Investment plans on paper

First the good news: two of the largest Indian conglomerates have pledged to invest US$11.2 billion in Bangladesh in power, energy and infrastructure sectors.
25 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Sherlock Holmes of the internet

On average, a Bangladeshi digital consumer spends about 5.6 hours every day on social media and browsing the internet, while they spend 1.6 and 2 hours reading newspapers and watching television respectively.
24 January 2016, 18:00 PM

2016: A new beginning for the world and Bangladesh

The year 2015 that has just ended has been a landmark year for both the development as well as climate change discourse at the global
23 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Public order and its discontents

A concerned commentator feels uneasy at the modus operandi of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in laying down conditions for holding...
22 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Ershad, still an unspent political force

Whatever may be his infamy, flippancy and punching above his weight in the eye of his critics, H. M. Ershad hardly seems ready for his swan song.
21 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Training: More than a free lunch

Let's face it, training is not the first thing people think of doing when they have some free time, no matter how easy it is to access...
20 January 2016, 18:00 PM

A city dying

Saving Dhaka will be hard. It poses difficult and expensive political choices and requires years of political commitment and good governance. It will also disrupt the lives of millions, and so citizens' participation must be vigorously canvassed to achieve a better quality of life for all.
20 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Wasting Away

It must be borne in mind that waste collection and waste storage should go hand in hand. However, waste storage capacity in Dhaka is quite limited.
19 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Global oil price slump and Bangladesh

As per a projection put forward recently by the country's leading think-tank, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), we find that a 10 percent reduction in fuel prices could propel the country's GDP growth rate by 0.3 percent, or in dollar terms, nearly $5.2 billion; raise its export earnings by another 0.4 percent and household consumption by about 0.6 percent.
18 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Satire at the expense of a dead child?

If the whole point is to highlight the role of world leaders in creating and failing to manage the refugee crisis, why on earth isn't David Cameron, François Hollande, Viktor Orban or Bashar al-Assad being turned into a caricature?
17 January 2016, 18:00 PM

PM's expectations and people's hopes

How much difference can a year make? Not much really. Perhaps it is incremental only when some economic indices fluctuate either up
16 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Outshining our neighbours in gender equality

Many years ago, in 1992, after Amartya Sen had just moved to Cambridge, USA, to take up his residence at Harvard University, I met
15 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Bridging the gap between preaching and practicing

Scientists have claimed that in next five to ten years they are going to invent the cloak of invisibility.
14 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Rage against the machine

The trouble with technological evolution is that it is driven by what we are led to think we want as opposed to what is adaptive.
13 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Cow is a four-legged animal

Long ago, an essay on cow was the easiest challenge of a primary examination. We were always given hints on what to write in case we chose to attempt such a “common” essay.
12 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Who was a liar - Yahya or Bhutto?

Both General Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were desperate to 'finish off' Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Things were moving in their desired direction, according to the conspiracy they had hatched.
11 January 2016, 18:00 PM

How Bangabandhu flew into London

An unusual secrecy shrouded Bangabandhu's departure aboard a special Pakistan International Airways flight on his release from captivity in West...
10 January 2016, 18:00 PM

Watch watching

Since long I have been intrigued by Desmond Morris's Manwatching (1977), admittedly one of the few books that I have gone through,
9 January 2016, 18:00 PM

From a winter of discontent to a spring of hope

A year ago from today not even a savvy soothsayer would have dared to predict the change in our political climate that we are witnessing now.
8 January 2016, 18:00 PM

The case for freedom of expression

The recent gruesome killings and attack of young bloggers, and the murder of a publisher by unknown assailants last year...
7 January 2016, 18:00 PM