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12:00 AM, August 04, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:24 AM, August 04, 2017
Divorce doubles, separation triples in one decade
Notices in Dhaka mostly come from women

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Reaz Ahmad and Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The rate of people getting divorced and living separately from their spouses almost doubled over the last decade, revealed a recent Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) report.

Marriage registrars, psychologists and gender experts noted loss of family bonds and values, polygamy and extra-marital affairs, virtual world, and economically empowered women opting out of marriages following mental and physical torture as reasons for increasing divorces and separations.

In 2006, the crude rate of divorce was 0.6 per one thousand of the population and this increased to 1.1 in 2016 while the rate of separations also rose to 0.6 from 0.2 during the same period.

The report finds that the educational level of women appear to be associated with the crude divorce rate.

It showed that the rate of crude divorce was highest for those having attained at least a secondary level of education, with the figure standing at 1.7 per one thousand. Those with no education had a rate of divorce of 0.5.

In rural areas, the divorce rate was 1.3 per thousand. In urban areas it was 0.8.

According to the report, Rajshahi division had the highest rate of divorce, 1.9 per thousand, followed by Khulna, 1.3.

The incidents of divorce were highest in the 25-29 age group, 2.7.

In Dhaka city, a fragment of the divorcees actually pre-notify the two city corporations prior to taking the recourse. The records of the two city corporations show that 5,353 people submitted such notices in 2012 while the number rose to 7,458 last year.

Nearly seven out of 10 such notices that the two city corporations received came from the wives. In some cases, couples refrained from divorcing each other even after filing notices but that number was not significant.

According to the BBS, some of the most common reasons behind decisions of separation and divorce stem from an inability to maintaining a conjugal life, failure in providing subsistence, immoral practices, incurable diseases, physical assault, dowry, premature marriage, infertility and polygamy.

Md Mamunur Rashid Khan, a marriage registrar of the city's Kulutola Kazi Office, told The Daily Star that the number of divorce incidents increased over the last few years.

"On an average, I get 10 cases of divorces a month whereas it was only five a few years ago," said Rashid, also the senior joint secretary of Bangladesh Muslim Marriage Registrars Association.

He said young peoples' exposure to the virtual world, involvement in ill-planned emotional relationships, and extra-marital affairs contributed to the rise in the incidents of divorce these days.

The marriage registrar said in seven out of 10 cases, it was the wives who sought divorce. "But it doesn't mean women are more likely to divorce as I have noticed in many of these cases that actually the husbands made the wives take the first move for different strategic reasons."

Eminent psychologist Farida Akhtar told The Daily Star there were many dimensions to men-women marital relationship and for different reasons the relationship could get strenuous.

"Today's women are more conscious about their rights. Every modern woman likes to see her life become meaningful. If any relationship (marriage in this case) becomes a roadblock in achieving her life's dream, she may choose to break free," explained Farida.

She said differences in men-women pre-marriage and post-marriage understanding, doubts over spouse's friendship with other men/women, drug addiction, deceptions, impotence and impact of overall societal unrest were also being translated into increased number of divorces these days.

Tania Haque teaches Women and Gender Studies at Dhaka University. She told The Daily Star that women's entry into the job market gave them confidence, financial freedom and more decision-making power and in certain cases it became possible for them to not tolerate subjugation from their male counterparts.

The DU associate professor believes that many, influenced by the virtual world, tend to live in fantasies. They disengage from their surroundings and eventually go for breakups on flimsy grounds.

"We're seeing erosion of familial commitment, values and many even can't afford spending quality family-time because of too much work in a fast-moving world."
 
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Meet the **** king of Bangladesh
  • Tarek Mahmud
  • Published at 02:10 AM August 04, 2017
  • Last updated at 01:46 AM August 05, 2017
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Md Fuad Bin Sultan Photo: RAB
Fuad started his business with ****. He started in 2014 and by 2016 had two **** sites up and running. Eventually he launched his escort service
A man, aspiring to make big bucks in a short time with his escort service and pornographic websites, was arrested from his Uttara residence in Dhaka early Wednesday by a team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

When taken into custody, the arrestee, Md Fuad Bin Sultan, 33, termed himself an artist of the world of pornography, said RAB 1 Commanding Officer Lt Col Md Sarwar-Bin-Quasem.

