Flocking Parasites

Parasitism invades the society,
While most get impunity,
Only mosquito gets the blame.
Pointless to spend the money,
Unless the issue is put into planner's frame.

Dhaka has long been a city of parasites. Mosquito is perhaps the most annoying one and gets the most blame. Hardly any evening left when mosquitoes do not swoop on bare parts of the body. As the night gets deeper, the mosquito problem becomes unbearable. Overcrowded Dhaka, unhygienic lifestyle of its residents and little care to the surroundings are equally responsible for worsening of the problem.As the night gets deeper , the mosquito problem becomes unbearable. Overcrowded Dhaka, unhygienic lifestyle and little care to the surroundings are equally responsible for the worsening of the problem. People from all the corners of Bangladesh thronged into Dhaka and amplify the problem of clogged drains, shrinking canals and disappearance of lakes. Swampy lands only turn into breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Though city corporations employ all the arsenals they possess to fight this buzzing evils, no mean turns effective to give relieve Dhaka residents from this blood-sucking nightmare. To my surprise, I discover that even inside my mosquito net mosquitoes outside the net behaving like zombies desperately try to enter inside the net. I have never seen such all-out-effort from the mosquitoes before.

Affluent families could easily afford to take all the steps including buying foreign anti-mosquito gadgets and mosquito repellent, but those reside in slum and those fall in lower-income group have little means to protect themselves from the unstoppable zeal of mosquitoes. Imagine the pain the kids of these families endure while studying or housewives have to go through while cooking or doing other household work.

I encounter a news report claiming number of culex mosquitoes quadrupled in recent weeks. I do not want to embark on blame shaming. Anti-mosquito programs run by city corporations smoke the mosquitoes into houses. An incessant and annoying song hangs in the room till the dawn break. Few years ago, I encountered a video on social media. In that video a city corporation employee of a suburb is seeing fighting mosquito with a fogger machine on the back of a pickup truck like a medieval chariot-riding warrior.

That is not all. Dhaka South City Corporation few years ago released Guppi fish into the drainage system. The fish lives on mosquito larvae. Little progress has been made in subduing the mosquito in spite of all the efforts.

Thanks to mosquito, mosquito aerosol and coil publicity flourishes the media. Even these goods are not enough to contain the mosquitoes.

I have heard that male mosquitoes exposed to a little bit of radiation comes very handy in the fight against mosquitoes. It stops the procreation process. When the male mosquito meets the female counterpart, the female lost its ability to produce eggs. Could we somehow go for this approach?

Last year I read a news report that revealed that part of the sanctioned money for buying pesticide was embezzled. Result was lesser amount of pesticides available to fight mosquito. Amazing! Parasites come to rescue other parasites! In the animal kingdom "birds of a feather flock together". In this parasite-infested society we see that parasites flock together too.

Parasitism has been taking a virulent form in our society. It is pretty natural to see too many swarms of mosquitoes lingering over our head. They are just offshoot of a bigger problem. Focusing on the smaller problem like mosquito eschewing the bigger ones will not bring drastic change.

Development planners , policymakers formulated policies intended to improve people's lives, but they had reckoned without the parasites invading our society and eating our resources. Imprudent spending only swells their number in our society. Parasitic activity only gives trouble to us. Trouble caused by mosquito is conspicuously visible. But others remain subtle, hard to detect.So no complaint against the mosquito next time!

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(19 février --- 26 février)

Selon un reportage, les universités ouvriront à partir de 24 mai. Dans une conférence de presse virtuelle la ministre de l'éducation a affirmé la date. Une décision sur les écoles n'est pas parvenue.

Selon un reportage, le parlement bangladais a proclamé la circonscription électorale d'un député, condamné à 4 ans de prison au Koweït, vide.

Selon un reportage, un journaliste a été tué par balles pendant qu'il faisait reportage sur l'élection municipale à Noakhali.

Selon un reportage, un activiste qui critiquait le dans le cybermonde est mort à prison de Gazipur. Sa mort a provoqué manifestations dans l'université de Dacca.

LNG Blunder

Disagreement between PetroBangla and ministry
Unravels the flaws in LNG policy.
Energy deals offer clue of corruption,
Eschewing that questions docu's true intention.

Recent news reports reveal some problems within government's LNG policy. It has not been a long time that Bangladesh embarked on LNG age. Two years ago Bangladesh received its first LNG supply after completing appropriate infrastructure. Recently Ministry of Finance asked PetroBangla to send its unused Tk 40 billion to the government as part of a new policy. PetroBangla declined. Instead, it demanded Tk10.94 billion to finance the operations of two floating storage units , operated by Exelerate and Summit, citing volatile nature of the LNG market. Government refused to pay the sum.

