11 January 2015 • FIRST NEWS

Transcription

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From the Editor
T
Editor: Mohammad Badrul Ahsan
Managing Editor: Bashir Ahmed
Assistant Editor: Shaily Fatima
News Team: Monowar Hossain (Consultant
Economic Editor), Sabrina Islam, Tanmoy
Khan, Jobaid Alam, Muhtasim Billah,
Zahidur Rahman, Sadik Sagar Rahman
and Naureen Fatima Hossain
Copy Editors: Maksudul Haider
Choudhury, and Mahmud Kibria
Correspondents: Chittagong, Khulna,
Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Narsingdi,
Bogra, Mymensingh, Dinajpur, Rangamati,
Sirajganj, and Cox’s Bazar
Overseas Correspondents: Tahmina Kabir
(Washington DC), Sadia Sultana (Beijing),
Minnoo Chatterjee (Mumbai), Dr. Arindam
Banik (Delhi) and Mahadeo Mudras (Dubai)
Photo Department: Jamil Ahmed &
Mozammel Huq
Art, Design, Production, & Illustrations:
Ideamax Creatives Limited, (a concern of
Unitrend Limited)
Art Editor: Zeaul Ahsan Shamim
Graphic Design: Md. Mahedi Hassan
Published by the Editor on behalf of
Radiant Publications Limited and printed
from Ogro Printing & Packaging Industry,
2 DIT Avenue (extension), Dhaka-1000
Editorial, News, & Commercial Offices:
House No. 52, Road No. 7/A,
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Telephone: 8191485-6, 01712193344
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Website: www.firstnewsmagazine.com
All rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or part without written permission
is prohibited. Some of the photos are
sourced from the Internet
wo women are raped in India every 60 minutes and when a college girl
in Delhi was raped inside a moving bus on the night of December 16,
2012, her ordeal lasted for 30 minutes. By the time her assailants were
finished with her, another poor victim was getting ready to complete the hour
unless she was raped already. In every country of the world, some men turn
into monsters with clockwork rigidity. Bangladesh is not exception to that
despicable rule.
When the Delhi girl was being raped, men spiked their lust with fury. One
of the rapists testified he saw ropelike objects being pulled out of the girl by
other assailants, which happened to be her intestines. It is hard to tell what
those men looked for in their victim's body. If they looked for pleasure, then
why did they have to be so brutal? They wanted to rip up their victim in the
manner wayward children smash their toys while playing. It is a bad comparison I know, because a girl's body should never be a plaything. Neither should
the gravity of that crime be downplayed as childish.
Yet the analogy brings out the stupidity of the whole thing. May be stupidity is not the right word for it. I do not know which word can adequately
capture the cruelty when men in their libidinal excitement forget that their
victims are also human beings.
No matter how the socio-biologists may want to explain it, rape has nothing to do with their upbringing, economic class, academic background or
social standing. It has to do with the wiring of such men. They salivate at the
sight of women like Pavlov's dog does at the ring of bell.
The Code of Hammurabi is one of the first set of written laws that defined
ravishing of a virgin as property damage against her father; no consideration
for the victim. An eminent 19th century gynecologist Dr. Lawson Tait concluded that a woman could not be violated without her agreement. He is the
father of this notorious logic that a moving needle cannot be threaded.
The clear difference between rape and sex is that which exists in a house
between intruder and guest. The body is an individual's most private place.
That body no longer has to belong to a female, because male victims are also
coming to surface. The FBI in the US for the first time changed its definition of
rape. It now includes sexual assaults on males.
One of the ironies of history is that men have always looked for excuses
to excuse themselves. In the 13th century, the Saxon Law laid out the severity
of punishment depending on whether a woman raped was a virgin, a wife,
a widow, a nun, or a woman of disrepute. Many US states followed that principle well into the 1980s. Until 1998, Mississippi held that rape of an "impure"
woman was not statutory rape.
Hundreds of years later it still remains a mystery. If courtesy demands
one must knock before entering a room, or ask for permission to use a telephone in a stranger's house, what inner compass guides the souls of men
who rejoice in taking a woman's body by force in the 21st century?
In Laurie Halse Anderson's book “Speak”, a victim asks if she was raped
in the head because she could not stop thinking about it. Living victims suffer
more. The ordeal repeats itself inside their moving bodies, killing them many
times before their death. Many of them surely wonder how any man formed
in his mother’s womb could dishonor another woman made in her image.
Volume: V, Number: 26; For the Week
11 January - 17 January 2015,
released on 10 January 2015
Cover Design: Zeaul Ahsan Shamim
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan
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In this Issue
Cover Story
Living
The Havoc of
28 Lust
Rape is unequal sex between two individuals when the ecstasy of one becomes injury to
another, and it is a storm that brews in the groin of man and lashes out in his head, when
the dust of lust blinds his soul, and he stoops lower than a beast
Trains
42 Sleeper
Put to Sleep
Deutsche Bahn has discontinued the night
train service between Paris and Berlin as a
precursor to a similar decision pending for
other European routes, citing mounting losses
Nation in the News
20 The Gas Factor
Garment factories, which are relocating from
the city to the outskirts, are facing problems
and their operation remains stalled due to
shortage of gas supply
Around the World
Down
22 Turning
Legion of Honor
Country’s star economist and bestselling
author turned down top honor because he
does not believe that the government should
decide who is honorable
47
Big Scientific
Breakthroughs
in 2015
Last year saw several significant scientific
discoveries and 2015 is already looking
promising to open new frontiers
Leisure
24 Top of the List
Nigerians dominate the list of African
billionaires, including the continent’s
wealthiest man and the world’s richest woman
Business & Finance
Up the
38 Making
Shortfall
Two scam-hit banks, BASIC and Sonali, have
sought BDT15 billion in recapitalization funds
from the government to meet their capital
shortfall
4
54 Remembering
Raj Kapoor
Last December 14, was the 90th birth
anniversary of the legendary actor, the first
Indian sensation outside India
6 More Than Words
8 Spoken at Home
12 Fun Facts
13Letter
14 Periscope
Premier
Bank
AD
5
More than Words
Photo of the Week
“Peace is always possible
but we have to seek it. Let us
pray for peace.”
Pope Francis has urged people
of all religions and cultures
during the service at St Peter’s
Basilica to mark the Roman
Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace
"I wish they had spoken to
me first. I would've told them,
'do not get into a pattern in
which you are intimidated
by these kinds of criminal
attacks.'"
US president Barack Obama on the
withdrawing of the comedy movie “The
Interview” by Sony Pictures after terrorist
threats to cinemagoers
“Depending on the mood and
circumstances to be created,
we have no reason not to hold
the highest-level talks.”
North Korean leader Kim JongUn in his new year message
proposed the “highest-level”
talks with South Korea, opening the way to a
historic summit between two countries
“I would like to congratulate
the Afghan nation that today
our security forces have
become successful in defending sovereignty and taking
full security responsibility.”
Courtesy: The Telegraph
Firefighters work to put out the fire of a storage oil tank at the port of Es Sider in Ras
Lanuf. Oil tanks at Es Sider have been on fire for days after a rocket hit one of them,
destroying more than two days of Libyan production, officials said on Sunday. Libya has
appealed to Italy, Germany and the United States to send firefighters.
Epidemiology
of Obesity
A Lancet study
estimated the
number of overweight adults in
the world was 2.1
billion in 2013
The rate of
obesity also
increases with
age at least
up to 50 or 60
years old
The number
of overweight
adults in
1980 was
857 million
Cartoon of the Week
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani
called on army and police to defend the
country from the Taliban, hours after 20 wedding guests were killed by a mortar bomb
fired during fighting between Afghan forces
and insurgents
"A new constitution could be
drafted as per the calendar
if parties gave up their rigid
attitude."
Nepal prime minister Sushil
Koirala has asked all political
parties in the country to abandon their rigidity and show flexibility for the
timely promulgation of a new constitution
6
Courtesy: Chicago Tribune
A black person is killed extra-judicially every 28 hours in the United States, and based on data
from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, young blacks are 4.5 times more likely to
be killed by police than any other age or racial group. African-Americans have comprised 26
percent of police shootings though they only make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, based
on data covering from 1999 to 2011.
7
Spoken at Home
Khaleda Zia is a Good Actor and a
Dancer
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said that BNP chairperson Khaleda
Zia is a good actor who locked up herself to her own party office
and then claimed that she was confined. Hasina quipped, “We
have seen many dramas and there is no dearth of dramas in
Bangladesh.” She added, “Television channels air good dramas
and it seems they have missed out a good actor.” The prime
minister further said that she would like to ask the channels
why they were not giving an opportunity to such a fine actor
who also is a good dancer because the BNP leader used
to perform dances while she was a schoolgirl.
Khaleda to
Become Minus
Soon
Awami League joint
general secretary Mahbubul
Alam Hanif has warned that
BNP chairperson Khaleda
Zia would become minus
in no time. He addressed
the BNP leader when he
said at the Balaka Square
in Motijheel, “You will
become minus due to your
comments and misdeeds
of your son.” Hanif also
said, “Yesterday you
expressed the concern
that we are trying to minus
you. But you must know
this minus formula has not
been developed by Awami
League but by you alone.”
Ershad is a “Fiendish Razakar”
BNP’s joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi
has called Jatiya Party chairman Hussein Muhammad
Ershad a “fiendish razakar.” He said at a press briefing
held at his party office in Nayapaltan on December 3
that while this government is holding trial of crimes
against humanity committed in 1971, Ershad was the
chief of the tribunal that tried Bengali army officers
who were caught in their bids to
escape from Pakistan. Rizvi
also added that Ershad had
usurped power from democratically elected president
Abdus Sattar and had
sacked many freedom
fighter officers from the
force. He said it seemed
to him that even Tikka
Khan could become a
friend of Awami League
if he only criticized Ziaur
Rahman and his family.
The “Dog-like” Leaders
Relief and disaster management minister Mofazzal
Hossain Chowdhury Maya claimed that no good politician should associate with BNP chairperson Khaleda
Zia. The minister said those who would stay close to
the BNP leader must be terrorist, extremist, “dog-like”
thieves and robbers. Maya was speaking at an antihartal rally in front of Awami League central office at
Bangabandhu Avenue and he added that those BNP
leaders who do not participate in subversive activities also maintain secret link with Awami League.
He termed Jamaat-e-Islami activists as “dogs” and
accused Khaleda Zia of leading the pack.
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People Have No
Rights
Even 43 years after
independence the plunderers still rule the country,
said Gonoforum president
Dr. Kamal Hossain. He
then added that there is
nothing called rights left for
the people of this country.
The eminent jurist also
complained that at the
same time those who are
running the country have
become detached from
the people. The politicians, he resented, have
no respect for the opinion
of the citizens and they
have even lost the capacity to listen to the people.
Dr. Hossain was speaking
at the National Press Club
when he also observed that
those who are in power are
flashing the “V” sign with
their fingers after plundering the banks and the share
market.
9
Spoken at Home
The Whole Country is Confined
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has called for indefinite
blockade in the country after police prevented her from
leaving her Gulshan office on January 5 where she was
confined since the previous night. She asked the people
to enforce the blockade and told journalists that it was
not only she but the whole country was placed under
confinement. Khaleda proposed for a dialogue to discuss how to hold fresh polls and added that one could
tell on whose side the people are only if she could
hold a rally. She also said that her party only wanted
to hold a rally but the government did not allow them
to make it happen. She asked what the real reason
was behind this resistance from the government.
Khaleda also asked what kind of protection the
government was providing by abruptly detaining
her from time to time.
The Game to Start from
January 5
Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, advisor to the
BNP chairperson, warned that the movement for
restoration of democracy would commence from
January 5. He said that this January 5 would be
a completely different ballgame and the game
would start on that day if BNP were not being
allowed to hold the public rally as planned. He
also threatened that dire consequences would
wait for this government if it failed to take quick
measures to sit for a dialogue. Hossain was
speaking at the National Press Club when he gave
his comments.
Laxmindar’s Bridal
Chamber
JAGPA president Shafiul Alam Prodhan
believes that another mass uprising has commenced on the soil of Bengal, and the oppressive government will not be safe even if it
hides inside the impervious bridal chamber of
Laxmindar. He said at a rally of JAGPA Chhatra
League protesting the confinement of BNP
chairperson in her Gulshan office that the nation
that could face the Pakistani canons would not
cower before the threats of Hindustani razakars.
He asked the students in the rally to prepare
themselves for another struggle like the independence struggle of 1971.
10
The Fruits of
History
Jatiya Party chairman Hussein Muhammad
Ershad has said that the
BNP chairperson has been
reaping the fruits of history.
He said that it was Khaleda
Zia who had started the
politics of vengeance. He
also added that he was
wrongly sent to jail and
allowed to see his wife and
child only once a month.
Now luck should have it
that Khaleda’s two sons are
living in two different countries and she has not seen
them for a long time and
nobody knows when she
will be able to see them
again. Ershad said history
is very cruel and it does
not spare anyone. Ershad
made his remarks at the
29th founding anniversary
rally of his party held at the
Suhrawardi Uddyan.
IDLE MIND
by SYED BADRUL AHSAN
Our War for Democracy
in Our Thermopylae
L
et us face it. In the interest of
saving democracy, everyone
seems to be doing everything to
render it comatose. In the name of
democracy, young supporters and
fans of the ruling Awami League take
to the streets even as the police make
sure that the equally youthful followers
of the opposition BNP are kept at
bay. In the name of democracy, the
government has truckloads of bricks
and sand blocking the gates to the
office of the BNP chairperson. In the
name of democracy, Begum Khaleda
Zia decrees a countrywide blockade,
caring little about the danger such
desperation puts citizens’ lives into.
In the name of democracy, a ruling party politician enlightens us with
the revelation that all those trucks
before Begum Zia’s office have been
placed there by the BNP itself, for purposes of a renovation of the premises.
In the name of democracy, Ekushey
Television does the unwise thing of
propagating the untruths of Tarique
Rahman and in order for democracy
to be saved, the minister for information has the country know that
the chairman of Ekushey has been
arrested on charges of involvement in
pornography. In the name of democracy, the BNP’s loquacious acting secretary general and his followers storm
the National Press Club and, fortified
by the presence of pro-BNP and proJamaat newsmen, spend the night
there, until in the name of democracy
they are compelled to leave the place.
The need to save democracy has
the police pick up the BNP acting secretary general and detain him. For the
sake of democracy, BNP men indulge
in happy mayhem across the country, torching vehicles, stoning policemen and driving fear into the hearts
of citizens.
Everything, you will note, is happening because everyone involved
has the spirit of democracy lighting
up his or her heart. And, of course,
democracy means different things
to different people. Democracy is
a diversity of ideas and action. For
the ruling Awami League, democracy was preserved and its continuity ensured through the general election of January a year ago. For the
BNP, which was more interested in
its blockade and hartal agitation last
year, democracy died a sad death
because it did not participate in the
electoral process. The BNP’s version
of democracy is an election, overseen
by a caretaker administration, that will
catapult it to power once again.
For the Awami League, the caretaker system is a dead horse giving off
a bad odor and, therefore, to be cast
to the winds and to the elements. The
Begum would like an election now,
for the very understandable reason
that for her and her party the years outside power have been years wasted.
For Sheikh Hasina and her party, there
is no way in which the BNP ought to
come back to high office after all the
misdemeanors it has committed in its
years in office and on the streets.
And there you have it, this boundless enthusiasm for a democratic
order in the country. People suffer in
the hospitals because the blockade
prevents a regular check-up for them.
Schools, colleges and universities,
all bubbling with youthful ambition
of future service to the country, must
shut their gates because the chaos
of democracy must be given right of
the way. Traders must not complain
if they cannot send their produce to
the towns and cities because Begum
Zia tells us her blockade will emanci-
pate the nation in ways she feels comfortable with. Long haul buses and
launches and trains must stay put, for
the bigger need for the country is saving democracy.
Why should one be unduly worried if citizens cannot travel, if they
are stranded somewhere and cannot reach their destinations in good
time? You see, in all this epic battle
to ensure the survival and success of
democracy, a war being conducted
with ardor by the two principal political parties of the country, the people
of the country must not spoil things by
demanding that this grand struggle be
put to an end.