The RAB team also seized some pirated CDs, a laptop allegedly used to run Fuad’s **** sites, masks, equipment to run the sites, and some yaba pills.

Son of former deputy inspector general Sultan Ahmed, Fuad, an English literature graduate, left a lucrative job in a multinational company in 2011 to establish his business, the RAB official said.

He rented two flats in a building owned by his parents in Uttara for which he paid Tk45,000 to his mother every month. He also rented flats in Gulshan.

Fuad started his business with ****. He started in 2014 and by 2016 had two **** sites up and running. Eventually he launched his escort service, RAB said.

“He provided naked pictures and contact details of female escorts on his websites. Access to those websites is not open to all; one has to register and get a unique password in exchange of money,” said RAB 1 Commanding Officer Sarwar.

After a client chose an escort, Fuad would arrange for their “date” at one of his flats and would make videos of their sexual acts, which he would later use to blackmail the women into having sex with other clients. He also provided drugs such as yaba to his clients, the RAB official said.

Fuad also posted these videos on his **** websites and sold them to **** sites abroad, he added.

When he was arrested, Fuad had eight **** sites running. RAB is now working to shut all of them down, as well as preparing to take legal action against Fuad, Sarwar said.

CTTC arrests fake Pir for using sex videos for extortion
Meanwhile, a Cyber Security and Crime Prevention team of police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit arrested a fraud Pir in Dhaka who forcefully had sex with women in the name of “treatment,” made secret videos of the act and used those videos to extort money from the women.

Ahsan Habib Pair, 25, was arrested from his Khilgaon residence on Tuesday after CTTC received complaints from two of his victims. The law enforcement team also seized a computer and a mobile phone from his possession.

Also read- Fake Pir Ahsan also convinced expats from the Middle East to give him money

Posing as a Pir, Ahsan used both charm and intimidation to get close to his female followers, said CTTC Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Nazmul Islam.

A former student of Dawra-e-Hadith, Ahsan gained popularity with his religious preaching on his YouTube channel.

He also had fan clubs on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Viber, said the CTTC official.

“He tortured women supposedly possessed by Jinns as an exorcism ritual, and sometimes he forced them to have sex with him, convincing the women that it was also a ritual,” he added.

Ahsan also used his fan clubs to connect with female followers. He would have lewd conversations with them and sometimes met with them. During those meetings, he would convince them to have sex with him.

He made videos of his sexual encounters with his followers and later used them to extort the women.

“He extorted Tk500,000 from one woman and Tk300,000 from another. We found 20 such videos on his computer,” said a CTTC official.

ADC Md Nazmul Islam said a case had been filed against Ahsan with Khilgaon police station under the ICT Act and the Pornography Act.
 
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The return of Huntington’s ghost
by M Serajul Islam | Published: 00:05, Aug 07,2017 | Updated: 00:06, Aug 07,2017
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IF EVER an outstanding academic and political scientist wrote something intended to divide and hurt a huge number of people, it was Professor Samuel Huntington and his 1996 book named The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. It was a complex book that urged the western nations to unite against the so-called Islamic civilisation that it thought was its greatest threat. The professor himself was confused when he expounded this theory in an article in Foreign Affairs journal where he had used the same title with a question mark. After finding its acceptance among US conservatives and right groups, and white supremacists, he turned the article into the fully-fledged book that became the bible of these groups.

