THE University of Dhaka authorities鈥� decision to deploy the army as a 鈥榮triking force鈥� during the Dhaka University Central Students鈥� Union elections, scheduled for September 9, is both humiliating and alarming. The announcement came at an exchange of views between the returning officers and the candidates for the positions of vice-president, general secretary and...
IN 2013, the tragic Rana Plaza incident shook the whole country, killing thousands of workers. The tragedy turned the lives of thousands of families upside down. Structural cracks in the building were discovered the day before the incident, but factory owners made their workers come for work. Section 61 of the Labour Act, 2006, instructs that when a building is required...
THE images remain vivid: Narendra Modi clasping Donald Trump鈥檚 hand before a roaring crowd of Indian Americans in Houston in 2019; the 鈥楴amaste Trump鈥� rally in Ahmedabad the following year, replete with pageantry, promises and mutual admiration. For many in New Delhi, these spectacles signalled the arrival of a new era 鈥� an India finally embraced as...
DEBRA Efroymson鈥檚 August 23 article, 鈥楯oys of Walking,鈥� presents a compelling vision of urban life in Dhaka as a struggle between pedestrians and the so-called 鈥榯hree-headed monster鈥� of cars, roads and fuel. While her enthusiasm for pedestrian-friendly cities is clear, her analysis is overly idealistic and overlooks the complex realities of urban mobility, social behaviour and...
FOUR Al Jazeera journalists, including globally admired correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in Gaza in an Israeli air strike on Aug 10...
A SINGLE district police memo tells the story. The language of 鈥榩ermission first,鈥� the stress on 鈥榦rders,鈥� the presumption that authority flows in one direction: these are not quirks of one officer on one day. They are the reflexes of a legal order built to govern subjects rather than to serve citizens. Much of Bangladesh鈥檚 day-to-day criminal justice still runs on statutes...
CYBER-BULLYING in campus politics has become an organised assault on democracy that universities can no longer afford to ignore. In the lead-up to the Dhaka University Central Students鈥� Union election on September 9 and the Jahangirnagar University Central Students鈥� Union election on September 11, female candidates face a torrent of online harassment designed to keep...
THE findings of a multidimensional survey that the finance ministry has funded to assess how families coped with issues of income, employment, expenditure, financial resilience and digital participation in one year since the 2024 uprising are worrying. The poverty rate increased to 27.93 per cent in May 2025, as the survey that research and policy advocacy organisation Power...
THE statutory audit of financial statements 鈥� mandated by law 鈥� is a critical function to ensure transparency, accountability and stakeholder confidence. Globally, the right to perform statutory audits is restricted to professionals who meet rigorous legal, technical and ethical standards, often under a formal 鈥榗harter鈥� or licensing regime...
ISRAEL war of genocide is not about October 7; it is not about freeing Israeli captives. It is, first and foremost, about preserving a racist Jewish governing coalition and seizing a historic opportunity while a submissive administration in Washington looks the other way. The aim is to advance a biblical expansionist project and create the conditions for 鈥榮elf鈥� ethnic cleansing...
BANGLADESH鈥橲 artisan economy is not a relic of the past; it is a living industrial system spread across Narayanganj鈥揝onargaon鈥檚 Jamdani belt, Tangail鈥檚 saree heartland, Sirajganj鈥檚 handlooms, Rajshahi鈥檚 silk corridor, Rangpur鈥檚 shataranji, and shital pati weaving in Sylhet and Jhalakathi. Framing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 ongoing engagement with these...
EIGHT years after the military purge that forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar鈥檚 Rakhine State, the crisis remains unresolved. On 25 August 2025, refugees in Bangladesh will mark another year in limbo, with more than 1.15 million people still confined to squalid camps in Cox鈥檚 Bazar and the remote island of Bhasan Char. Bangladesh has displayed exceptional...
THE first hint is often a taste 鈥� tea brewed with brackish water, a sting on the tongue after a long walk home from the embankment. In Khulna, Satkhira and Barguna, families now measure seasons not only by rain and harvest but also by the creeping line where salt replaces sweet. Bangladesh鈥檚 coast, once buffered by mangroves and silt-heavy rivers, is becoming...
IN A bilateral meeting between Bangladesh and Pakistan on August 24, both countries agreed to boost trade and commerce and collaborate in regional and global forums but differed on the unresolved issues of 1971. The visiting Pakistani deputy prime minister expressed keen interest in enhancing ties with Bangladesh, which is visibly more pronounced since the ouster of...
THE government hosting a three-day stakeholders鈥� dialogue on the Rohingya situation in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, which began on August 25 with representatives from 40 countries, is welcome. Marking the eighth year since the influx of the Rohingyas into Bangladesh, the dialogue, organised as a preparatory event for a high-level conference in New York on September 30 on the...