by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
Raghubar Das
By Brajendra Nath Singh,
Ranchi : With BJP deciding to focus on identity issues in the coming elections, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das says there is need for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his state also to check infiltration from Bangladesh because Hindus have become a minority in some districts.
He also favours job reservations on the basis of economic backwardness and called for a consensus on the issue.
“We will take all Bangladeshis out one by one. There is no doubt about it. In Pakur, Hindus are now in a minority. Bangladeshis are more than 50 per cent in Pakur while the numbers have increased significantly in Sahebganj, Godda and Jamtara districts. We will implement NRC in Jharkhand,” Das told IANS in an interview during a visit organised by the BJP’s Good Governance Cell.
The Jharkhand government has approached the union Home Ministry in this regard and is waiting for its response for initiating the exercise.
The Chief Minister accused the political parties of patronising Bangladeshi infiltrators across the state and said the issue needs to addressed at the earliest.
“It is very unfortunate that Congress has been doing votebank politics even after 67 years of our independence. All these problems are due to Congress’ votebank politics. They did politics for breaking the country while we (BJP) are doing politics to unite the country,” he said.
He alleged that Sahebganj, Pakur, Godda and Jamtara are the worst-hit districts where hundreds of illegal migration of Bangladeshi infiltrators has taken place in Jharkhand.
Seeking job reservations on the basis of the economic criteria, the chief minister demanded a national-level discussion on the issue to evolve a consensus.
“I am in favour of reservation on the basis of economic condition. In society, everybody is not rich. It is not that all those belong to upper caste are rich. I am in favour of it. There are poor people in every society. The issue needs to be discussed and a consensus needs to be evolved, he said.
The Chief Minister also backed the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ but rejected any advancing of dates for the Assembly polls in Jharkhand along with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Assembly polls are scheduled in Jharkhand six months after the Lok Sabha polls.
“I am also in favour of one nation, one election. The Prime Minister has given a call for debate on the issue. An atmosphere in its favour must be created by debate and discussion. It is not that we want and they want. It’s a matter of consensus. It needs to be passed by parliament. If a consensus is evolved, there may be simultaneous polls of Lok Sabha and Assemblies in 2024, he said.
Asked whether he would go for Assembly polls together with Lok Sabha polls, he said: our election will be at its scheduled time and Lok Sabha elections will be at its scheduled time. There are no ifs and buts. Why would I go for early polls. My condition is not bad.”
The Chief Minister said that there would be no impact of the grand alliance in 2019 and claimed that the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would again emerge victorious.
“Whether it is alliance or grand alliance (mahagathbandhan), we are not worried at all. Can oil and water mix together? Even when you mix oil and water together they will still separate. Our focus is on strengthening the organisation. We have a leadership like Modiji, on whom the people of the country have strong faith.”
(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted brajendra.n@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By M.R. Narayan Swamy,
Title: The Wily Agent/The Zero Cost Mission; Author: Amar Bhushan; Publisher: HarperCollins India; Pages: 189; Price: Rs 250.
Spymaster Amar Bhushan’s first book, “Escape to Nowhere”, based on the defection of a senior RAW officer to the US, was so racy that I still rate it as the best work of fiction I have read after the celebrated “The Day of the Jackal”. A gifted writer, Bhushan has now come with a two-story fictional work based on the exploits of the Indian intelligence in Bangladesh that is simply unputdownable.
A Bangladeshi diplomat who was on the payroll of RAW in New Zealand is transferred back to Dhaka where he decides to continue his relationship, for monetary considerations of course, with the Indian intelligence. But he runs into RAW bureaucracy until an officer who realises his potential steps in.
What follows is drama at its best as the Bangladeshi, not new to the world of spying, not only piles one classified document after another in the hands of a startled RAW but also introduces the Indians to others in the government ready to spy. The merry game goes on until the Bangladeshi counter-intelligence gets wise and the traitor is caught, jailed, tortured and sacked. A grateful Indian intelligence quietly funds his family so that they don’t starve and is also able to fight the arrested man’s legal battle.
“The Zero Cost Mission” is the account of an audacious RAW operative who requests a Kolkata-based, politically well-connected Bangladeshi to finance an operation (because RAW is not ready to give him the money he wants) that will involve targeting the anti-India Jamaat-e-Islami and its patron, the Pakistani intelligence. The Indians know that the Jamaat and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan are using madrassas that have sprouted along the Indo-Bangladesh border to infiltrate terrorists into India. And the Jamaat is not willing to mend its ways despite polite requests.
