FOR WRITTEN PART

Garment factories in high-rise buildings The media is regularly flooded with news of fires in factories located in high-rise buildings. Why this is allowed? It is not the norm in the industrialised countries. Besides, factories are set up in the residential areas of municipalities, where factory buildings do not exist. There is no publicity on these aspects for public awareness. The govt. should review the factory codes to save human lives. The govt. decided to shift the factories from the crowded cities, but the shifting arrangements are going on at a very slow pace. Top priority is being given to non-essential mega-projects, for political publicity. There are no moves for decentralisation of power and administration, with the result Dhaka mega city is dying, and the other districts have no attractive power, due to monopoly by the politicians sitting in Dhaka. There is huge wastage of time and energy in chasing the opponents (the Opposition); and enough attention is not being paid to long-term national projects. This is a symptom of amateurish governance. In four decades, the spirit of independence has evaporated; while we are so passionate to observe the annual anniversaries! This is due to lack of dedicated top leadership, who depend on sycophancy. It is because the vast majority of the voters have no holding power (economically backward, and rural based). Corrupt politics encourages indifference within the bureaucracy (not in public interest). We have the advantage of huge human resources and cheap labour, but the latter are being exploited, leading to a sort of slave labour conditions.

Using Facebook Facebook is a leading social networking website. We communicate with friends inside and outside the country through this site. Majority of the users of Facebook in our country are students. But it is a matter of regret that many students spend less time on study and use Facebook all the day. Many of them create groups or pages on Facebook where they post a wide range of satirical remarks about politicians and other renowned personalities. Some children open Facebook accounts showing fake age. Students should use Facebook for a specific time a day so that it does not hamper their study. Our Greatest Saviour Bangladesh is famous for two of its gifts of nature. One is the longest sea-beach of Cox's Bazar and another is the Sundarbans. But to be true, the impact of the Sundarbans on our life is far more than that of the beach. The Sundarbans is at the same time the largest mangrove forest in the world, a serene tourist spot, natural habitat for a large number of species -- some of which are facing threat of extinction -- source of living for millions of

people of the south-western coastal region and finally, a saviour of the whole country in times of natural calamities like Sidr and Aila. In the event of Sidr in 2007, the forest suffered a severe blow. Its trees and animals were badly affected. But as the forest contains the indomitable spirit of living in itself, like the phoenix of Greek mythology, it survived the blow and became green again. The forest stretches over Bangladesh and India, but Bangladesh has the larger portion of it. The area of Sundarbans in our country is 6,017 sq km, approximately 4% of the total area. Every country ought to have forests not less than 25% of its total area. We have only 16% and the Sundarbans covers 40% of it. Carbon emission by the advanced nations is causing catastrophic environmental damage such as climate change and the less developed and poor countries are the worst affected. In this backdrop, every country has to have its own protection against environmental odds and forestation is the ultimate solution. The Sundarbans is like a shield against the natural calamities that visit us routinely. The impact of the Sundarbans on our life is manifold. It has its impact on the economy, environment and biodiversity. Most of the people of the southwestern region depend on the Sundarbans directly or indirectly for their livelihoods. Some of them collect honey from inside the forest and then sell them in the local market. They are called mouwali. A big portion of honey supply of our country comes from this forest. Some deal in golpata, a kind of tree-leaf that rural people use to make the roofs of their houses. The golpata tree abounds in the Sundarbans and those who collect them leaves are called bauwali. A large number of people also go fishing in the rivers to earn their bread. Every year, some people who go inside the forest fall prey to the Royal Bengal Tiger, another world famous species that is facing threat of extinction. Getting to see the Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sundarbans is a rare opportunity, but pugmarks can be seen in almost every part of the forest. Herds of spotted deer sipping water from a lake is the scene that attracts tourists the most. Politics, Yes ... Change, Not Yet ASYED BADRUL AHSAN reflects on the government's promises and politics of change. First, the truth. Something Barack Obama did during his campaign for the United States presidency in 2008 quickly caught on around the world. He promised change if he were elected to the White House. And suddenly other politicians in other countries were picking up the idea, to tell their own people that change was theirs for the asking, only if they voted for those who promised it. That was what the Awami League did in the campaign leading up to the general elections of December 2008. Having gone through the bitter experience of the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government, a period which saw Sheikh Hasina undergo a spell of imprisonment and, before that, a bitter struggle to be let back into the country following a bad move by the authorities to prevent her return from a trip abroad, the Awami League appeared willing and ready to inaugurate a new phase in national politics. Its pledge was one of change. It called the promise "dinbodol-er rajniti" -- the politics of change. Briefly, Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League gave people to understand that certain reform measures the caretaker administration had undertaken during its tenure would be maintained, indeed strengthened. And into that set of measures came, or so people thought, more accountability and transparency in government through having such bodies

