Bangladesh 'Eve Teasing' Takes A Terrible Toll :

In 13 th June, 2012  has been designated "Eve Teasing Protection Day" by the education ministry in Bangladesh.The announcement reflects increasing concern over the worrying number of girls and women who have recently committed suicide in the country to escape "Eve teasing", a euphemism for sexual harassment. 

Figures released by the Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK) human rights organisation reveal that 14 girls and women have taken their own lives over the past four months across the country as a direct result of the insults.In addition, a father and a daughter also committed suicide together - in an incident blamed by the authorities on "Eve teasing". Police say three men who publicly protested against the harassment have been killed over the past 12 weeks. 

'Very frightening'

Critics argue that laws which should prohibit sexual harassment are so poorly drafted that victims get virtually no help from the law enforcement agencies. Families of the victims are left feeling hopeless and helpless. "Some victims find suicide is the only avenue that enables them to escape this social pandemic," said Sultana Kamal, executive director of ASK."The situation is very frightening. The suicides of 14 girls are an alarming sign of the times. If it is not controlled, we women can no longer live in society with any dignity." 

The tragic story of 13-year-old Nashfia Akhand Pinky - known as Pinky - shows just how damaging "Eve teasing" can be.Pinky was a ninth-grade student of a school only half a kilometre away from where she lived with her uncle in central Dhaka. On her way to school, she was stalked by her 22-year-old male neighbour and some of his friends who, according to her family, persisted with "ribald comments, smutty jokes, coarse laughter, sly whistles and even indecent exposure".The neighbour is alleged to have been stalking her for several months. On 19 January, she went out of her house to buy some medicine for a niggling hand injury. 

 The neighbour and his friends blocked her way and made suggestive remarks. She became angry and protested. After that, he became more aggressive and bombarded her with crude language, pulling off her scarf and slapping her face. Pinky fell down on the street under a barrage of blows. Some neighbours apparently saw the incident yet did not try to stop it or protest against it. 

'Grave concern'

Ali Ashraf Akhand, Pinky's uncle, said that she suffered "serious mental torment from this indecent assault". 

Dhaka's streets can be dangerous for women."She could not tolerate the insult of it," he said, "so she hanged herself with a sari scarf tied to a ceiling fan in her drawing room. 

 "Pinky informed me around 15 days before her suicide about the stalking by the neighbour. I tried to warn him off but he became more predatory," Mr Akhand said.His version of events seems to be borne out by a note Pinky wrote just before the suicide."When [my tormentor] pulled my scarf and harassed me physically in front of the house, onlookers at the scene laughed. Nobody protested. None of my family members are responsible for my suicide." Bangladesh police chief Nur Mohammad said that Pinky's case - and others like them - were a cause for "grave concern". He said harassment was a problem that urgently needed to be sorted out.

 Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said female students and female teachers are at present not safe on streets or in schools."That is no exaggeration. In some places, schools have been shut down and exams delayed because of the problems caused by Eve teasing stalkers."Those who are teased do not like to go to school and sometimes guardians do not allow them to go to school for their safety and honour. So the drop-out rate of female students in many schools is increasing," Mr Nahid said. "Another negative manifestation of the problem is the tendency of parents to push underage daughters into early marriages so that they can escape Eve teasing. Parents think that if their daughter has a husband, they will be saved from the dangers.

 "It has become a vicious cycle."