Every political struggle is waged,
in every corner of the globe, in the
interest of citizens’ welfare. The BNP
wages battle to wrest back power
from those who pushed it out of it.
The Awami League does all it can to
make sure that its opponents come
nowhere near the citadels of political authority. This seeking and retention of power is all part of democracy,
a point the naive people of this land
should comprehend clearly if they
wish to have a better collective life for
themselves in future.
So what if the son of the BNP
chairperson goes asinine in his understanding of history? So what if a leader
of the Chhatra League threatens to
beat up senior leaders of the BNP
in public? It is all part of the power
game. And power is all about saving
democracy in this tortured land. It is
all about ensuring more of the same in
terms of what we have come by thus
far. For the BNP, democracy is a matter of saving its friends, the war criminals, from the gallows. For the ruling
party, democracy is a simple matter
of pulling up those who have had little shame in rehabilitating the killers
of 1971.
And thus the struggle goes on. In
order to save democracy, citizens will
die or end up in hospitals, burning
vehicles will illuminate the night sky,
maddening screams will rend the air
--- until one army of warriors vanquishes the other in this our medieval yet
post-modern battle of Thermopylae.■
Syed Badrul Ahsan is the Associate
Editor of The Daily Observer
11
Fun Facts
Origin of the Word
“Freelance”
The word first appeared in Sir Walter
Scott’s novel Ivanhoe in 1819. The word
was originally two words – free and lance.
Scott coined the words to mean mercenary
soldiers; that is, free men who used their
skills with lances for any person who hired
them. The people who hired the free lances
were generally noblemen or feudal lords
who needed extra hands to fight for land or
property. Gradually the two words became one word
freelance, and it was used only as a noun. It was not
till the early twentieth century that the word became
a verb as well. How the word came to mean a person
who sells his work or services is not clear, but it was
not seen in this sense till about 60-70 years ago.
The Radium Girls
Not knowing the dangerousness
of radium, the women would routinely lick their brushes to give them
a fine point when applying the paint
to the dials of watches and clocks.
They also sometimes painted their
nails and other body parts with
the glow-in-the-dark varnish. Many
developed medical problems related to radium poisoning. The most
common ill-effect was a condition known as “Radium
Jaw,” which involved necrosis of the jaw and bleeding
of the gums, later leading to tumors. In the mid-1920s,
five “Radium Girls” sued the company running the
United States Radium Factory in New Jersey, where
they had all worked.
Monarch Who was Elected
Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria, who
ruled from 1943 to 1946 as a child,
was overthrown after the WWII. In
2001, he was elected prime minister
of Bulgaria. Simeon is the only monarch to become the head of government through democratic elections in
European history. As of 2014, Simeon
is one of the three last living heads of
state from World War II (the others
are former King Michael of Romania
and Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
of Tibet), the only living person who
has borne the title "Tsar", and one
of only two monarchs in history to have become the
head of government through democratic elections
(Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia is the other).
Compiled by: Naureen Fatima Hossain
12
Famous People, Funny Stories
For all of his intellectual confidence,
however, Jean-Paul Sartre had one enduring
weakness: crustaceans. As a child, Sartre
was scared by a painting of a claw coming
up out of the ocean, attempting to grab a
person. Thereafter, Sartre had an obsessive Jean-Paul Sartre
fear of crustaceans and other sea creatures.
His fear was so intense that he once had a
panic attack after getting into the water of
the Riviera with his long-time love, Simone
de Beauvoir. He believed that a giant
octopus would rise up from the dark depth
of the water and drag him to his death. On
another occasion, after consuming a mind- Simone de
Beauvoir
altering drug, Sartre had visions of lobsters
following him everywhere he went.
Arthur Schopenhauer took the perspective that he belonged to no place and to no
person and included his birthplace, Danzig,
Germany. Schopenhauer’s pessimism and
personality led him to fill his human need for
companionship with pet poodles. Starting in Arthur
his schooldays and not ending until his death, Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer kept a flow of poodles, all of
which had the same name, Atma, and the
same nickname, Butz. The oddity of calling
all of his poodles by the same name was
intended as a compliment, because the word
“Atma” is a Hindu concept developed in the
Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit meaning “inner Danzig, Germany
self,” or the transcendent soul.
Before British rock singer Rod Stewart
charmed audiences with his musical
talent, he worked as a gravedigger at
Highgate Cemetery in London during his
teens. According to Rod Stewart: The New
Biography, Stewart hoped that working at the Rod Stewart
cemetery would rationalize his fear of dying.
He had suffered from nightmares about
death from a very early age and so thought,
as an impressionable teenager, that perhaps
getting as close as he could to death, actually
Highgate
digging out holes to be filled by real bodies,
Cemetery
he could rid himself of that fear.
Hollywood actor Christopher Walken
was influenced by his mother's own dreams
of stardom. He dropped out of college after
one year, having gotten the role of Clayton
Dutch Miller on an Off-Broadway revival of
Christopher
Best Foot Forward, co-starring with Liza
Walken
Minnelli, who played Ethel Hofflinger. At
the age of fifteen, Walken joined a traveling circus and was briefly a lion tamer.
He's modest about his lion-taming days, He
claims Sheba, the lion, was very old and
"really more like a dog.”
Liza Minnelli
Letter
The Inhospitable Hospital
December 28, 2014
“
How sad it feels to see the country’s largest healthcare facility lying in neglect
while majority of its population suffers from inadequacy or unavailability of this
essential service. Fortunately, there have been established similar public health
education and care facilities in other divisional headquarters of the country to
cater to the need of the masses. But, unfortunately, they have also started to get
afflicted with the same administrative inertia and indifference, more or less.
Why must the public institutions, whether healthcare and education or trade
and industry be made to suffer while some private enterprises run by similar or
same people often set shining examples of efficiency?
Corruption is continuously eating into the vitals of the public sector but little
is being done to correct the anomalies. Private healthcare facilities cannot be
any match to the huge public establishments in length and breadth and service
capacity. Even specialized treatments can be provided from there in greater
volume at an affordable cost. Only if there is the strong political will to turn
things around!
”
Mohammad Musa, Anderkilla, Chittagong
Grip of
Mediocrity
Whether Dhaka had ever
been ascribed as a city of
joy like Kolkata in literature
is not known, but it had
certainly been a city of abiding peace. Of course, joy is
derived from peace! Dhaka
being the capital of a newly
independent state, population influx and infrastructural
expansion have been quite
natural. This required a
visionary planning, but in
absence of that the obvious occurred haphazardly
and overwhelmingly to an
unmanageable proportion.
However, problems come
up in every city and it is
municipal corporations that
are given the responsibility of
managing the cities. Dhaka
City Corporation had been
assigned the huge task of
managing the ever congesting and sprawling capital.
But it was not performing well. The authorities
Absolute Hold!
Insurance is like many other businesses in this
country. Businessmen make profit, and more profit, if
possible. So it is no wonder “many of the insurance companies in the country are flouting regulations appointing
more than two members from the same family to their
boards” (All in the Family, December 21). One might ask,
when there is no discipline anywhere in the country, why
should we expect it in the insurance industry?
But when there is no discipline, anarchy will set in,
and anarchy will eventually hurt progress. Those running insurance companies need to rein in their aberrations in the interest of their own industry.
Kasim Uddin Talukder, Tikatuly, Dhaka
thought splitting it into two
might bring some solution
perhaps. They did not go
for resolving its inherent
problems like, inefficiency,
exploitation, and overall
corruption. Now, “splitting of
Dhaka City Corporation into
two halves …. turned life in
the nation’s capital into a
nightmare getting worse by
the day” (A City without Joy,
December 28). Should we
not get relieved from the grip
of mediocrity ever?
Rafiqul Haque,
Lalmatia, Dhaka
Protector is
Predator?
However much we
express our concern about
the environment in government advertisement,
media reports and writings,
academic discussions and
seminars, we are not truly
serious. The forests are get-
ting depleted, not to speak of
small patches of woods here
and there in the country. We
have not even spared the
world heritage site and our
pride, the Sunderbans. Over
the decades, settlements
have encroached upon parts
of it, poachers have killed
its precious wildlife, while
unscrupulous exploiters and
smugglers have miserably
damaged and disturbed its
natural resources and sanctuaries. Little containment
and replenishment of these
damages has taken place.
Now “the government’s
decision to build the Rampal
power plant ….. is going to
destroy the world’s largest
mangrove forest and cost
its status as a world heritage site” (The Endangered
Forest, December 21).
Where to go when the
protector turns predator!
God save us from our own
greedy hands!
Rukhsana Mondol,
Khalispur, Khulna
Write to us. Letters to the Editor must include writer’s full name and address, and may be edited for purposes of clarity or space.
Email to [email protected] or fax to 8802-8191484
13
Periscope
Kyle Haywood Appointed Managing Director and
CEO of Biman Bangladesh
Sharifunnaher
K
yle Haywood, a British national and an
accomplished commercial aviation professional
takes over as the managing director and CEO of
Biman Bangladesh Airlines effective from January 5.
The Board of Directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines,
in its 136th meeting held on 11 September 2014,
appointed the experienced professional, Kyle, as the
managing director and CEO of Biman. Prior to his
joining Biman, Kyle held senior executive aviation
posts in Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Kyle has 28 years proven track record in the field of aviation. Beginning his
career with over 19 years at British Airways, Kyle also worked for air giants like
Etihad, Gulf Air and two low cost carriers of Air Arabia, Nasair and held the post
of CEO of Air Uganda in Africa. Known as a ‘fixer’, he has valuable experience
in creating organizational change environments and driving change concepts
through the business. The newly appointed managing director and CEO, Kyle
Haywood is married and blessed with one daughter. He is 48.■
USD60 Million World Bank Loan for
VAT Automation
Ava Tahsin
I
n order to improve revenue collection and ensure transparency, the World
Bank (WB) will provide Bangladesh a loan of USD60 million for a Value Added
Tax (VAT) automation project. A loan agreement to this effect was signed
between the government and the Washington-based lender at the Economic
Relations Division (ERD). If implemented, the Revenue Mobilization Program for
Results: VAT Improvement Program (VAT) Online Project is also expected to help
taxpayers accomplish their tax-related activities online which will reduce hassles
as well as save time. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will implement the
project in July 2014 to June 2020.
The project has been undertaken to strengthen and
modernize the VAT wing of NBR, aiming to increase the
flow of internal resources to narrow fund gaps in the
budget. Of the USD60 million fund, NBR will spend USD57
million to implement the project, and USD3 million will
be spent by the ERD to implement a technical assistance
project under which, ERD will engage a third party to verify
the project.
IDA, known as the soft loan window of WB, is, for the
first time, providing a loan for any local project under its
Program for Results (PfR), a new credit program method of
the WB. To justify the results of the project, six Disbursement
Link Indicators (DLIs) have been tagged to the loan, implementation of which will
ensure fund disbursements. The third party will justify the implementation of the
project as per agreed guidelines along with reporting fraud and corruption, if any.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Bangladesh
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and the NBR have already given their
consent to provide reports of fraud and corruption, along with other relevant information to ERD during project implementation. The credit carries a 0.75 percent
service charge and is repayable in 40 years, including a 10 year grace period.■
14
Seventy-three
Percent RMG
Workers Have No
Savings Plan
Sadik Sagar Rahman
R
eadymade garment workers
are far away from access
to bank accounts, though
Bangladesh Bank has offered them
an opportunity to open accounts at
any bank with only BDT100 requiring
no deposit, where ordinarily banks
charge BDT1,000 to open a bank
account. A World Bank study
revealed two weeks ago that only six
percent of RMG workers have deposit
schemes at banks and 69 percent
have no bank accounts at all.
The study that covered the major
industrial belt of Ashulia also found
that 73 percent of RMG workers
have no savings plan. The workers
enjoy salaries ranging from BDT7,000
to BDT12,000. In September last
year, the Bangladesh Bank asked
the banks to offer bank accounts at
BDT100 only for garment workers.
The World Bank study found
that the financial status of garment
workers was the worst as they rarely
have access to financing (formal
borrowing from a bank or NGO).
The majority of them borrow money
from colleagues or relatives, the
study found. The study was carried
out under a joint initiative of the City
Bank Ltd, the World Bank, and the
IPA (Innovations for Poverty Action).■
BDT29.35 Billion
Project Approved
for 556 Cyclone
Shelters
Navid Ahmed
I
n a bid to build some 556 cyclone
shelters to help save lives and
property from natural disasters in
nine coastal districts, a BDT29.35
billion project has been approved at a
meeting of the Executive Committee
of the National Economic Council
(ECNEC) chaired by prime minister
Sheikh Hasina. Of the total cost of
the Disaster Shelter project, BDT100
million will come from the national
exchequer while the remaining
BDT29.25 billion will come from
the World Bank (WB) as project
assistance.
A total of 11 development projects were approved at the meeting
involving BDT70.175 billion of which
BDT21.77 billion will come from the
national exchequer and BDT238.9
million from internal sources and
BDT48.167 billion as project assistance.
The Local Government
Engineering Department (LGED)
under the Ministry of LGRD will
implement the project titled
‘Multipurpose Disaster Shelters
(MDSP)’ by December 2021. Under
the project, some 556 cyclone shelters would be set up in 74 upazilas
of nine coastal districts. The districts
to be covered under the project are
Barisal, Bhola, Patuakhali, Pirojpur,
Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Feni,
Laxmipur and Noakhali.
Apart from the construction of
the 550 new cyclone shelters, there
will be development of the existing
450 cyclone shelters, construction or
reconstruction of some 550-kilometer
roads connecting the shelters along
with the construction or reconstruction of some 500 meters of bridges
and culverts on the connecting
roads.■
BRAC Bank Employees Run
Marathon for Humanity
Sadik Sagar Rahman
T
he employees of BRAC Bank organized a marathon titled "BRAC
Bank DAUR 2015 – Kolyaner Pothochola" to raise fund for humanity
at Hatirjheel on January 2. Benazir Ahmed, director general, Rapid
Action Battalion, was present as the chief guest. Syed Mahbubur Rahman,
managing director & CEO, BRAC Bank Limited, management committee
members of BRAC Bank and its subsidiaries were also present. Mili Biswas
PPM, additional commissioner (Traffic), Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Dr.
Samanta Lal Sen of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Suinu Pru Marma,
captain, National Women Football Team, were also present.
On the occasion, the employees raised a fund of more than BDT1.06
million, and BRAC Bank doubled it to BDT2.12 million from its own fund.
The bank donated BDT1 million to Subarta Trust that works for the welfare
and healthcare of old-age people of the country. After the marathon, Syed
Mahbubur Rahman, managing director & CEO, BRAC Bank Limited, handed
over the cheque to Selina Akhtar, general secretary and CEO, Subarta Trust.
Earlier this winter, a portion of the fund was utilized to distribute blankets to
cold affected people in 3 northern districts. Some 5,700 blankets and 3,000
warm clothes were distributed among underprivileged people in November
2014 well ahead of winter.■
145 Units Start Preparation to Shift to
Savar Tannery Estate
Shova Rahman
R
aising the hope of commencing the operation of the long-cherished
tannery estate within the stipulated timeframe of March, 2015, the owners
of some 145 tanneries have started setting up infrastructure in the Savar
Tannery Estate to shift their factories from
Hazaribagh to Savar. Out of the 145 units,
around 50 industrial units have made
significant progress in setting up new
infrastructure in the new tannery zone.
Around 500 tanneries will shift their
factories from Hazaribagh to Savar
Leather Industrial Park, a project taken by
the government in 2003. Considering the
environmental hazards in Hazaribagh, the
then government undertook the project.
Established on 199 acres of land, the
project is fully funded by the government
to the tune of BDT1.758 billion. A total of
195 plots have been set up at the project
site where a total of 155 factories will be set up.
The main aim of shifting the tannery industry from Hazaribagh to Savar is to
minimize the environmental pollution in Dhaka City. EU and American buyers
have been declining to purchase Bangladeshi leather goods as the manufacturing factories at the existing site fail to ensure environmental compliances.
