‘The library culture has not developed in our country’

One of the leading poets of the country, the director of National Book Center of Bangladesh and a revered freedom fighter, Rafiq Azad talks to Mushfique Wadud about modern poetry and the role of libraries in developing a reading habit among people

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

It is sometimes said by critiques that since independence, the country did not find enough notable poets. Being a leading poet in the country, how do you asses the contemporary poets?

I have a different opinion about the poets and poetry of present time. I think poetry develops very silently. In every decade, there must be five or six leading poets. I do not think this decade is any different.

We cannot fulfill the demand because of illegal lines’

Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) talks to Mushfique Wadud about the authority’s plans in resolving the ongoing water crisis

photo by Prito Reza

There is a crisis for water every year during this season. Unfortunately, the situation is apparently worsening as time goes on. What do you think are the reasons behind the crisis?

The shortage of water does not trouble the legal subscribers. WASA has enough supply of water to meet the existing legal demand. Unfortunately, there are a good number of illegal connection holders around the Dhaka city. Because of them, we cannot fulfill the demand.

There are mainly two reasons as to why the crisis for water becomes acute in this season. Firstly, the level of underground water is down and secondly, because of constant load shedding, the pumps do not work. As a result, the water supply of a certain area just collapses. Normally, we have a demand of 205 crore litre but we produce 190 or 195 crore litre.

From food to factories

Mushfique Wadud talks to experts about the recent gas crisis and the possible ways out of it

It was 4pm. Lunch was yet to be cooked in Shahana Islam’s household, as her family, including her six-year-old child, anxiously waited for the gas supply to return. It had been unavailable for five hours till that point, with no certainties as to how much longer the wait would persist.

Such anecdotes are almost commonplace in several parts of the city as households are met with an added ordeal of inefficient, inadequate gas supplies for most parts of the day. Housewives are barely able to cook during the day, as a result of the low pressure in the supply of gas, instead staying up well past midnight, when the pressure is adequate, to prepare meals for the next day. The situation has persisted since winter, when it had been even direr.

A crisis that plagues life

Mushfique Wadud talks to city dwellers and experts about the ramifications of the recent water crisis and the ways in which to best overcome the situation

photo bySanaul Haque

It is said that water is among the fundamental sources of life and such an adage holds more than a degree of truth,

in the context of an urban dwelling, where a sound water supply is an outright necessity.

And with the water supplies from WASA falling agonizingly short of meeting the daily needs of most city dwellers, a crisis is definitely looming in the horizon, if it has not already manifested itself.

Over the last few weeks, the sight of people queuing up for long hours in front of a water pump to procure some water, albeit largely unclean and undrinkable water, is becoming an increasingly familiar one.

To add to their woes, some have to compromise their office shifts, some their household works while others, a day in school, just for the sake of collecting water.

Waning exports

Mushfique Wadud talks to trade bodies and experts about the recent decrease in export earnings

photo by Prito Reza

During the tenure of the previous BNP-led four party alliance, businessmen were extremely vocal at blaming the political agitation for the negative growth of the export items. The government also criticised the opposition’s role for the negative impacts on the economy.

However, during its fifteen month period, despite not being faced with any significant political agitation or strikes, this government is still afflicted with low exports. While there has been a negative growth in the export of most major export items, businessmen and experts fear even worse times ahead.

‘Rich people should be encouraged to donate in education’ ’

‘Rich people should be encouraged
to donate in education’ ’

Educationist Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury talks to Mushfique Wadud on the new education policy, the challenges in implementing it and the state of the education system in the country

photo by Prito Reza

The present AL-led government had formed a committee to formulate the national education policy who submitted the draft copy of the education policy 2009 on September 7. Since independence, seven such education commissions and committees had been formed, however, none of the policies ever saw the light of day. What do you think are the main challenges to implementing the new education policy?

Unfortunately, politics and bureaucracy are the two main obstacles to implementing these policies. One government prepares a policy and after its tenure ends, the new government brings new ideas into its policy. They even change history. Moreover, some foreign bodies suggest experimental modifications as conditions for providing loans. The bureaucracy collaborates with all of these.

Deadly garbage

Deadly garbage

Mushfique Wadud roams hospitals and pathological centres in the city to investigate the medical waste management procedures adopted in these institutions and talks to experts regarding the risk posed to public health by the haphazard disposal of medical wastes

photo by Prito Reza

An air of uncertainty, even bordering on panic, surrounded onlookers as they caught the rather grotesque sight of a human body-part, floating past them on the Dhanmondi Lake, on July 5. After an autopsy, the Dhanmondi Thana police declared that the body-part in question was a woman’s and was highly infectious.

