1.25 lakh Bangladeshi workers see fresh hopein Bahrain

Around 1.25 lakh Bangladeshis working in Bahrain see a light of hope, as the Gulf country has decided to end the labour sponsorship system, which for long has been a way for employers to exploit foreign workers.

The new rule, which will take effect in August this year, will lead to a ‘more liberalised and dynamic’ labour market, allowing foreign workers to move from one employer to another without having to seek their sponsor’s permission, said Majeed al-Alawi, Bahrain’s minister of labour, on Tuesday.

Under the sponsorship system, employers retain passports of foreign workers and often do not allow them to change jobs, sometimes they do not even pay the workers or pay less than the promised wages. Due to the practice, some workers often flee their jobs and become illegal, losing their right to seek justice.

“Sponsorship is not humane. We think sponsorship is outdated,” Al Jazeera Online quoted al-Alawi on Thursday. “This will bring our laws into the 21st century,” al-Alawi added.

The decision, announced by the Gulf nation, marks a victory for human rights organisations, who have been criticising the controversial practice, citing instances of employers withholding pay and holding onto workers’ passports.

Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) also hailed Bahrain’s move, saying it will bring an end to the practices that caused in many cases sufferings to foreign workers including Bangladeshis.

“Workers will be able to find better jobs if they find their present jobs unsuitable, or if employers do not have jobs,” said Baira President Ghulam Mustafa.

Labour sponsorship system is existent in most of the Middle Eastern countries. Some countries however recently started thinking of scrapping it following criticisms from international human rights organisations.

Abdulla Al Derazi, secretary-general of Bahrain Human Rights Society, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the decision was a ‘courageous step’.

“This is something that the Human Rights Society in Bahrain has been asking and pushing for because [the sponsorship system] contradicts international conventions on human rights,” he said.

“It will make a big difference. This will help migrant labourers to have more opportunities of better work, rather than being restricted by one sponsor who will control them all the time.”

Under the new system, the government will take over the responsibility for providing foreign employees with work permits issued for renewable periods of two years, Al Ahmed Randhi, chief executive of Bahrain’s labour market regulatory authority, told AFP.

Randhi said the system will help Bahrain ‘conform to international regulations and human rights norms’.

Foreigners make up about a half of Bahrain’s population of just more than a million people.

Many low wage jobs in oil rich Gulf nations are filled by foreign workers, whose residency permits are often linked to a sponsoring employer.

Bahrain will become the first Gulf Arab nation to end the sponsorship system, Al Jazeera reported.

Rationing for RMG workers by May 15

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will start providing ration rice at Tk 16 a kg for garment workers in Dhaka and Chittagong by May 15.

Market price of coarse rice now is more than Tk 20 a kg while the government started procuring rice at Tk 22 per kg on May 1.

“We shall go for ration system at least on an experimental basis,” BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy told The Daily Star on Monday.

Besides, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Vice President Zahidul Hoq Bhuiya said as rice price is now going up, they will also begin ration programme for their workers. He however did not give any time limit for this.

Both the BGMEA and BKMEA had earlier planned to start food rationing for their workers in the first week of April but did not do so sensing possible complexities in the process as they did not have experience in this field.

Meanwhile, the government had decided to supply ration rice for garment workers in March as part of its plan to expand safety net programmes for low-income people. It proposed to provide ration rice for workers at Tk 18 a kg.

Salam said market price of rice at that time was Tk 22- 22.5 a kg, and around 600 to 700 factories wanted to get ration rice. A few days later, the government launched open market sale (OMS) of rice, which resulted in fall of rice price.

Leaders of the BGMEA and BKMEA then requested the government to lower price of ration rice for their workers since sale of it at Tk 18 a kg was not possible. And the government then re-fixed the price at Tk 16 a kg, which was acceptable to them (leaders).

But, Salam said, they found poor response from the workers to their plans for ration rice since the difference between its market price and ration price was small.

Asked about this, Labour leader Nazma Akhter said the BGMEA and BKMEA are quite active in demanding the government facilities for them but they do not appear to be so in the case of the rationing programme.

“They should not play with the fate of workers. The government has pledged to provide rice at lower price, and they must cooperate with it to ensure that workers are not deprived.”

