| Spotlight
Necessity is the mother of all inventions
Waheedur Rahman
 AS you walk through the dilapidated roads of our cities amidst the cranking of earth-shattering hydraulic horns and the intimidating cling-cling of rickshaws, you are bound to perceive the shapeless bodies moving through the narrow gaps between the grid locked cars. They are of all sizes and all ages. I'm sure most of us are familiar with Oscar winning movie 'Slumdog Millionaire', where the begging industry is exposed. While Dhaka city remains clogged day after day, it has become equally difficult to stand there for a while without getting haunted by these beggars.
Stranded in the traffic God knows for how long you start to think that you better had a portable home which could move about or a flying car with puffy sacks full of money so you could throw it all at the beggars. On the television and the internet whilst going through news, you see politicians in our own country going for each other's throat leaving the 'real citizens' aimless, staring blankly. This vicious array of cruel showdown continues unabated as on the other hand young talents from our country make a difference to the world by contributing significantly in a foreign land. Too bad we could not keep them in their own country.
But why would they stay back? Of course flying cars and portable homes are not the viable solutions for our roads. It is time to quit quixotic thinking and start embarking on 'serious' pragmatic stuff. We may be the infamous toppers in the 'most corrupt countries' list in the world, but mind you, we have not got any deficiencies in talents (inevitably reminds me of Ashraful). So let's audaciously pull the string for the required change.
They say, “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”. Let us demonstrate the veracity of these words when it is needed the most. It is now or never. The distant horizon awaits us.
(Manarat Dhaka International College)
 Changing mindset
Anika Bhuiyan
MOM, I thought at least you would understand your daughter”, I shouted back at my mother.
“I do, but don't you get it? This society does not. Our relatives will spread rumors about you if they see you with a male friend”, explained my embarrassed mother.
I believe similar conversation has taken place between every mother and daughter in Bangladesh. And it is because the society we live in does not allow free mixing of a young man and a girl. Yet we shout slogans about promoting women rights to work alongside men. Does this not make our society slightly hypocritical?
When a student enters university life, it is only natural that they will mingle with the opposite gender. Be it in group studies or hangouts, people need to interact with the opposite gender to maintain a healthy social life. But somehow, our previous generation fails to understand that. To them, free mixing leads to illicit love affairs, premarital physical relationships and ruining family reputation. The preconceived notion of parents is that if their daughter is seen with a male friend, their relatives would assume that the guy is her boyfriend and because of this no one will send a marriage proposal for her.
The only change I expect from this society is a change in the attitude and mentality of our elders. Most youngsters are no longer naïve and they know their limits. I expect parents to understand their own children and give them enough freedom. And soon we shall live in a society of broad-minded people.
(North South University, 2nd semester)
Fire Service needs face lift
Nazmus Saquib & Sheikh Iraj
 BANGLADESH is like any other country where accidents due to fire happen from time to time. Accidents caused by fire in most cases originate from electrical short circuit, sabotage, ignorance of people regarding fire safety measures etc. Every year we are losing valuable lives and property because of fire accidents. But it is a pity that no concrete plan to check such repeated fire accidents has been taken so far by the authorities concerned. Whenever a severe fire accident occurs journalists write about the sorry state of our fire service and civil defense department and the shortage of their equipment and manpower while dealing with the fire accidents. It is true that Bangladesh is a poor country and we cannot afford to provide our fire fighters with the same equipment like they do in the developed countries.
But having said that, it is also true that successive governments have failed to address the gravity of the problems faced by our fire fighters due to resource constraints. General public are the ultimate sufferers of this negligence.
The very recent fire incident at Bashundhara City Shopping Complex is still vivid in our memory. Had there been a big ladder to reach the top floors of the Bashundhara Complex, our fire fighters could have saved lives and property on that fateful day.
Nevertheless, credit must be given to all the valiant fire fighters who, despite all the shortcomings, tried their level best and even risked their lives to stop the engulfing fire on that day. It is because of the courage, honesty, and dedication of our fire fighters that despite having poor logistical support, they are serving us with the best of their ability. Thus, the Wind of Change that we hope to see is concerned with the revamping of our Fire Service And Civil Defense stations across the country. Our government needs to motivate our fire fighters by increasing their basic salary while providing them with the necessary equipment. Measures should be taken without further ado.
(Dept. of English,Stamford University, Dhaka.)
Change for Academic Excellence
Tanweer Morshed
 HIGHER study and research are inseparable. Research paves the way for creating and nurturing knowledge. But in Bangladesh, research activities in higher studies are hardly practiced on a regular basis and the research performance is of substandard quality. The lack of importance in this arena is keeping the universities of our country from ranking high in the global lists of excellence.
A consensus having all the university ranking lists shows the slight difference in the rankings of universities home and abroad because of the different methodology and criteria used in ranking. It has been found that the top universities of the world have huge endowment for performing research activities. And they emphasize on research to an incredible extent. These universities have been the hub of knowledge and academic excellence in their respective countries.
We being an impoverished country, our government cannot afford the high cost research activities in the public universities; this is probably a logical reason behind inadequate amount allotted for research work. This year, only 5% of total budget of DU has been assigned for research. This amount is insufficient for enriching academic performance through research and will surely fail to satisfy the intellectual need of the 21st century.
Most of the policy makers and authorities of the universities are hardly aware of the prodigious importance of research. Education plays the most significant role in turning the general mass into human resources. In order to meet the challenges of 21st century and attain Millennium Development Goal, the need for an enriched educational environment comprising multi-dimensional state-of-the-art facilities are indispensable. So as a core element of higher study and academic excellence, research must be given due emphasis.
(Dhaka Residential Model College)
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