786 http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/08/18/all0393.htm Internet Edition. August 18, 2008, Updated: Bangladesh Time 12:00 AM Home | Daily Ittefaq | FORMICON | Tech News | Ebiz | Photos * Home * Front Page * Back Page * Editorial Page * Business * City News * District News * World News * Sports * Readers Forum * Entertainment * Today's Features * Environment * Archived Features * Focus * ICT Horizon * Women * Art & Culture * Literature * Metro * Op-Ed * Readers Forum * Sketch * Weekend Plus * Law & Justice * Health Dr SN Nahar Trust fund introduced at JU BSS, Savar Dr SN Nahar Teaching Award Trust Fund has been introduced for teachers of the Department of Physics of Jahangirnagar University (JU). Dr Sultana Nurun Nahar of Ohio State University of the United States today handed over a check for Taka three lakh to JU Vice- Chancellor Dr Mohammad Muniruzzaman, a JU press release said. Under the fund, the release said, 'The Teaching of the Year Award' will be given to a teacher of the Department of Physics, who will be elected by the students of the department and 'The Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award' will be given from the post-graduate research-superviser professors. Acting Registrar Abu Bakar Siddique, Professor Dr Tahmina Ferdous, Dr SN Nahar's son Al Buruz Razzak and sister Sultana Momtaz were present at the function, among others. Organic cotton produced first time in country BSS, Dhaka Farmers in Bogra district have recently produced organic cotton for the first time without using chemical fertilizer and pesticide. Instead of chemical fertilizer and pesticide, they used compost fertilizer and natural pesticide produced from urban organic waste and 'neem' respectively in the fields of organic cotton filed. The initiative was taken to assess the economic feasibility of growing environment friendly organic cotton commercially in Bangladesh, Director of Waste Concern, one of the leading waste management organizations in the country, Iftekhar Enayetullah told BSS here today. Waste Concern in partnership with Mohipur Agriculture Training Institute (MATI) with the support of UK-based 'People Tree' produced organic cotton under a pilot project on one hector of lands this year. Bangladesh Cotton Development Board provided good quality of cotton seeds, required manpower and supports to the pilot project. The success achieved from one hector of lands proves that organic cotton will open a new opportunity in the world market for the Bangladeshi farmers, Iftekhar said. Executive Director of Waste Concern AHM Maqsood Sinha said the weather in Bangladesh is quite conducive to producing organic cotton side by side with the traditional cotton. "Bangladesh Cotton Develo-pment Board has already given us its 10 hectors of lands in Bogra district to produce organic cotton in a larger scale", he said adding, the production cost is higher for this variety of cotton with less environmental impact than the traditional one. "In the light of the free trade concept, farmers could get higher price of their produce than that of the traditional variety or even more with the increase in use of organic inputs for producing organic cotton in the years to come", Sinha said. Production of organic cotton are presently encouraged all over the world as the conventional cotton production uses more chemicals in per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 16 percent of the world's pesticides. The chemicals, used in the production of cotton, degrade the soil quality side by side with polluting air and surface waters. Residual chemicals may irritate consumers' skin, he said. On the other hand, he added, organic production systems have low impact on environment, replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. In addition to this, organic agriculture protects the health of people and the planet by reducing the overall exposure to toxic chemicals from synthetic pesticides that can end up in the ground, air, water and food supply, and that are associated with health consequences, from asthma to cancer. At present, Waste Concern is planning to harness carbon trading through offsetting green house gas by replacing fossil fuel based chemical fertilizer and using low emitting technology for ginning and weaving of cotton. In 2007, Sinha said, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries and world-wide production was growing at a rate of more than 50 percent per year. CA greets Nepal Prime Minister BSS, Dhaka Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed on Saturday extended his warm felicitations to Pushpa Kamal Dahal on his election as the Prime Minister of Nepal. In a message, the Chief Adviser said, "I am confident that under your astute and dynamic leadership, Nepal would attain greater heights of peace and prosperity." "We attach high importance to our relations with Nepal. The close bond of friendship between our two countries is deeply rooted in our common history, culture and traditions," Dr Fakhruddin said. He expressed the belief that during the tenure of Dahal the existing multifaceted cooperation between the two countries would further broaden and deepen. "I look forward to working closely