Jaishankar’s remarks on Bangladesh: A deeper understanding is necessary
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently made some strong remarks about Bangladesh at the Delhi University Literature Festival.
27 February 2025, 02:00 AM
A turning point or a missed opportunity?
A reflection on Bangladesh's post-Awami League crisis and the need for unity and reform.
16 December 2024, 05:00 AM
Principles, party, power or politics?
The student movement’s ability to inspire people to stand up to a vicious oppressor was truly remarkable.
14 August 2024, 02:00 AM
The irresponsible remarks of our responsible persons
History and ordinary people in general will remember very well what happened over the last week or so.
25 July 2024, 04:00 AM
What options are left for us to fight unbridled corruption?
Unfortunately, all the mechanisms meant to address corruption seem to have been weakened, if not completely destroyed, one after another in recent decades.
7 July 2024, 10:00 AM
We need humility, not hubris, to turn the economy around
While a privileged minority, sitting in their high castles, continue to enjoy a larger and larger share of the fruits of “development,” it is becoming obvious that the vast majority are increasingly struggling.
13 June 2024, 03:00 AM
The many immoralities behind the scheme
Bangladesh truly is unique in the sense that its government keeps granting individuals the opportunity to whiten black money, despite its questionable record of success. An amount of Tk 78 crore was whitened in the 1977-78 budget, Tk 850 crore during 1987-90, Tk 1,000 crore during 2000-01, Tk 4,403 crore during 2005-06, Tk 9,683 crore during 2007-08, Tk 1,213 crore during 2009-10, and Tk 20,600 crore in 2020-21.
6 June 2024, 18:00 PM
The many immoralities behind the govt’s black money whitening scheme
What message is the government trying to send with its black money whitening facility?
6 June 2024, 10:50 AM
New year, old concerns
Out of the 45 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world, Bangladesh was one among only five countries that had a GDP growth rate of 7-plus percent in 2017, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
7 February 2018, 18:00 PM
Freedom of speech is not just a right!
A large number of people in the world today no longer believe in the sanctity of people's absolute right to unfettered and unrestricted speech; preferring speech, rather, to have some restrictions—as people increasingly find more and more types of speech offensive.
31 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Where our education system has failed
We have done well to ensure people have access to education. But we have not yet managed to provide quality education for all segments of the population. Providing quality education is without a doubt the biggest challenge.
27 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Do we know that we are a republic?
In recent years, the left-right political spectrum has been more at the centre of national (in the case of many countries) and global politics than it had been for years.
11 January 2018, 18:00 PM
After 2017…what defines our banking sector?
As the new year begins without us getting any closer to seeing an end to corruption, irregularities and mismanagement in the banking sector amidst an embarrassing lack ...
4 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Biggest underreported stories of 2017
At the end of 2016, I wrote an article for The Daily Star titled “The biggest underreported stories of 2016”.
4 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Are our millennials shying away from politics?
ALTHOUGH tragic, it is understandable why the youth of today, especially those unacquainted with history, find it so difficult to comprehend fully the glorious past of Bangladesh's youth (student) politics.
31 December 2017, 18:00 PM
Banking Sector: A house of cards
Given all of this, is it still unclear to see why the banking sector is in such disarray?
26 December 2017, 18:00 PM
Why is youth extremism on the rise?
In a study conducted by three eminent Dhaka University professors, frustration, loneliness, drug addiction, lack of proper vision and guidance, and at times affluence were identified as major drivers of violent extremism among university students.
18 December 2017, 18:00 PM
Corruption is anti-development
Corruption is pervasive in Bangladesh, a key challenge against development and social transformation. Corruption is so deep and wide at both micro and micro levels that it threatens to become a way of life.
8 December 2017, 18:00 PM
China's peace plan and where things now stand
The Rohingya crisis has been tough on Bangladesh. First, because of the sheer scale of the influx from Myanmar and its continuity and second because Bangladesh has had to witness them from up close which always makes it more difficult.
28 November 2017, 18:00 PM
Madness in the Middle East - Is Lebanon in the firing line?
Just as news started to come out that the Syrian Arab Army was on the verge of liberating the city of Abu Kamal, destroying the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria, rekindling hope that the region may yet see some semblance of stability...
14 November 2017, 18:00 PM
A few simple ways to encourage investment
Experts and economists, on the other hand, said that Bangladesh needed to increase investment to USD 12.5 billion for infrastructure development from the existing annual spending of USD 3.5 billion to gain any significant benefit from regional and international connectivity.
6 November 2017, 18:00 PM
Battling poverty today and further down the road
A government survey report made public on October 17 confirmed what has been suspected for some time now; that the poor's share in the national income decreased in the past six years, while the richer segment of the population's increased.
23 October 2017, 18:00 PM
Lack of actionable evidence biggest barrier to prosecuting influentials
Iqbal Mahmood, chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, in an interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, talks about corruption in the country and how the ACC and the society at large can fight against it.
18 October 2017, 18:00 PM
A road map to ending the Rohingya crisis
In her address to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “I have come here with a heavy heart...after seeing the hungry, distressed and desperate Rohingyas from Myanmar, who took shelter in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.”
5 October 2017, 18:00 PM
Corruption eating away relief for the public
A report titled “World Food Security and Nutrition Situation-2017”, brought out jointly by a number of UN organisations, estimates that some 25 million Bangladeshis, mostly women and children, suffer from malnutrition.
27 September 2017, 18:00 PM
The man who saved the world
On September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Soviet Air Defence Forces was on duty in charge of an early warning radar system at the Serpukhov-15 bunker near Moscow.
21 September 2017, 18:00 PM
A disaster we made worse
“Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country due to its geographical location. So, we've to live with the phenomenon with necessary plans to keep the extent of damages and loss of lives to a minimum during any disaster.”
17 September 2017, 18:00 PM
Post-mortem of the “official story”
Sixteen years after a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda (as the story goes) shook the United States and the world, the number of questions-raised-left-unanswered has perhaps never been any higher.
10 September 2017, 18:00 PM