as the Election Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission operate independently and so underpin the overall idea of government as a thriving, throbbing experience in modern times. There was the pledge of an institutionalisation of local government through a clear devolution of authority away from the centre. The party promised an independent judiciary; it spoke of respecting a free press. Indeed, it informed the nation that the right to information was one it would protect as part of its policy plank. The party promised other crucial steps as such, among which was a trial of the collaborators of the Pakistan occupation army in 1971. The Awami League also made it clear that it would bring the assassins of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to justice, 13 years after they had been convicted and which conviction had run into inordinate delays insofar as implementation was concerned owing to the indifference of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami government to the entire process in the five years preceding the declaration of a state of emergency in January 2007. Two years after the Awami League assumed power, yet once again, in January 2009, it makes sense to ask whether or not the party has kept its promises; indeed, whether it has truly brought change as a central factor into Bangladesh's politics. The answer is not a complex one, despite the complexities which politics has largely epitomised in all this period since the December 2008 elections. And yet one cannot lose sight of the fact that the government has found itself buffeted by unforeseen difficulties which, in the early stages, meant it spent a precious length of time finding its feet. The ground was made slippery early on through the mutiny which claimed the lives of 70 people, including 57 army officers, at the Bangladesh Rifles in February 2009. Into office for a mere 50 days when the murder and mayhem occurred, it was a rudely shaken government which needed to have its credibility restored with the army in particular and with the country in general. In the end, it did emerge, somewhat bruised but nevertheless secure, from the ramifications of the mutiny. And then, of course, came time for a fulfillment of the pre-election promises. The first signs that the Awami League-led government was ready to go back on some of its pledges came through its approach to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Retired General Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, having led the ACC during caretaker times with diligence and a clear sense of purpose, ought to have carried on. Apparently, the new government thought otherwise and there appeared to be a couple of reasons why the government wished to see the back of the general. In the first place, contrary to its early promise of keeping the ACC intact in terms of its authority, it mulled the idea of a less assertive structure. In the second, it was plainly in the mood to downgrade the power of the chairman of the ACC through putting an official of a lesser category in the job. In the event, it did both. Chowdhury did the decent thing of walking away into the sunset. The ACC has not been the same since. The good bit in the story is one of the Election Commission and the Public Service Commission retaining their authority and of the government not wading into any move to bring about any change in their authority or organisational structure. Add to that the party's programme regarding a trial of the war criminals of 1971. Movement on this front has clearly been slow and ponderous. With the constitution of a War Crimes Tribunal in March this year, it was the general expectation that the detention of alleged war criminals and their trial would swiftly follow. That has not happened. More to the point, a number of questions regarding the specific, foolproof laws under which the trials will be conducted, the opportunities for defence provided to the accused, the collection and collation of evidence, et cetera have been raised over the past few weeks. Besides, individuals and organisations

