BANGLADESH

Electronic voting machines (EVM) will not be employed in the next parliamentary elections, the Chief Election Commissioner said on Sunday.

The decision not to entrust Bangladeshi democracy to computers was because 'the Election Commission is not ready to use the EVMs at the national level', Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed told reporters.

"The law will have to be changed for this. But we have already done some test-runs in several local government elections," he said after a meeting at the Election Commission.

His remarks came after six months of speculations over the use of the EVMs in the general elections. He, however, said that EVMs would be used experimentally in the Rangpur City Corporation polls.

According to the CEC, the voter list for 200 Upazilas was updated and the commission was currently examining double voters. A total of 3 million news voters were registered this year.

He mentioned that 1,96,000 people became voters twice in 2008-09.

"Some of them lost their identity cards or some others changed address. But, anyone who had a new identity card out of any ill-motive would be punished," Rakib added.

As for Dhaka City Corporation polls, he said updating the voter list will begin in October while the High Court order postponing the polls will be challenged.

He declined comment when asked whether they would disclose the expenditure and income of political parties.

The last EC, led by A T M Shamsul Huda, had successfully used voting machines in one ward during Chittagong polls and in one-third of polling centres in Narayanganj elections, and turned Comilla city polls and Narsinghdi municipal by-polls into completely computer-based elections.

Main opposition BNP has been opposing the use of EVM in all elections since the EC began trialling them.

Uncertainty had loomed over their use in the elections after Kazi Rakib took over the EC in February though the government and the immediate-past EC had been firm on its use in the national elections.

The Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has been providing technical assistance to the EC in manufacturing and using the EVMs.

IICT Director Prof Lutful Kabir in March had told bdnews24.com that the new Election Commission was not paying 'proper attention' to the issue.

Other Election Commissioners had earlier hinted the Commission's confusion over the issue, but CEC Rakib on Sunday confirmed for the first time that the EC was not ready to use the EVMs in the parliamentary elections.

After taking oath as the CEC on Feb 15, Rakib on Feb 28 had said that the newly-formed Election Commission would again take the initiatives to hold dialogue with political parties to make the use of EVMs in the national polls acceptable to everyone.

But no initiatives have been taken since then.

The EVM are susceptible to fraud as its control unit cannot be fully secured from tampering, experts say, even though the government pumped huge money into the new technology to help voters cast their ballots electronically.

When the machines break down, voters can use provisional paper ballots, but there is scepticism over whether they will be counted.

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.

Inflation has come down in the first month of the new fiscal as prices of food fell, according to a new benchmark set by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

According to the latest figures it released on Sunday taking 2005-06 fiscal as the base year, prices rose in July at a rate of 5.21 percent.

But the inflation rate was at 8.03 percent in July as per the previous yardstick with 1995-96 fiscal counted as the base year. The price rises were 8.56 percent in June and 10.64 percent on average in the last fiscal, according to that base year.

BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal disclosed the latest inflation rate at a press conference at their headquarters at Agargaon.

According to him, food inflation stood at 6.30 percent and inflation in sectors other than food was 11.54 percent during the last fiscal, as per the previous benchmark.

On the other hand, the new estimate put food inflation at 2.23 percent and inflation in non-food sectors at 9.94 percent in the last fiscal.

This is the first time the BBS calculated rates of inflation with 2005-06 fiscal as the base year, according to which the inflation rate in June was 5.54 percent.

The rates of inflation in food and non-food sectors in June were 7.08 and 11.72 percent respectively with 1995-96 as the base year.

With 2005-06 as the base year, the food inflation in June was 2.56 percent and non-food inflation 10.2 percent.

In rural areas, the inflation rate in July was 7.71 percent taking the 1995-96 fiscal as base year. Food inflation in the rural areas in July was 5.84 percent and non-food inflation 11.76 percent.

With 2005-06 as the base year, the rate of inflation in rural areas was 4.84 percent. With the new yardstick, food inflation in the rural areas in Jul was 2.07 percent and non-food inflation 10.19 percent.

The rate of inflation in the urban areas in Jul was 8.85 percent with 1995-96 as the base year and 5.92 percent with 2005-06 as the base year.

