FOR a nation that dreams of becoming smart and progressive, Bangladesh鈥檚 educational budget is anything but intelligent. Year after year, we manage the impossible: allocating the聽lowest聽proportion of GDP to education in all of South Asia. That鈥檚 not a passing trend; that鈥檚 an institutional achievement in national self-sabotage, if you will...
ISRAEL鈥橲 claim that Hamas is 鈥榮tealing aid鈥� is so preposterous no serious journalist or politician ought to give it any kind of airing 鈥� yet there it is continuously cropping up in the coverage of Gaza.
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...
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)...
IN TODAY鈥橲 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鈥檚 capacity to...
IN TODAY鈥橲 hyperconnected world, cybersecurity is no longer a technical issue confined to a particular department 鈥� it is a strategic imperative that affects every individual, business, and government. The threat landscape is growing more complex by...
THE Bangladesh interim government recently made a pretty big decision 鈥� 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...
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...
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...
AS THE world watches, one of history鈥檚 greatest crimes has taken form.聽 Inaction, complicity and silence in the face of genocide have caused profound suffering to the Palestinian people.聽 No final reckoning or redress would be equivalent to the scale and magnitude of Israel鈥檚 depraved criminality...
BY THE time Washington and Beijing released their latest joint statement on May 12 鈥� ostensibly pressing pause on a spiralling tariff war 鈥� much of the world exhaled in cautious relief. But beneath the performative diplomacy and sterile communiqu茅s, a quieter suffering has gone largely unheard. For the world鈥檚 most vulnerable economies, the damage is neither...
ON MAY 14, Bangladesh was shocked by the tragic and brutal death of seven-year-old Sanim Hossain, a student at Al-Mu鈥檌n Islami Academy in Lakshmipur. Reports indicate that his teacher, Mahmudur Rahman, beat him to death. What followed was even more disturbing 鈥� the institution attempted to disguise the killing as a suicide. The suggestion that...
The death of Bangladeshis at the hands of India鈥檚 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...
WITH the fall of Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 long-standing authoritarian regime in July 2024 鈥� toppled through a mass uprising after around hundreds of citizens were killed by state forces and Awami party workers 鈥� many in Bangladesh hoped for a democratic rebirth, one grounded in pluralism, justice, non-discrimination and civic respect. Yet, in the months that...
WAZ mahfils 鈥� Islamic religious sermons rooted in centuries of South Asian Islamic tradition 鈥� have long served as spaces for spiritual guidance, communal unity, and a shared moral framework for communities across both rural and urban spaces. Many of these wazs continue to offer meaningful religious education and moral direction grounded in Islamic knowledge...
