Tibetan residents demanded compensation for land illegally seized by authorities, sources say. Police have arrested and detained four Tibetans who protested Chinese authorities’ seizure of pasture land owned by Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region, three sources inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia. On April 10, residents of Taktsa village in Luonixiang rural township in Markham county in Chamdo, or Changdu in Chinese, clashed with authorities after they appealed against the land grab and demanded compensation, said the sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. In 2023, a Chinese county official illegally sold the pasture land to businessmen without the knowledge of locals and without providing them any compensation, the sources said.  The Tibetans had no knowledge that their land had been seized illegally until this April when the businessmen sent people to clear it. The Tibetans then confronted authorities, demanding payment. Police arrested and detained four of the Tibetans, and slapped and beat many others at the scene, said one of the sources.  There were no immediate details about the status of the four or the charges against them, and it is not clear for what purpose the seized land will be used.  Despite repeated attempts, RFA did not receive any immediate response to calls to Markham county authorities and the local police station.  Chinese authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region and in Tibetan-populated areas of nearby Chinese provinces often ignore residents’ concerns about mining and land grabs by local officials, who routinely rely on force to subdue those who complain or protest, according to human rights groups. Over the past few years, there have been several reports of similar land grabs that have taken place in Chamdo, a resource-rich area in eastern Tibet.  Most of the land grabs have been related to mining, including copper, gold and lithium, and development projects that China has undertaken in the areas. In some cases, Tibetans have been forced from their homes. The gesture was also seen being made by Buddhist monks and Tibetans residents during February protests in Dege county, southwestern China’s Sichuan province, in an appeal to Chinese officials to stop a planned dam project on the Drichu River. In the videos from Markham county, young and elderly Tibetans kneel before police clad in black, and wail, while others pull and tug at the authorities to heed their pleas. The land in question is used by about 25 Tibetan families to graze their animals and for recreation purposes, the sources said.  Chinese authorities have arrested the official who had colluded with the businessmen to illegally seize the land without compensating the Tibetans, charging him with corruption, said one of the sources.  Now, the residents are demanding compensation for the land that had been occupied, he added. Chinese police have forbidden the Tibetans from sharing information about the incident with people outside China, the sources said.   Source: rfa

On a private residential street in northwest London sits a property which was last sold in 2022 for £11 million ($13.8 million). The row of white townhouses is located in one of the UK capital's most affluent neighborhoods, a stone’s throw away from Regent’s Park and Lord's Cricket Ground. Marketing photographs of one of the properties in the development showcase floor-to-ceiling windows, a spiral staircase across several floors, a cinema and a gym. Now valued at more than £13 million by one property platform, the house is owned by a politician from Bangladesh, a country with currency controls that restrict its citizens, residents and public servants from moving more than $12,000 a year outside the country. The measures also prohibit corporations from transferring funds abroad unless permitted and only when certain conditions are met. Saifuzzaman Chowdhury served as land minister for five years up to January 2024. Since 2016, companies that he owns have built up a UK real estate empire of more than 350 properties worth about £200 million. These figures are based on a Bloomberg analysis of available Companies House corporate accounts in the UK, mortgage charges and HM Land Registry transactions. The properties range from luxury apartments in central London to housing in Tower Hamlets, home to the largest Bangladeshi community in England, and student accommodation in Liverpool. Analysis of nearly 250 of the UK properties show that almost 90% were classified as new-builds when bought, a valuable component in a UK housing market suffering severe shortages. These transactions took place during a period when the UK government had committed to making foreign property ownership more transparent amid criticism of the ease with which Russian oligarchs were able to hide their wealth in the UK. This process became more urgent in the wake of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Chowdhury property deals could revive questions over whether UK legislation to scrutinize such purchases involving politicians are effective, according to transparency advocates. Bangladeshi Politician Buys London Property Empire Properties acquired by companies owned by MP and former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, sized by the price paid, where known Bloomberg has also identified at least five properties in Manhattan belonging to Chowdhury, bought for a total of about $6 million between 2018 and 2020, according to municipal property records. Chowdhury was re-elected as an MP, but lost his cabinet post after national elections on Jan. 7, which were boycotted by the opposition after anti-government protests were violently put down. He has since become chair of the parliamentary committee for land. In a pre-election declaration of his interests in December, Chowdhury listed his total assets at about 258.3 million Bangladeshi taka ($2.4 million), and those of his wife, Rukhmila Zaman, at about $993,000. He did not include his UK property holdings in the declaration of assets in Bangladesh. His 2022-23 salary as a minister of state is listed as about £10,000. The country’s currency controls are policed by the central bank.   Source: Bloomberg

Two international flights have landed in Osmani International Airport, Sylhet after failing to land due to dense fog at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. The flights will leave for the destination after the weather situation becomes normal. A US-Bangla flight from Doha of Qatar lands at 8:55am and another US-Bangla flight from Guangzhou of China lands in Sylhet at 9:44am on Saturday. In a span of four days, four flights made emergency landings due to weather in Sylhet.

