BANGLADESH

The government has prepared the draft of a law to control the activities of the multi-level marketing (MLM) companies and sent it to the ministries of finance and public administration for their opinion, the commerce minister tells parliament.

"The draft law--'Direct Sales Act-2012'--will be placed in the cabinet for approval when the ministries give their opinion on it," minister G M Quader said while replying to a supplementary question from ruling Awami League MP Tazul Islam during the question-answer session on Monday.

The minister said some MLM companies have been cheating people, alluring them by promising good profits. A total of 69 MLM companies have been given registration so far.

The government has stopped registration of more MLM companies in the wake of allegations against some of them, he said.

Stating that it was possible to take action against them under the existing law, Quader said, "Steps will be taken after discussion with all relevant ministries on the type of legal measures possible," he added.

2800 TCB DEALERS

Responding to a query from ruling party MP A B M Golam Mostafa, the commerce minister said that a total of 2,800 dealers have been appointed across the country by the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

Quader said some 13,782 metric tonnes of sugar, 7,382 metric tonnes of lentil, 600 metric tonnes of gram, 600 metric tonnes of date and 353,434 litres of soybean oil were distributed among the consumers through the dealers over the last six months.

BILATERAL PACTS WITH 40 STATES

In reply to a starred question from Monirul Islam MP, he said that Bangladesh has so far signed bilateral agreements with 40 countries. "Bangladesh has also signed SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) pact with India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan and Afghanistan."

The country has signed ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement with India, Sri Lanka, China, South Korea and Laos, and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) accord with Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, the commerce minister informed.

Quader, in reply to the question of Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque, said that the government has taken some initiatives to meet the trade gap with China.

China has granted duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to 4,788 products of Bangladesh to its market in the 2010-2011 fiscal, he said.

Consumer inflation rate has soared in January to 11.59 percent from 10.63 percent at December-end.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) gave the figures at a press briefing on Monday.

BBS director Shahjahan Ali Mollah attributed the inflation rate hike to the rise in prices of essentials including rice, pulse, fish, eggs, fruits, edible oil and packaged milk.

In other sectors, BBS identified rise in rent, transport expense, price of garment and household costs as the key factor behind the swelling inflation.

The media was also informed that the food inflation in January stood at 10.9 percent while inflation in other sectors was 13.16 percent.

However, inflation in rural areas has gone down during the period, with the rate falling to 11.15 percent at January-end from 13.25 percent in December. Food inflation in the rural area stood at 10.18 percent and in other sectors, 13.23 percent.

Overall inflation in urban areas is on the rise, with the rate at 12.73 percent in January-end, which was 11.62 percent at the end of December. Food inflation in urban areas was at 12.56 percent and in other sectors, the inflation was 12.97 percent.

The average inflation over the past one year has been 10.91 percent.

Even though the finance minister claimed that there is no economic crisis in the country, he sees reining in inflation a big challenge for the government.

Increase in fuel prices in December 2011 caused January's hike in prices of fuel and fuel-related commodities, Shahjahan said.

The inflation rate was recorded 9.6 percent in February 2011, which rose to 10.4 percent within a month and it has stayed in double digits since then.

The highest inflation on point-to-point basis was 11.97 percent in September 2011. Overall inflation rate was recorded 11.42 percent in October 2011.

BBS published the inflation data taking 1995-1996 as the base year.

Even though the rate of inflation is in double-digit figure (over 10 percent), Shahjahan Ali claimed that the consumers are not in trouble.

"Their purchasing power has increased," he said.

"Prices of all imported goods have risen as US dollar appreciated against taka," he elaborated the cause of inflation in the non-food sector.

Asked whether it will be possible to keep the rate of inflation within 7.5 percent, a goal set in the budget for the current fiscal, Shahjahan said, "It's not the duty of BBS to control prices. Our duty is to collect data and pass them on to the authorities concerned."

BBS has been gathering data on the prices of various goods and services regularly since 1973-74. It publishes Consumers Price Index (national, urban, rural) and the rate of inflation after analysing those.

The rate of inflation is worked out taking into account three different indexes – national, urban and rural.

The search committee, formed to suggest names for election commissioners, will submit its recommendations to president Mohammad Zillur Rahman on Tuesday.

According to the circular given out on Monday, the decision was taken at a meeting of the committee at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge earlier in the day.

The committee will hand its recommendations to the president at 6:30pm after holding its sixth and final meeting at 5pm at the Judges' Lounge.

