because you STINK!!
Ramadan Mubarak.
11.9.07
Anita Roddick is no longer with us.
The founder of the BodyShop and initiator/implementer of a number of other funky things died quite suddenly yesterday. As far as i can remember she was the one who pushed to boat out regarding ethical consumerism, combining two of womankinds conflicting ethics, the first of crazy beautification and cosmetic consumption, the second of global conciousness.
I was lucky to meet her once, she had just returned from bangladesh and gotten mightily narked off with the RMG industry, blown off some steam and was realising how complicated things were, especially the painful limits of ethical consumerism on the high street.
An inspiring and accomplished lady with heavy duty batteries.
I was lucky to meet her once, she had just returned from bangladesh and gotten mightily narked off with the RMG industry, blown off some steam and was realising how complicated things were, especially the painful limits of ethical consumerism on the high street.
An inspiring and accomplished lady with heavy duty batteries.
Some systematic insight into high prices in Bangladesh
For the past year or more the high price of essential foodstuffs has been on the radar in Bangladesh. Much political capital has been made out of it and much unrealistic expectation has been nurtured concerning it.
So I was interested to read about the PPRC's study of the phenomena. The Power and Participation Research Center is a youngish developmenty thinktank type organisation based directed by Hussein Zillur Rahman.
Here is a paste from tomorrows New Age paper. Unfortunately for me I cannot pop along to the PPRC and get me a copy of the report, they do not have a website that I know of either. However the last report of theirs on 'Unbundling Governence' was an interesting read (very soasy in fact), placed in history and the focus of significant empirical and creative work by a team that included sociologists. The chapter on the media in Bangladesh was lame though and dismissive of anybody of non pragmatomarxist background.
Plenty of buckets of sweat have gone into this work, i hope it somehow wafts the problem further towards solution and infuses discussions with better foundations.
So I was interested to read about the PPRC's study of the phenomena. The Power and Participation Research Center is a youngish developmenty thinktank type organisation based directed by Hussein Zillur Rahman.
Here is a paste from tomorrows New Age paper. Unfortunately for me I cannot pop along to the PPRC and get me a copy of the report, they do not have a website that I know of either. However the last report of theirs on 'Unbundling Governence' was an interesting read (very soasy in fact), placed in history and the focus of significant empirical and creative work by a team that included sociologists. The chapter on the media in Bangladesh was lame though and dismissive of anybody of non pragmatomarxist background.
Plenty of buckets of sweat have gone into this work, i hope it somehow wafts the problem further towards solution and infuses discussions with better foundations.
Price-hike caused by bad market management, says PPRC report
Khawaza Main Uddin
The price-hike of essential commodities is a result of inefficient market management and lack of infrastructure for proper trade transactions, said the latest market survey report by a private research organisation.
The report terms the recent demolition of the informal market infrastructure as an ‘ill-conceived initiative’ which exacerbated the problem of the lack of an adequate market infrastructure. An informal market is considered to be the second-best, effective alternative for facilitating trade transactions.
The survey found that farmers, on an average, receive only 47 per cent of the retail price of vegetables while the marketing cost stands at about 27 per cent and the share of the traders at more than 25 per cent.
The survey report, failing to prove the commonly perceived syndication in causing price-hikes, observes that the impact of extra-economic costs appears to be less significant, particularly in the current political period.
However, the most pronounced cost category in terms of incidence is wastage, a point which, according to the report, is ‘clearly indicative of the inefficient nature’ of the prevailing agricultural trade. ‘Wastage adds to market risks for traders.’
‘Popular discourse tends to assign undeserved high margins to traders in general,’ notes the report of the study, titled ‘Exploring Market Dynamics of Essentials through a Triangular Study of Producers, Traders and Consumers’, conducted by Power and Participation Research Centre.
Explaining the income-profile of agricultural traders, it shows that retailers have an average monthly income of Tk 6,285, farias [small traders who collect goods] Tk 4,533, paikers [wholesalers] Tk 14,270 and aratdars [merchants] Tk 24,011.
‘High marketing margins may not be reflective either of market monopoly or of high profits depending on the size of costs, risk coverage associated with price volatility and wastage, types of consumers, as well as the income imperative of petty traders dealing with small volumes,’ said the report.
The report pointed out that agricultural trade is overwhelmingly dependent on personal financing in terms of setting up business and running current operations, since banks are relatively inactive as financiers of agricultural trade which is done mostly by the aratdars.
