An excellent article on Tarique Rahman

Thanks Faiyaz for providing the link. It is one of the best articles I have read in the Daily Star. I would like to put it here:

Straight Talk
The rise and fall of Tarique Rahman
Zafar Sobhan

"Khaleda Zia is our leader
Ziaur Rahman is our philosophy
Tarique Rahman is our future"

This particular gem that has been ubiquitous on walls in the capital Dhaka for the past five years encapsulates perfectly the cult of personality that had been created around the person of Tarique Rahman and gave us a strong indication of where Bangladesh was heading had the January 22 election been permitted to go forward as scheduled.

Had the one-sided election been consummated, we would have been looking down the barrel of the Tarique Rahman raj. The last five years he has grown steadily in power and influence as the joint secretary general of the ruling BNP, recently promoted to "senior" joint secretary general, lest there remain any confusion as to who really ran the party, and, by default, the country.

Tarique Rahman's rise and consolidation of power has been a stealthy and, in many ways, ingenious process. The cult of personality which was skillfully developed despite his lack of any discernible charisma or acuity or any of the other qualities one would expect to see in a leader (in this he is not unique, see e.g., Bush, George W.) was just one part of the process.

In these days of rent-a-crowds, stage-managed public appearances, and embedded journalism it is not difficult to create an aura of leadership and popularity around a presentable-looking young man, especially if he happens to be the eldest son of a respected ex-president and freedom fighter, especially in a country where, regrettably, too many people are all too happy to ignore simple things such as truth and consistency when it comes to their political self-interest and pledging their allegiance (indeed, one could argue that the entire BNP was established on this foundational principle), especially in a country so starved of good leadership that the impressionable and opportunistic are eager to latch on to any new thing.

Hand in hand with the cult of personality went the slow-motion take-over of the party (the senior partner in the coalition ruling the country, mind you) apparatus, placing Tarique loyalists and sycophants in every nook and corner, even to the extent of squeezing out long time party-men who refused to bow down before the brash, new dispensation.

Matters came to a head last August 26, when the young Turk's of the party's national executive committee took serious exception to some of the party's senior leaders and demanded their immediate expulsion from the party for having the temerity to criticise Tarique. Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, deputy minister for land and a close associate (incidentally, now also in jail) went so far as to state: "BNP means Zia Family. He or she should be expelled from the party who will speak against this family."

Indeed, it was precisely this tendency that resulted in BNP founder members Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury and then Oli Ahmed as well as a host of others being essentially forced out of the BNP and into first the BDB and then the LDP. The only reason there wasn't a more pronounced exodus was a well-founded fear of retribution and the combination of cringing sycophancy and grasping opportunism that marks Bangladeshi politics.

The hallmark of Tarique's ascendance and the closest we can come to in terms of an approximation of his vision for the country was the systematic centralisation of all crime and corruption: from the grandest of grand larcenies to the pettiest of petty larcenies, the idea was that nothing would escape the net of his influence.

Be it transporting a truck-load of vegetables from the north to Dhaka or selling those same vegetables in the market-place at Karwan Bazar, no transaction was too small to escape the attention of Tarique's coterie. The taxes or "tolls" that small traders transporters had to pay that eventually found their way to Hawa Bhaban make the NBR look like a charitable foundation.

The system in place for collection of tolls was fully computerized (though, no doubt, those computers are now to be found at the bottom of the Buriganga) and so sophisticated that one wonders whether Tarique and his coterie might not have been able to achieve something for the nation if they had had even the slightest inclination towards the common good instead of concentrating so single-mindedly on looting the country and establishing their reign of terror throughout the land.

From the power sector to the import trade, there was no corner of the economy that did not fall under his shadow and that his all-encompassing reach did not touch.

Until January 11, Tarique Rahman was the most powerful person in the country, indeed he was the most powerful behind the scenes power broker Bangladesh has ever seen. Considering that he was neither a member of parliament nor held any executive position, his reach tells us all we need to know about the sorry state of Bangladesh politics.

And had January 11 not happened, Tarique's reach would only have gotten more suffocating, his foot-print heavier. Had the four-party alliance returned to power, nothing could have stood in his way, he would have ascended from crown prince to king. Bangladesh would have been turned into a nasty police state where nothing would have moved without his consent, no dissent, no rule of law, no opposition, absolute power.

Tarique was selling himself, inside the country and out, as Bangladesh's Mahathir Mohammad, although any resemblance between the two is purely imaginary. Our foreign friends were willing to hold their nose and tolerate him, thinking, perhaps, that here was a man they could do business with and who would be ruthless enough to be able to deliver to them the wealth he did not loot for himself. Some countries have always had a soft spot for pliable third world despots.

When the days after the first spate of arrests began to pass without his arrest, concern began to mount that he was not being taken in. No list of the criminal and corrupt would be complete without his name at the top.

On the one hand, we were told, in whispers, to wait, to be patient, the authorities were preparing an air-tight case, Mamun was singing like a canary, the noose was tightening, they would go for Tarique when the time was right.

On the other hand, we heard of army units remaining loyal to him, we heard of the authorities setting out to arrest him and then pulling back three times, we heard of desperate back-room deals to keep him and the rest of his coterie out of jail.

Everyone knew: as long as Tarique Rahman remained at large, his poisonous coterie remained alive and able, potentially, to regroup and turn things around.

Now he is in jail. Others were swept up with him in another dramatic midnight raid. Some, doubtless, deserving, but others, again, of doubtful criminality. Still, "balance" has to be maintained at all times, I suppose.

But the message has been sent. Tarique's goons who have terrorised their localities with impunity for the past five years will now run for cover. He can't protect them any more, and now that he is behind bars, the house of cards that he and his coterie built up will start to tumble.

Perhaps I am speaking too soon and he can conjure up a resurrection from his jail cell, but this seems unlikely. The authorities know how fateful a step it is putting him in jail. He hasn't been incarcerated only to be sprung on a technicality to wreak vengeance on those who put him there.

I do not know where things will go from here, for good or for bad, but the five-year stranglehold Tarique and his associates had over the country, that they considered their birthright and personal fiefdom, had to be ended. Our long national nightmare is finally over.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.

Crown prince Tarique with a crown on his head and in a royal garb!

Oops! I guess this is not the crown he wanted!

A soothing news

In last few days, there were increasing number of fake cries from SK Hasina and Khaleda Zia for return of power to the people i.e. themselves. I was being disturbed with it. The recent ban on indoor politics should be able to curb those hypocritical howls. All they know is power. SK Hasina, despite knowing that she will certainly win the next fair election, can't wait few more months. She is fool enough to not to understand that if the prosecutions can be completed she will be the most beneficiary of them. People will have no choice other than to vote her party as currently they represent the lesser evil (a term coined by a friend of mine, I like it :-) ) of the two. I doubt on any significant influence of Dr. Yunus's new party in that election. It is too early for him. I think AL and their staunchest supporters should stop gearing up their propaganda machines and allow some time to the CTG to finish the cleaning up. After that, they will have full five years to loot the country again.

