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DA 6238 Vol 2, No 32
www.dhakatribune.com
SECOND EDITION
PM directed the junior minister to take steps for arresting the abductors
cities. Moreover, any private or public vehicle fitted with black tinted glass will not be allowed to run in the capital, he added. Meanwhile, the government has banned the use of tinted glass on microbuses, in the wake of a recent series of abductions where kidnappers used microbuses with glasses tinted with dark window films. The ban will be effective from May 10, according to an order issued by the Home Ministry. l
Narayanganj city ward councillor Nazuls wife Selina wails in front of his dead body, recovered from the Shitalakkhya River yesterday afternoon DHAKA TRIBUNE
Supporters of ward councillor Nazrul set a filling station ablaze on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Highway yesterday after news of recovery of his body spread DHAKA TRIBUNE
INSIDE
Business
B1 An idea was floated in a Dhaka seminar to create a fund for financing factory upgrading and general improvement in working standards in Bangladesh.
News
3 Thailand has claimed that around 400 suspected Bangladeshis are now in different detention centres there. 3 Return of chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal to office after a 15-day leave yesterday created much hype within his team on whether his joining was authorised or not. 5 The Rapid Action Battalion wants to take possession of seven acres of land in Kamrangir Char area to set up its office, but a task force has suggested that the government allot only 2.41 acres of land to the elite force.
Nation
HOLIDAY NOTICE
Thursday, May 1, is a national and newspaper holiday on the occasion of May Day. Therefore, the Dhaka Tribune will not be published tomorrow. However, our online version will keep updating.
6 The prevailing drought-like conditions have reduced soil moisture, affecting the growth of tea plants, leaving different gardens in Panchagarh all dried up.
World
9 Narendra Modi looked triumphant after voting on Wednesday in the eighth stage of the worlds largest election, but the man tipped to be the next prime minister is still not assured of winning an outright majority.
Op-Ed
11 The historic May Day is being observed today throughout the country and elsewhere in the world to show respect to workers who shed their blood for the establishment of the rights of the working class in 1886.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
Two buses are placed on the middle of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway as part of a road blockade programme by Narayanganj residents yesterday, protesting the recent abduction of seven people MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
Police attacked
n
Our Correspondent, Comilla
Criminals attacked police personnel in the Shashongacha area of the city yesterday to help release a prisoner from custody. According to sources, the police went to the area in the morning to arrest Kaosar, an accused involved in 10 cases. Kaosars cohorts attacked the police personnel when they were going back with Kaosar in custody. l
We have 23 camps in border areas and 15 new camps are being set up. Construction is proceeding fast as we have directives from the top administration to show zero tolerance for drugs, Coxs Bazar BGB Sector Commander Colonel Khandaker Farid Hasan told reporters. Surveillance along the 54km border with Myanmar has been beefed up and yaba traders will be brought to book, said Lt Col Md Abujar Al Jahid, Commander of Teknaf 42 BGB. The drive against drugs has been given the highest priority in accordance with the list from the Home Ministry. In addition to conducting drives, district police are being rearranged, Additional Police Super of Coxs Bazar Tofael Ahmed said. Of the six traders killed in anti-yaba drives last month, Nur Mohammad was killed in a gunfight with RAB on March 20; Amin, Md Kalu and Jahir Ahmed in a gunfight with Coast Guard on April 25; and Jahed Hossain Jaku and Farid Alam in a gunfight with RAB and BGB on April 27. l
other militants and ferry them to safer places, said RAB. The six detained are Kamal Hossain alias Sabuj, Sohel Rana, 28, Ilias Uddin, 34, and Morshed Alam, 22, of Panchgaon under Bhaluka upazila; Yusuf Ali alias Sohagh, 20, of Panibanda village; and Abu Bakar Siddique, 27, of Morchi village under the same upazila. Anwar Hossain, 40, of Tentulia village under Naogaon sadar upazila, and Bachhar Uddin, 20, of Bonkuwa village under Bhaluka upazila, were detained for helping the six other persons. Of the detainees, Sabuj and Siddique teachers at a coaching centre in Bhaluka were earlier claimed to have been abducted by the law enforcers. RAB yesterday confirmed that they were detained by the elite crime busters for their links to the hijacking. Sabuj, who is the general secretary of a ward unit of Jubo League in Panchgaon union, owns a coaching centre named Jagoron Tutorial Home at Bhaluka. However, Wing Commander ATM
Habibur Rahman, director of RABs Legal and Media Wing, ruled out the claims Sabuj had made at the press bringing. All the eight detainees are militants. Whenever any criminal is arrested, he or she opts for political shelter as a technique, he said. Police at different times arrested at least 11 persons in connection with the incident. JMB Majlish-e-Shura members Rakib, Salauddin alias Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan had been hijacked from a prison van while they had been taken to a Mymensingh court from Gazipur jail. Rakib had been arrested a day after the incident and was killed in a shootout by the police. The hijackers also killed one of the policemen escorting the van. Of the three, Salauddin and Rakib were death row convicts while Boma Mizan a lifer. At the press briefing, Sabuj said: The hijacking of Hafez Mahmud alias Rakib Hassan was carried out under the directives and leadership of Ataur Rahman Kamal alias Juboraj. Talking to journalists in Mymensin-
gh and locals in Bhaluka, it was learnt that Kamals father Mujibor Rahman is a vice-president of the upazila unit Awami League. Mujibor is a former vice-chairman of Bhaluka Upazila Parishad. Sabuj said Kamal had informed them about the plan and each of them were given Tk20,000 for the purpose. He claimed that six persons had taken part in the operation while Kamal was present near the crime scene on a black microbus. We helped Rakib Hassan to reach Fulbaria from Trishal and then he chose his own way, he added. Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman claimed that separate groups had taken part in the hijacking and each was tasked with different duties. They did not know each other. The hijacking of the JMB leader was a long-term plan. The group led by Sabuj was tasked with the safe escaping of Rakib Hasan only. Habibur said they were trying to identify members of the other groups. Asked about action against Kamal, the official said they had started investigating into the allegation. l
murder and abduction stands at a staggering 119, police said. Although police claimed to have made good progress in probing some of these incidents, local residents said absolutely nothing had been unearned about the 45 dead bodies found this year; neither had law enforcers succeeded in rescuing any of the abducted. The most cases of abductions have been reported from the Fatullah, Shiddhirganj, Rupganj, Sonargaon and Araihazar areas in the city. Sources in the local police said most of these disappearances were results of land disputes, collision of financial interests, personal and political conflicts and extramarital affairs. The residents of the city, who have until now been passively experiencing the criminal activities, finally took to the streets to express their anger after the dead bodies of six people, including local ward councillor Nazrul Islam, were found in a canal in the city yesterday. Furious protesters blockaded an important city road, vandalised buses and set fire to several petrol pumps, yesterday.
The six people were allegedly abducted from the city on Sunday and police reportedly had no clue regarding their whereabouts until their bodies had been found. Not all cases of alleged abduction, murder and forced disappearance get equal focus. The recent abduction of AB Siddique, husband of environmental lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hassan, fetched a lot of media focus. Two weeks ago, Siddique, who was involved with the garments-making business in Narayanganj, was dramatically abducted from Fatullah in broad daylight and released a few days later in Dhaka. He said he did not have any idea why he was abducted; neither did police have any idea about the identity of the abductors. On March 8 last year, teenager Tanvir Ahmed Twokis dead body was found in the Sitalakkhya River, adjacent to the city. He was the son of one of the organisers of the local Gonojagoron Moncho. Not much progress has been made in the probe of that death either. Rafiur Rabbi, convener of the Twoki
Moncho formed to protest the unsolved murder mystery blamed the local administration and the government for the spike in criminal activities in the city. None gets punished for their crime. This is encouraging the criminals to commit further misdeeds, he said. Three months ago, Awami League leader Kamal from the Sonargaon area disappeared. Law enforces are yet to trace anything about his disappearance. In January, police recovered the body of 14-year-old schoolboy Rakibul Islam Imon, packed inside a sack, from a pond in the city 35 days after he had been abducted. On the 21st of the same month, schoolchildren Jahidul Islam and Sakin Alam were allegedly abducted from the Kachpur area of Sonargaon. Five days later, police recovered their dead bodies from inside a sack at the Sadipur area of Vargaon Bheribadh. On February 1, police recovered the dead body of schoolchild Nayem Mia, 14, from the Bhingrab area of Rupganj of the city. On April 4, the body of univer-
sity teacher Rajib Ahmed was recovered from the Rupganj area. The 8km stretch of land beside the road linking the Dhaka-Narayanganj Highway and Rupganj was a safe place for dumping dead bodies, sources said. Refuting the allegations, Shahidul Islam, an additional police super of Narayanganj, said police had uncovered the mystery surrounding most of the criminal cases that took place last year and claimed to have arrested a number of criminals. He however did not make any clear comment when asked about the murders and abductions that took place in the last three months. Shahidul also told the Dhaka Tribune that: Around seven to eight lakh people work in this small city. It is very difficult to know the identities of these people. Moreover, it gets even more difficult to track down crimes when factory workers and day labourers get into conflicts centring extra-marital affairs. He said local police had strengthened vigilance and that the situation was now under control. l
drums on the highway and set a filling station ablaze in the Mouchak area, halting traffic for hours. A group of lawyers from Narayanganj observed work abstention for the third consecutive day, protesting the abduction and death of Chandan Sarker. On Sunday, councillor Nazrul, his chauffer and three associates, and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his chauffer Ibrahim were abducted. Soon after, authorities withdrew Narayanganj deputy commissioner, police super, commander of local RAB and two OCs. According to sources, councillor Nazrul, known as a supporter of the ruling Awami League, had 18 cases filed against him; at least 10 of those were murder cases. Even Nazruls chauffer Swapan and associate Tajul
have several cases against them for various criminal offences. However, senior lawyer Chandan Sarker is known as a well-mannered man with a clean image. When Nazrul was being abducted, Chandans car was reportedly also coming out of the court premises. The abductors might have thought that he saw the abduction, Chandans family members said. Sajjadur Rahman, assistant police super of Narayanganj, told the Dhaka Tribune that he could not disclose anything for the sake of the ongoing investigation. The situation in the city had been tensed with additional law enforcers deployed at various points in the city to avert any further untoward incident. Protesters were still occupying the Dhaka-Narayanganj Highway as of filing of this report last night. l
cardiac arrest before she was rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has been kept at the mortuary of the United Hospital where she died, said Khandaker Lutfu lKabir, deputy commissioner of the Gulshan Division of Police. The hospital sources said Muntarin Chowdhury was declared dead around 9:50pm Tuesday by the doctors of the United Hospital immediately after she was rushed to the hospital from her husbands Gulshan residence around 9:30pm. Sabbir Hossain, a duty officer at the administration branch of the United Hospital, said Muntarin died after her admission to the hospital but the cause of the death could not be known.
The family members of lawmaker Nixon Chowdhury and his personal staff claimed that Muntarin had slipped off the building during the storm on Tuesday night and then she was rushed to the hospital where the doctors declared her death. But a source close to the family of the lawmaker said Muntarin jumped from the top of the five-storey building after the couple had a quarrel. On information of the death, a number of acquaintances of Nixon thronged the hospital and the residence of the lawmaker. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many of them said they heard that Muntarin died of a cardiac arrest. But the hospital authorities are yet to make any formal declaration over the
cause of the death of the wife of the lawmaker. But some of the officials of the hospital said the cause of the death could be known after the autopsy is done. They said the decision on the autopsy depends on the opinions of the parents and family members of the deceased. DC Khandaker Lutful Kabir of Gulshan Division told the Dhaka Tribune: The body of the deceased has been kept at the mortuary for the arrival of her parents and other family members from abroad. On the basis of their opinions the autopsy would be conducted. So far we have been informed that the family members of the deceased are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow (today), the DC said. He said nobody had lodged any case over the death of the wife of the lawmaker.
