I'm putting forth my views on certain recent happenings. The way the acts are being played out one can easily understand as to why things are happening this-a-way. Without much ado, here I go:-
(a) Justice, at last.
Sheikh Mujibhur Rehman, the founding father of Bangladesh and the country's first Prime
Minister was brutally assassinated on 15 Aug '75 along with his entire family, who were with
him then. The present PM, Sheikh Hasina, his daughter, escaped the carnage since she was
abroad. Subsequently, there weren't any serious attempts to round up the culprits and provide
justice. Perhaps, Sheikh Hasina took her time and this time around, she seems to have got her
act right. One can imagine the tremendous pressure upon her as she went about it, as many of
the accused belonged to her rival political parties.
As the initial step towards any meaningful action, those guilty of war crimes of '71 had to be
punished. As of last week, the fallowing have been sent to the gallows and there hasn't been
much of a public backlash - that could've been whipped up by the friends of the guilty - on
the executions of the following:-
(i) Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, the leader of the Islamist opposition.
(ii) Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a former legislator of the opposition leader, Khalida Zia's
BNP.
* Two other leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were executed earlier.
(b) Why the Government's Initiative has Received a Lukewarm Response?
The government's gold bond scheme, launched with much fanfare recently, has failed to
take off. Three ambitious schemes viz. Sovereign gold bond, Gold monetization and the
Indian gold coin scheme were launched with the following in mind:-
(i) to reduce the physical demand for gold and
(ii) to fish out 20,000 tons of gold lying idle in households all over the country.
The official reasons for the tepid response are:-
(i) The high issue price. The RBI had set it at Rs.2,684/- a gram, whereas the market
price was much lower.
(ii) Too many market holidays during the interim period and
(iii) The affinity of the public towards holding physical gold against the gold bond scheme.
I feel that over and above the reasons cited above, there is a sustained misinformation
campaign to scare the general public about losing their gold once they joined the scheme.
Wonder why the government hasn't countered the vicious stories in circulation?
Tailpiece.
Was reminded about our visit to the orchid garden at Singapore, a couple of years back. The curator had told us then as to how new strains of orchids were nurtured at the nursery to name them after important guests who visit the island nation. Narendra Modi is the latest leader who's gonna be felicitated in this manner during his visit, commencing tomorrow.
(a) Justice, at last.
Sheikh Mujibhur Rehman, the founding father of Bangladesh and the country's first Prime
Minister was brutally assassinated on 15 Aug '75 along with his entire family, who were with
him then. The present PM, Sheikh Hasina, his daughter, escaped the carnage since she was
abroad. Subsequently, there weren't any serious attempts to round up the culprits and provide
justice. Perhaps, Sheikh Hasina took her time and this time around, she seems to have got her
act right. One can imagine the tremendous pressure upon her as she went about it, as many of
the accused belonged to her rival political parties.
As the initial step towards any meaningful action, those guilty of war crimes of '71 had to be
punished. As of last week, the fallowing have been sent to the gallows and there hasn't been
much of a public backlash - that could've been whipped up by the friends of the guilty - on
the executions of the following:-
(i) Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, the leader of the Islamist opposition.
(ii) Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a former legislator of the opposition leader, Khalida Zia's
BNP.
* Two other leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were executed earlier.
(b) Why the Government's Initiative has Received a Lukewarm Response?
The government's gold bond scheme, launched with much fanfare recently, has failed to
take off. Three ambitious schemes viz. Sovereign gold bond, Gold monetization and the
Indian gold coin scheme were launched with the following in mind:-
(i) to reduce the physical demand for gold and
(ii) to fish out 20,000 tons of gold lying idle in households all over the country.
The official reasons for the tepid response are:-
(i) The high issue price. The RBI had set it at Rs.2,684/- a gram, whereas the market
price was much lower.
(ii) Too many market holidays during the interim period and
(iii) The affinity of the public towards holding physical gold against the gold bond scheme.
I feel that over and above the reasons cited above, there is a sustained misinformation
campaign to scare the general public about losing their gold once they joined the scheme.
Wonder why the government hasn't countered the vicious stories in circulation?
Tailpiece.
Was reminded about our visit to the orchid garden at Singapore, a couple of years back. The curator had told us then as to how new strains of orchids were nurtured at the nursery to name them after important guests who visit the island nation. Narendra Modi is the latest leader who's gonna be felicitated in this manner during his visit, commencing tomorrow.
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