BANGLADESH

Bangladesh's US$ 250million software industry can fetch billions of dollars, but, say entrepreneurs, policies run counter to their plans or potential.

Last fiscal, the country's software exporters earned little over US$ 45 million, a paltry sum compared to their real strength because both banks and the local capital market treat them as "traditional businesses".

"To raise finance from capital market, the minimum paid-up capital needed is Tk 400 million," says Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Rowly, a software exporter and a former president of BASIS or Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Service.

"But no software company in Bangladesh has that level of capital base," said Rowly, who runs CSL Software Resource Ltd.

Rowly and many in the business lament that they cannot pay for research and development (R&D), the crucial element for developing software products. And it is beyond the banking system to come to their rescue.

"Banks cannot finance the software industry because this industry mainly uses human resource as capital and doesn't really possess any tangible assets," says Mahmood Osman Imam, who teaches at the Department of Finance at Dhaka University.

"The banks need collateral or securities."

Rowly points out that "Dhaka is now ranked third among global cities where online jobs are outsourced from the West" and employs nearly 30,000 professionals in Bangladesh.

"If minimum capital investment requirement is reduced to Tk 40 to 50 million," says Rowly, "I believe five software companies will immediately go to the capital market to raise capital."

Fahim Mashroor, a BASIS vice president, insists that the paid-up capital requirement be brought down to Tk 10 million. "I can tell you this will result in 50 companies going for IPOs in 2-3 years."

Rowly, however, suggests gradual reduction in the requirement.

Mahmood Osman Imam, an academic, agrees with the argument for a reduced capital requirement but not as low as Tk 10 million.

"In other countries, the capital market treats the software industry differently and we should also relax the rules," Imam says. "But we must make a proper plan before that."

There is every case for the software industry to get the support they require, he says.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) and IT-Enabled Services (ITeS) are among the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh, but banks argue that they have problems with equity valuation of such companies.

The central bank has been working with BASIS to find a solution, says governor Atiur Rahman.

"I have said the software companies can be financed by our EEF (equity entrepreneurship fund). BASIS has been entrusted with the responsibility to come up with a plan for that," he said.

BASIS president Mahboob Zaman said a proposal on alternate financing arrangements like venture capital will be given to Bangladesh Bank within December.

"There are some banking rules that we can't overwrite," he added, explaining why BASIS was looking for alternate financing.

The by-polls to Narsinghdi municipality will be held on Jan 19 next year, as the office lies vacant after the killing of mayor Lokman Hossain.

The Election Commission (EC) announced the date on Tuesday.

Commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told reporters that the last date for submitting the nomination papers is Dec 22.

The scrutiny of the papers will be carried on Dec 27 and the aspirants can withdraw nomination papers by Jan 4.

Lokman, also an Awami League leader who was elected mayor of Narsingdi municipality, was gunned down by unidentified assailants at the town Awami League office on Nov 1.

His brother Kamruzzaman filed a case against telecommunications minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju's brother Salahuddin Ahmed Bachchu and 13 others, most of them ruling party supporters.

Police on Sunday arrested Nazmul Hasan Sharif who they say had shot the award-winning popular mayor.

The government will launch a programme in January to rehabilitate Dhaka's beggars, 10 percent of whom are from Mymensingh and 5 percent earn over Tk 300 a day.

Social welfare minister Enamul Hoque Mostofa Shaheed on Tuesday disclosed the results of a survey conducted in September ahead of the programme.

Chief of Beggar Rehabilitation Cell Gazi Mohammad Julhas told  that beggars capable of working would be given rickshaws, rickshaw-trolleys, sewing machines and money to start small businesses.

The social welfare ministry surveyed 400 spots in the city, dividing it in 10 zones, and a total of 1,000 beggars were sampled.

According to Gazi, 7.6 percent of beggars on Dhaka's streets are from the capital itself, 7.5 percent are from Barguna, 5.6 percent from Jamalpur, 5.5 percent from Bhola, 4.7 percent from Kishoreganj, 4.6 percent from Faridpur, 3.9 percent from Sherpur, 2.4 percent from Munshiganj, and 41 percent are from other districts.

Gazi said 80.48 percent of Dhaka's beggars want to return to their home districts, and 92.42 percent are ready to leave panhandling if they get government aid.

According to the survey, 5 percent of the beggars earn over Tk 300 a day, 33.2 percent earn between Tk 51 and Tk 100, 22.6 percent Tk 101-150, 20 percent Tk 151-200, 6 percent Tk 201-300, and 12.5 percent earn Tk 1 to Tk 50 each day.

Gazi said 5.16 percent of the beggars get government help.

Of them, 1.75 percent get old age allowance, 2.63 percent disability allowance, 0.53 percent widow allowance, and 0.25 percent beggars get vernacular group feeding allowance.

National Professor Kabir Chowdhury has been buried at Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals' Graveyard.

An academic and patriot to the core, the man who recently led the formulation of a new education policy for the government, never put down his pen, which was his ultimate weapon in the battle for reason and humanity.

Speaking to  in one of his last long interviews, he spoke of the necessity to uphold human values.

"I wish I had more time to write. I wish the days were a bit longer than 24 hours," said Kabir Chowdhury, whose essays and speeches have inspired activists throughout generations.

His burial took place at 6pm on Tuesday.

Chowdhury, a heart patient, died in his sleep around 6am when his pacemaker apparently failed, daughter Shaheen Kabir, a retired professor of Jahangirnagar University, told .

Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, rushed to his Naya Paltan residence to consol the family members. President Zillur Rahman sent flowers and said the loss to the nation was irreparable.

As the news of his death spread, academics, political leaders and cultural personalities gathered at his home to pay their last respects.

"One of the nation's greatest sons, this lifelong teacher has made unrivalled contributions to our education," the president said in a message.

"He was the guide for our education policy. His gifts to Bangla literature are extraordinary as well," he said.

"He has enriched the nation with his numerous works, and guided us towards humanity and justice.

"The nation will never forget his contribution. He will live in our hearts forever," educationist Zillur Rahman Siddiqui said.

Chowdhury's janaza was held at the Dhaka University central mosque, after which he was given a guard of honour. Flowers were laid on his body by nation's leaders as well as people from all walks of life.

LIFE

Chowdhury taught English literature at Dhaka University after a career in the government education service and emerged as a leading figure in the fight against communalism and religious fanaticism in the last decades.

The son of a government official, Chowdhury was born on Feb 9, 1923 at Brahmanbaria of the then Tipperah district of united Bengal. His family hails from Noahkhali's Chatkhile area.

With a master's in English literature – graduating in 1944 from the Dhaka University – Kabir Chowdhury was appointed education secretary in 1972 immediately after the Liberation War when his celebrated younger brother Munier Chowdhury was killed by the local collaborators of the Pakistani army.

He was member-secretary of the first National Education Commission under Kudrat-e-Khuda and later became the education, sports and cultural affairs secretary.

Chowdhury also played a major role as the director of Bangla Academy from early 1969 to mid-1972 in propagating secular values during the mass movements in the period. He was made a national professor in 1998.

He headed several organisations that worked for secular democracy, such as the "Committee for Resisting the Killers and Collaborators of 1971", better known as "Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee", "Citizens Social Rights Movement", and "Citizens United Front".

He worked closely with the late Jahanara Imam in trying to bring to book the killers of 1971 as war criminals. He helped set up a People's Court that found leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP guilty of war crimes and urged the government to try them in a properly constituted tribunal.

But, the then government, instead of doing that, charged Kabir Chowdhury and 23 other of his colleagues with sedition and instituted a formal case against them. The case was withdrawn later during the caretaker regime headed by retired chief justice Mohammad Habibur Rahman.

Kabir Chowdhury acted as chairman of the Bangladesh Afro-Asian Writers Union for many years. He was also a member of the presidium of the Bangladesh World Peace Council and the Bangladesh Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organisation.

He headed the Bangladesh-Soviet Friendship Society for over a decade. He was the president of the Bangladesh Vidyasagar Society and chairman of the Advisory Council of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee.

The country will observe the Shaheed Buddhijibi Dibosh, or Martyred Intellectuals Day, on Wednesday.

The day is observed to commemorate the tragic killing of the illustrious sons of the soil by desperate Pakistani occupation forces and their collaborators just two days before the country's final victory achieved through a nine-month bloody war with Pakistan in 1971.

On Dec 14, 1971, sensing imminent defeat, the Pakistani army and their local collaborators – Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams – abducted frontline Bengali intellectuals and professionals and killed them in a planned way to cripple a newborn nation intellectually.

Renowned academics, teachers, litterateurs, doctors, engineers, journalists and other eminent personalities were dragged out of their houses blindfolded and killed before the occupation forces dumped the bodies in Rayerbazar, Mirpur and other killing fields in Dhaka.

The martyred intellectuals included Prof Muneir Chowdhury, Dr Alim Chowdhury, Prof Muniruzzaman, Dr Fazle Rabbi, Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidullah Kaiser, Prof G C Dev, J C Guha Thakurta, Prof Santosh Bhattacharya, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, and journalists Khandaker Abu Taleb, Nizamuddin Ahmed, SA Mannan (Ladu Bhai), A N M Golam Mustafa, Syed Nazmul Haq and Selina Parvin.

President M Zillur Rahman and prime minister Sheikh Hasina have issued messages marking the day.

The president, in his message, said the supreme sacrifice made by the intellectuals would ever remain fresh in the history of the nation.
Terming the intellectuals the 'greatest sons of the soil', the president said the nation suffered an irreparable loss in their brutal killings.

He called upon all to imbibe with the spirit of the Liberation War and work together for developing a knowledge-based nation.

In her message, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said the Martyred Intellectuals Day is one of the blackest chapters in the history of struggle of the nation.

"When the final victory was imminent under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the greatest Bangalee of all times, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators -- Razakar, Al-Badar and Al-Shams -- brutally killed the intellectuals in a planned way to make Bangalee nation devoid of merit and leadership," she said.

The anti-liberation forces have launched attacks on teachers, writers, journalists and politicians, she said, adding that steps have been taken to bring the war criminals under trail.

The prime minister said the martyred intellectuals will remain alive in the nation's life through their works, ideology and patriotism. "The nation will never forget their dedication," she added.

The prime will pay homage to the martyred intellectuals placing wreaths at the Martyred Intellectuals Mausoleum at Mirpur at 6:35am on Wednesday.

The members of the martyr's families and war-wounded freedom fighters will place wreath led by state minister for liberation war affairs A B M Tazul Islam at 6:50am.

The mausoleum will be kept open to the people and political parties from 7am for paying respect to them.

Different political parties, social and cultural organisations have chalked out various programmes to observe the day in a befitting manner. The programmes include placing wreaths at the mausoleum and holding discussions and 'milad mahfil'.