Indian farmers to step up protests after rejecting offer to defer controversial new laws

Farm leaders said hundreds of thousands of farmers from neighbouring states including Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh would drive tractors through New Delhi on January 26, the Republic Day national holiday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a parade of military forces.

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Bangladeshi taka

Taka, টাকা, sign: ৳ or Tk, code: BDT) is the currency of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country controls the issuance of the currency except one taka and two taka notes, which are the responsibility of Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh. The most commonly used symbol for the Taka is Tk and ৳, used on receipts while purchasing goods and services. One taka is subdivided into 100 poisha.

In Bengali, the word "taka" is also commonly used generically to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking Bengali may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in. The currency sign is encoded in Unicode at U+09F3 ৳​ bengali rupee sign .

In West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Orissa, and Assam, the Indian rupee is officially known by names derived from the word टङ्क (ṭaṃka) which means money. Thus, the rupee is called টাকা (ṭaka) in Bengali, টকা (tôka) in Assamese, and ଟଙ୍କା (ṭangka) in Oriya. The amount and the word "rupee" is accordingly written on Indian banknotes in several Indian languages including টকা, টাকা.

Currency notes and coins of the taka are issued by the Bangladesh Bank which is the central bank of Bangladesh. Currency notes bear the signature of the governor of the Bangladesh Bank who promises to pay the equivalent value in exchange. The exception is one taka and two taka notes. In this case, it is the Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh that shoulders the responsibility. One taka and two taka notes bear the signature of the Finance Secretary to the government.

Upon Bangladesh's independence, the value of the Bangladeshi taka was set between 7.5 and 8.0 to US$1. With the exception of fiscal year 1978, the taka's value relative to the US dollar declined every year from 1971 through the end of 1987. To help offset this phenomenon, Bangladesh first used the compensatory financing facility of the International Monetary Fund in fiscal year 1974. Despite the increasing need for assistance, the Mujib government was initially unwilling to meet the IMF's conditions on monetary and fiscal policy. By fiscal year 1975, however, the government revised its stance, declaring a devaluation of the taka by 56 percent and agreeing to the establishment by the World Bank of the Bangladesh Aid Group.

Between 1980 and 1983, the taka sustained a decline of some 50 percent because of a deterioration in Bangladesh's balance of payments. Between 1985 and 1987, the taka was adjusted in frequent incremental steps, stabilizing again around 12 percent lower in real terms against the United States dollar, but at the same time narrowing the difference between the official rate and the preferential secondary rate from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. Accompanying this structural adjustment was an expansion in the amount of trade conducted at the secondary rate, to 53 percent of total exports and 28 percent of total imports. In mid-1987, the official rate was relatively stable, approaching less than Tk31 to US$1. As of January 3, 2011, one US dollar is equivalent to approximately 72 Bangladeshi taka.

In 1971, the erstwhile province of East Bengal became the independent nation of Bangladesh with the Pakistan Rupee as its interim currency. The taka became Bangladesh's currency in 1972, replacing the Pakistani rupee at par. The word "taka" is derived from the Sanskrit term तनक tanka which was an ancient denomination of silver coin. The term taka was widely used in different parts of India but with varying meanings. In north India, taka was a copper coin equal to two paise and in the south, it was equal to four paisa or one anna. It was only in Bengal and Orissa where taka was equal to rupee. In all areas of India, taka was used informally for money in general. However, Bengal was the stronghold of taka.

The rupee was introduced by the Turko-Afghan rulers and was strongly upheld by the Mughals and the British rulers. The Bengali and oriya people always used the word taka for the rupee, whether silver or gold. Ibn Battuta, the Arab traveller, noticed that, in Bengal, people described gold coins (Dinar) as gold tanka and silver coin as silver tanka. In other words, whatever might be the metallic content of the coin, the people of Bengal called it taka. When the Pakistan Rupee was issued prior to 1971 bearing both Urdu and Bengali alphabets (the official languages of the West and East zones respectively), the word taka was used in Bangla version instead of rupiya, as in Urdu version.

