The ABC moderators seemed to be overly concerned about ”social issues”, gay marriage, abortion and contraception.   Social issues are important, but not as much to the New Hampshire voters who are more libertarian than voters here in South Carolina where the primary will be on January 21.   In addition, the ABC people were more concerned about what the candidates would be doing on a Saturday night if they were not running for President. 

The moderators of both debates were more interested in getting the candidates riled up at each other rather than a thoughtful discussion of the issues of the day.  This was especially true in both debates with Paul vs. Santorum, Hunstman vs. Romney and to a lesser extent Gingrich vs. Romney.  These candidates do not like each other.  We know that.  Tell me something I do not know. 

In the past, Ron Paul has been ignored by the moderators and by his opponets.  We all remember the “debate” CBS did in November where Paul was given 90 seconds in 90 minutes to speak.  ABC and NBC know they cannot ignore Paul as he finished 3rd in Iowa and is running 2nd in New Hampshire.  So Paul does get to talk.  However, they ask Paul about things like whether or not he will run third party instead of the issues of the campaign.  In addition, the moderators ignore the legitmate issues that only Ron Paul brings up.  These include issues like audting the Federal Reserve and the NDAA.

For these reasons, I was very disapointed in both debates.  I found them to be a collosal waste of time, especially having two of them in 12 hours.  I do not think they helped the voters of New Hampshire decide.  This is further evidence that the old media is dying a slow and painful death. 

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Muhammad ( sm ) further ruled that , not to greet one another and stop speaking to a brother Muslim, constituted serious offence and grave sin. The Muslim Ummah was regarded as a single body-politic and if anyone is hurt as if a part of the body was hurt. The social solidarity so formed was  further strengthened by five times daily prayers and weekly congregational Jum‘ah prayers. The cordiality and fellow-feeling thus produced played an active role in the coveted shifting of loyalty from tribal solidarity towards loyalty to the ideals of  Islam and Muslim Um-ma.

            The institution of zakah ( zakat), micro-economic financial help or relief to the poor section of the community, gave added strength to the social solidarity . It was a compulsory poor tax levied by Allah. Muhammad ( sm) said:  “I have been ordered  to take zakah from the wealthy and distribute it to the poor and needy”. It is stated in the holy Quran that the  people are asking: what to spend in charity? Tell them to spend the afwah, the surplus wealth in charity for the relief of the poor. Muhammad ( sm)  however fixed a minimum wealth tax, zakah, which was made obligatory. Its calculation was a simple mathematics; so that, people can easily understand and remember.

             Zakat of the crops of rain-fed lands is one-tenth of the product as the share of Allah; of the crops of irrigated lands is half of it, one-twentieth, to be paid at the time of  harvesting; for business enterprise half of half, that is,  one-fortieth, amounting to  two and half p.c. of the capital money that   remains at hand after deducting the establishment expenditure and capital assets. For animal herds there is a different approximate calculation.

            These are to be collected centrally by the ruling authorities through authorised collectors whose salary or emoluments would be paid from the zakat fund. So that, although it was put under the control and supervision of the government or Ummatic organization,  yet, the administration of zakatt was made autonomous and independent of the ruling establishments.

           Zakat being Allah’s share, the Quran has fixed up eight counts on which this is to be spent. The Quran calls it sadaqah (charity) which is for the (1) poor (2) destitude, (3) its collectors, (4) for drawing the hearts of neo-Muslims or would be Muslims (5) for the manumission of slaves,  (6) for relieving the indebted, (7) the travellers and (8) the paupers. If zakat is properly collected and appropriately spent as a social tax in a given society, alleviation of poverty can he accomplished in one single decade.

            Besides, the surplus of zakat of one area around the world can be transferred to the deficit areas anywhere inside or outside of a country. It may be noted that the Quran and reliable Hadith mention  salat (prayer) and zakat ( poor tax ) eighty two or eighty three times emphasizing obligatorness and importance of these two pillars of Islam.

            Introduction of compulsory month-long fasting for one and all from dawn to dusk in the month of  Ramadan and the fixation of the 1st day of next month of Shawal , the feast of  fast-breaking Eid festival, was the third pillar of Islam ;the fasting intensified love, loyalty and fearful cautiousness (taqwa) of the faster towards Allah.

