Tag Archives: Bangladesh

President Pranab says India and Bangladesh should walk ‘ shoulder to shoulder’

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Asserting that the two Asian neighbours are inheritors of an undivided civilizational legacy, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said India and her people share a special connection with Bangladesh.

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“It is with pride that Bangladesh engages in the task of building a modern, progressive and prosperous nation. As in 1971, so in 2013, the people of India stand beside the people of Bangladesh. We will walk with you as equal partners, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm. We are both inheritors of an undivided civilizational legacy. It is no wonder that India and her people share a special connection with Bangladesh. We have an abiding interest in the all-round development of Bangladesh,” said President Mukherjee in his acceptance and banquet speech on receipt of Bangladesh ‘Liberation War Honour’.
 
” However, the full potential of our cooperation is yet to be tapped. My discussions during this visit have been extremely rewarding. Our Governments have established a comprehensive framework for cooperation. Our endeavour will be to see how our bilateral cooperation can bring sustained benefits to our people and improve the quality of their lives. This will be the litmus test of the success of our relationship,” he added.
 
President Mukherjee said India is happy to see the tremendous strides made by Bangladesh.
 
“The impressive and path-breaking manner in which Bangladesh has faced the challenges of eradication of poverty is worthy of emulation. I pay tribute to the people of Bangladesh, its farmers, entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers, scientists and many others who represent the creative genius of its people,” he added.
 
President Mukherjee said he is delighted to be in Bangladesh and grateful for the affection bestowed on him on his first state visit abroad after the assumption of the office of the President of India.
 
“As I stand here tonight, I am filled with memories of the events of 1971. I was 36 years old and a Member of Parliament when the people of Bangladesh engaged themselves in their liberation struggle. Many of us were passionately concerned about the events that were unfolding then. 24-hour television channels did not exist in those days – and it was the Free Bangladesh Radio and All India Radio that gave us reports of the heroic struggle of our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh,” said President Mukherjee.

 ”These bulletins were keenly followed by us in India – as the minds and hearts of all Indians were with the people of Bangladesh. The plight of millions of homeless people crossing the border, seeking refuge in the neighbouring States of India stirred the hearts of our people as they felt ine anguish of that hapless multitude. They came forward wholeheartedly to succour and any assistance they could provide to their brethren from Bangladesh in their hour of need. The images of the proud people of Bangladesh and their brave fight for justice and dignity were etched in every Indian’s consciousness,” he added.
 
President Mukherjee recalled that on June 15, 1971, he had the privilege to initiate a discussion on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, when he suggested that India should accord diplomatic recognition to the Government of Bangladesh in exile in Mujibnagar.
 
“My words are on the record in proceedings of Rajya Sabha. When a Member sought my suggestion on how to tackle the problem, I responded by saying: “I am talking of a political solution which means categorically recognising the sovereign democratic Government of Bangladesh. Political solution means giving material help to the democratic, sovereign Government of Bangladesh…,” said President Mukherjee.
 
” I reminded the House of the many instances in world history when intervention on similar grounds had taken place in past.,” he added.
 
President Mukherjee further said ‘as a Member of Indian Delegation in the 59th Conference of Inter Parliamentary Union in Paris (France) in 1971 from 2nd to 10th September, we took the opportunity of the presence of large number of Members of Parliaments of different countries to explain the situation in Bangladesh and urged them to prevail upon their Governments to speak out against the violation of human rights in Bangladesh’.
 
“I also had the privilege of visiting the United Kingdom and the then Federal Republic of Germany as a Member of the Goodwill Parliamentary Delegation in the same visit. I was mandated to brief the Members of the Parliaments and to the leaders of those countries about the situation. Late Shri H.D. Malviya, former Member of Parliament and activist of the World Peace Council had accompanied me in this mission,” said President Mukherjee.
 
“Later I was given the responsibility of visiting the refugee camps in the neighbouring  States of India – including Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya and coordinating with the local Governments on making them functional and comfortable,” he added.

 

Russian Cricket Team Starts Spring Preparations

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The United Cricket League Russia is preparing for the 2013 games. The popularity of this sport, which has a great following worldwide, until recently was relatively unknown in Russia, points out Tanvir Khan,a member of the team management. He says that it is not surprising that the vast majority of players in the Russian League are Indians, Pakistanis, natives of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka having Russian residence permits. They are all in the majority of cases, like me, either graduates of Russian universities, businessmen or students.

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Tanvir Khan: “The United Russian Cricket League unites eight teams of 11 players each. Some of them are very good and great players. Last year, the League of United Russia was recognized and registered with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in London.

We also have 200 additional players. And among them are a few Russians. Our matches are held at the Moscow State University’s (MSU) baseball stadium which has an artificial turf cover. We play every Saturday and Sunday during the four months of favorable weather conditions. These games invariably attract quite a few Russians, some of whom want to try their hand at the game and have shown impressive results.”

