the � rst quarter of 2009 when the world was smarting from the � nancial crisis.

With no recovery in sight, � rms like Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co Ltd, which makes chemical products, said it would rather play safe. It plans to stop invest-ing in expanding its capacity from this year for an unstated period of time, as it tries to cut corporate � ab and increase automation, it said in its 2013 annual report in March.

“From 2014 onwards for a long peri-od of time, the economic environment is likely to become more complicated,” it said.

No need for so much Investment has long been a crucial driver of China’s economy. It accounted for 54% of growth last year, with private investment making up as much as 63% of the total 43.7tn yuan ($7.1tn) spent.

Re� ecting China’s wobbly economy,

data due later this month is expected to show annual investment growth slid to a near 13-year low of 16.2% in January-September.

Whether the slowdown was for the better part driven by China’s cooling economy or engineered by authorities’ e� orts to wean the nation o� heavy investment is unclear. But what is cer-tain is that energy � rms and machinery makers, the usual capex heavyweights, have led the latest savings drive along-side telecom � rms and food, beverage and tobacco companies.

Petrochina Co Ltd, one of China’s top two gas importers, is forecast to have slashed its investment by nearly 11bn yuan this year from last, Reuters data shows - the � rst time it has cut in-vestment since its 2000 stock market debut. Likewise, miner China Coal En-

ergy is forecast to have pared spending by 7.5bn yuan this year.

“For the traditional manufacturing sectors, I’m afraid their expenditure will continue to shrink,” said Cai Jin, vice president at the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, which compiles China’s o� cial purchas-ing managers’ index. “Because of the structural reforms, there’s no need for so much coal, so much iron ore and so much steel,” Cai said.

After 30 years of breakneck, double-digit growth that lifted millions of Chi-nese out of poverty but also damaged the environment and left the govern-ment and banks with a pile of debt, China says it is ready for change. It wants to cut debt, reduce pollution and lift domestic consumption to prepare its maturing economy for slower but

better quality growth. The change, which entails wean-

ing China’s economy o� exports, easy credit and heavy investment, would require the country to pay the price of living with slower growth in the short term. Analysts forecast economic growth of 7.4% this year.

As a result, � rms like Hebei Iron & Steel, China’s top steel maker, are brac-ing for more austerity. The company said earlier this year it would not em-bark on new projects in 2014 and would cap budgets following a government ban on new steel projects until 2017.

“Cash management is our core fo-cus,” it said at its September half-year results. “Given the supply-demand sit-uation and the sector’s falling pro� ts, the tight � nancial situation has become the industry’s ‘new normal’.” l

People cross a bridge at Pudong � nancial district in Shanghai REUTERS

Oil prices at $82.75 a barrel n Tribune Business Desk

Oil prices Friday rose for a second consecutive day following strong gasoline demand data in the US, as investor sentiment steadied in global equity markets.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in No-vember added a modest � ve cents to $82.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

European benchmark Brent oil for December delivery advanced 34 cents to $86.16 a barrel in London.

Analysts said the market con-tinued to take a hopeful reading from Thursday’s US energy inven-tory data, which showed gaso-line inventories fell 4 million last week.

“We saw yesterday that de-mand is very strong, especially gasoline, with more people driv-ing and shopping,” said Carl Larry, head of consultancy Oil Outlooks and Opinions.

“We were a little oversold and now the economy looks a bit more stable.”

Friday’s move came as equity markets in Britain, France and Germany all gained at least 1.8% as investors snapped up bargains following a sharp drop earlier in the week. US equity markets were also solidly higher.

A broader rally of higher-risk in-vestments “has swept up the crude complex with it,” said Matt Smith, analyst at Schneider Electric.

Since mid-June, US oil prices have fallen about 22% and Brent about 25% amid concerns of a glut.

The drop in oil prices has helped push gasoline prices in the US down to a national average of $3.14 per gallon compared with $3.36 last year, according to the American Automobile Associa-tion. Lower gasoline prices often leads to higher consumption. l

Banned: Property tycoon KP Singh, who built India’s � rst ‘smart’ city n Reuters, New Delhi

It was, by his own account, a chance encounter with a scion of the Gandhi political dynasty that turned former soldier Kushal Pal Singh into the man who built a city from nothing and made billions in the process.

Singh was toppled from his spot as India’s richest property developer this week, when his company DLF Ltd was hit with an unprecedented three-year ban from capital markets, accused by the regulator of failing to disclose key information at the time of its record-breaking 2007 market listing.

Investors wiped more than $1.3bn o� the indebted company’s market value after the decision.

Village boy-turned-visionary devel-oper, Singh may be largely unknown outside India. But as the man who built “boom city” Gurgaon and fostered the outsourcing industry - with a little help, he says, from ex-General Electric boss Jack Welch - he has been among the most in� uential Indian names of recent decades.

His political links, to the Gandhi family in particular, have also placed him among the more controversial.

To its cheerleaders, Gurgaon, the city he imagined and built 15 miles outside India’s capital Delhi, is a pro-totype of where young, upwardly mo-bile Indians want to live and work. The outsourcing boom has made the city India’s third-richest.

“It is India’s � rst smart city,” said Ra-jeev Talwar, executive director at DLF. “Its infrastructure may be creaking ... but there is a new part which supports a new kind of life.”

To its detractors, though, Gurgaon is the epitome of the fervid real estate speculation and dysfunctional urban sprawl that threaten India’s cities as populations boom. Water and power are unreliable, social problems abound and private contractors have had to step in where the police have failed.

Its population has ballooned by

about three-quarters to 1.5 million peo-ple in the decade to 2011.