with you to further strengthen our bilateral relations in the days ahead," the Chief Adviser said. Dr Fakhruddin wished good health, happiness and long life of Dahal and continued peace, progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Nepal. AL won't accept any polls before JS one: Zillur BSS, Dhaka AL acting president Zillur Rahman today said the government should declare Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman immediately as the father of the nation. He was addressing a discussion meeting on the national mourning day and the 33th death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman held at Dahanmondi area in city. Zillur Rahman lauded Bangabandhu's contribution to the country's independence and said the nation should pay due respect to him because "without Bangabandhu we could not have an independent Bangladesh". The meeting was also addressed among others by AL presidium Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Rajjak, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury and acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam. Zillur Rahman demanded the announcement of the schedule of Jatiya Sangsad election and said the people will not accept any election before it. Syed Ashraful Islam demanded immediate execution of the verdict of Bangabandhu murder case and said the nation would not tolerate any negligence regarding the case. 3 DU students expelled on teacher's assault BSS, Dhaka Dhaka University today temporarily expelled three students on charges of assaulting a teacher of the Department of Statistics and launched an investigation into it. The expelled students are Mahbub and Milton of the Department of Bangla and Rokon of the Department of Public Administration, whose full names could not be known immediately. A group of students allegedly assaulted associate professor Zafar Ahmed Khan on Thursday during a football match between the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Public Administration. An probe body headed by pro-vice-chancellor professor A F M Yusuf Haider has been formed to submit a report within two weeks. Associate professor Rafiqul Islam of the Department of Banking and assistant proctor Siddiqur Rahman are other members of body. The students of the Faculty of Science, in protest, put blockade on three entrances to the university at 9:30am, bringing traffic to a total halt in the campus area. They also boycotted classes. The agitating students, however, withdrew the barricades at 12:30 pm after authorities assured a full investigation onto the incident to determine the fate of the expelled students. Bangabandhu's death anniversary observed in USA BSS, New York The 33rd death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was observed in USA as different socio-political organizations of the expatriate Bangladeshis marked the day with due respect. In observance of the day, a 'Milad and Doa Mahfil' was held at Jamaica Muslim Centre at Queens here on Friday evening (Aug 15). The people, during their, sought eternal peace of the late leader. Bangabandhu, the founder of independent Bangladesh, was brutally assassinated along with most of his Family on August 15, 1975. Sramik League unit in USA organized milad and doa mahfil at Bronx Jame mosque while Bangabandhu Social Welfare Association organized a memorial discussion here on Friday afternoon. Awami League unit in USA and different other political and social organisations observed the day through different programs including holding of discussions on life and works of the great leader. Other organizations observed the day are: USA Jubo League, Setcha Shebok League, Bangladesh Manobadhikar Parishad, International Bangabandhu Centre, Mujib Ideal Evaluation Committee and Awami League units in Washington, Florida, Georgia, California and New Jersey. Milad Mahfil held at Bangabhaban BSS, Dhaka President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed attended a Milad Mahfil at Bangabhaban Jam-e-Mosque marking the holy Shab-e-Barat on Saturday night. Officials and employees of Bangabhaban joined the Milad Mahfil and sought blessings of Almighty Allah for continued peace, progress and welfare of the nation as well as unity, fraternity and brotherhood in the Muslim Ummah. Secretary of the President's Office Md Sirajul Islam, Military Secretary to the President Major General Mohammad Ruhul Amin and Press Secretary Abdul Awal Howlader were present on the occasion. Later, the President offered Feteha at the mazars, including Hazrat Shah Jalal Dakhini (RA), on Bangabhaban premises. Open house day held BSS, Gaibandha An open house day organized by Sadar thana police was held on the premises of the thana in the district on Thursday. Police super of the district SM Monir-uz-Zaman addre-ssed the function as the chief guest while additional police super Mollah Nazrul Islam was present as special guest. Presided over by officer-in-charge (OC) of the thana M Alamgir Hossain, the function was also addressed, among others, by member secretary of community policing district coordination committee Abdul Latif Hakkani and sub inspector Zalal Uddin. Different issues like drug trafficking, early marriage, dowry, eve