Process of introducing new buses in city remains stalled

Efforts to introduce new buses under the 'company system' have remained stalled due to sickness of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayor and lack of initiatives by the authorities concerned to carry out negotiations with all stakeholders.Sources said though...

Two-crop farming on same land gains popularity in Bogra

Our CorrespondentBOGRA, Nov 27: Simultaneous farming of two crops on the same land is gaining popularity in the district.According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office sources, more than 560 hectares of land have been brought under the two...

Mounting non-performing loans

Commercial banks have a serious problem with non-performing loans. During the first nine months of the current year loan defaults, according to Bangladesh Bank, increased by Tk181.35 billion. Cumulative loan defaults stood at Tk803.07 billion. If the written-off amount of...

A quarterly review of the economy: Food sector

The Bangladesh Food Security Monitoring Bulletin is prepared by the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) unit of the World Food Programme (WFP). The bulletin is published by the WFP Bangladesh Country Office, four times a year. It mainly focuses on...

They are lured into the life of 'slave husbands'

Karamjit Singh thought he had hit the jackpot for himself and his aging widower-father when he was arranged to marry a Hong Kong-born Indian Punjabi woman and relocate to the cosmopolitan city. But his dreams of a happy marriage and...

Government’s tax receipts fall Tk 33.55b short of Q1 target

Tax-revenue collection fell short of the target by Tk 33.55 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY).All of the three wings of the revenue board missed their respective targets in the July-September (Q1) period. However, the...

Where celebration fails to live up to expectation

It was an occasion deserved to be celebrated in a most befitting manner. But if the occasion was worth celebrating so, the celebration left much to be desired, particularly in the capital. The occasion where the nation had to celebrate...

Right to a 'living wage'

A recent survey conducted by the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) found that 64 per cent of readymade garments (RMG) workers were unable to meet their daily expenses with the monthly wages they receive. The minimum monthly wage of a RMG...

How FDI can be channelled to promote sustainable development

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is increasingly touted as the elixir for economic growth. While not against FDI, the mid-2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) for financing development also cautioned that it "is concentrated in a few sectors in many developing...

Loan deal with China's Exim Bank likely by Dec

A year-long uncertainty over getting Chinese loan for the Padma Rail Link project is likely to go soon as Exim Bank has confirmed signing of a loan agreement under government-to-government arrangement by December.Official sources said the Exim Bank board of...

Many MNCs, liaison offices dodge tax-return filing

Government's revenue authority plans a search as many foreign companies, including liaison and representation offices, allegedly dodge submission of tax returns despite doing income-generating activity.Officials said the income-tax authorities have decided to launch a 'functional survey' after having smelt such...

Tea production to stumble this year for adverse weather in Sylhet div

SYLHET, Nov 25: Although the country had saw 85 million kgs of tea production, the ever highest yield, last year, it may stumble this year for the adverse weather condition, the industry sources informed.The weather behaviour this year had hit...

Diving deep into marine salvage nitty-gritty

As the saying goes, ship salvage is a science of vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from inconclusive instruments, performed with equipment of problematic accuracy, by persons of doubtful reliability and questionable mentality. Still marine salvage is an issue...

Adding to chaos and confusion

At a time when the mayor of the Dhaka South City Corporation has waged a war on footpath vendors at Gulistan and in adjoining areas, Shahbagh and Farmgate appear to be the happy hunting ground for the latter. It is...

Stand together: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

We stand together in solidarity with the survivors of gender-based violence; we stand with the women, girls and allies who have bravely spoken out against harassment, rape, and domestic violence. And we stand with the voiceless, the shamed, and all...

Ctg beat Sylhet by 40 runs

Chittagong Vikings defeated Sylhet Sixers by 40 runs on Friday in their group match of the BPL T20 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. Earlier, sent in to bat first, Chittagong posted a mammoth total of 211 for 5...

2nd-phase utility relocation along metro rail route begins tomorrow

The metro rail authority starts its utility relocation work from Agargaon to Motijheel area in the capital tomorrow (Sunday) as part of the metro rail project. The traffic situation in the capital is likely to face another blow for the...

Committees fail to submit reports by deadline

Even eight months after their formation, two committees--one on 'technical evaluation' and the other on 'price negotiations'--- could not submit their relevant reports concerning the proposed capital dredging of main channel of Paira seaport, officials said.Additional Secretary of the Ministry...

Rights body to seek review

Consumer-rights campaigners plan to petition the energy regulator this coming week for settlement of the dispute they raised over power-price hike they termed 'irrational'. "We are going to file an application to Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) next week under...

Stocks gain for fourth straight week

Stocks witnessed yet another bullish week, extending the gaining streak for the fourth straight week, as investors continued their buying appetite on sector-wise issues amid optimism. Brokers said the positive momentum in sector-specific issues, especially from fuel & power, engineering,...

A story of alienation

The Brahmaputra is one of the largest Asian rivers that runs through China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. On its journey from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal (around 3800 km), it has hosted civilisations on its banks, because it...

Placing higher education in perspective

Education particularly higher education has been through a metamorphosis in recent years. Procedural change, new technological methods and big business initiatives have been added. But ensuring full utilisation of the technological changes in a short time is an uphill task....

Delivering healthy diets

The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition recently released its latest policy brief in Dhaka. It was through a befitting ceremony,attended by the State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and donors. The...

South Asia unity: A growing obscurity?

The three-day 10th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES X) that took place in Kathmandu in the middle of this month concluded with a mixed feeling as regards advancing the region towards an integrated one. The participants virtually scaled down their...

Nepal consumer mkt growing

Bangladeshi manufacturers can tap the fast-growing consumer market in Nepal through proper marketing, according to the Bangladesh envoy in Kathmandu."There is a good potential for many consumer products in the Himalayan country," said Ms Mashfee Binte Shams, Ambassador of Bangladesh...

Honing writing skill in English

Writing is an art which helps a person express her/him-self effectively. It is one of the ways that we translate our thoughts for other people. Some people are better at expressing themselves in writing than in any other way, and...

Auto-rickshaws and app-based services

The drivers of CNG (compressed natural gas)-run auto-rickshaws have threatened to go off the roads sometime next week unless the authorities stop operations of, what they said, unauthorised app-based ride-sharing services, a demand that has irked most commuters in cities...

A world where children are worse off

As many as 180 million children in 37 countries of the world face a prospect worse than their parents. This analysis made by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reveals two gross anomalies of the development pursued under the capitalist...

Saudi Kingdom in transition

King Salman bin-Abdul Aziz, the octogenarian ruler of Saudi Arabia, has announced to abdicate the throne in favour of his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman. It came as a bolt from the blue as none of his predecessors had retired,...

A clumsy behemoth on rusty tracks

Even a few years back, the first question that came to mind before planning to travel by rail in Bangladesh was whether the train is ever on time! That is general perception people hold about rail of Bangladesh. The way...