BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has called upon the Indian government not to proceed with Tipaimukh dam project until a joint survey is done. At a press conference held at the party’s headquarters at Naya Paltan on Monday, Alamgir told this referring to Indian response to Khaleda’s November 22 letter to the ... Read more
India
No harm if Tipai project goes ahead
Prime minister’s adviser Gowher Rizvi has rubbished the idea that construction of Tipaimukh dam on the River Barak in the Indian state of Manipur would harm Bangladesh. ‘Notions about the adverse impacts of Tipaimukh dam on Bangladesh are groundless’, Rizvi said on Monday, after meeting the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, on Saturday to discuss
Tipai Dam will spell disaster: Rights group
Leaders of International Farakka Committee, a rights group, on Tuesday voiced deep concern at the singing of a deal by India with two companies to construct the proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the River Barak at the upstream of Bangladesh’s River Meghna. In a joint statement, they said the deal singing by keeping the government and ... Read more
Sundarbans voted out of 7 wonders race
The four-year-long waiting of the people in Bangladesh and India to see the Sundarbans, the world’s largest single-patch mangrove forest, among the new seven wonders of nature ended in frustration early today. According to the results announced, the new seven wonders in alphabetic order are Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa ... Read more
India launches cheapest tablet PC
India launched what it says is the world’s cheapest touch-screen tablet computer yesterday, priced at just $35. Costing a fraction of Apple’s iPad, the subsidised Aakash is aimed at students. It supports web browsing and video conferencing has a three-hour battery life and two USB ports, but questions remain over how it will
BSF says 7 killed in 2011, reports say 21
BSF assures BGB of ending border killing India’s Border Security Force director general Raman Shrivastava on Friday reassured his Bangladesh counterpart of ending the killing of Bangladeshis in the frontiers. Raman at a joint briefing at the Border Guard Bangladesh headquarters in Dhaka after the director general-level meeting between the BGB and the BSF said ... Read more
Biodiversity issue glossed over
Dhaka, Delhi signed 2 deals on Sundarbans, tiger; refrained from addressing rising salinity in Bangladesh rivers None of the two agreements signed between Bangladesh and India on conservation of the Sundarbans and Royal Bengal Tigers addresses the issue of increasing salinity that continues to affect the biodiversity of the mangrove forest on Bangladesh side. Salinity ... Read more
Vast tracts of land to go barren
Feni River water sharing A large tract of cultivable land in the south-eastern parts of the country will face a serious irrigation crisis during the dry season if Bangladesh and India share waters of the river Feni, officials told The Independent, on Tuesday. The river Feni, originating from a spring in the hills of South ... Read more
Tiger Conservation: Reality, recognition and rights
Dr. Mohammad Ali Tigers are maverick animals. They are supposed to live long in this world. Instead, they are disappearing rapidly. No doubt celebrating ‘tiger day’ will raise awareness to safeguard this majestic animal; however, we hope the affiliated institutions will continue creating a congenial environment for safety and sustainability of tiger population. Commonly such ... Read more
Shrinking Teesta wreaks havoc on life in North
Withdrawal of upstream water by India drastically reduces flow in last 25 years severely affecting people in the region The withdrawal of Teesta waters by India continues to play havoc with the lives of the people in Bangladesh’s northern region. During the dry season, the flow of water in the river’s downstream dwindles to 1,000 ... Read more
Kolkata all geared up
While it is still all very hazy here about Argentina’s arrival and their schedule thereafter, Kolkata is gearing up in full swing for the September 2 friendly between Argentina and Venezuela. Argentine football coach Alejandro Sabella and goalkeeper Estaban Andrada along with 15 officials arrived in Kolkata town yesterday morning heightening the football fever that ... Read more
Coal power project with India goes slow
Bangladesh and India’s move for a $1.5 billion joint venture coal-fired power plant in Khulna has somewhat slowed down due to various hitches, and a feasibility study has scaled up cost of civil construction at the project site due to poor soil condition. Despite this, Power Development Board hopes to sign a joint venture agreement ... Read more
Govt plans to cash in on Bimstech initiative
Electricity Import Govt plans to cash in on Bimstech initiative Bangladesh plans to import of another 500 megawatt of power from India under the Bimstec framework. Officials said the proposal will be formally placed at the Bimstec technical committee meeting scheduled for August 23-24 in Dhaka under a trans-power exchange initiative. The Bimstec (Bay of ... Read more
Gambhir undergoes head scan
Opener Gautam Gambhir did not bat in his usual position as India began their reply to England’s 591 for six declared in the fourth and final Test at The Oval on Saturday after suffering concussion. Gambhir sustained his injury when, trying to catch Kevin Pietersen the ball after the England batsman completed his century, he ... Read more
West Bengal renamed as Paschimbanga
The Indian state of West Bengal will get a new name– Paschimbanga. The decision was taken yesterday at an all-party meeting. Now a resolution would be moved in the House for adoption of the new name, and then referred to the federal Indian government, said Partha Chatterjee, state parliamentary affairs minister, to reporters after the ... Read more
Dhaka to hand over Chetia by mid-Aug
Bangladesh will hand over the general secretary of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Anup Chetia, and others members of the front to India by the middle of August this year. Home minister Sahara Khatun on Wednesday said Bangladesh had started the legal process for the purpose. “We have asked the authorities concerned to complete ... Read more
BSF told to hold fire
Chidambaram speaks of Delhi’s firm instruction to border guards; deal signed to fight cross-border crimes together India yesterday said it has ordered its Border Security Force not to shoot anyone crossing Indo-Bangla border no matter what the circumstances are. Visiting Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said this at a joint press conference with his Bangladesh ... Read more
BSF kills 187 Bangladeshis since Jan 2009
Indian Border Security Force has killed 187 Bangladeshi nationals on the frontiers since January 6, 2009 when the Awami League-led alliance assumed office. According to figures available with rights organisation Odhikar, 976 Bangladesh nationals were killed, 990 injured, 226 arrested, 956 abducted and 14 were raped by BSF personnel and 184 went missing after
HRW urges India to probe border killings by BSF
The government of India should undertake a speedy, fair, and transparent criminal investigation into fresh allegations of killings, torture, and other abuses by the Border Security Force (BSF) at the border with Bangladesh, New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday. Those against whom there is credible evidence of culpability should be prosecuted ... Read more
Dhaka rolls out red carpet for Sonia
She will attend conference on autism, receive first Bangladesh Freedom Honour for Indira Gandhi today Sonia Gandhi was given a red carpet welcome last night on her first-ever visit to Bangladesh to attend a conference on autism. She will receive the posthumous award to be given by Bangladesh to Indira Gandhi for her contributions to ... Read more