Ensurejustice

The article entitled "The Mystery Remains Unsolved" by Elita Karim in DS on October 30.2009 was a unique piece . which appealed for justice for the victim of a barbarian from the educated community. For sure, there are many similar cases and the perpetrators are going unpunished.

Indeed, dowry is a curse in our society because it is one of the prime reasons for the incompatible conjugal life of a couple.

Let us say'NO' to dowry to protect our future mothers and newly married couples from endless misery.

Hasnat,.4/UB

An intern atDBBL

Two beautiful spots

Last week I visited Cox's Bazar and Saint Martin's. As we are busy with our city life, after making some effort we got the chance to visit the longest beach of the world. We planned to go there to have some refreshing experience but after reaching the place I was really disappointed. The beach was full of hawkers.

The situation must improve in the interest of both local and foreign tourists.

Sabina Parvin

Dhaka

Smoking banned in open space?

I would like to draw the attention of lite ministry concerned or any person who has read the anti-smoking law. I have read in the newspaper and personally seen that people are being fined or harassed for smoking in the street or open space. Is this the correct interpretation of the law?

I had read the anti-smoking law . that was promulgated several years back. It said that smoking is banned in some listed 'public places'. The law listed what are those 'public places' - govt offices, educational institutions, movie halls, public transport (bus/railway/launch/steamer ), marketplaces and specific places. The law does not say that smoking is banned in the street or open space. Interestingly, it says smoking is allowed in restaurants.

Nowadays, mqst people are interpreting 'public place' as open space, or 'prokashshey' in Bengali which is wrong as per law. Please note that in most countries you can only smoke in open space or in streets where there in no gatheringofpeople.

Can someone please check the law carefully and inform us if smoking in the street or open space is banned. You

must prove the point quoting the exact clause of the law.

M.Ahmed

Nayapaltan, Dhaka

Some observations

During the last couple of weeks a few incidents have drawn my attention which might have political ramifications in my judgment. These are:

a. A talk show guest was the

1 fw>l I parnw.b*^ vation, to toy with the idea of reducing the death sentence awarded to the killers of Sheikh Mujib. Now this is being argued by the lawyer of one accused on the same ground mentioned by the talk show guest. It might be a pure coincidence.

b. Incidentally, the same talk show guest had informed his viewers on another episode that while abroad he was asked by many that in the media we had seen and heard so many allegations of corruption against an influential family member of the former PM, where are the proofs, and nothing is substantiated yet in the court of law. A significant observation if we can somehow foresee the dramatic turn in our political game play.

c. The ministry of home affairs is so tentative about taking action against the wrong doing of the elite force

Rab against the reporter of the New Age. They should be firm and not hesitant. Why do they look afraid of the elite force ? Do we have any plan to reorganize this elite force and make them accountable to the rule of law ? The foreign countries who are so vocal against the extrajudicial killings committed by this elite force has a definite responsibility to propose the reform and be proactive to help execute die same.

d. The SG of the BNP is behaving in such a way every day as if the people are his or his party's " proja" and are obliged to listen to him and obey. Ifthe BNP has no faith or confidence in any constitutional body of the republic, their December council (?) agenda should include the future course of action by the party and stop issuing sermons every day because they have left behind the same old governance record.

e. What about the electronic media coverage of the arrest scene of die daughter of one alleged killer of Sheikh Mujib. Why was it necessary to exhibit the 3-6 months old child in such a way? 1 am curious to know the role of the police. Why could not they execute the warrant of arrest with required civility?

f. The long absence of the PM might have been felt by the people who require her presence at home when politics is taking a critical and unexpected turn.

A reader

On e-mail

A resolute man

If anybody with common sense listens to the suggestions of the former Chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission Dr. Akbar Ali Khan, he will surely agree with me that he is not only a great patriot but also a very efficient government servant with a strong commitment to the nation.

If the government responded positively to his suggestions it would have a great impact on the economic emancipation of the country. I am sure the government created the situation for his resignation under the direction of some vested quarters who do not have any commitment to the nation, rather are always guided by self interest.