The submission will follow a media briefing at the Bangabhaban's Credential Hall where the cabinet secretary will brief journalists, the circular further said.

The president formed the four-strong search committee on Jan 22 to reconstituting the Election Commission.
It winnowed the suitable candidates at its fourth meeting. Headed by the Appellate Division's justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, the other members of the committee are High Court Division justice Md Nuruzzaman, Public Service Commission chairman AT Ahmedul Haque Chowdhury and comptroller and auditor general Ahmed Ataul Hakim.

The committee will propose two names against each vacant post of election commissioners, including the chief of the constitutional body to the president who will have the final say as per constitutional provisions.
It received the names from political parties until last Tuesday. Ruling Awami League, Workers' Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal had sent names to the committee. But Jatiya Party, a key component of the ruling alliance, suggested no names.
The BNP-led four-party alliance snubbed the committee, calling it unconstitutional.
The president on Jan 22 formed the search committee, following a series of dialogues with political parties having representation in parliament, to reconstitute the commission.
The tenure of the incumbent commission ends in the middle of this month.

Two bills to tax salaries of the speaker and other members of parliament were presented in parliament on Monday.

The bills are The Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2012 and The Member of Parliament (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2012.

State minister for law Qamrul Islam presented the bills on behalf of law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Shafique Ahmed.

These bills have been sent to the parliamentary standing committee on the law, justice and parliament affairs which will submit a report within 15 days after scrutiny.

If the bills are passed, they laws will take retroactive effect from July 1 of the previous year.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina had announced in the last budget session of parliament that salaries of ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers, and MPs will no more remain tax-free.

The cabinet approved the bills on Nov 28 last year in a step towards implementing that announcement.

Generally, everyone's income beyond a certain range is taxable. But, in line with a 1973 act, lawmakers' remunerations are above taxation and so are the parliament speaker and deputy speakers' in line with another law framed in 1974.

The taxation system has long discriminated in favour of MPs. The bills have been presented to remove the disparity.

Bangladesh will receive 12 buses in its first consignment of double-deckers from India on Feb 12.

"We ordered 290 double-deckers and will get the first consignment of 12 buses on Feb 12," Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation chairman M M Iqbal told on Monday.

The procurement was done under the $1 billion Indian credit line that was announced during the visit of prime minister Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi in 2010.

"Each bus will cost about Tk 65 to Tk 70 lakh and has performance guarantee from the manufacturer," he said. "We hope to get all the buses by July."

Ashok Leyland is the manufacturer and the estimated cost of the buses is $23 million.
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When asked where the buses will ply, he said, "It is yet to be finalised but we are planning to send some buses to divisional headquarters."

Dhaka and New Delhi signed the deal on $1 billion line of credit with Indian EXIM Bank in August 2010. Bangladesh has so far undertaken 20 projects under the credit line.

The Indian credit bears 1.75 per cent interest a year and it will have to be repaid in 20 years with a five-year grace period.

Under the loan deal, Bangladesh will have to procure at least 85 percent of goods, works and services from India while 15 percent can be procured from Bangladesh if the contractors fail to source it from India.

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has secured a place in the list of top 30 international development think-tanks.

University of Pennsylvania prepared the list in January under its '2011 Global Go to Think Tanks Rankings', a BIDS press statement said on Monday.

The ranking considers policy influence, research quality and evolving character of research organisations.

According to the statement, BIDS was placed 28th in the category of international development think-tanks of the 5,329 nominated organisations in 2011.

Brookings Institution of the USA secured the top-most rank. The list includes three think-tanks from Asia – one each from China, India and Republic of Korea.

A group of 200 disgruntled Bangladeshi workers went on a seven-hour sit-out on Monday morning in Singapore's largest residential area Tampines over a dispute involving unpaid salaries.

According to Yahoo! News Singapore, the workers from Sunway Concrete Pte Ltd and TechCom Construction gathered in an empty field at Tampines Industrial Street 62 instead of starting work at 10am (Bangladesh standard time).

Sunway is the main contractor and Techcom is the sub-contractor hired by Housing and Development Board (HDB) to fabricate building materials for flats.

The workers have not been paid for four months running, since November last year. Quoting some unnamed workers, it also said it is not the first time the company has fallen behind payments for its foreign workers.

In addition, the Bangladeshi workers also complained about the poor quality of food served in the canteen. One of them, Samid Siddek, 35, said even a cow would not want to eat the food.

