From prison to freedom: flying with Bangabandhu to independent Bangladesh

amal Hossain, who was in prison in Pakistan and flew back with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Dhaka (via London/Delhi) in January 1972 following the independence and birth of Bangladesh, pens a personal tribute. This blogpost inaugurates a series of specially-commissioned posts to mark the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence in 2021. LSE South Asia Centre has created a special logo to mark the occasion, which will appear in all blogposts commemorating this jubilee through 2021-2

Shareholding patterns and financial performance: evidence from the banking sector in Bangladesh / Mohammad Kamal Hossain.

This study attempts to examine the relationship between shareholding patterns and banks’ financial performance, as defined from three different dimensions, namely, profit-based performance measured by return on equity (ROE), market-based performance measured by Tobin’s Q (TQ) and valuebased performance measured by economic value added (EVA). It included 29 out of the 30 banks listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange for the period 2013–2017, providing a balanced panel with 145 observations. All data were collected from the annual reports of the respective banks. The randomeffects GLS regression model was employed to test the chosen hypotheses. This study found a conflicting result, i.e. there was a relationship between some, but not all of the patterns of shareholdings and financial performance of the listed banks in Bangladesh. For example, a significant relationship between foreign shareholding and banks’ financial performance, as measured by ROE, TQ and EVA-log, was found. Sponsor-directors and general public shareholdings were found to be significantly related to ROE and EVA-log, but insignificantly associated with TQ. However, institutional and government shareholdings were insignificantly related to the banks’ financial performance, regardless of the measures employed to assess it. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring the relationship between shareholding patterns and banks’ financial performance, and may indicate the need for a restructuring of the existing shareholding patterns in the banking sector in Bangladesh in order to maximise performance. This study is distinctive compared to prior studies, as it examines the relationship between the shareholding patterns disclosed in the annual reports of the sampled banks and banks’ performance, as measured by EVA-log along with ROE and TQ, which have not been covered earlier

Improvement of Dynamic Performance of the Grid Connected Photovoltaic (PV) System by Series Compensating Devices

This study proposes the bridge type fault current limiter (BFCL) and series dynamic braking resistor (SDBR) methodologies to enhance the low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability of the PV plant during network faults. This work also focuses on smoothing out the PV power fluctuation due to variable irradiance. To achieve this, the output power of diversely located identical and small PV plants, instead of a big PV plant in a certain area, is integrated. Simulations performed through the Matlab/Simulink software shows that the terminal voltage obtained from the proposed protection schemes maintains the grid code, and hence the PV systems need not to be disconnected from the grid during fault. It is also seen that smoothing of PV power fluctuation is possible by the proposed integration method. Also, the size of the energy storage required for the diversely located PV system is smaller than that for a big PV plant

Study on fishing gears, species selectivity toward gears and catch composition of BSKB beel, Khulna, Bangladesh

An investigation on the types of fishing gear used and their species selectivity and effects on fishes of BSKB beel in Khulna was conducted from June '95 to January '96. Fishermen were found to follow 6 fishing techniques viz., netting, trapping, angling, spearing, dewatering and hand picking. Among them 23 types of the fishing gear was recorded to be used by the fishermen of which 7, 8, 4 and 4 are nets, traps, hooks and lines, and hand harpoon respectively. A total of 47 species of fish were identified in the catches of different gears used by the fishermen in BSKB beel. Particulars, mode of operation, fishing season and catch composition of different fishing gears were determined. Seine, cast and lift net, traps (charo, arinda and ghuni), and hooks and lines (dhawn and nol broshi) were recorded as nonselective gear considering the fish species caught. However, gill nets (punti, koi and fash jal), clasp nets (bhuti jal), some traps (khadom, tubo), hooks and lines (chip borshi, chasra) and all spears were used as more or less selective gear. With respect to species and its size fash jal, bhuti jal, trap (khadom, ramani), and koach, juti and jhupi among spears were regarded to be more or less large-species-gear. But punti jal, koi jal, trap (koi dughair, charo, tubo, arinda and ghuni), nol borshi and spear (ful-kuchi) were small-species-gear. Among all gears seine net, cast net, lift net, koi dughair and ramani were recorded deleterious for carps especially for stocked fingerlings. For relatively small sized wild fishes koi jal, punti jal and ghuni traps were identified as detrimental gear

