A wake-up call for Dhaka
The series of six earthquakes that shook Myanmar yesterday, occurring along the Sagaing fault -- the country’s longest faultline -- served as a stark reminder of Dhaka’s earthquake vulnerability.
28 March 2025, 18:25 PM
China’s Brahmaputra Dam project: Experts voice concern, govt asks Beijing for info
The project will be built on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, which becomes the Brahmaputra in India and the Jamuna in Bangladesh.
26 March 2025, 18:53 PM
Dhaka’s groundwater: Drying up alarmingly
Despite annual recharge every year, there is an overall declining trend in groundwater level due to over-extraction
21 March 2025, 18:48 PM
79 rivers dead or on deathbed
At least 79 of the government-listed 1,156 rivers flowing through the country have dried up or are in the process of drying up in recent times, threatening livelihoods, agriculture, and local biodiversity, a recent study has revealed.
19 March 2025, 18:00 PM
Our gentle giants in peril
Over the past decade, nearly half of the country’s wild elephant population has been wiped out.
2 March 2025, 18:00 PM
Teesta plan with China gains pace
Under the deal, POWERCHINA will prepare a concept paper by December and conduct a feasibility study in 2026
18 February 2025, 18:00 PM
Noakhali-Feni: Floodwaters gone months ago but sufferings linger
Nineteen-year-old Sajjad Hossain had no alternative but to start building a new thatched home for his two sisters, mother and himself since their house was swept away by a flood four months ago in Pashchim Aloka village, situated on the banks of Muhuri river in Feni’s Parshuram upazila.
13 January 2025, 18:13 PM
Dhaka needs to urgently prepare for a major quake
Having experienced two earthquakes in the span of a single week, an obvious question looms – are we taking this silent threat seriously enough?
7 January 2025, 18:00 PM
Salinity seeping into northern groundwater
The salinity of the groundwater surrounding fish farms in the northern region has been on the rise as fish farmers have been using large quantities of salt in their ponds, a survey finds.
21 March 2024, 18:00 PM
Wildlife Trafficking: Bangladesh remains a transit hotspot
Patagonian Mara, a somewhat rabbit-like animal, is found in open and semi-open habitats in Argentina, including in large parts of Patagonia. This herbivorous mammal, which also looks like deer, is never known to be found in this part of the subcontinent.
2 March 2024, 18:00 PM
120km Dhaka canals lost to urban greed
Dhaka city has lost a combined length of 120km or 307 hectares of canals, which could have been waterways and vital drainage, thanks to encroachment, unplanned urbanisation and lack of maintenance by the authorities in the last 80 years.
10 February 2024, 18:00 PM
Pratapnagar’s climate woes never end
Upon reaching the Harishkhali village in Pratapnagar union, an area on the forefront of climate impacts in the country,the first thing noticed was a red flag, hoisted by the launch terminal, fluttering against the southernbreeze.
29 November 2023, 18:00 PM
Early Aman Season: High costs, low prices worry northern farmers
As farmers start harvesting and threshing early varieties of Aman paddy in the northern districts, the fear looms that their profit could be negligible due to higher production costs than last year.
24 November 2023, 18:00 PM
Safari park at Lathitila forest for whom?
Defying repeated calls by the nature-concerned people, the government has passed a project to build a Safari Park in Lathitila reserved forest raising the prospect of destroying one of our last remaining evergreen forests
11 November 2023, 11:58 AM
Heatwave In Bangladesh: Older people bear the brunt
Around 1,430 people, aged 65 and up, have died between 2017 and 2021 from heat-related causes, which have accelerated due to climate change, said a study revealed yesterday.
18 October 2023, 18:00 PM
World Rivers Day: 77 rivers in grip of greedy sand traders
Defying the law, locally influential people are illegally extracting sand from many sites of different rivers and seashores across the country, affecting biodiversity and upsetting ecosystems in the country’s waters.
23 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Erosion taking toll on millions
Standing near the eroded edge of the mythical river in Matikata village of Tangail, 90-year-old Hashem Ali Munshi says the bank of the Jamuna is as shifting as ever. His vacant eyes belie the irrevocable damage the river has done to him.
11 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Ban on single-use plastic: No visible step to enforce HC order
Three and a half years into the High Court order to ban single-use plastic products in the coastal districts, there has been no visible progress towards implementation.
6 June 2023, 01:30 AM
‘Subsidy benefits don’t reach us’
The government has spent more than Tk 28,000 crore as farm subsidies in the last two fiscal years. However, marginal farmers claim that they get very little benefits out of that.
1 June 2023, 18:00 PM
Fair share? Teesta to get even drier in Bangladesh
West Bengal moves to divert more water from the river
15 March 2023, 01:20 AM
River pollution: It’s now all over the country
According to a new study, at least 56 rivers flowing through different parts of the country are suffering from extreme pollution during the lean period -- when natural flows of rivers are at their lowest
14 March 2023, 02:30 AM
A good initiative falls short of goal
A Tk 3,020 crore government project to popularise cultivation on big plots of land with the help of modern agricultural tools has seen little success in the last two years.
11 February 2023, 01:00 AM
9.4m displaced in seven years
At least 1,053 people were killed and 9.4 million more displaced internally in different climate-related disasters in 58 districts in seven years from 2014, says a recent study.
9 February 2023, 01:20 AM
Blogging in Bangladesh: Caught between a rock and a hard place
"On one hand, there was a fear of being the target of machete attacks while there were laws like the ICT Act. We were sandwiched in between.
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31 January 2023, 09:20 AM
Farmers come to our rescue, yet again
When Abdul Haque woke up at dawn yesterday, not even the bone-chilling cold or the fog could stop him from getting out onto the field.
1 January 2023, 01:00 AM
Choking the lifeblood of democracy
"The only security of all is in a free press," Thomas Jefferson, famous American statesman and the country’s third president once said.
30 November 2022, 20:32 PM
Free speech the collateral damage of Covid in Bangladesh
When Covid-19 began to spread at an exponential rate across countries in January 2020, ministers and government officials in Bangladesh assured people that "adequate measures" were taken to prevent coronavirus from entering the country.
21 October 2022, 18:22 PM
Inflation, war eating away food gains
Bangladesh made gains in food production and ensured the availability of rice in recent years. But surging inflation, erratic weather, and the Russia-Ukraine war affected the availability of cereals and reduced low-income people’s access to food this year.
16 October 2022, 02:00 AM