Having crossed from Europe, from its homeland in Britain, to the colonies in South Asia and Africa, cricket has become extremely popular there. And now in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka it is revered as a national sport. The young students, who had come to Russia from these countries to study during the past decade or so, just could not give up their passion for cricket. We are organizing matches in Russia for the 13th year and are also participating in international matches, says Tanvir Khan. And very successfully too for we have won Silver in the European championship.

This year we have scheduled 64 games – says board member of the League of United Russia, Tanvir Khan. We expect the arrival in Moscow of teams from Latvia and Estonia. And then we shall visit them in Riga. Our colleagues in Belgium have invited our team for a friendly match. And this is not at all the complete list of our travel plans for which preparations are on going.

On May 1, this year, the Russian team will hold its first home match at the cricket stadium in MSU. It is possible that some Russian players will also take part in the match. This sport is gaining more and more recognition among the Russians.

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13 Journalists Killed In Pakistan, Five in India This Year

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Pakistan saw the highest number of journalists losing their lives in South Asia with 13 of them dying in the line of duty, followed by India with five among a total of 25 media-persons falling victim to violence.

“In 2012, South Asia- the most volatile region- mourned the murder of 25 media persons, with Pakistan again remaining in the lead. 13 journalists lost their lives in Pakistan, followed by five in India, three in Bangladesh, and two each in Nepal and Afghanistan,” a report of the South Asia Media Monitor said.

The report states that though no journalist was killed in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives, media persons there continued to face professional challenges and hazards.

“The media also came under scrutiny for laxity in professionalism in achieving accuracy and being unbiased,” the report said.

Insurgency affected Balochistan and the northern parts of Pakistan were the most dangerous areas with the range of threats and trauma growing.

 In India, five killings point to the dangers journalism faced apart from the constant pressure of commercialisation.

Tensions persisted in the conflict prone regions such as Kashmir, the report said.

It claimed that journalists working in North-East India face threats from both the Maoists and the security agencies.

In Sri Lanka, media has seen no major improvement even after the end of the civil strife there, the report said.

Indian Women Outdo Men in Smoking

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An average Indian female smoker smokes more cigarettes a day than male, 7 as compared with 6.1. Further, an average Indian woman is taking up smoking at 17.5 years as against 18.8 years among men, as reported by Kounteya Sinha for TOI.  However, 21 percent Indian male tobacco users smoke daily as against only 3 percent of women. And almost half of Indian men (47.9 percent) aged 15 years and above consume tobacco.

Smokeless tobacco use is high among Indian men at 32.9 percent. Further, nearly 206 million Indians use smokeless form of tobacco (loose-leaf chewing tobacco and snuff). One in every five female tobacco users in India uses the smokeless form of tobacco as against one in 10 who smoke. These are the new numbers on global tobacco use, as published by the medical journal, Lancet.

It is noted that an average Indian smoker smokes two cigarettes a day. At 16.1 percent, men smoking bidis was common. The percentage of men who used both smoked and smokeless products was second highest in India at 9.3 percent.

China has the highest number of tobacco users (300.8 million), followed by India (274.9 million).

India has the most smokeless tobacco users at 205.9 million. The quit rate was noted to be low in India with less than 20 percent of adults who had ever smoked saying they had given up. China, Egypt, Russia and Bangladesh also have poor quit rates. Quit ratios were found to be highest in the UK, the U.S., Brazil and Uruguay, with over 35 percent of smokers saying they had stopped.

Dr K Srinath Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India told TOI “While tobacco use among men has dipped from 51 percent to 48 percent, it has actually doubled among women from 10 percent to 20 percent. Women and girls are the new target of tobacco companies. Increase of tobacco use among women is alarming. “

The study also revealed that manufactured cigarettes were favoured by most smokers (82 percent) overall, but smokeless tobacco and bidis were commonly used in India and Bangladesh. India recorded for 23 percent of men who were smokers during 2008-2010.

Further, with 6.1 mean cigarettes a day smoked, India showed the lowest figure among the 16 countries. At almost 33 percent, the country has the highest male smokeless tobacco users, just above Bangladesh (26.4 percent).

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The Curious Case of Sachin and the Century

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The relationship between Sachin Tendulkar and his international centuries is very strange. His century has won matches for India but they have also been scored in lost and drawn/tied encounters. That proves that Sachin may be the greatest batsman to play cricket, but he is a mere human being, not God as envisioned by his followers. In fact, he himself told the media after the loss against Bangladesh that he doesn’t think of himself as a God! He may have scored his 100th century at Mirpur but it ended in a losing battle, where Bangladesh emerged victorious due to three half centuries, and a couple of quick-scored 40s.

