Unplanned embankment poses threat to river
The ongoing construction of an embankment on the Sandhya river in Barishal has sparked outrage among locals who believe the structure will damage the river crucial to their livelihoods. Locals in Banaripara
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
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Introduce countrywide rationing system'
Leaders of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) yesterday submitted a memorandum to the food adviser urging introduction of countrywide rationing system, extending OMS programme and establishing a state buffer stock of essential items to rein in price spiral. Terming the food situation a very alarming, the LDF said a syndicate of crooked hoarders and businessmen hiked the prices of food grains when the government stock was very inadequate and, thus, bagged a huge benefit.
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Govt to amend fisheries policy
The government has taken initiatives to amend the existing fisheries policy for making the water bodies suitable for fish production. Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Livestock and Fishery Resources Ministry Manik Lal Samaddar said this at a view exchange meeting with a delegation of Jatiya Matshyajibi Samity at his ministry yesterday. The delegation said various species of fish are on the verge of extinction, as the existing policy is not favourable for the expansion of fish resources. They urged the government to lease out jalmahals to genuine fishermen.
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Continue feeding extreme poor
Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Chairman Dr Akbar Ali Khan yesterday urged the government to continue feeding the extreme poor despite good prospect of boro harvest. "The country needs adequate quantity of food stock. In addition, there should be food arrangement for the extreme poor, as they won't be able to buy food at whatever may be the level of price,' he told reporters at the RRC office. Dr Akbar Ali said, "The government also needs to create employment opportunities for them (extreme poor).'
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Climate change pact on troubled path
Agreement on a new climate change treaty could run the risk of failure at talks in Copenhagen next year if governments do not narrow their differences, a top UN environmental official said yesterday. The result of this month's talks in Bangkok to discuss commitments to a road map for battling global warming did not bode well in the run-up to the 2009 meeting, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
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TB infection rate 20 times higher among prisoners: Study
The rate of being affected by Tuberculosis (TB) among the prisoners is 20 times higher than the rate among general population, a study said yesterday. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) conducted the study in Dhaka Central Jail. The study led by Dr Sayera Banu, associate scientist of ICDDR,B screened some 12,464 prisoners in Dhaka Jail. It further found that 22 percent of prisoners who were found negative in TB screening in the jail laboratory were later found positive when ICDDR,B screened their sputum through 'culture' technology.
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Gas emission near B'baria field threatens people, ecology
Emission of natural gas through thousands of holes at Shyampur and Anandapur villages, Loiska Beel and Titas riverbed from Bakail and Shuhilpur areas near Brahmanbaria Titas Gas Field is posing threat to people and environment. A number of small holes that emerged three years ago have now expanded into big ones and the problem is gradually affecting new areas. As a remedy for the situation, authorities in early February this year completed killing of dilapidated well No 3 of Brahmanbaria Titas Gas Field but emission of gas through holes in the nearby areas has continued.
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Food prices and the nature of government
AMID the intense suffering and pain generated by food inflation, our understanding of its causes is getting murkier. This issue is, predictably but unfortunately, getting increasingly politicised. Any sound and sustainable solution requires a sound understanding of the issue. Food inflation is now a macro and global phenomenon. Global price developments are pushing food prices higher all over the world. But vocal and populist, and often fact-free, debates at home are suggesting otherwise.
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Boro on 1000 acres dying as irrigation canal leased out
Prospect of Irri-Boro on over 1,000 acres of land in Kamalapur union under Patuakhali Sadar upazila has become bleak as the lands cannot be irrigated as the canal running through the fields has been leased to some influential people. The lessees have built seven dams in the canal, obstructing its flow, sources said. "We went to the local union parishad chairman several times to resolve the problem but to no effect,' farmer Shahjahan Sikder told this correspondent.
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Govt to increase food storage capacity
The government is going to construct new warehouses and repair old ones soon to enhance the storage capacity of food, Food and Disaster Management Adviser A M M Shawkat Ali said yesterday. The initiative has been taken up since the existing storage capacity will not be enough to store the targeted amount of food grains.
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Reasons for soaring prices
AND all nations came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain because everywhere the famine was severe:" Genesis 41:57 The Old Testament. The World Bank chief, Robert Zoellick, recently said that the demand for ethanol, droughts in Australia and Europe, financial market speculation, and increased demand for food due to rising incomes in China and India, has significantly contributed to "soaring" food prices around the world.