Last week government inked a deal with Vitol Asia, a subsidiary of Dutch Vitol. According to a news report, the company has been blacklisted in several countries. On many occasions, the company was found to win government contract through unfair means. It is not yet known how the company bagged the contract of supplying two cargoes of LNG from the spot market. Earlier government had signed several contracts for long term LNG supply. Qatar's Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company is one of them. It pledged to supply between 1.8 and 2.5 MTPA of natural gas for 15 years.The deal was signed in September 2017.

LNG is a cheap mean for power generation. As demand for LNG is rising , government has opted for LNG import to produce electricity, to produce fertilizer and industrial good. Stat furnished by PetroBangla reveals that demand for natural gas is projected to be 3463 MMCFD in 2021 and 3554 MMCFD in 2025 (Source: Bangladesh Economic Review 2019). A large part of this demand will go for power generation. A news report claims power generation using natural gas costs Tk 4 per unit. Meanwhile, power generation using diesel costs Tk 22 per unit. Cheaper electricity means lower production cost, more concentration on product quality and grabbing more market share. In 2013-14, 337.4 billion cubic foot of natural gas was used in power generation. In 2017-18, it rose to 398.6 billion cubic foot (Source: BER 2019).

Growing importance of LNG led the government to build LNG infrastructure. Two floating storage and regasification units were installed in Moheskhali. One of them operated by a company having close ties with a ruling party leader. Seeking money for their operations clearly aroused suspicions. In Bangladesh such business and operations are not scam free.

By the same token, there is little reason to believe that just concluded deal with Vitol Asia is not free of any murky affair. It is interesting to see the reaction of the Finance minister when Vitol's past was brought to his attention. He played ignorant about wrongdoings of Vitol Asia in other countries and kept insisting that the deal was struck in a fair and transparent manner.

The September 2017 deal RasGas made with Bangladesh took place at a time when the government lacked international recognition due to its opposition-boycotted election,heavily criticized at home and abroad. The nittty-gritty of the deal is also not known to public. How was the pricing of LNG gas fixed?Such deal could contain ample ammunition of corruption that could draw a widespread media attention. Access to those critical information is kept within the party cronies and government officials. The controversial 2018 general election shed some light. BBC World was more outspoken and open in revealing election irregularities like stuffed ballot-box at the beginning of election day at a polling center in Chattogram and severe beating of a reporter in Shewrapara in Dhaka. Reelection did take place in Chattogram polling center but no action taken against the men who beaten the reporter. Al Jazeera did report on election fraud but it was not as open as its British counterpart.

This kind of energy deal is the allegation weapon that has the potential to disturb a government and the information is readily available to Al Jazeera. Is it because that the deal happened between government-to-government and it could harm the reputation of both governments , so better remained silent?

Focusing on settling down of personal scores that only establishes the credible threat protagonists face at home hardly unsettles any ruling regime.

Our opaque energy and power deals offer many hints of corruption, as no saint involved in such deals.

It is hard to believe that government did not reckon with need of sudden demand of fund to purchase LNG when the LNG plan was conceived. Projection was there, contract was there. And it is neither believable that a public corporation lying on Tk 40 billion of excess fund suddenly needs fund to finance the operations of two floating storage units. Making deals with companies with less transparent business only puts question marks on gov't intention. Responsibility lies with the concerned section of the government to douse the suspicion of unfair means.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(12 février --- 19 février)

Selon un reportage, le gouvernement a prolongé la fermeture dans les établissements scolaires jusqu'au 28 février.

Une cour spéciale a condamné 5 tueurs à mort et 1 à prison pour la vie pour avoir tué un bloggeur américain en 2015.

Selon un reportage, déraillement a coupé transportation ferroviaire entre Dhaka et Chattogram pour 4 heures. Le chemin ferroviaire entre Akhaura et Sylhet a enregistré 14 déraillement en 6 mois.

Selon un reportage, un assaut par des ouvriers de transportation dans un quartier à Borishal a laissé 20 étudiants blessés.

Selon un reportage, un constat ressort d'une étude faite par bureau de statistiques a divulgué que deux fois plus de gens sont tombés victimes de suicide que le coronavirus depuis janvier 2020 à septembre 2020 au Bangladesh.

Saving The Clan

Embarrassing report on foreign press,
Barely puts the party in a mess .
Probe is called for small fight in office,
Without that reputation is in precipice.

