Breakthrough – Bangladeshi Scientist ……….

Bangladeshi scientist has won the prestigious TWAS award 2005

The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World has announced its 2005 award. Dr. Shah M. Faruque of ICDDR,B has won the prize in Medical Science: for his contributions to the understanding of natural phenomena associated with cholera epidemics. His research focuses on the use of advanced molecular biology techniques to address significantly to the understanding of the molecular epidemiology of such diseases of cholera.

For more: TWAS Medical News Today ICDDR,B

Garlic-laced crops ward off insects:

Insects dislike the smell of garlic as much as human beings do, according to a Bangladeshi scientist who has used it to develop an environment-friendly alternative to pesticide. "The garlic tablet is a bio-pesticide and is effecting a revolution by avoiding chemical pesticides for control of pathogens and insects," Bahadur Meah, head of the Integrated Pest Management Laboratory, said.

More info: World Scientist ABC News

Britain's Favorite Dish Is Chicken Tikka Masala Bangladeshi Tommy miah honoured as 'curry king'

Today his “Raj” restaurant in the Scottish capital Edinburgh has achieved worldwide fame.
Queen Elizabeth II wrote the foreword to his latest book, a move described by Buckingham Palace as the queen’s first and last celebrity endorsement.

Miah also bagged a place in the Guinness Book of Records for cooking the world’s biggest curry, while his International Indian Chef of the Year competition is now in its 14th year.

Today, the majority (around 80%) of Britain’s “Indian” restaurants are actually run by Bangladeshis.

“Languages and cyberspace”

International Mother Language Day (21 February 2006)

Linguistic and cultural diversity represent universal values that strengthen the unity and cohesion of societies. The recognition of the importance of linguistic diversity led to UNESCO ’s decision to celebrate International Mother Language Day.

The world's nearly 6,000 languages will be celebrated on International Mother Language Day, an event aimed at promoting linguistic diversity and multilingual education.

The decision to observe 21st February as the International Mother Language Day was unanimously taken at the 30th General Conference of the UNESCO held on November 17, 1999.

Bangladesh officially sent a proposal to UNESCO requesting the world body to adopt a Resolution declaring 21st February as International Mother Language Day. The Language Division of UNESCO marked the proposal from the Government of Bangladesh as the Draft Resolution -35 and sent the same to Commission-2 for consideration. The Commission unanimously recommended the proposal for presentation at the Plenary Session of the General Conference of the UNESCO.

It is a great achievement on the part of Bangladesh. Probably nothing equally great has been achieved after the Independence war. The International Mother Language Day is not only for Bangladesh, rather it is for all speakers of all languages all over the world. In spite of that, Bangladesh cannot but feel proud when 21st February has been chosen as the International Mother Language Day.

For more;

Bangladesh UNESCO UN

Bangladesh and ICT

Investment in the IT sector in Bangladesh can be highly lucrative:

• thousands of students graduate every year from more than 20 goverment and non-goverment unversities in Computer Science & Engineering and Mechanical Engineering
• IT solution service is of lower cost than other IT outsourcing countries like India or China
• IT/ICT sector is declared the most promising development sector by the government
• entering the information superhighway in the last quarter of 2005 through fiber optic submarine cable
• going through mobile communication revolution

Source: bjit

Tourism of Bangladesh

Bangladesh as a vacation land has many facets. Her tourist attractions include archaeological sites, historic mosques and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forest, colorful tribal life and wildlife. Bangladesh offers opportunities for angling, water-skiing, river cruising, hiking, rowing, surfing, yachting and sea bathing as well as bringing one in close touch with Mother Nature. She is also rich in wildlife and game birds.

For more.. please have a look--
Bangladesh Tourism Discovery Bangladesh Online Bangladesh

Bangladesh - The Travel Attraction

Let's see what lonely planet says about Bangladesh travel attractions.

"Bangladesh: Discover how special this country is before the tourist hordes catch on.
Visit archaeological sites dating back over 2000 years, check out the longest beach and the largest littoral mangrove forest in the world, and see the decaying mansions of 19th-century maharajas".

see lonely planet site

Solar Energy Technology in Bangladesh – Why?

According to a World Bank funded market survey, there is an existing market size of 0.5 million households for Solar Home Systems (SHS) on a fee-for-service basis in the off-grid areas of Bangladesh. This assessment is based on 1998 expenditure levels on fuel for lighting and battery charging being substituted by SHS. Also it has been observed that in most developing countries, households typically spend not more than 5% of their income on lighting and use of small appliances. By this measure, about 4.8 million rural Bangladeshi households could pay for a solar home system. There is no solar resource constraint for the application of SHS as solar energy is abundant throughout the country.