The research centre, headed by economist Hossain Zillur Rahman, carried out the study in six sites — Mithapukur in Rangpur, Shibganj in Bogra, Jessore Sadar, Jajira in Shariatpur, Shibpur in Narsingdi and Chindina/Burichang in Comilla, besides selecting Dhaka city as the market case, between January and May 2007. The report will be presented at a seminar tomorrow.
The report mentioned that farmers of Jessore were found to have the best marketing outcome with their average share of the retail price being 54.7 per cent of the price because of the better bargaining power in dealing with market. The traders’ share, at 31 per cent, is higher than the average rate in Rangpur. Marketing costs are highest in Pabna at 31.5 per cent, reveals the report explaining the role of market connectivity in determining prices.
Although the global price-hike and the huge shortfall in agricultural products are currently being blamed for the domestic price spiral, there is no comprehensive quantitative estimate of the product-specific consumption levels of the general people in Bangladesh.
According to the survey report which is based on the latest statistics, the country produces 213.75 lakh tonnes of food-grains against the demand of 235.83 lakh tonnes, 52.77 lakh tonnes potatoes against the demand of 25.56 lakh tonnes, 1.31 lakh tonnes of lentil against the demand of 6.17 lakh tonnes, 16.96 lakh tonnes spices against the demand of 25.73 lakh tonnes, 9 lakh tonnes of onions against the demand of 13.49 lakh tonnes and 93.06 lakh tonnes of vegetables against the demand of 134.78 lakh tonnes.
10.9.07
Now that's what i call political science
Brain type may dictate politics
Alok Jha, science correspondent The Guardian Monday September 10 2007
Political differences might be explained by a fundamental variation in how our brains are "wired" to process information, according to a study published today.
Scientists have found that the brains of people calling themselves liberals are more able to handle conflicting and unexpected information than the brains of their conservative counterparts. The study points to a likely neurological basis for complex personality and behavioural traits.
David Amodio, of New York University, writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, says conservatives were found to be "more structured and persistent in their judgments"; in tests they had "higher average scores" on measures of the personal need for "order, structure and closure". Liberals showed "higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity".
Dr Amodio asked 43 volunteers to press a button on seeing a frequent cue - that caused an habitual response. A less frequent cue required no button pressing. Electroencephalograms revealed liberals were more likely to withhold the habitual response and had more activity in a part of the brain involved in conflict monitoring.
The study is not conclusive, Dr Amodio says, but it is possible that political orientation to some degree reflects a person's style of information processing.
9.9.07
The Blogherders
This one is a little Nazareth, but it has been a while...
In the dense web 2.0 thickets of self pleasuring individuals who argue for the sake of arguing, the need arises for a Blogherder.
That is the individual or group who produce a new space that is socially virtuous and sincere, rather than merely reproducing noise.
I feel this word can be assigned to the people behind http://www.altmuslim.com/
In the dense web 2.0 thickets of self pleasuring individuals who argue for the sake of arguing, the need arises for a Blogherder.
That is the individual or group who produce a new space that is socially virtuous and sincere, rather than merely reproducing noise.
I feel this word can be assigned to the people behind http://www.altmuslim.com/
USAID consultant in case of kiddyfiddling in Bangladesh
Apparently he was meant to be developing the shrimp industry. This story is disgraceful, but i suspect it wont really chasten the development industry.
One wonders what sorry excuses for literate and ngo employed human beings like Touhid Feroze would make of that. I'm thinking something along the lines of, 'we shouldnt judge as standards always change' perhaps. Or maybe something like 'nothing to get emotional about, none of the protagonists were Bangali'.
On the related theme of NGO regulation, there are some interesting Govt stats available online. Look in the 'NGOs cancelled column' over time no NGOs, foreign or local were cancelled between 1996 and 2001.
I see the NGO Affairs Bureau getting tougher as Bangladeshi self respect and own moral propulsion grows and the economic-ideological desperation of political figures decreases. The site itself looks very old indeed for a governmental web offering.
One wonders what sorry excuses for literate and ngo employed human beings like Touhid Feroze would make of that. I'm thinking something along the lines of, 'we shouldnt judge as standards always change' perhaps. Or maybe something like 'nothing to get emotional about, none of the protagonists were Bangali'.
On the related theme of NGO regulation, there are some interesting Govt stats available online. Look in the 'NGOs cancelled column' over time no NGOs, foreign or local were cancelled between 1996 and 2001.