Inspector Rafiqul Islam, officer-incharge of the Gulshan police station, said they had information about the death of the wife of lawmaker Nixon Chowdhury but they could not say for sure if she killed herself or she was pushed off the building top. Nixon and Muntarin got married 18 years ago when Muntarin was a student of class VIII. Muntarin left behind a nineyear-old daughter who is a class-V student. Nixon, who comes from Madaripur district, is brother of ruling party lawmaker Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury alias Liton Chowdhury. Nixon was elected as a lawmaker from Faridpur as an independent candidate defeating Awami League presidium member Kazi Zafrullah. l
and activists, including ministers and MPs, Khaleda said killings and abductions are now a common phenomenon. Huge corruption has been taking place in the administration. Killings and abductions will stop only when a peoples government is established in the country, she said. Branding the Anti-Corruption Commission as blind, Khaleda said: It only sees the opposition party. It takes action against those who raise their voice against the government. The government even controls the courts. The former prime minister said there is no effective opposition party in parliament now, and nothing useful takes place in the House. The government also does not have control over the so-called opposition party, the BNP chief said, referring to the Jatiya Party. The so-called opposition party is part of the illegal government, she said, adding, Stop the drama and take immediate steps for talks to hold an in-
clusive election under a non-partisan interim government. Khaleda said the present government was illegitimate as it was not elected through peoples votes. I do not know how independent this country is. People are being killed at the border every day, but the government does not have the courage to protest. This government is a slave government. They cannot run the country because a slave government cannot protest against anyone, she said. The BNP chief said not only the people of Bangladesh, but foreign countries have also stressed on early elections to restore democracy in the country. Regarding the recent escape of the JMB militants from a prison van, Khaleda claimed that a member of the Jubo League, the ruling partys youth front, was behind the incident. It proves that Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League patronise militancy. How will the country be safe in their hands? she questioned. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
MAIMING OF LIMON
jacent to his house at Jamaddarhat in Rajapur Upazila of Jhalokati on March 23, 2011. Limons left leg was amputated from the thigh on March 27 at Dhaka National Institute for Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) Hospital. The RAB after maiming Limon filed two cases one under the arms act and the other for obstructing RAB personnel from discharging their duty with Rajapur police station accusing Limon and seven others of attempting to murder and injure RAB personnel. Two separate charge sheets were framed against Limon on April 24, 2011 and July 1, 2012 under the juvenile crime prevention act. As there was huge uproar from human rights activists and media the home ministry on July 9, 2013 ordered to withdraw the charges brought against Limon by the RAB. l
A rickshaw-puller recharges his battery-run vehicle in the capitals Rayer Bazar recemtly. Even though the government has taken decision to ban the battery-run rickshaws, many drivers are still unaware of it while the authorities concerned also have not taken initiatives to withdraw the tri-cycles RAJIB DHAR
Lawmaker Abdul Latif alleged that corruption was there in the procurement of equipment, involving Tk1,200 crore
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told the meeting that the committee should inquire and find out whether financial dealings took place. We have formed the subcommittee
to examine whether the allegations of financial corruption raised by Mr Latif were right. As the government maintains zero tolerance for corruption, we will look into it, Nurul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting at the parliament building. The shipping minister said the allegations of financial corruption in the procurement of equipment were not true, but some deviations could be there on appointment of staff in the port. The honourable MPs very often recommend for their candidates. But it does not mean financial dealings were there, Shajahan told the committee on the allegations of Abdul Latif. He said the watchdog should find out corruption, if any. Referring some news reports, Abdul
Latif said the Chittagong Port Authority procured excavator, ambulance boat and other port handling equipment, costing over Tk1,200 crore. He said New Mooring Container Terminal was constructed with huge amounts of public money, but it was still inoperative. Committees Chairman Major (retd) Rafiqul Islam said: We have formed a subcommittee as allegations have come. Shajahan Khan, also a member of the committee, said he would cooperate with the subcommittee to carry out investigation and take actions against the persons, if found guilty. Committee members Abdul Hye, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, Ranjit Kumar Roy, Md Anwarul Azim and Momtaz Begum attended the meeting. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
The locomotive report of a train gives authentic evidence of its speed, reasons for accidents or whether the driver was being careless
Information derived from the images shows that the water in the Jamuna River just beneath the bridge swelled up when the cyclone hit 5-6 minutes before 11pm on the night of the incident, said Amjad. He said a gust of wind hit the train within two minutes from the north and also the bottom of the bridge, thus lifting it. That is why it tilted to the south and got stuck on the concrete railings. Train drivers usually reduce the speed to 15 kilometres while crossing bridges. However, during the cyclone, the driver was driving at 8-10 kilometres, Amjad explained.
Law enforcers take the 22 Bangladeshi overseas workers from the Dhaka airport yesterday, after they were brought back from Iran. They were deceived by the brokers and were living inhumane life there SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN every five to seven days. I, however, was allowed to have a bath. They began to torment us for money and my father gave them Tk2, 50,000 through the SH Travels. They took away 1,000 dollars I carried with me for a training to work on ship. After one month and 10 days the middlemen sold us to other people and during the handover the CID of Iran rescued us and we were sent to jail. Zia who works with Bangladesh Embassy in Iran helped their release and kept them in a house and provided them necessary food for about two months before their repatriation. Like Jinarul 21 Bangladeshi migrants who were taken hostage by a gang of human traffickers in Iran returned home yesterday morning. A number of workers told this correspondent harrowing stories during their stay in Iran. A scheduled flight of Emirates carrying the migrant workers arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8am, Binoy Krishno, executive director of the Rights Jessore, said. They were brought back home with the assistance of Bangladesh Embassy in Iran. The Criminal Investigation Department and Rights Jessore, a non-governmental organisation, helped the repatriation of the victims of human trafficking, he said. The victims are Abu Sayed Khan of Chandpur, Aminul Islam of Jamalpur, Md Delu and Aminur Islam of Tangail, Rofiqul Islam of Bogra, Arman Hossain of Companiganj in Noakhali, Jinarul and Md Shahin of Gangni in Meherpur, Aktaruzzaman of Chowgachha in Jessore, Ataur Rahman of Bagerhat, Kamrul Hasan Bhuiyan of Kishoreganj, Akram Fakir of Gopalganj, Sohel Miah of Char Chaburiapara in Narsingdi, Akmal Hossain of Kushtia, Ruhul Amin of Rajbari, Md Tahaz Uddin of Meherpur, Md Nazrul of Sakhipur in Tangail, Mamunur Rashid of Dhamurhat and Shahidul of Badalgachhi in Naogaon and Abdur Razzak, Rohidul Islam of Rajshahi and Sallahuddin. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
News
Task force recommends 2.41 acres of land for RAB at Kamrangir Char
The government has allotted seven acres of land to the elite force authority sought help from the authori- ted the lands of the hospital and other of the Buriganga, Shitalakkha, Balu n Mohosinul Karim and Turag rivers. structures to the RAB. ties concerned, including the Dhaka disThough the Rapid Action Battalion wants to take possession of seven acres of land in Kamrangir Char area to set up its office, the task force on river protection has suggested that the government allot only 2.41 acres of land to the elite force. The task force came up with the suggestion at a meeting held at the Shipping Ministry yesterday with Task Force Chief and Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan in the chair. Earlier, the government had allotted seven acres of land to RAB 10. An official who attended the meeting said the RAB trict administration, to take possession of seven acres of land at Kamrangir Char. After getting an application from the RAB authority, the district administration had formed a technical committee and a technical coordination committee and asked them to visit the site and submit reports. The committees did not find enough space which could have been allocated to the RAB. During the visit, the committee members found that there are hospitals and other structures, city protection dams, wetlands and canals in the area. The government had also allotThe report said, A plot of 2.4044 acres of land might be allotted to the RAB. After the meeting, Shajahan Khan told reporters that the spaces would be given to the RAB authority, taking its physical position into account. The task force asked the authorities concerned to immediately take steps after inspecting the site. The meeting decided to hand over the authority to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority from the district administration to maintain the boundary pillars installed on the banks The district administrations of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Gazipur had recently installed around 12,000 boundary pillars to demarcate these rivers. The pillars had been installed after evicting illegal grabbers. The meeting also took decision to remove waste from the rivers and build third terminal in Shashanghat area, the minister added. The meeting was informed that the authority had reclaimed some 131.34 acres of land since 2009 after demolishing around 2,554 permanent and makeshift illegal structures.
Hundreds of activists of Chhatra League Rajshahi University unit stage demonstration yesterday, protesting the recent attack on two Chhatra League activists by unidentified miscreants on the campus DHAKA TRIBUNE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30
DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:27PM SUN RISES 5:24AM FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Coxs Bazar 36 34 38 36 38 37 37 34 27 26 27 25 26 27 22 27
39.0C Jessore
Source: Accuweather/UNB
20.3C Dhaka
PRAYER TIMES
Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha 4:03am 5:24am 11:56am 4:32pm 6:27pm 7:48pm
Source: IslamicFinder.org
Sultan Hafez Rahman, BIGD executive director, addresses a workshop on gender dynamics at Brac Centre yesterday CGST, said: Women in paid work are more likely to value their own work and feel that their families value their contribution and have a greater voice within the family. They also get the opportunity to have savings of their own. Speakers said most of the women did not prefer to take paid work due to
NASHIRUL ISLAM
bad work environments and potential harassment. The current challenge is to find a solution to overcome the barriers, they said. l
6
n Our Correspondent, Panchagarh
The prevailing drought-like conditions have reduced soil moisture, affecting the growth of tea plants, leaving different gardens in Panchagarh all dried up. As the district did not have rainfall in the last three months, previously green tea leaves in many gardens have dried up, even though the growers are trying to irrigate their fields through deep tube wells. All of their efforts have become futile. Growers said sufficient rainfall is needed for good tea harvest in the month of February and March, but there was no rainfall in the district during that period. They said many tea gardens are being attacked by red spider pests as the temperature is increasing day by day. During a recent visit to a few Tea Gardens in Panchagarh, this correspondent saw that many tea plants and tea saplings in the gardens have dried up in this
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Nation
Dry weather taking toll on tea production BAU gets new proctor
dry weather. Tea leaf plucking is getting delayed this year due to the absence of expected rainfall and the lack of irrigation facilities, many growers told the correspondent. They said tea saplings need balanced rainfall and sunshine, especially during the period from March to September-October, while a minimum rainfall during October-December and February-April periods is also very important for its growth. Moreover, the processing of the tea leaves is being severely hampered currently at all six tea processing factories in the district following the drastic reduction in the supply of green tea leaves. Most of the water reservoirs have dried up because of the lack of seasonal rainfall. This is adversely affecting the normal growth of tender tea leaves and the growth of the newly pruned branches and saplings in the gardens in recent weeks, said Sayed Shoaib Ahmed, chief operating officer of the Kazi&Kazi Tea Estate in Tetulia. He said there was almost no rainfall at the beginning of the year. The sensitive crop suffered much from the fluctuating temperatures and sunshine. Soil nutrients are also gradually falling. Tea planters also need to arrange for water reservoirs to manage irrigation, he said. Manager of the Karatoa Tea Garden & Factory Mozahidul Hannan Nipun told this correspondent that if the situation continues, production targets will not be met in the current season. Manager of the Saliland Tea Estate in Panchagarh Abdus Salam said they have put their all facilities in operation around the clock, but are still failing to provide adequate irrigation to their tea gardens. Manager of the North Bengal Central Tea Industry Sheikh Jahid Hossain said they have closed down the tea processing due to the inadequate supply of green tea leaves. For this reason the factory is running only two days in a week. Tea cultivators demanded that the Bangladesh Tea Board help tea growers to irrigate their fields as tea cultivators in Panchagarh are not solvent enough. Tea growers Motiar Rahman and Moklesur Rahman called upon the authorities concerned for the irrigation of small-scale tea fields as they are unable to purchase costly machines to irrigate their larger tea fields. As tea cultivation is a promising industry, the government should take proper initiatives to promote and expand the export oriented tea production, they opined. President of the Bangladesh Small Tea Garden Owners Association Abdul Jabbar said We are demanding the arrangement of irrigation by the Tea Board to boost production of this export oriented produce.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Juris
7
JURIS QUOTE
M
n Raju Mollah
ay 1 is international labour day, a day which commemorates a time of civil unrest in the late 19th century when workers in industrialised countries demonstrated for improved working conditions, wage raises and the establishment of a maximum working day and week. Many of the demonstrations were suppressed with force. The rights that demonstrators fought for at that time are crystallised in many labour legislations. Bangladesh Labour Code, 2006 has provided detailed provisions related to working hours, working conditions and leave. Here is a brief account of the laws relating to employment of labours, workings hours, leave and child labour, etc:
Laws or ordinances unobserved, or partially attended to, had better never have been made.
