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Onrush of water from the upstream and heavy rainfall triggered by monsoon showers over the last several days inundated vast areas of six districts--Sirajganj, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Pabna and Lalmonirhat, on Monday, report agencies. The flood situation in the districts has worsened following the rise in water level of different rivers. In Sirajganj, the flood situation in the district further deteriorated on Monday as the water of Jamuna is flowing 34 centimetres above the danger level. Besides, erosion caused by the strong current of the Jamuna in different places also added to the woes of the flood-hit people, rendering 60,000 people of five upazilas marooned. Syed Imam Hasan, executive engineer of Water Development Board, said they feared continued rise of waters of the Jamuna following the heavy rainfall in Assam and Meghalaya states of India on Sunday. Teesta River at Dalia point is flowing 32 centimetres above the red mark, rendering 10,000 people of four upazilas of the district marooned. The authorities concerned have opened the sluice gates at different points to tackle the situation. In Lalmonirhat, the flood situation of the district has taken a turn for the worse due to the onrush of water from the upstream and incessant rains, rendering 30,000 people marooned. The Teesta River is flowing 35 centimetres above the danger level while Dharala is flowing 25 centimetres above the red mark. Executive Engineer Mostafizur Rahman of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) at Dalia division said Teesta River is flowing at least 30 centimetres above the danger level at Dalia point while Dharala 25 centimetres above the danger mark at Kulaghat point this morning, flooding vast areas of several upazilas including Hatibandha, Kaliganj and Aditmari. Several thousands of people in several unions of Hatibandha upazila, Kakina, Votemari union parishads of Kaliganj upazila, Mohishkhocha of Aditmari upazila, Khuniagas, Mogholhat, Kulaghat, Rajpur areas of Sadar upazila are now marooned by the floodwater.....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:07

Dhaka has requested Kuala Lumpur to extend the timeframe for registration in the enforcement card (e-card) programme for Bangladeshi workers staying in Malaysia, officials said. Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in a letter made the request, as many workers failed to avail the opportunity due to different reasons, including involvement of middlemen in the process, officials have said. "We have officially sent request to the Malaysian government to extend the timeframe to help our workers avail the e-card," Bangladesh High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur Shahidul Islam told the FE over phone. The Bangladesh envoy said his office is also keeping communication with the authority concerned to come up with a solution regarding the detained Bangladeshi workers there. "We have taken all-out efforts to cooperate with the detained Bangladeshi workers," he said. The temporary e-card, launched on February 15, works as a provisional confirmation of employment for the illegal workers, who went to the Southeast Asian country via sea route, and replaces valid travel documents from their countries. The card is given to the employees for free, and it is valid until Feb 15, 2018. So far 88,000 Bangladeshi workers have received e-card, which is 54 per cent of the total card receivers in Malaysia until the deadline (June 30), according to Bangladesh High Commission. But a significant number of Bangladeshis were arrested, as they failed to receive e-card until July 09. Many of them went for hiding in different remote areas to avoid arrest, as Malaysian government launched a large-scale drive from July 1 to catch them. At least 2,800 undocumented workers were detained during the last nine days. Of the total, 1,101 workers are Bangladeshis. Besides, there are 658 Indonesian, 223 citizens of Myanmar, 98 Thai, 95 Filipinos and 94 are Vietnamese, according to Malaysian local media. The Bangladesh high commissioner urged the undocumented workers to take the opportunity of rehiring programme, which started from early 2016. He said the workers, who went to Malaysia with different visas like tourist, student and professional, but somehow became illegal, are entitled to be regularised under the rehiring programme. It will continue until December 31. "We also requested the Malaysiam government to bring the e-card holders under the rehiring programme, so that they can stay in the country." When asked, the Bangladesh envoy said a vested quarter is always active in Malaysia to cheat the workers. They motivate them to help get registration, but they take money and exploit the workers. For the reason, a large number of Bangladeshis have failed to receive their e-cards. The high commission took different awareness programmes for the workers about e-card over the months. But many of them could not receive it and are facing difficulties, he added. Meanwhile, migration experts urged the authorities of the two countries to take proper initiatives, so that the irregularities can be stopped. As both of the countries have failed to ensure safe and orderly migration, the workers are going through various irregular ways. If such unauthorised recruitment is not stopped, the countries will be loser, as irregular migration cannot bring any fruitful impact to the economy, they opined.   They also emphasised strengthening the Bangladesh mission office in Malaysia to make the workers aware of all amnesty programmes. As there is a good demand for workers in Malaysia, workers are willing to go to the country. But the government initiatives, like - government to government (G2G), have failed to create desired number of jobs for the workers. So they are going through illegal way, said Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) executive director C R Abrar. Replying to a query, Mr Abrar said illegal migration will obviously increase further, if the recruiters take high migration cost under the current G2G plus migration process. The job-seekers will choose unauthorised channels, like - sea route, as they will go to the country at their desired rate of migration cost. He also said there is an information gap among the workers and mission offices, and the employers also do not perform their due role. They recruit undocumented workers, but do not take their responsibilities. So a large number of workers also missed the deadline of such programme earlier, he added. Faruque Ahmed, secretary general of WARBE Development Foundation, said, the government should equip the high commission in Malaysia well, as a large number of Bangladeshi workers are staying there.      According to Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia, over 250,000 Bangladeshis have so far been regularised under the rehiring programme since February 2016. Over 800,000 Bangladeshis are working in Malaysia, most of whom are engaged in construction sector.     arafat_ara@hotmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:07