In 1971, Pakistani notes for 1, 5 and 10 rupees were overstamped for use in Bangladesh. These were followed in 1972 by treasury notes for 1 taka and notes of the Bangladesh Bank for 5, 10 and 100 taka. In 1975, banknotes for 50 taka were introduced, followed by 500 taka in 1977 and 20 taka in 1980. 1 taka treasury notes were issued until 1984, with 2 taka treasury notes introduced in 1989.

In 2000, the government issued polymer 10 taka notes as an experiment (similar to the Australian dollar). They proved unpopular, however, and were withdrawn later. At present, the 1 taka and 5 taka notes are gradually being replaced with coins.

In 2008, the government issued 1000 taka notes.

Port of Chittagong

Port of Chittagong is the largest seaport in Bangladesh, located by the estuary of the Karnaphuli River in Patenga, near the city of Chittagong. It is a deepwater seaport dominated by trade in containerised manufactured products (especially ready made garments), raw materials and to a lesser extent passengers. It is one of the two main sea port of Bangladesh - most of the export and import of the country are handled via this port. Window berthing system was introduced at the seaport on August 6, 2007, enabling the sea port to provide the arrival and departure times of all ships. Two berths at the port terminal are kept in reserve for emergency. In 2006 the port handled 27 million tonnes of cargo and 0.8 million tonnes of containers.

Facilities

For Ocean-Going Vessels:

General Cargo Berths ----------------- 12

Container Berths --------------------- 8

Specialised Berths for Bulk handling:

Dolphin Oil Jetty (For POL) ---------- 1

Grain Silo Jetty --------------------- 1

Cement Clinker Jetty ----------------- 1

TSP Jetty ---------------------------- 1

CUFL Jetty --------------------------- 1

KAFCO Urea Jetty --------------------- 1

Ammonia Jetty ------------------------ 1

Repair Berths

Dry Dock Jetty ----------------------- 2

Mooring Berths

River Mooring ------------------------ 10

For Inland Coasters and Vessels:

Jetty Berths (For (POL) -------------- 1

Concrete Berth (For Grain Handling) -- 1

Pontoon Berths (For POL) ------------- 3

Pontoon Berths (For Cement) ---------- 1

Single Point Mooring ----------------- 10

Early history

The history of Chittagong port dates back to the fourth century B.C. Malayan history chronicles the journey of the sailor Buddha Gupta from Chittagong to Malaya in the 4th century B.C.[2] The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea documents the existence of Chittagong port in the ancient times. Chittagong derives its name from the Arabic word Shetgang (Shet means delta and Gang the river). The Arab traders considered Chittagong to be the delta of the Ganges.

Chittagong port has been mentioned in the works of Ptolemy, Fa-hien, Hieu-en tsng, lbn Battuta. This was an important port used by the traders from the Middle East, China, Turkey, Europe to trade with this part of the world.

During the 9th century the activities of the port increased tremendously as the Arab traders started using the port as their base port. They used to call the port "Samunda". The port was under their control at the time.

The 16th century saw the arrival of the Portuguese. Joaoda Silveria was the first Portuguese Captain to reach the port. He arrived with his ship “LOPO SOANA” in 1517. The Portuguese named the Port PORTE GRANDE (a great Port ). The records show that the Porte Grande offered easy access and safe anchorage to ships of 20 feet draught.

It remained a port during Moghul time. Later in early 19th century the British took control of the Chittagong port.The port of Chittagong became a natural outlet for the Northeastern regions of the then British-India that led to the enactment of Port Commissioner’s Act of 1887. At that time the facilities of the port consisted of five wooden and one pontoon jetties. In the year 1889-90 the port handled exports totalling 1.25 lac tons

Economy of Chittagong

The sea-borne exports consist chiefly of ready made garments, knitwear, frozen food, jute and jute products, leather and leather products, tea, and chemical products. There is also a large trade by country boats, bringing chiefly cotton, rice, spices, sugar and tobacco. Sailing ships built in Chittagong include the Betsey, the Argo, and the Mersey. 

