La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(15 février --- 22 février)

Selon un reportage, une catastrophe industrielle a frappé un entrepôt des eaux de toilette au sein de vieux Dhaka, laissant 78 morts et plusieurs blessés. Les pompiers ont entamé une enquête. Des passagers se sont dit qu'un puit de gaz d'une camionnette s'est explosé et provoqué l'incendie. Mais une vidéo de caméra de surveillance est devenue virale. Dans la vidéo on voit que l'explosion est issue de deuxième étage d'entrepôt clandestin et incendie a ciblé des voitures dans la rue ci-dessous.

Selon un reportage, un bus et une camionnette ont subi des dégâts à rue 27 de Dhanmondi pendant une fuite de gaz. Quelques jours avant société publique de gaz Titas a fixé le tuyau de gaz là-bas.

Selon un reportage, la Cour d'appel a reporté l'écoute de prolonger  l'opération de l'ACCORD au Bangladesh. L'écoute aura lieu le 7 avril 2019.

Selon un reportage, la police a identifié 11 coupables qui avaient tué le blogger américain Avijit Roy en 2015. Un soldat supérieur licencié de l'armée de la terre a été trouvé comme le cerveau principal de cette tuerie.

Selon un reportage, 3 journalistes allemands ont été attaqués dans un  campe de Rohingya à Cox's Bazaar. Ils ont interviewé une mère rohingya. Puis ils l'ont emmené dans un marché pour acheter des vêtements pour elle et ses enfants. L'attaque s'y est déroulé.

Selon un reportage, luttes intestines entre deux factions de la filiale étudiante du parti en exercice ont été laissé 40 personnes blessées dans une université à Dhaka. Selon un autre reportage, une querelle entre deux factions a laissé 3 journalistes blessés à Sylhet.

Selon un reportage, une incendie mystérieuse dans une bidonville au bord de Karnaphuli a tué 8 personnes dont 3 femmes et 3 enfants. D'après le bilan de pompier, 400 maisons avaient été ravagées par l'incendie.

Selon un reportage, 102 barons de drogues dont 12 proches d'ancien député du parti en exercice ont capitulé à la police à Cox's Bazaar. Ils ont remis 300.000 «yaba» et 30 armes clandestines.

Don't Dwarf The Nation

Few years ago I had the chance to read an interesting feature on French and German mathematicians and scientists on a magazine. I cannot remember the title and name of the magazine. It was all about how the Germans and the French used these mathematicians and scientists. In the 19th century, both the Germans and the French produced Europe's, may be world's, best mathematicians and scientists. French Army, biggest recruiter back then, conscripted many as it was embarked upon a series of expeditions beyond its border. Meanwhile, German mathematicians and scientists found job in German industries.

Result is obvious: French won many battles with their superior quality weapons that were more precise back then and conquered huge swaths of land. Credit definitely went to those French mathematicians and scientists.


Meanwhile, the Germans manufactured the best quality industrial machinery back then.
However, the French did not manage to keep the war momentum going and the Germans took over the French in all fields and dominated the twentieth century.


The goal of this piece is not about the comparison between the uses of the best minds by the Germans and the French. Rather, to learn how they created such an environment that churned out so many talents and helped their countries to prosper. But we need to learn some lessons from the German and French use of talents.


In many of these countries, institutions, streets and even marks are named after these geniuses. This indicates their deep veneration towards talents and creation of a knowledge-based society.


Unlike those countries, scientists and mathematicians and statisticians are not venerated in this country. Hardly any street is named after them. In the school text books, one can hardly find any content that glorifies the works of a scientist or portrays the biography of him.


Announcement of this year's Ekushey Padak further strengthens my belief that we do not revere our scientists and we are not committed to create a knowledge-based society. Even the highest civilian award , the Independence Award is hardly bestowed upon any scientist. Both the two awards are occasionally given to scientists but not on a regular basis as the two do not have well defined categories for various disciplines of science.


Yes you heard it right. Our country does not have any official honor system that officially recognizes the contribution our scientist and mathematician made to our country and the world. There is however national agricultural awards to honor agronomist and agricultural scientists who made tremendous contribution to agriculture. Even that award is not that much publicized.


Our kids will mumble to say names of few Bengali scientists as they are not familiar with their names and works. The only source of information, the media, is not that enthusiastic to broadcast and publicize their works. From my brief stint into journalism, I know it was difficult to find journalists to do report on science and technology. Students of respective discipline do the job and switch to other professions later. Other journalists take care of those supplements and sometimes translation of science and tech stories already appeared on international media are reproduced to feed the curious minds. Clearly our science journalism never pitches up. Shockingly I also discover that we do not have any dedicated specialized science and tech based print and online publication, setting aside the computer based ones, that have at least thousands of subscribers. Current media business model is not that much conducive to air and print science programs.