          In spiritual terms,  Allah promised unlimited blessing to the sincere fasters and on the physiological plain its long-time, regular, strict and comprehensive abstention from eating, drinking, sexual propensities, quarrel and immoral loose talk as well as contribution of a substantial amount of Fitrah, being zakat of fasting, for each  family member, amounting to about 2 kg of wheat from each person to the poor people on the Eid day for a square family meal, substantially strengthened the social solidarity of the Ummah. It is  a unique institution for socio-moral training, something comparable to and  much more effective  than  the modern Japanese Moro-logy institutions. It is not only fasting at the day time, but  is combined with long time additional regular prayers at night and optional prayers during the last part of the night. In fact, it constitutes one full month of training  camp, of  Islamic religious institutions of prayer, fasting and charity, which exerts in addition heavy impact on the harmful fattiness and various over-eating diseases of the body. It is also a potent reducer of the bad and harmful cholesterol in the body frame.

                 Regular five times daily prayers, zakat and month  long fasting of  Ramadan , are the three main planks of the religion of Islam. These are formally counted as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th out of fives fundamentals , the 1st being faith in the doctrine of Unitarianism: kalimah, “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” and the 5th fundamental is the performance of the hajj pilgrimage to Ka’aba, the House of Allah.

              Islam is founded on these five fundamentals and all out exertion, striving, endeavor and struggle to establish these fundamentals, is called jadd wa  jihad, which means internal spiritual self exertion. the external exertion of fighting is the proper jihad which is the 6th fundamental of Islam. The inner exertion, in this regard against the propensities of the self or mind is defined as the greater jihad and the outer security and defensive struggle including defensive fighting is defined as lesser jihad.

                 There is a saying of Muhammad ( sm )  that if any mischief happens or takes place  in the society in front of a faithful person, it is his duty to rectify it by using his hands; if however he is not able to use his hands, he has to rectify it by using his tongue; if he is yet unable to use his tongue, he must hate it at heart, which is the weakest state of  faith   (Hadith).

            Obviously, faith in Islam has its obligation and responsibility which one cannot disown without losing faith. To see it from upside down, it clearly indicates that if you hate a misdeed and other faithfuls similarly hate it, it will produce the collective ability to use the tongue and collective use of tongue in righting a wrong will also generate the power to rectify it by using the hands. This circular argument  indicates that  the basic framework of jihad or self-exertion, is to be waged for creating a congenial atmosphere in the Ummatic society  in an appropriate manner  is a demand of  faith.

            These five fundamentals are the basic structure of the religious structure of  Islam. Muhammad (sm)  said: “Islam is founded on five pillars.”  He tried his best to establish them on the societal plane in a non-violent manner  at Makkah for thirteen years without visible success. At Makkah , he was not permitted by Allah to engage in any altercation or to display violent response to any attack on himself or on his  followers. He was permitted only for peaceful preaching with sabr, patience cum fortitude, and shukr, grateful forbearance.

            This is the gist of the religion of Islam , the most significant and substantive part of Islamic system of life. Had Muhammad (sm) been successful in establishing the coveted educational and religious training institutions in a freely preaching environment at Makkah, he might not have gone for political activities at all. In that case, he might have confined Islamic activities within spiritual, societal and formal religious arena. Contd. To part-VI

The authors of this article seem to embrace the idea that social class inequality is constructed by government policies. They have used specific examples to support their views. They identified that the quality of health care and education that families receive are strongly affected by government action. Also, social policy significantly influences the rewards individuals receive from having achieved their position in society. Expanding on the idea that social policies shape the structure of rewards, examples backing this claim are the fact that laws provide the ground rules for the marketplace – rules covering incorporation, patents, wages, working conditions, unionization, security transaction, taxes, which based on what kind of political platform the rules are created from, may widen or narrow the difference in income and earnings amongst families of different social classes. Adding on to that, many government programs affect inequality through tax deductions, food stamps, social security, Medicare, and corporate subsidies.

