Archive for December 10th, 2006
Sunday, December 10th, 2006President and Chief Adviser (CA) Iajuddin Ahmed last night threatened to deploy army to maintain law and order around the Bangabhaban if the Awami League (AL) led 14-party combine and its allies enforce a sit-in around his official residence.However, the advisers who were busy throughout the day trying to break the stalemate over reconstitution of the Election Commission (EC) in line with its package proposals vehemently opposed the president's move and left the Bangabhaban without ending the last night's meeting with CA, sources said.The advisory council to the caretaker government had earlier put forward a proposal to recast the ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006 Two top leaders of main rival political alliances yesterday expressed similar views on curbing the influence of black money, terrorism and corruption in the election process to strengthen democracy.The two leaders -- BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil also agreed with the set of recommendations of the civil society for bringing reforms in the election and politics and stressed the need for reducing the election expenditure.Speaking at the function of Nagorik Forum, a civil society initiative for accountable development, held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, the leaders stressed the need ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Some major irregularities were found in correcting the updated voter list in the capital on the second day of the massive undertaking which is supposed to be completed in only eight days.Meanwhile the initiative remained nearly stagnant in other parts of the country, reported our correspondents.It was revealed yesterday that in ward no 42 of the city's Mohammadpur area some five thousand voters' names had been deleted from the voter list created in 2000, during the much controversial recent updating of the list.Angry voters, whose names had been deleted, laid siege to the office of the district election ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006As Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof Muhammad Yunus today receives the prestigious award at a ceremony in Oslo, the Grameen Bank founder yesterday outlined his future task -- popularising the new concept of 'social business' where the motivation for entrepreneurs will be beyond making profits in favour of changing lives of the poor."In future, Grameen will bring a new concept of business, which is social business. Today's concept of business is to make profit, but this is a narrow interpretation of business," the microcredit guru told a press conference on the eve of the award ceremony.Channel i will broadcast ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Awami League (AL)-led 14-party coalition yesterday rejected an alternative proposal offered by the negotiating team of advisers in the face of an ongoing impasse in implementing the previously negotiated package deal due to Election Commissioner SM Zakaria's intransigence to going on a leave of absence. The alternative proposal offered sending of Election Commissioners SM Zakaria and Modabbir Hossain on leaves of absence but no appointment of new election commissioners."We had given a 24-hour ultimatum which already expired. But the caretaker government is rather offering us an alternative proposal. We have asked them to come up with a decision immediately," 14-party ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Seven surviving liberation war heroes concerned over the current state of affairs in Bangladesh yesterday placed a 10-point proposal to the caretaker government and all political parties with a view to deterring anarchy and stabilising the political system. Formation of an independent election commission and preparing a flawless voter list for holding free, fair and peaceful elections acceptable at home and abroad are a couple of key points in their proposal.Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khondkar Bir Uttam read out a written statement while sector commanders Maj Rafiqul Islam, Maj Gen (retd) CR Dutta, Lt Con (retd) Quazi Nuruzzaman, ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Prof Muhammad Yunus, whose Grameen Telecom is embroiled in a tussle over Grameenphone's controlling share with its joint venture partner Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, yesterday had a discussion with Telenor President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas over the contentious issue. When asked to comment on the matter at a press conference at Oslo, Yunus said: "We have outstanding issues and we will continue to talk with them (Telenor). We have wonderful relationship with Telenor in Bangladesh. Telenor went out of the way to come to Bangladesh and joined hands with Grameen where Grameen provided the philosophy and Telenor the technology.""Professor ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday said the current state of politics in Bangladesh shows the political leaders are slow to change while the young generation is changing fast.The generation that controls the power is way behind the new generation and this is creating a lot of tension, he added."A society moves at one speed not in two speeds. I believe that democracy will be threatened more and more because of the two speeds at which the two generations are moving," Yunus observed.Stressing the need for finding clean candidates in elections, he said otherwise the corrupt will be elected ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Under the influence of a vested interest lobby of BNP leaders, the government is taking Tk 300 crore loans for the rehabilitation of three Karnaphuli hydropower units while two such brand new power units could be set up with the same amount of money.A full-scale rehabilitation of these three plants should not cost more than Tk 110 crore but these plants do not need such rehabilitation, sources pointed out.A senior official claimed that rehabilitation of the three plants would actually require around Tk 40 crore to 50 crore. He alleged that of the remaining money, a substantial chunk would go ...
(read more) Sunday, December 10th, 2006Elimination of the use of black money and muscle power in general elections is the most crucial instrument for establishing an effective parliament that can ensure transparency and accountability of the government, said politicians and civil society members at a seminar in the capital yesterday.Once their use is stopped, honest and competent people can be elected to make parliament and its committees active, which can contribute to combating corruption in the ministries and other wings of the government, they noted.The speakers sought pledges from the political parties in their manifestos that they will form parliamentary committees on the first day ...
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