The book was like a prophecy come true in the post-9/11 period for these groups. Those who cheered it did not ask a few simple questions to find out the absurdity of the so-called prophecy. First, why would 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide be held responsible for the horrible acts of 20 wine-drinking Muslims coming from three Arab countries out of 57 independent countries where Muslims are the majority? Second, how could those 20 individuals who never flew an aircraft except in simulations carry out those precision attacks that would need years and years of actual flying to perfect? The claim that those 20 individuals were directed by Osama bin Laden living in Afghanistan’s wilderness in total seclusion to carry out the 9/11 attacks was too wild even for the stuff that made story books!
The book’s most outlandish assumption was that the Muslim world was one civilisation that, like a monolith, was gearing to attack the west. The idea itself should have put to serious doubt about the knowledge of the professor about Islam and Muslims. In fact, its ridiculousness was exposed when ISIS’s claim to have established the Islamic caliphate under Caliph Baghdadi was not taken even as a joke by Muslims worldwide because they had nothing in common with the objectives of groups such as ISIS and, most importantly, because Islam as a religion prohibited mindless and senseless violence because its essential and enduring message was peace.

The professor was, of course, right about one thing about Islam — it had the potential to unite one day and win over the western civilisation if such a clash ever occurred or if the western civilisation itself collapsed because of its own internal contradiction. The professor’s fear came out of the moral and ethical contents of the two religions. Christianity that united the western civilisation had become too materialistic and had lost a great deal of its moral and ethical contents. On the other hand, the moral and ethical contents of Islam were strong and getting stronger and, therefore, likely to win in the event of a clash of civilisations of the type Professor Samuel Huntington had predicted borne out by the fact that Islam was the fastest growing religion on course to having the most followers among all contemporary religions.

It was that theory of the professor that the alt-right, Islamophobic supporters of the US president these days are using to give him the leadership of the western world against the rise of Islam and also that of China and the eastern countries to challenge the many centuries old domination of the west and Christianity. Carlos Lozada in an article titled ‘Trump’s presidency and Huntington’s America’ carried by the Washington Post on July 23 wrote: ‘President Trump’s recent speech in Warsaw, in which he urged Europeans and Americans to defend Western civilization against violent extremists and barbarian hordes inevitably evoked Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations.’

The Washington Post writer gave president Trump’s anti-Islam and anti-Muslim bias a theoretical foundation by bringing Professor Huntington’s theory to describe it — ‘barbarian hordes’ and violent extremists that are Muslims and flag-bearers of the so-called Islamic civilisation are ready to clash with the western civilisation. In reality, the violent extremists and the ‘barbarian hordes’ are on the run to carry out anything like the clash of civilisations. Al-Qaeda has been decimated and most recently, ISIS has been crushed and their stronghold that they wanted to be the capital of the Islamic caliphate, namely Mosul, has been recaptured by the Iraqi forces, sending the terrorist group into disarray.
The prospect of the west uniting under Donald Trump to fight the so-called Islamic civilisation is equally suspect. The Islamophobes and the white supremacist supporters of the US president hailed the speech as the best a US president had made in recent history to claim US leadership of the west. Notwithstanding the wildness and totally unsubstantiated nature of the claim, the US president is, in fact, acting as the catalyst for weakening the western civilisation. His hesitation to support Article 5 of the NATO Charter on his first meeting with European leaders in May in Brussels suggested that he was more interested in weakening the time-tested US-Europe alliance to sustain west’s domination than leading the western civilisation in any real or imaginary clash with the so-called Islamic civilisation.
The Islamophobes and the white supremacists in Europe had expected that in leading European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, etcetera, there would be a resurgence of the white supremacists encouraged by president Trump’s victory. That has not happened. President Trump instead has had thus far a net negative influence upon Europe for uniting Europeans for a clash with the Muslims or the east. In fact, President Donald Trump has pushed European towards China and Russia that are aggressively filling the void that president Trump’s protectionism is creating for them. Thus the danger in the Trump era for the west is not Islam or the Muslims but the rise of Russia and China.

Notwithstanding any or all of the above, the United States of America and the west continue to face the possibility of terrorist attacks from a section of Muslims and they need a strategy to fight it. But the dangers have been grossly over-exaggerated. For example, if a major concern of America is about innocent Americans being killed by the so-called Islamic terrorists, reality tells a different story. If 9/11 is set aside, many times more white Americans die every year on a daily basis in the hands of other white Americans because of the powerful NRI would not allow the business of guns to be regulated. American blacks fear white policemen killing them as target practice far more than the so-called Islamic terrorists.