Ship breaking was introduced to the area in 1969. This industry is concentrated at Fauzdarhat, a 16 kilometers (10 mi) long beach 20 kilometers (12 mi) north-west of Chittagong. Chittagong is also home to a large number of industries from small to heavy. Around 40% of the heavy industrial activities of the country is located in Chittagong city and adjacent areas, which include dry dock, Dock Yards, Oil Refinery, Steel Mills, Power Plant, Cement clinker factory, automobile industries, pharmaceutical plants, chemical plants, cable manufacturing, textiles mills, jute mills, urea fertilizer factory along with other private sector medium size industrial developments and activities. A Korean company, Youngone Corporation, has established a special Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in the port city of Chittagong. The KEPZ is built on a land area of nearly 1,000 hectares and is expected to attract foreign direct investment worth $1 billion. There is as well a Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone, with the same acronym (KEPZ).

The city of Chittagong had been long neglected by the Bangladeshi government, until the turn of the century when exports grew by 21.13% to an all time high of $8.02 billion. Chittagong is the site of Bangladesh's busiest port which handles 80% of all Bangladeshi imports and exports. The strategic location of the port has allowed for interest by investors to help improve the city. Major business houses of Bangladesh such as Galacticos Incorporation, M.M. Ispahani, T.K. Group, A.K. Khan and Co. , Habib Group, PHP Group, KDS Group, S. Alam Group, Mostafa Group and DC Enterprise are all residents of Chittagong.

Most of the International trading are believed to be done from Khatunganj & Asadganj area. The Sawdagars (traditional businessman) of Chittagong still controls the entire Bangladesh Market in this import oriented country. Agrabad is often known as Chittagong's chief commercial region. Banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Dutch Bangla Bank, BRAC Bank, Dhaka Bank Limited, Bangladesh Bank, Eastern Bank, Sonali Bank, Rupali Bank and all other banks operating in Bangladesh have offices in and around the city. Numerous investments have allowed for a construction boom similar to Dhaka. Over the years, scores of hotels, shopping centers, and other modern buildings have sprung up to change the face of the city. Ongoing developments include various multi-story shopping malls and a Chittagong World Trade Centre.

The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) is primarily responsible for framing and implementing the Master Plan for city development. The CDA makes and implements plans for area development (i.e. commercial areas, residential areas and recreational areas) and city road development in accordance with the approved Master Plan for the city. In 2000, manufacturing industry of Chittagong contributed 15% of the total GDP. According to CityMayors Statistics Chittagong registered a GDP of $16 billion in 2005 with an annual growth rate of 6.3%. It is estimated that in 2020 the GDP of Chittagong will be $39 billion.

Bangladesh poor overpopulated Economy

The economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP 

Bangladesh seeks $7 bln foreign investment for power

DHAKA, Feb 4: - Bangladesh is seeking $7 billion of foreign investment to boost its electricity generation, a shortage of which has slowed the country's economic development, a government adviser said on Thursday.


"We invited foreign investors during a four-day road show in Singapore and New York as we need huge direct foreign investment to spur our economy," said Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy and power adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The two-day show in Singapore was held from Jan. 25, followed by another in New York from Jan. 28.

"About 25 globally reputed companies like Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Siemens (SIEGn.DE), AES Corp (AES.N), ConocoPhillips (COP.N), Caterpillar (CAT.N) and HSBC (HSBA.L) participated in the road show and showed keenness to invest in Bangladesh," Tawfiq told a news conference.

Bangladesh also held a similar show last month in London.

Due to technical constraints and shortfalls of natural gas supply, Bangladesh can produce only around a maximum of 3,700 MW of electricity while peak hour demand reaches more than 5,500 MW, officials said.

Electricity demand has been growing by 7.50 percent annually since 1990.