George Washington
Working hours
Daily working hours No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in an establishment for more than eight hours in any day. Interval for rest or meal A worker is entitled to: An interval of at least one hour for rest or meal if he works more than six hours in any day An interval of at least half an hour for rest or meal if he works more than five hours in any day An interval of at least one hour or two intervals of at least half an hour if he works for more than eight hours Weekly hours No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in an establishment for more than 48 hours in any week. Extra-allowance for overtime Where a worker works in an establishment on any day or week for more than the hours fixed by the law, he shall be entitled to allowance at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of basic wage and dearness allowance and ad-hoc or interim pay. Limitation of hours of work for women No women shall, without her consent, be allowed to work in an establishment between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
LAW CARTOON
RAJIB DHAR
Leave
Casual leave Every worker shall be entitled to casual leave the full wages for ten days in a calendar year, and such leave shall not be accumulated and carried forward to the succeeding year Sick leave Every worker other than a newspaper worker, shall be entitled to sick leave with full wages for fourteen days in a calendar year. Every newspaper worker shall be entitled to sick leave with half wages for not less than one-eighteenth of the period of services. Festival holidays Every worker shall be allowed eleven days of paid festival holiday in a calendar year.
prohibiting or restricting the employment of women, adolescents or children in the operation providing for the periodical medical examination of persons employed in the operation and prohibiting the employment of persons not certified as fit for such employment providing for the protection of all persons employed in the operation or in the vicinity of the places where it is carried on and the use of any specified materials or processes in connection with the operation notice specifying use and precautions regarding use of any corrosive chemicals
of fitness in the prescribed form and granted to him by a registered medical practitioner Labour Court A labour court consists of a chairman and two members. The chairman of the labour court is appointed by the government from amongst the district judges or additional district judges. The terms and conditions of appointment of the chairman of the labour court shall be determined by the government. A labour court has exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate and determine and industrial dispute or any other dispute related to labour or any question which has been brought before it. l
Child labour No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any occupation or establishment. No adolescent shall be employed or permitted to work in any occupation or establishment unless a certificate
Raju Mollah is an advocate at Dhaka Judge Court and author of several law books.
RIO SHUVO
NOTICE BOARD
Send us queries for
Working conditions
Health and safety of the employees If the government is satisfied that any operation carried on in an establishment exposes any person employed in it to a serious risk of bodily injury, poisoning, or disease, it may make rules applicable to such establishment or class of establishments in which such operation is carried on: specifying the operation and declaring it to be hazardous
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Dhaka Tribune
n Bangladesh, litigants have to spend a lot of money to get justice or to enforce their rights that have been breached. The reason is, in civil suits each litigant has to pay a prescribed court fee to commence his proceeding. In addition to this, he/she will also need to appoint a lawyer who will proceed the suit on behalf of him/her before the court. Apart from this, there are many other costs and fees involved in a court case, eg collecting and copying necessary documents, serving the notice/summons, adjournment fees, fees to appoint commission, etc. Hence enforcement of legal rights or getting justice is expensive. Many poor villagers of our country cannot seek legal remedy due to their financial crises. A popular perception exists in our society that one needs money to get legal remedy. Many people cannot even think of coming to the Supreme Court because of heavy fees of those lawyers and huge costs of court fees and other expenses. Consequently, in many circumstances common people are deprived from getting justice only for lack of financial ability. To become a welfare state and to resolve this problem, our parliament had enacted a law entitled the Legal Aid Act in 2000 to provide free legal support to the people of this land. The government has already made rule under this Act and constituted National Legal Aid Providing Committee. A district legal aid committee is also formed in every district under the national committee to disseminate legal aid for the poor. Now the committee extends to upazila, and to some extent to unions.
BIGSTOCK
Tk75,000 in a year Person who gets old-age allowance or VGD card holder poor mother Abducted children/women or acid victim children/ women Poor widow, women abandoned by husbands and marginal women Unemployed and poor disabled persons The person who cannot establish his legal right before the court for lack of money The person who is detained in jail without trial and who is unable to defend himself Person declared insolvent by competent court Persons recommended by prison authority as unable to maintain case for lack of money
How to apply
Now in every district there is a legal aid office at the district
court. Application forms to apply for legal aid is available there and any eligible person can collect an application form from the legal aid office. In addition, a prisoner can take this form from designated prison officer. Apart from this the form is also available at the office of secretary of local bar association, bench assistant (peshkar) in each district court, district and upazila office of national women forum, etc. An applicant will have to fill up the form duly and submit it at the district legal aid office. An applicant may apply on a white paper mentioning his full name, address and reason for seeking legal aid addressing the chairman of district legal aid committee or if the matter is concerned with any division of the Supreme Court then to the chairman of the national legal aid committee. After scrutinising the application, the authority will appoint a lawyer on behalf of the petitioner to conduct his/ her case for free of cost. The government will pay the honorarium to the advocate appointed for the case instead of the litigant. If district committee is declined to provide le-
DHAKA TRIBUNE
World
The surge in violence has failed to keep voters away from casting their votes band approached a polling station in n AP, Baghdad Baghdads mainly Shiite Karradah dis-
Iraqi women smile after voting in the central Shiite holy city of Najaf during the countrys general elections on April 30. Iraqis streamed to voting centres nationwide, amid the worst bloodshed in years, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seeks reelection AFP Voters are being subjected to multiple searches before being allowed inside polling centers and surrounding streets were blocked by police trucks and barbed wire. I decided to go and vote early while its safe. Crowds attract attacks, Azhar Mohammed said as she and her hus-
trict. The 37-year-old woman said her brother a soldier was killed last week in the northern city of Mosul. There has been a big failure in the way the country has been run and I think it is time to elect new people, she said, shrouded in black. Not far away, 72-year-old Essam Shukr broke into tears as he remembered a son killed in a suicide bombing in Karradah last month. I hope this election takes us to the shores of safety, he said. We want a better life for our sons and grandchildren who cannot even go to playgrounds or amusement parks because of the bad security situation. We want a better life for all Iraqis. In Baghdads mostly Shiite Sadr City district, for years a frequent target of bombings blamed on Sunni insurgents, elite counterterrorism forces were deployed and helicopters hovered above the sprawling area. Double-decker buses ferried voters to polling centers. Authorities also closed Iraqs airspace for the elections, and banned vehicles from the streets to reduce the threat of car bombings. Soldiers and police cast ballots on Monday to enable them to provide security for the rest of voters on Wednesday. Iraqis living in about 20 other countries voted on Sunday and Monday. Initial and partial results from Wednesdays vote were expected to start trickling out next week, but it was unclear when the final outcome would be announced. Al-Maliki rose from relative obscurity to office in 2006, when Iraqs sectarian bloodletting began to spiral out of control, with Sunni militants and Shiite militias butchering each others communities. Over the years that followed, Sunni tribes backed by the Americans rose up to fight al-Qaida-linked militants, while al-Maliki showed a readiness to rein in Shiite militiamen and by 2008, the violence had eased. l
The Russian leadership is doing everything to prevent the election. But the election will take place on May 25, Turchynov said
An armed uprising began there in early April, with Kiev almost powerless to respond for fear of provoking an invasion by tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the border. Oleksander Turchynov, Ukraines acting president until an election on May 25, reiterated on Wednesday that police were incapable of reasserting control in the region. Our main task is to prevent the terrorist threat from spreading to other regions of Ukraine, he told a meeting of regional governors in Kiev. The Russian leadership is doing everything to prevent the election. But the election will take place on May 25, he said. Authorities in Kiev said security forces had liquidated three separatist checkpoints near the eastern town of Slaviansk, a separatist stronghold, and the gunmen manning them had disappeared. The information could not be independently confirmed. l
Ukraine on full combat alert against possible Russia invasion n AFP, Kiev
Ukraines military is on full combat alert against a possible invasion by Russian troops massed on the border, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a ministerial meeting in Kiev yesterday. Our armed forces are on full combat alert, he said. The threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real. His comments came as Ukraines army and police appeared to be making little progress in a high-profile operation to stop pro-Russian rebels expanding their grip over towns in the restive east. Russia deployed an estimated 40,000 troops to its shared border with Ukraine in March. Moscow initially said they were mobilised for exercises but last week said they were ready to respond to Kievs military offensive against pro-Kremlin rebels. l
report for Al-Qaeda bosses on the targets. He admitted he was willing to see women and children killed should the attacks have gone ahead. When Al-Qaeda asked him instead to blow a US jet out of the sky and murder hundreds of people in late 2001, he confessed that he felt honored and proud. Badat flew back to Britain from Pakistan, via the Netherlands and Turkey, with a shoe bomb strapped to his foot but backed out of the plot in December 2001. Schneider told the court during cross-examination that Badat had received
Top Sunni clerics group slams Egypt death sentences n AFP, Doha
A Qatar-based Sunni Muslim group led by influential cleric Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi has condemned as politicised an Egyptian courts decision to sentence hundreds of Islamists to death. The court on Monday imposed death sentences on 683 suspected Islamists including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie amid a crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The Association of Muslim Scholars responded by saying it rejects these verdicts coming from a court that takes orders from those who came to power in a military coup and govern Egypt using coercion and repression. In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the Qatar-based organisation said the sentences were politicised and considered an insult to justice in Egypt. The Minya court in southern Egypt is set to confirm the death sentences on June 21. It reversed 492 of 529 death sentences it passed in March, commuting most of them to life imprisonment. l
An image projected on the walls of the Forum of Augustus displays a view of ancient Rome in Rome. The project is one of many initiatives to mark this years 2,000th anniversary of the death of Augustus, Romes first emperor REUTERS
DHAKA TRIBUNE
World
AFP, Bangkok
9
Claims of MH730 wreckage in Bay of Bengal dismissed n Reuters, Malaysia
A private company said it had found what it believes is wreckage of a plane in the Bay of Bengal that should be investigated as potential debris from missing Malaysia Airlines (MASM.KL) Flight MH370, but the possibility was dismissed by search coordinators. The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) managing the multinational search for the missing plane said it believed that the plane came down in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia. I think that we have been looking in the right place, Angus Houston, the head of JACC, told Sky New Australia. Im confident the aircraft will be found. A massive search operation involving satellites, aircraft, ships and sophisticated underwater equipment capable of scouring the ocean floor has failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday the chance of finding floating debris was now remote. l
Afghan, foreign forces kill 60 Crisis-hit Thailand to hold new election on July 20 militants near Pakistan border n
n Reuters, Kabul