Prince stripped of glory

At last the much anticipated event took place. People were counting days for it. Some pessimists even started doubting on whether CTG will ever do it or not. Now the issue is settled. CTG has achieved what could not be achieved by anyone else, not even by BAL in 100 years. We have every reason to celebrate. I guess sweets will be distributed in some places of Bangladesh. But we must not forget that this is a great achievement but is not enough. It is a great victory for the people of Bangladesh but it is only partial. CTG must build strong cases with evidences and make sure that the prince can not get back home ever. If it can do that, it will be a great example of justice for our country. People will think ten times before becoming corrupt. Sons of prime ministers and ministers will stop thinking that Bangladesh is their inherited property. I wish CTG all the best. These are some real brave people no matter what some staunchest supporters of political parties say. They will hold high place in our history for what they have already done. Great work!!! Please keep it up and save the nation.

Voter ID card preparation to take one year, says expert body (???)

Here is the news:

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/03/06/d70306011713.htm

From newagebd, I found that the expert body was headed by Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury and IT Specialist Mostafa Jabbar was a member of it. Can anyone tell me how they qualify to their respective posts? Isn't there anyone in Bangladesh other than a civil engineer, who wrote few programs in his student life, to lead the committee? How much expertise does he have? How does he qualify as an IT expert? What are his achievements in IT field? And since when Mostafa Jabbar became an IT Specialist? What did he do which brought him the title? Does designing an unscientific keyboard layout and having it coded by Munirul Abedin Pappana makes him an IT Specialist? I am a graduate of computer science and doing graduate studies at this moment. If I come up with an arbitrary Bengali keyboard layout tomorrow, shouldn't I get a seat in that committee? I am sick of these people. How long will we drain millions of dollars for these ignorant people? How long will they have pleasure trip to the west by poor people's money in the name of observing their systems? Isn't there anyone in the current government to get rid of these people from this committee of vital national interest?

ID card: Where do we stand?

This is an excellent article written by Dr. S. M. Lutful Kabir of B.U.E.T. on national ID card. Considering long term goals, government should follow his suggestions.

New poll: When do you want the next election to be held?

I have created a new poll. You can find it at the right column of my blog. The poll is:

When do you want the next election to be held? (multiple selections are allowed)

* In may, as demanded by Sheikh Hasina
* Within this year
* Not before having voter ID card, no matter how long it takes
* Not before all the corrupts are sentenced to jail
* Not before it is ensured that neither BNP nor AL will come to power
* Do not want at all, want to continue with current government

Multiple selections are allowed. Please vote.

Poll result: Should Dr. Yunus join politics?

Now that he has announced his political party's name, there is no use of this poll. The result is as below:

Should Dr. Yunus join politics?

Selection Votes Yes 64% 7 No 36% 4 I don't know 0% 0 11 votes total

DU students say no to Yunus as Convocation speaker!!!

True faces are coming up from behind the veil of patriotism. Gradually BNP and AL are uniting. They don't want anybody else in their rotation of plunderage. I think we are going to see the two leaders in the same table soon. So far, they only went together to programs held by army (actually do they have any choice if the generals summon them??). Now, this is going to be changed. They need to unite to hide all the good deeds their party have done to the country.

Dhaka, Feb 24 (bdnews24.com )- Two top student organisations of the country-Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League Saturday united in a demand that the authorities not invite Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus as speaker at the Dhaka University convocation.

The rare unity of the student fronts of the country's two arch rival political parties-the BNP and the Awami League- on the Dhaka University campus has become a reality regarding the demand.

Not only these two organisations, but also almost all other student bodies, have raised the same demand. A section of teachers and students have also taken a firm stand in favour of the demand.

They argued that the Grameen Bank chief had lost his acceptability as convocation speaker after announcing formation of a political party.

A group of teachers led by Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, leader of the pro-Awami League Blue panel of the teachers met with the vice chancellor Prof SMA Faiz Saturday noon and requested him not to invite Prof Yunus as the convocation speaker.

Later the leaders of Chhatra Sangram Parishad led by Chhatra League and Progotishil Chhatra Jote, an alliance of pro-left student bodies, also met the vice chancellor on the same demand.

Though the Chhatra Dal leaders did not have such a formal meeting, they made a similar demand through a statement Saturday afternoon.

At 12 noon a group of students under the banner of "University Students" at a press conference at Madhu's canteen announced their rejection of Yunus as convocation speaker.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is scheduled to attend the 43rd convocation of Dhaka University on February 28 as the convocation speaker where he is also to be given honourary "Doctor of Laws" on behalf of the University.

Entangled in the debate, the fate of the 43rd convocation has become uncertain. The date of the convocation was shifted once earlier due to political instability in the country.

However, the vice chancellor Prof SMA Faiz said that this time there was no possibility of shifting the convocation date.


Former president of Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique emerging after meeting the vice chancellor said, "Dr Yunus wants to do politics, we congratulate him. But by announcing formation of a political party he has made his being convocation speaker controversial. If he participates as the convocation speaker, a big section of the teachers will not join the programme. For the teachers there can be no bigger protest."

He also said, "Doctor of Laws" is a honourary degree. The university authorities usually give this degree to competent persons. If he is competent he can surely accept it. But he has lost the eligibility to be "convocation speaker" by announcing formation of a political party."

Dean of the Social Science Faculty Prof Harun-ur Rashid, dean of the Biological sciences faculty Prof Anwar Hossain, former general secretary of DUTA Prof Akhteruzzaman, Prof Tofael Ahmed Chowdhury, Prof Ashrafuddin Ahmed, Prof Nazma Shahin, Prof KM Saiful Islam and assistant professor Hafizur Rahman accompanied Prof Siddique.

Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League-led student organisation alliance Chhatra Sangram Parishad came to meet the Vice Chancellor at 3pm. Earlier, Progressive Students Alliance leaders met the VC and made the same demand.

After the meeting, BCL president Mahmud Hasan Ripon told reporters the person who did not come to honour the language martyrs on February 21 could not be convocation speaker.

BNP student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in a statement urged the university authorities not to invite Yunus as convocation speaker.

JCD president Azizul Bari Helal and general secretary Shafiul Bari Babu said that Yunus had become controversial by launching a political party after making objectionable remarks about political leaders of the country.

Dhaka University is a universal institution and any controversial politician could not use the institution in the interest of his party, the JCD leaders said.

VC SMA Faiz however ruled out any possibility of deferring the convocation. He said convocation will be held on time by any means.

On whether Yunus would come to the convocation, the VC did not give any answer.

"The decision of making Yunus convocation speaker was taken at the meetings of the Syndicate and the Academic Council. Only five out of 183 teachers in the Academic Council opposed the decision.

The university authorities in a statement sent to news media Saturday evening said the convocation would be held on time. Rehearsal of the convocation will be held on February 27, the statement said.

Falu's dreamland

The lake is built by a government project!!! This is only possible in Bangladesh. I will not be surprised if the pets are fed by government food.

