Covid scares away critical patients Routine health check-up stalled

Regular health checkup of a vast majority of people has remained pending as both patients and doctors do not want to risk contracting the deadly coronavirus. Except for emergencies, people are not visiting the dentists, eye or ENT specialists, five...

Belgium firm eager to carry out study on diamond business

Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), a Belgium-based public-private entity, has showed interest to conduct a feasibility study in Bangladesh with an aim to reboot its diamond manufacturing and business, officials said.To this end, the AWDC has recently submitted two proposals...

How will the world vaccinate seven billion?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called it "the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes".But away from the high-tech science of finding a winning formula, what about the logistics of rolling out a vaccine to seven billion people worldwide?In the...

If weather is hostile or otherwise

On the Bangla calendar, this is early Autumn with the first of the two months -Bhadra and Aswin -heralding the season of clear blue sky dotted with patches of white clouds, dew-awash sheuli and kansh (saccharum spontaneum) flowers. Strangely, right...

Vaccine: Keeping all options open

The government, during the 'surprise' visit of the Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla last week, offered to conduct the phase-three trial of the vaccine being developed by the giant next-door-neighbour. The offer was reportedly voluntary. However, it is not...

NBR decides to conduct internal survey this yr

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to conduct this year internal survey involving different government agencies to net in new taxpayers, instead of the door-to-door survey carried out earlier. The decision was taken at a recent meeting of...

Trade suffers in waterlogged biz hubs in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM, Aug 22: Wholesale traders and importers of essentials in commodity hubs Khatunganj and Chaktai suffered heavy losses as their stocks got damaged due to waterlogging.The port city's business pivots went under water following heavy rain for the past several...

BSEC won't put quality IPO proposals on ice

The securities regulator has adopted a policy of clearing the quality IPO (initial public offering) proposals within shortest possible timeframe to facilitate timely implementation of issuer's business expansion plans."No IPO proposal from now on will remain shelved unnecessarily. The securities...

Coronavirus: Measured optimism from Dhaka slums?

In early March 2020, when Bangladesh took Covid-19 as a serious threat to public health, many thought the virus would wreak havoc on the millions of slum dwellers of Bangladesh. Covid-19 presented itself to us as a disease that was...

Rehabilitation challenges of injured garment factory workers

The sequence of garment factory fires and building collapses provoked widespread calls domestically and internationally to improve workplace health and safety conditions in Bangladesh which is a key destination country among the Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) in the...

Govt crafts liquor policy for interim period

The government has crafted a policy on issuing bar licence and permit for foreign liquor with a provision of selling maximum seven units or 5.25kg alcoholic beverage to a permitholder per month, sources said.In this regard, the home ministry has...

Goods clearing gets lengthier

The clearing process of commercial and industrial goods at Mongla sea port is taking almost a month in recent times, drawing criticism from the businesses over the increased cost of consumer products.Businesses as well as the clearing and forwarding agents...

BB backs Basic Bank's stance

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has endorsed a stance of Basic Bank not to reschedule the loans, taken through fraudulent acts, by paying 2.0 per cent down payment, officials said. "The board of directors of Basic Bank has refused a proposal to...

BSCIC moves to help CMSMEs

The government will facilitate marketing of small and cottage industry products aiming to support the entrepreneurs, mainly women of the sector at the district level, an official has said. Keeping this in view the government will also encourage women entrepreneurs...

Stocks stay afloat amid growing optimism

Stocks kept the gaining streak for the ninth straight week as buoyant investors continued their appetite on large-cap issues riding on the regulator's recent steps to ensure accountability of the market stakeholders.Week-on-week, DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock...

The wait for a new normal life

Due to the Covid-19 crisis, we cannot speak fluently, we cannot laugh loudly, we cannot meet and greet our families, friends and others, and we cannot travel frequently. We are in jail. We are craving for shiny days to fly...

A versatile talent fit for Guinness

Son of the legendary singer Probal Chowdhury of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra fame, Dr. Manash Ranjan Chowdhury is a versatile talent from the port-city Chattogram. He has already stamped indelible imprints of extraordinary successes both as a leading Table Tennis...

Unemployment and reverse migration

Income erosion and lack of livelihood options triggered by prolonged general holiday -globally called shutdown -have forced people to leave Dhaka city for ancestral homes. Families settled in this capital for as long as 40 years reportedly had no option...

BR plans to operate all trains by Sept

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is likely to resume operation of all trains by September with 14 more intercity trains on August 27.Officials said the state-owned train operator is set to complete resumption of intercity train services on September 2 when the...

Ctg port vexed at stored chemicals

CHATTOGRAM, AUG 20: Chattogram seaport is worried over the imported hazardous chemicals after the Beirut port devastation on August 04.The port never handled privately-imported explosive items, hazardous and inflammable chemicals. It only handled goods of Bangladesh Army with safety measures...

Banks' excess liquidity hits record Tk 1.40t

Banks' excess liquidity hit the all-time high of around Tk 1.40 trillion in June, fuelled by the government's higher borrowing from the country's banking system to partly meet its budget deficit.Lower private sector credit growth also pushed up excess liquidity...

Covid-19: Unclear message

What is the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh? Statistics dished out by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) show that there has been no let-up either in the rate of infection or in the number of deaths. The overall rate...

Kamala Harris . . . and stories of America's vice presidency

Many Indians in particular and South Asians in general are quite enthused by Joe Biden's vice presidential pick in the United States. The child of Jamaican and Indian parents, Senator Kamala Harris is now the focus of discussion in our...

Ramifications of Covid-19 for sports

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the most severe disruptions to the global sporting calendar since the World War II. Sports events have been indiscriminately cancelled or postponed across the globe, including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, now rescheduled for...

Large companies foresee poor sale, tax payment

Most of the large taxpayers are apprehending a sharp slide or poor growth in their sale and probable payment of consumption tax in the current fiscal year (FY), 2020-21.They have apprised the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the National Board...

What should be higher education strategy for Bangladesh?

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced higher educational institutions to shut down their campuses, move classes online and radically transform their teaching pedagogy. Many institutions are struggling to meet the moment. This impact on education system has forced the educators, policy...

Youths working for humane cause

A group of Bangladeshi-American undergraduate students from New York were considering the idea of helping distressed people in Bangladesh. However, as much as they wanted to help, they were looking for means to engage in a country that is far...

Pilot project to catch tuna, pelagic fishes from Bay

The government has taken a move to catch tuna and pelagic fishes from the Bay of Bengal as part of its attempt to explore marine resources under its blue economy policy, an official said.Under the move, department of fisheries which...

Tax receipts from DSE drop 4.0pc in July

The government's revenue earnings from the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell nearly 4.0 per cent in the first month of the current fiscal year, after hitting 10 years low in the last fiscal.Market analysts said the sluggish trading activities due...

University greed in the midst of a global pandemic

Students around the nation prepare to return to campus amid the Covid-19 pandemic and are met with empty promises of safety: social distancing in the classroom, a hybrid education system with in-person and online teaching, an overwhelming feeling that the...