Afghan troops backed by Western air power have killed at least 60 militants near the Pakistan border, Afghan security officials said yesterday, in one of the single biggest assaults against the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. US officials say Washington has intensified its drive against the network in an attempt to deal a lasting blow to the militants before foreign combat forces depart at the end of the year. The National Directorate of Security, Afghanistans main intelligence agency, said in a statement that about 300 Haqqani insurgents and foreign fighters came under intensive fire on Monday when they tried to storm Afghan bases in Ziruk district of Paktika province. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said Afghan forces were already in position after receiving information about imminent attacks by the insurgents. Hundreds of insurgents tried to take over the district centre but we were there and hit them with a huge blow, Sediqqi told Reuters, adding that five Afghan policemen were wounded. Dead bodies, wounded fighters, their weapons and pick-up trucks were left on the battlefield, Sediqqi added. The Nato-led international force declined to comment. 2012. It also accuses Pakistans powerful spy agency of supporting the network and using it as a proxy in Afghanistan to gain leverage against growing influence of its arch-rival India. Pakistan denies that. Mondays battle occurred in the southeast province of Paktika which shares a long and porous border with lawless areas in Pakistan where foreign fighters and the Haqqani network are believed to be based. The Obama administration has created a special unit based in Kabul to coordinate efforts against the militant group. The US-led military operation in Afghanistan is due to end on Dec. 31, although the United States wants to keep a small force in the country for counter-terrorism support and training. Outgoing President Hamid Karzai has declined to sign a security agreement allowing US forces to stay, but the two front runners to replace him as president in an election say they will enact the pact. l Thailand will hold a new general election on July 20, a top poll official said yesterday, in an effort to resolve a deadly six-month political crisis. Election Commission (EC) secretary general Puchong Nutrawong said the new voting date had been decided during talks with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. We agreed that the most suitable election day is July 20 and the EC will draft the royal decree for the prime minister to submit to the king for royal endorsement, he told reporters. The kingdom has been without a fully functioning government or parliament since December. A general election held in February was voided after opposition demonstrators disrupted voting. It was not immediately clear if the main opposition Democrat Party would take part in the new vote. The opposition protesters want
Haqqani crackdown
The Haqqani network, which professes obedience to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, is believed to have been involved in some of the most deadly attacks of the Afghan war. The group has been blamed for attacks on hotels popular with foreigners in Kabul, the bombing of the Indian embassy in the capital, a 2011 attack on the US embassy and several big attempted truck bombings. The United States blacklisted the group as a terrorist organisation in
Yingluck to resign to make way for an unelected peoples council to oversee political reforms before elections are held. Yingluck is pushing for new polls as soon as possible to shore up her position in the face of a series of legal threats that could force her from office. She is accused of dereliction of duty linked to a loss-making rice subsidy scheme and the improper transfer of a senior civil servant. The nation has been shaken by months of political violence that has left 25 people dead and hundreds wounded, including many anti-government protesters, in grenade attacks and shootings. Thailand has been bitterly divided since a coup in 2006 ousted Yinglucks brother Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister. He still wields huge influence from his self-exile in Dubai, where he lives to avoid prison for a corruption conviction. l
South Korea ferry disaster: Confirmed death toll hits 212 n AP, Mokpo, South Korea,
Two weeks after a ferry sank off South Koreas southern cost, divers have recovered 212 bodies from the wreckage, but they fought strong currents and floating debris inside the ship Wednesday as they searched for 90 passengers still missing. Meanwhile, family members of high students killed in the sinking dismissed as insincere President Park Geun-hyes apology for the governments handling of the disaster. They called for the quick retrieval of the missing. The ship carried 476 people, mostly from a single high school. Only 174 people survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members. After several days of sluggish search efforts because of bad weather, divers on Tuesday retrieved more than a dozen bodies from the ship, which lies on the ocean floor, triggering a fresh outpouring of emotions by family members waiting for the return of their loved ones. l
Narendra Modi holds up his ink-marked finger and the party symbol as he poses for a photograph after casting his vote at a polling station in Ahmedabad AFP
n Agenceis, Islamabad
Pakistans interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday condemned Narendra Modis statement on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and warned that BJPs prime ministerial candidate could become a great threat to regional peace. Modi had recently said that he will bring back Dawood from Pakistan if he comes to power. Before making such an irresponsible statement, Modi should have first confirmed the whereabouts of Dawood, Paks interior minister said. Nisar said that those who are giving statements that Islamabad shelters Dawood Ibrahim and are talking about launching operation against him on Pakistani soil, should realise that Pakistan is not so weak that it will be afraid of such threats. l
Despite the constraints, the number of Christians has grown. The state-linked China Christian Council estimates the
WRESTLING IN AFGHANISTAN
Afghan wrestlers compete at an outdoor arena in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif on April 29. Wrestling is a popular sport in Afghanistan, and is traditionally practiced among poorer members of Afghan society AFP
10
A better solution
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Editorial
CODE CRACKER
Be heard
Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune
How to solve: Each number in our CODE CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents A so fill in A every time the figure 10 appears. You them in the appropriate 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, fill in other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.
ast year alone, over $828m in tariffs was paid to the US on goods, primarily RMG products, exported there from Bangladesh. Bangladesh pays the second-highest rate of tariff duty (15.6%) for exports to the US market. This is almost twice the rate of other developing countries such as Vietnam and roughly five times the rate of China and India. The Ticfa talks this week suggest there is no sign of this discriminatory rate changing soon. As RMG exports do not come under the suspended bilateral GSP arrangement, even restoration of GSP will not make a difference. We call on policy-makers in both countries to give urgent attention to the elegant proposal made by the chief economist of the Bangladesh Bank for a Tariffs for Standards fund. A portion, say a quarter of the $800m plus that Bangladesh pays the US to export garments, could be invested by the US in a fund administered by a third party such as the World Bank, to finance factory upgrades and improvements in working standards in Bangladesh. The RMG industry needs substantial long-term investment to allow more modern factories to be built. Reports such as the 10 point plan issued by the RMG Action Group last year indicate that a $1bn fund is needed to make substantial progress. While some overseas investors are reportedly raising money for factory upgrades, a multilateral government supported fund would make this much easier. Tariffs for standards can address both countries concerns, by applying money which is already being collected to improve factories and working conditions.
The RMG industry needs substantial longterm investment to build more modern factories
April 23 Vimal BJP will get more seats in UP than you believe. I have worked on the ground. Has the author done so?
CROSSWORD
ACROSS 1 Settle cosily (6) 5 Liable (3) 7 Anger (3) 8 Annul (6) 11 Play on words (3) 12 Venomous ill will (5) 14 Swimming organs (4) 16 Concise (5) 18 Foreign (5) 20 Bring up (4) 21 Devotional song (5) 23 Faucet (3) 24 Balances (6) 27 Had a meal (3) 28 Blushing (3) 29 Rubs with oil (6) DOWN 1 And not (3) 2 Drink slowly (3) 3 Long locks (7) 4 Bound (4) 5 Electrical unit (6) 6 Offer (6) 9 Wicked (4) 10 Ignited (3) 13 White ant (7) 14 Waver (6) 15 Pinched (6) 17 Wise man (4) 19 Short sleep (3) 22 Fertile soil (4) 25 Briny (3) 26 Distress signal (3)
nds Why this beating about the bush? A few days wait will make everything clear. Why this lack of patience which only makes unwanted room for making money by the fake political analysts on speculative article in national dailies? Dilip T T Krishnan UPA will at least 150 seats. No way BJP/NDA will form next government. rsmnr Dilip T T Krishnan: You must be mad to make that assessment. NC Shukla I am an agricultural researcher in UP. The analysis that you people do sitting in front of your laptops is meaningless. In UP, it is possible for BJP to readily win more than 50 seats.
April 23 Dr Ahsan Habib Why does the committee have no mandate to ask for demolition? In Bangladesh, parliament under the PM can do or undo anything. Saying that it does not have mandate appears to be skirting the issue. Also, what about the mother of all illegal constructions, the BGMEA building? Will something be done about it? Who let that spring up in Hatirajheel?
oth AL and BNP members are alleged to have been involved in recent incidents of a syndicate illegally cutting down and selling off a large number of trees belonging to Bangladesh Railways in Chittagong. The case sadly once again demonstrates mismanagement and corruption among public officials and politicians. Sources in the railway department have admitted that it has no reliable data on the number of trees that it owns, creating the perfect opportunity for outside forces to appropriate these public properties. In addition, large swaths of land owned by the railway department are currently being illegally occupied. There are persistent allegations of collusion between railway management and local politicians that enable these crimes to take place. What is particularly disturbing is that both political parties are implicated in these incidents. Although a probe body has been formed to investigate these incidents, there is little indication thus far that this will be performed impartially. The head of the probe body has dismissed the connection of an Awami League leader to these incidents even though the investigation indicated their involvement. The lethal combination of mismanagement, corruption, and collusion between railway officials and local politicians is leading to the squandering of valuable and scarce public assets in Chittagong. Urgent action now needs to be taken by appropriate higher authorities within Bangladesh Railway, both political parties and law enforcement bodies, to ensure that this is stopped immediately and those responsible are held accountable.
Investigate these incidents and ensure those responsible are held accountable
SUDOKU
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 numberrepeating.
2 joint secretaries enmity leaks scam over golden crests for foreigners
April 25 rutland waters When so much gold is being smuggled in, why did they have to fake the crests?
SUDOKU PEANUTS
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Op-Ed
11
lot by creating more than one union? What is the achievement of the past BNP government in creating confidence and restoring industrial peace and harmony? These questions need to be answered. This concept must be changed for the restoration of a congenial environment conducive to uninterrupted operations of all industrial establishments. Labour unions, in most cases, have become unreasonable and come up with fantastic demands only to help in the closure of the units. It must be understood that better employer-employee relations can only ensure productivity and welfare of the workers.
Op-Art
Unanswered questions
he historic May Day is being observed today throughout the country and elsewhere in the world to show respect to workers who shed their blood for the establishment of the rights of the working class in 1886. On this day 128 years ago, the workers of the Hay Market of Chicago, USA, sacrificed their lives to ensure eight-hour working days for workers. Since then, the day has been observed all over the world as the day for solidarity with working people. A major new step in the labour front was the establishment of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) three decades after the decision to observe May Day internationally. The ILO was established in 1919 to promote social justice for the working class. It formulates international policies and programs to improve working and living conditions, and creates international labour standards to serve as guidelines for national authorities in putting those policies in action. Consciousness about labour rights did not come overnight. In the beginning, everyone worked with their own hands. Then society came to be divided between the rich and poor, the exploiter and the exploited. The exploited were put to hard labour. Though slavery was formally abolished, vestiges remain. The dignity of labour is yet to be fully restored. The labour movement has a proud heritage in Bangladesh. The country is a signatory to the ILO convention and has a number of legislations for labour welfare. The government is also keen on improving the lot of the working class, and their concern extends to spheres where the labour is not organised. Self-styled labour leaders, particularly after the emergence of Bangladesh, have sprung up only to give lip service to some parties. On this great day, some questions haunt the minds of those who really feel for just causes of the working class. Why have extraneous elements found place as representatives of labourers? Why have bargaining agents failed to occupy their rightful position, and are not representing the workers? Why has the government in the past fiddled with the fates of the helpless
They cannot always think in terms of agitation, strikes, and gherao-jalao tactics. The wages invariably have to be linked with productivity, and the demand for higher wages cannot reasonably be pressed without increasing output. The working atmosphere has to be made conducive and peaceful, especially for women workers. The efforts to remove economic and social causes for the swelling number of children engaged in labour have to be identified. Corruption in the labour directorate has to be handled very seriously. Last years Savar disaster has jolted the country and the world. In our country, poor labourers are always neglected; they dont get their wages properly and in time. RMG workers should be given their rights to open trade unions in all sectors. To stop this type of disaster, particularly in the garments sector, garment owners should be made to follow the governments building code. Violators should be brought to book. Labour unrest in Bangladesh should be brought under control by paying workers their dues regularly and on time. l Kazi Liakat Hossain is a senior journalist.
