BANGLADESH

The government has initiated a programme to provide input assistance to some 50,000 small and marginal farmers for boosting maize cultivation.

Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury announced the assistance, which includes providing seeds and fertilisers worth Tk 65 million free of cost, at a press conference at the ministry's conference room on Wednesday.

Under the programme, the government will provide the seeds and fertilisers to the farmers for cultivating maize over 16,500 acres of land in 62 upazilas under 11 districts.

The programme starts from the current winter season.

A farmer will get 3 kilograms of hybrid maize seeds and 50 kgs of fertilisers, including 25kgs of diamonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MoP), as incentives for maize cultivation on each bigha [0.33 acre] of land, the minister said.

The programme will help increase maize production by 31,000 tonnes, said the minister, adding that the market price of the additional maize would be at least Tk 62 crore.

The programme will be implemented at Nilphamari, Kurigram, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Pirojpur, Barisal, Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola and Jhalokhati districts.

Narrating objectives of the incentive programme, the agriculture minister said: "We're trying to motivate the farmers to grow maize because of its high demand and less irrigation and other cost for its cultivation than that of other crops like rice and wheat."

She mentioned that the overall production of wheat had already declined in the northern region due to climate changes.

The minister said maize cultivation is now generating interest among the farmers as there is huge demand for the produce both for human and poultry consumption.

The country's annual maize production is around 1.55 million tonnes and it needs to import another 422,000 tonnes a year.

Touted as the biggest gathering of ICT-related experts of Asia, 'E-Asia 2011' convention would kick off at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in the capital on Thursday.

About 2,000 ICT experts from domestic and foreign organisations are taking part in the convention, state minister for information and communication technology Architect Yeafesh Osman said on Wednesday.

Addressing the media at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre, Yeafesh Osman said, "Exhibitions on ICT product and service, seminars and fair are also organised on the sidelines of the convention."

Indian research organisation Centre for Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) is the key organiser of the event. Bangladesh Computer Council and Ministry for Science and the information and communication technology are helping put up the event.

The slogan for this year's convention is 'Realising digital nation'.

Yeafesh Osman said 30 seminars and workshops would be held during the event. Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, and Holland's country pavilions would also be set up, besides Bangladeshi pavilions, at the venue as part of the exhibition.

The best IT contributions from Asia will be awarded on the second day of the event, it was announced.

Besides the convention, an IT fair will run till December 3 from 10 am to 8 pm every day. The entry fee is Tk 10 but students can get in for free, the organisers said.

The first E- Asia convention was held on Bangkok in 2006, followed twice in Malaysia once in Sri Lanka. The event was scheduled to be held last year in the Philippines but was postponed due to political uncertainty.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has told parliament that her government would have split the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) into four separate entities to ensure better services for the city dwellers had there been enough money.

"More services could have been provided had there been more small areas," she said on Wednesday, the last day of the 11th session of parliament.

"Dhaka is a large area. It's difficult to tackle such a big area," she said.

Hasina argued that Dhaka was not being split but 'extended'.

She said the protest against the city spilt move is aimed at presenting the government's good works negatively to people.

Earlier in the day, the High Court heard a petition by Sadeque Hossain Khoka, who has been the mayor of Dhaka for nine years, and asked the government and the Election Commission why the bill to split the DCC should not be declared void.

The bill divided DCC into Dhaka North City Corporation with 36 wards and Dhaka South City Corporation having 56 wards, amidst protests by the opposition on the streets.

On Nov 26, Khoka held a press briefing calling upon the government to re-consider its decision. The following day saw a clash between the employees of DCC and the police leaving 25 people injured.

BNP's Dhaka city unit chief Sadeque Hossain Khoka has introduced himself as the 'former' mayor of the city on top of the petition he filed with the High Court challenging the bill to split the city corporation into two separate entities.

In Wednesday's hearing, Khoka's counsel Akhtar Imam said it was a 'mistake' when attorney general Mahbubey Alam drew the court's attention to the matter.

"Except for one place, it's 'current mayor' in the rest of the petition," Imam argued.

Dr Kamal Hossain, one of the authors of Bangladesh's constitution, also stood for Khoka.

Upon hearing the petition, the High Court asked the government why the bill to split the DCC should not be declared a bad law, inconsistent with the constitution, and therefore, void.

Protests by several quarters against the DCC split has turned 'legal' through the High Court rule, Khoka, who has led the DCC for nine years, told reporters.

The bifurcation bill was passed in parliament on Tuesday without following proper constitutional procedure, the 'outgoing' mayor told journalists before the hearing.

The bill divided DCC into Dhaka North City Corporation with 36 wards and Dhaka South City Corporation having 56 wards, amidst protests by the opposition on the streets.

The BNP has called a daylong general strike in the capital to protest the bifurcation of the Dhaka City Corporation.

The party will seek to enforce the hartal on Dec 4 as part of other programmes, acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters Wednesday evening.

Fakhrul emerged at 9:25pm from a meeting of the party's policymaking standing committee to announce the decision to waiting journalists at the Gulshan offices of the chairperson.

The other programmes include protest rally in front of the party headquarters at Naya Paltan on Friday and rallies in every Thana of the capital on Saturday.

Parliament passed a bill to split DCC on Tuesday even as BNP protested the move on the streets.

The government has 'struck people's heart' by taking the 'autocratic' and 'undemocratic' decision to split Dhaka, Fakrul said.

The party's Dhaka city unit chief Sadeque Hossain Khoka, who served as the mayor for nine years, attended the meeting on special invitation.

Standing committee members R A Gani, Moudud Ahmed, M K Anwar, Jamiruddin Sircar, A S M Hannan Shah, Rafiqul Islam Mia, Abdul Main Khan, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Mirza Abbas were present at the meeting.

Following a petition filed by Khoka earlier in the day, the High Court asked the government why the bill should not be declared void.