Therefore, if the United States and the western nations were genuinely interested in a peaceful world, they would be better advised to trash books such as the Clash of Civilizations for the simple reason that Muslims worldwide have no time or intention to waste on such a theory that the professor and his supporters have built with the same sort of hatred for Muslims as the leaders of ISIS or al-Qaeda have for the west. In fact, even for those terrorists that use Islam to carry out their acts of terror that Islam prohibits, they have a reason for their actions. These reasons are compelling and must be addressed for bringing sanity back to the world order.

The Muslims that have taken to terror have been compelled to do so. In Palestine, millions of Palestinian Muslims (and Christians) have been driven from their land for creating the state of Israel that the British established with very dubious intentions. Many dozens of UN resolutions have rotted for years asking Israel to do justice to the Palestinians. The west watched and sided with Israel by labelling the victims as terrorists and allowing Israel to do literally whatever it wanted with the Palestinians.

Then, of course, there are the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, Afghans, Syrians, men, women and children who have been killed in the name of the ‘war on terror’ that the west dismissed as ‘collateral damages.’ There has to be a recognition of this height of inhumanity perpetrated on so many innocent Muslims for the acts of a handful among them. The United States of America and the west were on the cusp of acknowledging their injustice against the Muslims before President Trump arrived. The new US president has reversed that but in doing so has made the past mistakes by the US and the west against Muslims worldwide more obvious leading to important Christian leaders like the Pope, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Canada’s Justin Trudeau taking up the case of the Muslims. Perhaps his insane acts and statements were what the west needed to bring them to their senses fully that led to the rejection of the alt-right in some European countries in their recent elections. The ghost of professor Huntington has thus far failed to take wings and that is a good sign.

M Serajul Islam is a former career ambassador.
 
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@BANGLAR BIR & others who ppost every news piece & long articles, as it was said before don't post newsrs & long posts in this thread. We have a separate news from Bangladesh & Beautiful Bangladesh thread for them.
This thread is supposed to be a chat box where small talks & social chit chats go on. Please PLEASE , refrain from such spamming. If you really want us to read those news articles, post the pic, link & title, nothing more. Those who are interested can easily visit the other site to read it. But those who comes here for small talks & socialise, it's very frustrating & annoying to scroll down such long posts.

I hope you will be understanding enough to do that.
 
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Congratulations!:-)
So you are officially half dead now! :lol:
The date of "মহাপ্রয়াণ" set yet? ;)
:lol::lol:

Thanks! Indeed half dead. Not yet but we started off the paperworks. The process in Bangladesh does take sometime apparently.

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The lady is Bangladeshi or European?

She is a Swiss with Bangladeshi background, born and raised in Suisse.
 
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She's native in French and speaks German, Spanish, Italian, English and proper Bangla. :lol:
Wait......are you marrying google translate?


I bet she'll be speaking French in the morning, German in the noon, Spanish in the afternoon, Italian at evening and Bangla at night. Good luck keeping up.
 
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Wait......are you marrying google translate?


I bet she'll be speaking French in the morning, German in the noon, Spanish in the afternoon, Italian at evening and Bangla at night. Good luck keeping up.

Lol that was the comment I got from my friends in FB. :lol:
 
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Can we get there by 2030?

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Bangladesh, like many other developing countries, needs to assess whether GDP growth is sufficient to eliminate poverty, address food security and ensure equal opportunities by 2030. Photo: STAR

Abdullah Shibli

The title of this essay may raise a few eyebrows in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has already embraced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and there is no doubt that the government and civil society are marching ahead to reach the various targets. However, like all long marches, this journey too has many milestones, and possibly detours and roadblocks on the way; so it is imperative that all systems be checked periodically and mid-course corrections be made accordingly. And last, but not the least, it is fair to ask, are we embarking on a journey that is achievable and measurable?