State media can play a role here. In many countries of South Asia, state channel broadcasts science education programs for students. Their own communication satellites make that task much easier. Bangladesh has recently joined the club of communication satellite owners. It can follow the steps of these countries and broadcast science based educational contents for students who will find complex subjects easier to grasp. At the same time it will be highly beneficial for students who live in remote parts of Bangladesh where qualified teachers for the subject is not available and there is no school lab. Government can take assistance from private production houses to create these educational contents.

Besides media, the ones popularize science through various fair and movement are either activists of ideological groups who just want to be stay relevant and keep the group organizationally fit. Schools and college based or neighborhood based science groups are visibly absent. These groups are real catalyst to ignite the curious minds.


It is quite appalling that government did little to promote science at schools. Not only that at tertiary level there is miniscule research grants. Bangladesh Agricultural University and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute are doing commendable jobs as their success stories are being reported regularly on the press. And to some extent one can view the progress made by their research. However, other branches of science are not that much lucky. Government is reluctant to spend on science and tech research. It has set up universities but it does not provide any fund for science and tech research.

John Stuart Mill in his "On Liberty" wrote:

The worth of a state , in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it; and a state which postpones the interest of their mental expansion and elevation to a little of mere administrative skill , or of that semblance of it which practice gives in details of business; a state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes--will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to which it has sacrificed everything will in the end avail it nothing, for want of the vital power which, in order that the machine might work more smoothly, it has preferred to banish.

Mill's views are more relevant to these days when there has been a hue and cry over industry oriented course at the universities.

In our country, many of these science graduates have been absorbed into civil military bureaucracy and in disciplines which are never meant for them. It is because both the government and private sector failed to mobilize funds for creation of a research based industry. Money has been accumulated into the hands of cronies who never understand the value of research and development in an industry. These politically and military blessed business class also dominates the media. A mere political connection is enough to make fortune. So why should one care about investing in research? As a nation our apathy towards sciences can be viewed in terms of our lack of patronization and our inability to honor the existing ones.

It sounds ridiculous when we hear government does not have fund to finance science based research initiatives. Many of its development projects were washed away by rain. It increased government expenditures by raising new army units and giving armed forces new business contracts. This fund could easily be diverted to science and tech based research. Germans used their talents by absorbing them in the private industry. A natural process. In the course of time German industry turned out to be a success story into using these talents including manufacturing the war machinery. It is a pity that a country that once produced great minds like Satyendra Nath Bose, Jagadish Chandra Bose, FR Khan, Jamal Nazrul Islam became barren in various branches of science. Bringing back those glorious days on this barren land pivots on a change in our attitude to Science in general.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(8 février --- 15 février)
Selon un reportage, incendie a ravagé une partie de l'hôpital cardiaque au sein de Dhaka. Heureusement, l'incendie n'a blessé personne. Selon un autre reportage, un atelier de confection, déjà endetté, a été aussi détruit par incendie à Gazipur.

Selon un reportage, les plateformes des ouvriers IndustriAll and UNI Global Union ont exprimé souci après le gouvernement bangladais avait ordonné ACCORD à arrêter son opération de renouveler atelier de confection en 2018. Dans un communiqué, les plateformes se sont dit que la décision inverserait l'objectif de l'ACCORD qui travaillait ici depuis la catastrophe de Rana Plaza.

Selon un reportage, l'Assamblée Nationale de l'Inde a jetté le projet de l'amendement sur la loi nationalité. L'Assamblée locale de l'Assam a déjà donné son aval à cet amendement.

Selon un reportage, Bangladesh et Arabie Saoudite ont encré un accord sur la coopération en défense. Bangladesh va bientôt envoyer 1800 soldats à la frontière entre Arabie Saoudite et Yémen pour déminer la frontière. Deux députés ont critiqué l'accord dans le parlement et demandé comment l' accord avait été finalisé sans discutant à l'Assemblée nationale.


Selon un reportage, les maisons et magasins d'un groupe de musulman persécuté ont été attaqués à Panchagarh. L'attaque s'est déroulée à la veille de leur congrégation annuelle.

Allow FDI In SMEs

This week a leading think-tank has revealed that every year nearly 800,000 youth added to an army of job seekers. It appears that it does not ring any alarm bell across the corridor of power in government machinery. Ruling party seems little troubled by the news.

