BANGLADESH has made notable strides in health and development over the past decades, with declining poverty, improved access to services, and rising life expectancy. Yet nutritional indicators remain alarmingly poor. The country records one of the highest rates of low birthweight globally at 28 per cent, while anaemia affects nearly 29 per cent of women...
PUBLIC transports remains fatally unsafe for passengers as the interim government has so far kept the sector off its reform agenda. The Passengers Welfare Association of Bangladesh on September 13 reported that at least 86,690 people died and 153,257 became wounded in 62,619 road accidents in 11 years. The number of fatalities, however shocking, is not surprising as...
THE National Curriculum and Textbook Board, meant to provide about 40 million students with textbooks on January 1, when the academic year begins, could print about 410.5 million copies of textbooks for the current academic year and complete the distribution by March, three months after classes began. The failure earned the board criticism. The board could run into...
INDIA found itself in an uncomfortable situation like a cat on a hot roof at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation event in Tianjin, China, with western media hyping up its unlikely role in a troika with Russia and China to chariot the world order toward a brave new era of multipolarity...
DENGUE is a neglected tropical disease listed by the World Health Organization. In other words, it is primarily a disease of disadvantaged communities who lack access to proper housing and basic amenities worldwide. The environment that favours mosquito breeding is inevitably hostile to humans. Environmental pollution, poor water management, and inadequate...
IT IS an eternal reality that societies cannot remain static. Change is inevitable, sometimes forced upon people by the sheer weight of history, sometimes demanded through the sweat and sacrifice of ordinary citizens who dare to imagine a better tomorrow. From ancient times to the present, upheavals have marked the path of humanity. Yet one question lingers like an...
THE demand for a cyber safety policy for the campus before the students鈥� union elections in the University of Rajshahi is more than justified in view of the extent of cyber harassment that candidates in such elections in the University of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar University faced during campaigns. Women candidates in the Rajshahi University Central Students鈥� Union elections...
THE government鈥檚 initiative to put the task of printing pre-primary and primary textbooks, which the National Curriculum and Textbook Board has so far done, at the hands of the primary and mass education ministry appears problematic. The government has drafted the amendments to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board Act 2018 to transfer the responsibility for...
IT鈥橲 7am. My alarm rings and I get myself ready, just as I used to in the days when I would drink a cup of mint tea and eat a falafel sandwich before heading to university with friends.
UNDER the scorching sun, a woman dressed in traditional attire makes her way along a muddy dirt road in a remote Bangladeshi village. In her hand she carries a visibly worn register. She does not just knock on doors; she carries lifelines to...
FOR years Bangladeshis have heard tantalising claims that vast sums of money 鈥� proceeds of corruption, untaxed profits and business kickbacks 鈥� have been spirited away to Switzerland and other financial havens. Each time a new figure surfaces...
BANGLADESH has become a case study in the cruel irony of climate change. It contributes less than 0.5 per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it stands among the most climate-exposed nations. Situated on the world鈥檚 largest delta, with...
TRAFFIC in the Kuril area of Dhaka came to a halt on September 11 for more than four hours after apparel workers staged a blockade, demanding arrears and allowances. About 500鈥�600 employees of Eurozone Fashion Garments gathered on the Kuril flyover...
THE Finance Division has warned ministries and divisions of fund suspension in case they fail to comply with budget implementation measures. This is a step, which the Finance Division announced on its web site on September 11, aimed at...