Around 40 percent of Bangladesh's 150 million population has access to electricity, one of the lowest levels in the world.

"Augmenting electricity generation is a key priority of the present government and we are committed to generate 5,000 MW by 2011, and 7,000 MW by 2013 and that will require an investment of $7 billion," Tawfiq told reporters.

The government will float a pre-qualification international tender this month to set up four natural gas or diesel fired power plants with total capacity of 800 MW, he said.

He said another pre-qualification international tender would be floated in July this year for four coal-fired plants.

Tawfiq said foreign experts would visit Bangladesh in March to discuss liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

"We feel that it would not be difficult as the private sector investors both at home and abroad, along with our development partners including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, expressed desire to play a major role in this, while the government will play the role of the catalyst," he said.

Bangladesh also plans to import up to 1,200 MW of electricity from India by the middle of 2012. (Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; Editing by Anis Ahmed and Anthony Barker)

Source:in.reuters.com/

Bangladesh targets trade-oriented services, investment from India

Bangladesh has targeted trade-oriented services and investment from India as narrowing down huge trade deficit between the two neighbours through exports will be tough, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Wednesday.

"The prime minister held meetings with Indian businessmen during her latest visit to New Delhi. We will use every possible way to minimise the deficit," she said.

The minister was speaking at a roundtable on 'State Visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India' at the conference hall of the Independent in the capital.

The Independent and the Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies jointly organised the event with Mahbubul Alam, former caretaker government adviser, in the chair.

Former foreign minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, former foreign adviser Reaz Rahman, former caretaker government adviser Shafi Sami and former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury also spoke.

Dr Dipu Moni said the region lags coordinated efforts when it comes to resolving outstanding issues between countries like those of European Union.

"We are not giving corridor to India or leasing our Chittagong and Mongla ports to them. We have not signed agreements or communiqué against our election manifesto."

She said Bangladesh is using the ports and can have scope to broaden the uses of them.

The foreign minister said the two countries are negotiating on solving the issue of maritime boundary. "We have to solve the problem to explore and use the resources the Bay can offer."

She reiterated her government's stance on continuing arbitration process in the international court while trying to convince India to demarcate maritime boundary.

"Two processes will continue at the same time. We will try to solve the problem bilaterally. If it does not work then we will of course have the scope to settle it at the United Nations," she said.

The minister said the joint boundary working groups have been working on the issue. "We hope we will be able to reach a solution very soon."

On mountains of trade deficit with India, Dr Moni said: "Like India, we have also large amount of trade deficit with China."

"We cannot reduce this deficit through only exports. We intend to increase trade-oriented services and we also want investment."

On border killings, she said: "India has told us during the tour that they would seriously look into the issue and take steps accordingly."

The minister also said the Tin Bigha corridor issue would soon be solved.

Discussant Shafi Sami said various unresolved disputes cast a shadow on the friendly relations between the two countries and held them back from harnessing economic development.

bdnews24.com adds: Bangladesh wants to sign an "ad hoc" deal with India on Teesta water sharing immediately after a Joint River Commission meeting slated for March, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

"The government wants to sign an ad hoc deal with India after the ministerial meeting of the JRC in March," Dipu Moni said.

Source:thefinancialexpress-bd.com/

Helping Bangladesh

The success of the just concluded visit to India of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has to be judged by how India’s handsome response to her various gestures of friendship will be viewed in Bangaldesh. Ms Hasina has sought to put an end to the policy of her political rivals at home to provide a sanctuary to anti-India extremists. The arrest of the topmost leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) provided the backdrop to her visit this week. 

Clearly, this initiative has laid the foundation for improved relations between the two South Asian neighbours. It remains to be seen how Islamist opinion in Bangladesh which, along with a section of the country’s middle class and elite, remains unhappy about the breakup of Pakistan, will respond to improved relations with India. There is no doubt that the Awami League’s massive electoral victory in late 2008 has opened a historic window of opportunity to take India-Bangladesh relations to a qualitatively different level. The importance of this context has to be grasped because the League has been in power for only about 10 of the 40-year life of Bangladesh. Equally, attitudes in New Delhi have also changed, thanks to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s unilateral gestures of friendship towards Bangaldesh.

