BANGLADESH

After Tuesday's halt on trading for a server glitch, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) started Wednesday's trading with fluctuations in its benchmark index.

Following the seesaw movement, DSE general index dropped 12 points to 4,146 points after an hour into trading.

Shares and mutual funds worth Tk 610 million changed hands until then with prices of 87 issues increasing, 113 declining and 22 remaining unchanged.

Trading on Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges was halted for Tuesday due to persisting problems in the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited server.

The DGEN lost 75 points on Monday and 50 points on Sunday.

The index advanced 118 points or 2.84 percent last week, 2 points in the week before last week but declined 125.85 points or 2.93 percent in the previous week.

Bangladesh is going to have a tougher law to tackle 'aggressive marketing' of baby food companies that overwhelm the proper feeding practices of under-2 children.

Health Minister A F M Ruhal Haque said on Tuesday, ahead of World Breastfeeding Week, that they would place the law in one of the Cabinet meetings in August.

The ministry started the process three years back to replace the 1984 Breastmilk Substitute Ordinance as experts suggested a strong law to support live-saving feeding practices in Bangladesh where nearly 50 percent children are malnourished.

Dr S K Roy, Chairperson of the Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation that helped the ministry to draft the law, told bdnews24.com that the draft prohibited promotions of breast milk substitutes at all level. "It will strengthen the punishment for violation as well."

He said companies would not be able to advertise their products for under-2 children in any medium including televisions and newspapers.

He said the draft law was of high international standards one and said if passed, it would make companies marketing under-2 powder milk or any supplement to write clearly in big letters in the middle of the container that 'this product is not germ free and there is no alternative to breast milk.'

Roy said healthcare professionals would not be able to attend any seminars at home or abroad sponsored by the milk companies.

"It will be regarded as a conflict of interest," he said, "there will be punishment for that."

The draft, he said, had been finalised after consulting with all relevant ministries and stakeholders including Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Law and Bangladesh Medical Association.

For first-time violation of the law, according to Roy, a company will be penalised Tk 0.50million with two years imprisonment. And for second offence "it will be five years rigorous imprisonment".

He said once the law is passed, a committee would be formed to clearly outline how it would be implemented. The law, however, is not clear about the punishment of doctors for violation.

"It only says proper punishment will be given," Roy said, "It will also be decided by the committee after finalising the law."

Chairperson Roy said a new law was imperative in Bangladesh as the 1984 ordinance based on the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (International BMS Code) did not include all provisions of the code.

If a country adopts a strong BMS code, it decreases the use of breast milk substitutes, he said. It happened in the Philippines where a strong regulation saw the use of infant formula milk fall from 57.5 percent in 1986 to 2.8 percent in 1988.

An analysis of the data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows that baby food in the absence of breastfeeding costs a high portion of a family's financial resources –30 percent of the average household income (Tk 137,760).

Euromonitor International in 2008 projected global sale of baby food to grow by 37 percent to $ 11.5 billion to $ 42.7 billion from 2008 to 2013.

It also said almost two-thirds of this growth will come from Asia-Pacific, with China and Indonesia as the biggest contributors.

The preliminary results of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) shows 41 percent children in Bangladesh are too short for their age and 36 percent are underweight.

Experts say proper feeding practices of children under-2 are imperative to fight malnutrition in Bangladesh.

But the same survey showed only 21 percent families strictly follow the under-2 feeding practices that include start of breastfeeding within first hour of birth and exclusive continuation until six months of age.

Proper under-2 feeding practices also recommend giving homemade food on the seventh month and continuing with breastfeeding until two years of age.

The Begunbari canal and Hatirjheel areas will open to public from Dec 15 as the government has completed development of the two water bodies.

State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan informed journalists about the decision after visiting the places on Tuesday.

"The progress of the work is satisfactory. Hatirjheel will be opened for people on Dec 15. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the opening," he said.

On the night of Dec 15, 'victory' will be celebrated at the venue, he said, in reference to the Victory Day. "There will be colourful cultural programmes including music and dance performance by young people on that day."

About the progress of the Hatirjheel-Begunbari development project, he said that the project work was expected to be complete in December. "We're hopeful of completing the work within the scheduled time."

"The construction of a road on the site has already been done. It will be carpeted with pitch soon. Grass and date trees are being planted along the road. The construction of the bridges is about to come to an end."

The junior minister said that the beautification work had already started.

About the objectives of the project, Mannan Khan said the project had been undertaken for construction of a road stretch through Karwanbazar to Rampura to reduce traffic congestion in the city, install clean water bodies inside the city and proper waste management in the area.

He claimed that the illegal land sharks of the area were rehabilitated in different places after talks and no pressure was put on them.

Once completed, the project will help ease the commuters to reach Rampura from Karwanbazar, Moghbazar and Malibagh in "only 10 minutes" which now takes more than one and a half hours. The project will be a hit with the commuters of Dhaka, he added.

The junior minister thanked all the entrepreneurs and others related for undertaking such a project.

It will now have four big bridges, four overpasses, two-lane dedicated expressways and two-lane service roads with six bus stands, U-loops near Rampura Bridge, walkways, and waterbus services.

Public Works Secretary Khandaker Shawkat Hossain, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) Chairman Md Nurul Huda and chief of the army's engineering core Major General Habibur Rahman and Director of the Hatirjheel-Begunbari Development Project Brigadier General Abu Sayeed Mohammad Masud, among others, accompanied the junior minister.

An official of the ministry said the government plans to construct a flyover on the Rampura-Badda road from the Hatirjheel-Begunbari project area. The project costs may increase by at least Tk 20 million for this reason.

He added the government would acquire some land from Bangladesh Television (BTV) in Rampura. "The process to sign a deal between the BTV and Public Works Ministry has started."

The Hatirjheel project began in 2007 to develop communications between the east and the west of the capital, reduce waterlogging and maintain environmental balance.

The Tk 21.52 billion project was supposed to be complete by 2010, but legal wrangle cost the project about another two years.

RAJUK, 16 Engineering Construction Battalion of Army, Dhaka WASA and LGED are jointly implementing the project. The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology is the consultant of the project.

A mobile court of Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) fined superstore G-Mart Tk 0.6 million for mixing up formalin in ice used to preserve fish at its Mirpur outlet on Tuesday.

Led by an executive magistrate, the court conducted a drive at the outlet and detected formalin in ice used to preserve fish, which is forbidden for preservation of perishable goods for its many side-effects on the human body.

Superstore's Quality Controller Rafiqul Haque was also sentenced to one month's imprisonment, Director General of the Fisheries Department Syed Arif Azad told

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed has announced the speedy trial tribunal will deal with the murder of Saudi Embassy official Khalaf Mohammad Al Ali.

"The government is committed to completing the trial of the killers of Khalaf. No-one involved in the killing will be spared," he said at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

Earlier, Saudi Ambassador in Bangladesh Abdullah Bin Naser Al-Busairi called on the minister at his office. State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam was also present there.

Shafique assured the ambassador that trial of Khalaf's killer would be completed quickly.

The Saudi envoy thanked the government for capturing Khalaf's killers.