Haque Specialized Group's News

Bangladesh has yet to build a comprehensive database of species and traditional products that promise it huge Geographical Indication (GI) benefits under global trade regimes. The country has enacted the GI Act (Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) 2013 and already claimed products like Jamdani Sari and Hilsa as exclusively its own products. But experts said the country needs a complete inventory of its species of animal or plant, which is very crucial for claiming and securing products under one's own GI. Article 22, 23 and 24 of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) grant countries the right to protect and patent famous, exceptional and extraordinary products as their own GI. Bangladesh enacted GI a decade after neighbouring India had done. Md Azizur Rahman, Director-General of the Intellectual Property Association of Bangladesh (IPAB), said enactment of the GI now enables Bangladesh to claim products like Jamdani and Hilsa as its own, whose proper branding would bring huge benefits for the country. "But the country should have a comprehensive database of species of animal and plant and also of famous, exceptional and extraordinary products to take advantage of GI," he said. "This database could help the ministries, departments and businesses concerned to register our own products as GI." He cited India as an example. India has prepared a comprehensive record of species titled 'Wealth of India' and involved the local government, concerned ministries and educational institutions in this scientific process. The record was completed in 1999 and India enacted the GI law the same year in right earnest. The country has registered 200 products as its GI since 1999, including Nakshikantha, Jamdani and Fazli mango which are Bangladesh's traditional products. The database and timely enactment of GI law gave the country such advantage, he said.       He said, "Brridhan-28 is mostly produced rice variety in Bangladesh. Farmers in West Bengal in India also use the seed but call it 'Ratna' rice." "So, how could we make our rice variety as our unique product if it is not recorded?" He questioned. Department of Patent, Design and Trademark (DoPDT) registrar Md Sanwar Hossain told the FE that registering a product as the country's own GI builds up image of the items and the country both. He said they now have 71 products in the pipeline, including Fazli mango and silk sari from Rajshahi, and Harivanga mango from Rangpur to be registered. Md Ziaul Haque, director of the Department of Environment (DoE), said the ministry publishes a database under its project 'biodiversity safety programme of action 2020'. "Earlier, we have had an encyclopedia of flora and fauna which was made from secondary information jointly by the government and private organisations," he said. But the recent information under the biodiversity-safety programme is primary info which could help policymakers concerned to proceed on GI, he said. However, organisations like IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) also publish inventory of species annually, he said. General Secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, an environment-rights organisation, Dr M A Matin said data are urgently needed for biodiversity which has a direct relation to food security, climate change and population. "Implementation of a biodiversity-friendly, sustainable management is impossible without correct information of species," he said. However, experts put especial emphasis on research involving ministries concerned and private sector to make an inclusive database of species and traditional products of Bangladesh.   tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-17 05:00:06

Two Bangladeshi students doing PhD at a USA university were killed in a road accident in Wilkinson County area near Georgia on Monday. The deceased are M Imtiaz Ikram and Pracheta Dutta Tumpa. They were doing PhD at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both of them had worked as part-time trainers at the Aeronautical Engineering Department of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) after graduating from the department by securing first place in different academic sessions, said an ISPR release on Wednesday. It said the accident took place around 8 pm local time.    — UNB....

Published at: 2017-08-17 05:00:06

Finance Minister AMA Muhith expects country's economic growth to remain in a comfortable zone despite possible crop losses caused by current flood onslaughts. He said the latest spell of flooding posed a sort of crisis and the government is capable of facing the situation. "There is no reason to be worried about flooding as the government is capable of coping with such situation," Mr Muhith told his audience at a function Wednesday. "Though the import costs of rice have swelled up due to loss of crop production, but we can do this; we are capable of doing this for the people of the country," he said  at an agreement-signing ceremony at a city hotel. PRAN Dairy Ltd and Sonali Bank Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on lending to contract farmers of PRAN Dairy for raring high-quality cattle breeds and increasing production of dairy products. Director (Corporate Finance) of PRAN-RFL Group Uzma Chowdhury and General Manager of Sonali Bank Rafiqul Islam inked the deal. Terming agriculture the base of the economy, Mr Muhith said whatever other sectors bring for the economy, agriculture always will be the prime sector. The finance minister noted that Bangladesh has achieved consistent growth for last eight years.  "It is impossible to remain poor for a country if the country achieves consistent growth for 10 to 12 years," he said. Speaking as chief guest, he thanked the state-owned Sonali Bank for such initiative as he thinks such loans would be able to bring the bank out of present losing state. Mr Muhith said PRAN is one of the top agro-product companies in the country. They ushered in horizons of prosperity in many other modes of agribusiness.   Under the agreement, the bank will provide loans to the dairy farmers as per recommendation of PRAN Dairy. Farmers will receive collateral-free loan worth Tk 50,000 to 200,000 while Tk 300,000 to 1,000,000 with collateral. The farmers will have three to five years to pay back. The bank primarily granted Tk 100 million. This amount will rise gradually, PRAN group sources said.   Speaking at the programme, Bangladesh Bank governor Fazle Kabir said more than one-third of Sonali Bank's loans are non-performing loans, and this has, like other state-owned banks, concentrated loans. He urged the Sonali Bank management to find such sectors like PRAN Dairy to provide loans to overcome the present situation. Senior Secretary at Financial Institutions Division Eunusur Rahman termed this loan to PRAN Dairy unique. "State-owned banks are worried about bigger loans. The repayments of the loans are not coming to the banks. They can provide loans to such smaller sectors and bring those loans back in time," he said. Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PRAN-RFL Group, said his group will take responsibility of the loans. He said there is huge potential untapped in the dairy sector as the country produces only 30 per cent of total demand for dairy products. He told the function that the contractual dairy farmers will use the loan to buy cows, prepare shed, buy cattle feed and carry out other farm-related development activities. The company chief said more than 11,000 registered dairy farmers are working with five PRAN Dairy hubs at Gurudaspur of Natore, Chatmohor of Pabna, Shahjadpur and Baghabari of Sirajganj and Rangpur. They bring up 55,000 heads of cattle. PRAN Dairy provides various facilities, including vaccination, treatment, training on farm setup and development, and artificial insemination, to the dairy farmers. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sonali Bank Ashraful Moqbul said this loan under marketing-plus programme has a unique condition, a win-win situation for all stakeholders. Md. Obayed Ullah Al Masud, Managing Director and CEO of Sonali Bank, said the bank provides loan for country's agriculture, industry and other potential sectors. PRAN Dairy is one of the major organizations contributing largely to development of the dairy sector. bdsmile@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-17 05:00:06