Solution to traffic woes

Solution to traffic woes

Mushfique Wadud goes through different studies, conducted by government and other organisations, and talks to experts about 10 possible solutions to the intolerable traffic jam situation in the Dhaka city

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

On August 19, a heavy downpour plunged Dhaka under water again aggravating the already bad traffic situation in the city.

Thousands of commuters were seen stranded in Farmgate, waiting for buses and other vehicles. They thronged the lone buses, pushing and shoving each other, that made its way into the area. When some could not find seat or failed to get on a bus despite waiting for one for over hours, they broke the glasses of some of these vehicles and beat up the bus-conductors. They even threw water at those who secured seats inside the buses, as if they were their sworn enemies.

Pending salaries and unrest in the RMG sector

Pending salaries and unrest
in the RMG sector

Mushfique Wadud investigates the causes behind the recent garment factory workers’ unrest in Fatullah, Narayanganj and talks to leaders of the country’s Ready-Made Garments sector on how damaging an impact such uproars could have on the sector and ways to prevent such turmoil in future

photo by Prito Reza

On August 25, reports of the latest episode of unrest among workers of a garment factory surfaced as hundreds of workers of the Auto Textile Knitwear Limited, in Lalpur, at the Fatullah industrial hub, Narayanganj, took to the streets in protest.

The workers had been at loggerheads with the factory owners over their impending salaries, which culminated into demonstrations. The workers’, prompted the police to charge in and disperse the protestors, quashing chances of workers taking any violent meas

The hazards of safety

The hazards of safety
Mushfique Wadud finds out from experts whether the construction and maintenance of embankments in the country is appropriate for fighting floods, while also reflecting on the long-term environmental hazards

Mohammad Islam/DrikNEWS

On July 17, the hard point of the Sirajganj town protection embankment caved in, the second collapse in a week. The first collapse took place on July 10, this year.

Despite being built only 12 years back, between 1995 and 1999 by the Hyundai Corporation at a cost of Tk 332 crore and with a 100-year guarantee, the embankment is now in ruins.

However, on July 16, just a day before the second collapse, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) director general Abul Kalam Azad informed Xtra that the Sirajganj town protection embankment had overcome all risks. ‘. We will protect the embankment at any cost,’In spite of numerous river training and flood control projects in the country, like the Sirajganj embankment, the condition of these projects are in a sorry state. Despite boastful guarantees, most of these projects collapse or fail within a decade or so, plunging residents of these areas into hopelessness and a constant threat of flood like the ones during 1998 and 2004.

Failing the lingua franca

photo by Prito Reza

Failing the lingua franca

by Mushfique Wadud

This is a letter from the examination script of a class nine student of Bangladesh Bank Model High School. His teacher reveals that he wrote this after memorising it beforehand. Despite memorising, he still succumbs to such mistakes. ‘If he wrote the letter on the script without memorising, there would be even more mistakes,’ the teacher says, sighing. Like him, many students write incorrect and meaningless sentences in their scripts which are humorous to readers.

While this is funny to read, it is just another unsavoury instance of the nation’s sorry state of English language efficiency. This plague is not only confined to schools, but in every level of education, job applications, invitation cards, texts and even on social networking sites such as Facebook establishing the fact that the whole nation lacks knowledge of the English language. As important books in any subject are in English, students struggle to acquire proper knowledge in science, business studies and other important subject matter affecting the overall education system.

This deficiency is especially unfortunate because people of this region had long been known for their remarkable efficiency in the English language. It is in fact, a widely known truth that before the liberation war, people had a strong command of English. However, after the emergence of Bangladesh, the policymakers adopted education policies which emphasised greatly on Bengali while defocusing on the English curriculum.

Death in a foreign land

Death in a foreign land

Mushfique Wadud investigates the recent rise in death among expatriate workers and the probable causes behind the high number of such tragic incidents

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

On April 5, when Tajmahal’s mobile rang, she received the call with eager excitement as she anticipated her husband calling from abroad. Her husband, Jaynal Abedin, had been living in Malaysia for the past three years.

Her heart, however, broke to pieces as the caller informed her of the demise of her husband. An expatriate Bangladeshi wage earner, Jaynal Abdin died of a heart attack in Malaysia on April 5. She could not believe the news as she had spoken to him over the phone just a day before.

A life less ordinary

A life less ordinary

On June 17, the country lost one of its most celebrated sons as Gaziul Haque passed away after prolonged illness. A language-movement hero, freedom fighter, lawyer, writer and a family man, Mushfique Wadud chronicles the multi-faceted life of the man that was Gaziul Haque

Following the declaration of the Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to impose Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan – a stance reiterated in a public meeting at Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, by Prime Minister Nazimuddin, on January 26, 1952, a wave of agitation sparks off among people of East Pakistan. To counter the growing unrest, an order under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code prohibiting processions and meetings in Dhaka City is sanctioned.

