D.Net launches audio-visual content for potential female migrants

D.Net, a social enterprise through its research and with active participation of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), Bangladesh and WordForge Foundation, Spain and funding from Spanish Agency for International Development(AECID), has prepared an interactive audio-visual digital content titled “ Aparajitar Abhijatra” for potential female migrants of Bangladesh to uplift their competence level for global employment market to promote access to information and knowledge for all citizens.
To launch “Aparajita's Abhijatra”, a launching ceremony was held yesterday at Marble Room, Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Minister for Ministry of Labour and Employment and Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, Bangladesh Government Eng. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MP was present as chief guest.
Prepared under D.Net's project “Empowerment of Women through the use of ICT in Bangladesh”, this content will be available on D.net's Abolombon website (www.abolombon.org/aparajita) and BMET's official website (Aparajita quicklink) as well as on DVD.
It takes them through the process of preparation, helping them at each step, providing sufficient information for them to make informed choices. It provides vital information on how to apply for passport, visa; how and where to take training; how to proceed at airports and inside airplane. It also informs the prospective migrants on what to expect at overseas workplace, how to make their own living, how to send money back home, how to manage possible risks and crisis, etc. among other issues.
This content will be distributed free of cost among government and non-government agencies, pallitathya kendras, Union Information Service Centers (UISCs), Technical Training centres who are working in this particular filed.
This content has been developed in a way that it can be an income generating source for them by providing administrative services, counseling services, briefing services to women in rural areas who are interested to become overseas workers from Bangladesh.
The event was chaired by Begum Samsun Nahar,director general, bureau of manpower, employment and training (BMET). Dr. Jafar Ahmed Khan, secretary, ministry of expatriates welfare and overseas employment, Dr. Tasnim Siddique, founding chair, refugee and migratory movement research unit and Javiar Sole, president, world forge foundation were present as special guests.
Terming the launching ceremony as a unique event, Dr. Jafar Ahmed Khan said that the content had all the necessary information in it. He requested D.Net to disseminate information and assured that Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment will help D.Net in this regard.
Minister Eng. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MP in his speech said that for economic development of the country migration of female worker should be encouraged. He requested D.Net to provide high priority in effectively disseminating this information across the country.
He said Ministry of Labour and Employment and Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment will provide help and support to D.Net in those initiatives.

New router from Netgear

Computer City Technologies Ltd. has brought Netgear dual band Wi Fi router WNDR3700 in Bangladesh.
The router features IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz, IEEE 802.11 a/n 5.0 GHz, five 10/100/1000 (1 WAN and 4 LAN) Gigabit Ethernet ports with auto-sensing technology, Gigabit for faster wired connections, Genie - Easy dashboard control for home network, ReadySHARE USB storage for HD video streaming, IPv6 compliant (Internet Protocol Version 6).
The product has a price-tag of Tk 15,500.

Asus' new products

Global Brand Private Limited, the authorised distributor of Asus in Bangladesh, recently unveiled two new models of all-in-one PC ET2410EUTS and ET2410IUTS and A44HR laptop.
All-in-one PC
The two models are equipped with a sensitive display 23.6 inches multi-touch typing which allows a precise and accurate. These PCs allow you to watch TV at full 1080P resolution for having integrated hybrid digital/analog TV tuner with remote control.
Other features of the PCs include 2GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB HDD, DVD writer, gigabit LAN, WLAN, webcam, HDMI port, USB ports and more.
ET2410EUTS and ET2410IUTS have price tags of Tk 70,000 and 78,000 respectively.
A44HR laptop
The laptop is equipped with Intel Core i3 2.30 GHz processor and comes with AMD Radeon HD 7470M graphics with 1GB dedicated video memory.
The A44HR features 16:9, 14-inch high definition LED panel and Altec Lansing speakers with SRS Premium Sound for great multimedia experience.
It also features 2GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB HDD, DVD writer, gigabit LAN, 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, webcam and more.
The laptop has a price tag of Tk 46,500

