THE heads of five commissions on tasked with making recommendations for reforms in labour rights, women鈥檚 affairs, public health, local government and the media, set up on November 18, 2024, on August 3 urged the chief adviser to the interim government to take steps for the implementation of the recommendations of the commission and secure commitment from the...
THE volume of non-performing loans has increased by Tk 745.7 billion in the January鈥揗arch quarter, taking the total to a record high of Tk 4,200 billion and the figure accounts for 24.13 per cent of the total outstanding loans, by far the highest in South Asia. Whilst this has happened, banks which have already identified more than 1,500 wilful defaulters, the borrowers...
THE collision between a train and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Ramu in Cox鈥檚 Bazar is yet another harrowing reminder of how unsafe and unregulated level crossings are. At least four died in the accident on August 2 when the Cox鈥檚 Bazar Express, headed for Dhaka, hit the auto-rickshaw and dragged it for about a kilometre. Railway officials say that the level crossing was...
PUBLIC health experts have put out a call in an open letter for the chief adviser to the interim government, seeking early action for the implementation of the recommendations of the reforms commission on the health sector. What is special about the event is that the experts who have put out the call were mostly members of the reforms commission, which the interim...
THE Film Development Corporation, once the heartbeat of cinematic culture, now stands as a hollowed-out relic of its past. Established in 1957 and revitalised after independence in 1971, the corporation had flourished for decades as the nation鈥檚 premier film production hub. Since the early 2000s, this state-run institution has, however, suffered gradual disuse, bureaucratic...
THE reciprocal tariff that the United States has finally, after three rounds of negotiations in July, imposed on goods import from Bangladesh at 20 per cent, lowered from 35 per cent that the United States on July 8 announced, is viewed as something that has brought about short-term relief. The tariff came into effect on August 1, making Bangladeshi exporters pay a 20 per cent...
THE staggering regularity in violence inflicted on women and girls suggests a crisis that is not only widespread but also systemic. At least 235 women and girls were subjected to violence in various forms, including rape, murder, trafficking and...
THE proposition that one in four people, which translates to about 39.8 million individuals, suffer multidimensional poverty, as the Multidimensional Poverty Index made public in Dhaka on July 31 shows, is worrying. The index that the General Economics...
PLASTERS having flaked off the ceiling in several rooms of the Dr Muhammad Shahidullah Hall in the University of Dhaka has once again exposed the neglect of student safety. A large chunk of plaster came off the ceiling of a bathroom in an extension building of the hall early July 29. While no injuries were reported, resident students say that such incidents are far from...
A SOMEWHAT decline in cultural activities by institutions has been apparent, especially in outdoor rather than indoor programmes, in a year of the interim government as many organisations say that they go slow because of security reasons. A reported incoordination among government agencies and an absence of an appropriate environment, which mostly..
TWO-THIRDS of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities having no access to education points to the neglect and systemic barriers that the children continue to face. A survey report, made public on July 29, also finds that four-fifths of adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities remain excluded from employment opportunities. The study, conducted in July 2023鈥揓uly...
POLITICAL parties appear to have made little or no progress in within-the-party practice of democracy or reforms in that direction whilst the government has been busy forging means to effect democratic reforms in state governance by holding dialogues with the political parties. Some political parties have even appeared to be rhetorical about such a democratic practice. It...
YET another train collision in Lalmonirhat lays bare the appalling state of railway safety, constrained by mismanagement and institutional negligence. Two air-conditioned compartments of the Lalmoni Express derailed after it had collided with the Burimari鈥揚arbatipur commuter train in the BDR Gate area on July 28. The incident left at least eight passengers injured, two of...
ROAD safety has continuously been put at bay as the number of fatal accidents has only increased for seven years since the road safety movement in 2018 after a bus killed two college students in Dhaka on July 29 that year. The government made the Road Transport Act 2018 in September that year. Police data show that 2,635 died in road accidents...
DHAKA appears to be hurtling towards an ecological disaster as its last remaining trees and water bodies are being wiped out in the name of development. A recent Change Initiative study shows that in 44 years, the capital has lost a half its tree cover and 60 per cent of its water bodies. The research shows that green coverage fell from 21.6 per cent in 1980 to 11.6 per cent in...