SMARTPHONES are now ubiquitous fixtures at emergencies and disasters. The moment something terrible happens, a bus crashes on a Dhaka highway, a school building erupts in flames, many bystanders reflexively raise their phones. Instead of rushing to help, some want to capture every horrifying detail for likes and shares...
BANGLADESH is known as one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of global climate change, but the country is moving fast from the vulnerability to a become climate-resilient society through various policy responses and climate actions at various levels. The country has formulated a set of policies, plans and strategies to address climate change through...
THIS is deplorable that the authorities have failed to address the issues that have rendered Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation Industrial Estate 2 in Rajshahi unattractive to entrepreneurs. Launched in July 2022 as a Tk 1.5 billion project, the estate was meant to create 10,000 jobs and stimulate small and medium enterprises in the region. It, however, remains...
THE interim government鈥檚 instituting a national pay commission to decide on an increase in the salary of public servants in six months has come as a surprise to economists, especially amidst a chronic revenue shortfall, growing government borrowing and increased inflation. The pay commission has come in less than a month after the interim government introduced...
A NATION that maims, kills and starves men, women and children is unlikely to survive. Also, leaders of nations who have aided in those atrocities will likely face the same fate...
SUN Tzu鈥檚 The Art of War outlines three ways a ruler can bring misfortune upon the army (the word 鈥榓rmy鈥� in modern context implies the military forces...
BANGLADESH has made significant progress in reducing childhood stunting over the past decade, thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and public health initiatives. However, a new and silent threat is emerging that could jeopardise these hard-won gains: climate change. Recent research has highlighted a troubling link between extreme heat and stunted...
FOR millions of smallholder families, water remains a daily negotiation between hope and hardship. Whether tending boro rice on the dry soil of the Barind or collecting water for home use in flood-prone villages, such farmers balance survival against scarcity. Their water use reflects the resilience of rural Bangladesh and exposes systemic inefficiencies and an urgent need for smarter, equitable management...
THE continuation of extrajudicial killing and custodial death during the tenure of the interim government, which was installed after a political changeover that promised meaningful changes in governance, is worrying. Right group Odhikar in its latest report, published on July 24, says that at least 29 people were extrajudicially killed between August 9, 2024 and this June 30...
THE death of Bangladeshis continues at the hands of India鈥檚 Border Security Force, with at least 34 having died, after being shot or tortured by the Indian guards, during one year of the interim government. Rights group Ain O Salish Kendra says that 15 died in firing and from torture by the Indian guards in January鈥揓une. Two were killed in January, one in February, three in...
MULTILATERAL donors and lenders are international financial institutions that provide loans and other forms of financial assistance along with policy support for developing countries. The institutions, known as multilateral development banks, are...
THE July uprising in Bangladesh marked a dramatic rupture in the political landscape. At first glance, it signalled a resounding victory: the collapse of a long-entrenched fascist regime. Yet beneath the euphoria lies a more complex and unsettling reality...
On July 21, the unthinkable happened. A Bangladesh Air Force F-7 jet 鈥� a relic of Cold War-era military hardware 鈥� fell from the sky and slammed into Milestone School and College in Uttara, Dhaka, killing at least 33 people, most of them children. In a...
ONE of the most corrosive legacies of Bangladesh鈥檚 political misrule has been its transformation into a toll state 鈥� where power is monetized and citizens are coerced into paying for what should be theirs by right. Toll extortion 鈥� coerced payments...
A PERSISTENT decline in private-sector credit growth is concerning as it has direct, adverse impact on industrial expansion, investment and job creation. Bangladesh Bank data show that private-sector credit growth fell to 6.40 per cent in June 2025, the lowest level...