Tax authority fails to equip risk management arm in six years

The risk management arm of the revenue board has not produced any visible results since its inception in 2012.The lack of legal and logistic support for the Risk Management Central Unit is blamed for the situation.This is the only unit...

BB gives nod to set up one more pvt bank

The central bank has decided to give licence to one more private commercial bank a few months ahead of the national elections.Proposals for two other banks are also under process.The decision was taken at a meeting of the Bangladesh Bank...

Hard lessons from Genoa bridge collapse

GENOA — Is our infrastructure safe? In the aftermath of the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, this is the question on everybody's mind. Of course, we could argue that disasters like this are one-offs, and even believe that...

BSC gets poor response to bidding from shipping cos

The state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) has received lukewarm response to the bidding for making vessels available for operating the joint venture container feeder service between Chattogram and Colombo, officials said.Only one company responded positively as the BSC invited expression...

No visible headway yet in BSEC move

The proposed Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system of the securities regulator has not made any visible progress yet, though the move was initiated two years ago. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) had earlier taken the...

Semi-circular bus is another option

To make the bus-based solution for public transport in Dhaka effective, one of the options is shot-route circular or semi-circular bus service. Two such bus services are available now. One is Hatitjheel circular bus service and the other is Dhaka...

The malaise of child marriage

In Bankim Chandra's novel 'Debi Coudhurani', Profullo (10) broke down in tears on getting the news that her close friend of the same age was going to be married soon and she was going to lose a playmate.Since the time...

Britain's Brexit conundrum

It took long three years for Britain to become a member of European Community (EC), the predecessor of European Union (EU) because as a late comer to the European association of nations promoted by France and Germany it had to...

FDI inflow curve heads downward again

The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh dropped again in the past fiscal year (FY) after three years of gaining, according to the latest statistics of the central bank.Provisional data of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on the annual balance of...

NBR seeks to have new customs act passed soon

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to place the much-awaited Customs Act 2018 before the cabinet soon for expediting its legal procedures, so that the Jatiyo Sangsad (JS) can pass the law within the tenure of the present...

Gulshan residents ready for vote in ideal conditions, not in national election though

The Gulshan Society (GS) voters are getting ready for something for which the national election voters are praying to the Almighty, an opportunity to vote in an election without interference or intimidation. The election of GS is going to be...

Demographic dispersal in the capital

The capital city now presents quite an unfamiliar look. Where maddening rush is the norm, it now gives a forlorn look as if it has been removed from the madding crowd by magic. But it is no magic and the...

Travails of road transport workers

Road transport workers are employed in different kinds of vehicles such as buses, mini-buses, trucks, covered-vans, tank-lorries etc. in the roles of driver, helper, conductor or supervisor. They belong to various age-groups, ranging from 10 year-old children to 70 year-old...

Holidaymakers start returning to Dhaka

City dwellers started returning to the capital on Saturday after celebrating Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones at their village home. All the government and private offices will reopen today (Sunday) after the five-day Eid holiday (including Friday and...

America's hidden debt

Former US Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers recently quipped that, "Fiscal stimulus is like a drug with tolerance effects; to keep growth constant, deficits have to keep getting larger." People like Summers worry about deficits because they doubt...

Bi-modal transhipment: A test case for cross-border connectivity

After a series of debates and discussions for more than six years, Bangladesh formally opened the so-called transit facility to India in June 2016. Under this arrangement, Indian businessmen are allowed to carry goods from mainland India to the North-East...

NBR plans surprise visits to non-company entities

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is contemplating a plan to conduct sudden drives at non-company entities, including beauty parlours and fast food shops, in a bid to find out foreign nationals working illegally there and evading taxes.The decision came...

CPA pleads for dedicated Dhk-Ctg freight corridor

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has sought to build a dedicated railway track for transportation of the increased volume of cargoes to and from Dhaka, officials said.CPA Chairman Zulfiqur Aziz in a recent letter to the Ministry of Shipping (MoS)...

Fortifying Japan-BD ties thru trans-cultural exchange

FUJIYOSHIDA: With a call to give a special spotlight on promoting bilateral relations between Japan and other Asian countries, especially Bangladesh, through cross-cultural exchange, the 1st Fujisan Artpia Exhibition at Fujiyoshida Civic Hall in Fujiyoshida city of Japan, witnessed a...

Industrial output soars in FY 2018

The industrial production marked a sharp increase in the first nine months of the last fiscal year (FY) compared to the same period of the previous fiscal.The industrial output surged due to the rise in credit disbursement in the sector...

Adieu My Editor

All under heaven will return to the TaoAs brooks and streams flow home to the sea.Returning is the route of the Tao.Yielding is the way of the Tao.Ten thousand things are born of Being, and Being is born of Non-being.-...

Muggers getting smarter to defend themselves

Muggers these days are particularly active. Ahead of the two Eids, beggars and muggers mill into the city in great numbers. As people move with cash of bigger amounts before the Eid-ul-Azha, the muggers target such people. There are the...

Women's contribution to agriculture

Agriculture is still the main driving force in the economy of rural Bangladesh. Food security of a vast segment of the country's population is dependent on headways in the agricultural sector. Agricultural development is linked to poverty alleviation, living standard...

Take charge of your food: Your health is your business

The minimum we expect from the government is to differentiate between right and wrong. But when it comes to regulating our food, it's like asking for too much. Our latest investigation vouches for this. The Centre for Science and Environment...

Food production: Need for modern technologies

Bangladesh seems to be out of the shadow of famine - as far as physical availability of food is concerned. The micronutrient or hidden hunger problem still persists, but people do not die from shortage of food these days. Food...

RTHD makes DMTCL lone executing agency

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has been made the sole implementing agency of all metro-rail projects instead of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), officials said.They said Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) under the Ministry of Road Transport and...

Call money rate cools on BB intervention

The inter-bank call money rate remained almost stable on Monday, the last working day before the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, as the central bank injected liquidity worth Tk 32 billion into the market."We've injected fresh fund into the market using different instruments...

RMG workers: Minimum livelihood needs

The livelihood issues of workers are neglected in the globally recognised ready-made garment (RMG) sector of Bangladesh. Addressing the changes in workers' livelihood need due attention not only in the context of present-generation workforce of the sector but also for...

Introducing feeder bus service

With rapid urbanisation, one way to make public transportation system more efficient is the introduction of feeder bus service in a big city like Dhaka. Policymakers need to think about feeder bus service while they plan to fix the problem...

The socio-economic impacts of Eid-ul-Azha

The festival of Eid-ul-Azha and all the different activities related with the festival have a tremendous impact on the socio-economic conditions of the country. Eid-ul-Azha corresponds with Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca by the financially able Muslims. This year, around 110,000...