India on Wednesday became the first country to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. "India is on the moon," S. Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said as the Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander made a "soft landing" on the lunar surface. "This is a victory cry of new India," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the final moment before touchdown from Johannesburg where he is attending the BRICS summit. Modi hoped mission success would spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. Joy as spacecraft touch down The successful landing comes just days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after losing control. India's previous attempt to land on the moon failed in 2019, but on Wednesday, scientists and officials clapped at the country's cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed. DW's bureau chief in New Delhi, Amrita Cheema, reported that the response in India was "euphoric." "India has a young, vibrant and very aspirational population and they take great pride to be part of a country which is going towards the future and able to compete at the international level and part of the big league even in its space program," she said.  The mission was launched nearly six weeks ago, and people across India were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface. Chandrayaan-3's mission The south pole of the moon has potential as a source of oxygen, fuel, and water for future missions and a moon colony. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to explore it for two weeks, running a series of experiments to determine the mineral composition of the lunar surface. Several countries, including the United States, China, Israel and Japan, aim to set up a base on the moon. Only the United States, China and the former Soviet Union have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface. Other space agencies took note The European Space Agency (ESA) director general Josef Aschbacher was among the first to congratulate India's ISRO. "What a way to demonstrate new technologies AND achieve India's first soft landing on another celestial body. Well done, I am thoroughly impressed," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Senator Bill Nelson, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)  administrator, also congratulated India. "We're glad to be your partner on this mission!" he wrote on social media.   NASA and ESA provided tracking support to the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

A three-day National Land Conference will begin in the city tomorrow under the arrangement of the Ministry of Land. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the three-day conference for the first time at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) here introducing seven other new initiatives of the land ministry, a press release said. The Ministry of Land is organizing the national land conference on March 29-31 to highlight the role of the Ministry in building a smart Bangladesh and to find out the future challenges of digitalization of land services. Other objectives of the National Land Conference include informing citizens, government agencies, and stakeholders about the steps taken by the Ministry of Land, creating awareness among them about land management, and giving an idea about the existing laws and regulations related to land. One of the seven initiatives is the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Monument and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Guchchagram Complex, which was set up at Ramgatti in Laxmipur, a memorable place visited by the Father of the Nation. The remaining six initiatives are Registration-Mutation Interconnection, Smart Land Map, Smart Land Records, Smart Land Pedia, Smart Land Service Center and Union Land Office. Four seminars/panel discussions on various topics related to land management, such as 'Field Administration in Smart Land Management', 'Sairat and Khas Land Management', 'Acquisition Management, Government Cases, and Government Procurement Management', and 'Bangladesh Digital Survey', have been scheduled to take place during the afternoons of the day of inauguration ceremony and the following two days. The second and third-day activities of the conference will be held at BIAM Foundation in the capital.

