Interviews
The indigenous experience is similar, be it in Bangladesh or Canada
Researching the plight of Indigenous people is a passion of mine because I am Indigenous.
15 June 2022, 14:04 PM
‘To properly utilise health budget, we need a system overhaul’
Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, professor at the Institute of Health Economics in Dhaka University, talks the allocation for the health sector in the proposed national budget.
13 June 2022, 18:00 PM
‘There’s a disconnect between the proposed budget and reality’
Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), discusses the proposed national budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star.
11 June 2022, 18:00 PM
‘Inflationary pressure higher than what official figure suggests’
Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), talks about inflation and the discrepancy between official and real data in a conversation with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star.
22 March 2022, 18:00 PM
‘Political will is the missing catalyst for quality education’
Dr Manzoor Ahmed, professor emeritus at Brac University and vice-chair of the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Council, talks to Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star about a new book, of which he is a co-author, on the political economy of education in South Asia.
26 February 2022, 18:00 PM
‘Society is evolving; we have to evolve with it’
Renowned novelist Selina Hossain, after retiring as the director of the Bangla Academy, has recently been reappointed as its chairperson. In a conversation with Emran Mahfuz of The Daily Star, she talks about the academy, the Ekushey Book Fair, society, culture and more.
17 February 2022, 18:00 PM
‘My agenda has been to uphold democracy’
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar speaks with Mohiuddin Alamgir of The Daily Star about various issues related to the outgoing Bangladesh Election Commission, as well as the elections held during its five-year tenure, which expires today. This is the last of a two-part series of interviews marking the occasion.
13 February 2022, 18:00 PM
‘The EC can’t hold elections if it probes all the electoral allegations’
Election Commissioner Md. Rafiqul Islam talks to Mohiuddin Alamgir of The Daily Star about various issues and allegations that marked the five-year tenure of the outgoing Election Commission, which ends on February 14, 2022. This is the first part of a two-part interview series intended to mark the occasion.
12 February 2022, 18:00 PM
‘There can be no excuse for not formulating the EC law’
Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar is global vice-president and country director, The Hunger Project, and secretary of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan). In this interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, he talks about the constitutional obligation of formulating a law to establish the Election Commission and why politicians so far have ignored it.
18 October 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Mental health has always been a neglected issue’
Dr Mehtab Khanam is Honorary Professor, Department of Psychology, Dhaka University, and a renowned psychotherapist. In an interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Dr Khanam talks about the state of mental health awareness in Bangladesh and how much it affects general well-being.
9 October 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Continuous assessment without remedial assistance will be futile’
Prof Siddiqur Rahman, former director of the Institute of Education and Research (IER) at Dhaka University and member of the National Education Policy 2010 formulation committee, talks to The Daily Star’s Naznin Tithi about the challenges we may face in implementing the new school curriculum, the outline of which was recently approved by the prime minister, and how we can solve them
1 October 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Blended learning is what we will need in the coming days’
Professor Dr Kazi Shahidullah, chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC), former chairman, department of history, Dhaka University, and former vice chancellor, National University, talks to The Daily Star’s Naznin Tithi about how universities can recover from learning loss as they are resuming in-person classes and why our universities should continue with online education alongside classroom education.
25 September 2021, 18:00 PM
‘A polarised nation is a paralysed one, and we’re dangerously headed in that direction’
A lot has changed since the start of the pandemic. For many of us, it has come to instantiate the kind of epoch-making events that upend not just life but also perspectives, leaving a profound mark on the civilisation. As a writer and thinker, what has it altered or reinforced about your view of our society?
24 June 2021, 18:00 PM
Prolonged school closures to have repercussions on child protection
The Covid-19 pandemic has undone a lot of progress towards ending child labour, globally. What can Bangladesh do to recover some of that progress?
11 June 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Institutional reforms are central to effective budget implementation’
Does the proposed budget make adequate provisions for the new poor that have been created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and do you think the expanded social protection measures will reach them?
8 June 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Mass uprising was a dress rehearsal for our brightest achievements’
January 24 is observed as the Mass Uprising Day. On this day in 1969, young school student Matiur Rahman and a rickshaw puller were shot down by police on the streets of Dhaka, giving further momentum to the movement to remove the Ayub Khan regime from power.
23 January 2021, 18:00 PM
‘People should judge our ability not disability’
Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury, Founder Trustee, Impact Foundation Bangladesh, and Member, Executive Board, Disability Council International, talks to The Daily Star’s Naznin Tithi about how to ensure an inclusive environment and society for persons with disabilities.
2 December 2020, 18:00 PM
Is there no one to speak up for Palestine?
On the occasion of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Bangladesh, Yousuf S Ramadan, talks to Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star about some recent major developments concerning the longstanding occupation of Palestine by Israel and the forces that are contributing to the denial of Palestinians’ human rights.
28 November 2020, 18:00 PM
Can medicine change the present scenario of Covid-19 in Bangladesh?
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Bangladesh, Prof Dr Mohammed Tarek Alam, Head of Medicine at Bangladesh Medical College, started to explore the treatment of coronavirus with a team of 19 doctors and researchers.
13 November 2020, 18:00 PM
What Bangladesh did right and India could not
Ahsan H Mansur is Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh. In an exclusive interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Dr Mansur talks about the recent revelation by the IMF that Bangladesh is set to surpass India in terms of per capita GDP, and other factors relating to Bangladesh’s growth.
26 October 2020, 18:00 PM