This is an irony that all of our governments gave importance to the sycophants and not the honest and patriotic forces. The present government should not commit the same mistake.

Dr. M. Mahboob Hossain Associate Professor Department of Pharmacy The University of Asia Pacific Dhanmondi, Dhaka Defying logic

Daylight Saving Time in the western hemisphere coun tries has a definite purpose and period which extends from April till end of October. Setting the clock right in tune witii sunrise and sunset in winter time Is the most logical thing to do. If tills is not done, we will be wasting power in lighting up our houses In the morning. Moreover, as the days gel shorter, it will become even more difficult to get up when It is will remain pitch dark even at 6.30 am, since our biological clocks are naturally tuned lo sunlight.

Under the circumstances, why the government should defy logic Is inexplicable.

Zcbal.SerajtPh.D.)

Professor

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Dhaka

Power vehicles

Motor vehicles are wasteful in terms of energy and fuel used to transport only two or three persons at most! Every time the car engine runs, four fifths of the energy supplied goes to overcome the frictional resistance of the car engine, transmission and the bodyworks and their weights which accounts for the high fuel consumption! The electric car however goes a long way toward reducing wasted energy by replacing the internal-combustion engine with batteries. Even so, electric cars lose about 60 percent of the energy because heavy mechanical parts are still used to deliver energy from the batteries to the car wheels through air box and mechanical transmission system. Lately, though, engineers have come up with a far more efficient way to accomplish the same task: by using magnets in the wheels; in place of traction motor and mechanical power transmission gears.

Wheel motors ensures better energy efficiency than the electric car, bringing the truly energy-efficient car another step closer to reality! The mechanism is surprisingly simple. Each wheel hub has a ring of electro-magnets inside. Another ring of magnets lines the rim of the wheel, which fits over the hub. A rapidly alternating pulse of electricity through the electromagnets in the hub changes the polarity of magnets many times each second, causing the wheel to turn through magnetic repulsion. The only moving parts, aside from the wheel itself, are the wheel ball bearings.

About two hundred test cars, buses, and trucks have been built with wheel motors, till date in USA. Around

twenty companies are developing to have these including BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mitsubishi, Renault-Nissan, Siemens, and Volvo, as well as wheel and tire makers Bridgestone and Michelin.

With more development going on, the initial problems, though minor, will soon be overcome and it is expected that wheel magnet driven public transport vehicles will soon become the preferred vehicle on the road.

S .A. Mansoor

Technical Adviser, Spectra Group

New office timing , I am working in an NGO. Showing respect to the government's new timing for office, our new office time is now 10:00 am 6:00pm. The government decided the timing of private offices, as if there are no women working in private offices, they don't have children!

We are really hard pressed now.

Areefa

One-mail

Plane crash

I was shocked to see the news item that a BAF training plane crashed in Bogra, while on a training flight. The type and condition of the plane does not seem to suit training for the two trainees of the rank of Squadron Leader! The enquiry must show whether it was training and who among the two was the trainee.

Anyway, (hank God who saved the two precious lives. Mohammed Alauddin Green Road, Dhaka

WhyDST?

The words of Energy Adviser Dr. Tawfiq E Elahl Chowdhury on not reverting back to the old timing In an interview with BBC, Bangla Service on October 25,2009, have baffled us, because the adviser himself admitted that (he length of day and night are quite different in countries where DST is being used fora long time but in tropical countries like Bangladesh the difference is not much.

So, our question is why it has been changed in the first place. People were hoping that realizing the fruitlessness of this move the government would return to the old timing but to our consternation the government has remained unruffled and adamant on its decision which is useless, not helping us in anyway.

The timing we were used to throughout our life was suddenly changed--thanks to the whims of the Awami League government. It is not right and acceptable, the government must pay heed to people's demand. We hope the government will act wisely.