I see the NGO Affairs Bureau getting tougher as Bangladeshi self respect and own moral propulsion grows and the economic-ideological desperation of political figures decreases. The site itself looks very old indeed for a governmental web offering.
7.9.07
Lights, Camera... Action!
Execution.
The Chinese Government is undertaking a purge of corruption these days. Today the Times reports on the execution of an official who murdered his mistress in a car bomb.
Esteem....
Tory big boss man is trying to generate some citizen spirit with the idea of a national service for the yoot. Its an idea that i hope Labour takes heed off and implements with some finesse and humility. I'm always up for a spot of social engineering, especially when an inordinate bias towards individual rights has allowed some folks to undervalue the ideas of responsibility and collectivity.
Intensity.
Meanwhile, in the ganj, the deep sea port near chittagong seems to be being pushed for some reason, the CSB rolling TV news office was shut down for generally takeing the piss out of official licencing procedures and being jerks during the Dhaka Riots, and the civil servants are being told to submit their wealth statements (merely an enforcement of a rule made up in 1979).
On the port, a japanese company did a 10 crore feasability study in 2006. I would love to see that report and to have been a fly on the ECNEC wall when the issue has been discussed, stalled, remooted, shelved and dithered over.
What a way to go about a 50 year project that will GigaTakas.
On the civil servants, there are moves to make postings a little less headless chicken like than in the past. with UNOs and DCs to get the change to get to know their juristictions for longer. good change from the pov of coninuity amnd institutional memory.
Opportunism
Meanwhile the international rivers network has in its infinite wisdom declared that dams contribute to climate change (rotting vegetation).
The climate mad media make new out of the BBC's pullout from a day of climate change programming.
Hope
President Gul has not been toppled yet. woohooo! Police tourist state Morocco has the pleasure of hosting my pals honey moon AND and election today.
The Chinese Government is undertaking a purge of corruption these days. Today the Times reports on the execution of an official who murdered his mistress in a car bomb.
Esteem....
Tory big boss man is trying to generate some citizen spirit with the idea of a national service for the yoot. Its an idea that i hope Labour takes heed off and implements with some finesse and humility. I'm always up for a spot of social engineering, especially when an inordinate bias towards individual rights has allowed some folks to undervalue the ideas of responsibility and collectivity.
Intensity.
Meanwhile, in the ganj, the deep sea port near chittagong seems to be being pushed for some reason, the CSB rolling TV news office was shut down for generally takeing the piss out of official licencing procedures and being jerks during the Dhaka Riots, and the civil servants are being told to submit their wealth statements (merely an enforcement of a rule made up in 1979).
On the port, a japanese company did a 10 crore feasability study in 2006. I would love to see that report and to have been a fly on the ECNEC wall when the issue has been discussed, stalled, remooted, shelved and dithered over.
What a way to go about a 50 year project that will GigaTakas.
On the civil servants, there are moves to make postings a little less headless chicken like than in the past. with UNOs and DCs to get the change to get to know their juristictions for longer. good change from the pov of coninuity amnd institutional memory.
Opportunism
Meanwhile the international rivers network has in its infinite wisdom declared that dams contribute to climate change (rotting vegetation).
The climate mad media make new out of the BBC's pullout from a day of climate change programming.
Hope
President Gul has not been toppled yet. woohooo! Police tourist state Morocco has the pleasure of hosting my pals honey moon AND and election today.
5.9.07
Geertz, The Islamicist and Radio Ramadan
Check out this bunch of book reviews by grandpa anthropologist Clifford Geertz
Written over nearly 40 years theres oodles of well humoured observation and analysis to digest.
Another development, I am not in the habit of going out of my way to plug blogs, but The Islamicist is quite amusing. At present i think it is a mighty lampooning of the weirdo Mahbub 'call me ed' Hussain 'The Islamist' and the HT. The latest post on 'How to make an egg' deserves a salute for coining the term 'Dar-ul-Herb'.
Only time will tell how soon the author will run out of material or diversify his/her range of targets. There is a limit to how effectively the mine of unwritten irony can be exploited methinks.
Meanwhile, folks here are gearing up for Ramadan Radio. This particular franchise of distributed 'community' radio stations have been with us for a few years, and grown in sophistication. Before there were just highly committed, movement, narrow, boring people running the shows and the stations. Now more and more interesting programme makers are being rolled out, with less parochial backgrounds and planned content. Radio is a lot better for the mind and multitasking life than TV, which is pretty superficial.
