Dhaka cozies up to Delhi - prefers India over China to build new deep sea port

Latest in improved foreign relations for India is the fact that Dhaka is cozying up to Delhi and prefers India over China to build new deep sea port. It is a plus for India because, with India's relations with Bangladesh on an upswing, New Delhi has expressed interest in developing the neighbor's newest deep sea port, Payra. And, Bangladesh is, apparently, not averse to the idea.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 8 February 2016.

The Payra seaport situated on the south-western corner of Bangladesh, close to Chittagong, is much closer to the Indian coastline.
Dhaka has already cancelled a port that China had proposed to build at Sonadia, on the south-eastern corner of Bangladesh. That port, once complete, would have brought the Chinese presence close to India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. China had prepared a feasibility study for Sonadia and had, reportedly, promised deep funding for the port. The decision of Bangladesh to cancel participation of China in Sonadia appears to be a strategic decision doubtlessly helped along by India, Japan and the US.
Separately, Japan may develop another deep sea port, Matarbari, in Cox's Bazar.
The Sonadia port, as the Hambantota and Gwadar ports, were believed to be part of China's much talked about "string of pearls" strategy to encircle India in its maritime neighborhood.
The Payra port will take over seven years to build. In order to make it effective, a deep channel would have to be cut through the heavily silted port so that large vessels can come through. The Chittagong port is heavily silted and, only small vessels can come in by taking advantage of incoming and outgoing tides.


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2000 Indian curry houses have closed down in Britain in the past five years

Indian restaurants in Britain are closing down - it has been happening over the past 15 years and one of the reasons cited is the difficulty owners are facing to maintain quality within reasonable price limits. In the opinion of experts, Indian restaurants in Britain are closing at an alarming rate as the industry faces 'the biggest crisis in its history'.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 18 January 2016.

As per figures published, 2,000 curry houses have closed in the past five years all over the country. The decline, which began in 2000, is blamed on the high operating cost and the pressure to keep prices low. Coupled with this is the aggressive market strategy and competition from chains like Pizza Express and Nando's.
The first Indian restaurant had started in Britain in 1810 - it was in London's upmarket George Street and it had been started by an Indian migrant. Then there was the Hindoostanee Coffee House that offered 'Indian dishes, in the highest perfection… unequaled to any curries ever made in England.' Diners could enjoy hookah pipes and recline on bamboo-cane sofas as they tucked into spicy meat and vegetable dishes.
However, it was not until the 1970s that curry houses became popular and spread across the UK because of an influx of people from Bangladesh in London's East End. By 2010, the number of Indian restaurants had mushroomed to 16,000. However, the present situation is bleak - popular Brick Lane's restaurants are closing down, with 30 of its 50 Indian curry houses shutting up in the past five years.
Incidentally, this depressing trend has coincided with the crisis of the British pubs - 7,000 of them had shut shop from 2005. Reasons for the recession could be the smoking ban, booze duty and the stay at home culture that is prevalent now.


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Indian ODI team gets Ajinkya Rahane as new captain for Zimbabwe tour

#AjinkyaRahane #Zimbabwe #Harare #harbhajansingh #INDvsZIM There was a certain amount of uncertainty regarding the Zimbabwe tour to play ODI and T20 and matters appear to have been resolved. The BCCI has agreed to rest a whole lot of players because of ‘too much cricket’ and tiredness and fatigue creeping in which was affecting the performance of key players.
The BCCI has, therefore, given the captaincy to Ajinkya Rahane who will be taking a new crop of players to Zimbabwe to play three ODIs and two T20 matches beginning July 10 in Harare. Ajinkya Rahane is a consistent batsman and, in the just concluded tour of Bangladesh, he got a chance to pay in only one ODI.
This has been reported in oneindia.com dated 29 June 2015.

The new team will see the return of Harbhajan Singh to the shorter formats of the game and new players will be seen in the form of some who have proved their worth in the IPL. They are Murali Vijay, Manoj Tewari, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Karn Sharma, and uncapped Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey and paceman Sandeep Sharma.
There is no specialist wicketkeeper but both Robin Uthappa and Manoj Tywari can carry out the role. Seniors who have been rested are M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandra Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Obviously, the BCCI wants to give chances to newcomers and look out for new talent for the future because cricket is a game that will continue to hold attention for a longtime to come and, there is bound to be wastages.
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Our blue-eyed boys in Blue left red-faced in Mirpur after loss of 1st ODI

It was a pathetic display of one day cricket put up by our blue-eyed boys in Blue after they were left red-faced following the loss of the 1st ODI at Mirpur by 79 runs.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 19 June 2015.

Batting first, the young team of Bangladesh began attack from the very first ball and left the Indian bowlers clueless on how to control the flow of runs. The Bangladesh batsmen treated the Indian bowlers with disdain and belted them to all corners of the stadium. Ravichandra Ashwin managed to bag three wickets but Umesh Yadav came in for plenty of punishment.
Anyway, the way Bangladesh was playing, at one point of time it appeared that they would post around 350 runs – but, finally, it was 307 and it was a formidable one as it turned out when the Indians took the field.
The bowling of the home team was superb as was their fielding and they gave nothing away. The Indians had to grovel for runs and it played in their nerves. Rohit Sharma was the highest scorer – he scored 63 runs. Apart from him, others who reached double figures were Shikhar Dhawan (30), Suresh Raina (40), Ravindra Jadeja (32). Bhubaneshwar Kumar (25) and Mohit Sharma(11).
Obviously, the Bangladesh team has matured and Indians cannot take them lightly. They had done their homework while Indians were overconfident. This is a 3 ODI series and with one loss, Captain M S Dhoni would have to rethink his strategies if he wants to win the series. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Modi conquers Bangladesh but Mamata silent on Teesta River dispute

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has conquered another neighbor - his maiden visit to Bangladesh was full of promises and there were hopes that the Teesta River dispute would be resolved. But, the studied silence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee acted as a dampener.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 8 June 2015.