engaged in the job of seeing justice done to the killers of 1971 have underscored such significant points as the need not only to bring individual war criminals to trial but also such organisations as the Jamaat-e-Islami, which unreservedly cooperated with Pakistan during Bangladesh's War of Liberation in 1971. Be it noted, though, that the trial of war criminals is not and has never been in any doubt. But what does raise questions is whether the government will have enough preparations to begin and conclude the trials before its term in office comes to an end in 2013. With Bangladesh's electoral politics conventionally marked by an unpredictability of outcome, such fears are only to be treated as natural. There is, after all, the memory of the past. In early 1972, the government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman pledged to put Pakistan army officers and their local Bengali collaborators on trial for war crimes committed in 1971. In the event, no trials took place. Under a tripartite deal among Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, all Pakistani military personnel detained as prisoners of war in India were allowed to go home. Following Bangabandhu's death in August 1975, the Collaborators Act of 1972 was repealed in December 1975 by the regime of General Ziaur Rahman. The fear lurks among a sizeable section of political observers that, in the end, all this high gear activity regarding the trial of war criminals might come to nought. That said, the government has surely moved to right some manifest wrongs that had crept into the Constitution per courtesy of military regimes in the past. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution has been done away with, through clear action on the part of the higher judiciary, thus enabling the government to move ahead with the business of restoring the secular nature of the Constitution as spelt out in 1972. And yet the authorities have been moving with caution. There is as yet no clear conception on its part on whether religionbased parties, banned under the original Constitution, will be permitted to operate in politics. Besides, the government has made it clear on a number of occasions that it does not mean to do away with the Bismillah principle, inserted into the Constitution by the Zia regime. Any assessment of the Awami League-led government must of course take into consideration its performance in everyday governance. Law and order remains a pivotal issue, particularly in light of the extra-judicial killings which have gone on despite the huge outcry against such action on the part of the Rapid Action Battalion and other security forces. The government has certainly not done itself or the country any favour by defending the killings as a necessity on the part of the law enforcers. In areas of quotidian concern, the incessant rise in prices of essential commodities has led to public frustration with the government. In broad measure, the economy has remained stable, despite the unrest in the garments sector and the agitational politics that seems to have become a pattern with the opposition BNP. To be sure, the government's handling of such matters as Begum Zia's cantonment residence have made things rather messy for it. Then again, the prime minister's denunciation of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus over reports emanating in Sweden have left the government red in the face. On another front, though, it has been a mixed bag. And we speak of foreign policy here. But when you consider the plain lawlessness which young supporters and members of the ruling party have indulged in (read Chhatra League and Jubo League here), there is little of the appreciative about the government. It has not been able to rein in these young people. With three years to go before the next spate of general elections, the Awami League, as the party of government, patently needs to re-invigorate itself. It has not governed badly, but along the way it appears to be losing its sense of purpose. Ministers have spoken in discordant voices; lawmakers have acted in less than democratic fashion. The change the

party promised before the 2008 elections has not come to pass. It has been politics as usual. The feeling, a worrying one, grows that what ought to have been parliamentary government is fast dwindling into prime ministerial administration. Change, ladies and gentlemen, is yet a long way off. Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star.

The Climate Change Challenge DR. ABDUL MATIN examines the causes and effects of global warming and how to counter it. Global warming has become one of the most serious environmental problems now threatening the livelihood of millions of people and the economies of many developing countries including Bangladesh. It is believed that increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere are responsible for global warming. Other major environmental problems affecting Bangladesh include reduced flow of water in the rivers, pollution of water, air and soil with adverse effects on agriculture, health, flora and fauna. Since about 1750, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases have been increasing steadily. The present atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is about 391 ppm by volume. The increase of carbon dioxide concentration from 1958 to 20061 is shown in Fig. 1. Different scenarios project carbon dioxide concentration to increase to a range of 541-970 ppm by the year 2100. The emissions of carbon dioxide by selected countries, based on recently available data2, are shown in Table-1. The table shows that while China tops the list in total emissions, USA has the highest per capita emission. As expected, the emission by Bangladesh is very low both in terms of total and per capita emissions due to low consumption of energy. The irony is that, with one of the lowest emission rates of greenhouse gases, Bangladesh has become one of the most vulnerable countries to global warming. Global temperatures on both land and sea have increased by 0.75 0C relative to the period 1860-1900 due to global warming. Increasing global temperatures are believed to be