Written over nearly 40 years theres oodles of well humoured observation and analysis to digest.
Another development, I am not in the habit of going out of my way to plug blogs, but The Islamicist is quite amusing. At present i think it is a mighty lampooning of the weirdo Mahbub 'call me ed' Hussain 'The Islamist' and the HT. The latest post on 'How to make an egg' deserves a salute for coining the term 'Dar-ul-Herb'.
Only time will tell how soon the author will run out of material or diversify his/her range of targets. There is a limit to how effectively the mine of unwritten irony can be exploited methinks.
Meanwhile, folks here are gearing up for Ramadan Radio. This particular franchise of distributed 'community' radio stations have been with us for a few years, and grown in sophistication. Before there were just highly committed, movement, narrow, boring people running the shows and the stations. Now more and more interesting programme makers are being rolled out, with less parochial backgrounds and planned content. Radio is a lot better for the mind and multitasking life than TV, which is pretty superficial.
2.9.07
Back!
From the land where 40%+ interest rates on microloans to the poor are celebrated while the rich connected industrialists borrow millions of dollars yet do not even pay back their capital.
From the land where a gentle breeze can make your day.
Where a small kindness received can blow your mind.
From the land of family, bhabis who rock, murabbis with rabbani, cute babies and inspiring high school kids.
From the land where community still means something.
From the land where people are DANGEROUSLY hospitable.
Where the chap sitting next to you on the bus might drug you by means of a boiled egg and steal all your belongings while to dream of A Golden Bengal.
Where all sorts of third rate people from abroad can make a name from themselves, from counterfeiters, development tourists and hyrocarbon expoiters to educationalists, road contractors and mobilephone lords.
Where consumption is king, the ability to consume assigned higher value and weapons of mass consumption touted as development tools.
Where the word science is nearly always succeeded in literature and speech by 'and technology'.
Where the mask of scoundrel intellectuals and ngolords is beginning to crack in a big way.
Where the credibility of a system of democratic hijacking of the people's dignity has been temporarily suspended and a new behaviour is being sought.
Where self esteem is pushed aside through a combination of 'pumping' and 'jacking' in the race for development dollars, influence beyond ones grid and populism.
Where poverty, ignorance, hydrometeorological vulnerability and chaos are gross domestic products.
Where many young ladies are being sold into and have bought into the idea of wearing clothes that really don't suit their figures and complexions, and continue to spread tastelessness though the land. Thankfully this may only be restricted to the capital city.
Where doctors play petty unskilled capitalism with human lives, installing devices they do not understand in inappropiate patients with little fear that a consumer rights or professional body will bite them on the bum.
Where 'human rights activists' get off on ultraviolence, and for want of an intelligent sense of humour cannot see the ironies in their lies.
Where proponents of 'Journalistic Immunity' ,'Freedom of Speech' and 'Human Rights' use such values to confuse, distract, silence, censor and desanctify.
Where the heroes are shy and turtured and the ignorant loud, well connected to the masses and represented in all spheres of life.
To the land where people appear to be wearing permanent scowl on their faces and the youth urinate in fresh water supplies during flood events.
From the land where a gentle breeze can make your day.
Where a small kindness received can blow your mind.
From the land of family, bhabis who rock, murabbis with rabbani, cute babies and inspiring high school kids.
From the land where community still means something.
From the land where people are DANGEROUSLY hospitable.
Where the chap sitting next to you on the bus might drug you by means of a boiled egg and steal all your belongings while to dream of A Golden Bengal.
Where all sorts of third rate people from abroad can make a name from themselves, from counterfeiters, development tourists and hyrocarbon expoiters to educationalists, road contractors and mobilephone lords.
Where consumption is king, the ability to consume assigned higher value and weapons of mass consumption touted as development tools.
Where the word science is nearly always succeeded in literature and speech by 'and technology'.
Where the mask of scoundrel intellectuals and ngolords is beginning to crack in a big way.
Where the credibility of a system of democratic hijacking of the people's dignity has been temporarily suspended and a new behaviour is being sought.
Where self esteem is pushed aside through a combination of 'pumping' and 'jacking' in the race for development dollars, influence beyond ones grid and populism.
Where poverty, ignorance, hydrometeorological vulnerability and chaos are gross domestic products.
