Prashanta Kumar Halder’s financial misadventures and subsequent escape from the country with Tk 3500 crore, which made the headlines recently, has brought into the fore Bangladesh’s struggles with systemic irregularities in its financial sector.

My heart sank when I saw the headline in The Daily Star on August 17, which reported that the US had updated its periodic travel advisory on August 6, 2020 and urged its citizens to exercise “increased caution in the country due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping”.

All crises—natural disasters, wars, pandemics—affect different sections of people in different ways. Like any other crisis, Covid-19 has differing impacts on society.

Following the death of Major Sinha in circumstances indicative of collusive criminal behaviour of some apparently errant police personnel along with other delinquencies of lawmen elsewhere in the country, well-meaning citizens have expressed their apprehensions about control and accountability of our police or the lack of it.

By using shell companies and moving money from one account to another, Prashanta Kumar Halder laundered at least Tk 3,500 crore out of the country and is now enjoying his life in Canada.

Bangladesh has inherited many legacies by virtue of its long history as a constituent of a larger geographical entity, of which it was a part till not very long ago.

In April, British journalist and author Susie Boniface, in an article for Mirror Online, asked her readers to take a moment to imagine a world in which there is no journalism.

In the international negotiations on climate change impacts under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the issue of loss and damage has always been a politically sensitive topic—it brings up issues of liability and compensation, which many developed countries regard as taboo topics.

Children, like adults, can get embroiled in conflicts with the law. When juveniles commit criminal offences, they are placed in Juvenile Development Centres (JDC) rather than jails, where constructive counselling is supposed to be provided so that they realise their mistakes and come out of these centres better human beings. The reality of these JDCs, as perhaps one would expect, is pretty different.

Every year, Bangladesh suffers from floods that cause loss of life, livelihoods, crops and property. However, in certain years, due to heavy rainfall and the flow of upstream water, floods become devastating.

Running a business is a hard slog. It involves long hours, lots of stress, lots of responsibility and rarely a time to switch off and relax. I am not complaining—that is the life I have chosen, and I feel blessed I have been given the privilege to run my own company.

Reports in the print and electronic media indicate that the image of police in public eyes has been worryingly tainted following the death of Major Sinha under circumstances pointing to the criminal collusive actions of some errant policemen, in addition to other serious infractions of policemen elsewhere in the country.

“And my last ask is: if you’re someone’s sister, the next time you see your brother, please hug him… as tightly as you can, for as long as you want, because that’s all I want to do every time I see those photos. But I will never be able to hug Fahim again.”

After the fall of the Ershad government, signs of a democratic future emerged in Bangladesh in 1991. The two major political parties—AL and BNP—that came together in the anti-Ershad movement formed their separate coalitions (with smaller parties), and it appeared that Bangladesh would go down the line of a two-party parliamentarian/presidential system similar to the ones in the US, Japan and other countries.

There is a global race going on now for the rapid development of a Covid-19 vaccine. As of July 27, pharmaceutical companies worldwide were working on 164 candidates, including 25 that are being tested in people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

No, the pandemic is not over—far from it, actually, despite what the ministers might tell you—although at times it does feel like we’ve reached the end.

There is an old saying that “what does not kill you makes you stronger”.

Almost a year ago, in this column, I wrote about the obsession of our policymakers’ with the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (“Our incomprehensible obsession with GDP”, May 19, 2019). I discussed in brief how GDP is estimated, and its inherent weaknesses which is why this indicator should not be taken so seriously.

There is a common refrain amongst the public circle whether things would have moved with the speed that it has in the case of Major Sinha, were it not for the fact that he was a military officer.

The dilapidated condition of the lonely ruins scattered across the country can be attributed to many reasons.