Live discussion on the reactions to the new cabinet

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Dear readers please join in a live discussion on the new cabinet of Bangladesh. You can join the discussion in the comment section. Please keep your questions, concerns, thoughts coming.

The most surprising name was Comrade Dilip Barua. People know about the honesty of Matia Chowdhury, Abdul Mal Abdul Muhit, Syed Ashraful Islam, Nurul Islam Nahid and Dr. Dipu Moni. Some are disappointed as some names like Fazle Nur Taposh, Hasanul Haque Inu, Rashed Khan Menon are not in. The most disputed choice might be the father in law of Hasina’s daughter Khondoker Musharrof Hossain.

Journey To Infinitive: Any Idea about portfolio? (more…)

A surprise cabinet, will it deliver?

Okay, so we’ve got our freedom back, democracy restored, a brilliant election, shocking result, and positive attitude among general people. Not bad for some delicious starters, 2009!

Now let’s see, the most talked issue since the beginning of year which is only 6-days old? Who’s going to be in the cabinet and show us the path to reach Vision 2021 which itself sounds quite Western but hey, this attracts young generation so why not?

We’ve got 31 “Ministers” taking oath today. We don’t know who’s getting what. But more importantly what on earth? It appears, people like myself, who are getting fond of this Vision 2021 and a Digital Bangladesh concept, look dumbfounded now. (more…)

Breaking News: The New Cabinet of Bangladesh

Photo: Shafiqul Islam Kajol, DRIK News

A 31 member strong team of Ministers has taken oath at Bangabhaban. There are 23 full ministers and 8 state ministers. President Iajuddin Ahmed administered the oath ceremony which began at 6:45pm.

The Daily Star has published the list of the Ministers:

The ministers are Abul Maal Abdul Muhit, Motia Chowdhury, Air Vice-marshal (retd) AK Khandker, Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Advocate Shahara Khatun, Syed Ashraful Islam,Rezaul Karim Hira, Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Abul Kalam Azad, Dr Dipu Moni, Dr Afsarul Amin, Dr Abdur Razzak, Syed Abul Hossain, Col (retd) Farooq Khan, GM Quader, Romesh Chandra Sen, Dilip Barua, Raziuddin Raju, Enamul Haque Mostafa Shahid, Nurul Islam Nahid, Abdul Latif Biswas and AFM Ruhul Haque.

The state ministers who took oath this evening are Mostafizur Rahman, ABM Tajul Islam, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, Dr Hasan Mahmood, Begum Munnujan Sufian, Dipankar Talukder, Ahad Ali Sarkar and Yafes Osman.

Fuzzy Math / শুভঙ্করের ফাঁকি

“It’s unbelievable that nearly 90 percent votes were cast in Monday’s polls, and that means a voter needed only 55 seconds to cast ballot.” - BNP office secretary Rizvi Ahmed

Recently I was listening to a conversation that went something like this:

1. There are 35,000 polling stations in Bangladesh
2. There are 81 million voters, 87% of which, or a total of 70 million votes were cast
3. The polling stations were open for 8 hours = 480 minutes
(all numbers are approximate)

Hence, there were an average of 2000 votes (70 million / 35000) cast per polling center in 480 minutes,
which means each voter had (480 x 60) /2000 = 14 seconds per vote.

So the theory being proposed was: massive fraud and ballot-box stuffing, since 14 seconds to cast each vote is absurd.

Alas, the calculations are correct, but the data is wrong, because one polling center does not equate to only one polling booth. According to the Election Commission, there were 177107 polling booths, and that changes the calculation to:

Average votes cast per polling booth = 70 million / 177101 = 395 votes. Time to cast each vote = (480 x 60) / 395 = 72 seconds

72 seconds is much better than 14 seconds or 55 seconds per vote, right?

(more…)

First 30 Days Plan for our next Prime Minister

To form a cabinet will be public’s first litmus test for Sheikh Hasina. To the public, it will be the very morning that will show them the days of next five years. The cabinet has to be a discreet blend of old and young, experience and commitment, patriotism and skill. Politicians, bureaucrats, subject experts and technocrats with clear numeric superiority of elected representatives will create the dynamics of this team for change.

Elected party politicians and patriotic alliance partners should be the first choice to fill vital portfolios like Home, Foreign, Finance, Defense, Industry, Information, Education, Health, Energy, Agriculture, Food etc. Partners of strategic alliance having questionable and vacillating political past should be kept out of the core and may be appointed on less vital portfolios. Ministries like Energy, Environment, Minerals, and Human Rights may go to technocrats and subject experts with proven loyalty to party.

(more…)

Indo-Bangla Relation in a Critical Phase

Photo:Maitreyee Express,Dhaka-Calcutta train, by Subir Bhaumik.
Awami League led Grand Alliance has won the parliamentary election in Bangladesh in 2008 with a landslide (¾th) majority. The party will soon form a new government which will have to shoulder massive responsibility of rebuilding the national economy. They are coming to power at an stage when the world economy is suffering from serious recession. The unpredicted energy crisis of recent time, ongoing food crisis and global warming are also major challenges they have to confront.

Bangladesh is surrounded by India, a large neighbor from almost three sides - East, West and North. All rivers flowing through Bangladesh originate from India. In 1971 India provided shelter to about 10 millions refugees; it trained our liberation force, provided arms and also fought side by side with our liberation force to win independence against Pakistani occupation force. But unfortunately over the years the relation between two neighborly nations grew increasingly bitter. Many major issues have reached the stages of conflict. A small neighbor of a huge population and economy suffers a great deal due to continued disputes over critical issues.

(more…)

E-Bangladesh Exclusive: New Cabinet’s Oath Taking Ceremony..Live

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Victory is a political fiction