Partial list of corrupt people of Bangladesh

Today, in a bid to make Anti-Corruption Commission effective, it published a list of 50 corrupts. ACC said the listed people or their representatives have to inform the commission in 72 hours from notification about sources of income and movable and immoveable property. Otherwise, their properties will be seized. Those who run production businesses, an administrator on behalf of them will be appointed to run them. Here is the list:

1. Barrister Nazmul Huda (former communications minister/BNP)
2. Salahuddin Quader Choudhury (parliamentary affairs adviser to former prime minister Khaleda Zia)
3. Mohammad Nasim (former home minister/Awami League)
4. Tariqul Islam (former minister/BNP)
5. Mirza Abbas (former minister/BNP)
6. Abul Hasnat Abdullah (AL leader)
7. Salman F Rahman (AL leader and industrialist)
8. Harris Chowdhury (political secretary to former PM/BNP)
9. Giasuddin Al Mamun (Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman's friend and business partner)
10. Dr HBM Iqbal (former AL MP)
11. Mosaddak Ali Falu (former BNP MP)
12. Engineer Mosharraf Hossain (former minister/AL)
13. Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu (former deputy minister/BNP)
14. Nurul Islam Babul (businessman/Jamuna Group)
15. Akhteruzzaman Chowdhury Babu (AL leader)
16. Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu (former MP/BNP)
17. Haji Selim (former MP/AL)
18. Shamim Osman (AL leader)
19. Ahmed Akbar Sobhan (businessman/Bashundhara Group)
20. Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin (former state minister/BNP)
21. Amanullah Aman (former state minister/BNP)
22. Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya (former state minister/AL)
23. Joynal Hazari (former MP/AL)
24. Ali Asghar Loby (former MP/BNP)
25. Jahangir Kabir Nanok (Jubo League president)
26. Pankaj Debnath (Sechchhasevak League general secretary)
27. Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan (former MP/BNP)
28. Hafiz Ibrahim (former MP/BNP)
29. AHM Mostafa Kamal (Lotus Kamal) (former MP/AL)
30. Mufti Shahidul Islam (former MP/IOJ)
31. Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir (former state minister/AL)
32. Mirza Azam (Jubo League general secretary)
33. Naser Rahman (former MP/BNP)
34. Salahuddin Ahmed (former state minister/BNP)
35. Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku (former state minister/BNP)
36. Ward commissioner Abdul Qaiyum
37. ANH Akhter Hossain (former bureaucrat)
38. Zahurul Haque (former NBR member)
39. Engineer Manzurul Ahsan Munshi (former MP/BNP)
40. Haji Mokbul Hossain (former MP/AL)
41. Ward commissioner Chowdhury Alam
42. Mohammad Giasuddin (former Narayanganj MP/BNP)
43. Ariful Haque Chowdhury (BNP leader)
44. Rashiduzzaman Millat (former MP/BNP)
45. Former Demra MP Salauddin Ahmed (BNP)
46. Mohiuddin Ahmed (Munshiganj) (former MP/AL)
47. Mostafa Rashid-e-Shuja (AL leader)
48. Shahjahan Chowdhury (former Jamaat-e-Islami MP)
49. BM Bakir Hossain (trade union leader)
50. Firoz Mia (trade union leader)

Now, where is the prince?? When is it coming? I am becoming restless each day not seeing him caught yet. I sincerely believe that CTG is trying to find concrete proof to link him with corruption. But why is it taking so long, specially when Giasuddin Mamun is in their custody? If they can't find significant proof in BD, I think they should investigate in Malaysia, Saudi Arab and U.K. They can start with the suitcases which he took to Saudi Arabia.

Jewels of Bangladesh

These are the jewels of Bangladesh. Recently, Anti-Corruption Commission asked them to submit their wealth report. We are proud of them!

M Nuruzzaman: A brave man!

Today, I was very excited going through the news of M Nuruzzaman. I am very very proud of him. He is a brave person. People, who were oppressed by the godfathers days after days, should immediately follow him. Government must ensure their security and the cases must be processed as quickly as possible. I don't know how long this immensely popular CTG will be able to stay in power as I see political parties (who could do nothing for the country when they were in power for years; they only succeeded in plundering) and their hypocrite ardent supporters are becoming more restless each day. Before this government's departure, all the godfathers should be given either capital punishment (many will qualify for that according to our law as they are murderers) or sentence for life. Facades of people like Saifur Rahman must be teared down. Now is the time. I don't know when we will get this opportunity again. Every oppressed should come forward with his story now. Government must provide security to itself and the plaintiffs. There is very good chance that the corrupt political leaders of different parties will join hands to remove this government, though they were bickering like hell only a few days ago and ruining the county (what else they can do for the country? :D) in the process. They will forget that they were trying to kill each other (it is nothing new in BD politics, few days ago we saw son handshaking with the killer of his father) and will agree unanimously to get rid of CTG. I seriously apprehend that they will try to kill the chief adviser or some other advisers. I don't think they will dare to kill the army generals who are backing the government, they know its consequences. We are having a unique opportunity to get things straight for the first time after out independence. None can tell when we will get this opportunity again once the power goes to any of the current political (or plundering??) parties. May we be able to avail this opportunity fully!

http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=Mzg5Mg==
http://www.prothom-alo.org/index.news.details.php?nid=Mzg5Mw==
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/02/18/d7021801169.htm

The poll result

I am closing this poll today. The result is not surprising. A.L. is the most probable winner in the next election.

Who is going to win the next general election?

Selection		Votes
B.N.P. led alliance	17%	5
A.L. led alliance	67%	20
Other	10%	3
I don't know	7%	2
30 votes total

Mail to professor Yunus

Dr. Yunus has asked every Bangladeshi to express his/her opinion on whether he should join politics or not. Anyone can email, call, send sms or fax him. Here is his contact info:

Dr Muhammad Yunus
HAL Mars
6/D, 66 Outer Circular Road
Moghbazar, Dhaka 1217
Fax: 88029334656
Cell: 8801713082277, 8801717760870
Email: prof.yunus@gmail.com , dryunus2006@yahoo.com

Bangabandhu on the front page of Wikipedia

Today, Wikipedia's featured article in the front page is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The article can be later found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman.

Eternal Love

The hugging couple are the first double burial found from the Neolithic period:

Sajeeb Wazed Joy opens a blog

This is an excellent news, the first of this kind for any Bangladeshi politician. Blogs are now powerful tools to express opinion, do constructive discussion and healthy debates. Politicians can use it to communicate with people directly. More politicians are coming in the blogosphere recently, at least we can see that in U.S. I don't know how much Joy can affect the political decisions and actions taken by Awami League but I hope he will convey some of the input he will get from this blog. And he must welcome and tolerate all the criticism in his comments and must not suppress the criticisms, which he does not like, by moderation. I hope that his blog will be a very active area for all the Bangladeshi bloggers to express their views and directly communicate with him. His blog address is http://www.sajeeb.blogspot.com/.

gTalk Pinless Dial

As many of us, who are in abroad, cannot talk to our family in Bangladesh because of the current raids against illegal VoIP companies in Bangladesh, gTalk can come to our help. It is still functioning as I heard that its other end in Bangladesh is legitimate. Its customer care service is also very good. Its features (quoted from the site) are:

* Immediate activation on request.
* 1 minute billing increment
* No connection fees
* No maintenance fees
* No expiration date
* SPEED dial for the numbers you call frequently(up to 99)
* HOT number direct dial to most wanted number(up to 3)
* Recharge account using credit card.
* View call records online
* PINLESS dial from 6 telephone numbers
* Multi-language support
* No hidden cost

The site address is: https://www.gtalk.us/pinless/

You gotta watch it!

