Rural Bangladesh is changing. This change has been happening rather fast during the last two decades.

In a scene reminiscent of last year’s massive protests that had led to the downfall of Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s prodigal son, the streets of Beirut were filled with protestors on October 17, 2020.

Have you ever put your ear to the rail to listen to the rumbling sound of an approaching train? I have. Many of us have.

How is our coming of age to be measured? Is it just by per capita income or GDP figures or such indices? There are many other such numbers that show us in a favourable light. They are all very important and we are proud of those achievements. But what about some other signs of development—decent and safe roads, clean air, a dependable public transport system, safe water supply, reliable public healthcare, public education measured not by quantity but quality, and most importantly, safety for women?

The scale of the global climate change emergency that is emerging in 2020 has already made it clear that nothing short of a “whole of society” approach is needed if we are going to be able to tackle it effectively over the coming decade, which is the crucial time window we have left.

I took a break from writing columns ever since I took over as the President of the Bangladesh Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

It could have been just another episode in the regular show of police and ruling party men merrily clamping down on the “disturbers of public peace” who love to play with people’s emotions with their pesky ideas and noisy chants of human rights abuses.

October 7, 2020 marked the first death anniversary of second-year Buet student, Fahad Abrar, who was tortured to death by members of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) for posting a criticism of an agreement signed between Bangladesh and India on the use of the Mongla port, water sharing and export of energy sources.

In the discussions around climate impacts and business, a missing link is often the consumer.

The latest report on World Economic Outlook by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published in October 2020 has created a lot of noise both in Bangladesh and India.

One of the industries hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown policies has been the travel and hospitality (T&H) sector.

From harsh legal penalties to severe moral reprimands, from street protests and sit-ins to virtual seminars and teach-ins, from increasing mobilisation and visibilisation of pro-choice activists to critical interventions by state and non-state actors—nothing, and no one, seems to be able to deter the rapists or protect women and children.

Last Tuesday, the home ministry issued a statement warning social media users from home and abroad against spreading “false, fabricated, confusing and inciting statements about the government, military, police and other law enforcement agencies.

On October 10, 33-year-old Rayhan Ahmed walked out of his house at 10 pm. At around 4:23 am, Rayhan called his mother from an unknown number and informed her that he had been picked up by the police who were holding him at Bandarbazar Police Outpost.

On October 13, the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 was passed making some changes to our central law on violence against women and children.

The scandal involving Prashanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, a former managing director of NRB Global Bank, Reliance Finance and other companies, has been in the national news for almost a decade.

Sexual violence against women, unfortunately, has always been a pressing concern for our society.

One of my favourite quotes goes something like this: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watch them without doing anything.” The quote is by Albert Einstein and was made with reference to how easy it is for tyrannical leaders to take power and wreak havoc.

Over the last five decades, our economic performance has been impressive, despite various limitations such as resource constraints and weak governance.

You have near perfect vision, or 20/20 vision, if you can see the letters of an eye-chart from a 20 feet distance. 20/20 is an exciting cricket game if you can add two ounces of cricket with one ounce of baseball and garnish it with pom-poms.