Global PC sales flat as consumers eye new gadgets

Worldwide sales of personal computers fell 0.1 percent in the second quarter of the year as consumers turned their attention to newer gadgets like tablets, a survey showed Wednesday.
The quarterly report from research firm Gartner showed PC shipments, excluding tablet computers, totaled 87.5 million units in the second quarter of 2012, a small drop year-over year.
"In the second quarter of 2012, the PC market suffered through its seventh consecutive quarter of flat to single-digit growth," said Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at Gartner.
She said that despite high expectations for the thin and light notebook segment known as ultrabooks, this sector was small and had little impact on overall sales.
"Consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as there are other technology products and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets that they are purchasing," she added.
"This is more of a trend in the mature market as PCs are highly saturated in these markets."
Hewlett-Packard continued to be the top PC seller with 14.9 percent market share even though its global shipments declined 12.1 percent.
It was trailed closely by Lenovo at 14.7 percent, with Acer Group third, at 11 percent and Dell fourth at 10.7 percent.
Gartner said in a statement that "Lenovo's aggressive expansion damaged its competitor's performance, namely HP and Dell, by taking shares from them."
In the US market, HP was on top with a 25 percent market share, followed by Dell at 21.7 percent and Apple at 12 percent.
A separate report last week by ABI Research said tablet computers are expected to overtake notebook PCs by 2016 as consumers shift to newer devices like the Apple iPad.

Gas found in Comilla Reserve seems medium in size; Bapex plans to supply gas from early next year

Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Company (Bapex) hit a natural gas reservoir at Srikail in Comilla yesterday, seven years after a failed attempt in the area.
Bapex Managing Director Mortuza Ahmad Faruque believes the reservoir might be medium in size but bigger than the Sangu and Semutang gas fields.
He said they had found a gas flow at the rate of 15 to 16 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) with a pressure of 1,900 pounds per square inch (psi) during a test run in an exploratory well in Srikail in the morning.
The Bapex chief expects the gas pressure would reach up to 2,700 psi at the well head when the field is ready for commercial production.
He said Bapex had resources almost ready to produce 25 to 30 mmcfd of gas from DecemberJanuary.
The country is now at least 500 mmcfd gas short in supply which is affecting the power generation and burner usage in homes. This discovery is considered big, but it would not solve the crisis entirely.
This is the second gas discovery in the present government's tenure. The first one, discovered last year also by Bapex, is in Sundalpur of Noakhali. The small field has been producing 10 to 12 mmcfd gas for the last few months.
The lone national exploration wing that presently produces 85 to 90 mmcfd gas from different small gas fields, tried to find gas in Srikail in 2005. But instead of gas, it found water and sand in the first exploratory well.
In 2007, Bapex conducted a seismic survey to understand the prospects better. Upon completion, it prepared a project to drill a new exploratory well. Accordingly, it started drilling a well on May 5 this year and completed the task of drilling up to 3,214 metres on June 30, in less than two months.
It started testing the well from July 12.
“We started getting gas from a depth of 3,020 metres. The gas layer is 15 metres thick. We have found another layer 2,970 metres below the ground which will be tested later,” said the Bapex MD.
Bapex will conduct a three dimensional seismic survey there in October to properly assess the size of the gas field. It will drill more wells based on the study.
“To avail this gas commercially, we will need a gas processing plant and install a three-kilometre feeder pipeline to connect the Srikail field with the nearby gas transmission system of Bakhrabad fields,” the MD said.
Since installing a processing plant is time consuming, Bapex plans to create a makeshift arrangement to process the gas through alternative means.
“We were approved of a project cost amounting to Tk 81 crore. Of this, Tk 60 crore has been spent on drilling and with the remaining funds we can easily go for an early commercial production,” Faruque said.
For Bapex, this is the most productive period. Right now, all its five drilling rigs are in operation in different locations.
“One rig is ready to start drilling in Sunetra from July 16,” he said.
Sunetra in Sunamganj-Netrakona is Bapex's biggest hope. Based on a seismic study, Bapex believes it has a gas structure with the promise of getting no less than two to three trillion cubic feet reserve.
Another rig is ready to start drilling the 17th well of the country's biggest and oldest gas field Titas. Two other rigs are now drilling in Salda and Kailastila fields.