Believe me, your time will not be wasted!!!

Back to UTD

After passing one month in Bangladesh, I am back in UTD. It was an excellent weather there. But the political situation was frustrating after the poll turned to a laughing stock. On my way back, I saw on BBC that the old man has gave up and returned to his senses. It is the best news since the departure of last elected government. I am looking forward to see a free and fair election with a correct voter list. I think gradually, the situation in Bangladesh is becoming conducive for this. The army raids to the top corrupts' houses is very inspiring though they lacked the courage to touch the prince. But at least his best friend was briefly arrested, that is also a big achievement in our thoroughly corrupt country. I hope the next government will try the prince and his accomplices for their rampant theft.

Votebangla.com

http://www.votebangla.com/ is an excellent apolitical website with latest news and funny satirical cartoons. The news are of good quality. Hope the site will add many more features in future. It has just been launched. The site deserves a visit by you!

10 minute mail!

A simple but amazing solution to avoid spams. Many websites require to register before viewing some page or message board. Once you give one of your valid email addresses, that inbox is gone. You can expect lots of spams coming there from the next moment. I have so many such incidents. My gmail account now gets one spam mail per five minutes, sometimes more frequently. This 10 minute mail solution will help avoid such annoying problems. This site gives a temporary email address only valid for 10 minutes. You can check mail with web interface in that time. But you can only send mails to addresses where an email has come from. Once you get the verification mail for the registration there, forget that email address. Because that will be no more after 10 minutes. No more worry about spams! What an elegant solution!

It is coming at last

At last, the 14 party alliance declared to go for the old coward in case he fails to meet their demand. And after today's news of appointing two more election commissioners, it has become inevitable. I wonder why a man of 76 has no self-dignity. What will he get by being an accomplice of election engineering? He and his retarded friend in the election commission are trying to implement a blue-print of vote rigging, it is no more a secret now. He is losing ground everyday by his inexplicable behaviors. He is playing on people's tolerance, which has a limit. A sudden outburst from people is imminent now. I feel pity for the pigeon-hearted man.

Dr. Mohammad Yunus on Daily Show with Jon Stewart

What's happening???

What are these two stooges doing? I am surprised to read in bdnews24 that the President and the C.E.C. are discussing about groundwork for election and a poll schedule. It can be noted that this discussion took place right after former prime minister's demand for an immediate schedule for a poll. So, it is obvious that on command of their master, the slaves have started to work. I think the ongoing people's movement should immediately be redirected to the old scum sitting at the throne. He deserves no respect. People are only showing him respect due to his age and teaching career despite he has an active political background. The teaching background should have been discarded way before as I do not consider those who indulge in cheap politics to get promotion and illegal benefits as any ideal teacher. And now, it is proven that age alone does not purify a man. Despite all the sufferings of people, the weak-hearted (literally) gutless old man is still taking orders from his lady master and the prince. Enough blood is shed. To remove the puppets, it is not practicable to do one movement per person. My suggestion is to leave C.E.C., go for the old wicked. Strip him from all his offices. Appoint a really honest, unbiased, highly qualified Caretaker Chief. Then let him purge the whole corrupt administration. In my opinion, this is the best way to achieve the goal, optimal in the point of view of least bloodshed and suffering of people.

A Prime Minister we should be ashamed of!

Here is a report on unimaginable corruption of the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia. I wonder, how on earth after achieving so many things (e.g. two times being P.M.) a person can have so much greed? Doesn't their greed have any limit? Suppose, after death, they are placed in heaven, will they be content with what they will have their?? After how many times being P.M. their hunger for money will be satiated?

As the content of the website is continuously changing, I am pasting the report here:

Dhaka, Nov 05 (bdnews24.com)— Former state minister for power Anwarul Kabir Talukder Saturday alleged that 'Hawa Bhaban-bureaucrat-business' syndicate had sucked Tk 8,000 crore from the power sector during the last five years. The immediate past government invested Tk 17,500 crore in the power sector, but could not produce one megawatt of electricity during its tenure. He alleged that the immediate past Prime Minister, her Principal Secretary and the present energy secretary had been 'directly involved in massive corruption' in the power sector. In an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com Talukder alleged that 'hired goons' of the present Energy Secretary A N H Akhter Hossain ransacked the power offices in Uttara, Mirpur, Pallabi, Sabujbagh and other parts of the city and provoked people to go on the rampage on September 26. The 'ploy' had been designed to discredit him and tarnish his 'clean' image, Talukder claimed. "Following the September 26 incidents, former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar was given the charge of Power Ministry on September 28 on a verbal order from the then Prime Minister," said Talukder, who was reportedly sacked as State Minister for Power during the last government. Talukder had, however, claimed he resigned. ANH Akhter Hossain while talking to bdnews24.com Sunday denied Talukder's allegations terming them 'false and childish'. He said: "Regrettable; a senior person like him (Talukder) should not talk in such a way." Talukder, the former BNP lawmaker of Jamalpur-4 constituency, and now a leading figure in the newly formed Liberal Democratic Party of former President A Q M Badruddoza Chowdhury, said the power situation in the country would aggravate further. "It would take three years to maintain status quo in power sector even if improvement plans were implemented with honesty and efficiency", he said. He said he referred the cases of corrupt practices to the Anti-Corruption Commission and would testify in the court, if necessary. Regarding demand-supply, Talukder said daily demand of electricity was 5,500 mega watts against the production of 3,000 mega watts. The Power Ministry used to produce false statistics on electricity, he disclosed. Even, false statistics were placed at the meetings of the parliamentary standing committees, he said. He said the former Prime Minister and her Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui 'directly patronised corruption' in the power sector. Talukder said being instructed by Prime Minister, an 'unconstitutional' committee comprising bureaucrats were formed at the Prime Minister's Office. The committee's status was between the power minister and the state minister. This committee used to intervene into the ministry's affairs and patronised corrupt practices, he said. Of the total government fund of Tk 17,500 crore invested in the power sector during the last five years, he said, Tk 2,500 crore was spent as establishment cost. "Of the rest Tk 15,000 crore, Tk 8,000 crore was looted by the Hawa Bhaban-bureaucrat-business syndicate. Some Ministers and MPs were also involved in it," he said. Talukder claimed he tried to purge the power ministry of corruption—part of the reason he was removed from the job. He said the outgoing government's only project Tongi Power Plant, with 105 mega watts capacity, was yet to go into production because of corruption and use low standard of equipments. "The standard of the booster compressors was downgraded to Chinese standard from the internationally recognised standard resulting in lowering of the capacity, but interestingly the price went up," Talukder said. He pointed fingers at the Hawa Bhaban, PDB's board of directors and the dishonest officials of the Power Ministry for the 'corruption'. He said he could have purchased 200 mega watts of electricity at the rate of less than Tk 1.9 per unit from the private sector, but he was not allowed to do so. "If I purchased that 200 MW electricity from private sector, setting up of eight captive power plants with 240 MW could not be justified," Talukder said. Those eight plants were yet to go into production, but they had been paid, he said. "The state will have to pay Tk 8,000 crore to those eight captive power plant owners as subsidy during the next 15 years. But this money could easily be saved by purchasing electricity from the private sector," the former State Minister said. bdnews24.com/krc/rm/ad/1921 hours