The Internal Resources Division (IRD) has issued a directive to audit maximum 25,000 income tax files of both individuals and corporate taxpayers to detect tax evasion and concealment of actual income, officials said. The income tax authority has received the directive from the IRD not to exceed this number of tax files that were submitted in tax year 2016-17. The IRD asked for selection of tax returns for audit on the basis of volume, for the first time, instead of regular practice of percentage of the total tax returns to avoid harassment. Until last year, the income tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) used to select tax files on the basis of percentage, on an average 2.0 to 4.0 per cent of the total tax returns. The volume of tax returns has been fixed after many taxpayers complained unusual harassment in the name of audit by the field-level tax staff. The IRD fixed the number at 25,000 for last fiscal year, 1.96 per cent of 12,71,595 tax returns submitted by both individual and corporate taxpayers. According to NBR statistics, the revenue board selected some 24,000 income tax returns for audit which is 2.5 per cent of the total returns of 9,64,778 in FY 2015-2016. In FY 2013-2014, taxmen audited some 32,344 tax files or 3.63 per cent of total returns of that year. Although the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) audits 100 per cent of its tax files, other tax zones select an insignificant percentage of tax files for audit. However, it is alleged that some taxmen harass taxpayers and panic them by threatening to select tax files for audit. Field offices primarily select a number of tax files based on selection criteria of universal self- assessment tax files that the NBR issued for the taxmen. The taxmen then send the primarily selected tax files to the revenue board for its final approval. Tax practitioners said some tax staffs get illegal financial benefits from the taxpayers by including their names in primary audit list. It has been found that some staffs also prepared a fake list for audit and harassed taxpayers in old Dhaka earlier. Restrictions on the number of audits would minimise harassment by some tax staffs, said a senior tax official. Taxmen accept universal self-assessment tax returns without assessment but later scrutinise those on the basis of risk-factor set by the NBR, he said. Currently, some 90 per cent of taxpayers submit income tax returns under universal self-assessment and the remaining taxpayers submit returns following general method. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-08-17 05:00:06

Editors and senior journalists Wednesday expressed their unanimous opinion that the Election Commission (EC) must exercise all lawful powers to make the next general election 'free, fair and participatory'. Taking part in an 'Exchange-of-Opinion' meeting, organised by the EC at its conference room, they felt that the EC must earn confidence of all stakeholders, including the political parties across-the-board, to create an environment congenial to holding such a free and fair election. A total of 26 editors and senior journalists shared their opinion with the EC on issues concerning next general election. Ensuring a 'level playing' field for all political parties even before the announcement of the election schedule should be a priority task of the EC, they said. There was, however, opposing opinion over the issue of army deployment during the polling day, with some opposing the idea and some others speaking in favour. There was a suggestion to appoint the EC's own district level officials as returning officers instead of the deputy commissions. Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda presided while other Election Commissioners Mahbub Talukdar, Md. Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam and Brg. Gen. Shahadat Chowdhuty (retd) were present at the programme. The journalists who took part in the discussion included Amanullah Kabir, chief editor of bdnews 24.com, Nurul Kabir, editor, the New Age, Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, editor, Manabzamin, Shamsul Huq Zahid, Joint Editor, the Financial Express, Naimul Islam Khan, editor, Amader Orthiniti, Shymal Dutt, editor, Bhorer Kagoj, Naeem Nizam, editor, Bangladesh Protidin, Khandakar Muniruzzaman, acting editor, Dainik Sangbad, Saiful Alam, acting editor, Jugantor, Shafiqur Rahman, President, National Press Club, Sohrab Hasan, joint editor, Prothom Alo, Anisul Haque, associate editor, Prothom Alo, BFUJ leaders Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul, M. Abdullah and Omar Faruk and columnist Mahfuzullah. ....

Published at: 2017-08-17 05:00:06