Human rights and our ethnic communities

Bangladesh is largely ethnically homogeneous, and its name derives from the Bengali ethno-linguistic group which comprises 98 per cent of the population. The Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sylhet, Mymensing and the districts of North Bengal are home to diverse ethnic communities....

Financing to meet climate change

Given the gravity of the crisis it is most likely that the COP-21 (Conference of Parties) scheduled to be held in Paris on November 30 will not be postponed in spite of the shock and horror caused by the recent...

Climate change: Technology transfer to LDCs

Climate change and environmental degradation are certainly the overriding issues of the 21st century. Climate change affects a host of human rights. Rising surface temperatures and projected increases in vector-borne diseases implicate the rights to health, food and life. Changes...

Remittance and poverty reduction

Inflow of remittances has been a catalyst in poverty alleviation. Today remittance accounts for about one-tenths of our GDP (gross domestic product). Studies on overseas employment should obviously get a special focus in ongoing research.  More than macro-level data, the...

Stocks open higher amid hartal

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed steep rise in early hour of trading on Monday despite day-long shutdown enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, soared 49.66 points or 1.08 per cent to...

Observers asked to ensure discipline in SoCBs\\\' lending

The newly appointed observers to four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) have been asked to ensure due diligence on part of the bank managements in loan sanctioning to plug the loopholes. Officials said such instructions were made at a meeting held...

BSC seeks to bend procurement rules

The state-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) finds PPR or public procurement rules clumsy and seeks immunity for quicker purchase of old or yard-ready vessels. However, planning authorities stand opposed. Officials said the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the...

Govt starts fuel-oil import talks with 13 cos in S\\\'pore

The government has started negotiations with 13 international companies for importing about 3.0 million tonnes of fuel-oils (gas oil, jet fuel, kerosene) to meet the country's demand in 2016, officials said. A high-powered official delegation is now in Singapore to...

Battling climate change: Challenges of coordinating and accessing finance

The world is getting noticeably warmer and there is a palpable change in world temperature. But, even after causing a once-in-a-century recession and unemployment for millions, finance is possibly the panacea for preventing an even worse catastrophe: climate change. As...

In critical times, the poet in leaders leaps out

"To forgive them is up to God, but to send them to him is up to me". This quotable quote reportedly goes to the credit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not many have taken it gracefully -certainly not the Islamist...

Road maintenance still a neglected area

It's dry season now. Usually the number of complaints about poor road conditions remains far less during this period of the year. The media too shun the attacking mood, which they usually demonstrate during the rainy season, because of the...

In critical times, the poet in leaders leaps out

"To forgive them is up to God, but to send them to him is up to me". This quotable quote reportedly goes to the credit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not many have taken it gracefully -certainly not the Islamist...

Road maintenance still a neglected area

It's dry season now. Usually the number of complaints about poor road conditions remains far less during this period of the year. The media too shun the attacking mood, which they usually demonstrate during the rainy season, because of the...

Japan shows interest to invest in BD rail projects

Japan has shown interest to invest in the proposed underground railway and metro-rail projects in Dhaka as well as Dhaka-Chittagong express railway project.  The Japanese government expressed willingness at a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and...

DSE trading begins

Trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) began at 12.00 noon today after the ‘technical glitch’ was over, officials said. The trading will continue till 4.00 pm. Share transactions usually start at 10:30am and close at 2:30pm every working day....

Policies to make transport sector efficient still in cold storage

The government is yet to take initiatives to implement different policies taken in transport sector to make its billion-dollar investment for introduction of a mass transport system in the capital productive. These include integrated multi-modal transport system, bus network reform,...

Motorbike sale plunges despite price cut

Sale of motorcycles in the country is continuously dropping since imposition of Supplementary Duty (SD) in the 2015-16 budget though almost all the brands are reducing prices of their vehicles for the sake of competition, industry insiders said. The government...

Govt plans to establish hi-tech parks in SEZs

The government considers setting up information and technology (IT) parks (hi-tech parks), IT villages and software technology parks in the country's special economic zones (SEZs), officials have said. "We are going to take an initiative to build hi-tech parks/IT villages/STPs...

Traders risk losing licences as new jute use deadline nears

The government has moved to cancel import and export licences if traders fail to use jute sacks for packaging paddy, wheat, maize, rice, sugar and fertiliser from November 30, officials said. The move comes as part of its ongoing campaign...

Digital financial inclusion: Partnerships are the key

In their paper "A Digital Pathway to Financial Inclusion", Dan Radcliffe and Rodger Voohies of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation outlined how basic mobile connectivity and digital remote payments are the first two necessary steps towards an inclusive digital economy....

What\\\'s to do with BJMC mills?

The government has turned down a proposal of the ministry of textiles and jute seeking Tk 3.0 billion for the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) for buying raw jute and providing gratuity to its workers. A finance ministry official said...

Playing by rules of the game

India is the closest and most important neighbour of Bangladesh. It is also a major trading partner of the country. Bangladesh is highly dependent on India for import of various food and non-food items, after China. The bilateral trade between...

Faking foils all moves

A citizen of Bangladesh went to Paschim Banga (West Bengal) in India. He was staying in his relative's house there. Once he needed to go to a grocery shop to buy some mustard oil. He asked the shopkeeper whether the...

Sustainability reporting: Why it is essential for banks, FIs

Sustainability reporting is a method of reporting as regards economic, environmental and social performance of an organisation. Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing, and being accountable to internal and external stakeholders for organisational performance towards the goal of...

The folly of allowing farmland loss

Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the world, with an area of 147,610 square kilometres where in about 160 million people live. Per-capita land is estimated to be only about 13 decimals. Every year about one per...

Destined for nowhere

Recently the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) finalised the draft Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP). This revision of the city's 20-year long transport policy-cum-plan has become urgent 10 years after its formulation for constructing infrastructure beyond the original plan. The...

\\\'Restopreneurship\\\': Is it always a hit or miss?

According to what the famous Restaurant Mathematician Joe Bastianiach mentioned in his book The Restaurant Man, restaurant business can be comprehended with a very simple ideology: "It's a nickel and dime business. You make dollars by accumulating nickels. If you...

Into the new NBR oversight regime

Bangladesh has introduced a new oversight regime this year to scrutinise all the cross-border financial transactions. The enforcement of the Transfer Pricing law under the income tax ordinance would enable taxmen to monitor the international transactions by the multinational companies...

Income inequalities: The root of most evils

Kohinoor earns 800 dollars a year. She works in one of Dhaka's garment factories, stitching world-class wears for consumers in the West.  The all-powerful person on the factory floor, production manager, she works under manages a take-home pay of around...

Missing link of development is local government

Bangladesh has been achieving impressive economic growth reflecting even major improvement in some of the key social indicators for quite some years. This is at a time when foreign aid regime has gone through remarkable changes for a crunch prompted...