Where many young ladies are being sold into and have bought into the idea of wearing clothes that really don't suit their figures and complexions, and continue to spread tastelessness though the land. Thankfully this may only be restricted to the capital city.
Where doctors play petty unskilled capitalism with human lives, installing devices they do not understand in inappropiate patients with little fear that a consumer rights or professional body will bite them on the bum.
Where 'human rights activists' get off on ultraviolence, and for want of an intelligent sense of humour cannot see the ironies in their lies.
Where proponents of 'Journalistic Immunity' ,'Freedom of Speech' and 'Human Rights' use such values to confuse, distract, silence, censor and desanctify.
Where the heroes are shy and turtured and the ignorant loud, well connected to the masses and represented in all spheres of life.
To the land where people appear to be wearing permanent scowl on their faces and the youth urinate in fresh water supplies during flood events.
23.8.07
I've got the Dhaka Uni blues
There has been a patch of nasty bothersome 'weather' in Bangladesh recently. A minor incident between the army and some students at a Dhaka university football match has escalated and escalated so that a curfew has been called to calm things down. The forces, educational and media institutions need to be held responsible when the dust settles and some learning enacted.
In early Islamic History, we learn of the Prophet(pbuh), the Sahaba, the Tabi'in and the Tabi Tabi'in, the Shaheed and the four Caliphs. It is rather odd how their symbolism has been employed and mapped onto recent history in Bangladesh. I am not sure why this link did not occur to me before, as it was probably somebody's intention to create the link in the public imagination.
We have the four Caliphs, the lieutenants of Sheikh Mujib(well actually a couple of sets of them but that's a footnote), we have the Sahaba( 'the companions' of Dhaka University who so bravely gave us liberty), we have the Shaheed, and then there is the most insane part. We have the Tabi'in (the teachers of Dhaka Uni) and Tabi' Tabi'in (students of Dhaka Uni) occupying an angelic position in the society, beyond fundamental criticism.
They are seen as successors to the founders. Their institution, which does not rank anywhere globally, is constantly patronised by forces that have run the country into the ground and really buggered up both the institution's credibility and the ceiling for nationally generated scholarship.
So when some amongst this illustrious community do wrong, the goldfish in the bowl do not hesitate to accuse the other party of all wrong doing. The taxpayers (yes there are some!) work their tails off to fund this institution, and a lot of the students strive hard to get so far. But our spiritual, social and intellectual environment seems unable to draw the best out of them. In fact it turns them rotten, I do not know when the poisoning started, but to break through the ice, the semi theological veneer needs peeling. Character development is a goal that needs to be pushed more firmly i feel, through emphasis on +ve extracurricular activities. Anyway, here is a fiddle and paste from a book on Nawab Salimullah by Al-Haj Md Sirajuddin (Dhaka, 1992).
Dhaka University's founding objective was the educational advancement of East Bengal. Nawab Salimullah wanted to work towards 'our future university, which will be even an more unique and splendid, constructive work than the Aligarh College which will have no equal in India'. Thwarted in 1911, but consented to in 1912 Dhaka university was announced as a compensation to the Muslims of the area for the annulment of the partition of Bengal. Muslims didn't accept it as compensation, more as a stepping stone to higher education for Muslim boys.
AK Fazlul Huq said 'I was very closely and actively associated with all the plans and schemes and I know the difficulties which we Muslims had to face and the obstinate opposition we had to overcome at the time in pushing the scheme for the establishment of Dhaka University'
A few weeks after the announcement a team under the deputation of Sir Rasbehari Ghosh of Burdawan protested to the Viceroy, that a separate university in Dhaka would amount to an internal partition of Bengal, and that the Muslims of Bengal were mainly cultivators of land and would in no way benefit from this institution.
Nawab Salimullah responded "One distinguished leader calls this University the 'apple of discord' and the opponents of the scheme pretend to see in it's inauguration a clever linguistic partition of the Bengalis, quite as previous as the administrative partition. Now I am very sorry that our Bengali friends should scent danger where none exists and oppose the scheme in a way which is sure to set the two communities against each other ... No doubt, any benefit to East Bengal necessarily means a benefit to that section of the population, numbering 20 millions, who happen to be Musalmans but this is a contingency which cannot be avoided. We cannot cease to be a part and parcel of the population of that part of the country simply to please the fancy of a set of politicians who would eternally penalise the whole of Eastern Bengal for the sin of having harboured so large a Muslim majority."
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