Latest news with #BayOfBengal
Times of Oman
6 days ago
- Business
- Times of Oman
India hosts 4th BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise for cyclones, floods
New Delhi: India virtually hosted the 4th BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise from July 14-15, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in an official statement on Wednesday. As per the MEA, the Exercise was organised by the National Disaster Management Authority of India as a Tabletop Exercise. It witnessed the participation of disaster management professionals from BIMSTEC Member States to assess and enhance regional preparedness for cyclones and floods. MEA said that the participants presented details of national disaster management architectures, engaged in simulated scenarios, evaluated response frameworks and shared best practices to strengthen coordination for disaster response across the region. The details of the Exercise were also shared by BIMSTEC in a post on X. India has always stood by its partners in the region as the first responder in times of crisis. The Exercise further strengthened cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region towards disaster preparedness, response and resilience. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a grouping of seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal. MEA in an official statement had noted that BIMSTEC is a unique link connecting South Asia with South-East Asia - five Members from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two from South-East Asia (Myanmar and Thailand). The BIMSTEC region brings together 1.7 billion people - 22 per cent of world population with a combined GDP of USD 5 trillion. The organization came into existence on June 6, 1997 through the 'Bangkok Declaration'. It was originally formed with four Member States with the acronym 'BIST-EC' (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following inclusion of Myanmar in December 1997, it was renamed 'BIMST-EC' (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). With the inclusion of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to BIMSTEC. (
Arab News
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
‘Bay of Bengal live': Bangladeshi fishermen go viral showing life at sea
DHAKA: When Shahid Sardar started his Facebook page four years ago, he wanted to share his experience aboard a fishing boat. He did not expect the millions of views he would soon attract as he tapped into a content niche that is rapidly gaining popularity among Bangladeshis: life at sea. Sardar, 35, lives with his wife and son in the coastal Chittagong district in south-eastern Bangladesh. He started to work as a fisherman in 2013, after leaving a job at a hospital canteen in the capital, Dhaka. As the chief cook on a vessel with a 50-member crew, Sardar sails across the Bay of Bengal on month-long voyages in search of fish. When his videos documenting deep-sea fishing methods and daily life on the boat began gaining traction, he expanded his content to show various marine species found in Bangladeshi waters — many of which are not widely known. 'I think people generally enjoy fish, especially the kinds caught at sea, which are not usually found in local markets,' Sardar told Arab News. 'The beauty of the deep sea also draws people to my videos. For most viewers, these sights are rare and unfamiliar. They don't have this experience themselves.' Posting as BD Fisherman on Facebook, he has more than 360,000 followers. His other account, Fisherman Shahid, has another 240,000. When two of his videos went viral in December 2023, Facebook approved monetization for his page. 'My first video that went viral showed a bulk of yellowfin tuna and some shrimp. The fish were just dropped on the deck ... it was the rainy season. People liked that video a lot. Within 24 hours, it got 3 million views,' he said. 'As I started receiving some money from the videos, I became more motivated to keep uploading and people started liking my videos more and more.' He now earns an average of about $500 a month from his two pages. That is in addition to his salary of $120 per voyage, plus bonuses based on the catch — about 60 cents per tonne of fish sold in the market. 'In my locality, everyone knows me as Fisherman Shahid. Wherever I go, people come to me just to know how they can earn through making videos and posting them on social media platforms,' Sardar said. 'Recently, the friends of my 7th-grader son also visited my home to learn about my video making.' While for fellow fishers, Sardar's content has been an inspiration to start their own pages, for some other followers, like Zaved Ahmed, a Bangladeshi migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, watching his videos is a reminder of his own roots. 'I was born in Cox's Bazar, a coastal area of Bangladesh, and fishing was our family's profession. Since 2023, I have been living in Jeddah, which is on the coast of the Red Sea. It seems that sea life is something in my blood. That's why I love watching Sardar's videos,' he said. 'Whenever I watch his videos, my mind travels to the sea with the fishing boat, as if I were experiencing it with my own eyes.' But most of those who follow Sardar and other fishermen-influencers have never experienced life at sea. Watching it on their mobile or laptop screens helps them connect with the sector that each year contributes about 3.5 percent to Bangladesh's GDP and is the main source of animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet. 'I think most people generally love the sea, but they don't have the opportunity to witness the mysteries of the deep sea,' said Karimul Maola, a follower of Sardar from Chittagong. 'Through Sardar's videos, I've learned about many seafish that were previously unknown to me. Also, his videos have given me some idea about how a fishing vessel normally operates — something most people don't know about.' There is a similar sentiment among the followers of other Bangladeshi fishermen who have shot to social media fame. On the page of Ehsanul Haque Shaon, a fisherman who has 172,000 followers on Facebook, one follower says watching his video was 'like the Bay of Bengal live in front of my eyes!' while another says in amazement that watching the content made them realize that 'life is very interesting.' 'How we survive on a boat in the Bay of Bengal,' a video on Fishiib, a YouTube channel focusing on showing the life of fishermen in the Bay of Bengal, has received more than 10 million views in six months. 'I am truly amazed by how these fishermen adapt to life at sea. They face constant challenges like harsh weather and limited resources, yet they find ways to survive and thrive,' one viewer said. 'Their resilience and ability to work together as a community is truly inspiring. It's a glimpse into a way of life that most of us can only imagine.'