Rahim Afroz Batteries Article

Rahimafrooz, founded in 1954 by Late A. C. Abdur Rahim as a trading company, is one of the largest business groups in Bangladesh. It consists of nine SBUs and several other affiliations. The Group's Chairman is Mr. Afroz Rahim and the Managing Director is Mr. Feroz Rahim .Rahimafrooz operates in three broad domains: automotive after market, power and energy, and retail chain. It sells tyres, batteries, lubricants, emergency power products, diesel as well as gas generators, lighting products, electrical accessories, solar systems, energy solutions using compressed natural gas, and power rectifiers. The Group also runs 'Agora' the first retail chain in Bangladesh. The Group has strengthened its market leadership at home while reaching out to international markets. Ranging from automotive after market products, energy and power solutions, to a retail chain.Rahimafrooz produces and markets a range of battery products – automotive, motorcycle, and appliance batteries, Industrial (stationary, deep cycle, traction, VRLA) batteries, IPS and UPS batteries, and rectifiers. Lucas and Spark are the leading names in the local battery market[citation needed] while Volta, Optus and Delta batteries are fast gaining equity as International brands. The Group’s portfolio includes international tyre brands Dunlop and Kenda, and its own brand RZ Tyre. Rahimafrooz is the exclusive franchisee of the full range of lubricant brand Castrol in Bangladesh. Through Rahimafrooz IPS, UPS and Voltage Stabiliser, the Company enjoys clear leadership of the emergency power products market.[citation needed] The Company brings to Bangladesh leading gas and diesel generator brands – Pramac as well as Mitsubishi. It also markets home and industrial lighting products from General Electric USA (GE) and electrical accessories from Hager France.Rahimafrooz, in 2001, made a breakthrough in the urban lifestyles by launching one of very few retail chains in the country – Agora. Rahimafrooz’s Renewable Energy division has been providing Solar solutions. It has supplied over 52,000 solar home systems (SHS) to the rural, off-grid areas of Bangladesh where the national grid cannot reach. The Company has helped light the darkness by making available the SHS through micro-credit, whereby a family can pay as low as USD 7.00 per month for lighting up their homes, workplaces, business, etc. The Company, in recognition of its solar efforts, received the McGraw-Hill Platt Global Energy Award in 2004 and the Global Ashden Award in 2006.Rahimafrooz also offers equipments for CNG refuelling, conversion, conversion centres, and maintenance.The Group operates a non-profit organization Rural Services Foundation (RSF) through which the solar home systems reach the customers in the rural areas of Bangladesh.Rahimafrooz is also endeavouring into tyre retread, besides manufacturing and marketing emery cloths and abrasive papers. In a joint venture, the Group has enterprised into the first ever fibre optical commercial networking backbone in Bangladesh in the form of Metronet Bangladesh Ltd. (MBL).One of the SBUs of Rahiamfrooz Group, Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd. distributes solar home systems to underdeveloped rural regions of Bangladesh. For that, the company received the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2006.

Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. :

 Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. (RBL) is the largest lead-acid battery manufacturer in Bangladesh. The company is one of the leading regional players, with market leadership at home and export endeavours to more than 44 countries around the world. It manufactures about 200 different varieties of batteries for automotive, motorcycle, IPS and other applications in its factory located at West Panisail, Zirani Bazaar, Gazipur. The Company maintains high standards of operations, which are certified in both ISO 9001 as well as ISO 14001 standards. Furthermore, in order to ensure occupational health and safety of its employees, the company has also implemented the occupational health and safety management system, OSHAS 18001 standard.The expertise and reputation of Rahimafrooz as a manufacturer of quality batteries locally and internationally has inspired the Group to invest in setting up a new battery factory at Ishwardi EPZ to cater to the growing potential in the international battery market. As part of the same strategy, the Group recently decided to spin-off the Industrial Battery manufacturing facilities of RBL as a separate business unit, moving to a new factory in Savar. As a result of these initiatives, RBL will now be able to devote more resources towards meeting the increasing demand of the local market.Lucas and Spark are the leading names in the local automotive battery market while Volta, Optus and Delta are gaining equity as international brands.

 RBL has state of the art manufacturing plants. It is equipped with the latest technologies along with complete air treatment and lead-recycling management system. Its capacity in automotive and other appliance battery is over a million N50 units per annum and has provision for further expansions. Rahimafrooz has different technical collaboration agreements with the Lucas Battery Company, Technical support Group (TSG), Hawker Batteries, and Invensys, of UK, Eltek – Norway and AEES – France to ensure the quality of the battery.

Safe disposal and recycling of used batteries:

Rahimafrooz as a Group is highly committed to its social and environmental responsibilities. All its operations are built and managed in a way so that the possibility of any detrimental effect on the environment can be eliminated or minimised. Being the leader in the lead-acid battery industry, RBL is no exception to that commitment. Safe disposal of the used batteries in Bangladesh has been a big concern. Rahimafrooz has lobbied actively in getting a law formulated and enacted in this regard. RBL has ensured proper facilities and establishments for collecting (buying back) and breaking used batteries safely in an isolated location in Savar. Simultaneously, it has also made huge investments in setting up a smelting plant to recycle the recovered lead from the used batteries. In order to make all these efforts truly meaningful, Rahimafrooz has been periodically running awareness building campaigns in the society among the battery users (including the drivers) to educate them about the need for a safe disposal of batteries and also encouraging them to avail the buy-back benefits offered by Rahimafrooz for used batteries.