The authors do not believe that social class inequality is natural and inevitable. Instead they believe that a person’s social environment, which includes but isn’t limited to family, neighborhood, school, and community provide or withhold the means for attaining higher class positions in American society, in part by providing people with marketable skills. In short terms the authors believe that social class inequality is created. The notion of the ladder or the foot race have to do with this idea because there are metaphors that relate to this idea that social class inequality is constructed by government and politics. For example, government policies may loosen markets or regulate them, which may provide services to all citizens or ration them according to income, by subsidizing some groups more them others. In essence, through its politics, our government has the ability to build our social ladders. The idea of a footrace is a metaphor for who gets ahead and who falls behind in a competition for success. In this situation, because of one’s milieu, one may have a significant head start or may be held back significantly in this race.

However, being conscious is not enough – a green person acts towards preserving the ecology and nature. So basically going green means that a person starts to mind his acts in a way beneficial for the environment. 

But at first there comes the question why exactly green. However, the answer is obvious and even a kid can answer it. The green color symbolizes plants and life. Going into detail the investigation leads us to the year 1979 when in Germany a Green Party was formed. It is said to be formed from a huge number of small environmentalist organisations. Seems a good idea but history and politics is not my strongest side.

Nowadays there are many non-political organisations promoting going green. Recently being environmentally friendly is becoming more and more of a trend. In Australia many conferences are held about what should be done to preserve the planet. Cleaning Melbourne is something that the government already made sure to be green. The tendency of more and more green products on the market is a pretty positive one.

But how exactly going green happens. There is not a particular method – most of the times it is containing of several steps. Saving resources is the main thing. Water, electricity, fossil fuels. People often think that with a small change nothing can be achieved. However, this is a fatal misconception. Each one of us should make small steps towards the preservation of the environment. Cleaners in Melbourne know that and this is why they started to develop those green cleaning products.

Md. Rezaul Karim

Assistant Professor

Southern University Bangladesh

1. INTRODUCTION

A society is a collective body of people having something in common. In other words, when a number of people collectively form a class or an association or a community, it is called society. This is why, a developed society is the result of good performance of a well developed human resource. It means that societal welfare or development depends on its human resource. In fact, these two are so inter related issues that the development of one is complementary to the other. It has been marked out that human society has been continually moving forward to reach its ultimate destination of ever prevailing peace, happiness and success era since the very dawn of civilization. In the new millennium context of the present day a modern society needs to cope with the typhoon like waves of globalization, liberalization and privatization issues. And so it is really difficult on the part of a traditional society to keep pace with such giant trends of the 21st denture economy. As a result, the development issues of transforming the traditional people and society into a well-trained human resource team and effective and true society, proper initiatives are needed. Being a poor country Bangladesh too, needs to address these issues with careful attention. For this purpose, the paper aims at contribution of HRD and social development programs in the overall development of Bangladesh.

2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The present wave of new millennium like economic liberalization and globalization has brought a number of opportunities for dominance and also some threats for the survival of many countries. In this situation of the present day a country thus badly requires a well Developed HR to have a well-developed society. And Bangladesh is such a country which Is lagging behind the journey of progress only due to a great number of its untrained, illiterate and unskilled over population. Moreover, political situation of the country is not the stable one. She has experienced various types of rulings under autocratic to improper democratic system. As a result, the country is yet to form a good economic and societal development base even after thirty three (33) years of her independence. In a situation like this, a well-trained and developed HR can be an effective guide to overcome the prevailing problems and cope with the social development issues. This paper thus aims at exploring on the emergence of an effective HRD to ensure a good society for the Bangladeshis so that a smooth journey towards real progress can be made.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to make a correlation between HRD and social development issues of Bangladesh. The detailed objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To know about the HRD and social development programs and their contribution

    in overall development of the country

2.To draw a SWOT analysis.

3.To suggest findings and recommendations to make both the HRD and social development programs successful for an effective overall development.

4. SAMPLING DESIGN

The present study concentrates on altogether 50 individual respondents who have been chosen from various occupational groups and are somehow concerned with this.

5. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

This study is the embodiment of data collection from both the primary and secondary sources. Primary data have been collected through a recent survey on 50 sample respondents of different occupational groups on the basis of random sampling. Data have been collected by a set of questionnaire and through direct interview and email from the respondents. Later on an in depth SWOT analysis has been initiated on the concerned issue of Bangladesh based on the opinions of the respondents. To collect the secondary data different books, journals, magazines and web sites relevant to the issue have been studied and browsed to reveal the fact.