Washington Post
21-06-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga
NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of people across India stretched in public parks and on sandy beaches Saturday to mark the 11th International Day of Yoga. The mass yoga sessions were held in many Indian states, where crowds attempted various poses and practiced breathing exercises. Indian military personnel also performed yoga in the icy heights of Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas and on naval ships anchored in the Bay of Bengal.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Indians stretch, breathe and balance to mark International Day of Yoga
NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of people across India stretched in public parks and on sandy beaches Saturday to mark the 11th International Day of Yoga. The mass yoga sessions were held in many Indian states, where crowds attempted various poses and practiced breathing exercises. Indian military personnel also performed yoga in the icy heights of Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas and on naval ships anchored in the Bay of Bengal. Similar sessions were planned in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. 'I feel that yoga keeps us spiritually fit, mentally fit and helps us manage stress. That's why I feel that people should take out at least 30 minutes every day for yoga to keep themselves fit,' said Rajiv Ranjan, who participated in an event in the Indian capital of New Delhi. Yoga is one of India's most successful cultural exports after Bollywood. It has also been enlisted for diplomacy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has harnessed it for cultural soft power as the country takes on a larger role in world affairs. Modi persuaded the U.N. to designate the annual International Day of Yoga in 2014. The theme this year was 'Yoga for One Earth, One Health.' Modi performed yoga among a seaside crowd in the southern city of Visakhapatnam city, and said 'Yoga leads us on a journey towards oneness with world.' Amid a checkerboard of yoga mats covering the beach, Modi took his spot on a mat and did breathing exercises, backbends and other poses. 'Let this Yoga Day mark the beginning of Yoga for humanity 2.0, where inner peace becomes global policy,' he said. As Modi has pushed yoga, ministers, government officials and Indian military personnel have gone on social media to show themselves folding in different poses. In capital New Delhi, scores of people from all walks of life and age groups gathered at the sprawling Lodhi Gardens, following an instructor on stage. 'Yoga for me is like balancing between inner world and outer world,' said Siddharth Maheshwari, a startup manager who joined the event.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New rules may not change dirty and deadly ship recycling business
Mizan Hossain fell 10 metres (33-foot) from the top of a ship he was cutting up on Chittagong beach in Bangladesh -- where the majority of the world's maritime giants meet their end -- when the vibrations shook him from the upper deck. He survived, but his back was crushed. "I can't get up in the morning," said the 31-year-old who has a wife, three children and his parents to support. "We eat one meal in two, and I see no way out of my situation," said Hossain, his hands swollen below a deep scar on his right arm. The shipbreaking site where Hossain worked without a harness did not comply with international safety and environmental standards. Hossain has been cutting up ships on the sand without proper protection or insurance since he was a child, like many men in his village a few kilometres inland from the giant beached ships. One of his neighbours had his toes crushed in another yard shortly before AFP visited Chittagong in February. Shipbreaking yards employ 20,000 to 30,000 people directly or indirectly in the sprawling port on the Bay of Bengal. But the human and environmental cost of the industry is also immense, experts say. The Hong Kong Convention on the Recycling of Ships, which is meant to regulate one of the world's most dangerous industries, is set to come into effect on June 26. But many question whether its rules on handling toxic waste and protecting workers are sufficient or if they will ever be properly implemented. Only seven out of Chittagong's 30 yards meet the new rules about equipping workers with helmets, harnesses and other protection as well as protocols for decontaminating ships of asbestos and other pollutants and storing hazardous waste. - No official death tolls - Chittagong was the final destination of nearly a third of the 409 ships dismantled globally last year, according to the NGO coalition Shipbreaking Platform. Most of the others ended up in India, Pakistan, or Turkey. But Bangladesh -- close to the Asian nerve centre of global maritime commerce -- offers the best price for buying end-of-life ships due to its extremely low labour costs, with a minimum monthly wage of around $133 (115 euros). Chittagong's 25-kilometre stretch of beach is the world's biggest ship graveyard. Giant hulks of oil tankers or gas carriers lie in the mud under the scorching sun, an army of workers slowly dismembering them with oxyacetylene torches. "When I started (in the 2000s) it was extremely dangerous," said Mohammad Ali, a thickset union leader who long worked without protection dismantling ships on the sand. "Accidents were frequent, and there were regular deaths and injuries." He was left incapacitated for months after being hit on the head by a piece of metal. "When there's an accident, you're either dead or disabled," the 48-year-old said. At least 470 workers have been killed and 512 seriously injured in the shipbreaking yards of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan since 2009, according to the Shipbreaking Platform NGO. No official death toll is kept in Chittagong. But between 10 and 22 workers a year died in its yards between 2018 and 2022, according to a count kept by Mohamed Ali Sahin, founder of a workers' support centre. There have been improvements in recent years, he said, especially after Dhaka ratified