Source: http://bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=0.03&id=49814#tp49814 (may not work)

Soldiers' stress

Here is a video of some soldiers telling how much stress they are in in Iraq. The job is not easy at all.

MuhammadYunus.org launched

A comprehensive site on Dr. Muhammad Yunus has been launched: http://www.muhammadyunus.org/. Thanks for the people who have put it up. I think it is one of the top web resources on the Nobel laureate.

A website about scientific revelations in the holy Qur'an

http://www.speed-light.info/ is a mind boggling website. It deals with scientific revelations in the holy Qur'an. It shows how the holy Qur'an provides scientific facts which were unknown at that time and many of them are still to be proved by modern science. In some sites ( e.g. wikipedia), I found an argument that knowledge similar to some revelations were prevalent in seventh century Arab world. It may be true for only a very few cases but certainly can not be true for the examples given in this site. Though I have read a book (a series of two parts; does not have any electronic version) which had many more such interesting things, I liked this site for being very concise and to the point.

Quadir Prize

Quadir Prize is an Annual Global Contest to Strengthen Bangladesh hosted by the Center for International Development at Harvard University . One has to propose an innovative and practical idea that would improve the lives of low- and middle- income people of Bangladesh. Proposals will be judged by four Harvard University faculty members, in consultation with scholars familiar with Bangladesh.The author of the winning essay will be awarded the Anwarul Quadir Prize, USD $25,000. Deadline for submission is December 31, 2006. This contest is sponsored by the Anwarul Quadir Foundation.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus: First Ever Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate!

Like many said, the Nobel prize of Dr. Yunus is the greatest achievement of our nation since independence. Today, one Chinese colleague in my lab was congratulating me. He was very amazed to see that a small country like Bangladesh can have such people. He told that none from his country ever got a Nobel prize (actually, one person with Chinese root got but he is not recognized in China). I cannot express how I felt at that moment. A Bangladeshi could achieve what no one from a big prosperous country like China did not achieve (no offence to Chinese, I am just giving example). Ours is not only a poor and small nation but also we can produce Nobel laureates. It is a proof of how much potential we are. Today is a great day for our country. Dr. Yunus, we are so proud of you! May your dream of alleviating poverty from the world come true!

Corruption in Biman

While reading this article, I was feeling so depressed that I could not read through the end. I was being torn apart while going through it. Isn't there any end to this insanity? All these started during the time of our former dictator Ershad and was subsequently exacerbated in manifolds by some very high ranking politicians of a leading party of our country. This coterie is systematically destroying Biman, once the pride of our nation. I still remember how my parents preferred Biman over other airlines, not because of economy but because of hospitality and homely feelings. I wish there would be a magician who would stop all these absurdity of our country!

Interview of Tarek Rahman

I just came accross the following clips of an interview of Tarek Rahman a.k.a. Tarek Zia, senior joint secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is believed that he will be the Prime Minister of Bangladesh sometime in future. If ten percent of what he promised to do in this interview becomes true, then I will be satisfied.

Unbelievable idiocy!

I can't believe this. Beating national shooters after entering the shooting complex just does not make sense to me. Commonwealth games gold medalist Asif and another national shooter Shoebuzzaman are seriously injured and will take weeks to recuperate and get back to practice. This is insane. These sycophants of corrupt political leaders have crossed their limits way ago. Now, who can bridle these unscrupulous people of the most corrupt institution of Bangladesh?

One fine example

The state minister for power resigned today. He admitted his failure and said that his conscience made him take the decision. Though I seriously doubt whether he actually failed as he was in charge for only four months and it is very tough to implement anything good in that sector because of a coterie close to PMO, I salute his decision. At least he showed that ministers should have some conscience and enough selflessness to take such decisions. This should be a great example to some shameless ministers of present government who amassed over million dollars in this term but could do no good to the country. I think they buried their conscience deep underground long before joining politics. Otherwise, how could they become ministers? Shame on them!!!

Why Countries Like Bangladesh Remain Poor

This is a great article by Professor Mahfuz R. Chowdhury. It summarizes some causes of our poverty. Though the facts are well-known, the article is worth enough to go through.

CAN'T WE THINK SAME WAY FOR BANGLADESH

This is a mind boggling article which I got from bdresearchers group. After reading it, I can't help sharing it with all. I always had a high respect for Indian president, the article justifies it. If you have time, please go through it.

An article By Dr. Abdul Kalaam (PRESIDENT OF INDIA)

======================================================

"I have three visions for India. In 3000 Years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds.  From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and Looted  us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation.

We have not conquered anyone.  We have not grabbed their land, their culture, and their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM.

I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture  and build on.  If we are not free, no one will respect us.  My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation.

It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most Areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being  globally recognized today.  Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

I have a third vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only STRENGTH respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept of space, Professor Satish Dhawan who succeeded him and Dr Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material.  I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first Satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years  played a very important role in my life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994. The Dept of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation  but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A very light material called carbon-carbon.

One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg.  each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients .  In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs,  they could  now move around. Their parents had tears in their eyes.  That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?

We are the first in milk production.

We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

We are the second largest producer of wheat.

We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.

There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid  and a granary.

It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of  killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried  among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.

Why are we so NEGATIVE ?

Another question : Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?

We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India.  For her, you and I will have to build this developed India.  You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation .

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

                     YOU say that our government is inefficient.

                     YOU say that our laws are too old.

                     YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

                     YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,

                     The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their Destination.

                     YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

                     YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore .

Give him a name-YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.  In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores.

YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.

YOU pay $5 (approx Rs 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.

YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity.

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs 650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then
tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?).
I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?

Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???
We are still talking of the same YOU.YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place ," he said.  "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do?
Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.  Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right.  We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.  When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room  protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? " It's the  whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my  sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system? What does a  system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a  safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country . Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J F Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians????