One Bangladeshi youth was killed and another injured in South Africa's Cape Town as robbers stormed their shop and opened fire early on Thursday.
Four armed men entered the shop and opened fire on the owner, Lieutenant Andrea Cloete was quoted by a South African online news site ioL (Independent Online).
The gunmen took an undisclosed amount of money and airtime and fled, added Cloete.
Dead Rabiul and injured Mizan are from Ladua village under Faridganj upazila of Chandpur. They went to Cape Town 18 months ago and jointly opened a department store.
This is the second incident of killing of Bangladeshi expatriates in South Africa within a week. Three Bangladeshi businessmen were shot dead by criminals on July 5 in the country.
The family of Thursday's victim came to know about the incident yesterday morning when an expatriate, Shipon, called them from Cape Town.
The armed goons stormed the shop around South Africa time 10:00pm on Wednesday (Bangladesh time around 3:00am on Thursday) and started shooting, said Rabiul's brother Zaidul Hossain quoting Shipon.
Rabiul was hit in the head and died instantly while Mizan was hit in the hand and was undergoing treatment at a hospital there, Zaidul added.

One Bangladeshi youth was killed and another injured in South Africa's Cape Town as robbers stormed their shop and opened fire early on Thursday.
Four armed men entered the shop and opened fire on the owner, Lieutenant Andrea Cloete was quoted by a South African online news site ioL (Independent Online).
The gunmen took an undisclosed amount of money and airtime and fled, added Cloete.
Dead Rabiul and injured Mizan are from Ladua village under Faridganj upazila of Chandpur. They went to Cape Town 18 months ago and jointly opened a department store.
This is the second incident of killing of Bangladeshi expatriates in South Africa within a week. Three Bangladeshi businessmen were shot dead by criminals on July 5 in the country.
The family of Thursday's victim came to know about the incident yesterday morning when an expatriate, Shipon, called them from Cape Town.
The armed goons stormed the shop around South Africa time 10:00pm on Wednesday (Bangladesh time around 3:00am on Thursday) and started shooting, said Rabiul's brother Zaidul Hossain quoting Shipon.
Rabiul was hit in the head and died instantly while Mizan was hit in the hand and was undergoing treatment at a hospital there, Zaidul added.

One Bangladeshi youth was killed and another injured in South Africa's Cape Town as robbers stormed their shop and opened fire early on Thursday.
Four armed men entered the shop and opened fire on the owner, Lieutenant Andrea Cloete was quoted by a South African online news site ioL (Independent Online).
The gunmen took an undisclosed amount of money and airtime and fled, added Cloete.
Dead Rabiul and injured Mizan are from Ladua village under Faridganj upazila of Chandpur. They went to Cape Town 18 months ago and jointly opened a department store.
This is the second incident of killing of Bangladeshi expatriates in South Africa within a week. Three Bangladeshi businessmen were shot dead by criminals on July 5 in the country.
The family of Thursday's victim came to know about the incident yesterday morning when an expatriate, Shipon, called them from Cape Town.
The armed goons stormed the shop around South Africa time 10:00pm on Wednesday (Bangladesh time around 3:00am on Thursday) and started shooting, said Rabiul's brother Zaidul Hossain quoting Shipon.
Rabiul was hit in the head and died instantly while Mizan was hit in the hand and was undergoing treatment at a hospital there, Zaidul added.

Veggies too costly Prices spiral up to 40pc for 2-day truck strike

The prices of vegetables in the city markets soared in the last two days, in some cases up to 40 percent, due to a 48-hour countrywide strike enforced by the truck and covered-van owners.
The strike that ended yesterday morning has created a supply crunch at the city's wholesale kitchen markets since most of the vehicles refrained from transporting goods to the capital.
The prices of green chilli, bitter gourd, ladies finger and cucumber shot up yesterday besides a slight increase in prices of sugar and soybean oil.
“Today I bought 5kg bitter gourd at Tk 120, which was Tk 100 a day ago at Shyambazar,” said Ismail Hawlader, a vegetable vendor at Wari of Old Dhaka.
“So I am selling each kg bitter gourd at Tk 30 to make a reasonable profit,” he said. The prices of cucumber and ladies finger also went up yesterday due to supply shortage, he added.
Retailers at Karwan Bazar kitchen market were charging Tk 25 for a kg of ladies finger instead of Tk 20 two days ago.
"The prices of vegetables are too high for the ordinary people,'' said Md Abdul Majid, a retired government official, who was buying goods from a roadside kitchen market near the Azimpur Chhapra Mosque.
“I bought one kg green chilli at Tk 80 yesterday, which was Tk 50 a week ago,” said Majid.
Department of Agricultural Marketing said one kg green chilli was traded at Tk 40-70 yesterday.
To help boost supply during the month of Ramadan, the government on Monday imposed a ban on export of green chilli, brinjal, onion and garlic until August 31.
Meanwhile, despite a rise in supplies, sugar price also increased yesterday as demand rose ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Sugar, at retail shops, was traded between Tk 54 and Tk 55 a kg, which was 3.84 percent higher compared to the previous week, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Egg price, however, fell marginally and was traded at Tk 34-35 every four pieces instead of Tk 35-36 a week ago.
The price of loose soybean oil rose to Tk 123-124 a kg from Tk 120-122 in the previous week, TCB statistics say.
However, the prices of some vegetables and spices such as potato, onion and garlic remained stable yesterday.
The wholesalers at Karwan Bazar also agreed that the prices of some kitchen items increased due to the 48-hour strike. “The strike has obviously hit the Kitchen market,” said Lokman Hossain, general secretary of Kawran Bazar Khuddro Kachamal Aarot Babshayi Bahumukhi Samabay Samity Ltd, a platform of kitchen market wholesalers.
Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Transport Agency Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad enforced the strike demanding relief from extortion and harassment by police.
Around 1,000 trucks and covered-vans loaded with vegetables and fruits enter this market everyday. The number went down to 270-300 on Thursday night, he said.
“So, it [strike] clearly has disrupted the supply chain process, pushing the prices of some vegetable items up,” said Lokman.
He said the vegetable growers had to pay extra money for carrying goods to Dhaka due to the strike. “As a result, the prices of a few vegetable items went up yesterday.”
But, he hoped the prices would come down at a reasonable level within the next couple of days when supplies would increase.