Currently, about Singapore $150 is deducted each month from their salaries as food expenses, and another $20-50 for utilities, with 1 Singapore dollar equalling Tk 67.36.

The Bangladesh mission in Singapore, however, is unaware of the incident. "We have no idea. It's (such kind of protest) very unusual here. It's a regulated place. The government informs us if anything happens," Kamrul Ahsan, Bangladesh high commissioner in Singapore, told by telephone.

Expatriates' welfare and overseas employment secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan told that they were yet to receive any information.

"We will tell the labour wing to monitor this," he said and added that never before had he heard of such incident in Singapore. "It's a very unusual event," he also said.

Nearly 0.2 million Bangladeshi are working and living in this Southeast Asian city-state, according to the secretary.

One protestor K Ravhkumar told Yahoo: "All men same problem, all men no pay for four months." The 35-year-old said his usual working hours are from 8am to 10pm.

However, he said that workers would be made to work until midnight on busy days, without overtime pay. An average worker earns a basic salary of $18 per day.

The strike slowly dissipated at about 3pm as workers were told by representatives of the company that they would receive their November pay on Monday and their December pay next Friday.

The report could not confirm when they will receive their salary for January.

A spokesman for Sunway, who declined to be named, claimed that the sit-out originated from a core group of about 10 Bangladeshi workers.

"A few of them took some weapons and threatened the others. Some don't know what is going on but just joined in…Majority of the workers do not dare to speak because they are scared they will get hamtum (beaten up)," he said.

TechCom officials declined to comment to Yahoo! Singapore, when contacted.

Jolovan Wham, a representative from the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, told Yahoo that: "From my experience, workers usually resort to such actions when they are desperate and fed up. I believe they must have reached the tipping point for them to decide not to work."

A Singapore ministry of manpower spokesperson told Yahoo that its officers responded to the incident immediately after they were alerted by the police and went down to the worksite.

Its interim investigations revealed that the employers had not paid their workers since November 2011.

The spokesperson also said that MOM will continue investigations and follow up with the workers to ensure that they receive their December 2011 and January 2012 salaries promptly.

With its almost record-low birth rate of 1.2 from last year, former prime minister Lee Kuau Yew on Friday apprehended that Singapore would need to depend on immigrants as he said the downward trend of population growth is 'damaging to its economy'.

Only 2.6 million people were without job in Bangladesh in 2010 – the latest figures available – which was around 4.5 percent of the country's total economically active population, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

However, according to surveys of private organisations in the country, the number is 'far higher'.

The figures of the survey on the labour force – the 11th in Bangladesh and done in May 2010 – were revealed at a press briefing on Monday. The previous survey was carried out in 2005-6.

According to the latest survey, there were more jobless people in the towns and cities than they were in villages.

The Labour Force Survey-2010 collected information from a total 1,500 sample areas – 325 in urban areas and 1,175 in the rural areas.

LFS 2010 was carried out in 34,226 thanas in village areas across the country and another 9,325 thanas in city areas.

When asked why the number of unemployed persons is lower than expected, BBS officials said the number of unemployed persons was determined as per the definition and ideas of International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In the survey, BBS defined 'employed' as those who have worked at least for a single hour in the last week in his private farm, any company or institution with or without pay.

It labelled those as 'unemployed' who had not worked or could not find any job in the last four weeks.

According to BBS definition, total number of employed persons in the 2010 LFS stood at 50.41 million out of an economically active population of 50.67 million.

According to the survey results, labour in between 2002-3 and 2005-6 increased by a 3.2 million, of which, 3.1 million were employed.

The labour force increased by 7.2 million from between 2005-6 and 2010. There were around 500,000 unemployed persons during this time.

The survey says the rate of labour force increase from 2005-6 to 2010 was 3.39 percent with a 3.10 percent rise in the towns and 3.48 percent in villages.

Based on gender and areas, the percentage of unemployment was higher in the towns than in villages. Among the 4.5 percent unemployed of the total active population, 4.1 percent were male and 5.7 percent female.

In the towns, of the 6.5 percent unemployed, 5.7 percent were males and 8.3 percent were females. In the villages the respective percentages were 3.6 and 4.9.

A parliamentary watchdog on Monday submitted a report on the 2007 student-teacher torture in Dhaka University blaming then chief advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed and army chief Moeen U Ahmed.