"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA  WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Conscious PPL who really feel of their mother land for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,
Dr Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA)

 

 

 

  'CAN'T WE THINK SAME WAY FOR BANGLADESH'

An encouraging article on Russian Air Force

Though it is old, it gives some useful insights about Russians which does not change over time.

58 GB of Downloadable Bangla Songs!!!

Thanks Rony for the wonderful website. It has tons of Bangla songs, at this moment 13304 songs to be precise. Anyone can download and upload songs to it via ftp. The ftp address is ftp://bangla.homeip.net:2121. You have to create an account before loggin in which is free.

Mahfuz Anam's apology to Tarique Rahman!

This is an excellent riposte by the revered editor of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam to the leading corrupt of the nation Tarique Rahman. Mr. Tarique has grown so big in power that he seems to interfere in anything now. Though I do not know the incident exactly, going through the editorial, it is easy to understand that the ongoing "Joggo Prarthi Andolon" has disturbed him so much that he spoke out against it. I think what he thought was he is not a "Joggo Prarthi" (:D) and so felt humiliated by the campaign. I don't think he thought wrong! :D

Saeed Anwar - highest individual ODI score ever made

Saeed Anwar makes 194 runs against India during the Independence Cup in May of 1997. This is the highest individual score ever made in an ODI. If you are a cricket fan and have not watched it then it is a crime!!!

A Late Update

Lot of things happened in last two weeks and I am now in UTD for my phd. I applied for visa more than two months ago. My wife was refused spouse visa and I was referred to security clearance. I was waiting for the security clearance to come. Almost all who applied for visa at the same time got their security clearance. My orientation date was 14th August. I was losing hope and at one stage gave up the hope completely. But dramatically, on the 8th August it came. I only had a handful of days to prepare and fly. After much struggle, I got one expensive ticket to Dallas of British Airways. I flied on the 14th and reached Richardson on the 15th. My friend Arif and his wife came to receive me. I attended the late orientation on the 17th.

There are lots of things to tell among these events. If I start in detail it will take so long that my fingers will start aching. So, I think I should skip most of them and just tell how much I miss my family, my home and my country. I was feeling so bad in the flight from London to Los Angeles that I decided to get back to country after one week. I miss my family terribly. I realized how sweet one's motherland is after leaving it. No country, regardless of how rich, developed it is, is comparable to one's motherland. I am dying for the moment I will be again in my country. I am staying with a fellow Bangladeshi here who is really a good person. I am fortunate to get a Bangladeshi roommate. My friend Arif and his wife are helping me a lot. I am very grateful to them for arranging everything for me before I arrived here. My class has begun on the 17th. The load will increase gradually. As I am a TA here, I will have to do a lot of TA works too. One of them has already begun. I already told my professor that I will go to Bangladesh after this semester. He is a nice man too. He did not disagree.

I hope I will be able to fulfil the purpose for which I came here though I will not be happy here without my family. After I get the degree, I will get back to Bangladesh, my sweet home country.

Amazing!!! 19 downloads in two weeks!!!

Since I uploaded the TrayController project to SourceForge.net, the installers have been downloaded 19 times. Isn't it cool? I am very excited and happy to see this. I really did not expect that much. I hope the software is being used by the downloaders. I am yet to receive any feedback from users. I will be happier to get some suggestions, comments or bug reports from the users.

An excellent criticism of Java

This is by far the best article by Joel Spolsky I have ever read. While reading the article, I wondered whether he read my thoughts before writing it or not. The points he made are very valid and I can no more agree with him. I have been long looking for this kind of articles in the net which will support my view unequivocally. I am sure that some of my ardent java fan friends will be hurt by it, but what he wrote is fact no fiction. I cannot like Pointer-less programming languages for the reasons mentioned in it. C++ is the best (as suggested by the poll in the right side too :-) ), no doubt about it. It is so much powerful and flexible that one can do anything (s)he likes. Chopping off the head to get rid of headache is not any solution. But unfortunately, popular programming languages like Java and C# have done exactly that by leaving out pointers. I was always a fan of Joel's articles but today I have become a bigger fan :-). Sorry Java-lovers ;-).

My first open source project

I created my first open source project in sourceforge.net. It is an application which ejects and closes trays of available CDROMs and DVDROMs. Actually, the idea came to my mind because I needed such an application. My fancy CPU casing adds extra button on the drives' eject/close button. For that it became hard for me to open and close them as the buttons are not of good quality. Closing the trays are even harder as the tray hides the button when ejected. So I needed some kind of software control. Trays can be ejected through windows explorer but they can't be closed. My application adds an icon in shell notification area (the one where the clock resides). Right-clicking the icon opens a menu through which trays can be ejected and closed. Left double clicking also opens a window through which the same things can be done. The application is started when windows starts. I have licensed the project with GPL. So, downloading binary/codes, editing, using etc. all are free. I have not build the homepage of the project yet. But the svn repository can be accessed via the URI: svn://svn.sourceforge.net

/svnroot/traycontroller/code/trunk. The files can be viewed by browser through this URL: http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/traycontroller. I will try to add a nice page in the homepage location soon. I am very excited about my first open source project. It will be very nice if someone really uses it. Any contribution is very welcome. I will be very happy if I get any comments, feature requests or any kind of feedback. Hope, I will be able to build more open source software in future which will be more useful to people.

More Zidane Stuff!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/13/zidane_headbutt_outrage/
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dijXiu64nsc&search=a%20new%20way%20to%20solve%20problems
http://funnymovies.net/games/view/541/

A BOLD ARTICLE

I loved every bit of it. This kind of explicit article is very much needed to unveil the masquerades of the corrupt politicians. I thank wholeheartedly whoever posted the article. It should reach the mass people of our country who are perpetually being robbed and deceived by these swindlers. More people should come up with such stories. We are badly in need of a corruption free country.

ZIDANE in Action: A Hilarious Stuff

Visit here and must click the mouse :D:D:D.

However, I feel sorry for him. His end should not be such a tragedy. A great hero he is!

How Brazil Lost, An Analysis

I got this from a friend. An excellent analysis. It supports my view. The inclusion of aged players by the coach ruined Brazil's chances this year.

SAMS Reference Library

SAMS publishing has provided online html copies of some of its books. They are calling it Reference Library. Entire books can be found here. Most of the books are old, may be not much needed these days. But people who really need them can be benefited by the library as these books are almost out of the market now. I think it is a good move by SAMS to benefit the readers.

Shame on Parreira!!!

Parreira is the only person to blame. I wonder how a person not fields his best team and still stays as coach. He killed Brazil's chances even before the tournament by being the coach. Shame on him!!! Shame on Cafu and Roberto Carlos who selfishly stayed in the team whereas they should have retired to provide opportunities to brilliant youngsters like Cicinho. Shame on Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka! They should concentrate more on their clubs to earn millions. Because that's where they belong. The good news for Brazil is Parreira, Cafu and Carlos will no longer be burden of next Brazil world cup team.