দেওয়ানি কার্যবিধিতে সংস্কারের উদ্যোগ

বাংলাদেশে আইনমন্ত্রী বলছেন, নিম্ন আদালতে মামলার জট খুলতে সরকার দেওয়ানি আইনের কার্যবিধিতে বেশকিছু সংস্কারের উদ্যোগ নিতে যাচ্ছে।

আইনমন্ত্রী শফিক আহমেদ বলছেন, মামলা পরিচালনার জন্যে সুনির্দিষ্ট সময়সীমা বেঁধে দেওয়ার পাশাপাশি কিছু কিছু মামলা বিকল্প বিরোধ নিষ্পত্তির মাধ্যমে সমাধান করা বাধ্যতামূলক করে দেওয়া হচ্ছে।
আইনমন্ত্রী বিবিসি বাংলাকে দেওয়া এক সাক্ষাৎকারে বলেছেন নিম্ন আদালতে মামলার জট কমানোর জন্য এবং মামলার দীর্ঘসূত্রিতা কমাতে সরকার এই উদ্যোগ নিচ্ছে।
কিন্তু বিশেষজ্ঞরা বলছেন, এসব উদ্যোগের ফলে মানুষের আইনের অধিকার লংঘিত হওয়ার আশঙ্কা রয়েছে।
মিঃ আহমেদ বলেছেন ১৯০৮ সালের পুরোন দেওয়ানি কার্যবিধিতে এখন মামলা নিষ্পত্তির প্রতিটি পর্যায়ের জন্য সময় বেঁধে দেওয়া হচ্ছে, যা বর্তমান কার্যবিধিতে নেই।
তিনি বলেছেন নতুন কার্যবিধিতে মামলা দায়েরের এক সপ্তাহের মধ্যে মামলার নোটিস জারি করতে হবে, অপর পক্ষ আদালতে হাজির হলে ৬০ দিনের মধ্যে ওই পক্ষকে তার জবাব দাখিল করতে হবে। এই সময়সীমা বড়জোর আরো ৩০ দিন বাড়ানোর সুযোগ থাকবে।
তিনি বলছেন এছাড়াও নির্দিষ্ট সময়ের মধ্যে মামলার শুনানি করে রায় দিতে হবে এবং বেঁধে দেওয়া সময়সীমা লংঘন করলে দায়ী কর্মকর্তাদের বিরুদ্ধে ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে।

আইন মন্ত্রী শফিক আহমেদ

'' প্রায় কুড়ি লক্ষ মামলা বর্তমানে নিম্ন আদালতে বিচারাধীন রয়েছে এবং প্রতিদিনই আরো মামলা যোগ হচ্ছে। মামলার এই জট কমানো এখন জরুরি। ''
মিঃ আহমেদ আরো বলেন বিকল্প বিরোধ নিষ্পত্তির (এডিআর) বিধান এখন বাধ্যতামূলক করা হচ্ছে।