It is very disappointing and interesting that government has not yet taken any steps to address the allegations made by Qatari news broadcasting services Al-Jazeera. Contrary to title of the story "All The Prime Minister's Men" , it appears that it embarked on saving the prime minister's men. It never focused on the corruption of the ruling party elites, which has more corrosive effects on the country and the economy. And many of these elites have second homes in Dubai and some are once evicted by Qatari Police , as some social media posts claimed. It has been more than ten years since the government assumed power, but law and order is not stable, corruption worsens and a large-part of the population has not gained much from the swollen figures of economic achievement.

But the report quite successfully revealed that "Hawa Bhaban" is now scattered across all the continents and Bangladesh Army does have ties with organized criminal groups just like Pakistani Army has links with Daud Ibrahim.

Having watched the docu , I never felt that it posed any serious harm to the Chief of Army Staff and his brothers. Rather they appeared to " cast" their roles pretty well in that documentary. It simply gave them the international exposure they needed. It proved the world that COAS is a strong man who has ties with underworld through his brothers and who can subdue the "bad elements" in Bangladeshi society. And after airing that docu, his post retirement life and his brothers' future abroad get more secured as many quarters will come forward to help them after knowing their political background and threat they face in Bangladesh.

Look the reception COAS received in US after this docu. Well Americans are never shy to be photographed with controversial figures. US ambassador to Bangladesh during the time of BNP was very amicable towards then Minister of Industry and Minister of Interior. Look at their fates now. As a credible news channel, Al Jazeera has a long way to go to establish its credentials. It remains a useful instrument of Qatari royal family to balance Qatar's role in Arab region and across the Islamic world. Remember Qatar houses the headquarters of US CENTCOM where implementation of military actions in the Middle East take place. Al Jazeera takes the onus to appease the Islamists in a balancing act to rescue the royal family. I never saw Al Jazeera covered the serial killing of bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh. Its biased reporting on the incident of May 5 in 2013 in Motijheel engendered the lives of many people involved in the events in Shahbag.Unlike western outlets, Al Jazeera never questioned domestic policies that have international consequences. If Al Jazeera did report on Qatar's LNG deals with Bangladeshi ruling party cronies, anti-Semitic remarks made by influential Muslim country leader, exclusion of holocaust literature in school textbooks of Muslim countries, westophobia in Muslim countries, poor condition of women in Muslim countries then its stories and documentaries would carry much weight and acceptability to a wide range of audience across the globe. That is not the case. It trapped itself into parochialism. And documentary, sequence after sequence, revealed it.

Middle Eastern rulers have some problems with Bangladeshi goondas. It was Lt Gen Hasan Masud Chowdhury who was a defence attaché at UAE conceived the idea of RAB, an extrajudicial force, to contain the deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh. Even one of the retired DG of RAB was died in cardiac arrest in his Dubai resident. Al Jazeera did report on Bangladeshi goondas, Indian goonda running restaurant in Africa, evils caused by microcredit, but it never bothered to reveal the identity of human traffickers in Libya, recruiters of Dance girls in Dubai, online sales of Bangladeshi girls in Kuwait, and human trafficking incident of Bangladeshi MP.

Al Jazeera never tried to do report on the methamphetamine invasion in Bangladesh and its links with the crisis in Middle East. It never carried report on the corruption of ruling party men in Gopalganj.

It is interesting that Myanmar Army froze the constitution for one year alleging corruption in election. Same thing happened in 2007 when Army-backed Caretaker government assumed power. Awami League came to power and people involved in the 2-year -long unconstitutional rule found safe sanctuary in US. Again despite the allegations surfaced against Bangladesh Army, new US administration remained mum about the allegations. Previous US senate even called US administration to impose sanctions on RAB officials. It is interesting that this documentary's work began at that time. And it intends to put the blame squarely on some clown-looking goondas.

Time has come that Bangladesh should make some serious steps to make sure accountability and transparency in the security establishment. Killing of two serving Commander-in-chiefs and series of coups and counter-coups have made Bangladesh Armed Forces a demoralizing political entity. Even in an office or in an institution any altercation or small fight calls for probe. That did not happen within the Armed Forces. Vested quarters took advantage of it. One bad precedent set the path for another. I think there should be serious investigation about all the killings and coups within the army. And there should be laws in the parliament that make Armed Forces accountable to people's representatives and lay out the rules for them during any transition of power.