Meanwhile, the tannery owners have sought help from the industry ministry
to get bank loans for infrastructural development in the new tannery estate.■
15
Periscope
World Bank Funded NARI Project
Gains Pace
Shova Rahman
D
espite the initial delay, the Northern Areas Reduction of Poverty
Initiative (NARI), a World Bank-supported project to empower women
of the northern region, has now gained pace after most of its physical
components have been completed. The NARI project aims to economically
empower poor and vulnerable women of the northwestern region by
facilitating their access to jobs in the readymade garment sector.
The World Bank is providing USD29.29 million of soft loans for this project
whose implementation date has been extended to October 31, 2017. The project is designed to offer training, transitional housing, counseling, and formal
employment, in garment factories to around 10,800 women from five northern
districts --Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, and Rangpur.
Also, construction of dormitories and training centers at three sites in
Dhaka, Karnaphuli, and Ishwardi Export Processing Zones (EPZ) have been
completed, and are now ready for handover.
A WB team and the government jointly reviewed the NARI project and
urged the authorities to expedite the implementation of the project that faced
an initial delay at its start-up. If the current pace is continued, it will be possible
to achieve the objectives within the allocated time.
The first batch of training for around 900 beneficiaries is expected to start
in January 2015. The training centers will accommodate some 300 trainees
who will receive training for three months in cutting, sewing, and quality
control. The trainees will also receive life-skills training, covering topics such as
adjustment to city life, savings and remittances, safety and security, rights and
responsibilities at the workplace, finding appropriate housing, and contract
negotiation and health.
A monthly USD10 stipend will be provided to trainees during the training
period, besides housing, food, training, and job placement facilities. Once
they find a job, they may continue their stay at the center for three additional
months. But they have to pay subsidized amounts for food. The dormitories
attached to the training center will accommodate 600 women for a transitional
period of six months at a time.■
16
Another Oil-fired
155MW Power
Plant at Mongla
Ava Tahsin
T
he government is going to
consider a local firm’s proposal
to set up a 140MW-155MW
furnace oil-fired power plant under
an unsolicited deal, ignoring protests
of environmentalists against such a
plant in the Sundarbans area. The
local firm, Southern Power Company
Limited (SPCL) has proposed to the
Bangladesh Power Development
Board (BPDB) to set up a furnace oilfired power project at Mongla. It has
also proposed to set up a fuel storage
facility there to run the power project.
The SPCL proposal said it would
sell per unit of electricity at 22.1856
US cents to the BPDB. But the SPCL
is yet to submit a commitment letter on the equipment procurement
contract (EPC), a commitment letter
from financial institutions on debt
financing for the proposed project,
debt-equity raising strategy, and
feasibility study for the power project.
The government has already installed
over half a dozen power plants in the
Khulna region run by furnace oil with
the capacity of generating around
1517 MW of electricity.■
Women and
Children Suffered
Violence in 2014
Shakhawat Hossain
M
ore than 4,500 women and
children were subjected to
murder, rape, acid attack,
physical torture, suicide and other
forms of violence across the country
in 2014, according to a report of the
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP).
The data collated from reports of
13 Bangla and English national
newspapers between January and
December showed that 939 women
were raped last year. Of them, 174
were gang-raped and 99 were killed
after rape.
Compared to 2013's violence
against women report by BMP, the
incidence of rape and suicide went
down a little but the cases of murder,
physical torture and mysterious death
rose. In 2013, out of 975 rape cases,
185 were gang-rapes and 94 victims
were killed after rape. According to
the BMP press release, 341 women
committed suicide in 2014 compared
to 386 in 2013.
Last year, 898 women and children were killed, 258 suffered physical torture, and 183 died mysteriously, while 829 were killed, 239 tortured
and 172 died mysteriously in 2013.
The number of women subjected to
torture and death because of dowry
was 431 and 236, respectively in
2014. In 2013 the figures were 439
and 245, respectively. The statement
also showed that 118 women and
children were abducted last year,
compared to 131 in 2013.
The incidents of child marriage
saw an increase from 64 in 2013 to 93
in 2014. Reports of police torture also
went up with 53 incidents in 2014
compared to 37 in 2013. Out of the
55 women and children who faced
acid attacks last year, four died. The
release particularly cited 277 incidents of minority repression including
arson and loot.■
Chevron Bangladesh Concludes
Second Round of Blood Donation
Sadik Sagar Rahman
C
hevron successfully concluded the second round of its bi-annual
blood donation drive in December 2014. The employees of Chevron’s
Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulavi Bazar Gas Plants contributed by
donating a total of 380 blood bags. In the first round of Chevron’s blood
donation drive, held in June 2014, 741 employees and contractors from all
the fields came forward to donate blood.
In Bangladesh, the annual need for blood is approximately 600,000
units. Blood transfusions may be needed in the course of surgeries or
by patients afflicted by a wide range of ailments, including haemophilia,
dengue, blood-cancer, thalassaemia and other life-threatening diseases.
To support the country’s rising demand for safe blood, Chevron employees and contractors come forward each year to donate their blood, with
this year’s total contribution amounting to 1121 blood bags. This commitment has led the company to be recognized as the "Highest Blood Donor
Organization" for the second consecutive year by the Bangladesh Red
Crescent Society (BDRCS).■
Multifunctional Information Center
on Nuclear Power Project
Sharifunnaher
T
o disseminate information on the
proposed Rooppur Nuclear Power
Project, the government will set up
a multifunctional information center at
Ishwardi upazila in Pabna. The site for
setting up the information center will be
finalized when the Russian team arrives
in Dhaka at the end of this month. The
information center will set up to share
information on nuclear power plants with
journalists and researchers primarily, and
then with the locals.
The government also plans to take up a joint communication strategy for
working with media and other involved parties, aiming at creating awareness
among people about the nuclear power project.
In Russia, there are 13 information centers which educate people to make
them aware of nuclear power plants. Besides, a special crisis department
team will be formed to work there round-the-clock later. The Russian government shares information on nuclear power projects only with countries like
Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Turkey, and some European and American nationals, who have affiliations with it.■
17
Periscope
76 Percent Rickshaw-pullers of
Dhaka Use Mobile Banking Service
Ava Tahsin
Foreign Students
Decreasing at Dhaka
University
Navid Ahmed
T
he number of foreign students is decreasing at Dhaka
University as they are losing their interest in admission
to the institution due to political unrest, complexity in
admission process, and fall in quality of education. Only
six foreign students took admission to the institution in
the last five academic sessions while the university had
admitted 24 foreign students in the 2000-2001 sessions.
Foreign students have to apply online for admission to
Dhaka University, popularly known as the Oxford of the
East, and it takes at least 2/3 months to complete the necessary process. Admission seekers cannot get sufficient
and latest information as the DU website is not updated
regularly. As a result, they are losing interest in seeking
admission at the university. Besides, the university does
not have any separate section to deal with the admission
process for foreign students as its scholarship section is
carrying out the task. University sources said vital information on the curriculum of many departments of the university like pharmacy, disaster management & vulnerability
studies, and Institute of Leather Technology, are absent
from the university’s official website.
A total of 24 foreign students got enrolled at DU in 20002001 academic sessions while 22 foreigners took admission in 2001-2002 sessions. Twelve students got admitted
in 2002-2003, nine students in 2003-2004, five in 2004-2005,
four in 2005-2006, seven in 2006-2007, three in 2007-2008,
six in 2008-09, two in 2009-2010, and one student each in
2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic sessions. No foreign
student took admission to the university in 2010-2011
and 2011-2012 sessions. However, only two students got
enrolled at the institution in 2014-15 sessions while admission of two other students is under process. The admitted
students are mainly from Asian countries including India,
Pakistan, Nepal, and China.■
18
C
onsidering the safety and cost efficiency of mobile
banking services, nearly 76 percent of rickshawpullers in Dhaka city send money to their village
homes through mobile banking, according to a study
titled, “Use of electronic media: Remittance behavior of
Rickshaw-pullers of Dhaka city.”
The study, conducted between March and June 2013,
said 47 percent of rickshawpullers send money home
every week, while 21 percent send money fortnightly. A
majority of them use bKash to send the money. An overwhelming number of respondents consider mobile money
safe and cost effective. Around 100 percent of respondents
said mobile money is safe, while 85 percent said it is cost
effective. Around 89 percent of the respondents said the
remitted money reaches their family members or desired
persons within 15 minutes.
The study said the average amount of money sent per
week is BDT981, and 84 percent of the money recipients
include parents, wives, and family members. Regarding
the usage of the money, the study said around 75 percent
of the remitted money is spent on food and family maintenance, while 31 percent is spent on child education, 35
percent on minor investment, 32 percent on small businesses, and 9 percent on loan repayments.
From a demographic perspective, around 72.3 percent
rickshawpullers belong to an age group of 30 to 50 years,
and 80.6 per cent of them are married. The majority of
rickshaw-pullers come from riverine and char areas such
as Rangpur, Kurigram, Jamalpur, Tangail, Mymensingh,
Bogra, and Sirajganj.
Industry insiders said mobile money is driving financial
inclusion in Bangladesh through creating financial access
for the poor and the unbanked. The central bank’s pragmatic and consistent regulatory framework helps mobile
money to grow by earning the trust and confidence of
common people.
The Bangladesh Bank has so far given licenses to 28
banks to operate mobile financial services, of which 19 are
in operation. In recognition of promoting mobile banking
services in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Bank has won the
prestigious Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Policy
Award.■
f
19
Nation in the News
GARMENTS
A number of garment factories cannot
be relocated on the outskirts of Dhaka
City in absence of gas connections
The Gas Factor
Garment factories, which are relocating from the
city to the outskirts, are facing problems and their
operation remains stalled due to shortage of gas
supply
Mohammed Anisul Islam
A
bout 34 percent of readymade
garment factories need to be
relocated from the capital
because they are located in shared
buildings
and
have
defective
conditions. But the shifting is being
delayed due to complexities arising
from lack of utility connections,
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers
and Exporters Association (BGMEA)
sources said.
20
“Most owners of factories housed
in shared buildings want to move
out of the capital, but they are worried about getting utility connections (gas and electricity),” BGMEA
vice president Shahidullah Azim told
this reporter.
Entrepreneurs are seeking a clear
declaration about gas and electricity
connections in relocated factories, as
the government has no specific policy
to transfer their existing gas connections to new units, they said.
A team of BGMEA officials met
with the prime minister’s Power and
Energy Adviser, Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi
Chowdhury, recently, to adopt a policy
in this regard so that the RMG sector
can contribute more towards export
earnings. The government’s existing
policy on gas connections may have
an adverse impact on garment production as well as export earnings, the
manufacturers feared, Azim said.
The apex trade body has already
signed a memorandum of understanding with China to establish a garments “palli” (village) in Munshiganj
district to relocate RMG units,
sources said.
He also urged the government to
provide easy term loans for relocation, adding that vulnerable factories
would be shifted first, followed by
units located in rented commercial or
residential buildings, and finally, those
that share industrial buildings.
“Most factory owners are busy
making their factories compliant, that is why relocation is taking
time,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy,
president of Exporters Association of
Bangladesh (EAB).
Lack of suitable space, access
to workers, and power connectivity,
were major obstacles in relocating
RMG units, he added.
As per the government’s existing
gas supply policy, if any industrial unit
is shifted or relocated, it will have to
get a fresh gas connection. As a result,
the garment factories, which are relocating from the city to the outskirts,
are facing problems and their operation remains stalled due to shortage
of gas supply. The factory relocation
issue has turned into a critical factor in the country’s RMG sector. The
sector, which emerged in the late
1980s in Dhaka, now poses a serious threat to the quality of life in this
crowded city.
Moreover, the government is also
pushing RMG owners to shift their
factories to ensure a congenial workplace environment. In addition, the
government is putting pressure on
factory owners to shift their industrial units to Bawsia Garment Palli
in Munshiganj.
As it is now necessary to shift the
factories from inside the city to ensure
worker safety and a smooth city life,
factory owners have agreed to shift
their units, said Shahidullah Azim.
They estimated that around
1,027 RMG units, employing nearly
500,000 workers, are located in the
capital, while there are 533 factories
with about 348,000 workers in Savar
and Ashulia.
Relocating over 1000 readymade
garment factories from Dhaka to outlying areas may help ease some of the
severe problems faced by residents
of the capital city, including chronic
traffic jams and environmental pollution besides the growing pressure on
utility services.
If such a plan were to be implemented, at least 1.5 million people,
mostly RMG workers and their dependents, will be forced to move out of
the overcrowded city, according to
data of the Department of Inspection
for Factories and Establishments. The
survey was conducted in 1,560 Dhaka
district factories. Talking to several
workers, this correspondent found
that each one lived with at least three
other family members.
The highest number of workers
live in Mirpur, which has 274 RMG
factories, employing over 126,000
people. Kafrul comes in
second
with 43,241 workers, followed by
Tejgaon industrial area with 33,172
workers. Uttara, including Uttarkhan
and
Dakhhinkhan,
has
nearly
74,000 workers.
In the latest national budget, the
government has offered a 20 percent tax rebate starting next fiscal,
for the relocation of industrial units
from Dhaka and other major cities, to
reduce overcrowding and congestion.
Entrepreneurs who venture to set up
factories in least developed areas of
the country between July, 2014, and
June 30, 2019, would enjoy this tax
rebate for 10 years.
“To avert problems in the future,
the government should make a plan
for the relocation of factories,” said
professor Nazrul Islam, chairman of
the Center for Urban Studies.
The plan should include details
of worker accommodations, educational facilities for their children,
and environmental aspects, the
professor added.
“If the factory is located outside
the capital, living costs would also be
less, as house rent, transport fares,
and prices of essentials, are cheaper
outside than they are in Dhaka City,”
Shahidul Islam, an operator at
Brother Fashion in Karwan Bazar, told
this correspondent.
“The lion’s share of my earnings is
spent on house rent,” added Shahidul,
who lives with his five-member family
in Nakhal Para.
Meanwhile, buyers have also been
putting pressure on owners to relocate
factories from shared buildings, citing
safety concerns. Some foreign buyers
have stopped placing orders in such
factories, industry insiders informed.■
21
Around the World
FRANCE
Thomas Piketty, a neo-Marxist French professor, spurned his
country’s highest distinction
Turning Down
Legion of Honor
Country’s star economist and bestselling author
turned down top honor because he does not
believe that the government should decide who is
honorable
Muhtasim Billah
F
rench economist and bestselling
author Thomas Piketty refused to
accept the Legion of Honor, which
is his country’s highest distinction. The
rejection was based on the grounds
that the government should not decide
who is honorable. Piketty, author of
the bestselling Capital in the TwentyFirst Century, which has become
compulsory reading for world leaders,
also said that the government would
do a better job if it concentrated on
boosting growth in France and Europe.
22
Piketty, 43, made the comments to
Agence France-Presse after learning
that he had been nominated for the
rank of chevalier (knight), the Legion’s
top rank which rewards “eminent
merit” demonstrated over more than
25 years’ professional activity. Others
who received the Legion of Honor in
the New Year’s Day announcement
included French novelist Patrick
Modiano, who won the 2013 Nobel
prize for literature.
Piketty is not alone in rejecting
the award, which over the years has
been turned down by many illustrious personalities including Albert
Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone
de Beauvoir. The former leader of the
pro-Socialist CFDT union, Edmond
Maire, also refused, using similar language to Piketty, saying “it’s not up to
the state to decide who is honorable
or not”.
In the past, Piketty has described
the French president, François
Hollande, who boasted on the night of
December 31 that the government had
undertaken “grand reforms” in 2013,
as “rather bad.” In his New Year’s
Eve message, the Socialist president
urged the French to seize the initiative
to bring down unemployment while
liberalizing reforms are implemented.
In his latest work, the economist addresses the roots and consequences of inequality. He argues that
modern capitalism leads to unsustainable levels of inequality, which
then undermine the meritocratic
values on which democratic societies are based. He says that concentrated wealth will increasingly be in
the hands of those who already hold
capital in the free-market economies,
and warns of potentially explosive
social consequences.
Piketty was economic adviser to
Hollande’s ex-partner Ségolène Royal
in 2007 during her own bid for the
French presidency. But during a redcarpet visit to Washington in April he
complained that his ideas were better
received outside France than in his
homeland where he said he received
a “narrowly political reception”.