the Hong Kong Convention in 2023, Sahin said. But seven workers still died last year and major progress is needed, he said. The industry is further accused of causing major environmental damage, particularly to mangroves, with oil and heavy metals escaping into the sea from the beach. Asbestos -- which is not illegal in Bangladesh -- is also dumped in open-air landfills. Shipbreaking is also to blame for abnormally high levels of arsenic and other metalloids in the region's soil, rice and vegetables, according to a 2024 study in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. - 'Responsibility should be shared' - PHP, the most modern yard in the region, is one of few in Chittagong that meets the new standards. Criticism of pollution and working conditions in Bangladesh yards annoys its managing director Mohammed Zahirul Islam. "Just because we're South Asian, with dark skin, are we not capable of excelling in a field?" he told AFP. "Ships are built in developed countries... then used by Europeans and Westerners for 20 or 30 years, and we get them (at the end) for four months. "But everything is our fault," he said as workers in helmets, their faces shielded by plastic visors to protect them from metal shards, dismantled a Japanese gas carrier on a concrete platform near the shore. "There should be a shared responsibility for everyone involved in this whole cycle," he added. His yard has modern cranes and even flower beds, but workers are not masked as they are in Europe to protect them from inhaling metal dust and fumes. But modernising yards to meet the new standards is costly, with PHP spending $10 million to up its game. With the sector in crisis, with half as many ships sent for scrap since the pandemic -- and Bangladesh hit by instability after the tumultuous ousting of premier Sheikh Hasina in August -- investors are reluctant, said John Alonso of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Chittagong still has no facility to treat or store hazardous materials taken from ships. PHP encases the asbestos it extracts in cement and stores it on-site in a dedicated room. "I think we have about six to seven years of storage capacity," said its expert Liton Mamudzer. But NGOs like Shipbreaking Platform and Robin des Bois are sceptical about how feasible this is, with some ships containing scores of tonnes of asbestos. And Walton Pantland, of the global union federation IndustriALL, questioned whether the Hong Kong standards will be maintained once yards get their certification, with inspections left to local officials. Indeed six workers were killed in September in an explosion at SN Corporation's Chittagong yard, which was compliant with the convention. Shipbreaking Platform said it was symptomatic of a lack of adequate "regulation, supervision and worker protections" in Bangladesh, even with the Hong Kong rules. - 'Toxic' Trojan horse - The NGO's director Ingvild Jenssen said shipowners were using the Hong Kong Convention to bypass the Basel Convention, which bans OECD countries from exporting toxic waste to developing nations. She accused them of using it to offload toxic ships cheaply at South Asian yards without fear of prosecution, using a flag of convenience or intermediaries. In contrast, European shipowners are required to dismantle ships based on the continent, or flying a European flag, under the much stricter Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR). At the Belgian shipbreaking yard Galloo near the Ghent-Terneuzen canal, demolition chief Peter Wyntin told AFP how ships are broken down into "50 different kinds of materials" to be recycled. Everything is mechanised, with only five or six workers wearing helmets, visors and masks to filter the air, doing the actual breaking amid mountains of scrap metal. A wind turbine supplies electricity, and a net collects anything that falls in the canal. Galloo also sank 10 million euros into water treatment, using activated carbon and bacterial filters. But Wyntin said it is a struggle to survive with several European yards forced to shut as Turkish ones with EU certification take much of the business. While shipbreakers in the EU have "25,000 pages of legislation to comply with", he argued, those in Aliaga on the western coast of Turkey have only 25 pages of rules to respect to be "third-country compliant under SRR". Wyntin is deeply worried the Hong Kong Convention will further undermine standards and European yards with them. "You can certify yards in Turkey or Asia, but it still involves beaching," where ships are dismantled directly on the shore. "And beaching is a process we would never accept in Europe," he insisted. - Illegal dumps - Turkish health and safety officials reported eight deaths since 2020 at shipbreaking yards in Aliaga, near Izmir, which specialises in dismantling cruise ships. "If we have a fatality, work inspectors arrive immediately and we risk being shut down," Wyntin told AFP. In April, Galloo lost a bid to recycle a 13,000-tonne Italian ferry, with 400 tonnes of asbestos, to a Turkish yard, Wyntin said. Yet in May, the local council in Aliaga said "hazardous waste was stored in an environmentally harmful manner, sometimes just covered with soil." "It's estimated that 15,000 tons of hazardous waste are scattered in the region, endangering human and environmental health due to illegal storage methods," it said on X, posting photos of illegal dumps. In Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch and the Shipbreaking Platform have reported that "toxic materials from ships, including asbestos" are sometimes "resold on the second-hand market". In Chittagong everything gets recycled. On the road along the beach, shops overflow with furniture, toilets, generators and staircases taken straight from the hulks pulled up on the beach a few metres away. Not far away, Rekha Akter mourned her husband, one of those who died in the explosion at SN Corporation's yard in September. A safety supervisor, his lungs were burned in the blast. Without his salary, she fears that she and their two young children are "condemned to live in poverty. It's our fate," said the young widow. agu/dp/fg/rl