According to the old estimate, food inflation in urban areas in July was 7.36 percent and non-food inflation 10.97 percent. But With 2005-06 as the base year, food inflation in urban areas in July was 2.62 percent and non-food inflation 9.59 percent.

"The rate of inflation went down following decrease in prices of some essentials, including rice. We have over 60 percent rural economy. It impacts much the rate of inflation if the price of rice comes down a little," the BBS Director General said.

BBS Director Satya Ranjan Mandal and Joint Director Abul Kalam Azad were also present in the conference.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said on Sunday Malaysia will submit a final proposal on the Padma bridge project in three weeks.

After meeting Malaysia's Special Envoy to South Asia on Infrastructure S Samy Vellu, Quader told reporters, "The Malaysian delegation has placed the concession agreement of the [Padma bridge] project on the costs during and afterwards the construction and how it will be returned."

He would not be drawn on the specifics of the concession agreement before the final proposal is in.

"There are some strategic problems if I talk about it," Quader added.

The meeting between the Communications Minister and a seven-strong Malaysian delegation, led by Vellu, began around 11:45am and ran for an hour.

The envoy also met Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Sunday noon on the proposal submitted on Jun 28 to build the Padma bridge.

But the Finance Minister declined to say anything about their meeting. He told reporters, "I won't say anything. The Communications Minister will say what is necessary."

Quader said the final proposal will be screened. "The evaluation committee headed by Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury will examine Malaysia's final proposal. Then it will be sent to the law ministry for vetting. The Cabinet will take the final decision about the proposal after that."

Though he did not say anything clearly about what the Malaysians proposed, the minister said the final proposal will be a 'win-win' one for both countries.

Asked whether the government has abandoned the idea of building the bridge with its own funding, Quader said, "The government has ditched the Cabinet's decision. But why would we say no if anybody wants to help?"

He also said the possibility of establishing a consortium, led by Bangladesh, to build the Padma bridge cannot be ruled out.

Asked whether the Malaysian envoy said anything about beginning the bridge's construction, Quader told reporters, "They want to begin the work within this year."

Earlier, Quader had told reporters that he will take iftar with the Malaysian envoy and have a second meeting with them at 3pm Monday.

Dhaka had contacted Kuala Lumpur to construct the 6.15-kilometre long Padma bridge, which would connect the capital with 16 districts of backward south-western region, after the Bangladesh government ran into a dispute with the World Bank.

The global lender in Jun 29 pulled out of the $2.9 billion project raising corruption allegations, throwing funds pledged by the other donors into uncertainty.

The governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia on Apr 10 signed a memorandum of understanding in Kuala Lumpur on cooperation in the construction of the bridge and associated facilities.

On May 28, a delegation of the Malaysian government, led by Samy Vellu, had submitted a proposal to the Communications Minister to build the country's largest infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) extended their loan deal for the project by a month last Wednesday after the government had written to the three other donors including Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to keep the funds available.

Of the proposed $2.9 billion project, the World Bank had agreed to provide $1.2 billion and ADB pledged $610 million. The Jeddah-based IDB is to provide $140 million and JICA said it would contribute $400 million in the project.

On Jul 1, Muhith in a press conference refuted the corruption charges the World Bank had levelled against the government in cancelling its loan and urged the global lender to review its decision.

The United States on Sunday said it was 'deeply concerned' about the decision of the Bangladesh government 'to give the government-appointed chairman of the Grameen Bank Board control over the selection of the bank's new managing director.'

"This move would diminish the role the largely female borrower-shareholders play in shaping the direction of an institution that has made a difference to millions of impoverished women in Bangladesh, and indeed around the world," said a press statement released by the Press Relations Office of the US Department of State.

The statement also referred to the visit the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made to Bangladesh in May, urging "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to take no actions that would undermine Grameen Bank."

"We are concerned that the latest actions by the government could threaten the future of the bank, which was founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus," said the statement issued by Acting Deputy Spokesperson of the Office of Press Relations Patrick Ventrell.

"We call on the Government of Bangladesh to respect the integrity, effectiveness, and independence of Grameen Bank.