Broken promises
E
n Mushka Jahan
very year, Bangladeshi rightsbased organisations, civil society, and the media highlight workers rights and welfare on Labour Day. Street demonstrations are arranged, seminars are held, talk shows are aired, and various activities take place to emphasise the spirit of the day. But International Labour Day 2013 was completely different in Bangladesh. Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24, just six days prior to the day. According to the government, more than 1,100 people died and about 2,500 were rescued from the disaster. A total of 3,565 people dead and alive were pulled out of the rubble. In the aftermath of the disaster, various international multi-stakeholder initiatives were created, bringing together global brands, trade unions, NGOs, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The goal was to improve building and fire safety codes of textile factories in Bangladesh, as well as to compensate Rana Plaza survivors and victims families. fund, which asked each member to contribute a minimum amount of Tk25,000. But only about a quarter of the members contributed to the fund. Later, BGMEA became silent regarding this supportive initiative. Considering the slow progress for supportive measures, requests have been placed recently to international garment brands to help mitigate the damage by assisting with the full restitution of those who were injured or the families of those who lost their lives. Labour Day is not only significant for the original eight hours work demand, but it gives an opportunity to honour the workers and the labour movement for their hard work, dedication, and their contribution to economic and social growth and development. It also forces many others to think about securing workers rights and to ensure workers safety and security at the workplace. The international community has declared the one-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse as Fashion Revolution Day to commemorate this tragic event. But the question is, why are we compelled to find separate days for different welfare issues for workers? Fashion Revolution Day is not completely unwanted or unnecessary. Its always better to identify a date to remember the lessons from tragic events. But then what about the significance of International Workers Day? This day promises to remember and consider the issues around workers welfare. Though Bangladesh observes the day annually, the Rana Plaza tragedy took place close to Labour Day. What does this say about us? Have we been dishonest with the promises we made while observing International Workers Days in past years? This might be the reason behind inadequate results in the endeavour to have policies ensuring secure and safe workplaces for Bangladeshi workers. Do we need another day to remember secure workplace rights for workers? Lets think about that before the next tragedy strikes. l Mushfika Jahan is Field Coordinator, Migration Program, BRAC.
Still the workers are exploited; still the workers are deprived of all kinds of rights
The Rana Plaza tragedy took place close to Labour Day. What does this say about us?
Non-government organisations and multinationals took supportive measures after the accident. The government, BGMEA, and many development partners, international organisations, and retailers made a host of pledges, some immediate and some long-term, to the victims and the garment sector at large. BRAC programs also took on supportive initiatives on a long-term and short-term basis. In response to such a great loss, major support initiatives were anticipated from the government and the BGMEA. The BGMEA has formed a supportive
The horrific conditions of the workplace in terms of the absence of safe exits, and washroom and dining facilities, low wages and unregulated long working hours, no facilities of housing and transportation, notorious physical, psychological, and sexual repression by the managements, initiatives of organising unions slapped by the local thugs recruited by the factory owners, idiosyncratic overtime rates and violations of most other labour rights occasionally rendered a few sporadic, contingent, and ad-hoc movements, including street agitations, factory blockades, and factory ransacking that could not save the innocent women workers from the rapacious owners whose main thrust was to make absolute profit without providing the standard benefits of the workers, let alone the legal ones. In the past decades, informally or formally, some labour unions have emerged. Most of them have very little union experience but they signed many accords with the owners association, ie the BGMEA, which has been
name of so-called international labour solidarity movements while some NGOs emerged to assist the vulnerable workers. It is interesting to note that while the international labour unions are meticulously fulfilling their own agendas serving the imperialist interests, the NGOs are providing aids and services to the workers. In a true sense, few, though not all, NGOs are providing some telling services to the Bangladeshi workers. The RMG industry is almost close to ending its so-called first generation industrial era. Still the workers are exploited; still the workers are deprived of all kinds of rights even though Bangladesh has its own labour law, and it ratified major fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisations. In addition to the violations related to building structures and factory conditions mentioned in the Bangladesh Labour Act, the other common violations of the Bangladesh Labour Act are Section 100-102, Section 108, Section 109, Section 123 while the
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DHAKA TRIBUNE
Entertainment
Badiul Alam Khokons Hero The Superstar . I am optimistic that they will appreciate my appearance in these films. The songs are very entertaining as they are shot in a variety of locations and I request everyone to watch my upcoming movies.
It was my childhood dream to make my way to stardom and I made my debut in a commercial for Ruchi chanchur when I was still a school student. I kept on working as a model. Later, I got propositions to act in TV plays and films. I became more involved, dedicated and hopeful when the audience gave me love. I started getting offers from brands like Airtel, Walton and others to act as their ambassador. My career as a successful model enabled me to create a strong foothold in the media. Iftakar Chowdhurys Khoj:The Search was my first big break. You can call it the turning point of my career.
The audience was also hopeful about Iftakar Chowdhurys Rajotto, what went wrong?
I am really hopeful about my recent projects including Iftakar Chowdhurys One Way, Shafique Hasans Shopno Chhoa and
I was hopeful about Rajotto as well. The films failure broke my heart. But it was not my fault, the instable political situation and the state of the movie theatres were most likely responsible for the downfall.
If you are right, then why was Agnee a huge commercial success?
Agnee is a marvelous film. If I had the chance to work in Agnee, I would have taken the golden opportunity. I am waiting for a film like that.
Khoj: The Search was a one-man show. Ananta Jalil was the producer of the film and also the protagonist. Barsha and I shared screen space as the two female leads and our roles were quite muted compared to that of Ananta Jalil. I was dressed in risque outfits in the movie, as it was the directors decision to portray my character in that light. Back then, I was unaware that I would receive negative reviews for my attire. After the experience, I become conservative and choosy about my costumes and appearance.
I have every intention of continuing my career in the modeling industry and will definitely sign up with high-end brands to promote their products. Lets see what the future holds for me. l
TODAY IN DHAKA
Music
Acoustic Guitar Night Time: 5.00pm- 8.00pm Blue Horizon, Level 5, Block A Jamuna Future Park, Bashundhara Water Rhymes-2 Time: 11am 8pm Galleri Kaya, House 20, Road 16, Sector 04, Uttara Bonded Stitches & Struggle Time: 3pm 8pm Drik Gallery House 58 Road 15A (New) Dhanmondi
Film
Dehorokkhi and Inchi Inchi Prem were commercial failures, why do you think the audience did not take to the films?
Exhibition
The blame of a films failure goes to the entire cast and crew. It is not my sole re-
Germany A Sporting Nation Time: 11am 6pm Goethe Institut Bangladesh Road 9(new), House 10, Dhanmondi
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3D & 2D) Jonakir Alo The Legend of Hercules 3D Avatar in 3D Frozen in 3D Enders Game Time: 10am 10pm Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City
A week-long dance programme organised by Bangladesh Nritya Shilpi Sangstha came to an end with vibrant dance recitals of different genres on April 29 at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy SADIA MARIUM
n Entertainment Desk
Ever since their break-up in 2007, each time the Bollywood superstars crossed paths, they drew a lot of media attention. But when they met at the recently-concluded IIFA Award function in Florida, Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor offered a new twist to the story. Kareena, who was accompanied by her husband Saif Ali Khan, greeted her ex cordially, leaving him speechless, momentarily. Revealed an eyewitness: When Kareena and Saif stepped on to the stage to present an award, Shahid, who was co-anchoring the segment with Farhan Akhtar, was standing at the the far end. Kareena greeted him graciously and even complimented the duo on the
brilliant job they were doing. Saif who was standing beside his wife, smiled too. Shahid responded to Kareenas Hi courteously but after the couple had stepped off the stage, he turned to his co-host with a grin and asked: Did she say Hi to me? When Shahid and Kareena ended their four year-long relationship acrimoniously, few believed that they would ever manage to put their past behind. But a couple of years ago, at the Filmfare Awards, the two had met and exchanged similar plesantaries. But Saif was not present on that occasion. While the two actors have always maintained that if an interesting script pops up, theyd be happy to work together again, industry seniors have always believed otherwise. l
n Entertainment Desk
British actor Bob Hoskins, who rose to fame for his performance in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit and dozens of others, has died after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 71, his publicist said on Wednesday. A statement issued on behalf of his wife Linda and his children said: We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Bob. Bob died peacefully at hospital last night surrounded by family, following a bout of pneumonia. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time and thank you for your messages of love and support. l
An attractive fashion show will be telecast live on RTV at 6:30pm tomorrow. Renowned fashion designers Emdad Haque and Shahrukh Amin outfitted the models and the makeup was done by beauty experts Kaniz Almas Khan and Kaji Kamrul Islam. A total of 24 models will participate in the fashion show
Sport
cently, a five-member committee was formed to handle the TV rights. Led by Inam, the committee also consist other BCB directors Afzalur Rahman Sinha, Mahbub Anam, IH Mollick and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud. Tenders can be dropped till May 5 before an open auction on May 12. Prior to that the tenders received will be examined on May 8. Earlier, the BCB inked a $56.88m deal with Nimbus Sports International in 2006 which fell in ruins before the Nimbus-BCB relationship ended in 2012 with the latter filing a case of $20m over the non-completion of the deal. However, BCB has relaxed the rules this time around in order to allow the local TV channels to participate in the bidding. A local broadcaster with a years experience in the business can take part in the bidding to win the rights. Bangladesh will play a total of approximately 90 international matches - 31 Tests, 43-47 ODIs and 14 T20Is - till May 2020. During the period Bangladesh is also scheduled to host India in 2014 and 2016. l
DHAKA TRIBUNE
13
14 Ronaldo sets
Dhaka team celebrates their Inter Divisional Womens Kabaddi title at the Kabaddi Stadium yesterday
COURTESY
14
Banana-throwing fan faces charges
Spanish police said Wednesday they have laid criminal charges against a football fan for throwing a banana at Barcelona defender Dani Alves, a slur that has sparked a global storm of anti-racist protest. The Spanish authorities arrested the young man Tuesday unleashing condemnation worldwide including from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter. The suspect, who has been named and pilloried on social media but has not been identified by the authorities, was charged on the same day with an offence against civil rights and liberties before being released, a police spokeswoman said. AFP
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Sport
0 4
Ramos 16, 20, Ronaldo 34, 90
64 19 10 9 0 13 822
36 13 7 3 3 7 414
We have witnessed a debacle, we didnt put enough passion into it, said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. We have to keep our nerve and stay rational. Real are now one game away from La Decima - their 10th European title - and will face either neighbours Atletico Madrid or Jose Mourinhos Chelsea in the May 24 final in Lisbon. Real centre-back Sergio Ramos produced two early bullet headers to dismiss Bayerns dreams of becoming the first team to defend the Champions League title. World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo made it 3-0 at the break before the Real superstar netted his 49th goal of the season with a freekick just before the final whistle. Having now netted 16 times in this seasons Champions League, Ronaldo set a new record for the most goals in a single European campaign, bettering the previous mark of 14 set by Barcelonas Lionel Messi and ex-AC Milan forward Jose Altafini. Today Madrid have gone to a level that will be recognised across the world and to score two goals is a dream,
said Ramos. The final in Lisbon is a dream. It has been a long time coming. The only downside to Reals stunning win in Germany was the loss of Xabi Alonso for the Lisbon final after he picked up his third booking of the campaign for a first-half foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger. But there was no denying an historic night for Real, especially for coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has now never lost to Bayern in eight matches, six times with former club AC Milan and twice with Madrid. The Italian is through to his fourth Champions League final as a coach, equalling the record. There was a minutes silence before kick-off for former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, who died on Friday at the age of 45, and Vujadin Boskov, the former Real coach who passed away on Sunday aged 82. The Munich crowd soon saw their dreams of a repeat of last seasons treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup swept away as Real floored the Bavarians in a devastating first-half spell. Real needed just 16 minutes to take the lead at the Allianz Arena as Ramos powered home his first header from Luka Modrics corner to silence the home support. It was the start of a miserable five minutes for Bayern as centre-back Dante was shown a yellow card for clumsily scything down Ronaldo just before Ramos struck again. When Angel Di Maria swung in a free-kick, centre-back Pepe flicked it on for Ramos to head home his second goal in just four minutes to leave Bayern reeling. Real then compounded Bayerns misery as Di Maria played Karim Benzema into space and the Frenchman found Bale, who accelerated away. His pass was drilled home by Ronaldo on 34 minutes, the Portuguese forward breaking the record for most Champions League goals in a campaign, to leave the hosts 3-0 down at the break. Guardiola responded at half-time by swapping Mario Mandzukic for Javi Martinez, abandoning his 4-2-3-1 formation for a 4-2-4 system and pushing Schweinsteiger further forward with Thomas Mueller. Despite Bayerns best efforts, Reals defence held firm and then Ronaldo put the final nail in the holders coffin with his second of the game when his freekick went under the Munich wall on 90 minutes. This is a big disappointment which we have to analyse, but there is no need to speak ill of what we have achieved over the last two years, said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. l
Real Madrids Sergio Ramos (C) celebrates scoring his sides second goal during the Champions League semifinal second leg against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich, southern Germany on Tuesday AP
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring the 0 3 and breaking the record for the most goals in a European Cup or Champions League season in Munich, southern Germany on Tuesday AFP
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Sport
15
titles to impose his mark on the history of the sport while also putting Brazil in the limelight. Ayrton was very important in terms of the moment he triumphed -- at the time Brazil was not well regarded or fashionable as it is today. People saw Brazil as a country of theft and fraud and not worth much, with myriad problems and one that did not function well economically, socially or politically. In that sense, Ayrton was the first to feel pride in being Brazilian and lifting the Brazilian flag on the podium. Whats more, he scored victories in the developed world. He won over there without cheating, with tenacity and determination, and thats what makes him a source of inspiration for today, she asserted. On his continuing legacy, she added his fame endures even in countries outside Formula Ones race orbit. Once, I received a letter from a child in Latvia who told me he had stuck a photo of Ayrton on his cupboard door and that every day when he got up he looked at it and told himself: I am going to fight as you did, not let go, and overcome the difficulties I am going through. l
QUICK BYTES
Death timeline
Friday, April 29
In the first qualifying session, Jordan driver Rubens Barrichello hits a kerb at the Variante Bassa corner at 140 mph (225 km/h). He is knocked unconscious while his car comes to rest upside down. After treatment at the Imola medical centre and Bolognas Maggiore Hospital, the Brazilian returns to the track nursing a broken arm and nose. He does not race over the weekend.