At present the national grid is serving only 50% of the nearly 10,000 rural markets and commercial centers in rural areas of the country which are excellent markets for centralized mini solar photovoltaic plants. Currently private diesel genset operators are serving in most of the off-grid rural markets and it has been found that 82% of them are also interested in marketing SHS in surrounding areas if some sorts of favorable financing arrangements are available.

Therefore, in those rural areas which cannot be electrified by grid extensions; off grid centralized or single Solar Home Systems (SHS) may be provided for lighting 100,000 households through SHS by 2008 is quite feasible. 100,000 SHS would annually displace 18 million litres of kerosene. Since both, kerosene and diesel are imported in Bangladesh; any reduction in their consumption would help reducing foreign exchange outgo besides making the country that much more secure in terms of energy supply. Due to recent price hike for oil the cost of generation for PV and diesel generator are similar. For Rajshahi, it was found from RET-Screen analysis that for 100kW generation using PV cost is $0.19/kWh while for diesel generator it is $0.21/kWh.

Garment Apparel Sweaters export

Bangladesh - the country of world famous muslin fabric and the Great Royal Bengal Tiger has now emerged as an child labour free apparel giant in the world textile and apparel market. The country exports its apparel products worth nearly 5 billion US$ per year to the USA, EU, Canada and other countries of the world. At present the country is the 6th largest apparel supplier to the USA and EU countries. The major products are Knit and Woven Shirts and Blouses, Trousers, Skirts, Shorts, Jackets, Sweaters, Sportswears and many more casual and fashion apparels.

The Software Industry in Bangladesh and its Links to The Netherlands

Organizations such as KLM, Philips and Baan in The Netherlands have been collaborating with IT-suppliers in developing countries. Dutch software projects are now being executed in many nations, and especially in Asia. Some Dutch companies have chosen to outsource work to Bangladesh. This country has more than 200 software houses and data-entry centres and numerous computer shops. At present, there are around 20 - 30 Bangladeshi software developers with foreign clients, some of which are 100% export orientated.
Several years ago, software was identified by the government of Bangladesh as having important export potential. The total amount of software and IT-services exports is currently estimated at a maximum of $ 30 million per year. Dijkoraad-hawar, a medium sized IT company and Metatude, a start-up company are presented as Dutch case studies in this paper. Each organization has set up a software development centre in Dhaka, and has been satisfied with the results.

For more on this please see the link below
http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/research/ejisdc/vol13/v13r5.pdf

One of the main advantages perceived by these users is the potential for significant reduction in project costs. Also, qualified candidates can be found in Bangladesh and cultural differences had no major impact.

Prospects in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a tolerant culture and a set of energetic and efficient new generation engineers who are ready to enter into the job market locally or globally. There is a continuous inflow of hardworking and efficient workforce. Educated and motivated professionals have never failed to prove their worth and expertise, whenever the opportunity has come. In many technologically developed western countries, young and diligent professionals from Bangladesh have proven their competence, and potential in science, technology, and lately in the IT sector. Nationally coordinated move has made to tap the immense potential of IT sector. Promising youngsters would certainly be able to extend their professional services more effectively, at home and abroad salvaging the national economy from the scourge of poverty and unemployment. There exists a vast scope for improving foreign exchange earning simply by data transfer and software development.

---- MONEY FROM ENERGY ----

Energy availability and its proper utilization is the mail indicator of the socio-economic development, therefore the Government of Bangladesh has given continuing attention to the overall development of energy sector. It involved survey, exploration, exploitation and distribution of indigenous natural gas, survey and exploitation of other sources like hydropower, coal and peat, establishment of petroleum refining facility and distribution systems, and establishment of power generation plants and networks for transmission and distribution of electricity. Despite all these efforts per-capita consumption of commercial energy and generation of electricity in Bangladesh is one of the lowest among the developing countries, 115 kgoe and 144 kWh per year respectively (FY2003). Though Government of Bangladesh has declared its vision to provide electricity for all by the year 2020, access to electricity in Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world; coverage today stands at around 32% of the total population. However the rural areas of Bangladesh, where 76% of the population lives, have an even lower coverage and are seriously deprived of the electricity facility.