The refugees of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) settled in Jammu observed Black Day on Saturday and demanded to return the illegally occupied areas of Kashmir. On October 22, 1947, Kabali tribals who were backed by the Pakistan Army had attacked Jammu and Kashmir and killed thousands of people. Their attack on the citizens in the valley in 1947 forced many to leave their homes and take refuge at other safer places. Since then, the PoK refugees who are settled in Jammu observe the day as 'Black Day' and remember the ones who lost their lives in the inhumane crisis. Pakistan attacked the Union Territory just nine days after being carved out of India. It first dispatched armed irregulars and then regular troops to invade Kashmir. The campaign was led by the maverick Major General Akbar Khan who brazenly called the troops as 'raiders'. The Pakistan Army code-named the Kashmir mission as 'Operation Gulmarg'. The boastful book of Khan which was belatedly published in 1970, leaves little to argue or imagination about the nature and motive of the operation. India observes October 22 as "Black Day". It is done by India in purely legal terms just to tell the world that India had sent the troops only after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. However, it had been factually established that the Maharajah had acted after touring Poonch and Owen Pattan in the Jammu region. The region fell on October 8 and 9, 1947. In August 1947, when India became independent, Jammu and Kashmir, as one of the princely states were ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh. He did not make any decisions about joining India or Pakistan until the British left on August 15, 1947. Pakistan started threatening Maharaja Hari Singh. As stated in writing, "the time has come for Maharaja of Kashmir that he must rake his choice and choose Pakistan. If Kashmir fails to join Pakistan, the worst possible problems will inevitably arise." Believing that Maharaja Hari Singh might pin India, Pakistan had already decided to take Jammu and Kashmir by force at the end of August 1947, the statement reads. Before the launch of Operation Gulmarg, Pakistan had cut off supplies of essential supplies to the valley; an undertaking in which it succeeded extremely well as most of the state's communication lines ran through that part of Punjab that is now part of Pakistan. The chain of events began on October 22, 1947, with the induction of the ugly hand of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan which has continued even to this day. The Hindus of Kashmir, who made up 100s of the Kashmir population before the advent of Islam some 700 years ago, have now been gradually reduced to a microscopic presence. After 1947, Hindus became the target of discrimination and constant threat from the Muslim majority, the statement reads. The assassination of prominent Hindu leaders took place between September 1989 and eventually the genocide of 3,50,000 Hindus who fled their homes, beginning on January 19, 1990 and continuing thereafter, to save their honor and dignity and to escape mass murder by Islamic jihadists. This horrific migration of a tiny population of Hindus created human rights issues of enormous magnitude. People were forced to abandon their property, lands, businesses and all forms of livelihood just because they were seen as obstacles in the expansionist movement of fundamental Jihad sponsored, aided, and assisted by Pakistan. It is against this background that the invasion that began on 7 October 1947. It must be seen and regarded as the darkest days in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, the statement added.  Source: ANI

Two more mortar shells fired from Myanmar warplanes landed on the Bangladesh border in Tumbru of Bandarban today. Bandarban Hill District Superintendent of Police (SP) Md. Tariqul Islam confirmed the matter to BSS.  He said Bangladesh law enforcement agencies have been kept at highest alert in the area following the incident.  He said two mortar shells fell in Reju Amtali area near pillar no. 40-41 of Tumbru border of Ghumdhum union in Naikhyangchari upazila of the district from the warplanes.  No casualties were reported, he added. "The incident caused panic among the local inhabitants. We are looking into the matter. Our law enforcement agencies are now on highest alert following the incident," the district superintendant of police said. He said two fighter planes and two fighter choppers were also found flying near the pillar no. 40-41 and fired 8-10 mortar shells and about 30-35 bullets in the area.       Source: BSS AH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) said her government has been trying to bring land related services to the hands of people to reduce their sufferings and harassments through digitization of the land management system.   ". . . People shouldn't be harassed; people shouldn't be subjected to suffering rather we wanted to make arrangements of bringing land services at their hands, keeping in mind that they (people) are not needed to go door-to-door for it," she said.    She said this while inaugurating Bhumi Bhaban (Land Building) and other development activities as the chief guest.    Joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban, the Premier said more digital technology is being used in all areas of land service, including online khatian collection, inheritance calculators and online databases, to ensure "land service at hand".    "Our goal is to conduct a cent percent e-mutation process and make the land management system of Bangladesh fully digitized," she said.    With Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury in the chair, Land Secretary Md Mustafizur Rahman delivered welcome address.   