  But before we move ahead, lets talk about the breakup of his centuries. Out of his 100 100s, Tendulkar has scored 20 against Australia, with 11 coming in Tests and 9 in one-dayers. Sri Lanka has been his second favourite opponent since he has scored 9 tests and 8 one day centuries against them, taking the tally to 17. Kiwis have faced Sachin’s wrath (read century) on 9 occasions (4 in tests, 5 in ODIs) while he has scored 2 tests and 5 ODI centuries against arch-rivals Pakistan. 12 times he has scored tons against South Africa, 7 in tests and 5 in limited overs while 7 out of his 100 centuries have come against the West Indies (3 in Tests, 4 in ODIs). 9 times he has raised his bat after scoring a century against England (7 Tests, 2 ODIs) while Bangladesh have had to bear the brunt of his excessive scoring on 6 occasions, 5 times in Tests and once in one dayers, that too last Friday. 8 times he has stroked his way past 100 against Zimbabwe (3 in Tests, 5 in one dayers), 4 times against Kenya and once against Namibia.

 In all, he has scored 51 centuries in Tests and 49 in one dayers. Out of those 51 Test centuries, 20 have seen India win the match, 11 have gone down in a lost cause where 20 have safely drawn the match for Team India. Out of his 49 ODI tons, 33 have seen India emerge victorious, 14 have seen India lose whereas 1 each ended in a drawn (due to rain) and tied encounter. On the whole, this proves that a century is no longer the guarantor of success, but everyone would give a guarantee that Sachin’s hunger for runs has made him a gem of a cricketer!

By umersharif

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Indians, Second Largest Bribe Payers in South Asia

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Indians grabbed the second position for bribing among the six South Asian countries. 54 percent of the Indians have said to bribe policemen when they messed up with them, reported by anti-corruption organization Transparency International. It also stated that more than 1 in 3 people pay bribes in order to deal with the public servants, institutions, policemen, to access basic services, to speed up their work or sometimes to avoid problems.

Indians, Second Largest Bribe Payers in South Asia

A survey was done with 7500 people from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, by Transparency International in between 2010 and 2011. This report helps to explain why these countries have high corruption rates. Some of the countries score less than 3.5 out of 10 in the list.

In this list of six countries, Bangladesh tops the list followed by India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives. 66 percent of the Bangladeshis prefer bribing, whereas this is 50 percent in Pakistan. People in these countries mostly pay to speed things up. It shows how corruption is rising high and hence becomes a barrier to business expansion in many countries.In Sri Lanka, people pays bribes to tax authorities rather than for any other services. In Nepal and Maldives, Customs services are mostly paid bribes.

Mostly the bribe takers in these countries are the policemen, the political parties, who are the most corrupt institutions according to the reports. This list is followed by parliament and public officials. They entrusted to oversee deals related to buying, selling, inheriting and renting land were the next likely to demand a bribe. But mostly the viewpoints of these people across the countries is that this problem of corruption is getting worse and worse and they need a solution for this. But people in India and Pakistan are most reluctant about the fact. Thousand of Indians are demonstrating for strong anti-corruption laws since August but less than a quarter on Indians thought their efforts to fight against was effective.

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India Worse Than Pak, Bangladesh in Gender Equality

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The new data of Gender Inequality Index (GII) by UN Development Program demonstrates that India‘s endless gender inequality statistics worsened between 2008 and 2011, and the country now ranks 129 out of 146 countries on the GII, better only to Afghanistan in South Asia. Indiaranks 134 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), experiencing a 30 percent drop in its human development values. In comparison, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan ranked better at 112, 113 and 115 positions respectively.

The Gender Inequality Index measures female disadvantages in four dimensions such as reproductive health as measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent fertility rate, empowerment measured by seats in Parliament, secondary education ratio, and the labour force participation rate.

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The nation’s decline is witnessed in the fall in female labor force participation rate and worsening adolescent fertility rate. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh argued that a decline in female labor force participation could indicate improved status for women or better education opportunities. But, the UNDP report demonstrates that the proportion of women with at least secondary education is still just half that of men. The prosperous countries of the world with higher human development have higher female labor force participation.

Further, the report reveals that Sri Lanka has overtaken China with an HDI of 0.691 on human development and, is now within touching distance of the “high human development” category. Sri Lanka accomplishes well, particularly on gender equality indicators; its maternal mortality ratio is the same as Russia’s. Speaking to Times of India, Jairam Ramesh said, “Economic growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for human development. Recent data shows that high growth states like Gujarat have worse human development measures, particularly on malnutrition, than many of the northern states.” Jairam praised the role of  non-government players, including Anna Hazare, in bringing about a change in sanitation.

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The 2011 report also states that in 2050 the average HDI could drop by 12 percent in south Asia due to the effects of global warming on agricultural production, scarcity of clean water and pollution. While expressing his view that the “real drivers of unsustainability are the developed countries and worst of all the U.S., which won’t even engage with this debate,” Jairam said that just as consumption-heavy lifestyles in the industrialized world affected livelihoods in the developing world, “lifestyles within India also affect the livelihoods of the poor within India.”

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