causing climatic changes and variations. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 20073 confirms that the average temperature of the global ocean has increased. This rise of temperature causes sea water to expand, contributing to sea level rise. The glaciers are also melting in both the hemispheres, thus causing further increases in sea level. Global average sea level rose at an average rate of 1.8 mm per year from 1961 to 2003. The rate was faster during 1993 to 2003, about 3.1 mm per year. Droughts have been more intense over wider areas since 1970s. The pattern of rainfall has changed. Heavy rainfalls during off seasons and at unusual places causing severe floods have been observed. Changes in extreme temperatures have been noticed over the last 50 years. There are now more hot days and hot nights and less cold days and cold nights than before. The IPCC predicts that by the end of the 21st century, climate change will result in a probable temperature rise between 1.8C and 4C, with a possible temperature rise between 1.1C and 6.4C. The sea level rise is most likely to be 18-79 cm. As a result of the sea level rise, vast low lying coastal areas, including those in Bangladesh, may go under water with disastrous effects on agriculture, ecology and economy. It is further postulated that climate change will have significant impacts, including increased stress on water supplies and a widening threat of species extinction. Agriculture and forestry will be badly affected. Natural disasters may be more frequent and severe. New kinds of diseases may affect both human and animal health. To reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol4 was signed on December 11, 1997 and it entered into force on February 16, 2005. According to this protocol, the industrialised countries are due to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change5 agreed that the developed countries were mainly responsible for the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases. It was also agreed that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries would grow to meet their social and economic development. At the United Nations Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change6 in December 2009, the United States of America, India, Brazil, South Africa and China came to an agrement to combat global warming without any specific agenda on emissions. The agreement, however, committed the countries to keep global warming at or below 2 degrees Celsius. It also promised US$ 30 billion in funding to battle climate change by 2012. In December 2010, more than 190 countries agreed at the UN-led conference on global warming and climate change at Cancun in Mexico7 to take 'urgent action' to limit temperature rises to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and asked for studies on 'strengthening the commitment to 1.5 degrees Celsius'. The agreement requires wealthy countries to cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020

compared with 1990 levels. The United States of America, not being a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, is not bound by this section of the resolution. The Cancun Conference also agreed to set up a "Green Climate Fund" to administer assistance to poor nations, which are already experiencing more floods, droughts and other climatic variations. The fund is designed to distribute 100 billion dollars per year by 2020, while European Union, Japan and the United States of America pledged 30 billion dollars as immediate assistance. Various mechanisms are available for the reduction of carbon dioxide emission8 The Climate Change Challenge DR. ABDUL MATIN examines the causes and effects of global warming and how to counter it.

AMIRUL RAJIV Global warming has become one of the most serious environmental problems now threatening the livelihood of millions of people and the economies of many developing countries including Bangladesh. It is believed that increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere are responsible for global warming. Other major environmental problems affecting Bangladesh include reduced flow of water in the rivers, pollution of water, air and soil with adverse effects on agriculture, health, flora and fauna. Since about 1750, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases have been increasing steadily. The present atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is about 391 ppm by volume. The increase of carbon dioxide concentration from 1958 to 20061 is shown in Fig. 1. Different scenarios project carbon dioxide concentration to increase to a range of 541-970 ppm by the year 2100.