Piketty’s book Capital in the
Twenty-First Century was named
business book of the year for 2014 by
the Financial Times, and described
by New York Times columnist Paul
Krugman as “the most important economics book of the year, and maybe
of the decade”.
But the economist’s personal
life also made headlines last year. It
emerged last May that his former partner, Aurélie Filippetti, now the ex-culture minister, had lodged a complaint
with police which led to him being
investigated for domestic violence
while they were in a relationship
in 2009.■
XvKv- 1212,
23
Around the World
NIGERIA
Top of the List
Nigerians dominate the list of African billionaires,
including the continent’s wealthiest man and the
world’s richest woman
Jobaid Alam
N
igeria has the largest number of
the richest people in Africa, since
it has more billionaires than
any other country in the continent.
According to a ranking published
this week, the country can also boast
of having the continent’s wealthiest
man, and the world’s richest black
woman. The collective wealth of
Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa
24
Nigerians on the rich list compiled by
Ventures Africa, a business magazine
that “champions African capitalism”,
stands at USD77.7 billion, more than
double that of South Africans and
almost as much as the rest of the
continent’s billionaires combined.
This year Nigeria overtook South
Africa to become the biggest African
economy after a sharp rise in its estimated GDP, partly based on new sectors including telecommunications,
manufacturing, and the Nollywood
film industry.
Nigerians’ dominance of the
Ventures Africa rich list will do nothing
to quell South African anxieties that
the country is losing its long-assumed
pre-eminence on the continent and
missing out on the “Africa rising” phenomenon that has seen spectacular
economic growth in many nations
over the past decade.
Of 55 billionaires in Africa, Nigeria
boasts 23, while South Africa and
Egypt each have eight. Their net worth
totals USD161.7 billon, up 12.4 percent
from USD143.8 billion on Ventures
Africa’s first list in 2013. Of five new
billionaires added this year, four
are Nigerians.
Aliko Dangote, founder of Africa’s
The private jets of Nigeria’s billionaires
biggest
industrial
conglomerate,
Dangote Group, is a Nigerian who
remains the continent’s richest man.
His net worth has grown to USD25.7
billion in 2014, a 21 percent rise from
his USD20.2bn valuation in 2013.
Second is his compatriot Mike
Adenuga, worth USD8 billion. Also a
Nigerian, he is owner of the Globacom
telecommunications company, which
has about 30 million subscribers
across West Africa. The highest ranking South African, and third overall,
is Johann Rupert, chairman and biggest shareholder of the Swiss-based
luxury goods company, Compagnie
Financière Richemont SA.
Number four on the list is
Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria, whose
USD7.3 billion, generated from oil
and gas, puts her ahead of America’s
Oprah Winfrey as the richest black
woman in the world, according to
Ventures Africa. “It is widely believed
that Alakija’s friendship with Maryam
Babangida, the late wife of former
Nigerian military dictator, general
Ibrahim Babangida, played a huge
role in her relatively inexpensive
acquisition of an oil block back in
1993,” it notes.
Africa’s second wealthiest woman is Isabel dos Santos, daughter of
Angola’s long-time president, Jose
Eduardo dos Santos, with USD3.5 billion. Igho Sanomi of Nigeria--USD1.3
billion-- and Mohammed Dewji of
Tanzania--USD2 billion-- both 39, are
the continent’s youngest billionaires.
Critiques of the African economic
success story argue that the growth
is not shared, but has in fact widened
inequality between tiny elites and
the poor majority, with Nigeria being
a prime example. Almost 40 percent
of Nigerian billionaires’ wealth is tied
to the country’s oil and gas industry,
says Ventures Africa, but it also claims
that Africa’s billionaires provide jobs
for almost half a million people on
the continent.
The magazine asserts: “One of the
most challenging aspects of compiling a list of Africa’s richest is that it is
taboo to discuss or celebrate wealth
in most African societies. The concept
of capitalism, where wealth is openly
celebrated and tracked, is quite alien
to most African societies. As a result,
most ultra-high-net-worth individuals
are reluctant to discuss their wealth.”
There are several reasons for this,
it suggests. “The number of underprivileged people is so large that it
almost seems insensitive to celebrate
wealth in absolute terms. Another reason may be to ensure that ‘enemies’
are kept at bay. On a continent where
systems and structures are not entirely
defined, flaunting wealth may attract
the wrong kind of attention from people in government.”
African Ventures said the list
was compiled by sourcing financial reports, tracking equity holdings
around stock markets, and identifying
shareholding structures in big, privately held companies.■
25
Around the World
GAMBIA
Soldiers Attempted Coup While President
was Abroad
A group of disaffected soldiers launched a foiled coup bid in the Gambia on
December 30 while the president was abroad, military and diplomatic sources
said. Forces loyal to president Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled the west African
country for 20 years, killed three suspects including the alleged ringleader, the
deserter named as Lamin Sanneh who led the attack on the presidential palace
in the capital Banjul.
The pre-dawn assault triggered panic in Bissau, while national radio went
off air for several hours and state television was suspended. Gambian officials said the president was on a private visit to Dubai at the time of the coup
attempt, but foreign diplomats said he was in France although an official in
Paris said there was no sign he was in the country. Opposition politician Sheikh
Sidya Bayo told a private Senegalese radio station that the unrest was “the start
of a mutiny that changed” into a bid to topple Jammeh.
PAKISTAN
UNITED KINGDOM
The Most Dangerous Country for
Media in 2014
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has
termed Pakistan the most dangerous country for media,
with 14 journalists killed in the country in 2014 alone. The
overall number of journalists who died in targeted killings, bomb attacks or shootings around the world rose to
118 in 2014 from 105 the year before, IFJ said. Another 17
died in accidents or natural disasters while on assignment,
according to the Brussels-based organization.
Pakistan was followed by Syria, where 12 journalists
were killed. Nine killings each occurred in Afghanistan and
the Palestinian territories, the federation said. Eight journalists each were killed in Iraq and Ukraine. Among those
killed were American journalists James Foley and Steven
Sotloff. Both were beheaded by Islamic State militants,
who have seized parts of Syria and Iraq. The IFJ said its figures were a reminder of the growing threats to journalists,
and it called on governments to make protecting members
of the media a priority.
Rats laugh
when you
tickle them
26
BBC Delays Documentary on
Prince Charles and Camilla
Parker Bowles
In a controversial decision, the British Broadcasting
Corporation has postponed the scheduled broadcast of a
documentary about how the royal family hired a publicrelations professional to restore the reputation of Prince
Charles after the 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales,
and to help integrate into the royal household his thenlover, Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married, and
who is now the Duchess of Cornwall.
The first part of a two-part documentary, “Reinventing
the Royals,” was supposed to be broadcast on January
4, but the BBC has postponed it for an indefinite period
“while a number of issues, including the use of archive
footage, are resolved,” the public broadcaster said in a
statement. But according to RadioTimes, which broke the
story, the BBC acted after an intervention from lawyers
known to represent senior members of the royal family.
The documentary focuses on Mark Bolland, a publicrelations executive hired by Prince Charles in 1996 as an
assistant private secretary.
The average fertile man makes
about 1,500 new sperms every
time his heart beats
WhatApps messages are cited
in nearly half of all Italian
divorce proceedings
INDONESIA
Searchers Pull AirAsia Plane Debris and
Bodies from Java Sea
The mystery of Indonesia’s missing airliner was partly solved on December
30, when rescue teams retrieved and tallied a grim inventory of bodies and
debris from the plane off the coast of southwestern Borneo. But it remained
unknown what caused the plane, AirAsia Flight 8501, to plunge into the sea on
two days earlier, less than an hour after leaving Surabaya for Singapore.
Although Indonesian officials did not say so explicitly, their comments
suggested that it was unlikely that survivors would be found. They built up an
inventory of debris collected by ships and helicopters from the sea surface,
including life vests, aircraft parts and what appeared to be a small blue suitcase. Search and rescue officials said that three items in particular, the suitcase
and parts they identified as an aspirator assembly and a reservoir slide craft
helped them determine that the debris came from Flight 8501.
AUSTRALIA
SOUTH KOREA
Top Teachers are Becoming
Multimillionaires
Joins US to Vote Down UN
Palestinian Resolution
Australia’s relationship with Palestinians and the Arab
world will be damaged by its decision to vote against
a United Nations resolution that demanded the end of
Israeli occupation within three years, the chief Palestinian
representative in Canberra has warned. Australia was one
of only two nations, along with the United States, Israel’s
closest ally, to vote against the resolution.
Five other nations, including Britain, abstained from
the vote, meaning that just eight of the 15 UN security
council nations voted in favor of the resolution – one
vote short of nine necessary for passage. Izzat Abdulhadi,
head of the general delegation of Palestine to Australia
and New Zealand, claimed there had been a shift in
Australia’s position on the long-running conflict, citing what he viewed as a new Australian stance on East
Jerusalem. In June George Brandis, Australia’s attorney general, said it was not appropriate to refer to East
Jerusalem as occupied as it was a pejorative term.
The Vaadhoo Island in
Maldives has a glowing
blue tide at night
The devotion to studying is credited with helping
South Korea consistently rank at the top of the developed world in reading, math and science, although
the latest rankings from the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development also show that Korean
students come last when asked whether they are happy
at school. South Korea also has the highest suicide rate in
the developed world, which many suggest is related to a
high-stress focus on education.
The students complain that they cannot keep up
if they do not go to a “hagwon” or cram school that
focuses entirely on preparing students to take the college
entrance exam. That is good news for some instructors,
who started teaching at a hagwon to make some quick
bucks. Thousands of students take online classes, paying
USD39 for a 20-hour course (traditional cram schools
charge as much as USD600 for a course). One teacher
named Cha Kil-yong claimed he had earned USD8 million last year.
Human eye can differentiate
more shades of green than
any other color
Crabs can live on land
as long as they keep
their gills moist
27
Cover Story
RAPE
The Havoc
of Lust
Rape is unequal sex between two individuals when
the ecstasy of one becomes injury to another, and it
is a storm that brews in the groin of man and lashes
out in his head, when the dust of lust blinds his soul,
and he stoops lower than a beast
28
29
Cover Story
RAPE
The activists of Karmajibi Nari form a human chain in front of National Press Club demanding
exemplary punishment for the rapist and killer of a small girl named Ritu
Shaily Fatima & Khondoker Tazuddin
R
ape is to love what war is to
peace. John Webster, an English
playwright, writes in The White
Devil, “A rape! a rape!... Yes, you
have ravished justice; forced her
to do your pleasure.” May be those
men who attack women do so with a
predisposition. May be they watch and
covet those women for many days
before they decide to rape them. And
their repressed desire erupts one day,
when they assess that those women
were vulnerable. These carnal men
then go ahead and force those women
to do their pleasure.
Rape is when the biological force
field between a man and a woman
is abruptly disrupted, and the sexual
tension turns into a sudden confrontation. According to Greek mythology, even the gods in heaven could
not avoid that confrontation. Zeus
violated Leda while camouflaged as
a swan and Europa in the guise of
30
a bull. Poseidon raped Kainis of the
horse-taming tribe.
Thus rape is unequal sex between
two individuals when the ecstasy of
one becomes injury to another. It is a
crime, and it is a sin. It is also a kind
of mental sickness, which afflicts only
a certain kind of men. But above all
it is a storm that brews in the groin
of man and lashes out in his head,
when the dust of lust blinds his soul,
and he stoops lower than a beast. It is
the most intimate exploitation of pain
for pleasure, the rapture of the strong
drawn on the rupture of the weak.
It is the violation of the unwilling by
the unwieldy, the art of lovemaking reduced to a savage showdown
between predator and its prey. Rape
ransacks the body of its victim and
turns it into a wasteland.
True, the atrocities of rape leave
behind wastelands in women, where
shame and grief stagnate for the rest
of their lives. But ultimately that is the
problem of the victims and their families. For us, the rest of the society, the
problem is the wanton liberty with
which reckless men destroy the last
relics of decency.
Late Bangladeshi writer and novelist Humayun Azad in his book Ten
Thousand and One More Rape wrote,
“Bangladesh has now turned into
a huge cruel platform for heinous
crimes such as rape. It is a 56,000
square kilometer theater depicting
the sufferings and helplessness of
the weak; rape is committed against
the soil, rivers, sunlight, moonlight,
country and women.” Many years
have passed since the publication of
this novel but the rape scenario of
Bangladesh has not changed a bit,
rather it has worsened. In the meantime, writer Humayun Azad became a
victim of religious outrage and lost his
life to assassin’s knife.
The rape scenario of Bangladesh
has not changed at all. During the
Awami League regime from 1996 to
2001, a Chhatra League leader named
Manik at Jahangirnagar University
threw a grand party on the occasion of
setting a record of raping 100 women.
When BNP came into power in the
year 2001, there was no initiative to
arrest this notorious man. He did not
have to face a trial. Rather after the
formation of the BNP-Jamaat Grand
Alliance government, from October to
December of 2001, the whole country
was turned into a nasty stage for committing rape. Incidents of BNP-Jamaat
cadre members raping women were
common phenomena throughout
the country. This rape scenario drew
attention at both national and international levels. When in 2009 Awami
League returned to power again,
the country hoped that the criminals
would be tried and held responsible
for the cruel crimes they had committed in the previous years. However, no
such trials have taken place to date.
Global Scenario
Rape and sexual violence is on
the rise and it is a modern-day problem common to most countries of
the world. The USA, the most powerful nation of the world tops, the
list of countries in the race of rapes.
According to the National Violence
Against Women Survey, 1 in 6 US
women and 1 in 33 US men have
experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime with only
16 percent of the total being reported.
More than a 25 percent of collegegoing women report having experienced a rape or rape attempt since
age 14.
There has been a 53 percent rise in
recorded rape in London over the last
four years. According to official figures
in the UK, a woman is raped every
ten minutes, and thousands more
incidents go unreported and conviction rates are low. More than 15,000
people were reportedly raped in the
UK last year, but there were only 1,058
convictions for rape. According to a
survey in the UK, about 80 percent of
the victims of rape and sexual assault
responded that they did not report
their attack.
According to official statistics in
Canada, one out of every 17 women
is raped, 62 percent of rape victims
are physically injured and 9 percent
are beaten or disfigured. Government
studies in France show that there are
75,000 rapes a year in the country and
about 10 percent of the victims file
complaints. Sweden has the highest
incidence of reported rapes in Europe
and one of the highest in the world
with one among every four women
being a rape victim.
On the other hand, South Africa
also has one of the highest rates of
rape in the world and has been appropriately dubbed the “rape capital of
the world.” According to a survey by
the Medical Research Council, one in
three of the 4,000 women questioned
had been raped. More than 25 percent of South African men questioned
admitted to rape and more than half
of these men said they had raped
more than one person.
India is in recent months has
been in the media spotlight for rape.
The latest estimates suggest that a
new case of rape is reported every 22
minutes in India. However, experts
assert that majority of the cases go
unreported. According to the National
Crime Records Bureau, 24,923 rape
cases were reported across India in
2012 and of these 24,470 or 98 percent
were committed by men known to
the victims.
Bangladesh Statistics
Rape has always existed in
this country like rest of the world.