A high price to pay

A high price to pay

Mushfique Wadud digs deep into what led to the recent protest by the students of North South University and finds out why the fees of private universities are going up while the quality of education is under question

photo by Ma Raquib Khan

On May 10, the premises of North South University, the country’s first private university, were hounded by several hundred of its students as they staged daylong demonstrations through the course of which, a number of offices on the campus including the vice chancellor’s was vandalised.

Rejected over-bridges

Rejected over-bridges

Mushfique Wadud investigates the condition of Dhaka’s over-bridges and finds out why pedestrians refuse to use them

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

‘Mom, what is that?’
‘It is an over-bridge, my child.’
‘What is it for, Mom?’
‘It is a safe way to cross the road.’
‘Then why aren’t we using it?’

‘You’re talking too much today. We are in hurry, let’s go.’
Read more at the link

http://www.newagebd.com/2008/sep/19/sep19/xtra_inner3.html

Inexpensive, but potentially dangerous

Inexpensive, but potentially dangerous

Mushfique Wadud and Ariful Islam Mithu reveal the need for reforms in the qoumi madrassah education system, which still follows a curriculum from the Mughal period

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

Yusuf was not born in a well to do family. His father always struggled to provide for and manage their big family, and so when it was time to send Yusuf to school; he was sent to a qoumi madrassah, where his father hardly had to pay anything.
Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/08/may08/xtra_inner3.html

In the name of ‘student politics’

In the name of ‘student politics

Mushfique Wadud, Khamin and Mohiuddin Alamgir list the various illegal businesses that make student politics so dear to the average student

photos by Al-Emrun Garjon

Riaz Uddin always dreamt of making his son a doctor. So when his son, Abul Kalam Asad Rajib came tenth on the SSC examinations merit list, he considered it the first step in the fulfilment of his dream. Rajib, second of Riaz’s three sons, soon got admitted to Dhaka Medical College. Everything was going according to plan and Riaz only had to wait a few years to become ‘a doctor’s father’.

But soon Rajib became involved in student politics during the early years of his medical college life. He was made general secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League in the DMC unit. This year, Rajib was killed in a factional clash of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League’s student front on March 31, 2009, ending the life of a brilliant student and shattering Riaz’s dreams.

Read more at

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/15/may15/xtra_cover.html

Ambition, corrupt ion and nepotism

Ambition, corrupt ion
and nepotism

Mushfique Wadud and Khamin reveal the gross irregularities and nepotism that revolve around the second-largest NGO in the country, Proshika and Qazi Faruque, its controversial chairman

photo by Prito Reza

Abul Kashem Palash, the acting director of Proshika Manobik Unnayan Kendra, was arrested by the law enforcement authorities just after the declaration of the state of emergency in the country on January 11, 2007 for being involved in anti-social activities during the pre-election violence from October to December 2006 as well as in the Awami League leader Abdul Jalil’s infamous ‘trump card’ deadline.
Read more at

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/22/may22/xtra_cover.html

Keeping prices at bay

Keeping prices at bay

The prices have soared for almost all food items persistently, sometimes artificially increased through syndicates and sometimes putting up with the international market. An effective strategy is what people look forward from the newly elected government – a strategy that would discuss solutions more than meetings, roundtables and bluffs. Mushfique Wadud asks policymakers and eminent economists for their prescriptions to control the price hike

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith
Former finance minister
At present prices of food items in the international market are stable. I am confident I can control the food prices if I take the helm of finance ministry. How?
We have a six-point programme in our manifesto that will control the prices of food items. Many importers continue to sell goods at a higher price reasoning their sale from earlier stocks. This has to be checked thoroughly.
Read more at

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jan/02/jan02/xtra_inner3.html

Redefining hand-to-mouth

Redefining hand-to-mouth

Prior to the implementation of the seventh pay commission, Musfequr Rahman and Mushfique Wadud talk to government officials, from five different professions, and find out about their individual battle for survival against rocketing prices of essentials, house rent, educational expenses, with their given salary scales

photo by Prito Reza

The growing financial crisis of the last two years has hit the poorer sections in the country hard, but it has also done damage to those with fixed income salaries who are growing poorer at a higher rate, as the currency devalues and prices shoot upwards. Even in mid-2008, inflation fluctuated to two-digit numbers; accounting for the prices spiral of essentials, house-rent, transportation, education and other necessary items.
Read more at

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jan/23/jan23/xtra_cover.html