Dhaka is happy at the huge investment proposals of Reliance and the Adani group to do business in Bangladesh but the sharing of the river waters was a more serious issue. The media was surprised and "saddened" by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's "studied silence" on the issue.
The media highlighted that the drastic fall in the Teesta water level was affecting the environment, and that the silence of West Bengal CM on the matter had hurt them, especially after the promises she had made in February during her visit.
Dhaka wants her to rise above petty party politics for the sake of good neighborliness.
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Mamata Banerjee in team of Narendra Modi headed for Bangladesh

Politics is a profession where nothing is predictable and where sworn enemies can become fast friends overnight. The blow-hot, blow-cold relationship between Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and Narendra Modi, is well known. But, of late, there appears to be a thaw and Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to accompany Narendra Modi on his visit to Dhaka on June 6.
It may be recalled that she had snubbed the earlier Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the same issue four years back – she had skipped a similar tour. In September 2011, she had suddenly pulled out at the last minute. The signing of the Teesta water-sharing treaty was on top of the agenda. The Chief Minister had refused to give her assent to the sharing the Teesta waters with Bangladesh.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 29 May 2015.

It seems the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had called up the Chief Minister and requested her to join the delegation travelling with the Prime Minister.
His camaraderie between Mamata and Modi has taken everyone, including BJP leaders associated with West Bengal, by surprise. Tongues of the opposition were wagging following a few recent incidents and, the BJP leaders are also surprised.
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Migrants trying to escape from Bangladesh and Myanmar are finding themselves in literally deep waters because the people smugglers have left them stranded in the sea and in the latest rescue efforts, over 600 of them have landed in Indonesia's Aceh province.
They were rescued by local fishing boats as reported in bbc.com dated 16 May 2015.
Thousands of these migrants, mainly from the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, have been abandoned at sea by people smugglers and nearly 2,000 of them have already come ashore in Aceh. They are being provided with medical assistance and food.

Subsequently, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been turning the boats away.
However, 210 of the latest arrivals that landed in Aceh were from Myanmar and 395 from Bangladesh. As per medical officials, eight of the persons on board were critically ill.
The boat was heavily packed and had been abandoned by people smugglers who also disabled the engine. The migrants included women and babies and they had revealed that they had no food or water and that 10 of them had already died. The UN refugee agency has requested neighboring countries to co-ordinate a search and rescue operation because nearly 8,000 migrants are believed to be trapped on boats in the area.
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Coin racket in Kolkata – man approaches banks to get Rs 50,000 in coins

A man has been trying to take large number of loose coins from banks – the police have arrested this man of Thakurpukur who tried to withdraw Rs 50,000 in coins. It seems he approached a bank and posed as an officer of RBI saying that he wanted to take stock of all coins in the possession of the bank. When the bank wanted proof of his identity, he changed his version and sad he was a researcher of coins.
His actions have made the police probe deep into his activities because, while the custody of the police, he is evading replies that would satisfy the police. This has led the police to suspect that some organized gang is behind such incidents, gangs that are associated with the smuggling of coins.
It seems loose coins ae at a premium in Kolkata. Five years ago bus operators used to pay premiums of Rs 2 to Rs 3 for every Rs 100. The rate has gone up to Rs 8 to Rs 10 now and, at times, they have to pay Rs 15 for every Rs 100. Shortage of loose change in the form of coins have led to innumerable incidents of refusals leading to quarrels, fights and violence between passengers and drivers of auto rickshaws – neither side wants to part with the loose change.
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America’s 9/11 and India’s 26/11 – how to tackle terrorism

Terrorists struck the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 – it was on 9/11, or 9th of September 2001. In India it was also on another ‘11’ – only, this 11 was for the month of November. And the year was 2008. Six years back, terrorists attacked Mumbai, the financial hub of India and killed 164 and left another nearly 300 wounded.
The terrorists had entered the city from the sea and had taken up positions inside posh hotels – they had made adequate preparations and had even stocked arms and ammunition in the hotel premises. The law enforcing agencies had no idea about what was happening till the attack came.
In the course of the retaliation by the Mumbai police and the NSG, several lives were lost and one terrorist was caught alive – he was, subsequently, hanged.
As a follow up of this act of terrorism, several suggestions were put forth to transform the Mumbai police force to an elite one with capabilities to handle threats following 26/11 – however, very little appears to have been done even though eight years have passed by.
In the Indian tradition, red-tapism and corruption rule supreme - and, it seems, the state had ordered 29 high-tech "bulletproof" speedboats to tackle possibility of terrorists entering from the sea. Unfortunately, the boats were not bulletproof after all. This is just one example.
Agreed – CCTV cameras have been installed at many places and metal detectors and other devices have also been positioned but when the need arises, the CCTV cameras are found to be unserviceable and there is no one to man the metal detectors. In any case, the very purpose of metal detectors at railway stations is defeated when there are yawning gaps on the boundary walls and fences – these have been made by locals who can get easy entry onto the platforms.
Incidentally, in February 2010, two years after the Mumbai 26/11 attack, there was a bomb blast in the German Bakery in Pune in which 9 people were killed and 60 injured.
And, more recently, West Bengal has been put to embarrassment by the disclosure that terrorists from across the Bangladesh border had set up bases in different parts of the state to train terrorists and carry out terrorist activities. These had been happening for quite a while and the police were apparently in the dark.
The bottom line is that tackling terrorism is everybody’s business because, when the terrorists strike, the bomb splinters do not kill selectively – the splinters cannot differentiate between the good and the bad.