World Cup Blog

World cup blog is a great site for world cup 2006. I liked it more than the official FIFA site. In fact, it is far better than that in terms of content. Yahoo did not do a good job in the official site. It seems boring to me. The interface is too crowded and the content is poor and short. The BBC world cup site is a good one. Its look is same as its other pages, they did not use any different template. But the content is better than the official site. It also provided some user feedback option, much like discussion forum. Among these three the blog site is the best. I am getting news as well as people's views here. There are photos, fixture, score sheets, virtually everything. I regret not to find it early. Anyone, who wants to read a lot about world cup, can visit this site.

New Chip Breaks Speed Record

Researchers at I.B.M. and the Georgia Institute of Technology are announced that they have broken the speed record for silicon-based chips with a semiconductor that operates 250 times faster than chips commonly used today.The achievement is a major step in the evolution of computer semiconductor technology that could eventually lead to faster networks and more powerful electronics at lower prices, said Bernard Meyerson, vice president and chief technologist in I.B.M.'s systems and technology group. He said developments like this one typically found their way into commercial products in 12 to 24 months. At 500 gigahertz, the technology is 250 times faster than chips in today's cellphones, which operate at 2 gigahertz. At room temperature, the chips operate at 350 gigahertz, far faster than other chips in commercial use today. I think it is a major breakthrough in semiconductor technology. It was really heard that silicon chips are reaching their limit and optical technology will replace them. But it seems that silicon chips will live longer than expected. The news can be read here.

Joel Spolsky writes on his first experience with Bill Gates' review

This is another mind-boggling article from Joel Spolsky. I liked both the date-time thing and Bill Gates' review part. The date-time part was funny. And the review was funny too but at the same time it provided some valuable insight on how technical Bill Gates is. People used to think that he is just an executive who oversees business leaving all the technical stuff for his subordinates. I am really impressed to see how active he was to read a long review with taking into account every details in only one night. He must be as good in technical side as in business. I also can't agree more with Joel on that a software company should be led by technical people not some MBA type people.

Nuclear Energy: Only solution to our power crisis

Nuclear energy is the only medicament to our ongoing horrible power crisis. It is best both for short term and long term solution. Building many power plants for small production like 200, 250, 400 MW is no more a solution for our country. We build few and more power plant phases out at the same time. As a rapidly developing country, our energy need is growing each day too. So, there is always a gap and that gap is widening. Furthermore, looking not so far in future, fossil fuel is limited in quantity, it will be depleted some day. We will face trouble even before that when the fuel will become dearer. So, it is right time to set up a nuclear power plant. We are long holding a site to build one. We must start building it now. I think we can seek complete help from U.S. They will be costly, but they will provide the most reliable and easy and cheap to maintain technology. Foreign minister sought help from China in this regard. I think government is looking for cheap technology. But building a nuclear power plant will be very costly in any way. So, we have to spend it. But we can spend some extra bucks to get the desired reliability and cheap easy maintenance. The extra money will also be huge, but it is worth it keeping in mind that we have to spend the huge amount only once. Spending big amount initially is certainly better than spending less and then spend every now and then just to keep poor things running. The only thing I am concerned about is whether U.S. will like to help us in this regard or not.

A miracle opportunity for Bangladesh

Right after connecting to SEA-ME-WEA-4, Bangladesh has got a rare opportunity to join another consortium. The new consortium is led by Telecom Malaysia and includes seven countries at this moment. It will lay a cable which will connect south east Asia with U.S.A. The new cable is named Asia-America Gateway or AAG in short. Bangladesh, if acts wisely and promptly, can join this consortium. It will give it a much needed backup to SEA-ME-WEA-4. Currently, the ISPs have to maintain their old vsats just for backup purpose which is not lowering the cost of internet. The new cable will give us huge bandwidth along with the much needed backup. I think, it is a must for Bangladesh to join this consortium. The ruling party must forget its any mean political and financial interest and decide to avail the marvelous opportunity. Otherwise the sad history of 90's will repeat.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/06/06/d6060601033.htm

An amazing revenge

This is the most spectacular revenge story I heard any time soon. Amir Massoud Tofangsazan, a con man, thought himself very smart which he actually was not. He sold an out of order laptop by eBay for £375 to Thomas Sawyer, a 23-year-old student. He thought he would get away with it as he did with Debbie McInerney by selling an iPod, which never really reached her. But I think it was the greatest mistake of his life to underestimate Thomas Sawyer and turn down his pleas to refund. In retaliation, Thomas set up a blog about the incident. It is a mocking first-person account which brought fantastic result. When I visited it, the hit counter was showing 2655821!!! This proves that Thomas avenged the fraud with overwhelming success. The anguished Amir told the Daily Mail that the website had made his life a "living hell". The real good news is that police is currently investigating the incident. It is one of the smartest revenges I have ever heard of. So, blogs have found one more use: to take tormenting revenges!!! Thanks Thomas for the novel idea!

An Open Source Scientific Library/Database in C++

Code Cogs is a great site for open source code library in C++. It is the only of this kind in the world. Its intention is to provide open source efficient solutions of mathematics, statistics, science, engineering and finance. It has some excellent notable libraries. Anyone can contribute and be benefited from it.

3D Desktop

3D desktop is a great idea I came across today. I was happy to find that many works are going on it. I found few interesting screenshots of some such works. The most impressive work on it seemed to me Project Looking Glass of Sun Microsystems. It is an open platform to explore innovative 3D user interface. Here is a cool screenshot below:

Though the screenshot is beautiful, I am not much excited about this project. I have experienced sluggish behavior of Java desktop of Solaris 10. Due to this experience, I don't think this desktop environment will be as much responsive as it should be.

There are some programs in Linux which gives 3D effect to desktop using OpenGL e.g. XGL. But I did not find them impressive. They have a long way to go.

In Windows world, Windows Vista and Windows Presentation Foundation API promise to give a new look and feel of the desktop. But why should we wait so long? There is already a great implementation SphereXP. It displays icons and windows inside a sphere instead of a flat desktop hence providing 3D environment. Here is a screenshot of it:


So, 3D desktop is not far away. Though our display devices are going to be 2D for quite a long time, our desktop is going to be 3D for sure. I am certain that it will bring some fantastic and rich experience to us.

The Potential and Challenges of Information Technology for the Future of Bangladesh - Sajeeb Wazed Joy

Here is an excellent article on Bangladesh IT by Sajeeb Wazed Joy. It is nice to see that unlike other illiterate supreme leaders of Bangladesh, who refuses to connect to information superhighway for free in fear of national secret being leaked (how unfortunate we are!!!), he at least understands the problems and solutions of BD IT. I am here assuming that he himself wrote the article. It will be nice if he actually keeps his promises in future.