She said garment workers would be greatly benefited if they get rice at Tk16 per kg.

Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque, when contacted on Monday, said, “ Garment factories can get rice from us (government) any time for their workers at the fixed price. We want availability of food to all.”

S: The Daily Star

No more privatisation of SoEs

The government will no more privatise state owned enterprises (SoE), as successful bidders have not been using the divested SoEs for purposes they had promised, said Industries Minister Dilip Barua yesterday.

Barua also suggested bringing down interest rates to single digits, as according to him, high interest rates are a major obstacle to the country’s industrialisation.

He announced that the government has no plan to allow more Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in the near future, rather it is interested in setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

Barua said the government will also review whether some closed SoEs could be reopened for generating employment.

It will not allow SoE buyers to use divested land for real estate purposes, as many of them have been doing, violating privatisation policies, the minister added.

“We have no plan to privatise any more state owned enterprises for the time being,” Barua said while seeking opinions from entrepreneurs, government high-ups, industrialists, chamber leaders, and other stakeholders concerned at a consultation meeting for formulation of the industrial policy 2009.

Seventy six SoEs have been privatised so far since 1994, and most of the divested entities are being used for purposes other than the promised ones said officials of the Privatisation Commission (PC).

According to the privatisation policy, buyers of divested SoEs must commit to continue the operations of the enterprises and rejuvenate them, but in most cases they actually change the nature of the divested SoEs and start completely different businesses on purchased properties including lands.

At the meeting held in Sonargaon Hotel of the capital, Barua said the new industrial policy 2009 will be prepared on the basis of the industrial policy for 1996-2000.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industries Ministry Tofail Ahmed attended the meeting as chief guest.

Barua said the government will identify some sectors on priority basis to provide bank loans. “Interest rates of those loans will be at single digits.”

In the proposed policy the minister identified agro-based and agro-product processing industries, ship building, renewable energy, tourism, basic chemicals, dyeing, chemical products, computer software and ICT products, and highly value adding readymade garment (RMG) industry as thrust sectors.

The other industries identified as thrust sectors are active pharmaceutical ingredients, herbal medicine, polymer, plastic, jute, leather, hospitals and clinics, light engineering, cosmetics and toiletries, furniture, diamond cutting and polishing, and handicraft.

The proposed new industrial policy also identified 17 sectors as controlled industries, and four as preserved.

The preserved industrial sectors are arms and other military equipment, atomic power, security printing, and technology adoption for forests and protected forestlands.

Barua announced that the government will also formulate a policy for making sick industries profitable, but noted that ‘the government will not allow anyone to do business in the name of sick industries’.

“We may make it mandatory to buy local products for government procurement, for the betterment of local industries,” he added.

Tofail Ahmed emphasised on establishing more backward linkage industries for sustainable industrialisation and for employment generation.

He suggested fixing industry friendly duties on imports, and incorporating the opinions of many more stakeholders in formulating the final industrial policy.

He also urged the government to impose protectionist measures to save local industries. “Many developed countries in the world are practicing protectionism to save their products, and we also have to do so to save ours,” he said.

He also requested the government to formulate an industrial policy that will increasingly attract foreign investment.

Economists and chamber leaders in their instant reactions urged the government to be more cautious in selecting bidders for divestible SoEs, so that public entities are not misused.

Dr MK Mujeri, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said the government should be more cautious in selecting bidders for divestible SoEs.

“If the government could run the industries efficiently, we would be able to generate more employment. We should select good entrepreneurs for selling the SoEs,” Mujeri said.

Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of Apex-Adelchi Footwear Limited, urged the government to modernise the processes of privatisation.

The authorities sell the SoEs to highest bidders, but the government does not notice whether the buyers have the ability or the mentality to continue and rejuvenate the operations of the divested public entities, Manzur, who is also a vice-president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI), said.

“The criteria for selecting the bidders should be modernised,” he said.

S: The Daily Star

Market for Bangladeshi labourers continues to expand

Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said the overseas market for Bangladeshi workers continues to expand and the government intends to pursue such expansion.