80
1
65
19
41 3 23 16
2
World Drivers Championship ranking 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 9th
(1984) (1988, (1989, (1987) (1985, 1990, 1993) 1986, 1991) 1992)
First victory: Portugal 1985 (Lotus) Last victory: Australia 1993 (McLaren-Ford)
to be a motor racing driver...there the context of Imola is properly defined, said Pandey. You can see what he did, what he went through to win that race and what the stakes were and what the context was. He couldnt come second in that race. Not this year. He had to win it and it didnt matter what was taken out of him. A qualified orthopaedic surgeon, who established an immediate rapport with the late Formula One medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins, Pandey saw Senna race only three times in his life and never met him. But he was hooked nonetheless. I was brought up a Hindu and those values are very important to me. For me the whole film is a metaphor about mans struggle to find God. But not to find God in another universe but on this earth....its a spiritual struggle, he said. Professor Sid Watkins said he (Senna) had an inner peace. Because he could take the cigarette companies, the oil companies, the fumes, the smoke, the girls, all of that noise and just transform it into this thing that was so sublime. This man right on the very edge, just doing something better than anyone else had ever done before. And doing it day after day, keeping that edge. That for me is what the film was about. l
Saturday, April 30
Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger fails to negotiate the Villeneuve curva in his Simtek and crashes into a concrete barrier wall head-on. The force of the crash causes a basal skull fracture. Ratzenberger is airlifted to Maggiore Hospital where he dies from multiple injuries. It is the first Formula One race weekend fatality since the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix when Riccardo Paletti was killed.
Sunday, May 1
The start of the race sees the cars of Pedro Lamy and JJ Lehto collide on the grid leading to deployment of safety car to allow debris to be removed. The cars proceeded under the safety car for five laps. On lap seven, Sennas Williams car leaves the track at 190 mph (310 km/h) at the Tamburello corner and careers into a concrete barrier. Senna is airlfited to Maggiore Hospital but he pronounced dead at 6:40pm local time. l
DAYS WATCH
Thursday Uefa Europa League, SF Leg 2 1:05AM Ten Action Juventus v Benfica Ten Sports Valencia v Sevilla Sony Six NBA Play Off 2013 14 5:00AM San Antonio v Dallas 7:30AM Houston v Portland Friday Sony Six Indian Premier League 8:30PM Chennai v Kolkata NBA Play-off 2013 14 6:00AM Oklahoma City v Memphis 8:30AM La Clippers v Golden State Star Sports 4 La Liga 1:00AM Rayo Vallecano v Athletic Bilbao
16
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Back Page
A motorcyclist defies the signal of an oncoming train and ducks through the iron bar at the Karwan Bazar rail crossing in the capital yesterday. Earlier on Tuesday, three people were killed when a train rammed a bus in Dhaka. However, people continue to risk their lives by ignoring the signal, only to save a few minutes MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
Shiuli, a flower that usually blooms in Autumn, has bloomed in summer in Kurigram because of the recent climate change trends. The photo was taken on Tuesday DHAKA TRIBUNE
Mizans mother embraces him after law enforcers handed him over to her
DHAKA TRIBUNE
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 Office: 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
PMO forms body Business urges government to to probe SOEs remove FDI barriers privatisation n Tribune Report deals
n Tribune Report
The government has formed a 5-member committee to examine the legal process of privatising the state-owned enterprises and see whether the deals complied with the law, officials said. Prime Ministers Office (PMO) issued a circular yesterday of forming the committee. PMO Director General-1 has been made chairman of the committee while four other members are from ministries of textile and jute, and law, PMO and Privatisation Commission. The committee has been asked to examine the deals, particularly under the Ministry of Textile and Jute. l The local businessmen urged the government to remove all the barriers in doing business to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country and attain higher growth. They urged the government to provide gas, water and electricity connections, lower lending rates, ease tariff and tax system, removing double taxation, and provide land for setting up factories to make the RMG sector compliant through relocation. They made the appeal in the first meeting of Business Advisory Committee, formed to recommend finance minister to expand and develop the countrys trade and commerce. I will talk to finance minister and form sector-based committees to identify problems and find out effective solutions, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said, in response. He said the government would take all necessary steps to keep prices of essentials at a reasonable level during the holy month of Ramadan, he added. Former BGMEA president Annisul Haque it is quite impossible to make the RMG sector compliant with relocation. The government should manage land for factory relocation, he added. He said small factory owners do not have enough fund to relocate factories and thats why the government should allocate fund to provide loan at lower rate. He also urged the government to provide gas connection to those factories immediately, which already has built buildings and imported machinery, but cannot go for production due lack of power connection. Aftabul Islam of American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh urged the government to enact coal policy to remove the power crises as there are enough coals in the mine through which countrys demands can be met. The public private partnership exists only in the papers. It should be activated to expedite the investment, he added. BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam urged the government to provide lands at Korea EPZ to the factory owners of Chittagong as they are doing business in shared buildings. Mir Nasir Hossain, managing director of Mir Group, urged the government to include the countrys think tanks in research for the development of business and to strengthen the WTO cell of Commerce Ministry, Bangladesh Tariff Commission and Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute to ease the process of doing business. We have several times raised our problems, but were not addressed,
NBR: Undisclosed money should be relaxed for investment n Syed Samiul Basher Anik
The government should relax the conditions to allow undisclosed money not only for investing in setting up new industries but also for preventing money laundering abroad. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Md Ghulam Hussain yesterday came up with the observation while addressing a pre-budget discussion with the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) held at the NBR headquarters in the capital. Many developed countries have gone far away in terms of financial and social development, just allowing undisclosed money in investments with trouble-free conditions, whereas Bangladesh lacks in such facilities, said NBR chief. Since there have been tougher conditions for allowing undisclosed money in investment, the wealthy people are now busy in siphoning off those black money abroad. The money was supposed to be used in developing industries in Bangladesh but other countries are developing their industries with the money laundered from Bangladesh. The country is not only losing the money but also being deprived from a scope of creating new jobs, he said. The NBR chairman made the response while ERF former general secretary Abu Kawsar proposed the NBR to allow investment of undisclosed money with 2% penalty and also relax the conditions to evade money laundering from the country.