According to statistics published in
various newspapers in the country,
during the first six months of 2014 a
total of 1,021 women have been vic-
Police arrested
Mohammad Moinuddin,
the imam of the
Chittagong Government
Muslim High School,
who brutally raped a
ten-year-old girl
31
Cover Story
RAPE
Recommendations by Experts
A few measures have been recommended by experts who deal with rape
cases, which are listed below:
1. The doctor who conducts medical examinations on the rape victim
should always be a female
2. The much controversial and criticized ‘two finger’ test should be abolished
3. Most doctors use the word ‘rape’ when giving their statement. This has
an adverse effect on the mental state of the rape victim. This should be
stopped
4. The rape victim should not go to the police station at the very beginning
as the questioning of the police drains the victim mentally
5. A forensic medical report should be mandatory to prove that rape was
committed
6. The rape victim must be informed as to the type of test that will be conducted on her and its methods and procedures
7. When the rape victim goes to the police station to file her case, she has to
go through the same painful experience as she had already faced when
the crime was perpetrated on her. She has to describe the entire incident,
answer vulgar questions, and must endure the police quizzing, which can
be an emotionally draining experience for her. This situation must change
8. Politicians and socialists often make objectionable comments on media
regarding the victim’s dressing, character and even conduct. Such comments have a mellowing effect on the actual crime and shift the focus
onto the victim.
tims of rape in Bangladesh. Of them,
98 women were victims of gang rape,
21 were killed following their rape, 7
committed suicide after being raped,
and 44 were victims of attempted
rape. However, there are hundreds
of rape incidents that go unreported due to fear of social stigma
and embarrassment.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS) carried out a survey in 2011
on violence against women, which
revealed 87 percent of married women in the country were subjected to
various forms of torture. Amongst
them 65 percent were subjected to
physical torture, 36 percent to sexual
torture, 82 percent were victims of
mental torture and 53 percent were
pressurized and tortured by their husbands for money. In addition 77 percent women were subjected to all
forms of torture.
When the BNP-Jamaat Alliance
came to power in 2001 incidents of
rape increased sharply. It was alleged
that in one night, nearly two hundred
women were raped in Char Fashion
of Bhola, and amongst them were
32
an eight-year-old girl, a middle-aged
amputee and a seventy-year-old
woman. They were raped in the paddy field, in the bush, on the riverbank,
in the house, and in the open field by
gangs of men, who had come to spare
nothing in the village. It was an open
house for debauch men who were
roused by the aphrodisiac of extreme
prejudice.
The whole world stared in shock
when the news of the rape of Jaheda
Rita, Purnima, Fahima and three
daughters of Orin Pal became public. That year the total number of rape
incidents was 3,178. Amongst these
only 2,136 incidents were reported to
the police and not a single culprit was
brought to book. Statistics show that
1,896 rape cases were filed in 2012,
2,135 in 2013, 1,975 in 2004, and 2,127
in 2005 in various police stations of
the country. Again 1,831 rape cases
were filed in 2006, 2,431 in 2007, 1,767
in 2008, 1,680 in 2009, 2,215 in 2010,
2,312 in 2011, 2,218 in 2012, and 2,435
in 2013.
Besides BBS’s Violence against
Women Survey in 2011, several other
organizations had published varying
information on the crime. The survey
report published in December 2012
pointed out that women within the
age group of 20 and 34 were most
prone to sexual persecution and they
were in turn mostly subjected to rape.
According to the information provided
by Bangladesh Women Council, in the
year 2001, 3,178 women were rape
victims; amongst them 20 women
were killed following rape. In 2002,
4,095 women were rape victims and
22 of them had died. In 2003, 4,442
women were raped amongst whom
28 died.
In 2004, out of 3,097 women raped
17 died. In 2005, 2,795 women were
victims of rape of whom 22 were
killed. In 2006, 2,566 women were
raped of whom 14 were killed. In 2007,
3,495 women were raped of whom 33
succumbed to their injuries. In 2008,
3,387 women were raped of whom
65 were killed. In 2009, 2,900 women
were raped of whom 39 died. In 2010,
3,328 women were raped of whom
25 died. In 2011, 3,638 women were
raped of whom 28 died. In 2012, 3,648
The outraged demonstrators are
demanding justice for the young
student who was gang-raped in
Delhi in December 2012
are ever reported to the police. There
are perhaps many reasons why victims and their families feel discouraged to report such incidents. In most
cases, the victims do not receive justice as the culprits are commonly from
influential quarters and they can easily manipulate the means of justice.
Most of the victims are socially and
economically vulnerable and, therefore, fear the consequences of police
reporting. And often culprits do threaten the families with other crimes and
even eviction from their homes and
villages if reported to police. Threats
being carried out are also common.
As a result, the heinous crime of rape
continues across the country. While
many victims are killed after the act,
incidents of setting them on fire, pouring acid on them, and chopping off
their limbs are also common.
The Aftermath
women were raped of whom 20 died.
In 2013, 3,751 were raped of whom 29
died. Finally in the first six months of
2014, 1,021 women have been raped
of whom 14 have died.
According to a report published
in The Daily Ittefaq, a total of 1,772
rape cases were filed with the police
between 1991 and 1994. From 1995
to 2000, there were 13,966 incidents
of rape in the country with only 9,197
cases reported to the police.
Reasons for Not
Reporting to Police
In Bangladesh, few rape incidents
Loopholes in the Law
Experts have pointed out the various existing loopholes in the legal system
dealing with rape cases as listed below. These loopholes often make it easy
for the perpetrators to go unpunished.
1.Police officials need special training to handle rape cases given their sensitive nature
2.The law recognizes rape as a ‘Behavioral Crime’ and the victim’s body as
the crime scene making investigation difficult
3.The victim herself must file the complaint with the police and she alone
must identify her perpetrator
4.The police more often than not sides with the defendant
5.In developed countries the rape victim in the first instance rushes to the
police station. In our country the victim first rushes to her family
6.The victim needs to go to a doctor to attain the necessary medical reports
through which she needs to prove that indeed she was raped
7.The onus of proving the crime is on the victim, which is a very unjust rule
The ultimate form of persecution
of women is rape. Rape is very different from other types of crime. Rape
victims do not only have to suffer physical torture but they also become victims of mental torture and have to suffer harassment from the society. Rape
inflicts grave wounds on the body
and the mind. The traditional society
blames the victims for the crime; that
it was the woman’s fault somehow
for which she has been punished.
As a result, the social and political
norms victimize the rape victim over
and over again, sometimes treating
them as social outcasts. The report
published by Bangladesh Institute of
Labor Studies (BILS) shows that in
Bangladesh girls within the age group
of 13-18 are most likely to become
rape victims.
Status of Justice
In different branches of Dhaka
Metropolitan Police headquarters, a
total of 3,075 rape cases have been
filed over the last 13 years. Presently
around 100 women are fighting their
rape cases in court. Amongst 3,075
cases, 1700 have been heard and
their judgments have been passed.
From the 1700 cases only 5 verdicts
33
Cover Story
RAPE
Rape Myths and Facts
Myth: A healthy person can resist being raped or sexually assaulted.
Fact: According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 out of every 6 adult
women has been a victim of rape, and approximately 92,700 men are
raped in the U.S. each year. Healthy and strong people are raped every
day. Rape victims are doctors, lawyers, nurses, military personnel, cooks,
accountants, students—anyone and everyone could be vulnerable to
rape or sexual assault.
Myth: When it comes to sex, men can be provoked to “a point of no
return.”
Fact: Men are physically able to stop at any point during sexual activity.
Rape is not an act of impulsive, uncontrollable passion; it is a premeditated act of violence. Research shows that 50 percent of rapes are planned.
Myth: If a woman goes to her date’s room on the first date, it implies she
is willing to have sex.
Fact: Nothing is ever implied. Date rapes comprise 50 to 75 percent of all
reported rapes.
Myth: Rape is usually violent and involves a stranger.
Fact: Actually around 73 percent of all rapes and 90 percent of rapes
on college campuses are committed by someone the victim knows.
Many rapes involve force or the threat of force, but some rapes are committed when the victim is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or
even asleep!
Myth: When a woman dresses provocatively, she is asking for trouble.
Fact: Rapists look for easy, vulnerable targets. Thinking that women provoke attacks against them by the way they dress transfers blame from the
perpetrator to the victim.
Myth: It is not really rape when a woman changes her mind in the middle
of a sexual activity.
Fact: A woman can change her mind at any time. A respectful partner
does not want to do something that a woman does not want to do.
Myth: Anyone who is drunk or high and being a flirt gets what the person
deserves.
Fact: Being drunk or high is risky behavior that could have many dangerous consequences. Rape is just one of them. However, regardless of a
person’s behavior, no one deserves to be raped.
Myth: Women fantasize about being raped.
Fact: Some women have sexual fantasies about having aggressive sex
with a stranger or being “forced” into performing certain sexual acts, but
they can stop the fantasy when it becomes too frightening. During a real
rape, the victim is powerless to stop anything.
Myth: If a person doesn’t fight back, she or he was not really raped.
Fact: Rape can be life threatening, particularly when a rapist uses a weapon or force to accomplish penetration. Submission is not the same as
cooperation. Whatever a person does to survive is the appropriate action.
34
have punished the defendants. All the
other defendants have been released.
Mainly most rapists can walk away
with their crimes and this is the prime
reason for the drastic increase in the
incidence of this crime.
According to sources, on average
only two in every 1,000 cases succeed
............
Forkan Miah said, “In last three to
four years not one defendant of rape
cases has been prosecuted. The success rate of punishing the perpetrators
of rape is almost zero. The prime reason for this is that the victims do not
remain present during court hearing
of the cases. Many come and withdraw their statement and many cases
get settled outside the court.”
Rape in Dhaka
According to police sources, the
rape scenario in Dhaka city is the worst
in the country. In Dhaka Metropolitan
Police stations 145 rape cases were
filed in the year 2000, 133 in 2001, 231
in 2002, 255 in 2003, 174 in 2004, 182 in
2005, 178 in 2006, 302 in 2007, 296 in
2008, 228 in 2009, 183 in 2010, 241 in
2011, 271 in 2012 and 276 in 2013.
Why Rape?
Students of Viqarunnesa Noon School demanding exemplary punishment
for their teacher Parimal Joydhar, who had allegedly molested a female
student at his coaching center in Badda, Dhaka
in seeking justice, in other words,
punishing the defendants. Asked
why rapists are not getting their due
punishment, legal expert Advocate
Abdullah told First News, “It is true
that rape cases do not have a strong
record of punishing the defendants.
One of the reasons is that the victims
usually change their statement in
court. Moreover, there are loopholes
in the investigation process as well. As
a result, criminals walk away without
any punishment.”
Dhaka’s Number Four Women and
Child Violence Prohibition Tribunal’s
public
prosecutor,
Mohammad
In neighboring India, one woman
is raped every twenty minutes. The
scenario in Bangladesh is similar, if
not grimmer. A report by the National
Professionals League and South Asian
Lawyers Forum reveals that on average, in a day, ten women fall victim
to rape in Bangladesh and the victims
include children, young girls, teenagers, elderly women, garments workers, skilled professionals like doctors,
engineers, lawyers, and even members of news media.
According to a research carried
out by South Asian Lawyers Forum,
while there is a lot of hue and cry
over the number of rape incidents,
very little attention is ever given to
causes, which may be attributable
to rape, in other words, why people commit rape and what are the
means to prevent this heinous tendency in society. Experts often cite
the lack of punishment as a reason
why rape is on the rise. The perpetrators are often not reported to
police and the crime often escapes
the eyes of everyone except the victim herself. Experts believe incidents
of rape would significantly decline
if stricter laws were enforced and
effectively implemented.
Some religious extremists also
35
Cover Story
RAPE
Source: CNN, 2013
The study by the Partners for Prevention, comprised of several U.N. agencies, asked 10,178 men about their lives. They gathered information from Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka. In most countries, one in five
reported perpetrating a rape, although Papua New Guinea leads this proportion with more than half.
do more harm than good when it
comes to the issue of rape by falsely
or ignorantly citing religious teachings to deal with the victim and
the perpetrator, which often turns
out to be unfair on the female victims. However, in the past decade
many religious scholars have taken
the responsibility to preach the correct messages of our religion to the
people. Often traditional or more
conservative thinkers blame the
modern style of dressing by women as the reason behind increasing
trend of rape. But it is also a fact
that girls covered in burqas or veils
are also increasingly falling prey to
rape. Social experts argue that the
exposure and influence of foreign
cultures from satellite television are
also attributable to rape and sexual
violence and perversion. Some foreign programs are not at all appro36
priate for children’s viewing, and yet
parental restrictions are not always
there. As a result, a confused generation is being bred who confuse the
right from wrong in sexual conduct.
Preventing Rape
Incidents of rape have been
occurring since the dawn of mankind. Asked about the rising trend
of rape in recent decades, Ayesha
Khanam, secretary of Bangladesh
Women Council, said, “There has
been a sudden alarming rise in rape
in last two to three months. The initiatives that the government is taking
have proved to fall short of the actual
need. Members of the police and
armed forces should be given special
training regarding this matter. A lot of
cases are pending to be heard. Such
cases must be resolved. The burden of proving the crime usually falls
entirely on the victims. This absurd
rule must be rectified.”
Referring to how incidents of rape
can be reduced strategically, professor Dr. Mohit Kamal said, “Science
says that when a person watches
porno films, his brain releases a
certain kind of hormone. Thus he
or she craves sexual intimacy and
tends to forget that sexual desire is a
normal human emotion. As a result,
his control over his sexual desire
weakens leading to its appeasement
by force. Sexual violence, particularly rape is more common in drug
addicts and people addicted to pornographic films. Therefore, sources
of pornographic materials should
be restricted at the national level,
as parental control is not always
sufficiently effective.”
...........
The USA, the most powerful nation of the world, tops the list of countries in the
race of rape where 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have experienced an attempted
or completed rape in their lifetime
Vulnerability of
Victims
The vulnerability of rape victims
allows not only the perpetrator to take
advantage of her but she is also often
dealt with unfairly by the police, doctors, human rights workers, lawyers
and even members of the media who
use their misery for their individual
benefits. It is common for rape victims
to be harassed by a certain group of
agents in the police station. She gets
no protection from unscrupulous
members of the police force who
can use their powers to turn the case
against her if she protests against any
police misconduct, not to mention the
troubles that ensue if the perpetrators
bribe the officials in charge.
To prove that she has been raped,
the victim must go through medical
tests, which are often tampered with in
exchange of bribes by the rapists, who
usually are from influential quarters. A
male doctor conducts the medical tests
on the rape victims. This in turn deepens the physical, mental and emotional
wounds of the woman. Once the rape
victim overcomes the hurdles of the
police station and medical tests, she
must now deal with the members of
the media, human rights activists and
lawyers. This constant pressure of dealing and fighting with the outside world
can be a very trying experience for her,
forcing many to give up the fight for justice. This is most often the reason why
victims remain absent in court on the
day of the case hearing. Consequently,
the criminal is declared innocent and
allowed to walk free.
In most rape cases the police
involve themselves in the money game.
They characterize the rape victim as
‘slut’ advocating for the wrongdoers
and forcing the victim to withdraw her
complaint. The larger society also eyes
her with suspicion. In most cases they
never again enjoy the same respect and
status they had enjoyed earlier. Many
a time the victim is paid Taka 2,000 to
20,000 as compensation for the perverse crime committed against her.
Psychologist Aminul Islam Amin
commented, “First the woman is
physically raped by a man. When
the social and legal management go
against this woman, she is raped for
a second time. When the newspapers and TV channels publish the
story along with the lurid details of
the rape and the victim’s photograph,
the woman along with her family is
raped for a third time. The society and
legal system keep blaming it all on the
woman, as if she is the one who has
actually committed the rape.”■
37
Business & Finance
BANKING
Sonali Bank has been struggling
with capital adequacy since it
was defrauded of BDT36 billion
by the Hallmark Group
Making Up
the Shortfall
Two scam-hit banks, BASIC and Sonali, have
sought BDT15 billion in recapitalization funds from
the government to meet their capital shortfall
Asif Showkat
S
tate-owned BASIC and Sonali
banks have sought BDT15
billion from the government
as the scam-hit banks are now
facing an acute liquidity crisis due
to poor management and rampant
corruption. An official of the Finance
Division said: “We are waiting for
the green signal from the finance
minister to disburse that amount
38
to the trouble-prone banks as they
sought funds from the budget.” The
funds are badly needed for scamhit BASIC bank to run its regular
operations, he said.
According to the proposal, the
BASIC board of directors has sought
BDT7 billion from the budgetary
allocation of the Finance Division,
although the capital shortfall of the
bank amounted to BDT22 billion at the
end of last November. Former chairman of the bank, Sheikh Abdul Hai
Bacchu, was allegedly blamed for creating the capital shortfall as he illegally
provided loans to little-known clients.
Besides, the Sonali Bank board of
directors has sought BDT8 billion as
its capital shortfall has increased to
BDT18 billion due to loan forgery and
embezzlement of BDT36 billion by the
little-known, now infamous, business
house, Hallmark Group. Sonali Bank’s
capital shortfall was BDT8.95 billion as
of December 31, 2013.
