March 22 (Saturday) was this year's World Water Day and the theme of the day is Glacier Preservation. But what has a tropical country, Bangladesh, to do with glacier, which is a big mass of dense ice very slowly sliding downhill under the pull of gravity over the millennia in the cold parts of the
The Women's Affairs Reforms Commission submitted its report to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on April 19, recommending measures for elimination of discrimination against women and attainment of equality with men. Although the commission's overall aims are admirable, several of its recommen
The old proverb "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" inspires optimism and a proactive approach in the face of adversity. Even though it is viewed as a simple encouragement at personal level, history suggests that adversity can indeed be the mother of invention even on a national scale. Fo
The question of whether Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG) sector is ultimately beneficial remains unresolved. Industry stakeholders and policymakers have yet to provide a definitive stance. There are foreign collaborations, but not in the form of any large-scal
Over the past year, there has been a cautious but notable thaw in the once-frozen diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The change came in the wake of political transition in Bangladesh following the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 last year and installation of an interim
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is learnt to have taken steps to enhance cargo handling capacity of Biman. The move has been in response to India's termination of the transshipment facility for Bangladeshi exports through that country's land, sea and airports. The quick move
The government withdrew restrictions on yarn imports from India through the land ports around two decades ago. Earlier, the restriction had been imposed on the pretext of infrastructure weakness, smuggling, and tax evasion at the land ports. The ban, effected on March 9, 2002, sparked a bitter riva
Like much of the world, Bangladesh built its economy around international trade with other countries. This reliance on exports and imports has been one of the cornerstones of the country's economic growth since its independence. It wasn't meant to be a bad thing because for nearly a century, the gl
In this country what the businesses demand, they get and they get it at the cost of the consumers. The public are a disparate lot and in the absence of a unified platform, their demands are met with indifference. Contrary to this, traders take resort to all kinds of tactics ---from creation of arti
The government's decision to raise gas prices for new industries by an average of 33 per cent, defying strong opposition from industrialists and business leaders, is being widely criticised for a multitude of reasons. First of all, the industrial gas tariff hike came amid the country's bleak invest
The United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) issued an urgent warning last week, highlighting a rapidly escalating global hunger crisis. According to the agency, approximately 58 million people are currently at risk of extreme hunger or starvation unless immediate and substantial funding is sec
If economic growth and creation of jobs for close to the projected 4.0 million unemployed people in Bangladesh in 2025 are to be the primary concern for the policymakers, then the recently held investors' summit in Dhaka bears special significance. That is not to say that the presence of betw
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will significantly change the global economy in the near future due to the fast-growing competition among nations that tap its benefits. Advanced countries are well ahead in the competition thanks to their cutting-edge knowledge and technology, wh