Nur Jahan

Chittagong

Technical education

Bangladesh has been expanding its industrial base in the last two decades. Mentionable development has been achieved in industries like garment, cement, textile, steel, sugar, paper, pharmaceutical, shipbreaking, shrimp culture etc. Manpower export has already been proved a significant financial positive factor for Bangladesh economy. In addition to the garments industry, information technology and shipbuilding have tremendous potential.

To operate the existing industrial ventures, to expand the industrial sector and to export technical manpower abroad, Bangladesh needs a huge technically educated manpower. Without, proper manpdw'er, no industry tan be developed. But if we evaluate the scenario of Bangladesh for expanding and for modernizing technical education a poor picture is observed.

In different seminars and informal discussions we agree that expansion of technical education is very much needed. But practically, no mentionable achievement was seen in the last four decades of independence.

One poly-technique in each upazila is very much needed to provide technical education facility to all geographic locations of the country. As Dhaka has developed into a mega city, more than 10 million people live here. So, at least 10 poly-technique institutions are required in Dhaka.

Tahshina Ashraf

Kadarntala Purba Bashabo High School and Collage Bashabo. Sabujbag. Dhaka

Funding political parties

A difficult question of funding political parties from the state coffer has been launched by TIB, backed by its research, and perhaps seconded by our Election Commission, for discussion. Actually, it's a dilemma that goes beyond Bangladesh. In the absence of mass membership contribution, many political parties, or politicians, rely on private donations to support their activities. But private donations. mostly corporate, are often determined by influence-peddling, So, making a case for public funding of political parties to keep them honest is an option, but isn't easy. It could be a doubled-edged sword, while public r money goes to the parties, they can't be made accouht-able.

Actually, the question displeases people throughout the entire world, developed or underdeveloped, how to fund politics. In a country where we have high levels of poverty, it's very difficult to say that we are going to clean up politics by arranging legal payments to political parties from the state coffers.

It is a fact that election, or political financing, is shadowy in Bangladesh as well as elsewhere, in fact everywhere. In most of the functioning democracies, while political parties oversee national campaigns. individual candidates are expected to raise their own campaign funds from private sources. Once elected to parliament. lawmakers start looking for new sources of funding. Many say those sources include bribes from persons, groups or companies seeking favours to get their business contracts approved.

Politicians use their position to raise money because that is what the parties ask them to do, or maybe that is the standard practice everywhere in the free economies. Some of the money goes into

their pockets, the resi goes to the parlies. Slate funding for making the lawmakers probably wouldn't stop graft. If we gather experiences from other democracies, we can see that politics, and democracy as well, is getting more and more expensive all over the world.

Some advocate greater transparency in party financing. I think what we can possibly do is publish the sources of our political parties' money and the names of the donors. They should have tax identification numbers, so anybody can trace those persons, or companies.

Apart from the accountability risks, in a multiparty system, public funding of parties must be based on their strength in previous parliaments. Funds for al! parties from the national exchequer could also go wrong. We may make it tricky for new parties, our past experience tells us that people from other parties would form new parties just to get money from the state coffer. So, we need to think many times before settling the issue of graft-free funding of political parties.

Sirajul Islam

Pisciculture Housing Society Shyamoli, Dhaka

Role of Rab

The continuing saga of extra judicial killing and torture by law enforcing agencies such as Rab is extremely disturbing, to say the least. The recent killing of an actor and torture of a New Age journalist by Rab prompted the constitution of departmental enquiries, the outcome of which is anybody's guess. While condemn -ing such illegal acts committed by the very organ of the government which is supposed to protect the innocent and punish the culprit within legal boundaries, I think everyone also needs to ponder who is the beneficiary of such extra judicial killings and why this saga is going on unabated for such a long time.

The summary disposal of alleged criminals before giving them an opportunity to speak out and expose the masterminds and godfathers is advantageous to those very people who create and nurture top criminals.

These godfathers have infiltrated into the organs of the government so deep, that they can manipulate and use various departments with impunity and at wilL NuruddinAzam

Australia