B3 COLUMN 5
said Tapan Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Employers Federation, adding entrepreneurs are being harassed in the name of environmental issues and others. Former FBCCI President Ak Azad urged the government to provide agriculture loan at lower rate, particularly for the jute sector, as the sector is struggling. If all the facilities, including export development fund (EDF) provided to the apparel sector, is provided to the other sector, it will help diversify products and increase exports, said Saiful Islam, chairman of Western Marine Shipyard. Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Abdus Salam Murshedy demanded unified exchange rate for the exporters and to keep allocation in the national budget for construction of deep sea port as the exporters have to chase lead time. Yousuf Abdullah Harun, former president of FBCCI, suggested the government to form sub-committee to identify problems and take initiative to resolve the problems with combined efforts in collaboration with all ministries. We have enough supply of essentials and the prices would remain stable during Ramadan, said Mostofa Kamal, chairman of Meghna Group. He urged the consumers not to buy in bulk before Ramadan. l
B2
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Stock
DSE GAINERS Company
Closing (% change) 21.57 16.67 9.98 8.79 8.70 8.38 7.52 7.49 6.47 6.05
ACI Limited- A Bay Leasing.-A Orion Infusions -A Matin Spinning-N AFC AgroBiotech-N JMI Syringes MDL A PragatiLife Insu. -A Apex Tannery -A Kohinoor Chem -A Apex Footwear-A CSE GAINERS Company ACI Limited- A Bay Leasing.-A AFC AgroBiotech-N Matin Spinning-N JMI Syringes MDL A Orion Infusions -A Safko Spinning-A Samata LeatheR -Z Apex Tannery -A ACI Formulations-A
Average (% change) 18.88 13.48 7.94 6.34 6.34 4.36 6.20 3.72 6.92 4.02 Average (% change) 20.39 12.42 7.30 5.73 4.54 7.93 5.70 2.25 4.34 7.92
Closing average 234.20 33.93 44.99 41.43 57.23 158.44 184.98 140.09 364.78 437.67
Closing 241.20 34.30 45.20 42.10 58.70 163.00 187.30 146.30 363.70 443.50
Daily high 250.00 34.90 45.20 42.50 59.40 169.00 189.80 149.00 371.40 447.00
Daily low 180.00 27.00 40.60 40.40 54.20 136.00 177.30 135.00 315.00 416.00
Turnover in million 198.330 16.331 53.212 70.315 56.230 23.212 4.162 16.895 5.137 11.292
Latest EPS 5.28 1.21 4.81 4.55 1.54 2.08 2.38 4.35 9.37 23.61
Latest PE 44.4 28.0 9.4 9.1 37.2 76.2 77.7 32.2 38.9 18.5
Closing (% change) 22.00 14.38 9.29 9.07 9.03 8.78 7.28 6.79 4.95 4.87
Closing average 236.26 33.86 57.30 41.13 159.58 44.63 22.05 28.63 141.95 86.44
Closing 240.10 34.20 58.80 42.10 167.80 44.60 22.10 29.90 144.30 84.00
Daily high 247.00 34.80 59.10 42.40 167.80 45.10 22.10 29.90 147.30 89.00
Daily low 215.00 32.90 54.00 40.00 145.10 42.40 20.00 28.00 136.00 83.10
Turnover in million 11.397 0.783 6.504 14.026 2.553 0.732 0.203 0.043 0.894 1.063
Latest EPS 5.28 1.21 1.54 4.55 2.08 4.81 1.04 -0.04 4.35 6.28
Latest PE 44.7 28.0 37.2 9.0 76.7 9.3 21.2 -ve 32.6 13.8
(-) 0.004% (+) 0.58% (+) 0.18% (-) 0.11% (-) 0.45% (-) 0.27%
Traded Issues Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis) Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis) Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis) Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.) Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)
Average (% change) -34.15 -29.86 -30.40 -14.27 -15.14 -11.41 -10.38 -11.36
Closing average 10.20 9.75 9.57 7.63 66.83 21.11 20.80 20.21
Daily high 10.80 10.20 11.80 8.60 68.80 21.40 21.10 22.40
Daily low 9.50 9.00 8.60 6.50 64.00 20.50 20.40 20.10
Turnover in million 19.478 9.737 2.565 2.601 41.418 1.368 0.208 7.082
Latest EPS -0.08 -0.40 -0.81 0.04 4.85 1.73 1.83 0.77
-9.72 -9.52
-10.74 -9.26
26.17 15.38
26.00 15.20
27.60 16.40
26.00 15.20
0.785 2.353
0.28 -1.01
93.5 -ve
Closing (% change) -35.03 -33.09 -30.88 -13.49 -12.64 -12.50 -9.78 -8.81
Average (% change) -34.63 -32.66 -29.69 -15.02 -12.84 -11.92 -9.92 -11.12
Closing average 10.27 9.34 9.78 66.73 7.60 21.29 20.44 23.65
Daily high 9.00 9.80 9.90 68.20 8.20 21.60 21.00 24.30
Daily low 10.00 10.00 10.00 65.00 7.50 20.80 20.30 23.50
Turnover in million 2.600 0.159 4.239 0.734 0.240 0.015 0.607 1.999
Latest EPS -0.08 -0.81 -0.40 4.85 0.04 1.73 0.77 0.36
-8.22 -8.21
-6.51 -8.10
20.10 25.77
20.10 25.70
20.10 27.20
20.10 25.30
0.070 0.425
1.34 0.28
15.0 92.0
ANALYST
SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY
Sector Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture
After rising more than 103 points in last week, market wrapped the week eroding gains and closed flat over jerky participation of investors
CSE Total
DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Renata Ltd. -A Grameenphone-A Meghna Petroleum -A ACI Limited- A Square Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z
HeidelbergCement -A
DSE Million Taka 420.35 138.46 87.52 268.50 223.88 583.89 1.74 286.63 1096.55 0.79 61.99 87.96 30.57 347.84 42.30 32.74 113.58 377.59 73.12 87.28 0.33
% change 9.63 3.17 2.01 6.15 5.13 13.38 0.04 6.57 25.13 0.02 1.42 2.02 0.70 7.97 0.97 0.75 2.60 8.65 1.68 2.00 0.01
Million Taka 38.50 13.15 4.90 20.24 20.73 41.59 49.04 42.47 26.99 2.75 31.33 3.92 20.79 6.78 0.76 6.49 47.41 15.90 14.61 1.28
% change 9.40 3.21 1.20 4.94 5.06 10.15 0.00 11.97 10.37 6.59 0.67 7.65 0.96 5.07 1.65 0.19 1.59 11.57 3.88 3.57 0.31
Million Taka 458.85 151.61 92.42 288.75 244.61 625.47 1.74 335.67 1139.02 27.77 64.74 119.29 34.49 368.63 49.07 33.51 120.07 425.00 89.02 101.88 1.61
% change 9.61 3.18 1.94 6.05 5.12 13.10 0.04 7.03 23.86 0.58 1.36 2.50 0.72 7.72 1.03 0.70 2.52 8.90 1.87 2.13 0.03
Delta Life Insu. -A Linde (BD) Ltd. -A Matin Spinning-N UNITED AIR A Southeast Bank-A
Volume shares 312,194 1,049,790 673,381 846,850 575,842 2,369,500 214,060 474,153 299,460 538,545
Value in million 373.97 283.11 201.91 198.33 161.92 156.58 126.15 112.77 103.34 94.48
% of total turnover 8.57 6.49 4.63 4.55 3.71 3.59 2.89 2.58 2.37 2.17
Daily closing 1240.00 268.90 300.50 241.20 281.70 67.70 590.10 240.30 346.40 182.10
Price change 5.72 0.37 -1.05 21.57 1.70 5.45 -1.30 1.82 0.79 0.00
Daily opening 1172.90 267.90 303.70 198.40 277.00 64.20 597.90 236.00 343.70 182.10
Daily high 1399.00 271.70 305.40 250.00 283.30 69.50 604.00 241.70 350.00 184.50
Daily low 1155.00 260.00 279.00 180.00 270.00 63.80 578.10 222.00 340.00 170.00
Daily average 1197.87 269.68 299.84 234.20 281.19 66.08 589.33 237.83 345.09 175.44
Volume shares
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
UNITED AIR A Matin Spinning-N Grameenphone-A ACI Limited- A Square Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z Meghna Petroleum -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A National Bank - B HeidelbergCement -A LankaBangla Fin. -A AFC AgroBiotech-N BD Building Systems -A Delta Life Insu. -A
194,163 1,266,428 341,000 49,400 48,238 38,720 157,500 33,568 349,086 690,224 12,450 133,300 113,500 97,575 28,950
Value in million
34.10 15.24 14.03 13.31 11.40 10.88 10.35 10.05 9.37 9.01 7.34 6.86 6.50 6.31 5.99
% of total turnover
10.77 4.81 4.43 4.20 3.60 3.44 3.27 3.17 2.96 2.85 2.32 2.17 2.05 1.99 1.89
Daily closing
180.70 12.00 42.10 268.90 240.10 281.40 67.30 299.60 26.80 13.20 589.40 51.40 58.80 67.30 207.20
Price change
-0.99 -4.76 9.07 0.60 22.00 1.77 4.83 -1.35 -1.47 0.00 -1.55 -1.15 9.29 2.59 0.44
Daily opening
182.50 12.60 38.60 267.30 196.80 276.50 64.20 303.70 27.20 13.20 598.70 52.00 53.80 65.60 206.30
182.50 12.60 42.40 272.00 247.00 283.70 69.90 303.00 28.30 13.50 600.00 52.10 59.10 68.00 213.00
168.50 11.90 40.00 265.50 215.00 276.60 63.70 295.40 26.10 12.80 580.00 50.50 54.00 62.10 201.10
Daily average
175.63 12.04 41.13 269.43 236.26 281.09 65.68 299.40 26.84 13.06 589.91 51.47 57.30 64.62 206.98
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Business
B3
Tripartite MoA signs to resolve disputes IMF says Russia is in recession between owners and workers
n Tribune Report
Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA), Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) and Solidarity Center - Bangladesh yesterday signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to resolve the disputes between the employers and the workers in an alternative dispute resolution process. BFFEA President Md Amin Ullah, BSFF Chairman Syed Mahmudul Haq and SCB field Programme Specialist Jennifer Kuhlman signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations to resolve disputes between employers and workers of shrimp and fish processing industry. Under the agreement titled Rules of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanism, the employers and the workers will be able to resolve their disputes in number of steps through bi-partite negotiation, mediation and arbitration, said a statement of the BSFF issued yesterday. The workers and the employers will be able to resolve the disputes in a comparatively shorter period avoiding the lengthy process of formal legal system through courts, it added. Both the workers and the employers will use this procedure in good faith, which will help to sustain a good working condition in shrimp and fish processing industry, said the Country Program director of Solidarity Center Alonzo Suson. The Memorandum of Agreement was funded by USAID through Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) and undertaken by the trio in association with Department of Fisheries (DoF). Before the development of this process, 14 pending cases of the Labor Court in Khulna had been resolved through the negotiation between the respective workers and employers. Earlier on March 24, 2013 BFFEA, BSFF and Solidarity Center signed a tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to work together to promote Bangladesh Labor Law and ILO Core Labor Standards in the Shrimp and Fish Processing Industry in Bangladesh and the Rules of ADR Mechanism was developed in the pretext of that MoA. l
n AFP, Moscow
Yen rises in Asia after BoJ holds fire on new easing n AFP, Tokyo
The yen ticked up in Asia yesterday as the Bank of Japan held off fresh monetary easing, despite fears that Japans recovery is faltering on the back of tepid data and a recent sales tax rise. In afternoon Tokyo trade, the dollar weakened to 102.50 yen, down from 102.64 yen in New York on Tuesday. The euro was also weaker at $1.3807 and 141.51 yen, from $1.3811 and 141.75 yen in New York. Bank of Japan (BoJ) policymakers also lowered their growth expectations for the worlds number three economy, saying it would expand 1.1% in the fiscal year to next March, down from an earlier 1.4% forecast, according to the BoJs semi-annual outlook report which gauges the median of members views. However, their feeling that inflation would come in at 1.3% over the same time period was unchanged from a previous forecast. Some analysts questioned the upbeat inflation view. I wonder how they would explain the price increase while revising down the growth forecast, Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute, told Dow Jones Newswires. l
Euro zone bonds reverse as inflation rises, takes heat off ECB
n Reuters, London
Euro zone bond yields reversed earlier gains yesterday after euro zone inflation cooled expectations that the European Central Bank would need to immediately loosen monetary policy to support the blocs fledgling growth. Consumer prices nudged above 2009 lows in April, although at 0.7%, inflation fell short of forecasts of 0.8% and remain well below the ECBs target of just under 2%. Markets had earlier been positioning for inflation to fall even further below forecast, after flash estimates for Germany - the blocs largest economy - released on Tuesday were 0.2% below economists predictions. Market expectations changed after the German reading. So todays reading was actually at the higher end of what was expected, said Luca Jellinek, European head of fixed income at Credit Agricole. While the threat of deflation keeps alive the chances of a more accommodative stance from the ECB, strategists say more evidence is needed to spur action. One set of data is not enough, said Eric Oynoyan, Europe rates strategist at BNP Paribas. If inflation falls back again, that will up the pressure. The ECB next meets on Thursday May 8, although few in the market predict any surprise policy action then. However, ECB policymaker Christian Noyer added further fuel to the speculation by saying he was personally in favour of one or two further measures, for example injecting more liquidity. Strategists say such measures are likely to include a further cut in official rates or an end to a process whereby the ECB drains euros from the banking system equal to its own holdings of government bonds bought at the that was injected into the euro zone banking system on Tuesday filters through.
Timing crucial
European market participants will now turn their attention to events in the US, seeking clues for when the worlds largest economy will raise rates, a move that is likely to be felt across continents.