6. HRD AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BANGLADESH.

Bangladesh is a poor and densely populated country. Whose population has experienced a tremendous explosion from 42 million in 1941 to 123.15 million in 2001.1 Keeping pace with such trend of population growth she has already taken many human resource and social development programs for her overall development. These programs are mainly taken by the Government and Non-government authorities. They are mainly related to quality education, health, people empowerment, and entrepreneurship development.

6.1.Education for people and society: Knowledge is power, which makes a human being intelligent. While education enhances this knowledge to convert an intelligent into versatile. It is considered as one of the key determinants of the life style and status that an individual enjoys in a society. Getting education people become mature regarding the various aspects of life such as reproductive health, contraceptive usage, etc. So, Government and NGO’s have given much importance to various educational programs. Education for all, Food for Education, Full Free Primary Education, Upa britee (Stipend) and free education for girls up to the Higher Secondary School level, ‘Mass Education’ ‘Total Literacy Movement’ etc., are some examples of various educational programs taken by the Government NGO’s have also taken many non-formal education program to contribute in raising literacy among general population such as adult education. As a result, impressive progress has been achieved in expanding basic and elementary education. Fore instance, the literacy rate in Bangladesh has increased from 36 percent to 66 percent.2

Apart from the primary secondary and higher secondary level education, ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level education under University of London and University of Cambridge and Islam-based Arabic medium Madrasa level education also exist in the country. This year (FY 2004-05) Govt. has allocated BDT 7,680 crore for the education sector, which is 13.4 percent of the total budget. In order to develop an effective society the Government has also taken massive program of human resource development (HRD) through the establishment of technical institutes for training and permitting many franchise-training institutions especially in ICT and software development sectors. The Government also has set up an open University for liberal and distance education, National University to administer college education across the country and 50 private universities to make higher education accessible to all. Providing primary education to almost 97 percent children has already been ensured. This rate is the highest amongst the developing countries.3

6.2 Health: A good society cannot be developed without good health and nutrition facilities for its members. Health service through good and experienced doctor, adequate nursing, quality pathological test facility, cleanliness, etc., is prerequisite for the development of a good human resource and in consequence a good society. But the quality of health services available at public hospitals is not satisfactory in Bangladesh. Due to that different ministries of Bangladesh have taken several initiatives of improving health condition of the country’s population. Some of the programs are-

6.2.1: Maternal Nutrition and Adolescent Health Program: In order to address adolescent’s sexual and reproductive issues, including the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, HIV/AIDS; strengthen the school health education programme, increase the use of contraceptives by newly married couples, give safe-delivery care to pregnant women, etc, a five (5) year program of Health and population sector programme was implemented by the ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 1998.

6.2.2: School Health Pilot Project (SHPP): This program has begun in  1996 under the world Bank’s Fourth Population and Health Project (FPHP)’ emphasizing health education through the regular school curriculum. The program aims at building a healthy nation by raising awareness among students, and through students to parents and others in the community, on primary health care issues, common diseases, RH and HIV/AIDS.

6.2.3: Health, Nutrition, Population Sector Programme (HNPSP): This is a three-year program with an outlay of BDT 9,410 crore. HNPSP has been launched to make the improved health services available to the doorsteps of the people.

Besides the above mentioned programs the Government of Bangladesh has introduced Post graduate courses in 6 medical colleges and two institutions for increasing the number of specialist doctors in the country. Steps have also been taken to establish a Medical University at the national level and approval has given to establish 7 new medical colleges and 8 health institutes in the private sector.4

In the proposed budget for Financial Year 2004-2005 an allocation of BDT 3, 732 crore for the health sector has been made to establish new hospitals, increase beds in the existing hospitals, fill up all vacant post of doctors, nurses, medical technologists and health assistants along with all other vacant posts; create new posts and increase supply of medicine and medial equipment to the hospitals.5

NGOs have also done an excellent contribution in society development through their health service programs in rural areas of Bangladesh. In 2001, BRAC has undertaken the following pilot projects in collaboration with different funding agencies:

• The Micro-health Insurance Programme.
• Community Based Arsenic Mitigation Project
• Early Childhood Development Project
• Newborn Health Care Initiative
• Public-Private Partnership Project 

With the implementation of both the government and NGO’s health program, Bangladesh has made an impressive gain in the health development sector. For example the rate of stunting for children in the age group of 0- 59 months has gone down from 55- 45 percent during 1996 –2000 and the proportion of under weight children has gone down from 56-48 percent during the same period.6 Likewise the proportion of malnourished mothers at 45 percent in 1999-2000has been improved over 52 percent estimated for 1996-97.While due to certain negative socio cultural norms such as women’s subordination, negative attitude towards women’s involvement in formal employment, unequal access to food and health care and so on, The girls who had higher MUAC value, BMI and weight compared to boys up to class VII – X are found more stunted and under weight than boys. As a result the female male- gap for the severely stunted increased from 10 percent in 1996- 1997 to 16 percent in 19992000.7

6.3. Women Development: In present day statistic women are representing the half of the total population of the world. But their share in business and trade and contribution to leadership and management is very poor. Time has come for women to come out of the drudgery of housework and give vent to creativity and entrepreneurship.8 Moreover no sustainable development can be achieved without the active participation of women, the half of the humanity. Article 27 of Bangladesh constitution laid down that all citizens are equal before law which means that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on ground only of sex and so they have equal rights in all spheres of state and public life.9

But it is a matter of great regret that the overall condition of women in Bangladesh is not a pleasant one. In many cases they are often victimized by the male dominated society. For example rape, murder, acid throwing, physical torture, etc have become regular incident in their daily life.

It is also true that Bangladesh has achieved considerable success in mainstreaming women into the development process. The women oriented programs of both Government and NGO, s have earned commendable success in the fields ranging from micro credit to ready made garments, elementary education, child health and nutrition, family planning. As a result, participation of women in socioeconomic activities of Bangladesh is increasing which will significantly widen her labor market in near future. At present according to the text of the proposed budget for year 2004-2005,more than 1 core 20 lakh women in Bangladesh are self employed through successful utilization of micro credit facilities and over 18 lakh women are now employed in garment industries. In politic as well the number of women participants is increasing. More than 14 thousand elected women representatives in the local bodies are performing their responsibilities. To continue women development through the establishment of their rights a law creating 45 reserved seats for women has recently been enacted in the parliament.

6. 4 Entrepreneurship Development: Poverty is a barrier for any country particularly in Bangladesh. Reduction of poverty is one of the preconditions of developing an effective society and to do so the initiative of developing human resource through the Entrepreneurship Development program bears much significance. The Govt. of Bangladesh and NGOs have taken many steps in this regard. Some of these programs are-

6.4.1 Private Sector Development: The Government has already taken some measures to encourage the private sectors investment with the purpose to reduce investment cost the bank rate has been reduced from 6 percent to 5 percent. An allocation has also been made for the infrastructural development amounting BDT 4,351 for energy and power sector and BDT 4,480 for roads and highways.

6.4.2 Employment Generation: The renowned NGO, S in Bangladesh namely Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Micro – Industries Development Assistance and Services (MIDAS), etc, have taken many village oriented income generation schemes through employment generation programs. For example, these NGO,S offer reasonable loan amount to the individual entrepreneurs in the project like fishery, dairy, poultry farms, handicrafts, cottage and small industries etc.  Most of the programs are encouraged under micro credit program. To encourage micro-credit program this year beside the NGO, s the Govt. for the first time allocated BDT 345 crore under non-development budget and BDT 5,200 crore under the development budget. Table exhibits the sector wise budget allocation for year 2004- 2005 by the Govt. in micro credit programs.

  7. SWOT ANALYSIS

In this section an effort has been made to draw a Strength-Weakness-Opportunity & Threat (SWOT) analysis. The field survey based on the opinions of the respondents has revealed different areas, which have been exhibited, in the tables ranging from Table3 to Table4.

