Headlines
  • False or misleading informations are spread by organizations posing as legitimate media outlets in an attempt to twist public opinion in favor of a certain ideology.
  • On social media,watch out for fake messages,pictures,Videos and news.
  • Always Check Independent Fact Checking Sites if You Have Some Doubts About the Authenticity of Any Information or Picture or video.
  • Check Google Images for AuthThe Google Reverse Images search can helps you.
  • It Would Be Better to Ignore Social Media Messages that are forwarded from Unknown or Little-Known Sources.
  • If a fake message asks you to share something, you can quickly recognize it as fake messege.
  • It is a heinous crime and punishable offence to post obscene, morphed images of women on social media networks, sometimes even in pornographic websites, as retaliation.
  • Deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI)-driven deep learning software to manipulate preexisting photographs, videos, or audio recordings of a person to create new, fake images, videos, and audio recordings.
  • AI technology has the ability to manipulate media and swap out a genuine person's voice and likeness for similar counter parts.
  • Deepfake creators use this fake substance to spread misinformation and other illegal activities.Deepfakes are frequently used on social networking sites to elicit heated responses or defame opponents.
  • One can identify AI created fake videos by identifying abnormal eye movement, Unnatural facial expressions, a lack of feeling, awkward-looking hand,body or posture,unnatural physical movement or form, unnatural coloring, Unreal-looking hair,teeth that don't appear natural, Blurring, inconsistent audio or noise, images that appear unnatural when slowed down, differences between hashtags blockchain-based digital fingerprints, reverse image searches.
  • Look for details,like stange background,orientation of teeth,handsclothing,asymmetrical facial features,use reverse image search tools.

More Details

Hike in Food Prices Dampens Ramadan Spirit in Bangladesh

Kamran Reza Chowdhury, Dhaka

A grocery store worker (left) hands over change to a customer at the Karwan Bazar in Dhaka, March 8, 2024.Credit: Sudeepto Salam/BenarNews

Prices for several essential food items continue to rise in Bangladesh ahead of Ramadan, with consumers mostly blaming the government for not keeping costs in check in time for the Islamic fasting month that begins next week.

Staples such as chickpeas, eggplant, sugar, lentils, chicken and oil rose by 5-10% in price this week from the previous seven days.

However, the highest increases – 17-55% – have been for items such as dates, raisins and fruit, which are eaten more during the month as people begin and end their sunrise-to-sunset fast, with consumers and traders blaming unscrupulous businesspersons for the rise.

Md. Alam, a grocery store owner in Pallabi, a Dhaka neighborhood, said there was a definite jump in prices this week in food items considered as essential to the Bangladeshi diet. 

“Chickpeas, which many eat for breakfast, were being sold on Friday at 110 taka (U.S. $1) per kg (2.2 pounds), up from 100, around 10 days ago,” he said, referring to the 10% increase. 

Md. Rafiq, a poultry vendor in the Mirpur-12 residential area of Dhaka, said sales of chicken had increased ahead of Ramadan, and its cost has gone up 9% since last week.

He said 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of chicken now costs 360 taka (U.S. $3.30) compared with 330 last week.

“The price goes up [general] owing to Ramadan. In the first 10 days of Ramadan, sales will increase then it will come down over the next 10 days,” he told BenarNews.

“Then sales will increase again after the 20th Ramadan day and prices will rise further towards the end of Ramadan, for Eid-ul-Fitr.”

The regular Ramadan price increases were different this year, though, said Shubol Saha, a trader in the Mirpur-11½ neighborhood of Dhaka.

“The prices of chickpea, edible oil and sugar this year have not increased that much because the media kept writing about inflation in staple food items,” he told BenarNews.

“But the prices of dates and other fruits have skyrocketed.”

For example, 1 kilo of moderate quality dates were being sold on Friday for 1,000 taka – a 25% increase from last week – Saha said. Prices of good quality dates had shot up a whopping 50% and imported oranges were up 18%. And raisin prices have increased 33%.

“Many people eat more fruit for breakfast,” Saha said, referring to the Ramadan period, when people usually eat more of these items.

‘Government monitoring is necessary’

Consumer associations, small traders, and a former chamber of commerce official primarily blamed the government and its inaction – deliberate or otherwise –  in punishing unscrupulous businesspersons and so-called syndicates comprising big corporation owners who fund politicians.