"We urge the Bangladeshi Government to ensure transparency in the selection of a new managing director who has unquestioned integrity, competence, and dedication to preserving Grameen Bank, its unique governance structure, and its effectiveness in bringing development and hope to 8.3 million of Bangladesh's most vulnerable citizens, mostly women," read the statement.

The statement came after the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Aug 2 approved a draft of 'Grameen Bank Ordinance (Amendment) 2012' to change the legal provision for appointing Managing Director.

The government move is seen as an attempt to tighten its control over Grameen Bank by expanding the power of the government-appointed chairman to choose its Managing Director. Currently, that power resides with the bank's board of directors, which is made up of Yunus supporters.

The Cabinet also decided to investigate whether Yunus had enjoyed tax exemption in his stint as chief executive and how much money he made in salaries and allowances after he turned 60.

The central bank said in the past that he had violated retirement laws by failing to relinquish control at 60 but an official government enquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Since the bank was founded in 1983 through a martial law ordinance, Yunus had been its Managing Director. In 2006, he shared Nobel Peace Prize with the bank, prompting Bangladeshis, Hasina among them, to hail him despite criticisms over the loan recovery process of the bank through weekly instalments.

When a TV documentary showed in December 2010 that he had channelled Tk 7 billion aid meant for the Grameen Bank to a sister concern of the bank without informing the donor, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had called Yunus a 'bloodsucker of the poor'.

The 72-year old, who made an abortive foray into politics during the emergency rule and has been an outspoken government critic, made an appeal to the people to save the microlending institution after the Cabinet decision.

"I have been expressing my apprehension beforehand. Now my fear is becoming real. I'm very sad we couldn't succeed to stop the process," he said in a statement.

Yunus was questioned by the central bank for continuing in his job far beyond the retirement age for any executive in any such institution in Bangladesh. Yunus was nearly 71 when the Bangladesh Bank gave the notice in March 2011.

He went to the court and lost a series of legal battles, finally in the Supreme Court, eventually losing his hold on the institution.

Following his removal, the government refused to bow down to pressure from US and international donor organisations to reappoint Yunus. It also ruled out a proposal to form a committee, led by Yunus, to look for a new Managing Director.

In February this year, opposition BNP said Hasina ridiculed Yunus by proposing him as the World Bank chief in a meeting with a delegation of European MPs in Dhaka.

Yunus, who counts Hillary, former US President Bill Clinton, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Ireland President Mary Robinson, among his many friends, refused the idea.

Speaking on BBC's HARDtalk last week, Hasina denied allegations that her government had forced Yunus out of his role in Grameen Bank after he tried to float an independent political party in 2007.

Her claim that the bank charged 30-45 percent interest was contested by the bank on Jul 31. The Bank said it charged 7 percentage points less interest than the government-fixed ceiling and that her remark was 'inconsistent with actual figures'.

Usain Bolt defended his 100m title in stunning style, winning Sunday's final in an Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds.

The Jamaican, who holds the world record, finished ahead of countryman and world champion Yohan Blake and American Justin Gatlin in arguably the marquee event of the Olympics.

He has become the first sprinter since American track and field legend Carl Lewis to defend an Olympic 100-metre title.

Bolt, who also owns the world record of 9.58 seconds, did not start well; he came into the Olympics having struggled with injuries this season.

But he surged away from Blake and Gatlin from the halfway stage to run the second-fastest time in history in front of an 80,000-capacity crowd.
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Seven of the eight finalists ran under 10 seconds in what was the fastest Olympic 100m final ever.

Blake, who is Bolt's training partner and had beaten the triple gold medallist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Jamaican trials, ran a personal best 9.75.

Gatlin, the 2004 gold medallist who was given a four-year doping ban, also set a new personal best of 9.79 as he took the bronze.

The third Jamaican in the men's 100 field, Asafa Powell, who held the world record from 2005 until 2008, pulled up injured during the race, finishing in 11.99secs.

Bolt will now bid to complete an unprecedented double-double by retaining his 200 metres title and will also seek a sixth sprint gold in the 4x100metres relay.

Compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also retained her women's title to give Jamaica a flying start in their sprint showdown with the United States.