7.1 Strengths (S) Table3: Strengths of Bangladesh in HRD and Social Development Program

Source: Field Survey   7.2 Weakness (W) Table4: Weakness of Bangladesh in HRD and Social Development Program

Source: Field Survey

7.3 Opportunity (O) Table5: Opportunities of Bangladesh in HRD and Social Development Program

Source: Field Survey

7.4 Threats (T) Table6: Treats of Bangladesh in HRD and Social Development Program

Source: Field Survey

8. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

On the basis of our findings an endeavor has been taken to make a list of recommendations.

8.1   To enrich the knowledge and basic education, contents or course materials need to be thoroughly modernized by keeping consistency with the national priorities. In this regard a consistent pace can be maintained in redesigning the traditional curriculum and creating a new and standard one for the basic education to higher education. This will encourage the development of human resources and society as a whole to cope with the millennium challenges.

8.2     In order to ensure better education in academic and professional training institutes the implementation of the following options can be taken into consideration. They are –

                                            I.      Increased counseling.

                                         II.      Extended times for teacher –student contact hours.

                                       III.      Lowered size of the student classroom ratio.

                                      IV.      Adequate lab, practical and project work related facilities

8.3. In order to prevent and reduce the rate of disease transmission and relieve burden on curative health services measures such as safe water supply and improved and hygienic sanitation can be encouraged.

8.4. Teachers, Officers and students can be given training on first-aid. Moreover essay competition, debate on health issues can be arranged.

8.5. Seminar and workshop in different institutions counseling and presentation through personal initiative, mass media (including video drama, folk songs, television show etc.) can be taken to improve the health conditions of the country’s people.

8.6. Immediate steps are needed to reach health services on a priority basis to the poor and to the areas, which are comparatively deprived of health services.

8.7. Traditional mentality needs to be changed, Discrimination on male- female needs to be stopped. In fact, Bangladesh needs to make a major effort to achieve gender equality at higher secondary and tertiary level.

8.9               A national consensus if can be developed (i.e. not only in paper /documents but also in real life) and programs like financial assistance, entrepreneurship and educational development can be implemented successfully, we do believe that our people will be empowered and act as valuable asset in developing country.

8.10            Governments, NGO’s, Social organizations must have to come forward with various informative programs like public awareness, campaign, advocacy and advisory work, media exposure to provide financial, wealth and health news and guidelines, protection techniques for unwanted pregnancies, etc. Apart from that these organization must give emphasis on eradicating the wrong and old beliefs of traditional people so that the rate of oppression of human rights violation tendency /rate can be lowered and finally stopped.

8.11            Allocation of budget needs to be increased to enhance income generating schemes (IGS) through the implementation of poverty alleviation, entrepreneurship development, etc. Moreover providing free of cost technical training to the poor men and women, a self-reliant creative and self motivated human resource can be developed. Regular counseling, motivational trainings and reward systems need to be developed and well organized to encourage and support a smooth HRD.

8.12            Eradicating the social disease like redtapism, favoritism, relativism, etc, from the banking and other financial sectors a proper flow of adequate finance needs to be arranged. In this case, the lengthy procedures need to be simplified to tap the benefits of institutional financial market.

8.13            Cooperation to market the produce needs to be ensured by the government and leading private enterprises so that the rural poor entrepreneurs can continue their income generating programs.

8.14 Well thought provoking curriculum has to be developed focusing the area of fundamental business concept to high business analysis skill.

8.15 To survive in the open market economy flexible financial facilities such as tax holiday needs to be ensured for the domestic companies.

8.16 Regular training facilities have to be arranged for the up-to date training of the trainers.

.

9. CONCLUSIONS

From the experience of the last few years of this new millennium it is very clear that a society must be well developed to cope with the challenges and opportunities of globalization, liberalization, privatization, free market economy and rigorous Information & Communication Technology. But the developed countries are still wondering in finding out a feasible solution to manage these 21st century challenges and opportunities let alone developing country like Bangladesh. Human Resource Development is the most appropriate solution in this regard. It is because if a competent human resource can be developed its impact will automatically be seen in the society. The reason is both societal and human resource development are interrelated. In the paper if after a careful study on the SWOT analysis, the recommendations placed can be followed to bring political, administrative, economical, technological, infrastructural and legal reform; then overall development of the country will be ensured.

10. REFERENCES

1. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, December 2002, P.62.

2. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 1999-2000. P. 15. 