Mir Nasir Hossain, a former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said exploitative businessmen were taking advantage of Ramadan and the government was looking the other way.

“High [volume of] sales in Bangladesh are concentrated during the Ramadan and Eid festivals. The businessmen take the opportunity to profit,” he told BenarNews.

“To stop this, strong government monitoring is necessary.”

Shopkeepers (left) in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar sell food items to customers ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, March 8, 2024.Credit: Sudeepto Salam/BenarNews

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, general secretary of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh said there was a symbiotic relationship between politicians and syndicates.

“The government is hostage to them. This syndicate even boasts that they can dislodge the government,” Bhuiyan said.

In other words, if the syndicates stopped supplying essential commodities, there likely would be huge protests against the government.

In exchange, the politicians turn a blind eye to the manipulation of prices by syndicates who work with agents they have planted in all sectors.

“Additionally, the government agencies’ monitoring on hoarding is almost absent, making the market a monopoly show for the corrupt business syndicates,” Bhuiyan said.

Efforts by BenarNews to seek comment from several officials at the Ministry of Commerce on Friday were unsuccessful. 

“They [the businessmen] justify the price hike saying the taka has depreciated against the U.S. dollar. But has there been any hike in dollar rates due to Ramadan?”

By that, he meant Bangladesh’s currency is relatively more stable now, so there is no reason to hike prices using that as an excuse.

Bhuiyan also said the government set up an institution called Competition Commission that was tasked with ensuring there was adequate competitiveness among businesess.

“But this commission has failed to make any tangible impact,” he said.

Importers and dealers were also to blame for the increase in essential foods’ prices, said Nurunnabi Islam Rubel, a trader in Kawran Bazar wholesale market in Dhaka.

“We buy products from the dealers daily. With marginal profit, we sell the items. When they reduce the price, we reduce and when they increase, we also increase,” he said.

“Unless the importers and dealers reduce the prices, we can’t do anything.”

Bhuiyan, of the Consumer Association, said that in other Muslim-majority countries’ such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the prices of essential foods were reduced because Islam calls for restraint during Ramadan.

“Here in Bangladesh, we see a reverse situation,” he said.

“Prices of all essentials such as oil, chicken, lentils and other items have gone up.”

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Used with the permission of BenarNews.

Related Article

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on…

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who has spent 14 years on death row in Indonesia, will be coming home b ...
November 21, 2024

Myanmar Junta Airstrike Kills Vhildren Playing…

Myanmar’s air force bombed a church where displaced people were sheltering near the border with Ch ...
November 18, 2024

Bangkok Court Clears Thai Woman of…

A Bangkok court on Thursday acquitted a Thai woman accused of supporting two Chinese ethnic Uyghur m ...
November 8, 2024

Residents of Kamala Harris’s Ancestral Indian…

At the Hindu temple in Thulasendrapuram, the ancestral village of Kamala Harris, in Tamil Nadu, Indi ...
November 7, 2024

TikTok Deletes Videos Related to Uyghur…

Authorities in Xinjiang have banned Uyghurs from using social media apps, including Chinese-owned ...
November 6, 2024

In Post-Hasina Bangladesh,Awami League Faces Uncertain…

With its leaders in jail or fleeing from justice, the party that led Bangladesh to independence and ...
October 29, 2024

Other Article

Video Report

Despite Risks,Unaccompanied Child Migrants Keep Crossing…

One of the top entry points for migrants under the age of eighteen who enter the United States witho ...
November 22, 2024
News & Views

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on…

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who has spent 14 years on death row in Indonesia, will be coming home b ...
November 21, 2024
Video Report

Trapped in Lebanon, African Migrants Face…

Many of the estimated 176,000 migrants living in Lebanon are African women who are working menial jo ...
Pick of the Day

Permanent Representative of France Briefs Press…

Nicolas de Rivière,Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, briefs reporters after ...
November 20, 2024
Video Report

The Impact on a Ukrainian Family…

This week marks 1,000 days of fighting in Ukraine.For millions of Ukrainians, including 32-year-old ...
Pick of the Day

UN Security Council Meets to Discuss…

James Kariuki,Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and Presid ...
November 19, 2024

[wp-rss-aggregator feeds="crime-more-world"]
Top