ON MAY 27, Kuala Lumpur played host to the inaugural ASEAN-GCC-China Economic Summit — a glossy exercise in diplomacy, anchored in bold declarations and vague promises. In theory, it represents a pivot: away from reliance on an...
ELECTED local government institutions are one of the foundations of democratic governance. Elected representatives face various difficulties in terms of policy, administrative, organisational, legal and financial allocation at different times. In this...
THE death toll from disasters caused by the latest depression from the Bay of Bengal has already climbed to 15, while the government’s disaster management and relief efforts are not visible. On June 1, landslides killed four members of a family in...
THE delay in resolving the crisis that has engulfed the Dhaka South City Corporation and resulted in the suspension of public services is gravely concerning. Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ishraque Hossain — including members of...
I HAVE written this article before. In fact, I could write it every year when a new Global Report on Food Crises is published. The report rests on four points:...
IS RELIGIOUS and national identity mutually exclusive? Not if their roles are clearly stated. Aeons ago, faith was the primary identity of all societies. State and religion were indivisible. As a result, over a long period, both became corrupt, though at different stages of evolution of each. In the modern age with the birth of nations, state and religion separated with...
PRECISION medicine represents a fundamental shift in how we think about health care. Rather than relying solely on generalised treatment protocols, it incorporates individual genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors to deliver more accurate and effective interventions. At its core, precision medicine seeks to avoid the pitfalls of trial-and-error prescribing by guiding...
After almost a year of suspension of recruitment in the Malaysian labour market, Bangladesh is currently in bilateral discussions to resume the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. Recently, Malaysia announced that it will resume the process of recruiting workers from the source countries. On May 13, 2025, a delegation led by the adviser of the...
MEDICAL services at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, or the National Eye Hospital that provides all types of eye care, have been stalled since May 28. The situation has been so deplorable that the ministry of health has offered an apology and requested patients to seek treatment in other health facilities. Security people deployed there are reported to...
THE recent surge in violence against women perpetrated by Islamist groups or mobs acting as ‘tawhidi janata’ alongside the government’s failure to adequately respond is gravely concerning. After the July uprising, in which women and girls from diverse backgrounds actively participated and which they often led, it was hoped that women’s democratic aspirations...
THE problem with writing about Gaza is that words can’t explain what’s happening in Gaza. Neither can images, even the most gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. Because what needs to be explained is the inexplicable. What needs to be explicated is the silence in the face of horror...
THE instant response of most to the question in the title would be, ‘We had no choice but to fight for our survival and liberate our country from the Pakistani military occupation.’ It’s correct but incomplete because people do not plunge into a war on a whim unless it was brewing over quite some time. By sheer determination we instinctively resisted the armed assault...
BANGLADESH, an agriculture-dependent nation, sustains millions of livelihoods through farming. Yet, with finite arable land and a growing population, farmers are under relentless pressure to produce more. In this struggle, pesticides have become indispensable — deployed widely to combat crop-threatening pests and diseases. While pesticides can be vital to...
FOR a nation that dreams of becoming smart and progressive, Bangladesh’s educational budget is anything but intelligent. Year after year, we manage the impossible: allocating the lowest proportion of GDP to education in all of South Asia. That’s not a passing trend; that’s an institutional achievement in national self-sabotage, if you will...
AN ACUTE gas crisis has severely affected industries and households in Dhaka and elsewhere. The supply of gas plummeted on May 29 after imported liquefied natural gas unloading had been suspended because of inclement weather. The power sector on May 27 received 941.3mmcfd of gas against the demand for 2420.9mmcfd while the fertiliser sector received...