Wild Fodder Yielding Plants in the Protected Areas of Bangladesh

Wildlife habitat is degrading worldwide due to myriads of biotic and abiotic reasons. The governments across the world countries are trying to halt the degradation through declaring protected areas (PAs) with potential wildlife habitats and strengthening conservation initiatives. These measures are expected to uphold the richness and diversity of the fodder yielding plants. But there is a dire necessity of information on composition and overall status of the fodder yielding plants for continuous monitoring of these habitats. Moreover, the potentiality of the protected areas can also be judged based on the composition and richness of fodder yielding plants. Having all these in mind, we assessed the composition and conservation status of the fodder yielding plants of all habit forms from three recognized protected areas named Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhpukuria-Dhopachari Wildlife Sanctuary, and Madhupur National Park. The study indicated the presence of 306 fodder yielding plant species of all habit forms in the three studied protected areas. This chapter describes the composition, status, habit forms, and nature of occurrences of the wild fodder yielding plants which is expected to be highly helpful in wildlife habitat monitoring and undertaking specific measures for multiplication and conservation of fodder yielding plants

A STUDY ON CAUSES OF KNITTING MACHINE STOPPAGES AND THEIR IMPACT ON FABRIC PRODUCTION

Knitting machine stoppages cause loss of fabric production. The smooth running of knitting machine depends on yarn quality, knitting machine conditions and knitting production conditions. Knitting machine stops due to different causes. In this work it was found that the causes of stoppages are yarn breakages, set-off, machine cleaning and fabric roll cutting, yarn joining, needle breakages and oil problem. The major cause of knitting machine stoppage was machine cleaning and fabric roll cutting. It occupies almost 40.38% of total stoppage time. This cause lead to the production loss of 43.48 kg of fabric. Similarly, yarn breakages, set-offs, and other causes like yarn joining and needle breakages occupied 20.19%; 7.69% and 31.7% of total stoppage time respectively. The knitting machine was stopped for total 312 minutes among 24 hours or 1440 minutes of running due to all of the causes. The causes, combindly led to production loss of 107.66 kg of fabric in 24 hours. Due to the all of the causes total 21.66% of fabric production loss was realized

'How shall we survive': a qualitative study of women's experiences following denial of menstrual regulation (MR) services in Bangladesh.

BackgroundAbout one quarter of women in Bangladesh are denied menstrual regulation (MR) due to advanced gestation [J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 41(3):161-163, 2015, Issues Brief (Alan Guttmacher Inst) (3):1-8, 2012]. Little is known about barriers to MR services, and whether women denied MR seek abortion elsewhere, self-induce, or continue the pregnancy.MethodsAfter obtaining authorization from four health facilities in Bangladesh, we recruited eligible and interested women in to the study and requested informed consent for study participation. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 women denied MR from four facilities in four districts in Bangladesh. Interviews were translated and transcribed, and the transcripts were analyzed by two researchers through an iterative process using a qualitative content analysis approach.ResultsOf those interviewed, 12 women sought abortion elsewhere and eight of these women were successful; four women who sought subsequent services were denied again. Two of the eight women who subsequently terminated their pregnancies suffered from complications. None of the participants were aware of the legal gestational limit for government-approved MR services. Given that all participants were initially denied services because they were beyond the legal gestational limit for MR and there were no reported risks to any of the mothers' health, we presume that the eight terminations performed subsequently were done illegally.ConclusionsBarriers to seeking safe MR services need to be addressed to reduce utilization of potentially unsafe alternative abortion services and to improve women's health and well being in Bangladesh. Findings from this study indicate a need to raise awareness about legal MR services; provide information to women on where, how and when they can access these services; train more MR providers; improve the quality and safety of second trimester services; and strengthen campaigns to educate women about contraception and pregnancy risk throughout the reproductive lifespan to prevent unintended pregnancies

Interview with Kamal Hossain: Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Kamal Hossain, conducted 8th December 2014 in London as part of the Commonwealth Oral History Project. The project aims to produce a unique digital research resource on the oral history of the Commonwealth since 1965 through sixty oral history interviews with leading figures in the recent history of the organisation. It will provide an essential research tool for anyone investigating the history of the Commonwealth and will serve to promote interest in and understanding of the organisation. Biography: Hossain, Dr Kamal. 1937- . Educated at the University of Notre Dame (AB, 1955) and the University of Oxford (BA, 1957; BCL, 1958; DPhil, International Law, 1964). Member of Parliament, Bangladesh, 1972-75. Chairman of the Constitution-Drafting Committee, Bangladesh, 1972. Minister of Law, 1972-73. Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, 1974. Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1973-75. International Consultant at Clifford Chance, 1977-2001. President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Bangladesh, 1990-91. UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, 1998-2003. Founder of the Law Firm Dr Kamal Hossain and Associates, Dhaka