A conference was recently organised in Washington, DC by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) on July 12, 2017. I am referring to the SANEM-North America Discussion Forum 2017 “South Asia at a Development Crossroads” organised in collaboration with the World Bank Group and attended by distinguished economists, development specialists, and graduate students from major universities of North America. The keynote speaker at this session, Prof Selim Raihan, and others at the conference raised a key issue which is on all our minds: Is GDP growth sufficient to eliminate poverty, level income distribution and ensure equal opportunities by 2030 in countries of South Asia which face strong headwinds because of weak political institutions, entrenched socioeconomic forces, and the realities of age-old cultural values?

From the outset in 2016, three overarching challenges emerged for countries which signed on to the SDGs: prioritisation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and financing. Much has been said about the serious shortfall in financing SDGs in Bangladesh. In a paper entitled Financing of SDGs in Bangladesh, Prof Bazlul Haque Khondker has shown the need to explore the various financing options with a clear-cut policy formulation. Are we ready for greater infusion of foreign direct investment (FDI)? Or offer further incentives to harness the energies of the private sector through various private-public partnership (PPP) projects?

Earlier this year, the Planning Commission published the results of a study to identify the roles and responsibilities of various ministries and divisions in the implementation of SDGs, as well as the shortcomings inherent in monitoring and evaluation of this undertaking. The study, Data Gap Analysis of SDGs: Bangladesh Perspective, reveals an interesting issue. The government and its agencies are still at a loss in terms of coming to agree on a unifying theme to manage the “synergies” (targets that reinforce each other) as well as “trade-offs” (targets that conflict with each other) and “enablers” (targets that are preconditions for others).

Of the 241 indicators of SDGs, the Planning Commission study indicates that data related to 70 indicators (or 29 percent) is readily available and that of 63 (26 percent) is not available. Data for the remaining 108 (45 percent) is partially available. However, data gap for some of the SDGs is more acute than others. In terms of data gap, goal 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns,” ranks highest since 69 percent of data of indicators related to this goal is not currently available. This is followed by data gaps in measuring and monitoring goal 14, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources,” and goal 13, “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.” In view of these unmet needs, the government must soon outline a game plan to address the data gaps.

At the recent conference organised by International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) at Harvard University in May 2017, speakers representing the government of Bangladesh were candid about another obstacle that we face. Of the 241 indicators, many will be left behind as we march ahead in the coming years. The most difficult task is to work with the stakeholders to zero in on the laggards and come to a consensus on the trade-offs between various goals and targets. Who makes the decisions and what is the process? Is it just a technical exercise of costs and benefits, or a more inclusive process with consultations and participation of civil society?

The urgency and immediacy for dialogue in cases of “trade-offs” mentioned in the aforementioned GOB document are illustrated by the recent inconclusive national debate on the need for more power plants. The Rampal power plant brought this debate to the attention of the global sustainable development movement. But as Dr Farashuddin at a recent book launch at Policy Research Institute (PRI) openly asked, “Why should Bangladesh pay the price for the mistakes of other nations which contributed to global warming?” Should Bangladesh, as a country likely to be seriously impacted by climate change, also go the extra mile to explore renewable sources of energy? Can the developing countries of South Asia afford to bear the greater cost of cleaner energy?

The SDG Secretariat in the Prime Minister's Office is entrusted to work with government agencies and civil society to prioritise the measures, as well as to track and monitor our progress. While some special programmes initiated by this or future governments will help us achieve some of the SDGs well in advance of 2030, others may need a boost in the coming years, and the Secretariat has a heavy burden to shoulder. Is the SDG Secretariat ready to work in identifying projects in partnership with NGOs or the private sector? To adopt and adapt best practices in monitoring important goals (for example, elimination of poverty and inequality (goal 1), and set up a system to raise a “red flag” if we are not on track to achieve this goal)?