The revelation has been made in the wake of a High Court verdict that put a complete stop on all forms of extra tuition by school and college teachers outside classroom. Luckily the court, at a later ruling, spared the the "freelancers" who are private lesson providers but not involved with any educational institution.
It is incontrovertible that coaching culture in Bangladesh has rotten to the core. It puts extra cost on parents and the parallel system some how challenged the mainstream education system.

Solution to the degeneration of existing private lesson providing services is not a total halt but to regulate the industry. Despite the sparing of freelance private lesson providers, the verdict will have adverse implication on the job market. Because many teachers whose sole mean to get a decent living out of this will switch to moonlighting, putting further pressure on whatever job opportunities available in the market.

On the other hand, the form of "extra care" will take resort to classroom. It is highly likely that after this defining ruling extra care will take place within the boundaries of a classroom and parents have to bear the same extra cost as it was before the ruling. A pragmatic decision is widely anticipated where the teachers will be allowed to provide private lesson subject to restrictions. It however was not the case.

In brief, the ruling may have negative consequences for the job market as well as the on classroom teaching.

Unfortunately, we fail to create quality jobs in this country. If there were quality jobs then I think this coaching culture would not take a virulent form and teachers would be contend with their jobs.

In other sectors too, there is a dearth of good jobs. Highly polarized politics is partly to blame. Growth of private firms is synonymous with the tenure of ruling party that maintains some kind of ties with businesses. The other successful ones have closer ties with the men-in-fatigue. Rare are the firms that avoided any kind of ties with these two and stretched their businesses at home and abroad. The sheer level of uncertainty made the private sector jobs less attractive. So more and more people vie for public services jobs.

The SMEs, bloodline of an economy, are not doing well. Deteriorated governance and free season of corruption made it a victim. There have been reports that SME funds have either been swindled or laundered abroad. So the growth and employment generating sector never pitched up and true entrepreneurs remained shy throughout the period of this regime. Rare are the sectors that create jobs and add real values to economy by increasing revenues for governments and installing a formidable supply chain management system across different sectors of the economy. Our agro-processing industry is the shining example.

India has already opened up its retail market to FDI. India is more cautious about FDI. Unlike other sectors, tax evasion attempt, corruption and other fraudulent activities will be much lower in FDI on SMEs. In addition, small and medium foreign entrepreneurs who have a true commitment to stay in a country will invest here.

Bangladesh can take cue from India. In a country like Bangladesh, allowing FDI in SMEs is quintessential to propel growth and employment opportunities. Our politically blessed businessmen feel insecure here and have shown inclination towards laundering money abroad. Providing fund to these cronies never translated into job creation and value addition.

So government can seriously think of allowing FDI in SMEs and RMG industry. Please note in these two sectors our local entrepreneurs are doing well. Local RMG bosses have always been critical to such proposal. But allowing FDI in these two sectors will be boon for the two.

A more pertinent example will be in this regard our financial institutions. While our desi banks have become subject of incessant plundering,  foreign private banks in this country are doing quite well and smattering of fraudulent activities are detected in these banks over these years. Management board of these banks have always remained out of local politicians' reach. Perhaps that must be the reason behind their less troubled balance sheets.

Germans have shown keen interest in investing SMEs. I don't know whether that offer is still on the table. Bangladesh should give serious thought in its implementation. With the FDI, our SMEs will have a chance to meet superior management system, innovation and good work environment.

Since the PM is on a official visit to Germany, Bangladesh could initiate dialogue with Germany to facilitate this business proposal as soon as possible.
Given the pool of job seekers and presence of politically blessed businessmen whose only job is to siphon off public and private funds, FDI in SMEs could be seen as a game changer.

Unfortunately, we procrastinate to implement these business deals. If there were well functioning foreign SMEs in the country we would have some foreign pressure group who would help us improving the business environment in spite of significant presence of cronies.

As it appears, institutionalized corruption holds our economy back and slows further down the trickle down process of the growth distribution, we should mobilize our efforts to find extraordinary ways to make every one on board of this much trumpeted doing-well development vehicle. Allowing FDI in SMEs will be one of those extraordinary steps.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

( 1 février --- 8 février)

Selon un reportage, la Cour d'appel a donné son aval à la politique gouvernementale d'interdire cours privé commercial par les enseignants d'école et lycée. La Cour a aussi réprimandé le bureau de l'anti-corruption pour mettre l'accent sur absence de l'enseignant dans l'école maternelle au lieu de pillage des banques.