In comparison to the 11666 GWh electricity generated annually, the Power System Master Plan (PSMP) projects a requirement of 24160 GWh in the year 2005. This implies an increase in peak demand from 2200 MW to 4600 MW by 2005 for which capacity addition of about 3350 MW is required by 2005. The total investment required to achieve such capacity enhancement, is Taka 176 billion or US$ 4.4 billion. The corresponding investment requirement for expansion & reinforcement of transmission and distribution system would be about US$ 2.2 billion, bringing the grand total to US$ 6.6 billion.

The likelihood of securing such a substantial volume of investment for power generation alone through the public sector is remote. Besides, competing demands on government resources and declining levels of external assistance from multilateral/bilateral donor agencies further constrain the potential for public investment in the power sector. Recognizing these trends, GOB amended its industrial policy (NEP – 2004) to enable private investment in the power sector. GOB also adopted the recommendations contained in the report on Power Sector Reforms, prepared by a high level Inter-Ministerial Working Group, for restructuring the power sector and promoting private sector participation in the generation of electricity in order to attain higher economic efficiency. The Government is strongly committed to attract private investment for installing new power generation capacity on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.

Table: Primary commercial energy consumption by fuel (million tones oil equivalent)
Country Gas Oil Coal Hydro-electricity Nuclear Energy Total
Bangladesh 11.9 4.2 0.4 0.3 -- 16.6
World 2420.4 3767.1 2778.2 634.4 624.3 10224.4
(Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2005)

On the other hand, the share of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in total electricity production is very low at this time although biomass resources supply around 67% of the total energy needs. The target proposed in the draft of Renewable Energy Policy, under consideration of the Government, is to generate power utilizing new renewable energy technologies to share 5% of total demand by 2010 and 10% by 2020.

In 1988, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) introduced the SPV system in a cyclone shelter for the first time in Bangladesh. Now micro-credit and micro utility financing systems are doing better to improve the quality of living condition of rural people. Almost around 70,000 SHS has been installed by now but it is still a very negligible amount, only 1.5% of rural peoples are electrified. Day by day the number of installed system is increasing very rapidly and different organizations are coming forward to fulfill the target set by the Government, 10% of total electricity from renewable energy by 2020.

Now it’s up to you ….. Think about …. Invest your money into Energy … and get ….. MONEY FROM ENERGY ….

Basic of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a land of possibility. The main possible resource of the country is population. The main attractions of Bangldesh are-

1. Very attractive human resource (8-15 times lower paid as compared with Europe and USA)
2. Very nice and good weather
3. Government support for foreign investor- like EPZ, Tax Holiday etc
4. World famous tourist spot - Colorful tribal life, longest sea beach, centuries' old archeological sites, home of the Royal Bengal Tiger, largest tea gardens, interesting riverine life, etc.
5. Renowened for the investment in Garments, Petroleum, IT etc.

Official Name

The People's Republic Of Bangladesh Location Latitude between 20 degree 34' and 26 degree 39' north.

Longitude

between 88 degree 00' and 92 degree 41' east.

Area: 144,000 sq. km.

limate Main seasons : Winter (Nov - Feb), Summer (Mar - Jun), Monsoon (Jul - Oct).

Temp :

Max 34 degree Celsius, Min 8 degree Celsius. Rainfall Lowest 47" and highest 136" Capital: Dhaka (Present area 414 sq. km. Master plan 777 sq.km.)

Population

Total estimated population 130 million. State Language Bangla. English is also widely spoken and understood Principal Crops Jute, rice, tobacco, tea, sugarcane, vegetables, potato, pulses, etc.

Important Fruits

Mango, banana, pineapple, jack-fruit, water-melon, green coconut, guava, licis, etc. Major Industries

Jute, sugar, paper, textiles, fertilizers, cigeratte, cement, steel, natural gas, oil-refinery, newsprint, power generation, rayon, matches, fishing and food processing, leather, soap, carpet, timber, ship-building, telephone, etc.

Sea Ports

Chittagong and Mongla Airports Zia international airport, Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet, domestic airports at Chittagong, Jessore, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Rajshahi and Saidpur Electricity 220 Volts A.C. in all cities and towns Tourist Seasons October to March Wearing Apparel Tropical in summer, and light-woolen in winter Currency The unit of currency is the Taka. Notes are in denominations of 1,2,5,10,20,50,100 and 500 Taka. Coins are 1,5,10,25,50 and 100 Paisa (100 Paisa = 1 Taka) 1 Dollar= around 61 taka.