<Article>

Thursday • May 04, 2006

 

Click to download audio

 

http://www.albd.org/

 

 

The Potential and Challenges of Information Technology for the Future of Bangladesh

SAJEEB WAZED JOY

As you may know, the Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006, sponsored by the World Economic Forum has been released. According to the report, Bangladesh is marginally improved but going backwards in terms of its ICT development. The report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), covering a total of 115 economies during the year 2005, to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. The NRI is composed of three component indexes which assess:

 1. The environment for ICT offered by a given country or community,

2. The readiness of the community's key stakeholders - individuals, business and governments and

3. The usage of ICT among these stakeholders.

During the year 2004, Bangladesh's NRI score was -1.30, amongst the bottom four Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with rank 100th. In 2005 the score is -1.11, amongst the bottom six LDCs with rank going downward to 110th out of 115.

India now has forty four percent of the global outsourcing market. This is projected to grow to fifty one percent by the year 2008. However, along with this growth comes a problem. Countries such as India are seeing a rise in their cost of labor which gives Bangladesh a second chance at the train we missed the first time. To compete globally Bangladesh must develop its ICT industry. We already have the human resource. What we must have urgently is sufficient bandwidth and a stable supply of power.

During the Awami League's tenure we added over fifteen hundred megawatts of power production capacity. We had projected and planned for a growth of fifteen hundred megawatts of additional power production capacity in the next five years. Since this government has taken over they have added a net of zero megawatts of power production. I'm sure you are all feeling the effects of this. This does not just affect the ICT industry, but every facet of business and development. One simply cannot develop a nation with a shortage of electricity.

The Awami League government also took the first practical steps towards ICT development in Bangladesh. To encourage investment in the software industry we allocated one hundred crore taka in our 2000-2001 budget. We eliminated all import duties on computer hardware, software and peripherals. A desktop computer used to cost three lakh taka. We brought that price down to forty thousand taka. Where there were only ten to twelve thousand computers in use nationwide, now more than fifteen thousand are purchased every month. This has directly benefited all of you. The current government has since reinstated some of those taxes that we had eliminated.

Before our tenure, no government office had a computer. Even our embassy in Washington used a typewriter for all letters to the US Government! We began the process of computerization of all government offices.

During its first term the BNP government was presented with the option of connecting the country to a submarine fiber optic cable at no cost. Unbelievably, they refused this offer. The Awami League government then initiated the current submarine fiber optic cable project. By this time it was no longer an option to connect for free. Still, the project was created but elections were upon us before we could implement it. Then the BNP government came back to power. The project was redesigned. Originally, the plan was to build a cable from Bangladesh all the way to Singapore. This was done because there was no consortium cable under construction at that time through the Bay of Bengal to which we could connect. The project was delayed after the change in government and when it was finally reinitiated, a new consortium cable was under construction. The government chose to connect to this as the cost is shared among the consortium partners. However, the cost of the submarine cable project was subsequently inflated so that now the cable that has been built has cost the same as the originally planned cable to Singapore. The original planned site of the landing station was at Shitakunda in Chittagong but it was moved to Cox's Bazaar. This was done as there was no network link between Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar and so government cronies could make a huge profit building this network link and large kickbacks were paid to Hawa Bhaban.

Under the BNP, corruption has pervaded every sector of the government. The ICT sector has not been spared. Eighteen crore taka of research and development funds have simply disappeared and hundreds of crore taka have been misspent by the ICT Ministry.

The question now is, what do we do going forward? This brief does not purport to be a policy paper for the Awami League, but I would like to present you with some of my ideas. The main purpose of this seminar is to give me an opportunity to meet with all of you who represent the ICT industry in this country and take back some of your ideas and concerns. All of this will then be incorporated into Awami League's future policies.

With regards to power production, the Awami League has an established track record of developing the nation's power infrastructure. We initiated the privatization of power production which resulted in greater efficiency, reduced corruption and rapid growth. These policies will continue and we will build the necessary power production capacity to meet the demands of the entire nation now and into the future.

I also propose to develop e-governance initiatives. Putting government information online, such as budgets and expenditure will bring about transparency and accountability. Creating a nationwide database and network for the police will increase the efficiency of the law enforcement agencies, improve law and order, prevent instances of police abuse and help us fight terrorism. Online citizen processes such as tax filings, land registration, tender and procurement and public grievances along with online payment schemes for all of these will eliminate the scope for bribery and corruption. My goal is that eventually, all citizen transactions with the government can be completed online without you having to wait in line outside multiple government offices for days and bribing everyone from the peon to the secretary to do something as mundane as filing your taxes.

Then we have the issue of bandwidth. It is not enough just to build a submarine fiber optic cable. Bandwidth must reach the entrepreneurs. This requires a massive distribution network within the country. Still, just a network is not enough either. There must be sound policies put in place to regulate the distribution of the bandwidth. The current submarine cable provides Bangladesh with a bandwidth of ten gigabits per second while the current BTTB network can transmit a maximum of two megabits per second. That is barely one millionth of the capacity of the cable. Current BTTB plans do not call for the utilization of the full bandwidth for another four years! Also, the current policies call for the submarine cable to carry only voice traffic for the foreseeable future. That means that most of your businesses will not see any benefit from this cable. Lastly, the current regulatory framework calls for completely non-transparent control over the distribution of the bandwidth. What that means is that kickbacks to Hawa Bhaban will make up the largest portion of the bandwidth pricing. Bandwidth prices will follow the same trend as the price of all essentials in this country have during this government's term and you will pay double of what the actual cost is.

What we need is to build national data backbones and implement a balanced bandwidth distribution policy. What I would like to propose is to completely revamp the existing telecommunications regulatory commission, the BTTRC, making it more independent and transparent. Along with that, I propose allowing private telecommunications companies to build the backbones. From there the distribution network and the last mile solution can be spread out competitively among telecommunications companies and local ISPs. This would free the government of the cost of building the network and allow each locality to develop the solutions most appropriate for it based on the terrain and existing infrastructure.

In the software sector, entrepreneurs must pay more attention to developing local expertise rather than just trying to re-sell foreign software. We should not become just sales offices for foreign IT shops. On the export side one of the areas that appear to need some help is our ability for project management through the whole project. We need to improve our educational institutions and IT curricula to develop this expertise. We also need to initiate computer usage and training earlier, in our schools rather than in colleges.

We also need to think about technology that can change the lives of the common people. Whether that's a new way for the farmer to pump water or alternative fuel for our cars, we need to think of technology not just in terms of telecommunications or software but as a tool to improve our daily lives. This will increase efficiency in every aspect of our lives. I believe that maximum utilization of technology is our shortcut to modernization.

The government has spent millions of dollars setting up IT parks and ICT centers in places such as Silicon Valley. This simply does not work. What we need to do, instead, is to provide the infrastructure and policies and let the private sector, all of your businesses, flourish. I propose to continue the infrastructure development and tax cuts that we had initiated during our previous term. I also propose to set up a venture fund to finance promising IT startups in Bangladesh.

If we make it, it will be because of the entrepreneurs in the private sector, not the government. Microsoft was built by a college dropout. Yahoo was built by two Stanford students in a trailer. Hewlett Packard was started in a garage. We have to find our own Bill Gates and make sure they have the tools to succeed.

Source: http://www.albd.org/compile/2006/it_joy.htm

</Article>