Bangladesh also needs to review its defense ties with Middle Eastern countries and US. This kind of link seldom reflects people's will and remains a source of trouble at home. Often this relationship gives undue influence over the personnel causing damages to institutional integrity and split loyalty. It is pretty much like Pakistan's relationships with Middle East. Country's interest has often fallen victim to parochial interest.

Recently police submitted a chargesheet against the son of a lawmaker for beating severely a Navy officer in the middle of a road during an altercation. Not only that lawmaker's empire in old Dhaka was ruined, his wife passed away and old corruption cases against him kept surfacing on the press. With same vigor and speed, people expect government will take steps to address the allegations of Al Jazeera and bring a closure on Ekram's murder case in Cox's Bazar. It is indeed interesting to watch how Al Jazeera came forward to save the " Sheikh" clan diverting the whole attention to a bunch of clowns.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

( 05 février --- 12 février)

Selon un reportage, Bangladesh a dévoilé vaccination à travers du pays. Jusqu'au vendredi environ 1 million Bangladais ont été inscrits pour vaccination. Presque 1000 hôpitaux sont prêts pour vaccination. Le gouvernement a mis à fin enregistrement sur place, durait pour deux jours, pour le moment.

Selon un reportage, l'ONU a exprimé soucis sur la construction d'un hôtel dans le terrain du groupe indigène «Mro» à Bandarban.

Selon un reportage, incendie dans un atelier de meubles a brûlé à mort 7 Bangladais à Médine en Arabie Saoudite.

Selon un reportage, police a intenté un procès à fils d' un ancien député du parti en exercice. Le fils de l'ancien député a battu un soldat de l'armée de la mer dans une rue à Dacca.

Selon un reportage, une cour bangladaise a condamné à mort 8 membres d' un groupe fanatique pour avoir tué un éditeur d' une maison d'édition qui publiait des livres écrit par bloggeur américain Avijit Roy, aussi tué brutalement à Dacca.

Selon un reportage, une cour indienne a condamné un terroriste bangladais à 29 ans de prison pour une explosion à Bardwan, en Inde.

A Vaccine For The Poor

Lukewarm response to vaccine registration,
Very few effective vaccines are in action.
But there is no vaccine for the poor,
Delay in showing COVID-19 the exit door.

With a sigh of relief Bangladesh has started a country wide vaccination program. With much fanfare ministers, MPs and concerned officials have taken vaccines, supplied by AstraZeneca via India's Serum Institute, in front of flashing cameras of the press. Around 1000 hospitals across the country are prepared for the vaccination program. Earlier government launched an application that would deliver the date of vaccination in a reply message. As many Bangladeshis are not at ease with such application, government also introduced registration forms at the vaccination centers.

Congestion during the photo session of the health minister taking vaccine caused debate on the press about violating the standard operating procedures of COVID-19. It is interesting that a great number of people did not show any keen interest to register for vaccine.Ruling party politicians, MPs and government officials pledged everyone to take vaccine trashing all all rumors and negative narrative.

Bangladesh got the vaccine pretty quickly, as one of its private company inked deal with Serum Institute, India, for the vaccines of AstraZeneca. Bangladesh signed an agreement for 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.India as part of its "neighbor first" policy donated Bangladesh another 2 million doses of vaccines. Till to date Bangladesh received 7 million vaccines, including the 2 million gifted by India. In addition, Bangladesh also joined the global alliance on vaccine for COVID-19. Under this alliance Bangladesh will also receive the doses of AstraZeneca.

Some Bangladeshi companies also applied to the government for third-phase trial. But their small initiatives are met with hurdles that only delay the procedure. If government were a bit kind towards such companies we would see a home-developed vaccine by this time. Even Nepal , a neighboring country, showed keen interest on it when the news first broke.

I came across a news report claiming AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective to South African variants of the vaccine. The new strains are already causing unprecedented havocs in the world with surge in new cases and rising rate of mortality.

We should have welcomed other vaccines if they are easily available. For instance, government recently allowed Sputnik vaccine to the workers and engineers from Russia and Ukraine on the condition that project implementation authority bears all responsibility in case of any adverse consequences. Meanwhile, Lancet, medical research journal, claims that Russian vaccine is 92% effective against COVID-19. Bangladesh government should approach the Russian government to mass produce the vaccine at home. Earlier, Bangladesh had failed to capitalize from SinoVac's clinical trial at home. Other Chinese pharmaceutical companies are also showing great interest.

