A one-of-its-kind political changeover in Bangladesh offers an opportunity to anatomize the policies of the fallen Awami League (AL) government, which governed the country for 15 years until imploded. Some scholars argue political stability is a prerequisite for developing countries to achieve ec
It is good to see that the current government is sticking to its promise of moving away from multiple mega projects involving billions of dollars in foreign loans. The previous government had the grand plan of setting up nearly 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Indeed, the industrial zoning scheme
There is little doubt that Sheikh Hasina and her government have done harm to the national economy by recklessly borrowing money from overseas to invest in low productivity projects. She had increased the national external debt more than five-fold during her reign (from about US$20 billion to $10
Though it is the world's 4th most densely populated city with 23,234 people crammed into each square kilometer area, Dhaka is not listed among the most crime-prone cities. The most violent cities considering their high crime rates are in Mexico in North America, according to Statista, a German onli
A certain quarter made its opposition to theatre staged at the Shilpakala Academy known by first forcing the scheduled performance of a drama and then attacking the protest rally held on Friday. Whether their objection is to the performance of that certain play or dramas in general is yet to be cle
The lack of reliable data has long been a major problem in Bangladesh that hindered the effort to accurately assess the demand and supply of various goods, evaluate macroeconomic performance and set evidence-based policies. For instance, according to the Department of Agriculture, 3.4 million tonne
It is now Hemanta kal in Bangladesh, the fourth of the six traditional seasons in this part of the world. Kartik and Agrahayan are two Bangla months that comprise the season and spans between mid-October and mid-December. The uniqueness of Hemanta is that it indicates the arrival of winter, a favou
Food safety has long been a buzzword in Bangladesh with the authorities concerned and other organisations talking a lot about it. Apart from observing World Food Safety Day with other countries, Bangladesh marks National Food Safety Day every year with a vow to ensure safe food for all. But how saf
Since the inception of civilisation, enforced disappearance has been a dark tool wielded by oppressive rulers to silence dissent. From ancient regimes to modern authoritarian governments, it has served as a weapon to eliminate opposition voices without due process. While history tells us this story
The sheer folly of the country's master plan on the power sector that had envisaged generation of thousands of megawatts using coal as primary fuel was evident right from the beginning. It was considered a folly primarily due to the fact that the previous government had decided that it would not ut
Chief Adviser of the interim government, Dr Muhammad Yunus, at a recently held meeting with some officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and experts on transport engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) asked them to find an answer to the city's traffic m
The litany of complaints, accusations and protests against manipulative price hikes has been going on for years and decades without redress. A common complaint earlier was that the presence of business Mughals in parliament and the past regime's favouritism for quite a few highly notorious among th
The country's first-ever tunnel, built beneath the Karnaphuli riverbed, was opened to traffic with great fanfare and much enthusiasm on October 28 last year, promising to develop Chattogram into a 'one city, two towns' model, akin to Shanghai in China. This 3.32-kilometre-long tunnel, constructed a