“This year, so far, we have already cleared 464,000 workers for employment abroad. At this rate, we should easily surpass 900,000 by year-end, which will be an all time record. Last year we had managed to send 832,000 workers abroad and it was also a record”, he said speaking to media about the government’s continuous effort. The Adviser added, “In terms of remittance, they have transmitted nearly US $4 billion so far. If this trend continues, and there is no reason why it should not, then we are also likely to hit record figures in this respect as well.”

“Of course, in consonance with our 9-point strategy, we will emphasize welfare and upgrading of skills. Problems still exist, but we are preparing to confront and overcome them to the best of our abilities”, said the Adviser, who is also in charge of Expatriate’s Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry. “The search for new markets is on-going. We are also at the final stage of preparing manpower agreements with Bahrain and Jordan”, he concluded.

Source: http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43471

EximBank launches interest-free loan for students

EximBank Ltd launched Saturday an interest-free loan scheme for college and university students, first of its kind by a financial institution in the country. The bank’s gesture as part of corporate social responsibility has brought smile to 30 students of the Dhaka University and Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. Loan recipients will get Tk3000 a month until completion of their studies.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Salehuddin Ahmed handed over the loan money to the recipients at a ceremony. He also distributed the second installment of EximBank scholarship money among 503 students.

Speaking at the ceremony the central bank chief called upon the financial institutions, including banks, to patronise educational institutions in remote areas for infrastructure development and capacity building.”Our financial institutions have already come forward providing scholarships to students as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR),” he said.Side by side providing scholarship, the BB governor said, the financial institutions should provide assistance to the educational institutions in rural areas.

The BB governor said: “We need to give due attention to capacity building of the educational institutions, especially in rural areas.” Md Nazrul Islam, chairman, Md Kazi Moshiur Rahman, managing director of EximBank Ltd, among others, spoke on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Md Nazrul Islam said: “Our support to students will continue.”

He said EximBank will continue providing interest free loan to meritorious students. “The recipients will repay the loan after getting employment,” Islam said.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=23136

Update on Jan23.01.09

The Eastern Bank Limited has launched a new product for students pursuing education at home or abroad.
The product comprises of three loan facilities and any employee or self-employed person is eligible to avail the loan scheme, said Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank at the launching ceremony of ‘Education Finance Pack.’
The bank will charge 18 per cent nominal interest and its effective rate will be about 11.5 per cent, he informed.
The bank will provide a certain amount of loan every semester and will charge interest only on the disbursed amount, he said.
The bank officials expect to receive about 600 loan applications with an average loan of Tk 5 lakh this year.
The three loan schemes are Eduloan Secured, Eduloan Unsecured and Eduline.
A client can repay eduloan secured and eduloan unsecured within a period 12 to 60 months. But eduline loan will be provided for one year and will be renewable every year.
Mamoon Mahmood Shah, head of consumer banking, Mohabbat Hossain Chowdhury, head of strategy and business development, and Nazeem A Choudhury, head of marketing, of the bank, were also present at the ceremony.

Source: newage

BGMEA to open sweater knitting training centre at NILPHAMARI

Bangladesh Garments Manufacturing and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has decided to open a sweater knitting and linking training centre for the poor youths of this district.
It has been disclosed recently here by sweater standing committee chairman of BGMEA Nazmul Hasan Bhuiya at a view exchange meeting with the journalists at the deputy commissioner’s conference room. The view exchange meeting chaired by ADC Moloy Kumar Roy was attended among others by Lt Colonel Abu Naser Md Toha and Major Anis. Speaking on the occasion, Nazmul Hasan Bhuiya said they have taken the decision at the initiative of Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed. He also stated that Nursing Institute of Nilphamari had been selected as the venue of the training centre where 1,000 youths, both male and female, would be trained on sweater knitting and linking every year. The duration of the course will be one month and 100 youths will be trained in the course at a time. Equal numbers of male and female will be trained here. While explaining the initiative Nazmul Hasan Bhuiya said they have taken the initiative which will also help them recruit skilled manpower for sweater factories all over the country.

Source: Financial Express.

Labour ministry implements 10 programmes

BSS (15-Jan-2008): The Labour and Employment Ministry implemented 10 programmes, including training for hundreds of children and workers, last year.