Finance Division officials alleged
that Sonali Bank was showing the
excuse of paying pending pension arrears of retired army officers
to get the recapitalization funds.
Commercial banks, including Sonali
Bank, received BDT41 billion as recapitalization funds last December after
they faced a severe liquidity crisis due
to loan scams and other irregularities.
Finance minister AMA Muhith
recently said, “We have allocated
funds in the current fiscal year budget
for strengthening those state-owned
commercial banks.”
But now the Finance Division
needs to allocate funds to reduce the
losses of commercial banks, which is
poised to be a burden for the country’s
economy, the minister said, expressing his frustration.
“We have already received proposals from the scam-hit BASIC and
Sonali Banks for BDT15 billion to
recapitalize them, which is likely to be
disbursed by the end of December,”
he added.
Regarding the disbursement of
recapitalization funds for the staterun banks, the finance minister last
year lambasted the management and
executives of the state-owned banks
for losing even their capital due to
poor management.
“You have eaten up the money
given repeatedly to improve the capital base. It is not at all good for the
country’s banking industry,” he told
a recent meeting with the chairmen
and CEOs of the six state-owned commercial and specialized banks at the
Finance Ministry.
These six banks are Sonali, Janata,
Agrani, Rupali, BASIC, and BDBL.■
INVESTMENT
Political instability has
discouraged foreign investors
from coming into the country
Slow and
Stagnant
Growth in investment has been marginal during
the last four financial years, and public and private
investment together has been a bit more than 28
percent of GDP
Ishrat Hossain
I
nvestment in the country for the
last several financial years has
been hovering around 28 percent
of the gross domestic product (GDP).
This more or less static position
of investment clearly shows that
whatever may be said by any quarter,
an investment deficit persists in
the country.
Information has it that in the last
fiscal (2013-14), investment in the
country was 28.69 percent of GDP.
In the previous year (2012-13) it was
28.39 percent. In 2011-12 investment
was 28.26 percent, and the year before
(2010-11), investment was 27.42 percent of GDP.
A comparative study reveals that
growth in investment has been marginal during the last four financial
years and it is proper to say that the
investment figure is a bit more than 28
percent of GDP, including both public and private investment. This situation has been continuing for the last
four years.
On the other hand, savings during
the stated period was confined to a
range of 28 to 30.54 percent between
2010-11 and 2013-14. So comparatively, savings was little higher than investment, and a substantial amount of the
saving was not invested. This also
suggests there was more available to
invest than was invested.
Analysts and economists cite
perennial infrastructure limitations
like inadequate roads, gas, and electricity, as impediment to the pace of
investment, and so investment has
remained more or less within the
same bracket without further growth.
A new factor, they added, is unavailability of land that hindered investment. But, they are yet to fully recognize the lax investment climate in
the country.
Although foreign investors are
warmly welcomed and provided a
wide range of facilities/incentives,
the reality on the ground is different. There are many loopholes in
the investment process and the post
investment period, which discourage
foreign investors after being lured to
come in. Besides, fixing the tax rate is
an important point to consider for foreign investors.
Some analysts say foreign investment is not growing to keep pace
with local investment. They, however, held the view that if political
stability as at present, prevails, investment would grow. According to Dr
Moshiur Rahman, the prime minister's
economic adviser, there is no supply shortage, which shows that the
economy is running well. Wages have
increased and inflation is negligible.
He, however, admitted that the investment situation is still below expectation and “we are yet to fully realize
and meet the expectations of foreign
investors, but this situation would
not last."
Some economists pointed out
that there is an 'imbalance' between
savings and investment. In their opinion, investment should be at par with
savings in the GDP, otherwise, a risk
would remain all through.
A highly placed adviser in the
central bank, however, refused to
consider it a risk arising out of socalled imbalance. He said 'balancing
theory' is simply nothing but some pet
words which are frequently spoken,
although it has no significant bearing in practice. In his opinion, there
is risk in every field of the economy
and there are also ways and means
to address the risks, resorting to the
application of various instruments.
Practical things always differ from
things stipulated in theories.■
39
Business & Finance
At A Glance
India’s Banking System
Vulnerable to Financial
Contagion
India’s close ties between lenders would leave the
banking system especially vulnerable to contagion, the
central bank warned in a report on December 29. That
means trouble at a single bank among the top five most
connected lenders in India could lead to contagion that
wipes out nearly 50 percent of Tier I capital in the banking system under a severe stress scenario, the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) said in its semi-annual Financial
Stability report.
The RBI did not identify the top five banks used for its
study. It said its stress tests involved conditions such as
potential failure by a bank that is either a net lender, or a
World’s 400 Richest
Add USD92 Billion
in 2014
The richest people on Earth
got richer in 2014, adding USD92
billion to their collective fortune
in the face of falling energy prices
and geopolitical turmoil incited by
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The net worth of the world’s 400 wealthiest billionaires
on December 29 stood at USD4.1 trillion, according to
the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the
world’s richest. The biggest gainer was Jack Ma, cofounder of Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce
company. Ma, a former English teacher who started
Saudi 2015 Budget
Based on Oil Price
Around USD60/
Barrel
Saudi Arabia's 2015 state
budget assumes an oil price
close to current levels of around
USD60 a barrel for Brent crude,
a shift from past budgets which
were based on prices well below
market levels, analysts say. The
kingdom does not reveal the oil prices which it uses
to calculate its annual budgets. So analysts estimate
40
net borrower, or both. The RBI also used money markets as one of its variables for stress tests given banks
frequently lend to each other in short-term maturities.
India’s non-banking financial firms (NBFC) also pose a
risk to the banking system due to their close ties with
banks.
the Hangzhou-based company
in his apartment in 1999, added
USD25.1bn to his fortune, riding
a 56 percent surge in the company’s shares since its September
initial public offering. Ma, 50, with
a USD28.7 billion fortune, briefly
passed Li Ka-shing as Asia’s richest
person.
Another biggest is Warren
Buffett, chairman of Berkshire
Hathaway, who added USD13.7
billion to his net worth, and passed
Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim on
December 5 to become the world’s second-richest person. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, was up USD9.1
billion during the year. The 59-year-old remains the
world’s richest person with an USD87.6 billion fortune.
them, making assumptions about
several other variables such as
planned oil exports and production for the following year.
For the 2015 budget, four
analysts' oil price estimates are in
a range of USD55 to USD63. That
does not mean Saudi Arabia necessarily expects such prices next
year, finance minister Ibrahim
Alassaf said. The budgeted oil
price is an accounting assumption which the government uses
to set a baseline for next year's
revenues. If Brent crude averages more than USD60 next
year, Saudi oil revenues will probably be larger than projected; if Brent is below USD60, revenues will be smaller.
Prostitution and
Illegal Drugs
Help UK Overtake
France in Global
Wealth
Britain's multi-billion pound
sex and illegal drug industries have helped the UK leapfrog France to become the world's fifth largest economy.
The latest global economic league table includes a £10
billion boost in UK earnings from drugs and sex, which
earlier this year led to Brussels issuing a £1.7 billion bill
to the Treasury.
Gulf’s Millennials Have
Weightier Issues to Deal with
The “millennials”, who are the 25-34 year olds and
Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as
World’s Busiest Airport
Heathrow has lost its crown as the busiest airport in
the world for international passenger traffic. The oil-rich
Gulf city of Dubai has knocked London off the top spot,
figures from the Airports Council International show.
A total of 68.9 million passengers had passed through
Dubai International compared with 67.8 million at
Heathrow as of December 22, despite a late slowdown
in traffic with one important destination, trouble-hit
Russia.
The rise in passenger numbers at Dubai this year
came despite only a single runway being usable for 80
days because of a refurbishment scheme, which caused
a temporary decline in flights. Given the traffic achieved
in the first 11 months, together with some of the busiest
New figures from the Center
for Economic and Business
Research (CEBR) also forecast
that the UK economy will pass
Germany's after 2030, for the first
time since 1954, with a declining
population identified by researchers as a "likely weakness" for the
European industrial powerhouse.
While the Chancellor George
Osborne may cite the new rankings as further evidence of the success of his financial
strategy, the UK's jump up the table comes with a caveat
as the French do not include prostitution or narcotics
income in gross domestic product (GDP) calculations.
The CEBR survey also forecasts that Britain's lead economic role in the Commonwealth will soon end.
the favored demographic of marketers, in the Gulf seem
to have far weightier things on their mind than their
counterparts elsewhere. They are more likely to be concerned about taking on too much debt, worry endlessly
about balancing their daily expenses, and likely to put
off buying property. This is based on an extensive multimarket survey conducted by the consultancy Initiative
MENA.
Quite a sizeable proportion of UAE respondents, 27.9
percent, were “cynical” about the way brands market to
them. When it comes to debt, 56.5 percent were “worried/very worried” about getting into debts (for those in
Saudi Arabia the percentage was 59 percent), while for
44.2 percent a similar sentiment was expressed on how
to get out of debt. For 58.4 percent of UAE respondents,
the concerns related to whether they had enough set
aside to take care of their post-retirement years.
days on record in December, the authorities of Dubai
Airport was convinced they were going to end the year
crossing the 70 million mark. Figures from the airport
operator for November showed that passenger traffic
was up 4.3 percent year-on-year to 5.5 million.
41
Living
TRAVEL
The discontinuation of
sleeper service between
Paris and Berlin spells
doom for Europe’s night
trains as a whole
Sleeper Trains Put
to Sleep
Deutsche Bahn has discontinued the night train
service between Paris and Berlin as a precursor
to a similar decision pending for other European
routes, citing mounting losses
Bashir Ahmed
G
erman
railway
company,
Deutsche Bahn, is ending
its sleeper service between
Paris and Berlin this week, citing
unsustainable losses. The service
has been running since before World
War II, and used to go all the way to
Moscow. Fierce competition from
budget airlines has lured passengers
away from night trains that were once
a mainstay of cross-border travel in
Europe, explained Deutsche Bahn
42
spokeswoman,
Susanne
Schulz.
Demand has dropped by 30 percent
over the past decade because of the
sinking cost of airline tickets, he said.
A mid-week journey from Berlin to
Paris by a night train with 4 bunks to a
room, costs from USD87 and takes 12
hours. A two-hour flight with one piece
of checked luggage costs from USD68.
Along with the link to the French
capital, Deutsche Bahn, is ending
sleeper service between Amsterdam,
Prague, Basel and Copenhagen, and
cutting the connection to Amsterdam
from its overnight service to Warsaw.
Railway enthusiasts fear other
routes could soon follow, spelling
doom for Europe’s night trains as a
whole. Campaigners have launched
petitions calling on governments and
the European Union to save what they
argue is an ecological and familyfriendly way to travel.
The carbon footprint for the ParisBerlin rail journey is less than half
that of a flight, according to Deutsche
Bahn’s website. While children pay
close to full fare on airlines from the
age of 2, they can ride the sleeper for
free until they turn 15, and only need
to reserve a seat or bed.
Others evoke the romance of
rail journeys, and the fact that passengers are lifted out of the bustle of
daily life for the time it takes to reach
their destination.
Deutsche Bahn informed it lost
USD15 million last year on the night
trains it is now cutting. Investing in
modern rolling stock would cost millions, the company said. Although,
that might be necessary if it wants to
tempt travelers back into its bunks.■
43
Living
Life & Style
Criticism Gets Her to Gain
More Weight
Women whose family members or loved ones are
critical of their weight tend to put on even more kilos,
new research says. Women who were accepted by their
loved ones as they were or received what the researchers call weight acceptance messages saw better weight
maintenance and even weight loss than their counterparts
who did not receive positive messages from their loved
ones, the findings showed. Professor Christine Logel from
Renison University College at University of Waterloo in
Canada, explained that feeling better about themselves
caused the women to be more active or eat more sensibly.
Receiving unconditional acceptance might have lowered
their stress, a known cause of weight gain. The study
appeared in the journal Personal Relationships.
Are Women More Empathetic
than Men?
Men Shop More Via
Smartphones than Women
Conducted online among 2,013 adults aged 18 and
older, the survey from advertising business organizations
- Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and global communications and technology leader Verizon, show the
gender difference is especially notable within the younger
demographic. The survey found that 76 percent of male
smartphone users aged 18-34 shop via smartphones in
a typical month compared to 59 percent of women in
the same age category. That particular age group is also
among the biggest spenders on mobile, with 39 percent of
18-to-34-year-old smartphone users saying they spend at
least USD51 or more via smartphone in an average month,
as compared to 27 percent of overall survey participants.
The study also shows that smartphones are second only
to computers among devices used for shopping.
44
A new study has revealed that women are indeed better at empathy than men. It was found that when a negative event befalls their partner, women tend to experience
an emotional effect roughly 24 percent as large as if the
event happened to them, while for men the percentage
is much lower at just 7 percent. Professor Paul Frijters of
University of Queensland, who conducted the study with
Dr Cindy Mervin of Griffith University, said that they looked
at people who had negative shocks in their lives, such
as the death of a friend, losing a job or becoming ill. The
researchers said that it is not that men are cold, emotionless fish, but they found men were much less affected by
what happened to their partner.
Health & Hygiene
Migraine May Double Facial
Paralysis Risk
Migraine may double the risk of a nervous system
condition that causes facial paralysis called Bell’s palsy,
new research says. Study author Shuu-Jiun Wang from
National Yang-Ming University in Taipei said that this is a
very new association between migraine and Bell’s palsy.
He added that it also suggests that these two conditions may share a common underlying link. People with
migraine were twice as likely to develop Bell’s palsy even
after researchers accounted for other factors, which could
increase the risk of the conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes. “Infection, inflammation or heart and
vascular problems could be shared causes for these diseases,” the author said. The study appeared in the journal
Neurology.
Common Painkiller Can Boost
Health and Longevity
Do Not Consume Unnecessary
Antibiotics
Contrary to popular perception, researchers have
found that consuming an unnecessary amount of antibiotics could lead to antibiotic resistance, a major public
health concern. There are other risks associated with
taking unnecessary antibiotics, such as secondary infections and allergic reactions, said David Broniatowski,
assistant professor at the George Washington University
in the US. They discovered a widespread misconception:
Patients may want antibiotics, even if they are aware that
drugs will not improve their viral infection. These patients
believe that taking the medication will not worsen their
condition - and that the risk of taking unnecessary antibiotics does not outweigh the possibility that they may
help. The study appeared in the journal Medical Decision
Making.
A common over-the-counter drug -Ibuprofen -that
tackles pain and fever may also hold key to a longer,
healthier life, a new research has claimed. Regular doses
of ibuprofen extended
the lifespan of multiple
species, said Dr Michael
Polymenis, an AgriLife
Research biochemist in College Station.
The same process with
worms and flies showed
extended lifespan and
these organisms not
only lived longer, but
also appeared healthy,
said Polymenis. He said
the treatment, given at
doses comparable to the
recommended human
dose, added about 15
percent to the species'
lives. Among humans, that would be equivalent to another
dozen years of healthy living.
The WHO includes ibuprofen on their "List of Essential
Medications" needed in a basic health system.
45
Living
Etcetera
Lying on Facebook
Leads to False
Memories
If you fabricate your
profile on Facebook to
earn more likes, remember that this habit can lead
to feelings of shame and
worthlessness later in life.
According to a new survey,
almost two-thirds of social
media users lie to "airbrush
reality" and make their
lives seem more interesting than they are. Young
adults say they frequently
lie about their relationships,
promotions at work and
holidays on social media.
Some of these youngsters
may succumb to "digital
amnesia", believing their
own versions of events
and forgetting what really
happened, revealed the
survey commissioned
by social networking site
Pencourage where users
post anonymously. It found
that 68 percent "embellish,
exaggerate or outright lie
when documenting events
on social media".
Oil Magnate
Appeals USD1
Billion Divorce
Settlement as
Fortune Reduced
When oil magnate
Harold Hamm of Oklahoma
in the USA was ordered to
pay his ex-wife USD1 billion
in their divorce, he called
46
the ruling “fair and equitable,” publicly thanked
the judge and said he was
happy to have the case
behind him. Now, with his
estimated USD19 billion
personal fortune having fallen by half amid a rout in oil
prices, the chief executive
of Continental Resources
has changed his mind.