Selon un reportage, 160 Rakhines et d'indigènes bouddhistes se sont échappés de Rakhine State où la guerre entre Tatmadaw et Arakan Army amplifie dans les semaines récentes. Ils se sont mis à l'abri au Bangladesh.


Selon un reportage, le gouvernement a commencé démanteler les constructions clandestines au bord de Buriganga et Karnaphuli.


Selon un reportage, 192 Bangladais ont été appréhendés par police indonésienne depuis magasin. Ils y sont allés sans papiers. Selon un reportage, un Saoudien a été trouvé mort à Mymensingh.

Losing The Soft Power

With much fanfare another Ekushey Book Fair has started at the heart of Bangladesh's cultural Mecca. The ritualistic buying spree will continue for a month and a noticeable feature is absence of Indian Bengali book publishers who are reputed for bringing out quality contents and more professional in their dealings. For the last few years, a form of vice policing has also been put in place. Its goal is to seize any published contents that deemed taboo or not compliant with standard set by authority.

However, there is no short of contents. Stalls are glutted with books. Many of them are published to pander to the seasonal desire of local readers or with the money of amateur writers.

Of the crowd that thronged the fair every year, kids and adolescents constitute a larger part. In their fledgling years, books nourish their minds and build the repository on how to express their thoughts and ideas. Lack of good Bangla books hampers that process. Libraries that once stored these good books are dying. So are the sources to replenish the repository of young minds. Another source is the leading dailies. But only negligible few produce quality contents and provide space to writers from across the border. Some bought copyright of the their works and reprinted them here. Even that is not replicated widely.

By barring the foreign publishers in this fair we deprive the readers of good books and somehow slows down this process of sentence construction, articulation and argument making.

Given the seasonal nature of our publication industry, our publishers have never been professional and are far from ready to publish the quality contents in great quantity.

This book fair could have been a great platform to showcase all the Bengali books , published anywhere in the world. The grown stature of 21 February entails this global participation. Senseless protectionism creates obstacle even giving the fair a regional representation.

But the opposite is expected since Bangladesh is the sole country in the world that houses more Banglaphone speakers than any other country and is the beacon of Bengali culture. So it is a dream for those to showcase their works or perform their works in Bengali in front of the Banglaphones. Similarly a recognition to these Banglaphone writers and artists from the part government or private organizations will lift the status of Bangladesh among the league of countries that are connoisseurs and patrons of arts. Writers and artists in Anglophone and Francophone countries still long for and value awards and prizes provided by literary bodies or cultural or private organizations in those respective countries.

Unfortunately communal division runs so deep in the two factions of British Bengal that it casts an overarching shadow over our culture.In other parts of the subcontinent cultural relations between the countries are not so scornful. Despite regular clashes and casualties on both sides, Indian films are not banned in Pakistan. Urdu literature is flourishing in India. Kolkata still offers space for Urdu poets. And Bengalis in general highly value any awards from Kolkata, be it in any discipline of literature and arts.

Net result of this cultural division in Bengal is that the Bengali publication industry is at low ebb, Banglaphone writers and artists find it very hard to reach a broader class, creating knowledge and its dissemination in Bangla language has reached a dead end as very few books are written in Bangla at tertiary level education.

Far reaching damage is inflicted on economic front. Our cultural market shrinks. So is our cultural influence. Despite significant presence of Bengali diaspora in all major cities in the world , this division holds us back from having influence over literary and entertainment markets in those countries. What is worst back home we are losing our domestic audiences as well as market to foreign TV serials.

In their daily lives Bengal's thriving middle class incorporates enough ingredients that can make an impression on global audience. At the same time, its literature and entertainment industry catering to the need of typical Bengali mind that is progressive could also reach a welcoming audience in other countries, particularly the Muslim ones.

A regimented quarter in our country reinvented this "us versus them" in Bengali culture and weakened the cultural bonding. Generations representing the unified culture and divided one offer a striking contrast. Those who grew up in undivided Bengal outshined the ones grew up in divided Bengals in their respective fields and many found a global turf.

Even in the divided cultures, the one that is open and liberal creates enlightened society and highly qualified citizens. Just start counting the names and compare.

Spirit of Ekushey entails that our cultural events offer potpourri of artistic works.We need to discard this protectionist stance the day February 21 was declared international mother language day.Pursuing this protectionism in cultural arena for far too long only weakens our cultural leverages. By not allowing more qualified Bengalis from across the border in media, academic and publication industry we are gradually losing this soft cultural power. And our readers, particularly the young ones, do not get the chance to relish the sophisticated works of refined and superior Bengali minds.