teasing, community policing, law and order and the performance and activities of thana police were also discussed elaborately during the open discussion hour. Police super SM Monir-uz-Zaman took notes of the issues and gave instant decisions about some of the problems raised by the participants. He also instructed the OC and other policemen of the thana to discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty and to look into the complains lodged by the complainers seriously so that none was harassed unreasonably and deprived from legal consideration. He also sought whole hearted cooperation of all to improve the law and order in the upazila as well as other upazilas of the district. A large number of people including local elite, imams, teachers, students, NGO workers, public representatives, members of community policing committee and local journalists were present on the occasion. AL leader Sheikh Abdullah re-arrested UNB, Dhaka Police Saturday again arrested Awami League religious affairs secretary Sheikh Abdullah on charges of breaking the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) minutes after he came out of Dhaka central jail on bail following High Court order. On August 12, the High Court granted him bail for three months in an ill-gotten wealth case and stayed the case proceedings. Advocate Rashida Parveen told UNB Sunday that her client Abdullah was denied bail when police produced him before a Dhaka court and sent him to jail. On January 6, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case with Ramna police station against Abdullah accusing him of accumulating wealth by illegal means and concealing information about his actual wealth, as a countrywide drive against corruption is on in the interim period. Capital looks deserted for 3-day vacation UNB, Dhaka The overcrowded capital wore a deserted look for three days as thousands of people had left for their village homes to observe Shab-e-Barat on Saturday as they got the chance of getting out of the daily rut for three consecutive days since Friday. Unlike the usual snarl-ups in the poorly managed city traffic, there had been no congestion on the streets during the three-day closure on account of two-day weekend followed by a day of Shab-e-Barat holiday. And another nagging problem caused to the city-dwellers for outages also eased up as the supply of electricity was rather smooth as all offices and shopping-malls remained closed. On Thursday afternoon, there was a huge rush of people at railway stations, and bus and launch terminals in the capital with people making desperate bid to go home for the vacationing. Hundreds of people were seen streaming to Kamalapur railway station, Sadarghat launch terminal and Gabtoli, Sayedabad, Mohakhali and Gulistan bus terminals Thursday to avail motorized transport. Since the government announcement of the holiday for August 16, government and non-government officials and employees were preparing to leave the capital as they got three consecutive days as holidays. It was observed that the rush of people going home from some city points with the motor vehicles and rickshaws got stranded for hours in Mohakhali, Maghbazar, Malibagh, Shahbagh, New Market and Motijheel areas. Talking to UNB, Enamul Huq, a private bank official, said: "All of my family members left the capital three days ago as they would be able to enjoy the holidays with the relatives and observe the holy Shab-e-Barat staying in villages." However, the capital would return into usual hustle and bustle from Monday as the residents will be returning to their workplaces after spending Shab-e-Barat holiday coupled with weekly vacation from their ancestral homes. Thousands of people already started moving to the capital Sunday to join their work. 11 out of 17 accused in Aug 17 bomb blasts cases remained fugitive UNB, Khulna Eleven out of 17 accused in four cases of serial bomb blasts in Khulna City on this day three years ago remained fugitive. On August 17, 2005, outlawed JMB blasted series of low intensity bombs simultaneously in the district headquarters seeking to implement the law of Allah in the country. In Khulna city, bombs were blasted at 14 points, including court area, new market and university campus. Four cases were filed accusing 17 people, six of them taken to custody. Police also submitted charge sheet against them. Two of the accused - JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and chief of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) Siddiqur Rahman Bangla Bhai had been executed for murder of two Assistant Judges in Jhalakati in bomb attack. The trial of all seven cases resumed by the special tribunal Court on February 7,2008, which are continuing. Another report from Sylhet says: There is no progress in six cases out of ten cases in connection with the August 17 serial bomb blasts. The cases were filed for bomb blasts at 12 points in the city. Three cases have so far been disposed of when three accused were convicted and sent to prison. In other cases, police could not yet detect the culprits behind the bomb blasts after changing of the investigation officers several times. 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