The standing committee on the education ministry also recommended bringing to trial to those 'responsible', including former military intelligence chief major general A T M Amin, brigadier general Fazlul Bari and colonel Shamsul Alam, under the existing laws to prevent a repeat of 'untoward' incidents.

Committee chairman Rashed Khan Mennon placed the 383-page report, along with a CD containing the details of the events, in parliament. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina was present when the report was placed as the day's session chaired by deputy speaker Shawkat Ali started around 4:45pm.

Awami League chief Hasina was detained on a raft of corruption charges by the 2007-08 military-installed caretaker government. The deputy speaker accepted the report but said a decision about discussion will have to wait.

Menon, president of Bangladesh Workers' Party – a ruling coalition ally – called upon the MPs to discuss the report and the government and relevant authorities to implement the recommendations made in the report.

"The student-military clash at Dhaka University and other educational institutions was not only unwanted, but a shameful and unfortunate incident for the whole nation," the report centering the August 2007 clash at the universities said.

The report also includes 13 suggestions and 11 observances including taking appropriate steps to ensure such incidents never recur.

Army men, camped on the campus, beat up students on Aug 20, 2007 following an altercation with some students on the university playground during a football match.

The students also assaulted some senior army officers, rampaged through the capital, burning and damaging dozens of vehicles as they clashed with police.

The army men then launched a ruthless assault on the students for next several days.

The violence spilled onto the streets of the capital and spread across the country, shaking the caretaker government backed by the influential army. A large number of students, along with four teachers, were arrested and were accused in a number of cases.

Student leaders in May last year blamed political ambitions of the caretaker government and 'recklessness' of the army for the violence.

They made the observations in their testimonies before a parliamentary sub-committee on the education ministry that interviewed 16 student leaders and three students of that time.

The standing committee dubbed the student-teacher uprising as an inevitable protest against the move to establish military rule by declaring a state of emergency in the country.

Gen Moeen denied having any decision-making role in the torture of students and teachers in and outside the custody in the wake of the violence five years ago.

Moeen, now in the United States, on Sept 13 last year in a tele-conference with a parliamentary sub-committee, however, said that the incidents in August, 2007 were 'unfortunate' and 'unwanted'.

SUGGESTIONS

The standing committee, initially holding 'responsible' Fakhruddin and Moeen for the atrocities on students-teachers, recommended that they be 'tried under the existing laws'.

Besides, the committee also suggested that 'regulatory' steps be taken against then police chief Nour Mohammad for 'failing' to 'carry out his responsibilities'.

It also dubbed essential to stop 'interference' of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) in 'civilian matters', especially those political.

The committee demanded abolition of the 'Task Force for Interrogation (TFI)' or joint forces' questioning cell, terming 'torture' conducted there as 'unacceptable in a civilised and democratic' country.

It also suggested holding regular polls at the central student unions of all universities, including the DUCSU.

AN INEVITABLE REACTION

The report contains 11 observations of the committee.

It dubs the clash as an 'inevitable reaction' against the initiative to 'establish military rule by declaring the state of emergency', and highlighted the role of courageous DU students and teachers in the past against autocracy and military rule, including the language movement, liberation war, the anti-autocracy uprising in 1991.

The report also points out that the initiative to set up a military camp inside DU campus without the permission of the authorities was a step to subdue students' uprising and this sparked off the clash.

It also marks that the 'armed forces', including Police, RAB, military and their intelligence, has a 'tendency' to disregard civil administration during 'emergency situations', which is 'unwanted' in a 'civilised' country.

The committee also said that the then caretaker government and army heads – Fakhruddin and Moeen – 'intentionally' did not act 'adequately'.

"The law-enforcers acted on their direct and indirect instructions. Specially, in arresting the teachers, dilly-dallying their release, sentencing them to prison terms and then in getting them pardoned by the president — they were involved in all these," the report read.

"Then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nour Mohammad cannot also avoid the blame in any way as he made no attempt to control the situation."

LONG-TERM CONSPIRACY

The committee also said that there was a long-term plan behind the violence as the teachers tortured in the TFI cell were repeatedly asked questions like whether they had any ties with the then prime minister, if there were any such signs in the student uprising, whether they have received any funding from the neighbouring country, etc.

The report says there were attempts to make debatable a specific political party and a neighbouring country. "At the same time, an opportunist faction formed a party named the King's Party and attempted to politically rehabilitate them."