The Jatiya Sangsad passed Monday the "Bangladesh Jute Research Institute Bill 2017" with provisions for establishing an institute for conducting research on innovating improved variety of jute, simplifying production and devising technologies for diversified use of the fibre.  The bill has proposed retaining the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) established under this law as if it has been set up as per the same act.     — BSS....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) predicted government's revenue shortfall between Tk 430 billion and Tk 550 billion in the current fiscal following the postponement of the new VAT law, and suggested some remedies. It said this inability to execute the law will have serious consequences for revenue mobilisation. However, the private think-tank noted that any significant impact, in terms of budget deficit, unlikely as budget is never executed fully. The CPD estimated the revenue shortfall by presuming budget- execution rates down at 85 to 90 per cent. It said the government should borrow to offset this shortfall by enhancing foreign aid and credit from banking sources by avoiding costly borrowing using the tools like the national saving instruments. It said the government needs to restrain borrowing from sales of saving certificates. It suggested digitizing sales of the national saving certificates to identify its nature, saying that individual purchase ought to be scrutinised. The policy think-tank also said institutional purchase of the saving certificates should be discouraged. Likening the government decision not to implement the VAT Act 2012 to 'crash landing of plane', the CPD, however, said the VAT online project should not be stopped in order to implement the same later. Reforms of other laws, like those on customs, direct tax and transfer pricing, as part of widening and making those more progressives are also seen imperative. The CPD came up with the observations and recommendations at a press briefing on 'the national budget 2017-18: post-approval observations' at city centre. Its distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya presented keynote paper while executive director Dr Fahmida Khatun moderated discussions. Dr Bhattacharya said the VAT Act 2012 could not be implemented mainly for three reasons: (1) there was no adequate technical preparation (2) failure to realise its social implications and (3) lack of political consensus. He said the CPD always stood for introducing the new act as it is "most progressive" but they had objection to the uniform VAT rate of 15 per cent. The economist thought if the government had taken cognizance of the CPD-proposed rate of 12 per cent, then such a situation might not have happened. The CPD, however, said the government should now consider six elements of the work plans: they are to maintain momentum of revenue-mobilisation efforts, reasonably restrain non-development expenditure, prioritise certain development expenditure, discourage costly borrowing, be vigilant regarding disquieting macroeconomic developments and move on with reform agenda. Bhattacharya noted some allocations for non-development expenditure in the budget which they the think-tank views may be restrained. "The block allocation worth Tk 33.27 billion needs to be streamlined," he said. He was critical of the investment in recapitalisation for the state-owned banks. "There is no justification for giving Taka for the state-owned banks." There is budgetary allocation of Tk 20 billion earmarked for replenishing the banks' capital shortfall. The think-tank reiterated its suggestion for the formation of a short-term banking commission for streamlining and bringing transparency in the banking sector. Bhattacharya noted that not only the state-owned banks, bad loan and other mismanagement are also surfacing in private banks also, including one first- generation bank.     He said some regulatory organisations including the central bank are not monitoring activities of the organisations belonging to them, but, most importantly, there is need for political 'signal' for the institutions to strengthen their monitoring. Bhattacharya feels that other allocations like Tk 10.66 billion for planning division and Tk 20 billion for investment in shares may be restrained. "We may hold back at least Tk 250 billion from the non-development expenditure," the economist noted. The CPD fellow said more stringent measures should be implemented to reduce illicit financial outflows and actions be taken in revealed cases. "Otherwise it will be injustice to the honest taxpayers." Another CPD distinguished fellow, Dr Mustafizur Rahman, director (Research) Khandkar Golam Moazzem and senior research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan were present and replied to the media queries at the briefing.     jasimharoon@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05

Finance Minister AMA Muhith told Parliament on Monday that the daily average transaction of money through mobile financial services (MFS) is around Tk 8.44 billion (844 crore). "As per the statistics as of May 2017, the daily average transaction of money through MFS is Tk 8.44 billion. The average number of daily transactions is 4.91 million," he said replying to an unstarred question. Mentioning that 17 organisations are currently providing mobile financial services, Muhith said the number of MFS agents is 0.75 million while that of clients 52.6 million.     — UNB  ....

Published at: 2017-07-11 00:00:05