The Ministry of Land organized the opening ceremony of Bhumi Bhaban, Upazila and Union land office buildings, online payment system of land development tax and land data bank in the capital's Osmani Memorial Auditorium.    At the outset of the ceremony, two video documentaries - - one related to land management and reform taken by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as well as digitization of land documents by the present government and another on the newly constructed buildings and development activities -- were screened at the function.    The newly built Bhumi Bhaban in the capital's Tejgaon area is expected to be a "one-stop-service" hub for land related services.    To facilitate hassle-free services to the people, all the offices related to land now will be accommodated under the rooftop of this Bhaban.    Earlier, on 18 September 2014, during her visit to the Ministry of Land, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed all the concerned departments and agencies to come under one roof and take steps to provide one-stop-service to the people.   To comply with her directives, an initiative was taken to construct a land building complex with a cost of Taka 184 crore to house all the offices and agencies under the Ministry of Land.    The Land Reform Board, Land Appeal Board and Land Records and Survey Department under the Ministry of Land were located at different places in Dhaka city.    Now, the newly constructed 13-storey building with two-basement having 32,200 square metre spaces will be the house of these offices to ease the process of land related services.    A day-care center has also been set up at the Bhumi Bhaban Complex for the convenience of working women. Also, the building is equipped with a sewerage treatment plant system.    In addition, a Bangabandhu Corner and Mural of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman have been set up in the complex. The Prime Minister said her government has wanted to modernize the land management system further and that is why the government has been constructing new office buildings in union and upzila levels.   To this connection, she also raised the question as to why the previous governments who came to power before the Awami League didn't renovate or construct new buildings for the land office although those were in dilapidated state.   Sheikh Hasina said the more irony was that the BNP-Jamaat alliance in 2013 set fire to many land offices across Bangladesh and also killed people including women-children by carrying out arson attacks on moving buses and other vehicles.   She continued that actually, the BNP-Jamaat is not working for people as it is the organization which grabbed power illegally and established military dictatorship.   She went on saying, "They have no responsibility for people and the country as well. Power and making money from power as well as militancy, terrorism and corruption is their only job, and they have done it."   But, when the Awami League (AL) comes to power, it always tries to develop the socio economic condition of people in the country, she said, adding, "It's only become possible, when AL is in power as we work with sincerity, an ideology, policy and far-reaching plan."   She stated that leaders and activists always stand beside people since the war of liberation and in other necessities.   But, she said, "Those, who come by flying and sit in power, don't have that responsibility . . . they turn the power into a place of enjoyment and a machine to make money. They don't put concentration on the country's people and that is the reality."   Mentioning the initiative of constructing new office across the country, the head of the government said at present Assistant Commissioners (Land) have been posted in almost all the upazilas of the country and at the same time, vehicles have been provided to them to perform their official duties, inspection and conduct mobile courts.    "With the appointment of Assistant Commissioners (Land) in almost cent percent upazilas with vehicle facility, dynamism in the land administration has increased and it is becoming possible to provide the desired service to the people," she noted.   As part of digital land management, she said the government has already implemented an online khatian collection system, which has enabled the land owner to collect the khatian sitting at home.   Stating that virtual record rooms have been established with about 4.92 crore digitized khatians all over Bangladesh, she said anyone can collect his desired khatian free of cost from this digital record room.   The Premier said in 8th five year plan, the government has laid emphasis on digitized land management as part of its strategy of land administration development.   To this connection, she said three digitization projects have been undertaken to improve and standardize land management.   These are The Land Management Automation Project, Strengthening Capacity for Digital Land Survey of the Department of Land Records and Survey, and the National Digital Land Zoning Project based on mouzas and plots, which will be implemented in the next few years.   She hoped, "With the completion of these three projects, a landmark and radical change will take place in the land management of Bangladesh and complete digitization of the overall management will be possible." The Prime Minister said each of the five projects, inaugurated today under the auspices of the Ministry of Land, will play a leading role in bringing services to the doorsteps of the people.    She said in old system, a land owner must go to the Union Land Office to pay the land development tax, but the new way would enable the owner to pay the tax without visiting the office.    