Bangla New Year - Brief History & Present Activities.

The Bengali year was introduced during the regime of Emperor Akbar to facilitate revenue collection in the 16th century. Ameer Fateh Ullah Sirajee, member of Akbar's Nabaratna initiated the "crop year" by mixing the solar year with lunar year. It was Sirajee who began counting Bengali Nababarsha from Baishakh after combining Hizri with Bengali year. The name Baishakh was derived from a heavenly body named 'Bishakha.'
Prospects of material folk culture studies and folklife museums in Bangladesh

However, in Bangladesh, the celebration was first shifted in 1988, following a coordinating committee recommendation. It suggested to observe the day on Apr 14, saying that it would be scientific, instead of following 'panjika'. The committee was formed under the supervision of the Bangla Academy in 1963. Veteran academician Dr Muhammad Shahidullah and Dr Meghnad Saha were among the top members.

But, the West Bengal government did not accept that. The citizens there, most of whom are Bengali speakers, still follow the 'panjika'.

The Bengalis await the first day of the 'Nababarsha' with new hopes and aspirations. The students of the Bangla Department at Dhaka University also hosted Chaitra Sankranti in the evening on the university's Arts Faculty premises. The whole nation is set to welcome the New Year and different programmes are chalked out to celebrate the day.Who's who in Bangla literature

The central attraction of Pahela Baishakh is the 40-year old regular programme of Chhayanaut at Ramna Batamul. Chhayanaut has finished all arrangements for its programme. Like every year, the musical programme is furnished with devotional and patriotic songs.

The Fine Art Institute of Dhaka University has finished its last minute preparations to bring out a Mangal procession. The arts students make tireless efforts for days to prepare different masks and figures of birds and animals.

Assailant Ashraf Ali Has been Arrested.

On March 27 morning, Ashraf stabbed his girlfriend Barsha, and her parents at their Kalabagan residence. He had stayed there overnight. Kalabagan police station's sub-inspector, Tariqul Islam, had said, "Barsha and Ashraf appeared to have become involved at university."The Stabbing in the Stables (Fethering Mystery)

Hey...Stop Stabbing Me!

Ashraf had demanded Tk 20 lakh from Barsha's father and upon being refused became violent. Police has arrested Ashraf Ali from Kaliganj, three days after he stabbed his girlfriend and her parents in an altercation over money.

River Surma needs Dredging.

Bangladesh will talk with India on dredging of the Surma River at the Joint Rivers Commission meeting starting Thursday in New Delhi. A 16-strong Bangladesh delegation, headed by water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, reached New Delhi on Wednesday to attend the 37th ministerial-level meeting of the Joint Rivers Commission.Peace Like a River

Water Development Board officials say water flows in the Surma river comes down to almost nothing in the dry season after 1990s as a big shoal has emerged in the no-man's land in Amalshid where Indian Barak Iiver enters Bangladesh into two rivers—Surma and Kushiara.Surma Bengali News Weekly

They say removal of the shoal by dredging has not got the importance it deserved. "We will discuss the Teesta's water sharing. Also, we will raise this issue of Surma's dredging at the JRC meeting," water resources secretary Shaikh Wahid-uz-Zaaman, one of the delegation members.Where the River Ends

Water Development Board's superintendent engineer (in Sylhet) Syed Afsan Ali told on Monday that if the shoal was removed, more water in the Surma will be available.The RiverRiver Songs of Bangladesh

"It should be dredged," he said. The board officials said they could not go for the dredging as the shoal is in the no-man's land. "It is up to the JRC to settle this," a top official of the board told preferring anonymity. "Without the JRC's approval, we cannot go for dredging in the border," he said.RiverRiver Songs of Bangladesh

The Water Development Board records say water availability in the Surma river comes down drastically in the dry season: from November to March. Officials say the river's highest flow in July-August reaches about 1,500 cumec per second, but it falls to about five to six cumec per second in March or April every year.Tales From The River Brahmaputra [Tibet * India * Bangladesh]

In 2008, the Surma's highest and lowest flow figures for the dry season were recorded in March. The lowest flow was 6.05 cumec per second while the highest was just 15 cumec per second. The highest flow in the rainy season the same year was 1456 cumec per second on July 21.Politics of Himalayan River Waters: An Analysis of the River Water Issues of Nepal, India and Bangladesh (Nirala Series 32)

DITF has extended for seven more deys.

The largest trade exposition of the country, has been extended for seven more days. Commerce ministry spokesperson Faizul Haq said the ministry decided the extension Dhaka International Trade Fair on requests by participants in the fair, jointly organized by the ministry of Commerce and Export Promotion Bureau.Savannah Straw Market Basket

Bangladesh Investment and Trade Laws and Regulations Handbook (World Law Business Library) 

Now the fair, which was scheduled to close on January 31, will continue up to February 7. Around 500 organizations from 10 countries are taking part in the month-long annual trade extravaganza.

Climate change could disappear Royal Bengal Tigers of Bangladesh. - WWF

Royal Bengal tigers' population could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat in the Sundarbans along the coast of Bangladesh, according to a new World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.

 The Desperate Delta: Social Ecology of Sunderbans

Tigers are among the world's most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the wild, Swiss-based WWF, the worlds largest conservations organisation, said in a report on Friday. WWF officials said the threats facing these Royal Bengal tigers and other iconic species around the world highlight the need for urgent international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"If we don't take steps to address the impacts of climate change on the Sundarbans, the only way its tigers will survive this century is with scuba gear," said Colby Loucks, WWF-US deputy director of conservation science and the lead author of the study on Sea Level Rise and Tigers: Predicted Impacts to Bangladesh's Sundarbans Mangroves.