Bangladesh government mobilized resources to procure vaccine. World Bank, ADB, France and other development partners provided soft loans to purchase vaccine. Though Bangladesh is offering the vaccine at free of cost to all citizens , I personally think it should not be free to those who could afford it.Ministry of Health has not yet finalized the rules for private purchase of vaccines from pharmacies and health centers. Since it is necessary to bring majority of people under the vaccination program to make sure herd immunity, government may not have any option but to open so many vaccination centers across the country. But private procurement should be there.Government can deduct the cost of vaccination from salaries or annual fund for an office. Due to Corona, many branches of the government either cut their development spending or do not utilize them at all. Part of this spending could easily be redirected to repay the vaccine credit. Government bodies that are less transparent or accountable should easily vie for this kind of deduction/contribution.

Request can also be made to individuals , professional bodies, corporate houses to make voluntary contribution to government vaccination program. There is already a popular mean: imposition of supplementary duty on mobile talk time and data. Communities, neighborhoods can also step forward to finance their own vaccination program.

To develop our own vaccine is the key to mass vaccination in the wake of any new variety of COVID-19. Those who could afford vaccines capable to deal with newer strains ultimately will buy those vaccines from the market later when private purchase will be allowed.Left-outs have no choice but to go for home-produced vaccine if there is any.If government could show interest in funding them , then they will prepare vaccines for the new variant as well. This crisis should be seen as an opportunity to increase the capability and strength of our pharmaceutical companies instead of clipping their wings. There is no vaccine for the "poor". I think we should mobilize efforts to develop a vaccine for the poor. It is a pity that a country that led from the front in the fight against cholera by devising oral saline has not yet come forward with a vaccine for all. It is naïve to assume that the world will develop a vaccine for the poor amid this strong wind of vaccine nationalism.

Under the banner of"Extended Program for Immunization", which aims to vaccinate childs against some key diseases like polio, diphtheria Hepatitis etc, Bangladesh has the experience to conduct such large scale vaccination program. So this scale of vaccination program will not pose a huge challenge to authority.

There will be no herd immunity unless most of the population get vaccinated. At the same time, there will be no normalcy unless government is prepared for the most aggressive and nefarious variants of the COVID-19. Very few people and government could afford a vaccine cost between $15 and $10. So there is no option but to develop a vaccine that will be afforded by all.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(29 janvier --- 05 février)

Selon un reportage, un journaliste a été sévèrement battu pour avoir pris des photos sur extraction de sable depuis un fleuve. Des gens inconnus ont aussi volé son portable et appareil photo.

Selon un reportage, abus d'alcool a provoqué mort de deux universitaires à Dacca. Police soupçonne que toxicité dans l'alcool domestique a provoqué la tragédie.

Selon un reportage, alcool domestique a provoqué mort de 16 personnes à Bogura. Ils ont acheté alcool dénaturé depuis pharmacie homéopathique. Police a appréhendé 4 personnes de distilleries locales.

Selon un reportage, un journal hongrois s'est dit que l'Hongrie n'avait jamais fait requête au Bangladesh pour 5.000 ampoules de vaccins. Au contraire, Bangladesh tentait d'offrir les ampoules pour remercier rôle hongrois dans chirurgie plastique des patients bangladais. Hongrie n'a pas l'intention d' accepter vaccin depuis Bangladesh.

Selon un reportage, témoignage d'un dirigeant a divulgué que des salariés de la Banque centrale avaient reçu le pot-de-vin depuis une institution leasing qui se trouve dans une condition précaire après des années d'escroquerie.

La Semaine Dernière A Mes Yeux

(22 janvier --- 29 janvier)

Selon un reportage, Bangladesh est classé 146ème dans l'indice de corruption pour l'année 2020. Transparency International a divulgué cette info. Parmi les pays plus corrompus, Bangladesh se trouve dans 12ème position.

Selon un reportage, le nombre de mort à cause de Covid-19 a franchi 8.000. Le cas de détection a aussi baissé dans les semaines récentes.

Selon un reportage, cadavre pendu d'un adolescent indien a été trouvé dans un centre de correction pour les adolescents.

Selon un reportage, une conversation téléphonique entre un député et un policier a causé assez de polémique dans la presse. Dans la conversation, un député a ordonné un policier d'arrêter un avocat sous l'inculpation fausse de l'inciter violence. L'avocat a déposé une plainte contre une briqueterie qui se situe à la circonscription électorale de ce député à Jessore.

Selon un reportage, une cour koweïtienne a condamné un député bangladais à 4 ans de prison. De plus, il sera payé une amende de Tk 5,32 millions.Il a trafiqué des gens et de l'argent.