Newspaper (April 23): ‘Hill girls for sale in China’

Today’s newspaper headlines on women trafficking, ‘Mountain girls for sale in China‘

According to the report, the number of men in the country is now much higher than the number of women due to the one child policy in China. Many men are not getting women for marriage.

As the Chinese look similar to the hill ethnic groups of Bangladesh, the traffickers use this opportunity to persuade the hill families with the lure of a better life.

After that, young girls and teenagers are being trafficked to China. Many times marriages are being arranged with the Chinese or fake marriage papers are being made in this country to facilitate this work.

According to sources, the newspaper says that gang members have trafficked more than 8,000 teenage girls to China in the last seven years.

Some of them have been sold into prostitution. Again, many were detained at home and subjected to physical torture.

Some fled to save their lives and returned home with painful memories.

No response was received from the Chinese Embassy in this regard. Police headquarters say they have no specific information on women trafficking in China.

Because no complaint ever comes from the victim’s family.

According to the report, anti-corruption commission (ACC) secretary Khorsheda Yasmin has said that Benazir Ahmed and his family members have started searching for illegal assets. A committee of three members has been constituted for this purpose.

Before this, Supreme Court lawyer Salah Uddin Regan filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking an investigation into Benazir Ahmed’s irregularities, corruption and abuse of power.

On the same day, an MP appealed to the ACC Chairman to take necessary measures in this regard.

However, this investigation committee is headed by a deputy director. In this regard, the former director general of the ACC said, since this inquiry is against a former senior official, a deputy director or assistant director may feel hesitant.

In this case, it would be better if a committee was formed under the leadership of a director-level officer, he said.

Benazir Ahmed retired as Inspector General of Police on 30th September 2022 after 34 years and seven months of service.

After retirement, it was found that Benazir Ahmed has acquired huge wealth in the name of his wife and daughters, which is not commensurate with his legitimate income.

According to the report, the United States Department of State criticizes various aspects of the human rights situation in Bangladesh in the annual human rights report based on the events that happened in Bangladesh in 2023.

The United States claims that the freedom movement in Bangladesh is blocked. Besides, there is also the inability of the citizens to change the government through fair elections.

There is serious corruption in Bangladesh government. The government has severely restricted or harassed domestic and international human rights organizations.

Extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, cruel torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment by the government.

There is a threat to life. Serious problems with the independence of the judiciary, political prisoners and detention.

Opposition party leaders and activists have been arrested on charges of political involvement.

BNP Chairperson has been kept under house arrest. He was not allowed to go abroad for necessary treatment – this issue comes up in the report.

The report also looks at media freedom. It said members of the media and bloggers themselves censored criticism of the government for fear of harassment.

According to the report, the children, relatives and relatives of the ministers and members of parliament remained in the polling field in defiance of the party decision.

On April 18, as per the instructions of the party president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the relatives of ministers and parliament members across the country were instructed to withdraw from the upazila elections.

However, on the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers for the first phase of voting on Monday, only three relatives of ministers and members of parliament stood down.

More than 20 relatives remained in the fight for the post of upazila chairman.

So far, seven ministers, including two relatives of MPs, are on course to win unopposed.

Disregarding the decision of Awami League, in the second phase, more than 35 relatives of ministers and members of parliament have been candidates for the post of chairman.

Awami League did not make any attempt to appoint the relatives of ministers and members of parliament as vice chairman and female vice chairman as the party decision was not accepted for the post of chairman.

On January 23, Awami League’s highest policy-making forum executive council meeting decided not to give party symbols in local government elections.

On this occasion, in many places in the country, ministers and members of parliament put their children and family members on the post of chairman.

The policy makers fear that it will cause disunity at the grassroots and lose the balance. After that they were instructed to stand back.

‘Relentless heatwave wreaks havoc’ is the New Age’s main headline about the terrible heat.

According to the report, due to continuous intense heat across the country, widespread illness has occurred among people. Animals are dying.

The dire effects of the heat wave are said to be most severe in the poultry sector. There are large numbers of chickens dying and the farms are being shut down.

According to poultry experts, temperatures higher than 26 degrees Celsius have a major impact on the health of broilers older than five weeks.

President of Bangladesh Poultry Association Suman Howladar fears that 20,000 poultry farms may be permanently closed due to intense heat.

Especially in the northern part of Bangladesh, due to the severe decrease in the water level, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water decreases and toxic gases are produced, which is threatening the life of fish. Fishermen are in trouble.