Two significant initiatives which India has taken to help Bangaldesh are, first, the promise of 250 Mw of power to the energy-deficient neighbour, even when India itself is in deficit, and, second, the offer of a $1-billion line of credit for infrastructure development. Another important Indian initiative is to reduce the list of negative items of import from Bangladesh and extend to Bangladesh the zero tariff treatment, available to Saarc’s less developed countries. In turn, Bangladesh has given India access to two ports, Chittagong and Mongla, through which Northeast India can access the Bay of Bengal. Both sides have taken small steps to facilitate transit of goods — through India from Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh and between India and its northeast through Bangladesh. Also, it has been decided to take forward the project to link Tripura by rail to Bangladesh.

There remains a long list of significant issues which need to be sorted out to realise the full potential for bilateral relations. The two countries have to agree on their maritime boundaries so as to go ahead with gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal. This can change the energy picture in both. Smooth and easy transit of goods through Bangladesh is crucial for the future economic growth of Northeast India, which suffers from both physical and psychological isolation. 

Enormous work remains ahead in making good use of the rivers and water resources that flow through Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Only a token beginning has been made in this regard by deciding to jointly study the flow in the river Kosi. Substantial progress also needs to be made in promoting cross-border investment. A major initiative by the Tatas to invest in Bangladesh has not yielded anything. Cordial relations with a rapidly growing neighbour are in themselves important for India. They are important for Bangladesh too in its quest for a better quality of life for its own people. Changed mindsets in both countries can resolve many longstanding issues.

Source:business-standard.com/i

Operating the monetary policy

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) last Tuesday declared monetary policy for the second half of the current fiscal year. The policy aims at controlling inflation, bringing more of the population under banking services and increasing credit on the whole to the private sector, while facilitating chanelisation of funds to supporting production-oriented activities. The central bank will apparently face a big challenge in going after the targets it has set before it or scoring success simultaneously in all the areas. This is because in the present context of the economy, it would be required to tread a path very carefully, often changing tactics, to cater effectively to the goals that have been set and to achieve an integrated positive outcome from the same.

The BB certainly faces a tough situation in reining in the tendency towards higher inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to nearly 7.0 per cent on a point to point basis in October last from 4.60 per cent in September, according to available reports. The expert guesses are that the same must have only become higher since that time. Here again, the official estimates about non-food prices are considered to be much on the lower side than what the real situation is. The key task of a central bank, anywhere, is to tame the price pressures through a judicious exercise of its available monetary policy tools. In this context, the policy response has to be flexible and made to work at the ground-level, considering the hard realities. The investment activities, the remittance flows from abroad and uses of related funds, actual levels of domestic production, import and export operations etc., have all to be kept under a constant watch, from a dynamic perspective, for the choice of policy options and their proper blending. The choice here is in no way a straight one between a contractionery policy or an expansionary one, in application of "bookish" theories. The ground-level realities, particularly in the context of an economy like that of Bangladesh having its structural and other institutional rigidities, are far more complex than what simple theories may otherwise suggest.

Thus, the present condition of the Bangladesh economy confronts the policy planners with a tough choice of weighing carefully the practical relevance of monetary policy tools in relative terms to the real ground-level situation, while adopting the related policy stances. While some contraction in money supply may be dictated by a situation in which some disconcerting signals about price pressures are in clear sight, yet the monetary policy should not be focussed only on decreasing the money supply that may restrict the flow of funds to the private sector, inhibiting its expansion and putting fetters on new investment activities. The executors of the monetary policy in Bangladesh will, therefore, need to walk a delicate tightrope of contributing to both requirements without upsetting the apple cart. Furthermore, both lending and deposit rates should also clearly be aimed at encouraging savings, on one hand, and energising the economy through investment and expanded growth of the real sectors, on the other.