The emissions of carbon dioxide by selected countries, based on recently available data2, are shown in Table-1. The table shows that while China tops the list in total emissions, USA has the highest per capita emission. As expected, the emission by Bangladesh is very low both in terms of total and per capita emissions due to low consumption of energy. The irony is that, with one of the lowest emission rates of greenhouse gases, Bangladesh has become one of the most vulnerable countries to global warming. Global temperatures on both land and sea have increased by 0.75 0C relative to the period 1860-1900 due to global warming. Increasing global temperatures are believed to be causing climatic changes and variations. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 20073 confirms that the average temperature of the global ocean has increased. This rise of temperature causes sea water to expand, contributing to sea level rise. The glaciers are also melting in both the hemispheres, thus causing further increases in sea level. Global average sea level rose at an average rate of 1.8 mm per year from 1961 to 2003. The rate was faster during 1993 to 2003, about 3.1 mm per year. Droughts have been more intense over wider areas since 1970s. The pattern of rainfall has changed. Heavy rainfalls during off seasons and at unusual places causing severe floods have been observed. Changes in extreme temperatures have been noticed over the last 50 years. There are now more hot days and hot nights and less cold days and cold nights than before. The IPCC predicts that by the end of the 21st century, climate change will result in a probable temperature rise between 1.8C and 4C, with a possible temperature rise between 1.1C and 6.4C. The sea level rise is most likely to be 18-79 cm. As a result of the sea level rise, vast low lying coastal areas, including those in Bangladesh, may go under water with disastrous effects on agriculture, ecology and economy. It is further postulated that climate change will have significant impacts, including increased stress on water supplies and a widening threat of species extinction. Agriculture and forestry will be badly affected. Natural disasters may be more frequent and severe. New kinds of diseases may affect both human and animal health. To reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol4 was signed on December 11, 1997 and it entered into force on February 16, 2005. According to this protocol, the industrialised countries are due to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change5 agreed that the developed countries were mainly responsible for the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases. It was also agreed that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries would grow to meet their social and economic development. At the United Nations Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change6 in December 2009, the United States of America, India, Brazil, South Africa and China came to an agrement to combat global warming without any specific agenda on emissions. The agreement, however, committed the countries to keep global warming at or below 2 degrees Celsius. It also promised US$ 30 billion in funding to battle climate change by 2012. In December 2010, more than 190 countries agreed at the UN-led conference on global warming and climate change at Cancun in Mexico7 to take 'urgent action' to limit temperature rises to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and asked for studies on 'strengthening the commitment to 1.5 degrees Celsius'. The agreement requires wealthy countries to cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The United States of America, not being a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, is not bound by this section of the resolution. The Cancun Conference also agreed to set up a "Green Climate Fund" to administer assistance to poor nations, which are already experiencing more floods, droughts and other climatic variations. The fund is designed to distribute 100 billion dollars per year by 2020, while European Union, Japan and the United States of America pledged 30 billion dollars as immediate assistance. Various mechanisms are available for the reduction of carbon dioxide emission8. These include increasing the efficiencies of fossil fuel fired power plants, switching power generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and to nuclear energy, energy conservation and storing of carbon dioxide at major source points, development of new carbon sinks, etc. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a system to mitigate climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from major sources such as power plants and subsequently storing it away safely instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration is a process to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Various methods of artificially capturing and storing carbon, as well as enhancing natural sequestration processes, are being explored. The main natural process is photosynthesis by plants and single-celled organism, like algae. Probable options for natural sinks are reforestration and cultivation of algae. Being one of the most vulnerable countries, Bangladesh has been playing a vital role in all international conferences on climate change, demanding cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and compensation for mitigation of the effects of climate change. Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 20099 stipulates construction of embankments and cyclone shelters, raising the levels of roads and rail lines, development of new varieties of crops that are resistant to drought, flood and salinity, better management of irrigation water, reforestation and provision of drinking water and healthcare facilities in the affected areas. Bangladesh is likely to get substantial compensation from the proposed Green Climate Fund. We must make realistic and effective plans and build up our managerial capability for proper and transparent utilisation of all climate funds. Without such measures, all efforts for mitigation of the effects of climate change will go in vain.

Bangladesh is situated at the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, forming the largest delta in the world. Alluvial soil deposited by 57 trans-boundary rivers has created one of the most fertile plains in the world with an estimated population of over 160 million. Most parts of Bangladesh are less than 12 m (39.4 ft) above seal level. Because of this unique geophysical location, Bangladesh is bestowed with a rich biological diversity. The Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove and home to the famous royal Bengal tigers and spotted deer, is situated in the southern coastal region of Bangladesh. Due to a high population density (~1,100 per sq. km), the pressure on both water and land has been multiplying. The flow of water in the rivers is already reduced substantially because of diversion of water for irrigation and other uses upstream in India. Most of the water bodies get dried up during the winter mainly due to irrigation. This is causing irreversible damages to both flora and fauna besides affecting navigability. Many varieties of fish and other aquatic species have already disappeared. The remaining water bodies are getting polluted due to excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in rural areas and discharge of untreated industrial and municipal wastes in urban areas. The World Conservation Union in 2000 classified 40% of Bangladesh's freshwater fish species, the major source of animal protein to the local population, as threatened with extinction. Because of shortage of surface AMIRUL RAJIV water, both irrigation and supply of potable water have become heavily dependent on underground aquifers. Consequently, the underground water levels have gone down substantially without being recharged regularly. In many places, the underground water has been contaminated with arsenic. This has become a serious health hazard in many areas in Bangladesh. It is reported that arsenic has also entered into the human food chain, mainly the staple food rice, in some places. The water problem is likely to be more acute as more water is likely to be diverted upstream of the rivers, both in India and China. We must reduce our dependence on underground aquifers to avoid possible soil subsidence. To solve the water crisis, there is an urgent need of a mega-plan for storage and management of surface water.