   The ministry successfully implemented ‘safe and environ friendly ship recycling project,’ in which 6,479 workers were trained during the period, said sources.

   Meanwhile, 10,000 children received semi-formal education and efficiency development training under the project titled ‘end of child labour from risky jobs’ in 2007.

   Among them, parents of 5,000 children were given Tk 3.56 crore as small credits for employment generation.

   The project will provide semi-formal education and efficiency development training for 30,000 children, and 20,000 parents of the children will be employed through the small credits.

   Besides, over 4,000 women and 19,500 workers will get separate training under the two training programmes, said the sources.

0.6m Bangladeshi workers went abroad with jobs at 2007

A total of 8,32,609 Bang-ladeshi workers got immigration clearance to go abroad with employment until December 31, 2007 since the present caretaker government came to power, reports BSS.

Of which, more than 5,71,000 workers were sent to different countries including Malaysia with employment, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment ministry sources told the news agency Saturday.

Bangladeshis working abroad, a key source of economic stability, sent home a record of 6.57 billion US dollars equivalent to Tk 456.83 billion in 2007. The record remittances also pushed up Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve, the sources said.

The countries where Bangladeshi workforce went include Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Libya, Kuwait, Singapore, Brunei, Jordan, UK, Italy, Mauritius, Lebanon and Ireland.

The sources said that with the timely action taken by the government new labour markets have been created in countries like South Korea, Poland, Canada, Rumania, Russia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. Cyprus may open up as a new labour market.

Expatriate Ministry sources further said that after a gap of 10 years, Malaysia started importing manpower from Bangladesh from October 22, 2006. And so far 2,45,000 16 workers went to Malaysia until December 31, 2007.

On an average four hundred to seven hundred Bangladeshi workers have been going to Malaysia everyday although Malaysia had put a temporary ban on manpower import.

The present government signed memoranda of understanding with some countries for export of manpower.

The countries include, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Qatar.

Dhaka and Seoul signed an agreement under which South Korea would start recruiting Bangladeshi manpower under that country’s new Employment Permit System (EPS) for foreign job seekers.

The deal styled ‘Service Commitment Agreement’ was signed between Human Resources Department of Korea and Bangladesh Overseas Employ-ment Services Ltd (BOESL). However, Korean language skill is a must for getting job there.

The government of Oman lifted a bar on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers after 12 years and expressed the desire to recruit skilled workforce from the country.

The Omani minister for manpower Dr Juma bin Ali bin Juma during his visit to Dhaka recently had announced lifting of the bar. Presently some 130,000 Bangladeshis are employed in the tiny oil rich Gulf State. Oman requires skilled manpower like doctors, engineers, technicians and other professionals.

The sources said that Bangladesh and Qatar on January 6 this year signed an additional protocol to recruit more workers especially skilled workforce from the country for the Gulf state.

Qatar is interested in recruiting skilled professionals like academics, engineers and IT experts apart from semi-skilled and unskilled workers. More than 15,000 workers went to Qatar in 2007.

The government has provided Tk 112.5 million from the wage earners welfare fund to the dependants of 1,125 deceased workers and 45 injured workers during January, 07 to November 07.

There are 764 recruiting agencies in the country. The government received 256 complaints against different recruiting agencies from January’07 to November ‘07.

Some 142 complaints were resolved while Tk 15.6 million realised from the accused agencies and given to the complainants. During the same period license of four recruiting agencies were cancelled for different irregularities.

Replying to a question on the problems faced by the Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, expatriate welfare and overseas employment secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury said that problem arises when the workers found their job tough for them and wanted to be employed elsewhere. “This problem can not be solved quickly,” he added.

Chowdhury said the officials of the labour wing of the Bangladesh missions abroad have been advised to visit the working sites and camps on regular basis to sort out the problems of Bangladeshi workers with the employers.

Handloom Industry flourishes in Northern Bangladesh

The distressed women and unemployed young girls have been successfully changing their fates by sewing readymade handloom garments everywhere in the northern region in recent years.

By sewing handloom garments and marketing those, over 20,000 distressed women, divorcees and young girls of different rural and urban areas in all 16 northern districts have been becoming self-reliant and making financial contributions to their families.