While announcing the six-monthly policy, the BB governor has stressed that credit resources would be routed mainly to productive sectors and not spent on sheer consumption. Indeed, this should be the priority area of choice for the central bank. The central bank has many tools at its disposal either to contract or expand money supply. But what is more important for it is to ensure -- though policy guidelines and other supportive measures and not certainly by its executive fiats, that banks and financial institutions are in a better position to pursue effectively the desired goals. These goals are clear: making funds available for facilitating expanded economic activities in productive sectors that will contribute to raising the aggregate national output of goods and services while creating more jobs for the unemployed. How well the BB would be scoring in this area could prove to be the main determinant of its success in implementing the declared monetary policy.

Source:thefinancialexpress-bd.com/

LDCs ask developed world to meet trade commitments

DHAKA (Reuters) - Least developed countries of the Asia and Pacific region renewed their demand on Wednesday that developed nations fulfil commitments to allow duty-free market access along with other trade-related assistance.

"They must honour their promises to help least developed countries (LDCs) to overcome the curse of unending poverty," said Noeleen Heyzer, a U.N. under-secretary and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

"The representatives literally said enough is enough. A sense of urgency is there to attain time-bound development targets," Noeleen told reporters on Wednesday at the end of a 3-day conference of the LDCs in the Bangladesh capital.

The Dhaka meeting was jointly organised by the government of Bangladesh and ESCAP.

The representatives want disbursement of additional resources pledged by the developed countries and for official development assistance to be aligned with LDC national development priorities.

The Dhaka meeting aimed at making preparations for the 4th UN conference on LDCs scheduled for Istanbul next year.

"The Dhaka outcome document will be endorsed at the ministerial level meeting of the UN ESCAP in South Korea in June this year," said M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Bangladesh's secretary of the economic relations division.

Source:in.reuters.com/

Bangladesh Keen To Make Penang Port Its Sister Port

PENANG, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Bangladesh is keen to make the Penang port its sister port as part of efforts to enhance trade and relationships between the two nations, its Minister of Shipping, Shahjahan Khan, said.

He said Bangladesh, a developing country, was keen to have a greater understanding of the operations of a modern port such as the Penang port.

"We do not have any sister port and we feel that the Penang port will be ideal," he told a media briefing after a tour of the newly-completed Swettenham Pier International Cruise Terminal here Tuesday.

Shahjahan is leading a delegation on a visit to Penang port. Accompanying them were Penang Port Commission chairman Tan Cheng Liang and Penang Port Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya.

He said he would discuss the matter with Bangladesh prime minister soon.

"I hope to sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Penang port soon. We are impressed with the development of the port here," he said.

Meanwhile, Tan said she hoped the MOU could be signed soon as it would help enhance the development of the ports.

"If we sign the MOU with the port, especially Chittagong port, it will help strengthen the relationships between the two nations in terms of port operations," she said.

She said Penang port has made a steady progress since it was privatised in 1994 and its throughput increased by 3.1 per cent to 958,476 twenty-foot equivalent (TEUs) last year from 929,639 TEUs in 2008.

Tan said the Penang port would undertake projects including the acquisition of container equipment and increase the post-Panamax gantry cranes to 16.

She said the newly-completed international passenger ship terminal at the Swettenham Pier International Cruise Terminal was expected to attract one million passenger arrivals this year.

"With the capabilty of the terminal to receive bigger ships it is expected that the number of passengers staying over in Penang will increase.

"The terminal also has facilities for ferries plying between Penang and Langkawi and between Penang and Medan, Indonesia," she said.

The 15,000 sq ft terminal also has houses the Customs and Immigration offices and quarantine area.

Source:bernama.com/

Bangladesh finds 8 potential heavy minerals in sea beach sand

Bangladeshi scientists have found eight potential heavy economic minerals in sands of the sea beach in the country and their reserve is estimated 1.76 million tons.