But these findings should not be a cause for alarm since Bangladesh is not alone as it stands at these crossroads. Fortunately, we can learn from other South Asian nations, and calibrate and fine-tune our policy steps as we move forward. And the potential gains from an action plan based on key SDG policy strategies that build upon the interrelationships between the goals and targets are significant. Results from a simulation study done for five South Asian countries by Prof Selim Raihan and others suggest that strategic policy priorities of sustained, broad-based and job-creating rapid economic growth through industry-oriented structural transformation, and addressing food security and hunger with agricultural productivity improvements through sustainable agriculture could lift an additional 71 million people out of poverty, create 56 million additional jobs in South Asia and boost GDP by 15–30 percent by 2030 over and above the business-as-usual scenario. However, for Bangladesh, this growth presupposes eight percent GDP growth and commensurate 20 percent increased investments in utilities, transport and social infrastructure. A pretty daunting task indeed!

April 21, 2016 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:54 AM, April 21, 2016
Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100: Not the most practical proposal

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Photo: www.bangladeshdeltaplan2100.org

Md. Khalequzzaman

Bangladesh is considered to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In an attempt to provide safety and security for people living in low-lying coastal regions (15 percent of the country has an elevation below 1 m) against cyclones, tidal surges and flooding, the government has taken various measures over the last few decades, which included building 139 polders. Despite having polders, Bangladesh is facing adverse hydro-meteorological shocks, including inundation of coastal plains due to the high rate of sea-level rise (8 to 23 mm/year) as compared to the global trends (3.4 mm/year), salinity ingress, water-logging, reduction in cropland and crop yield, siltation of riverbeds, and impact on human health.

Despite an increase in natural calamities, the economic growth over the last few decades has been quite satisfactory with a GDP growth rate ranging between 4.8 percent to over 6 percent. The per capita GDP has grown from $631 in 1990 to $1,276 in 2010. In the face of population growth and climate change, it will be challenging to sustain the economic growth and to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in coming decades.

In this backdrop, it is imperative to formulate a long term strategic plan to protect the delta and its environment. Proper land and water management is central to the country's sustained economic development and protection of its environment. Recently, a large consortium, led by the consultancy firm Twynstra Gudde, has signed a contract for the development of the Delta Plan for Bangladesh 2100 (BDP2100), which is designed to formulate a long-term (50 to 100 years) delta governance. As per the Inception Report for the BDP2100, “the mission is to develop strategies which contribute to disaster risk reduction, water safety, climate change resilience and adaptation, food security, and economic development of the country.” This author holds the view that BDP2100 lacks merit on the following grounds:

Ownership:
According to news reports and the official webpage of BDP2100 (http://www.bangladeshdeltaplan2100.org), a total of eight (Twynstra, Mott McDonald, Climate Adaptation Services, Ecorys, Defacto, Deltares, Alterra, and Weeteveen BOS) out of ten consultency firms are from outside Bangladesh. This plan will put the management of land, water, and environment of the country in the hand of foreign agencies. Recently, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina reiterated that Bangladesh has achieved self-sufficiency in all sectors of development and there was no need to rely on foreign consultants for development projects. The inception of the BDP2100 is incongruent with the stated vision for development by the prime minister.

Accountability:
According to the Dutch Water Sector, collaboration between the Netherlands and Bangladesh on various flood prevention measures and coastal zone management has been in place for over 50 years. The success from these projects in terms of flood prevention and coastal zone management has been scanty at most. What guarantee will the NGOs involved in the implementation of BDP2100 provide should the plan drive the delta to a path of failure and further destruction?

Tranperancy:
The BDP2100 is probably by far the largest land and water management project that Bangladesh has ever undertaken. It is expected that such a monumental project will be discussed in the Parliament and in open public forums. Yet, not much is known about the details of the project in the public domain.

Adoption of the failed structural approach:
Building of flood control structures and polders did not prove to be an effective measure over the last six decades. The BDP2100 webpage states that “besides these typical coastal projects, a number of river improvement projects are also of relevance for our baseline, such as the Gorai River Restoration Plan, the Ganges Barrage Plan, Bhairab River Plan and Kobadak River Basin Plan.” Without any water sharing agreement with upper riparian countries, there will be no guarantee of river flow needed to make the Gorai River Restoration Plan and the Ganges Barrage Plan a success during the lean season.
 
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