Hamm has appealed the
divorce ruling, which he
now considers “erroneous
and inequitable,” according to filings in Oklahoma
County Court.
tricky conditions such as
thin air and ice crystals.
Some low-cost carriers
seem particularly strapped
trying to find better skilled
staff and allegedly push
their pilots and crew to
work too many hours
in order to run so many
flights.
Is the West
Clinically
Depressed?
The average westerner
lives far longer, is far less
affected by war and has
vastly greater choice than
any people in human histo-
guilt. There is no mental
disorder here. If the west
as a whole thinks its best
days are over, it must be
related to the fact that for
so many it is literally true.
Chinese Woman
Named World's
Youngest
Billionaire
A 24-year-old Chinese
woman with stakes worth
USD1.3 billion in a real
estate firm, has become
the world's youngest
billionaire, replacing
Facebook co-founder
Dustin Moskovitz. Kei
Perenna Hoi Ting, daughter
of Ji Haipeng, chairman
and CEO of Chinese real
estate developer Logan
Why is SE Asia
Disaster Prone?
Southeast Asian
airspace still has the
same mountains, chaotic weather, and tough
approach paths as it always
did. The pilot on the AirAsia
flight had about 6,000 hours
of flight experience on the
Airbus plane he was flying,
but it is unclear whether
he had experience flying
at 34,000 feet or higher,
where he was trying to
take the plane to avoid bad
weather. The higher the
plane rises, the more difficult it can be to navigate
ry. What then, is the matter
with the west? The answer
is beguilingly simple. The
westerners are growing
older. The greyer they
become, the less they save.
The less they save, the
less they invest. The less
they invest the slower they
grow. The less they grow,
the more they squabble
over budgets. Polls show
that the old are as worried
about the future as any
other age group. Perhaps
this comes tinged with
Property, is a non-executive director of the firm and
holds 85 percent stakes in
it worth $1.3 billion, staterun China News Service
said. A graduate from
the University of London,
Perenna Kei lives in Hong
Kong. Logan Property
Holdings is run by companies and a family trust
associated with Perenna.
The firm headquartered in
the southern Chinese city
of Shenzhen focuses on
the development of mid
and high-end residential
housing.
SCIENCE
One of the major scientific achievements
of 2015 is expected to be the reboot of
Large Haldron Collider at CERN in March
Big Scientific
Breakthroughs in
2015
Last year saw several significant scientific
discoveries and 2015 is already looking promising
to open new frontiers
Nahid Akhter
A
ccording to renowned journal
Nature, the major scientific
discoveries
of
2014
were
3D-printed body parts and scientific
breakthroughs like comet landing.
But the journal believes 2015 also
holds a great future for science. The
first big news is expected to come
with the reboot of the Large Haldron
Collider (LHC) in March after a
two-year shutdown.
The machine at CERN, Europe’s
particle-physics
laboratory
near
Geneva, Switzerland, will restart with
collisions at 13 trillion electronvolts
- almost double the current record.
Scientists hope that the extra firepower will help the collider to unearth
phenomena that fill in gaps in the
standard model of particle physics.
The US and China, the world’s biggest carbon emitters, made historic
pledges in 2014 to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. That could clear
the way for a new global climate
deal at United Nations talks in Paris
in December where nations hope to
finalize a legally binding post-2020
agreement, the report added.
Another important discovery can
be to stop the Ebola epidemic in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
That will require wider use of proven
public-health measures - such as rapid
detection and isolation of people with
Ebola. Trials of vaccines are planned
for early in the year; results should
come by June.
In March, Nasa’s Dawn probe will
arrive at protoplanet Ceres, the most
massive body in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is
thought to have water ice beneath
its crust.
And after travelling five billion kilometers, Nasa’s New Horizons craft
will finally reach Pluto, making its
closest approach July 14. The encounter promises the first intimate look at
that rocky world and its moons, and
new data on Pluto’s atmosphere.
Drug companies are racing to
bring a new class of cholesterol drug
to market, and some may cross the
finish line this year. The therapies,
which reduce levels of low-density
lipo-protein (LDL) cholesterol by targeting the protein PCSK9, have shown
promise in clinical trials.
Palaeogeneticists
hope
to
sequence the complete genome from
the 400,000-year-old Sima de Los
Huesos human, found in a deep cave
in northern Spain.
Germany also gets a new research
vessel, which shares its name with its
predecessor: Sonne. Elsewhere on the
seas, the Ocean Observatories Initiative,
a US push to monitor the seas in real
time, will be completed in late May.
Japan is also likely to restart “scientific” whaling in Antarctic waters after
a hiatus imposed by the International
Court of Justice.■
47
Living
Science & Technology
Teenagers are Leaving Facebook
The survey, conducted by market research firm Frank
N. Magid Associates, revealed that the percentage of
youth aged 13 to 17 who use Facebook in the US has
fallen to 88
per cent
this year,
from 94
percent in
2013 and
95 percent
in 2012.
Among all
the other
age groups
examined
in the
study, in
total, 90 percent use Facebook, down from 93 percent
in the past two years. Other surveys have also found
teens moving to other socially networked sites, such
as Instagram, now owned by Facebook. Of the people
polled in the Frank N. Magid’s survey, 16 percent said
Facebook was trendy, 18 percent found it fun and 16
percent said it was informative.
A Carnivorous Plant that is
Turning Vegetarian
If you think that only humans are turning vegetarian,
here is a new study that has found certain carnivorous
plants are also becoming vegetarians. The bladderworts
(Utricularia) is a species of carnivorous plant that catches
and digests
tiny animals.
Now, the
plant is turning to algae
and pollen
grains for
a balanced
nutrition.
The species
catches its
prey with the
help of suction bladders,
trap doors
and lightning
speed. Once
captured by the bladderwort, the animal suffocates, and
is then broken down by enzymes and digested. This is
how the plant worked until it discovered vegetarianism,
said researchers Marianne Koller-Peroutka and Wolfram
Adlassnig from the University of Vienna in Austria.The
study appeared in the journal Annals of Botany.
48
4D Printing to Create Shape
Changing Structures
In a first, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology have used a technology called four-dimensional (4D) printing to create a structure that can change
shape without
external intervention. The
new technology marks an
advancement
over 3D printing that allows
one to print a
range of items
including toys,
chocolates
or medical
devices, all while sitting in a living room. The so-called
four-dimensional printing involves 3D printing items that
are designed to change shape after they are printed. The
study appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.
Power Solution Lies in
Champagne Bubbles!
Using Japan's
most powerful computer,
researchers have
explored how the
physics of champagne bubbles may
enable the design
of more efficient
power stations or
propellers. This
fundamental nonequilibrium phenomenon is known
as "Ostwald ripening," and though it
is most familiar for
its role in bubbly
beverages, it is
also seen in a wide
range of scientific systems including spin systems, foams
and metallic alloys. Researchers from the University of
Tokyo, Kyusyu University and RIKEN in Japan were able
to simulate bubble nucleation from the molecular level
by harnessing the K computer at RIKEN, the most powerful system in Japan. An enhanced understanding of the
behaviour of bubbles is important for the field of engineering as it may enable the design of more efficient power
stations or propellers, researchers said.
Navigation Center of Brain
Discovered by Scientists
Where Does Body Fat Go When
We Lose Weight?
British
scientists have
discovered the
exact part of the
brain that tells
us the direction
to travel when
we navigate.
A team of
researchers from
the University
College, London,
has located the
'homing signal'
in the brain,
explaining why
some people are
better navigators.
The strength
of its signal
also predicts how well people can navigate. The latest
research reveals that the part of the brain that signals
which direction you are facing, called the entorhinal
region, is also used to signal the direction in which you
need to travel to reach your destination. This part of the
brain tells you not only which direction you are currently
facing, but also which direction you should be facing in
the future.
Ever wondered where does the fat in the body actually
go when one loses weight? In the most interesting finding,
scientists have
found that we
actually breathe
it out. The
most common
misconception
among doctors,
dieticians and
personal trainers is that the
missing mass
gets converted
into energy or
heat, according to the lead
author of a
study Ruben Meerman, a physicist who has published
the study in the British Medical Journal. In the paper, the
authors show that losing 10 kilograms of fat requires 29
kilograms of oxygen to be inhaled and that this metabolic
process produces 28 kilograms of carbon dioxide and 11
kilograms of water. Meerman became interested in the
biochemistry of weight loss through personal experience.
US Makes Bullet that Can
Change Direction in Midair
The United States Department of Defense has successfully tested a bullet that can change direction after it
has been fired, apparently using fins built into the shell
to direct it in
the air and
account for
wind and
targets moving.
The Extreme
Accuracy
Tasked
Ordnance
weapon,
known as
Exacto,
is made by American industrial company Teledyne
Technologies. The firm is making the bullet for the
American government's military research agency, Darpa.
A video made by the company shows the bullet being
fired twice, deliberately off target. The second time it
swings back in towards the target and hits.
Weight Loss Drug Fools Body
Into Reacting as If It Has Just
Eaten
A drug that works like an “imaginary meal” has been
developed by US scientists, who believe it could help
combat soaring rates of obesity. The drug mimics signals
that are normally produced at the start of a meal when
the body prepares for a fresh intake of food. The signals
lead to a cascade
of effects that burn
body fat, reduce
blood sugar and
cholesterol levels, and ramp
up metabolism.
Researchers at the
Salk Institute in La
Jolla, California,
made the discovery after giving
daily fexaramine
to obese mice for five weeks. The drug was not absorbed
in the animals’ bloodstreams, but instead went to work
locally in their intestines, according to a report in the journal Nature Medicine on Monday, January 5.
49
Sport
CRICKET
Squad for Australia
Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced the team
that will play in the World Cup Cricket 2015 and it
mostly comprises of tried and tested players
Yahya M Ishaq
T
he
Bangladesh
selectors
predictably opted for the tried and
the tested, but were won over by
Soumya Sarkar’s all-round abilities to
pick him in their 15-member squad
for the 2015 World Cup. Nasir Hossain
and Taskin Ahmed have also been
recalled after missing out the ODI
series against Zimbabwe last month.
Mashrafe Mortaza was expectedly
named captain after leading the side
to a 5-0 win in his first ODI series in
charge. Shakib Al Hasan has been
retained as his deputy.
Faruque, who also picked the
2007 World Cup squad as the chief
selector, said that this 2015 squad
was made with realistic goals, which
for Bangladesh is to win the games
against Afghanistan and Scotland
and try to beat at least one of the four
major teams among Australia, New
Zealand, Sri Lanka and England.
“Every selector wants to build a
team that will win the World Cup. We
also want to do that but our style is to
set a realistic target,” Faruque said.
“We have to win at least two of those
matches to have any practical chance
of making it to the next round. We
have considered form and who can
sustain in those conditions. We wanted seasoned campaigners although
we have not picked [Abdur] Razzak.
Those who have replaced him have
played domestic cricket for a long
time and are with the team for the last
12 months.
“Soumya [Sarkar] is a utility player who can bat at the top order and
his medium pace bowling also can
be handy in Australia-New Zealand.
We thought that it would be a risk
to include Likhon in the squad and
we had picked three left-arm spin-
50
ners in the past, and we have been
successful against middle and
lower-ranking teams.”
Sarkar has been included as the
third opener after Tamim Iqbal and
Anamul Haque, and the fifth seam
option after Mashrafe, Taskin Ahmed,
Al-Amin Hossain and Rubel Hossain.
Sarkar played his one and only ODI
in the Zimbabwe series, and has ended up as the fourth highest scorer in
the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket
League, with 615 runs at an average of
41, with four fifties and a century. He
has taken only eight wickets with his
medium-pace.
Nasir was dropped for the entire
Zimbabwe series after enduring his
first poor year in international cricket
after making his debut in 2011. He
averaged 20.45 in 13 matches, having had averages of 36, 34 and 64 in
the three preceding years. Taskin last
played an ODI against West Indies
in August last year, after which he
suffered a side strain in November,
and returned to play in the Dhaka
Premier League.
The selection panel also retained
Taijul Islam, who took a hat-trick on
ODI debut, and Sabbir Rahman, who
replaced Nasir in the Zimbabwe
series to make his ODI debut. He had
played T20s for Bangladesh earlier in
2014 while Taijul’s eight-wicket haul
against Zimbabwe is Bangladesh’s
best bowling figure in Test cricket.
Here is a look at the Bangladesh
squad:
Mashrafe Mortaza: He will play
in his third World Cup campaign after
bursting on to the scene in 2003 and
later providing crucial early break-
throughs in 2007. He missed the World
Cup at home last time due to a knee
injury, and had cried the day the squad
was announced and he was not on
the list. He still provides the good starts
with the ball and is an inspiration to the
rest of the team. He leads by example.
Tamim Iqbal: He is one of the
most experienced players in the side
and an underrated opener around the
world. Tamim will be in charge of providing Bangladesh solid foundations
in Australia and New Zealand, particularly given the inexperience in the toporder. He is also a moody personality;
so it would be a key for the team management to keep him on an even keel.
Anamul Haque: He will open with
Tamim. He has had his best year in
international cricket after making his
debut in 2012. He was the second
highest ODI scorer in the team, averaging 37.11 and with two centuries.
He has a good 50-to-100 conversion
rate, but his batting strike-rate leaves a
lot to be desired. Picking singles is not
his forte, so he would want to improve
himself for the big event.
Soumya Sarkar: He is a newcomer, having played just a single
ODI late last year against Zimbabwe.
There was nothing much to write
home about the debut game but he
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza
and Shakib Al Hasan have
been selected captain and
vice captain, respectively,
for the ICC world cup 2015
in Australia
smashing Afghanistan in the 2010
Asian Games, he has had to wait for
his international debut. He has done
the lower order enforcer’s job quite
well against Zimbabwe but a bigger
challenge awaits, but he can rely on
his leg spin and lightning fielding.
Taskin Ahmed: He is Bangladesh’s
quickest bowler and selection for the
World Cup, to be played in relatively
quicker wickets, was almost a given.
Still, he has fitness issues and has had
long layoffs in the past couple of years.
But when on song, he can be accurate
and effective. A lot will depend on
managing his fitness over two months.
is a favorite of the coach Chandika
Hathurusingha and is touted as one
of the most talented cricketers in the
country. He has finished the season’s
Dhaka Premier League with the fourth
highest aggregate runs. He will be the
back-up opener and considered a
medium-pacer option.
Mominul Haque: He is the dependable Test batsman who has not exactly set the world on fire in ODIs. He is
third in terms of runs scored in ODIs in
2014, but still he has a long way to go.
He is reliable in handling high pace
and short-length deliveries, and is an
excellent fielder. A quiet personality,
he has been earmarked as a potential
world star.
Shakib
Al
Hasan: He is
Bangladesh’s main man with the bat
and ball. He has had a quiet couple of
years though, but from time to time he
comes up with a good performance.
His last brush with the record book
was when he became only the third
cricketer to take ten wickets and
score a hundred in a Test match, after
Imran Khan and Sir Ian Botham.
Mushfiqur
Rahim:
As
Bangladesh’s highest scorer in ODIs in
2014, a lot will depend on his continued form. He will control the middleorder, particularly in the advent of a
collapse. He has been relieved of the
ODI captaincy, which is likely to make
him more determined in a big event.
Also, it would be another chance for
him to erase the memories of a poor
2011 World Cup.
Mahmudullah: There would have
been a lot of questions about his place
in the team, but for his performance
against Zimbabwe. He had been out of
form since the start of 2013, and there
had been numerous times when there
was bemusement at his continuous
presence in the team. He was stripped
of his vice-captaincy, and even lost his
place for some time but the selectors
persisted with him. The runs against
West Indies and Zimbabwe would
come in handy now.
Nasir Hossain: He has just had his
poorest year in international cricket
since making his debut in 2011, but
he has been retained in the squad for
what he had done in 2012 and 2013.
More recently, he has made runs in
the domestic one-day competition.
Cocky and confident goes hand in
hand with this batsman, and he will
be expected to make the playing XI
from the onset.
