Testing Time

Chintito

Board of Higher Morality Education
Session 2002-03
Title of paper: Ethics of Launch Accidents
Date of examination: 1 August 2003
Full marks: 100 Time: Depends

Instructions
a. There are 50 questions in this paper. Answer as per conditions.
b. The questions are of equal value, if you have values, that is.
c. Each question has only two possible answers, a 'Yes' and, you got it, a 'No'. My goodness, you are well prepared, aren't you?
d. If you answer 'Yes' to a question, only then you may continue with the next question.
e. Otherwise, stop immediately. Your exam is over.

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1. Was 'MV Nasreen 2' a launch?
2. Does that it mean it plies on a river or a waterway?
3. Was the said launch supposed to be a licensed vessel?
4. Was the said launch supposed to be manned by licensed personnel?
5. Did 'MV Nasreen 2' leave Sadarghat Terminal on the evening of 8 July, 2003?
6. Was it a passenger launch?
7. Do people travel on this launch, meaning human beings?
8. Were many things that which can be defined as cargo loaded on to the vessel?
9. Does every licensed vessel have an allowable number of persons that it can carry?
10. Does every licensed vessel have an allowable quantity of cargo by weight/volume that it can carry?
11. Was 'MV Nasreen 2' on that tragic night carrying more passengers than it was allowed to?
12. On that tragic night was it carrying more cargo than it was allowed to?
13. Is this what is commonly known as overloading?
14. Can a launch of the kind and build of 'MV Nasreen 2' sink due to overloading?
15. Is that common sense?
16. Are officers instructed to stop overloaded launches?
17. Should not someone have stopped that perilous vessel from leaving the Sadarghat Terminal?
18. Is that employee or are those employees not answerable to someone?
19. Are not BIWTA and BIWTC governed by the Ministry of Shipping?
20. Without looking above, can you name at least one government agency responsible for the control of operations of river going vessels?
21. Is human safety one of the integral parts of operation?
22. Does a vessel, known as a launch, plying on a river come under the purview of the Shipping Ministry?
23. Is there such a ministry in Bangladesh?
24. Is there a minister for that ministry?
25. Is that minister supposed to be responsible for everything to do with shipping, its successes and failures?
26. Did the vessel go down in a confluence of rivers near Chandpur?
27. Did hundreds of people die in the river cataclysm?
28. Was it a terrible accident?
29. Is it true that no one knows even today exactly how many people died on that night?
30. Does not the lack of information about the number of deaths demean the dignity of the citizens of a country?
31. Do families suffer terribly when their loved ones die?
32. Have you undergone the pain following the death of a loved one?
33. Does not every politician proclaim while campaigning for votes that he will protect his countrymen, safeguard their interest and stand beside them in any need; and matters to that effect?
34. Did not all the elected ministers holding office on the night pledge likewise in public meetings?
35. Should not concerned government officers, including the minister, rush to the spot after any tragedy that befalls the people of this country?
36. Don't the voters deserve such attention from persons holding publics offices?
37. Do not such visits raise the morale of the affected people?
38. Should not ministers, local MPs, civil administration, police and others responsible have visited the site of the accident as soon as it was practical?
39. Is it true that over the past 21 months hundreds of people died in launch accidents?
40. Is not the concerned Minister responsible for each and every matter related with the shipping sector?
41. Does it not make the concerned Minister responsible for the loss of human lives by considering that those for whom and that for which he is responsible failed miserably?
42. If the concerned Minister had issued instructions and even then the system was failing, does it not mean that the concerned minister has no command over his officers?
43. Has not the repeated launch accidents and large number of deaths embarrassed the government time and again?
44. Did the Prime Minister appoint a Shipping Minister to look after the sector, believing that he could do it?
45. Did the Prime Minister have confidence in that person?
46. Has not that Shipping Minister let down the Prime Minister?
47. Is it true that news appeared in dailies that the Prime Minister reprimanded or was unhappy with the Shipping Minister for mishandling the sector or parts thereof?
48. Is the Prime Minister refraining from dumping the Shipping Minister because she respects his honour?
49. Should the Shipping Minister not also reciprocate and show respect to the Prime Minister?
50. Should the Shipping Minister resign?
Results: Only one candidate failed because he answered 49 questions to the affirmative. The rest of you passed.