Thrill of exploring Bangladesh

On last sunday my article titled "Thrill of exploring Bangladesh" has published on "Star Campus" of The Daily Star.
Click here to read it.

Education: going beyond reach

Students who cannot afford to buy admission forms should not aspire to study in the university, they would rather enroll at madrassas

Altaf Hossain
VC of Rajshahi University

My heart trembled reading this in Star Magazine. Politicians are used to say this kind of junk. But when head of the second largest university of a country says it, the situation becomes awful. Vice Chancellor of a university is the guardian of the students who must not overlook any of the students. He is the person to ensure enrollment of students according to their merit, not considering their social or economic status. When he looks for financially strong students for the institute we feel helpless.

In most of the public varsities tens of thousands of students sit for the admission tests. The fees they give are used for the expenses of the test. But the total amount is so huge that teachers and officers get a good share from the rest of the money. There can be no reason to increase it further.

In our varsity there are students who struggle to pay the least amount of hall fees. Some of them don't go home during vacations only to save some penny. But they proved their quality coming all they way and becoming an engineering student. We won't see such students in future if the authority makes their path even troublesome. In that case public university, the last hope for poor students will also become a dream for them.

A Hypothesis about getting a Nobel from Bangladesh

Bangladeshis are known to be great addabaz (gossiper). They like to shout, quarrel and even fight for the sake of meaningless discussions. The discussions are meaningless from the point of view that they have no power to implement anything and the people who are there to implement never count them in. Is the introduction getting big? Let's come to the fact.

For last few days Nobel winning of Dr. Yunus is the hot topic. Dialog between two main political parties comes next on the list in the table of adda (gossip). To dominate such an adda one of my uncle has brought in a hypothesis. That is – "Dr. Yunus was always qualified for the Nobel, but never valued by the westerns. When he got the prize? He got it in such a time when not only political parties but also whole nation looking for an acceptable person to lead the caretaker govt. It is a open matter that Dr. Yunus has a close relation with United States. So the US thought it's high time to put a person they like, in the chair. If he gets a Nobel, he becomes most respected and acceptable to all. Finding no solution in the ongoing talk, the two main parties will offer him the chair. That's how they played the game."

Though my uncle's theory of getting Nobel may not be pleasant, but the prediction is rational. May be many of you has already started to think in this way. So what's your opinion about the hypothesis?

Why foreign consultant?

In the recent speeches, Nobel laureate Dr. Yunus has pointed out many vital facts. Of them foreign consultancy is one. It is very common to appoint foreign consultants in most of the projects in Bangladesh. It directly implies that our country don't have enough experts in the concerned sectors. But in reality that is not the case. How foreign consultants can give better suggestion in matters like poverty elevation? The fact is, we are dependent on foreign things and believe that everything from abroad is better.

A poor country like Bangladesh can not effort huge amount of money to get some suggestion from outside, having many qualified persons inside. Foreign experts consume much bigger amount of money than our experts. It is also building pressure in our foreign currency reserve. None but we can realize our problems better. So we should come forward to find out the solutions not depending on outsiders suggestion.

Torture of Loudspeakers

The use of loud speakers is a very common affair in Bangladesh. It is being used in politics, publicity, marketing, religious festivals and every other possible fields. Especially in the month of Ramadan it crosses all the limits. In front of every market there are lots of loudspeakers to advertise and attract customers. But the sounds of those are so noisy and loud that it becomes a torture to the pedestrians. In Chittagong the condition of new market area is worst, considering use of random loud speakers. Shop owners' organizations of New market, Riazuddin bazar and Tama kundi lain using tens of horns with loud sound which ended in a mess. It is intolerable to the buyers who are already tortured by load-shedding and huge rush at markets. The Chittagong city corporation took an initiative to keep the holiness of Ramadan and it is to play holly Quran in all the important traffic circles. This noble initiative also goes in vain because of low quality sound mixed up with noise.

In such ways sound pollution are leaving a bad trace on every of us. The authority should focus on this sector to keep the environment livable. Actually people are unaware of their rights and users are rough in using those. They think it is their right to use loudspeaker of any quality, anywhere they like. If you ask whether they have permission to use those, they will suggest you to put some cotton in your ears if you don't want to listen. That's how it works.

We have a new identity

At last Dr. Muhammad Yunus has won the Noble price. Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize 2006 "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below". I have been waiting for this day for last few years. We were quite confident about his getting Nobel price in Economics. But he got it in Peace, the one which is more honoured.

I saw the news late, around 10:30pm. I just hold my breath and hear with all my heart. It was quite unbelievable, because we didn't expect it this way. With the remote in hand, I started to see his face in every channel including BBC and CNN. Its realy stunning. For me the news has a greater value. Because Yunus is from Chittagong also. It's a matter of proud that we are from same college, "Chittagong College".

This day is one of the happiest days for our nation since its independence. Dr. Yunus made the nation proud. Dr. Yunus's name will be uttered with "Mother teresa" and "Nelson Mendela", two legend who won Noble peace price. Now we can say we are from Dr. Yunus's country. From today we have a new identity.

Here are some links to this exciting news-

1. Dr. Yunus (as in Grameen bank site)
2. The official declaration.
3. Nobel price winners since 1901

Rackless Orion

It is in response to the very well written report of "Sharier Khan" published on 8 Oct. It was about the recklessness of "Orion", a present govt backed company. Nepotism is well exercised in almost everywhere in Bangladesh. In case of government deals corruption adds with this. We became used to see these for years. But the mentioned company crossed all the limits and managed to get some huge budget projects including the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover. As the report says they got the Meghnaghat 450MW power project with no previous experience. Power projects are said to be most complicated to establish. They are also very sensitive and important for national security. Not considering any of these, Orion formed a fresh farm to get the bid. They also made the authority to give them the work with hot link with the top level of government. Still they are unable to start the project. May be for them it is a chance to bag millions of dollars. But it means a lot for a country, which is running with 2000MW power lag. If this kind of corruption happens, the power situation will get even worse. The authority must be strict on their points and shouldn't allow these farms to collapse the system.

Note: I wrote this as a letter to Editor of Daily Star.