After just one visit to Dhaka, the RAW operative executes a deadly plan that startles even his seniors as bomb attacks take place on Jamaat offices and madrassas (used as launching pads to infiltrate terrorists) in Dhaka and elsewhere. An ISI safe house in Dhaka is also bombed. The Awami League, when it comes to power, cracks down hard and hangs the Jamaat leader. And in what may not be a coincidence, those who had been jailed by the Nationalists but helped the RAW operative financially get rehabilitated.
But this book is not just about two successful Indian operations in Bangladesh which the author says are inspired by true stories. The book also exposes the rot in RAW as incompetent seniors try to throttle the more energetic juniors out of sheer jealousy. Thus, the operative who took on the Jamaat and ISI in Bangladesh is brazenly overlooked for promotion by those who resent his achievements. But he silently bears the pain and humiliation. There are those who don’t mind ruining the career of those they can. To keep the bosses on the right side, some prefer to silently suffer humiliation. Others are made of sterner stuff.
(M.R. Narayan Swamy can be reached on narayan.swamy@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Dhaka : The Bangladeshi government on Monday approved the draft of a law banning child labour in the country with provisions for stringent punishment to offenders.
The draft was approved at a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, Xinhua quoted Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam as saying.
The proposed “Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act” stipulates that anybody who engages child labour will be fined about $60.
In line with the draft, children aged 14-18 will only be allowed to do light work. The country’s existing labour law allows the minimum age for light work at 12.
The move comes as the phenomenon of child labour in Bangladesh is on the rise in various informal sectors, including small factories and workshops, on the street, in home-based businesses and domestic employment.
According to the International Labour Organisation definition, there are about 3.2 million child labourers in Bangladesh.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Naypyidaw : The World Bank has offered Myanmar $100 million in aid for development projects in the conflict-torn state of Rakhine, hit by violence in 2017 that led to the exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingyas, a Muslim minority community, to neighbouring Bangladesh.
The offer came during a three-day visit by the World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific, Victoria Kwakwa, to Myanmar, according to a statement released after the conclusion of her visit.
The World Bank “supports, in collaboration with the UN and other partners, to put in place the conditions for safe, voluntary and dignified return of refugees,” read the statement.
The aid would be used in projects in Rakhine with a focus on job creation, micro and small-enterprise development and to ensure access to essential services for all communities, including repatriated refugees, Efe news reported.
During her meeting with Myanmar State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Kwakwa discussed the importance of inclusive and sustainable development for all communities in Myanmar.
The UN rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, had warned two days ago in Bangladesh that the return of the Rohingya refugees — whom Myanmar considers to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh — would be delayed as the situation in Myanmar was not yet favourable for their repatriation.
On November 17, Myanmar and Bangladesh had signed an agreement for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees living in the Bangladeshi refugee camps, which was scheduled in January.
The UN also signed an agreement with Myanmar in June to pave the way to recognize rights of the Rohingya community.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Manila : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday that it has approved a grant assistance of $100 million to help displaced people sheltered in 32 camps in Bangladesh.
The ADB said the grant was the first of an envisaged package totalling $200 million to help Bangladesh develop basic infrastructure and services for displaced persons, Xinhua news agency reported.
Since late August 2017, a large number of people have crossed the border from Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Cox’s Bazar at the southeast tip of Bangladesh.
The ADB said the displaced persons were living in 32 camps spread over the district. “Providing food, shelter, health, sanitation, water and other essential services in the camps while fending off disease is a daily challenge. If unaddressed, conditions are feared to worsen dramatically,” it said.
The ADB grant will support the displaced people sheltered in camps in the Ukhia and Teknaf subdistricts of Cox’s Bazar focusing on water supply and sanitation, disaster risk management, energy and roads.
The project will rehabilitate roads within the camps to connect essential food distribution and storage centres, hospitals, education facilities and provide emergency access, the bank said, adding it will also resurface the road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf and other critical sections.
It will also address the need of water, power and strengthen risk management of natural disasters.
The project has been developed and will be implemented in coordination with UN agencies, the World Bank and other donors, the ADB said.
—IANS