The pressure on land and the demand for firewood are causing large-scale deforestation in Bangladesh, particularly in the preserved areas of Sundarbans, Modhupur, Bhawal, Chittagong and other places. According to a USAID report10, "Bangladesh now has among the smallest areas of protected and intact forest in the world, consisting of 1.4% of its landmass." Steps have, however, been taken by the government to plant more trees and to reverse the process of deforestation. The unplanned disposal of solid wastes, particularly polyethylene bags, caused serious threats to the soil and the drainage systems in urban areas. There has been some improvement to this problem due to restrictions imposed by the government on the manufacture and sale of polyethylene bags. Local air pollution is observed in some urban areas and other places due to exhausts coming from automobiles, brick kilns, power plants and small diesel generators. The government enacted the Bangladesh Ecological Conservation Act 1995 "for conservation, improvement of environmental standards and control and mitigation of environmental pollution". Other major preservation laws include Bangladesh Wild Life (Preservation) Order of 1973, the Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1983, the Brick Burning (Control) Act of 1983, etc. Unfortunately, these laws are not being applied rigidly even though the government recently set up environmental courts to take legal action against pollution. Strict legal action is necessary against major industrial and municipal polluters and violators of the preservation laws. Legal action alone is not, however, enough for conservation of the environment and preservation of wild life, flora and fauna. What is more important is the creation of public awareness. For conservation of the environment, there should be more dissemination of information through the news and electronic media. Mass awareness is essential to reduce degradation of the environment. Environmental science should be taught at all schools and colleges as a compulsory subject. Efforts must continue more vigorously to control the population growth which is the root cause of environmental degradation. We must remember that we have only one country and one planet. We must conserve the environment to save our country and the planet. The survival of humanity will depend on how we treat the environment.

Of Youth and Optimism SHAYERA MOULA ponders over the give-and-take relationship between the nation and its youth. "No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline." AMIRUL RAJIV Every generation is sworn to believe that they are ambitiously unsound compared to their preceding ones. Bangladeshi youth, more often than not, do a good job handling optimism in a nation that provides fewer great jobs for a massive pool of talent, enthrals everyone with hours of traffic jam, and refuses to withdraw from the vicious cycle of political instability. One should celebrate the patience, which is often tested to its limits, as the youth struggle to keep up with global competition, the latest technology market and attempts to fulfil the highest of

expectations demanded from careers, families and the society at large. The complexities of control over mind and body in the era of corporate competition and the aggressive economy have set in motion certain ideologies. This generation has come to terms with the fact that they can never afford to buy their own land, a house or apartment or even a car without the default structure of long-lasting loans which in itself, as we are aware, have caused worldwide damage to a global economic meltdown. The relationship between the nation and its youth, however, is never a pessimistic one. Considering the strong current of waves that are thrown hard at the youth, nobody has actually given up. There is no massive genocide, there is no large anti-nationalist parties charging the streets every day and, most importantly, there is no lack of hope. A history of anticipation Some of the biggest movements towards the Independence of Bangladesh have a rich history of the nation's young blood and dedication engraved within it. In February 21 of 1952, students had begun gathering on the premises of Dhaka University in defiance of Section 144. In the early hours they gathered at the university gate in an attempt to break the police line, where some students ran in to the Dhaka Medical College and others rallied towards the university premises. Numerous arrests of these students were made to which more violence broke out and after a group of students had sought to storm into the East Bengal Legislative Assembly to block the legislators' way, the police opened fire and killed a number of students including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar. A gathering of more than 30,000 people congregated at Curzon Hall, consisting of students initially, prompted people from all sectors and sections of the society including colleges, banks and the radio station, to boycott offices and join the procession. On February 23, Dhaka Medical College students constructed a Shaheed Smritistombho, (Monument of Martyrs) that had the words "Shaheed Smritistombho" handwritten on it, which was destroyed on February 26 by the police. More killings following more movements led to Bangla not only being the official language of Bangladesh but to February 21 being the International Language Day celebrated across the globe. That was but just the beginning of the step towards anti-segregation and nationalism. The formation of the Mukti Bahini consisted mostly of regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on March 26, 1971 but had a large population of 18-22-year-olds assisting the larger armed forces during the war. After the war "Mukti Bahini" became a term referred to all forces (military and civilian) of former East Pakistani origin fighting against the Pakistani armed forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Jahanara Imam in her "Of Blood and Fire" acknowledges the difficulty of keeping her son, Rumi, within the safety of her home only because the rage within him became too difficult to control. The spirit of his fight for the nation, be it at the cost of his life in the process, was too strong where a mother is forced to give in, she wrote in her diary: "I sacrifice you [Rumi] to the cause of the nation. You may join the war." This chemistry between the land and its youth is a worldwide phenomenon of course.