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CITIZENS' COMMITTEE COLLECTS SIGNATURE
Menon decries move against
national interest
Holiday Report
Bangladesher Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, warned Wednesday of a greater movement if the government takes any step against country's interest, such as transfer of the management of ports and airports to aliens.
'A greater movement would be built up if the government tries to hand over the management of Zia International Airport and Chittagong seaport to foreigners,' he said addressing his party's Gazipur district-unit conference, ahead of their national congress.
The Workers Party is in the national coalition of protestors now in movement against leasing out gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal to foreign companies. Meanwhile, the citizens committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports in its mass contact programme has initiated a countrywide signature campaign on November 1.
The programme was formally launched on that day at the Dhaka central Sheed Minar where people from all sections of life put their signature in protest against government move to handover offshore gas blocs to international oil companies.
Engineer M Shahidullah, Coordinatotr and Professor Anu Mahmud, member secretary of the citizen's committee were present to collect signatures. The next phase of signature collection will begin at district level from November 10.
"Meanwhile, we will organise rallies at district and divisional head-quarters before the Eid and continue mass contact meetings at Upazila and union level during this month" said Professor Anu Mahmud.
According to the programme decided in the national convention last month the citzen's committee will organise mass-pledge at all the Shaheed Minars throughout the country on December 16 coinciding with the victory day.
They will also organise a human chain from Tekhnaf to Tetulia on January 12 that would follow a Dhaka march from five different directions to pressurise the government concede to their demands.
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Inter- University Research Proposal Writing Competition held at IUB
Holiday Report
The final round of the IUB-NCC Bank interuniversity research proposal writing competition and award giving ceremony was held at its Bashundhara campus on on 31st of October 2009.
The final gala round was preceded by a day long workshop on writing proposals and a preliminary round of presentations which resulted in six finalists being selected for the finals.
The proposal from M. Rashedur Rahman Khan, Mashrur Hasan Khan and Asif Javed Rahman, of IBA was adjudged the best winning a cash prize of 15,000. The group proposed to study Dhaka city's traffic with photogrammetry.
The first runner up was the DU Finance team of Saimum Hossain, Maria Hossain and Badhan Mazumder who proposed a study related to SME Finance. The second runner up team of Sadia Musarrat Choudhury, Ridwan Karim and Asifa Zaman from IBA proposed to conduct a research on IT firms going public.
The chief guest Mr. A Hafiz Choudhury, FCA, Chairman of ESTCDT, appreciated the efforts of the participants and highlighted the need for knowing how to write a formal proposal. NCC Bank DMD Mr. Golam Hafiz spoke of the importance of business-university linkage established through these types of competitions. Professor M. Omar Ahmed, Pro Vice Chancellor, IUB, in his remarks underlined the need for research to be focused and highlight the value addition it makes to society. Prof Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor, IUB, appreciated the interest among the participants in this kind of an event.
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CANDID THOUGHTS
Mohiuddin Babar
It was like a devil's feast at Tongi near Dhaka on Sunday last. There has been a volcanic eruption of violence in the readymade garments sector based on grievances of the workers over non-payment of wages. The epicentre was the Nippon Garments factory situated in the vibrant industrial outreach of the capital. Three people were killed while hundred others were injured in pitched battles between the agitating workers and law enforcers. It was lucky that the riotous situation did not spread anywhere else which, if happened, could have caused serious damages to lives and property. It could have also adversely affected the image of the country's RMG's sector which has already been reeling under pressure on alleged charges of abuses of workers, low wages and unhygienic working conditions in factories.
The incident at the Nippon Garments took place as the workers ventilated their anger and frustration at the closure of the factory and non payment of arrear wages. The factory owners said that they had to lay off the workers because they ran out of business orders due to global economic recession. The club of the apparel manufacturers, BGMEA, has also sounded notes to justify the reason.
Following the Tongi incident, the government has promptly announced the introduction of trade unionism in the RMG sector. It has constituted a high powered committee headed by a member of parliament who himself is a garment factory owner. It is said that had trade unionism been active, such unfortunate incidents would not have occurred. However, one may contest this belief given the history of the trade unionism in this country. Past records indicate that trade unions in different establishments including banks, industries have been thoroughly politicized and therefore, the real value of the workers rights and benefits were never reached. The union leaders have been the only beneficiaries who mostly capitalized on the innocence and ignorance of the common workers.
Given the fact that trade unionism in this country has inherited a bad legacy of bitter, harmful and counter productive experiences, it would be wise and befitting that charters are framed to allow true trade union practices in the country. Experts opine that the existing industrial and trade union laws have a lot of loopholes and need to be thoroughly recast to ensure that the rights of the workers are well protected and the legitimate interests of the owners/management are duly safeguarded. The current laws have a lot of scopes for politicization of the unions and abuse of power. Similarly, the absence of trade union rights tends to provide scopes to owners to exploit and deceive the workers. Such a situation is unlikely to bring anything good to the industry and keep the wheel of productivity running. Bangladesh is a signatory to the ILO conventions which stipulate organising trade unions in the industrial and commercial establishments. But as mentioned, there should not be any more negligence and necessary reforms are made and implemented forthwith. Steps should be taken urgently otherwise the devils may continue to seize another opportunity to feast.
Babar.mohiuddin@gmail.com
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Malaysian Insurance Associateship Course examination held in Dhaka
Holiday Report
Bangladesh Insurance Association jointly with Malaysian Insurance Institute held the Associateship examination in Dhaka. 25 senior level executives from life and non-life insurance including Sadharan Bima Corporation appeared at the examination.
Bangladesh Insurance Academy and Malaysian Insurance Institute earlier signed a memorandum of understanding for conducting the Associateship course( AMII Course) which is recognised as one of the highest degree in global insurance market.
MS Wahida Shariffi and Ms Selvi of Malaysian Insurance Institute came to Dhaka to conduct the examination,says a press release.
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Bangladeshi journo wins int'l award
Holiday Report
Raihan M Chowdhury, Special Correspondent of The Financial Express has been awarded the Developing Asia Journalism Awards (DAJA) 2009.
His article 'facing the natural disasters' published July 15 last was adjudged 'first runner-up' in a category of Tokyo-based DAJA award.
The announcement of the final winners were made at the awards dinner and ceremony held in Tokyo recently.
There were 14 prizes among the 22 finalists for the four thematic categories in this year's DAJA competition initiated by Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). The winners were selected from more than 200 entries from across ADB's developing member countries by a distinguished panel of four independent judges
Raihan earlier won the Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) award in 2006.
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