The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that Russia is already in recession and slashed its growth forecast for 2014 citing the effect of the Ukraine crisis on investment. If we define recession as negative growth in two quarters in a row, then Russia from that point of view is experiencing recession, IMF economist Antonio Spilimbergo was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. The IMF has lowered its 2014 growth forecast for Russia to 0.2% from the 1.3% figure it issued on April 8, Spilimbergo said. We have clarified our forecast on Russias economic growth. We expect growth at the level of 0.2% this year. The IMFs decision came taking into account the difficult current situation and the significant level of uncertainty related to geopolitical tensions and sanctions, Spilimbergo was quoted as saying in comments translated into Russian. This all has a very negative effect on the investment climate, he said. We expect that the fall in investments that already took place in 2013 will increase further this year. Russias economy contracted by
about 0.5% in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter. The finance ministry warned this month that the economy could tip into recession in the second quarter. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said this month that Russia could see growth of 0.5% in 2014 but warned growth could be only around zero. Standard and Poors ratings agency on Friday downgraded Russias ability to repay debt to BBB-, one notch above junk status, and retained its negative outlook. Russias economy has already seen colossal capital flight since the start of the Ukraine crisis as investors have pulled out their funds. Spilimbergo said the IMF expects capital outflows this year at a level of $100bn, but that a high degree of uncertainty remained. Russias government has predicted capital outflows over 2014 of between $70 and $100bn. Russias central bank said that capital flight in the first quarter alone amounted to $50.6bn. Spilimbergo said the IMF was forecasting 1% growth in Russia in 2015, down from its previous forecast of 2.3%. l
Market expectations changed after the German reading. So todays reading was actually at the higher end of what was expected
height of the crisis, or sterilization of its Securities Markets Programme. A programme of asset purchases, or quantitative easing, which the ECB has referenced as a possible tool, is also on the cards. Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan reiterated on Tuesday, however, that the implementation of such a programme would prove difficult. Immediate pressure on the ECB from money markets is expected to ease, with the euro zone overnight bank-to-bank lending rate tipped to fall from multi-year highs as 100bn euros
Later on Wednesday, US Federal Reserve officials are not expected to deviate from continued tapering of its massive bond-buying stimulus at the end of its two-day meeting. Neither is it likely to provide any more guidance on rates rises, predict strategists, leaving ADP employment data as the key indicator. The Fed is on autopilot regarding tapering, thus the labour market data will be key regarding the markets take on the timing of the first interest rate move, said Commerzbank analyst Alexander Aldinger said. l
Bangladesh, however, argued for strengthening economic diplomacy, instead of appointing lobbyists. Its not that the efforts through appointing lobbyists would yield result, Annisul Huq, who led the apex apparel trade body when BGMEA had appointed lobbyists, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. But, it would create an impression among the customers that Bangladesh is trying hard to get the DFQF. He added: No one can give you a guarantee that things will be done if lobbyists are appointed. l
NBR chairman also said if the government allowed investing undisclosed money with relaxed conditions, there would be a rise in setting up new industries and money laundering could also be prevented. Referring to an example of the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector, he said as the government had allowed investing undisclosed money to the RMG sector in 1989 and the sector now became the largest industry with creating employment for 40 lakh poor women while lives of around 2 crore people have also been changed remarkably. ERF President Sultan Mahmud proposed the NBR to eliminate discriminatory tax system as people having Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) were paying 15% tax while people without TIN number were paying only 10% taxes under the existing system. Forum leader Sheikh Abdullah alleged that the people were evading taxes through transitions of land. Urging the NBR to address policylevel loopholes, former NBR president Khaza Mainuddin said fast food, sweetmeat, hotel-restaurant businesses were evading Value Added Taxes (VATs). In response to the proposal of ERF, NBR chairman said NBR would bring some major changes in the revenue collection system, particularly in the income tax collection system.
Corporate tax rate will be brought down to almost same level of individual level income tax to encourage more investments, he said. He also noted that special emphasis would be given on income tax than the customs and VATs. Large and medium industries from the rural areas will also be brought under the tax net, he added. Hussain said that the taxes on health hazardous products would see a sharp rise in the upcoming budget whereas NBR was also working towards bringing house owners, doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals under tax net. Responding to queries made by ERF leaders, Hussain mentioned that though NBR was a big organisation but it lacked in sufficient numbers of inspectors that was hindering the field level inspection process. To ensure an effective tax collection system, we will need a tax inspector in each circle, although most of the circles lack in inspectors. A tax zone needs at least 27 inspectors, whereas currently there are only 7 inspectors in each zone, he added. Regarding the pending cases at courts, NBR chief said: Around 1000012000 cases have been remained pending at courts involving around Tk25,000 crore revenue as people secured stay orders from the High Court once the cases were filed against them for tax dodging. l
Rezaul Hossain, chief commercial officer of bKash is recently seen handing over Tk100,000 to Mushanna Jahan, winner of the Facebook based photo competition named bKash Smile Contest
Rupali bank limited has recently won the best corporate award 2013 from Institute of Cost and Management Accounts of Bangladesh (ICMAB). Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has handed over the crest and certificate to the banks chair Dr Ahmedal Kabir and its managing director, M Farid Uddin
Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of Islamic Development Bank seen speaking at a seminar on shariah banking that was organised by the Islamic Banks Consultative Forum at a hotel in Dhaka recently
RFL recently inaugurated two new exclusive showrooms in Bogra and Sirajgong. The companys brand ambassador, Mousumi launched the exclusive showrooms at the presence of the companys exclusive outlets assistant general manager, Md Gias Uddin Biswas
Pubali Bank Limited has recently won the best corporate award in the category of private commercial bank (traditional operation) from the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB). The banks MD and CEO, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury received the award from the Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
Daffodil International University organised an international seminar on sustainable SME development and creating new entrepreneurs in Bangladesh on Tuesday at its auditorium. Speakers including Md Sabur Khan, former president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the seminar stressed on the importance of networking, collaboration and clustering for sustainable SME development and creating new entrepreneurs in the country
B4
n Sazzad Hossain
For thousands of years, business existed only at the fringes of society. Society thought little of people in business, and people in business expected little of society. Profit was their only reward because power, social status, and even social acceptability, were closed to them. In this context, the idea that making a profit was the only goal of business might have some sense. But in a time when the values of the business world largely influence the values of society as a whole and the possibilities of future generations, the purposes and goals of business need to be questioned and expanded. And so did Muhammad Yunus, the only Nobel Prise winner from Bangladesh who came up with a theory of microfinance to question the status quo and to change the way the world does business.
DHAKA TRIBUNE
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The way the present world does businesses and its true colour
Modern day businesses are based on the core concept of making profits and maximising the wealth of its shareholders an outcome of the free market economy aka capitalism. Theoretically, capitalism was supposed to do a favor to the society as a whole, which it did to some extent after the fall of mighty Soviet Union in 1991. Still today, capitalism is flourishing as businesses are growing and so is the world trade. However, not everyone is reaping the fruits of success. It is as clear as crystal when we look at the real picture of the global income distribution: 94% of world income goes to only 40% of the people. Just imagine how devastating the real scenario is when 60% of the worlds population has to fight among themselves to get a share out
of this tiny, little 6% of world income! This gets scarier when you convert the figure into dollar terms: Half of the world lives on two dollars a day or less, while almost a billion people struggle with their lives severely with less than one dollar to spend per day! The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer throughout the world. Imbalance in power and wealth is dividing the world into uneven halves, destroying the core values of humanity. As a result, several unprecedented, major crises such as high food prices, energy crisis, financial crisis, and the ever-worsening environmental crisis have combined forces to bring even greater misery and frustration to the worlds bottom 3 billion people.
a world where words like humanity and selflessness are ruled out of the dictionary and replaced by greed and selfishness. Dr Yunus is one of those men who not only faced difficulty in imagining such a world but also tried to get rid of it by bringing up a revolutionary theory of social business which is said to be capable of changing the face of the world. Dr Yunus believes that economic theories have so far interpreted human beings as selfish, ignoring the spirit of selflessness among individuals. To him, explaining humans from only the selfishness perspective is a fundamental flaw in the whole structure of economic theories that maintain that business is only for making money. We have misinterpreted humans. People are selfish; at the same time, they are selfless too. Theoreticians have never looked into that, he said. With the idea of social business, Prof
Yunus has introduced a new dimension for capitalism: A business model that does not strive to maximise profits but rather to serve humanitys most pressing needs. According to him, social business is a nonloss, non-dividend enterprise and dedicated entirely to achieving a social goal, where an investor aims to help others without taking any financial gain for him/herself, contrasting the core concept of traditional businesses. At the same time, unlike todays notfor-profit organizations, ie INGOs and local NGOs, which depend on donations or on private or public grants to survive and to operate, social business generates enough income to cover its own costs which makes it sustainable; any surplus is invested in expansion of the business or for increased benefits to society. According to Prof Yunus,A charity dollar has only one life; a Social Business dollar can be invested over
and over again. To remove disparity in income and wealth distribution throughout the world, it is high time that the world embraced social business as a tool that cares for its inhabitants and can turn the current financial woes around. As the microcredit pioneer says: There is no alternative to social business to solve social problems. We cannot continue destroying our planet. If we can come up with an idea, we will be able to change the world. We have to do that before the world reaches a point of no return.
The difference between traditional business model and social business model
The business model concept offers a consistent and integrated picture of a company and the way it generates revenue and profit. But social businesses cannot be based on simply replicating con-
ventional for-profit business models. New value propositions and new value constellations have to be created so as to match into a positive profit equation. The figure, one can easily identify the basic difference between these two. In the social business model, there are three changes: Addition of social profit equation (Impact Investment) to the conventional model, putting a condition in economic profit equation to ensure total recovery of capital employed and replacing the customers with stakeholders in the value proposition to broaden the scope of social businesses. l SazzadHossain is a business analyst at LightCastle Partners, an emerging market specialised business planning and intelligence firm. The article was originally published in the LCP Blog (lightcastlebd. com/blog)
OECD: Top income earners take too much, pay too little
n AFP, Paris
People with the highest incomes in advanced countries have grown disproportionately richer despite the recent financial crisis and should pay their fair share of the tax burden, the OECD said yesterday. The lowest wage earners have scarcely progressed and some may even have fallen behind in real terms in the last 30 years, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. The gap will widen without policy action on the way tax systems work, it said, probing facts, trends and causes of a perpetually hot subject in political debate which took centre stage as governments ramped up taxes to cope with a banking crisis, and then in Europe with a debt crisis. The richest 1% of wage earners had captured a disproportionate share of overall income growth in the last three decades, it said. In the United States the real incomes of the top one-in-a-hundred people had grown by 47% and in Canada by 37%. Noting that in the last 30 years, top income tax rates had fallen markedly in most OECD countries, the organisation suggested that death duties, or inheritance tax, could feature among measures to correct the imbalance. The 34-member OECD grouping advanced democracies is known for providing hard-hitting policy advice recommending competition and open markets as the key to rising prosperity and welfare for all. Its mission slogan is Better policies for better lives. Commenting on new analysis on how the top one percent of income earners have shot ahead in good times and held onto gains in bad times, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said: Without concerted policy action, the gap between the rich and poor is likely to grow even wider in the years ahead. He said: Therefore, it is all the more important to ensure that top earners contribute their fair share of taxes. The analysis concluded: Even in countries which have a history of more equal income distribution, such as Finland, Norway and Sweden, the share of the top 1% increased by 70%, reaching around 7-8%. By contrast, top earners saw their share grow much less in some of the continental European countries, including France, the Netherlands and Spain. The poorest households had not kept pace with the overall growth of incomes and many were no better off than they were in the mid 1980s. The recent financial crises had temporarily halted the trend but top income earners had held onto their gains. On average, real incomes of the top 1% increased by 4% in 2010, while the lowest 90% of the population saw their real incomes stagnate. In the last 30 years most OECD countries had cut tax rates for top incomes, on average from a rate of 66% to 43% in 2013, and this had been tracked by a rise in the share of wealth taken by top incomes. Other taxes affecting top incomes had also fallen. The average baseline rate of tax on companies had fallen by nearly half from 47% to 25% and taxes on local dividend payments from 75% to 42%. The analysis suggested various reforms to ensure that top income earners made a fairer contribution to shouldering the tax burden. Among these were: abolishing or reducing tax advantages; taxing all forms of income, fringe benefits and stock options as ordinary income; weighting taxation towards immovable property; and reviewing wealth taxes such as inheritance tax. The OECD also suggested international cooperation on tax rules to discourage high earners from organising their affairs to benefit from different rules, so-called treaty shopping. It also pressed for further progress on efforts led by the OECD to fight cross-border tax evasion. l
'The feasibility study will look into the potential economic benefits if APEC members reach a free trade agreement, how to make use of existing FTAs'
Previously when commenting on the TPP, the commerce ministry has said that China thinks all parties should be open, inclusive and transparent while setting up free trade deals. They should be flexible, particularly when dealing with economies at different stages of development, so that all economies can have more options on the road to ultimately reaching an all-encompassing FTA, commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said last year. l
DILBERT
Passengers walk at a terminal upon their arrival at the new Hamad International Airport (HIA) on April 30 in Doha, Qatar. The first commercial flight chartered by Qatar airways landed at HIA, greeted by water cannons AFP