Happiness is the sole reason for every human action. No matter what we do, we do it to make ourselves happy. However, going by this year's World Happiness Report, brought out by the United Nations, we in Bangladesh are not a happy nation. On a list of 137 countries, Bangladesh has ranked 118th, dro
Reports have it that in 24 hours till Sunday (May 28) morning, 67 dengue patients were hospitalised across the country. What is of concern here is that, of those dengue patients, the overwhelming number of the cases (58) were from the capital city, while the rest 9 were from all over the coun
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have prepared a database of the third gender which comprises mainly those called hijras and other variants within its fold such as eunuchs, intersex and transgender people living in the capital city. A total of 411 members of this particular community made
Few people related to school education in the rural areas appear to have given serious thought to the issue --- the problem facing the child and teenage learners in reaching school and returning home. In the remote areas, the students have to cover the distance between home and school invariably by
One of the main reasons for traffic chaos in Dhaka is wrong-side driving by a section of motor bikers, rickshaw pullers and drivers of CNG-driven auto-rickshaws and battery-run three-wheelers. Day by day the erratic behaviour of the drivers of these vehicles is growing. They are driving on wr
The content presented at the first-ever formal press conference of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), held early this week, was marked by messages of both hope and despair. Never had this association of top officials of private banks volunteered to explain the 'banking sector outlook' of
Currently a debate has sparked on the proposed imposition of minimum income tax worth Tk 2,000 on a marginalised tax payer. This scribe has tried to make an effort to understand the consequence of the minimum tax. Suppose an individual's monthly gross salary income is Tk 37,500. The individual ear
Being a BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) cadre is a dream job in Bangladesh. It is the most prestigious job status one can have in this country, and so is the toughest. Every year, thousands of candidates -- from engineers to doctors to social science students -- appear at BCS examination. This year
Two-wheelers have given people an alternative to being stuck on roads for hours on end on city roads, and the freedom of movement in rural areas. While motor cycles have been the vehicle of choice in rural areas for decades, the explosion in numbers in the capital city and other urban centres has t
Last week's general election (held on May 14) in Thailand has sent a strong message across the region. The message is about change. And as the election result showed, it is the young voters of the country who promise to be the drivers of that change. However, it does not mean that Thai youths (aged
The last week of April saw the United Nations, based on their calculations informing the world that India had surpassed China in terms of population-- a milestone that would add to the dimension of their image in socio-economic terms. Demographic analyst Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Popula
The terrible claws that the cyclone Mocha spread on the south-eastern Bangladesh for a few breath-taking days have spared the land finally. All on a sudden it changed its course and made landfall on the neighbouring Myanmar. To the people living in the greater Cox's Bazar and the local administrati
As the city of Dhaka is now dominated by unapproved or unauthorised transports, it becomes the second topmost city to boast informal transport in Asia. Khulan is at the top of the list where 58 per cent mode of transport is informal. These two cities are followed by Jakarta, Manila, and Surat with
