BNP to go for simultaneous movement, Hartal, called next week

Dhaka, 31 May : BNP and its allies will launch simultaneous movement against Hasina government’s move to cancel the constitutional provision of non-party caretaker government to hold general elections.
Opposition sources said the opposition’s agitation may include countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal likely to be called next week.

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Thirty-six people killed in two road mishaps in Assam state
PTI, Guwahati, Golaghat, 31 May : Thirty-six people were killed and 17 others injured in two road mishaps in Assam where a bus carrying a marriage party fell into a pond and an oil tanker caught fire this morning. 31 passengers, including 12 women, were killed and six persons critically injured when a bus carrying a marriage party fell into a pond in Kamrup (Rural) district last night.

The bus travelling from Guwahati to Dihu in Rangia sub-division of the district, fell into the 40 ft deep pond at Rajabari when a wooden bridge it was crossing gave in.
Six passengers were rescued and admitted to Mukundo Kakoti Civil hospital in neighbouring Nalbari district, the police said. The condition of the patients was critical. The bus was taken out of the pond by the police with the help of locals and Army personnel.
In the second accident, five persons were charred to death and 12 others injured when an overturned oil tanker they were collecting oil from burst into flames in Badulipara in Golaghat district early this morning. The tanker going to Jorhat overturned at Badulipura and soon some nearby locals gathered at the spot to collect fuel. When they were taking out the oil, an overhead wire fell on the tanker which burst into flames, police said.
The locals collecting the fuel were trapped in the blaze, police said, adding five persons were charred to death. 12 of the injured have been admitted to separate hospitals in the district. န Photos : AFP

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Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee visits "disputed" Singur
Kolkata, 31 May : West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee Tuesday visited the "disputed" Singur site and said he will submit a note to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about the present condition of the land there.
"Apart from identifying the land, we are also preparing a note sheet about the condition of land right now. We will submit that note sheet to the chief minister," Chatterjee told reporters after the visit.

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Rare Jamini Roy painting put up for sale by great grandson

PTI, New Delhi, 31 May : A rare unpublished painting done 70 years ago by Jamini Roy, one of the celebrated modern Indian artist, is now put up for sale his great grandson.

The 2.5 ft x 3.5 ft water colour on paper done in the traditional West Bengal folk art style Patua and depicting Lord Krishna and gopis was gifted by Roy to his cousin around 1908, according to his great grandson. "Jamini Roy was very fond of my great grandfather Provash Chandra Roy (my great grandfather) and considered him a venerable personality of his family. Roy gifted the painting to him on one of his birthdays," Subhra Ray,an additional private secretary to the Minister for Railways told PTI
Ray says due to certain compulsions and his inability to protect the artwork from the vagaries of nature he wants to sell the painting and is scouting for suitable buyers. "The work has been lying with our family in our ancestral home for many years in Beliatore, Bankura in West Bengal where the great painter was born," says Ray.
Born in 1887 Jamini Roy who received a Padma Bhushan in 1955, began his formal training in art at the Government School of Art in Kolkata in 1903. Roy began his career by painting in the Post- Impressionist genre of landscapes and portraits. However, by 1925, Roy abandoned the canvas and began experimenting on indigenous materials - lime coated surfaces made of cloth, wood and mats and also began using earth and vegetable hues.
The 1930s witnessed an upsurge in the artist''s career that spanned well into the 60s. Roy held several one-man exhibitions and numerous group shows. His works can be found in several private and public collections, institutions and museums all over the world, including the Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi and museums in Germany and the US.

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UN to provide $ 2 billion to Bangladesh under UNDAF '12-16

Dhaka, 31 May : The United Nations (UN) agencies will provide around US$ 1.8 billion as grants for Bangladesh over a period of five years under the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2012-2016.
In this regard, an agreement will be signed between Bangladesh government and the UN country team at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday in presence of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and UN resident coordinator Neal Walker are expected to sign the agreement, said an ERD high official.
The agreement envisaged that the UN to work in seven interrelated and complementary areas and is based upon the MDGs Bangladesh Progress Report 2009, jointly prepared by the Government and the UN.

The ERD official said that the UNDAF 2012-2016 for Bangladesh has been prepared in line with the draft Sixth Five-year Plan (SFYP), Vision 2021, MDG Bangladesh Progress Report and Perspective Plan through consultations with the UN agencies, civil society members and think tanks.
The agreement, known as UNDAF 2012-2016 is the guiding development plan for the UN system in Bangladesh.
UNDAF 2012-16 aims to raise US$ 1.8 billion for Bangladesh in seven priority areas which are led by individual UN agencies.
These areas are Democratic Governance and Human Rights (UNDP); Pro-poor Growth with Equity (UNDP); Social Services for Human Development (UNICEF); Food Security and Nutrition (WFP); Climate Change, Environment, Disaster Risk Reduction and Response (UNDP); Pro-poor Urban Development (UNDP); Gender Equality and Women's Advancement (UNFPA).
The official said that the projects to be taken under this assistance would be executed following the rules and regulations of the government and the UN agencies.
A meeting on the (UNDAF) 2012-2016 will be held on 5 June at the ERD to advance the process.
Earlier UNDAF 2006-2010 was undertaken, which was later extended to till end of 2011 under close coordination and collaboration with the government.
Six national priorities identified jointly by the GoB and UN are being addressed under the Bangladesh UNDAF 2006-2010.
The UNDAF 2006-2010 was formally signed by the then government on 30 March, 2005.

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