Boom city It has been a di� cult year for Singh, whose fate from the start has been closely tied to that of the Gandhi fam-ily. Haryana, the state neighbouring Delhi and including Gurgaon, has long been a stronghold for the family and the Congress party.

After a decade in power Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, was ousted in May’s general election by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Hary-ana’s voters threw out Congress in a state election this week and strongly backed the BJP, exit polls show. Results are due Sunday.

“There are businesses that have bene� ted from managing their political connections, and real estate is one of them,” said an executive whose com-pany works with DLF, but did not wish to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

In Singh’s case, the link goes back decades.

In his autobiography, Singh de-scribes how in 1980 he accidentally met Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia’s husband and India’s prime minister from 1984 to 1989, when the latter was travelling to Gurgaon and had stopped for water to cool his car’s radiator.

Singh, whose family property � rm had been pushed out of the capital by strict development laws, says he shared his plan for the dry and desolate Gurga-on region, and his fate was sealed.

The chance meeting served DLF well for several years during which Singh - even at 82, a sharp dresser with military bearing - amassed 3,500 acres of land in Gurgaon, some of it still un-developed.

“A salute to the old man to have at that time thought of putting together the entire site and not be tempted to gain by selling parcels of land to other developers,” said Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of Jones Lang LaSal-le, a property consultancy that advises DLF.

In 2007, DLF listed in what was then India’s largest IPO. The atmosphere at DLF, one employee recalled, was “elec-tric”.

However, politics also cost Singh dearly - DLF has been pulled up several times by opposition party members and anti-corruption activists who accused it of improper land deals with family members of Congress chief Sonia.

It is familiar ground for Singh, whose fallout with Haryana’s Congress party chief minister in the 80s cost DLF nearly a decade of lost development opportunities.

But the timing of the regulator’s order this week, two days before the Haryana state polls, has strengthened views that DLF’s close ties with Con-gress could also work against it.

For the regulator, it is simply about targeting the big � sh, in a bid to boost investor con� dence. DLF and its sup-porters say they will seek to work with the government, regardless of political shades. l

China to inject $33bn of 3-month loans into banks n Reuters, Beijing

China’s central bank is set to inject about 200bn yuan ($32.66bn) worth of three-month loans into � ve or six listed banks to keep liquidity ample and sup-port the slowing Chinese economy, four sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

The injection follows signs that Chi-nese investors are beginning to bet that the PBOC is going to reduce the o� cial deposit rate, now � xed at 3%.

And it came after a 500bn yuan injec-tion the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) made into China’s top banks last month via its standard lending facility (SLF) in the form of three-month loans.

“Banks got the notice this afternoon but perhaps will only receive the funds next week. This injection focuses on list-ed joint-stock banks,” one source said.

Analysts also suspect that recent moves to guide traded short-term rates by lowering the guidance rates for repo contracts may be buttressed by cuts in nominal lending rates. The aim would be to encourage state-owned banks to lower the cost of credit for productive investments.

Central bank o� cials whom Reuters contacted couldn’t immediately con-� rm the injection plan.

Regulators were concerned by signs of slowing loan growth this summer, but yuan loans picked up in Septem-ber, relieving worries that demand was slackening. However, the Friday stan-dard lending facility shows the central bank is still engaged in targeted easing to keep cash in the system.

China has injected a net 44bn yuan for the year through open market op-erations, compared with 113bn yuan in 2013. But it has begun to intensify its use of short-term facilities extended directly to banks in 2014, a method which some analysts criticize as being relatively opaque.

The PBOC has so far held back from a deeper across-the-board easing such as a reduction of bank reserve require-ment ratios (RRR) that would result in a big, sustained upward adjustment to the base money supply. Some econo-mists question how long it can rely on short-term targeted tools to keep credit � owing.

“There was very weak loan demand in Q3, which would generally indicate lower lending in Q4, but this is likely to be o� set by continued monetary loos-ening and lending support,” wrote Oli-ver Barron of NSBO in a research report on Friday. l

Top investors, strategists take pummeling in Wall St sell-o� n Reuters, Boston

Some of Wall Street’s biggest names are licking their wounds as October lives up to its reputation as one of the mar-ket’s roughest months.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has now lost almost 8% in the past three-and-a-half weeks , wiping out almost all of the gains achieved earlier in 2014. What seemed like another good year for investors in US equities is now fraught with uncertainty, with $1.3tn in S&P companies’ market value disappearing. Add in the impact of an oil price slump plus a big surprise rally in US Treasur-ies, and the risks of big investment loss-es have risen dramatically.

From top equity strategists to big hedge funds and mutual funds, the carnage has spared few. Morgan Stan-ley strategists said this week that their model portfolio through Monday had trailed the S&P by 3.6 percentage points

due to bad bets on technology stocks, including GT Advanced Technologies, the Apple supplier that surprised inves-tors with a bankruptcy � ling last week.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, had indicated for some time that he was prepared for a stock market reversal but it is unclear whether he would have been fully hedged against a 27% drop in the shares of online video company Net� ix on Wednesday after it reported slower US growth. Icahn’s Icahn Enter-prises owned 1.8 million shares at the end of the second quarter. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

Top equity strategists at major in-vestment banks polled this year by Re-uters have been caught wrong-footed. They steadily boosted their bets on the rally continuing. The median S&P 500 year-end forecast has been steadily climbing, from a median of 1,925 in De-cember 2013, to 2,000 in June, and then 2,033 in a Sept 25 poll. l

A trader gestures at his screen on the � oor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York REUTERS