Sabbir Rahman: He has finally
broken through to the Bangladesh
team after five years of promise. Since
Al-Amin
Hossain: He was
Bangladesh’s most impressive newcomer in 2014 until the ICC reported
his bowling action as suspect. He
came out of the test with a legal action
but he has been jolted. There is however hope that the confidence can be
restored and he can continue to keep
one end tied up with his accurate
medium pace.
Rubel Hossain: He is a pace bowler who is poor in Test cricket but has
had his moments in ODIs. But the
recent love scandal has shaken his
resolve. There was even doubt whether he would get a second bail but the
BCB has received some assurance to
pick him for the World Cup.
Arafat Sunny: He is a seasoned
campaigner, though he made his
international debut only last year. As
a left-arm spinner, he offers stability
from one end that is often required
when Shakib is attacking from the
other end. He is known in the local
circuit as an effective wicket-to-wicket bowler, and will be expected to put
teams like Afghanistan and Scotland
in some trouble.
Taijul Islam: He is the only bowler
to take a hat-trick on ODI debut and
also holds the best bowling figures for
a Bangladeshi in Test cricket. A cricketer couldn’t have asked for a better
first few months in cricket. The leftarm spinner who hails from Natore
now has a major challenge in hand to
prove he is no flash in the pan.■
51
Leisure
YESTERyEARs
Joan Collins Honored by British
Queen
Joan Collins, who
played scheming, shoulder pad-wearing Alexis
Carrington in the hit
1980s TV show Dynasty,
was made the female
equivalent of a knight
in Queen Elizabeth
II’s annual New Year’s
honors list. The star of
potboilers including
The Stud and The Bitch
was recognized for her services to charity. Collins, 81, is a
longtime supporter of nonprofit groups helping children.
London-born Collins said that it was humbling to receive
this level of recognition from her queen and country, and
that she was thrilled and truly grateful.
Luise Rainer, First to Win
Consecutive Acting Oscars, Dies
Luise Rainer, a star of
cinema's golden era who
won back-to-back Oscars
but then walked away
from a glittering Hollywood
career, has died. She was
104. Rainer, whose roles
ranged from the 1930s
German stage to television's
The Love Boat, died on
December 30 at her home
in London from pneumonia, said her only daughter,
Francesca Knittel-Bowyer. The big-eyed, apple-cheeked
Rainer gained Hollywood immortality by becoming the
first person to win an acting Academy Award in consecutive years, taking best actress prizes for the 1936 film The
Great Ziegfeld” and The Good Earth in 1937. It is a feat
since achieved by only four other actors: Spencer Tracy,
Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Tom Hanks.
Wasim and Shaniera Akram
Welcome Baby
Girl
Sultan of Swing, former left-arm fast bowler,
Wasim Akram became a
father for a third time as
his wife, Shaniera Akram
52
welcomed a baby girl on December 27. The news was
announced on Twitter by Wasim Akram on his account
as he shared the picture of his new born daughter, Aiyla
Akram. Aiyla is the third child of Akram who has two
sons, Taimur and Akbar from his previous marriage to
Huma Akram. Also a praised commentator and bowling
coach, Akram married Shaniera last year on 12th August in
a small ceremony, which was attended by his family and
close friends.
Rekha amongst the Hottest
Vegetarians of 2014
Veteran Bollywood actor
Rekha’s name has come up with
that of Indian prime minister
Narendra Modi as the hottest
vegetarian celebrities by People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) for the year 2014. Also in the
race for the vegetarian of the year
were celebrities Kangana Ranaut
and Shahid Kapoor, Amitabh
Bachchan, R Madhavan, Jacqueline
Fernandez and Hema Malini. But
after thousands of votes were cast to help PETA India
choose the winners, the results indicated Modi and Rekha
to be on the top, said a statement. Poorva Joshipura, chief
executive officer, PETA India, said that Rekha and Modi
have inspired caring people everywhere to ditch meat in
favor of vegetarian foods.
Imran Khan Marries Former BBC
Presenter
Former Pakistani
cricketer-turned-politician
Imran Khan has secretly
married a former BBC
anchor Reham Khan in
a hush hush wedding,
according to media
reports. The 62-year-old
Imran is believed to have
tied the knot last weekend with Pakistani news
anchor Reham, 41, who
is a divorcee and mother-of-three. She lived in Britain for
part of her previous marriage, when she was a weather
girl and presenter on the BBC regional news program
'South Today'. Imran was previously married to Jemima
'Goldsmith' Khan and has two sons with her, Sulaiman
Isa and Kasim. The couple divorced in 2004. Jemima had
revealed in October this year that she was ditching the
surname 'Khan' and reverting to her family name because
her ex-husband was about to remarry.
ENTERTAINMENT
.......
Elvis Presley with
his personal jet
Elvis Presley’s
Jets Go on Auction
Jets “Lisa Marie” and “Hound Dog II” that the late
King of Rock and Roll designed himself will be
offered together to bidders
Rezaul Karim
M
ore than 37 years after his
death, the American music
icon Elvis Presley’s pair of
personal jets, one complete with
gilded wash basin and plush sleeping
quarters, will go under the hammer
in a sealed-bid auction for a piece of
mile-high rock and roll memorabilia,
Julien’s Auctions said on Friday,
January 2, 2015.
Jets “Lisa Marie” and “Hound
Dog II” that the late King of Rock and
Roll designed himself will be offered
together to bidders and are expected to fetch between USD10 million
and USD15 million, the Beverly Hills,
California, auction house said.
The jets are no longer airworthy,
but have been on view for visitors at
Graceland - Presley’s
Memphis, Tennessee estate for the past three decades. Presley
bought the Convair 880 jet from Delta
Air Lines in 1975, two years before
his death at age 42, for USD250,000.
He named it “Lisa Marie” after
his daughter.
Presley
spent
more
than
USD300,000 refurbishing the jet with
a penthouse bedroom, executive
conference room, bar and videotape
system linked to four TVs. He had the
plane painted red, white and blue
with his motto “TCB” - “Takin’ Care of
Business” - on the tail.
He purchased the eight-to-10 passenger “Hound Dog II,” a Lockheed
Jetstar, also in 1975 for about
USD900,000 while waiting on the
refurbishment of the “Lisa Marie.”
The four-engine 28-passenger
Convair could fly Presley, who preferred to travel at night, up to 3,000
miles (4,800 kilometers). Only 65 of
the Convair 880 model jets were produced from 1959 to 1962.
The buyer also has the option to
purchase several acres adjacent to
Graceland to display the jets, independent of the Presley museum. An
agreement between Graceland and
the jets’ current owners, whose identity was not disclosed, is set to expire
at the end of April.■
53
Leisure
MOVIES
Raj Kapoor in a
scene from Dil
Hi To Hai
Remembering
Raj Kapoor
Last December 14, was the 90th birth anniversary
of the legendary actor, the first Indian sensation
outside India
Muhtasim Billah
Son Randhir, and grand daughter Kareena, posing with a statue of Raj Kapoor at
the inauguration of UTV Stars property Walk of the Stars
54
D
ecember 14 was the 90th birth
anniversary of legendary Indian
actor, Raj Kapoor, born on that
day in 1924. The ultimate showman
of Indian cinema, he was at once
a successful actor, director, and
producer, fondly remembered by his
fans across the world. Raj Kapoor
was the winner of two National Film
Awards and nine Filmfare Awards in
India, and a two-time nominee for the
Palme d'Or grand prize at the Cannes
Film Festival for his films Awaara
and Boot Polish. His performance in
Awaara was ranked as one of the top
ten greatest performances of all time
by Time magazine.
The films of this consummate
actor attracted worldwide audiences,
particularly in Asia and Europe. The
Indian government honored him with
the Padma Bhushan in 1971 and the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1987 for
his contributions to Indian cinema.
He was called the Clark Gable of the
Indian film industry.
He was born as Ranbir Raj
Kapoor in Dhakki Munawwar Shah
near Qissa Khwani in Peshawar in
modern-day Pakistan, to Prithviraj
Kapoor and Ramsarni Devi Kapoor.
He was the eldest of six children in
the family. He was the grandson of
Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor and
great-grandson of Dewan Keshavmal
Kapoor, part of the famous Kapoor
family. His brothers are actors Shashi
Kapoor and the late Shammi Kapoor.
He also had a sister named Urmila Sial.
Two other siblings died in infancy.
Raj Kapoor attended Colonel
Brown Cambridge School, Dehradun,
in the 1930s, and St Xavier's Collegiate
School. His acting career started when
he was 10 years old and his first film
was Inquilab in 1935. After acting in
several films over the next 12 years,
Raj Kapoor's big break came with
the lead role in Neel Kamal in 1947,
opposite Madhubala, also in her first
role as a leading lady. In 1948, at the
age of twenty-four, he established his
own studio, R. K. Films, and became
the youngest film director of his time,
making his directorial debut with
Aag, starring himself, Nargis, Kamini
Kaushal, and Premnath. In 1949 he costarred with Dilip Kumar and Nargis in
Mehboob Khan's blockbuster, Andaz,
which was his first major success as
an actor.
He went on to produce and star in
several hit films made under his RK
banner including Barsaat, Awaara,
Shree 420, Chori Chori, Jagte Raho
and Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai.
The last one was directed by Radhu
Karmakar, his longtime cinematographer, and which won the Filmfare
Award for Best Film. These films
established his screen image modeled on Charlie Chaplin's most famous
screen persona of The Tramp. Outside
of his home productions his other
notable films included Anari, Chhalia
and Teesri Kasam.
In 1964, he produced, directed,
and starred in the romantic musical
Sangam, alongside Rajendra Kumar
and Vyjayantimala, which was his first
film in color. This was his last major
success as a leading actor as his later films like Around the World, and
Sapnon Ka Saudagar, with younger
starlets Rajshree and Hema Malini,
were box office flops. In 1965 he was a
member of the jury at the 4th Moscow
International Film Festival.
In 1970 Raj produced, directed,
and starred in his ambitious film Mera
Naam Joker which took more than
six years to complete. His son Rishi
Kapoor made his debut in this film
playing the younger version of his
character. When released in 1970, it
was a box office disaster and threw
Kapoor and his family into a financial crisis. Much later this movie was
acknowledged as a classic.
In 1971, he launched his eldest
son Randhir Kapoor in the family drama Kal Aaj Aur Kal, starring himself,
his son Randhir, his father Prithviraj
Kapoor, as well as Randhir's wouldbe-wife, Babita. He launched his
second son Rishi Kapoor's career in
1973 when he produced and directed Bobby, which was a huge box
office success and introduced actress
Dimple Kapadia, later a very popular
actress. It was the first of a new generation of teen romances. Dimple wore
bikinis which was quite unique for
Indian films then. In 1975 Raj Kapoor
acted alongside his son Randhir
again in Dharam Karam, which
Randhir directed.
In the latter half of the 1970s and
Raj Kapoor was
romantically involved
with Nargis although
he was a married man
early 1980s, he produced and directed
films like Satyam Shivam Sundaram,
Prem Rog and Ram Teri Ganga Maili.
He acted in fewer films by the late
1970s and early 1980s, but played notable supporting roles alongside Rajesh
Khanna in Naukri in 1978, and alongside Sanjay Khan in Abdullah, in1980.
In 1979 he was a member of the jury
at the 11th Moscow International
Film Festival.
Raj Kapoor's last major film appearance was in Vakil Babu in 1982 where
he appeared with his younger brother,
Shashi. His last acting role was a cameo
appearance in a 1984 released British
made-for-television film titled Kim. He
was set to direct Henna, starring his
son Rishi and Pakistani actress Zeba
Bakhtiar, before his death in 1988. His
son Randhir directed the film after his
death and it was released in 1991.
Raj Kapoor suffered from asthma
in his later years and died of complications related to asthma in 1988
at the age of 63. He collapsed at the
event where he was to receive the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award, and was
taken to the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for treatment. He was hospitalized for about a
month before he succumbed to complications arising from his asthma.
A postage stamp, bearing his face,
was released by India Post to honor
him on December 14, 2001. A brass
statue of his was unveiled at the Walk
of the Stars at Bandra Bandstand in
Mumbai in March 2012. In 2014, Google
commemorates his 90th birthday.
In 1940, Raj Kapoor married
Krishna Kapoor whose father was
maternal uncle of Raj Kapoor's father.
It was a match arranged by the family,
and Krishna proved to be a wife and
mother in the traditional mold, which
is what the family wanted. Two of
Krishna's brothers, Rajendra Nath and
Prem Nath, later became actors, and
her sister Uma was married to the film
villain Prem Chopra.
Kapoor is also known to have
had a longtime romantic relationship with renowned actress Nargis,
during the 1940s and 1950s, despite
Kapoor being a married man. The
couple starred in several films together, including Awaara and Shree 420.
As Raj would not leave his wife and
children, Nargis ended their relationship after Chori Chori and married
Sunil Dutt. Kapoor is also said to have
had an affair with renowned actress
Vyjayantimala during the shooting of
Sangam. Vyjayantimala has denied
that she was ever involved with
Kapoor. She deemed the whole thing
a publicity stunt by Kapoor to promote
his film. Kapoor has also been linked
with the southern actress Padmini.
Both of Kapoor's brothers, all
three of Kapoor's sons, two of
Kapoor's daughters-in-law and three
of Kapoor's grandchildren have been
active at various times in the film
industry. Presently, his grand-daughter
Kareena, daughter of Kapoor's eldest
son Randhir, and grandson Ranbir,
(son of Kapoor's second son Rishi) are
active in Bollywood.■
55
Leisure
Entertainment
Madonna Puts Lady Gaga Feud
Rumors to Rest
Madonna has asserted
that there were hateful
people who wanted to
create feuds between
strong women that did not
exist. It was in response to
Gaga’s recent Instagram
posting, "Careful witch, I
shall put a spell on you. Or
maybe I already did". The
rumors of a feud between the two women started back in
August, after several tracks from the singer's unreleased
Rebel Heart album leaked online and it was speculated
that some of the lyrics might be a shot at Gaga.
Charlize Theron and Sean Penn
Discussing Wedding?
Hollywood stars Sean Penn and
Charlize Theron, Oscar-winning
actors, have been dating for more
than a year and now they are reportedly discussing their marriage.
According to sources, the actors have
made a commitment to be together
for the rest of their lives. They are
discussing when and where they will
have a wedding. Penn won two academic awards for his roles in Mystic
River and Milk. South African born
Theron won one academy award for
her role as a serial killer in the
movie Monster.
Adele Declines Split Rumors with
Boyfriend in New Year Tweet
Adele, the 26-year-old British singer, who was listed
at number five on VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music
in 2012, and named by American magazine Time as one
of the most influential people in the world, took to social
media to decline the rumors that she was splitting with her
boyfriend. According to one source it is not clear if they
have officially split, but they are certainly not living together
anymore. Adele’s boyfriend Simon is back at his bachelor
pad, which does not bode well for the relationship.
Salman Khan Branded as
'Traitor' by Tamil Leader
Bollywood star Salman Khan got himself in the hot
water after his controversial Sri Lanka visit during which
he campaigned for the country's incumbent president
Mahinda Rajapaksa. Now he has been branded a 'traitor'
by Tamil leader Vaiko in India. Across the border this was
seen as a last-ditch effort by the Sri Lankan president to
boost his prospects in the upcoming elections scheduled
for January 8. Salman’s costar Jacqueline Fernandez has
tried to take the blame away from him by claiming that it
was she who insisted
that Salman extend
the efforts of his Being
Human charity to parts
of her home country
too.
56
Arjun Kapoor’s Dad Loves
Sonakshi Sinha More
Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor, who is working with
Sonakshi Sinha in Tevar, said that his father, producer
Boney Kapoor is very protective about this costar and
treats her like his own daughter. Tevar is being produced
by Boney Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor and also features
Manoj Bajpayee. It will hit theatres on January 9. Further,
Arjun revealed how his father did not let him even joke
around with Sonakshi. Instead two-three times Boney
advised his son how he should behave with Sonakshi.
Arjun and Sonakshi go back in time as childhood friends.

11 January 2015 • FIRST NEWS

Transcription

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