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) Chairman Mosharraf Hossain told Xinhua on Tuesday at an interview that the scientists of the commission are working on the sea beach for decades, and discovered eight heavy minerals in recent time through exploration in the beach of Bangladesh's tourist capital southeastern Cox's Bazar district, 391 km of capital Dhaka.

He said the scientists found a total of 17 mineral sands deposits containing 23 percent heavy minerals and estimated reserve of them is 4.35 million tons. But only eight are economically viable for exploration. The heavy minerals found are: Ilmenite, Zircon, Rutile, Magnetite, Leucoxene, Kyanite, Garnet and Monazite.

Economical viability of the heavy mineral deposits depended on the utilization of Ilmenite, which is the most dominant component in sands approximately one million tons of the total 1.76 million tons of eight minerals, Hossain said, adding that the marketing of the Ilmenite in its present form is not possible because of its quality is a bit low with 40 percent of titanium oxide against the commercial grade Ilmenite containing 55 percent.

The minerals are scattered in an area of 7,986 hectares of land in Cox's Bazar district, located in the eastern end of the 500 km sea beach.

A high-powered government committee recently in its report said the Zircon and Monazite found are radioactive, Hossain said.

He quoted the high powered committee as reported that the minerals should not be explored now considering the tourism value and biodiversity. However, the report said the minerals could be explored in some places with permission of the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

The BAEC chairman said if the minerals are lifted and separated, in that case the rate of radioactivity could be raised. He said if the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control Act rule is strictly followed, the radiation could be reduced.

The Australian company Premier Mineral Company a few months ago applied for development of the mineral resources from the beach, but the Bangladesh government allowed them for only to discover. The company then took 50 kg of sand from the beach and found presence of many heavy minerals.

The company then applied for lifting of the minerals, which prompted the government to form the high powered committee. The committee after discussing the issue in details gave its suggestion not to lift them now.

Chief executive of Cox's Bazar district, who is owner of the land, in a report sent to the government, said if the beach is allowed to lift the minerals, it will hurt the tourism and the biodiversity as well.

The BAEC chairman however said the quality of Ilmenite can be improved through production of synthetic Rutile, which has good commercial demand at home and abroad. It can be achieved through collaborative program or joint venture with foreign countries having expertise in upgrading and converting low grade Ilmenite into commercial one.

Source:businessghana.com/

Coordination must to achieve Digital Bangladesh

In spite of sporadic developments towards Digital Bangladesh, coordination in the process has become the most essential need of the time. If need be, an adviser maybe appointed to look into the matter and the concerned ministries maybe reformed to make the process organised. Speakers from a cross section of stakeholders said these at a roundtable titled 'One year of Digital Bangladesh' organised by the Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF) on January 16. The roundtable was chaired by Hasanul Haq Inu, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Post and Telecommunication Ministry while Dr. Akram Hossain Chowdhury, Member of Parliament and chairman of Centre for E-parliament research was special guest at the event.

The roundtable was convened by Mohammad Kawsar Uddin, president, BIJF and Md. Mojahidul Islam, Secretary General of BIJF.

The chief guest at the event said a lot of efforts are already in process towards developing Digital Bangladesh. But due to its sporadic development, people are not able to picture the whole situation. The government should come up with specific plan and a participatory environment and present its activities to the public in a coordinated manner. A coordinator maybe appointed to centrally manage the process. 'Like the others, I too believe that the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication should be merged instead of keeping them separate.' He also emphasized on reforming the Bangladesh Computer Council. Dr Akram Hossain Chowdhury said, 'in my constitution those who approach to me on email, I consider their applications with greater priority. In spite of many efforts made in the last one year towards Digital Bangladesh, there has not been a roadmap to implement them. We will try to discuss the matter in parliament.'