3. Text of proposed budget 2004-05. The independent, June 11,04. p.15

4. ibid

5. ibid

6. Bangladesh Demographic and health survey, op-cit

7. Ibid 

8. Kaur, Narinder (1996), “ Women entrepreneurship in India – A case study”, Management Challenges by the year 2000 and beyond : Bangladesh perspective, Dhaka 123.

9. Chowhury Ahmeds Rafi (1994) “ Women in Social development in Bangladesh”, paper presented in conference on “ Implementation of status of Nairob Forward looking strategies “ Dhaka 1-3

Leroy Fick from Auburn got two million dollars from the state lottery, but still has the right to social assistance because, under the laws of the state, the winnings from the lottery do not count as regular income of the citizens.
- As long as the income of Fick doesn’t get higher then the prescribed amount he won, he will still be awarded stamps for food, regardless of the fact that he has a bank account worth a few million dollars – said Fick’s lawyer.

He added that it is the state which has concluded that Fick may be a user of coupons, so it is a problem of the law, and not Fick’s problem, regardless of the fact that the food stamps are intended for low-income families.
- If you think that I would feel bad about it or regret it, you are wrong – concluded Fick.

How fair do you think this is?

If you are not sure, take a look at these photos of poor and hungry people who can’t afford food.

These were native events – - cataclysmic to stand for undeniable, but an expected by – product of go on an exorbitantly – changing and unstable planet. We constraint certainly advance on our intelligence to prepare for them, and the speed and intensity of our response to the victims, but for all our spirit and technological sophistication, we cannot prohibit their adventure. 

To emotionally cope curtain their aftermath, we guilt reframe the tragedy of events by a polestar on how disasters liability bring out the primo control our usually flawed human competition. 

We encumbrance case to conservative, snowy – particular Texas towns that opened their arms, and their hearts, to underage – stricken African Americans fleeing the floods of Untrained Orleans. 

We incumbency stand astonished but illustrious at the gifts of nutriment and shelter and support that the semi – hippies of the Fantasy Union brought to stricken merited – wing dudes repercussion teeny Mississippi towns. 

We rap beholding around a football field seat donors stood ropes line to hand whatever they could. 

We care bow our public string awe before the families who opened up their homes to those who had insignificancy desolate. 

We charge honour the volunteers who took board, sodden, blankets and generators to devastated areas, moving faster and adumbrate too many commitment than the reluctant minions of the Federal Government. 

We all lead lives rife with potentialities. It takes certain conditions, combined with inner decisions, to convert them into realities. The best of us, staring destruction, anguish, and utter desolation in the face, rise to the occasion. From banal, self – centered, unremarkable lives, we seize the chance to become more than we have been, to harness our own promise, to dare the heroic. 

Disasters provide us with unique opportunities. It is not that we wish anyone pain but suffering is part of life. When it happens, it brings darkness to its victims but also the chance for fellow men to kindle a new and brighter light that enriches our species, our spirits, and our future.

 42 oldness ago, we sat supremacy front of our television sets guidance the works shock. When the much totally cool Walter Cronkite this day invisible irrefutable on a aware broadcast, he represented faces all over America, frozen pull grief and abnegation. 

It was an innocent season. Youthful, vigorous, charismatic, and eloquent, Finances Kennedy represented the dreams of the new. Into a political cosmos filled smuggle beat aged detached manliness, he and his passionate Spick-and-span England intelligentsia swept same a fresh wind that promised a fashionable macrocosm progression and unlimited thinkable for all of us. We loved his accent, his hair, his humor, and his energy. We couldn ‘ t wait to clip the Tranquillity Corps and reassemble the terrene. 

For oldness, we quietly asked each other: Where were you when Kennedy was shot? We all knew fine locus we were and what we were perspicacity when the news came. Corporeal was a moment frozen sway point, a abundant divide between the promise that had shined whence brightly and the remote darkness that property ahead touching the brilliant had been thus prematurely extinguished. 

Later, the disbelief of an dogface struggle, a string of assassinations, riots monopoly the streets, and the paranoia of a secretive administration, would return their levy on our dreams, our wanting to participate and to serve, and our idea command our leaders. 

