Responsible is something to be
The book explores how people can regain their political fate from professional politicians and be the heroes we need today.
24 June 2024, 07:30 AM
Walk to be free
What is it about our own thoughts that are so awful that we cannot spend a minute alone with them? There is only one way to find out. Unplug, go outside, and walk.
18 January 2023, 14:00 PM
What the story of Kaavan tells us
Amid the sad, the sordid and the sensational, let us look at some other news. On November 30, Kaavan, dubbed the “loneliest elephant” arrived from Islamabad to Cambodia to start a new life.
12 December 2020, 18:00 PM
Efficacy of the home-made mask
The recent back-and-forth debate over the use of face masks to prevent the spread of covid-19 has settled. In the beginning, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that there was no need for people who are well to wear face masks.
29 April 2020, 18:00 PM
The moral rot that threatens Bangladesh
No two countries that share borders are more different from each other than Mexico and the United States. The contrast between the quality of life in these two countries could not be starker.
20 June 2019, 18:00 PM
The value of writing letters in a digital society
Social media, texting and emailing have revolutionised the way we communicate. These technologies have enabled us to be more efficient and stay in touch more easily. But they have also altered the dynamics of some of our most important relationships.
8 June 2019, 18:00 PM
The changing nature of work
Most of us have serious reasons to worry about the future of work. The development of automation powered by robotics and Artificial Intelligence has enabled higher productivity, increased efficiency, safety, and convenience. At the same time, these technologies pose difficult questions about the larger impact of automation on jobs and wages. But perhaps we need to pay attention to another aspect of work: how we look at work is changing as well.
26 May 2019, 18:00 PM
How volunteering can help the youth
Each year, more than one billion people are engaged in volunteering worldwide. Their actions have economic, private and social values. You may wonder how helping others has economic value when no monetary transaction is involved.
3 May 2019, 18:00 PM
The way forward
Forty five years after independence, the revolutionary dreams for which our forefathers fought are still at issue. We are the heirs of that revolution against oppression and injustice. The torch has been passed to a new generation of Bangladeshis - born in a free country, proud of an ancient heritage, set to conquer the world.
17 December 2016, 09:16 AM
Challenges before the new UN chief
Antonio Guterres became the next Secretary-General of the United Nations on Monday when relations between the US and Russia are probably at their grumpiest since the end of the Cold War, nationalist movements are on the rise around the world and amid what he called a loss of confidence in institutions, including the one he will take over in January.
14 December 2016, 18:00 PM
Fix the broken windows
Yesterday was the International Anti-Corruption Day and almost everyone called for an end to corruption. But almost no one said how beyond calling for tougher laws and their enforcement. Here’s the catch. Who will enforce them? Will they come from another planet?
10 December 2016, 07:02 AM
A city for all
Imagine you are a on a wheelchair. Or you cannot see. What can you do with your life if you live in Dhaka or any Bangladeshi city for
2 December 2016, 18:00 PM
The terror on our roads
Idon't believe Bangladeshis are genetically bad drivers. The same Bangladeshi driver who drives on our highways as if his wife was giving birth to their first child in the back seat of a car will drive like a saint in any city in the United States.
19 November 2016, 18:00 PM
The ‘self’ in the selfie
Seventy six people in India died last year while taking selfies, putting the country at the top of the ranking for selfie related deaths, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University, USA and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, India. Pakistan comes a distant second with the number of deaths at nine. The authors of the study blamed people’s desire for more “likes” and comments on social media for driving increasingly risky selfie-taking.
19 November 2016, 08:04 AM
Funny Money
All black money is not held in cash. It may be in foreign bank accounts. And all cash is not black money. Many legitimate businesses deal with large amounts of cash. Petrol pumps, restaurants, textile merchants and jewellers often have large cash holdings by the end of the day with many customers paying in cash.
16 November 2016, 18:00 PM
Obituary: Cohen’s secret chord
News of the death of Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and poet hits me like an early blast of winter.
12 November 2016, 07:10 AM
TRUMP WINS: America gazed long into an abyss and the abyss is now gazing back into it
Now that the sickening charade of his campaign is over, it is a good time to ask what exactly he would be like as the President of the United States. Will his presidency be like his campaign?
9 November 2016, 18:00 PM
Are women good at science?
A lifelong advocate of science, Shamima K Choudhury is a professor of Physics at the University of Dhaka and the Director of the university's Bose Centre for Advanced Study and Research in Natural Sciences. On a recent afternoon, Professor Shamima talked to
3 November 2016, 17:48 PM
We, the people
On December 16, 1972, on the first anniversary of Bangladesh's victory over Pakistan in the liberation war, the new Constitution came into effect as citizens of the new-born country looked ahead to a new dawn of hope after years of terror and oppression they had suffered under the military dictatorship of Pakistan.
3 November 2016, 17:47 PM
A simple twist of fate?
An unprecedented situation has arisen since the Nobel Prize in literature was announced on October 13.
28 October 2016, 18:00 PM
Who needs science?
How many of us cared about who got the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry earlier this month and for what? What kind of coverage did it get from the media?
26 October 2016, 18:00 PM
A Chinese Whisper
China likes to mind its own business. It wants to have as little involvement abroad as it can get away with. Instead of acting for the “greater good of humanity” it responds pragmatically when its own interests are at stake.
19 October 2016, 18:00 PM
An original sin
A recent report by a UN-affiliated group refuels the long-standing debate over reparations for African-Americans. The group of
5 October 2016, 18:00 PM
A mother and son reunion
Syed Shamsul Haq walked taller than many of us. That's because he left no room in his heart for anything but the old verities of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any work of art is ephemeral and doomed.
28 September 2016, 18:00 PM
A strange welcome
Last year Miles Khan went to Cox's Bazaar, wanting to spend a week in the beach town. He badly needed a break
23 September 2016, 18:00 PM
Voices from a small town
The building that houses the Jessore Shahittyo Parishad is not much to look at. From its appearance, it's difficult to get a measure of the impact it made in its heyday.
21 September 2016, 18:00 PM
The power of imagination
When the day is long and the night is yours alone, when you have decided you have had enough, hang on. Inspiration will come from the most unexpected sources, like two public servants, one civil, the other military. They both radiate an inner light, a generosity of spirit, a depth of character which I have not achieved. That's something to work on before I say enough.
7 September 2016, 18:00 PM
Corruption: Nature of the disease
Countries that have managed to keep corruption, embezzlement and fraud under control have done so by adopting a three-pronged approach: the lawyer's approach, the economist's approach and the businessman's approach. It is the first - tougher new laws and tougher enforcement of existing laws - that is usually the topic of discussion in the media and other circles.
31 August 2016, 18:00 PM