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Opinion/Editorial


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Confronting deadly tobacco legacy

EVERY year, May 31 marks World No Tobacco Day, a global observance not merely symbolic but a rallying cry for awareness, policy reforms and collective action. Since its introduction by the World Health Organisation in 1988, this day has highlighted...

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Artificial intelligence in agriculture

SINCE its emergence as an independent nation, Bangladesh has relied heavily on agriculture as the bedrock of its economy. To this day, the sector continues to employ more than a third of the national workforce. Recent figures from Statista (2025)...

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MASS MEDIA: Being gender-sensitive in words

IN TODAY’S interconnected world, mass media wields unparalleled influence over public perception, shaping societal norms and values on a daily basis. Whether through television broadcasts, digital news outlets, podcasts or social media platforms, the media’s capacity to...

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Dubious cases will only harm justice for July massacre

THE arrest of a retired professor of Jagannath University in a dubious case related to the violence during the July uprising in 2024 raises serious concern as such arrest and cases stand to harm justice and allow perpetrators to escape unpunished...

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Govt should afford needed fillip to light engineering sector

LIGHT engineering, which could fetch up to $100 billion from export if properly nourished, warrants that the government should provide the sector with policy support, scopes for investment and the needed infrastructural development. It is in this...

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Cybersecurity: are we doing our part?

IN TODAY’S hyperconnected world, cybersecurity is no longer a technical issue confined to a particular department — it is a strategic imperative that affects every individual, business, and government. The threat landscape is growing more complex by...

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Defining shift in revenue administration

THE Bangladesh interim government recently made a pretty big decision — they are dissolving the National Board of Revenue and splitting it into two separate entities: the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division. This change...

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Zia’s blueprint for inclusive Bangladesh

ZIAUR Rahman is a remarkable personality in the study of Bangladeshi politics, in one respect, at least: how a former army officer whose political career spanned only about three years and a half could surpass established and professional politicians and...

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Strong local govt for democratic society

AN EFFECTIVE local government in a country and society consolidates democracy from the grassroots. The common people become partners in good governance. Development and services are cost-effective and of high quality and standard. Local government...

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Govt should shore up issues to save education, students

ACADEMIC activities in primary and secondary schools are disrupted amidst work abstention by teachers and employees. Assistant teachers of government primary schools and employees of secondary schools, on monthly pay order scheme...

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Govt, political parties should seek a middle ground

THE interim government and several political parties, especially the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, appear to have embarked on a confrontational path about the timing of the next general elections. While the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and some other...

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International law and Israel’s reign of terror in Gaza

AS THE world watches, one of history’s greatest crimes has taken form.  Inaction, complicity and silence in the face of genocide have caused profound suffering to the Palestinian people.  No final reckoning or redress would be equivalent to the scale and magnitude of Israel’s depraved criminality...

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Collateral damage and Trump’s tariff

BY THE time Washington and Beijing released their latest joint statement on May 12 — ostensibly pressing pause on a spiralling tariff war — much of the world exhaled in cautious relief. But beneath the performative diplomacy and sterile communiqués, a quieter suffering has gone largely unheard. For the world’s most vulnerable economies, the damage is neither...

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Evils of corporal punishment in madrasahs

ON MAY 14, Bangladesh was shocked by the tragic and brutal death of seven-year-old Sanim Hossain, a student at Al-Mu’in Islami Academy in Lakshmipur. Reports indicate that his teacher, Mahmudur Rahman, beat him to death. What followed was even more disturbing — the institution attempted to disguise the killing as a suicide. The suggestion that...

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Unabated border killing

The death of Bangladeshis at the hands of India’s Border Security Force has become a grim reality, with barely any effective response that would stop the happening. The death hardly creates outrage outside a few rights groups. The Border Guard Bangladesh lodges protests. The issue comes up at bilateral meetings or dialogues. Yet, there is little sustained pressure or...