We put away our optimism, our social warmth, and our breezy suspicion mastery our power to shape a continuing irregularity. We moved into specialty, raised families, fabricated resources, and withdrew from the streets. We stopped marching, stopped voting, stopped caring. We kiss goodbye our sense of entrustment and the love network our fray for equality and quiet slowly mini. 

When I enjoin at toil: Seat were you when Kennedy was shot, I am greeted by blank stares from staff who weren ‘ t exact conceived ropes 1963. Despite the pain of that time, I feel deep sorrow for those who never had the opportunity to experience the excitement and euphoria of Camelot. 

As the old saw states, ” It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. ” We lost a great and important part of ourselves on that grassy knoll in Dallas. But we are better people for the elation he gave us, the dreams he inspired, and the deep commitment to our fellow man that he generated within us. 

Those who missed that rare shining moment are, all unaware, diminished in their souls. And those of us who were lucky enough to have that spirit enter our lives, however briefly, must each mourn his death alone. 

Happy trails, Jack.

 The suffering and trauma secluded prestige the wake of last stretch ‘ s tsunami agency Southeast Asia, our own hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, the earthquake leverage Kashmir, and the mud slides of Central America, cannot act for ignored. But none of these were man – prepared acts that we guilt endeavor to eradicate, equivalent violence or the savagery of tyrants. 

These were native events – - cataclysmic to stand for undeniable, but an expected by – product of go on an exorbitantly – changing and unstable planet. We constraint certainly advance on our intelligence to prepare for them, and the speed and intensity of our response to the victims, but for all our spirit and technological sophistication, we cannot prohibit their adventure. 

To emotionally cope curtain their aftermath, we guilt reframe the tragedy of events by a polestar on how disasters liability bring out the primo control our usually flawed human competition. 

We encumbrance case to conservative, snowy – particular Texas towns that opened their arms, and their hearts, to underage – stricken African Americans fleeing the floods of Untrained Orleans. 

We incumbency stand astonished but illustrious at the gifts of nutriment and shelter and support that the semi – hippies of the Fantasy Union brought to stricken merited – wing dudes repercussion teeny Mississippi towns. 

We rap beholding around a football field seat donors stood ropes line to hand whatever they could. 

We care bow our public string awe before the families who opened up their homes to those who had insignificancy desolate. 

We charge honour the volunteers who took board, sodden, blankets and generators to devastated areas, moving faster and adumbrate too many commitment than the reluctant minions of the Federal Government. 

We all lead lives rife with potentialities. It takes certain conditions, combined with inner decisions, to convert them into realities. The best of us, staring destruction, anguish, and utter desolation in the face, rise to the occasion. From banal, self – centered, unremarkable lives, we seize the chance to become more than we have been, to harness our own promise, to dare the heroic. 

Disasters provide us with unique opportunities. It is not that we wish anyone pain but suffering is part of life. When it happens, it brings darkness to its victims but also the chance for fellow men to kindle a new and brighter light that enriches our species, our spirits, and our future.

Over half of English immigrants came to the colonies as indentured servants, working 5 to 10 years for those who paid their passage. Two-thirds of indentured servants died before their contracts ended from deprivation or disease. This country was built on the idea that those with land and finances could control the way things were ran. Race did not come into the equation of slavery until it hit the Americas before then classism ruled. Immigrants, whether, white, black or other were brought over to do the grunge work.

In the 1910s and 1920s, income distribution became more and more unequal. In 1913, 44 families had incomes over 50 million a year and the majority of adult workers earned between $10 and $20 a week. Although New Deal legislation (Social Security Act, National Labor Relations Board, minimum wage, etc.) gave benefits to poor and working people, it did not change the systematic inequalities in the distribution of wealth. Under President Regan and Bush, tax cuts were given to the richest people in America. As a result, widespread homelessness, job loss, and poverty plagued their administrations.

Sadly, this is the American way. Keep the wealthy at the top and make sure that those “indentured servants” stay in their place. If not, then those with wealth don’t do a good job of convincing us otherwise. One would think that the distribution of wealth in this country would continue to spark social movements. But the idea of the American Dream is what most Americans cling to and hope that when they reach the top they can catch breaks as well. While we bask in the glory of capitalism, it is eating away at what is left of our morals, values and way of life.