The roundtable was attended by Mustafa Jabbar, president, Bangladesh Computer Samity, Habibullah N Karim, president, Bangladesh Association of Software Information and Services, Akhteruzzaman Manju, president, Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh, Mojahidul Islam, general secretary of BIJF, AHM Sultanur Reza, deputy general manager of Grameenphone, Moutushi Kabir, communication manager, Nokia Emerging Asia, Mujibur Rahman Shawpan, secretary general of BCS, Fahim Mashroor, chief executive of Bdjobs, Tarek Barkatullah, senior system analyst of Bangladesh Computer Council, Moinul Haq Siddiqui, managing director of Fiber@Home, S M Akash, communication and media manager of Access to Information with the Prime Minister's Office, Professor Dr. Lutfor Rahman of Computer Science Department of Dhaka University, Dr Aminul Haq of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and many more. The roundtable was moderated by TIM Nurul Kabir, chairman of Digital Knowledge Foundation.

The discussants at the roundtable pointed out that the government's budget allocation of Tk 100 crore in the ICT sector last year remains unused till date. There has not been much of success in the last year towards implementing Digital Bangladesh.

There has been a lack of responsibility on the part of government towards taking initiatives. The discussion also urged the need for public and private partnership towards faster implementation of the vision 2021. The organisers assured to reach the recommendations to the government at the earliest.

Source:nation.ittefaq.com/i

Recession effects to linger over economy: ADB

Star Business ReportAsian Development Bank yesterday projected Bangladesh's GDP growth at 5.2 percent for 2010, fearing continuous fallout from the global economic turmoil. ADB's forecast for this fiscal year is less than the government projection that economic growth may cross 6 percent. 

Thee country recorded GDP growth at 5.9 percent last fiscal year. Pointing to last year's adverse climate and low prices of agricultural produce and poor infrastructure, including gas and power scarcity, the multilateral lending agency suggested Bangladesh put all efforts in improving its investment climate, upgrading infrastructure, reducing power and energy shortages and accelerating economic reforms. ADB also projected a slowdown in agriculture and industrial growth. "The effects of the global crisis on Bangladesh economy in FY2010 are likely to be deeper than in FY2009," said the ADB quarterly update report released at a press conference at its Dhaka office. "As Bangladesh felt the effect of the global crisis late it would also bottle out late," said Zahid Hossain, head of country programming for Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB. Paul Heytens, the country director, also spoke on the occasion. 

He made it clear that amendments in the Public Procurement Act would not disrupt execution of the projects funded by ADB. Terming export sector as the main driver of Bangladesh's GDP growth, Zahid Hossain said although exports grew well last fiscal year, this year the rise is negative. The agriculture sector growth rate, according to the ADB report, is expected to slow down to 4.1 percent in FY2010 from 4.6 percent in FY2009. This fiscal year, Aus output is not good due to drought. Also, late rainfall hampered Aman cultivation. This also caused lower projection of farm output. On industrial growth, it said adverse effects of the global economic slowdown are expected to dampen export sector growth in FY2010, which, in turn, will hit domestic industrial production. It also said the deficiency in power, gas and other basic infrastructure are the major supply-side bottlenecks of growth in industry, expectedly 6 percent in FY2010. ADB projected 5.5 percent growth in the services sector in FY2010, which was 6.3 percent in FY2009. 

Thee report also pointed out that slowdown in imports will affect the transport sector. The telecommunications sector is likely to be moderate following a robust growth last fiscal year. Banks and insurance companies will continue to be affected by sluggish investment activities, the ADB said. It also said slower growth in private sector credit and decline in exports and deceleration in remittance growth will have direct and indirect effects on the economy. 

Inn addition, investor sentiment has not fully revived following the initial uncertainty on the extent and depth of the likely impact of the crisis on Bangladesh economy. To enhance growth prospects, the ADB report said domestic demand and diversification of exports need to be boosted. It also stressed faster implementation of annual development programme. It further suggested greater emphasis on supporting agriculture and rural development, small and medium enterprises, human resources development and social safety nets. The focus, it said, should be on creating job opportunities, increasing public spending and enhancing public and private investment. Source:thedailystar.net/