Sheikh Hasina revealed that out of about three crore holdings in Bangladesh, data entry work of about one crore holdings has been completed while work on the remaining holding entries is ongoing.    "Once the project is implemented, a citizen will be able to get all the information related to land development tax from any place at any time," she said.    The Premier added, "You can also pay it online and get the dakhila (submission) online. This will save your time and money as well as harassment also."    She said people of grassroots level visit Tahsil offices to receive services and that is why a project to construct 1,496 land offices at the union level is being implemented to ensure service to the people.    Construction work of 995 Union Land Offices has already been completed, she said, adding, building of 129 upazila land offices, out of 139, have also been accomplished to offer better services and preserve land related documents. Source: BSS AH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invited the world to invest in India, saying the South Asian nation offers what innovators and investors need. "India's strides in the world of tech and start-up are well-known," Modi said, delivering a virtual keynote address at the 5th edition of VivaTech -- one of Europe's largest digital and start-up events, held annually in Paris. The prime minister's appeal comes as India turns a corner from a surge of coronavirus infections that overshadowed the Modi government's economic agenda, including his Make in India campaign to attract manufacturing investment. "Our nation is home to one of the world's largest start-up eco systems. Several unicorns have come up in the recent years," he said inviting investment into India based on five pillars of "talent, market, capital, eco-system and culture of openness." Modi pointed out that India has 1.18 billion mobile phones and 775 million internet users. Data consumption in the country is among the highest and cheapest in the world, and Indians are the largest users of social media. "There is a diverse and extensive market that awaits you," he added. Touching on India-France ties, Modi said technology and digital are emerging areas of cooperation between the two countries. "Many youngsters saw the French Open with great enthusiasm," he said, pointing out that Infosys, one of India's leading IT services companies, provided tech support for the recently concluded tennis tournament. He added that French company Atos is involved in a project for making the fastest supercomputer in India. "Whether it is France's Capgemini or India's TCS and Wipro, our IT talent is serving companies and citizens all over the world." On COVID-19, a deadly second wave of which ravaged India in April and May, Modi called the global pandemic "the biggest disruption of our age". COVID-19 "put many of our conventional methods to test," he added. "However, it was innovation that came to the rescue." Modi mentioned India's unique biometric digital identity system known as Aadhaar, which helped the government to provide financial support to the poor. The IT platform Aarogya Setu enabled effective COVID-19 contact tracing, while another digital service called CoWIN helped in the country's vaccination drive, the prime minister said. "Had we not been innovating, then our fight against COVID-19 would have been much weaker," Modi said. "We must not abandon this innovative zeal so that we are even better prepared when the next challenge strikes." He also said two vaccines -- Covishield, which is known as AstraZeneca overseas, and indigenously-developed Covaxin -- are being made in India and more are in the development or trial stages. The Serum Institute of India is manufacturing Covishield while Bharat Biotech is producing Covaxin. As of Wednesday morning, India had administered nearly 262 million doses nationwide - mostly first of the two required -- since launching the inoculation drive on Jan. 16. The country has so far reported 29.63 million infections with 379,573 fatalities. Modi's government has faced criticism for its handling of the coronavirus crisis, from a lack of hospital beds to an oxygen shortage to slow progress on the world's biggest vaccination drive. In his address, Modi said there has been a lot of disruption in different sectors over the past year, and much of it is still there. "Yet disruption does not have to mean despair. Instead, we must keep the focus on the twin foundations of repair and prepare," he said, calling for repairing of the health infrastructure and economies, and preparing for insulating the planet Earth against the next pandemic, among other things. Jointly organized by Publicis Groupe, a prominent advertising and marketing conglomerate, and Les Echos, a leading French media group, the latest edition of VivaTech runs from Wednesday to Friday. Source: Nikkei Asia AH

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has declared that play ground in each ward will be created by acquiring land if needed. The Mayor said this after watching the football match in the Inter Ward Sports Competition-2021 at Demra area in the capital on Friday. Fazle Noor Taposh said, we want our children to come back in the field for playing games. But we see that there is no adequate place for playing games. Along with the inter ward sports competition we have taken initiatives to create place for games in each ward. By this time we have recovered some land. We have taken initiatives to turn those as playable. We are going to turn some land in ward number 42, 26 and 13 into playgrounds. It is very hard but we are hopeful that we would succeed by phases. We will turn some land into playground for our children by acquiring those, if needed. AH