As Gaza fades from headlines, a flotilla reminds us that silence is not peace

Before speaking of what the flotilla is sailing towards, the world must first reckon with what it has chosen to normalise: Israeli occupation of 53 percent of Gaza. Its suffocating blockade controls every calorie that enters the strip.
29 April 2026

The capacity-competence disconnect in Bangladesh's power sector

Somewhere in Bangladesh, a power plant stands ready to run but sits idle anyway.
29 April 2026

How the Kabinnama can protect Bangladeshi Muslim women’s rights

Last year, a legal controversy arose regarding “a Muslim wife’s approval to second marriage” flooding social media, creating confusion, uncertainty, and agitation among the netizens.
29 April 2026

Is Bangladesh-US trade deal a backdoor for GMO dumping?

Bangladesh signed the US Reciprocal Trade Agreement on February 9, 2026, just three days before the national election.
29 April 2026

Energy crisis demands strict budget discipline now

The ongoing geopolitical tensions involving the US, Israel, and Iran have again exposed how vulnerable the international energy markets are to conflicts and strategic rivalries.
29 April 2026

A roadmap to boost foreign direct investment in Bangladesh

While Bangladesh aspires to become a world-class manufacturing hub, the country’s absolute and relative FDI performance continues to lag behind that of several regional peers, including Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
28 April 2026

Bangladesh, the IMF-World Bank nexus, and the political economy of reform

However, a new agreement could involve greater scrutiny and more severe structural targets, thus leaving Bangladesh with less flexibility for policymaking.
28 April 2026

Remembering Raghu Rai and the light he left behind

February, 2016. India was in turmoil. Across universities, protests erupted over the tragic suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula.
28 April 2026

What fuel loading at Rooppur means for our energy future

The fuel loading process at the first unit of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project is scheduled to commence today, April 28, in the presence of high-level representatives from Bangladesh, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
28 April 2026

Before scaling up renewables, we must first make the grid flexible

Bangladesh is on the brink of a major transformation in its power sector.
27 April 2026

Will we learn any lesson from the measles deaths?

Every report of a child dying from the ongoing measles outbreak has left us not only saddened, but ashamed.
27 April 2026

The moral calculus of footpath evictions in Dhaka

The footpaths of Dhaka have again become a political flashpoint of late.
27 April 2026

Bangladesh’s food insecurity warning cannot be ignored

The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) carries an uncomfortable message for Bangladesh.
27 April 2026

Digital cards and the reality of poverty in Bangladesh

According to the World Bank’s April 2026 Bangladesh Development Update, the country’s poverty rate increased to 21.4 percent in 2025 from 18.7 percent in 2022, adding 14 lakh more poor people in 2025.
26 April 2026

Can playing a historic speech justify repeated bail denials?

About a month and a half has passed since the arrest and detention of leftist student leader Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emi.
26 April 2026

How Bangladesh can give its women migrants a real edge

Moksuda Begum left Narayanganj with a dream and a promise. A widow raising her two children, Moksuda had been told she would earn Tk 22,000 a month as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia.
26 April 2026

Energy crisis: Global problem, local failure

As a result, on the one hand, the government claims that there is sufficient stock, news reports highlight the arrival of successive fuel shipments, and there are accounts of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) depots overflowing with fuel.
26 April 2026

The PMO needs a policy and programme coordination cell

In Bangladesh, big policy ideas have never been in short supply.
25 April 2026

The silent exclusion built into Bangladesh’s ID system

When Haya (not real name) applied for an e-passport recently, the form allowed her to provide either her parents’ names or those of a legal guardian. She listed her guardian.
25 April 2026

Reimagining sustainability from the ground up

Recently, my university came together to celebrate a day that could have been just another checkbox for ranking metrics or media optics.
25 April 2026