The women affairs department, social service department, youth development department, other government organisations, reputed NGOs like RDRS, ASA, BRAC and dozens of local NGOs are playing vital role in encouraging the women by providing trainings, sewing machines, credits and input supports.

Production of readymade garments made of handloom fabrics has been growing fast as more and more women and teenaged girls are becoming interested in adopting sewing as a profession.

The female sewers are producing mainly garments such as blouse, petticoat, semiz, kamiz, salwar, scurf, maxi, baby wears, shirts, pants, fotua, caps and other readymade wears for men, women, babies, girls and people of all ages.

Housewife Ful Banu, 28, of village Boalmari under Roumari upazila in Kurigram said, ‘I sew baby clothes and my husband sells them. Now we living better than we what we lived three to four years ago.’

Housewife Romesa Begum of village Echakuri, young girl Jasmine Akhter of village Khatiamari and housewife Chhoki Begum of village Notanpara in the upazila also narrated similar stories of their fightback. Business community leaders in the regions said there were potentials of setting up of composite textile and spinning mills at many areas of the region for industrialisation and creating job opportunities.

Source: BSS(Rangpur), Newage

RD Milk creates job opportunity for monga-hit people in north

THE Rangpur Dairy Milk processing factory at Boldipukur under Mithapukur in the district has created job opportunity for hundreds of monga-hit people.

The milk processing factory has also taken up a step to support the poor in the area by providing them with cows on easy term to produce milk at home so that they can be financially independent.

Ashraful Alam, manager of RD Milk, said, ‘We have distributed 400 cows among 350 families of Salaipur and Muradpur under Mithapukur upazila. We have also a plan to provide 2,000 cows to the poor people of Rangpur in phases by 2008.’

He said, ‘The company not only aims at trade but also wants to create a financially sound community through business.’

He said, ‘RD Milk has not donated the cows to the beneficiaries free of cost. They have to pay the purchase rate of the cows by supplying milk to the factories for a certain period. When the price of the cows is completely realised, the authorities will transfer the cows’ ownership to them.’ he said.

Alam Miah of Muradpur, who received two cows with calves from RD Milk, said he was now milking 30 litres from which he earned Tk 600 per day.

He said, ‘RD Milk pays me Tk 300 everyday and the rest is being deposited with the company account to adjust the cost of the cows in exchange of which they gave me the cow.’

Amena Begum at village Salaipur at Mithapukur said, ‘I was not worried about the job opportunity for my husband this monga as I myself earned from the cow RD Milk has given me.’

Foqueruzzaman, managing director of RD Milk, said it was not that only the poor of Rangpur were being benefited; dairy farmers in the district were also getting benefit from RD Milk.

He said the dairy farmers in the district who were in utter frustration and were about to close their farms due to frequent loss even two years back were now getting profit by selling milk at RD Milk.

Rangpur Dairy Milk has been producing now pasteurised milk and milk juice with fruits flavour. It supplies the food products to Dhaka and other parts of the country, including northern districts.

Sources of RD Milk said at present about 15,000 litres of milk were being processed every day by the factory.

Foqueruzzaman told New Age, ‘We have a plan to turn RD Milk into one of the biggest milk processing industries of the country so that about 30,000 dairy farmers of Rangpur and its adjoining districts may get benefit from it.’

He said, ‘The authorities have completed preparation to produce RD Butter, RD Tea Milk, and RD Sweets. We have already purchased machines to set up the infrastructure.’

He also expressed his reaction over the absence of gas supply through pipeline and adequate electricity supply to Rangpur.

The production cost will be reduced at least by fifty per cent if there is gas supply through pipeline. Power shortage hampers production resulting in great loss, he noted.

Regarding prospect of RD Milk, president of the Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mostafa Azad Choudhury said it was the first ever industry in Rangpur set up with the Equity Entrepreneur Fund of the Bangladesh Bank.

He expected that RD Milk might help a lot in bringing about socio-economic change of Rangpur.

He said, ‘We appreciate the move of RD Milk. Industries of other products can be set up here but entrepreneurs do not go ahead for lack of sufficient energy resources.’

Source: New Age, Zakir Hossain . Rangpur