According to fisheries experts, a temperature of 20 degrees to 30 degrees Celsius is comfortable for fish to live.

Domestic animals such as rabbits and other birds have also died in large numbers in some parts of Bangladesh.

Heat wave is going on in the country since April 11. Temperatures eased slightly on Monday, but may rise again in the following days.

On Monday, Khulna, Jessore and Chuadanga districts as well as Bagerhat, Kushtia and Pabna districts are experiencing severe heat wave.

The Daily Star also made headlines about the intense heat wave. However, the newspaper headlined the IMF loan on the front page, ‘IMF team to focus on four key areas’.

According to the report, the review mission of the International Monetary Fund or IFF will focus on Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves, inflation rate, banking sector and fiscal reforms during its visit to Dhaka.

The ten-member IMF mission is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today and will begin meeting with the Finance Department, Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue and other government agencies from Wednesday.

The mission will remain in Dhaka till May 8. The IMF has already sent more than 100 questions to government officials.

Since the IMF approved a loan of about 4.7 billion dollars for Bangladesh in January last year, it has so far released 1.16 billion dollars in two tranches.

Bangladesh sought loans amid a foreign exchange reserve crisis. However, there has been no improvement in the reserves since the start of the loan program.

According to IMF estimates, the country’s total foreign exchange reserves have been around $20 billion in recent months.

One of the IMF’s key conditions for the loan is that Bangladesh maintain a certain net international reserve.

Bangladesh failed to fulfill it in the first review, it is going to fail this time too. In addition, inflation has been over nine percent since March last year.

According to the report, the stock of rice and wheat in the government warehouse has reached 12 lakh 22 thousand tons.

On the contrary, last year and the year before that, the amount of rice was two to four lakh tons more than this.

It is not possible to achieve the target in rice production. Again, despite giving duty-free facilities to traders to import rice, the desired response is not getting from them. In this situation, the government rice stock is gradually decreasing.

Although the price of rice has decreased in the international market, the price of rice in the domestic market has been on the rise for the last four years.

In the last five years (March 2020-March 2024), the retail price of coarse rice has increased by about Tk 18 per kg in the domestic market.

The retail price of coarse rice per kg in the domestic market was the lowest in March 2020.

On the other hand, the lowest price of rice in the international market was in March 2022. It was less then 2020.

But the retail price of coarse rice per kg in the domestic market was about 12 Tk more than in 2020.

In other words, even though the price of rice decreased in the international market, the price of rice in the domestic market did not decrease, but increased.

According to the report, the ‘Story of Sharifa’ has been kept as part of the lesson in the seventh class ‘History and Social Science’ book.

After the recent discussion and criticism in various circles, the story may have minimal linguistic changes. But experts are not finding anything ‘controversial’ in that story.

In the light of the new curriculum, a story titled ‘Sharif to Sharifa’ was added to a chapter titled ‘Similarities and Differences in Humans’ in the Class VII History and Social Science book.

Later, when there was criticism about this, the Ministry of Education formed a five-member committee on January 24 to review the story as well as give opinions on the matter.

After about three months, this committee is going to ‘finalize’ its report; According to related sources, there is a recommendation to keep the story in the curriculum.

Several top officials of the education administration claim that the story is being unnecessarily debated.

The curriculum taught in general education is not taught in Qaumi Madrasas. For this reason, the education administration is reluctant to give much importance to the objections of Qaumi Alem and Hefazat Islam regarding general education.

According to the report, the decision to withdraw the concession facility for the additional distance of 100 km in the railway journey will be effective from May 4.

Railway passengers will have to pay additional fare for traveling beyond the said distance on that day or at any time thereafter.

Advance ticket sales for May 4th begin tomorrow. According to this, from tomorrow, passengers will have to pay extra fare and buy tickets for that day or any time after that for a distance of more than 100 km.

In this regard, a public notice has been published on Monday by Bangladesh Railways.

Distance-based and section-based concessions were given in Bangladesh Railway in 1992. After that in 2012, sectional discount was canceled but distance based discount continued.

For 32 years, Bangladesh Railways has been giving 20 percent discount for 101-250 km, 25 percent for 251-400 km and 30 percent for distance of 401 km or more.

Railways is now withdrawing this facility to reduce financial pressure and losses. Apart from this, the fares are also being increased for additional coaches added to the train and reserved tickets through application.