BD-India water transit deal renewal becomes uncertain

The renewal of the Indo-Bangladesh water-transit protocol has become uncertain with Delhi disagreeing to allow the passage of goods to third countries through its land, pay levies to Dhaka for such transit and raise the maintenance cost of protocol routes,...

BEZA seeks equal deal in export-import policies to attract EZ investors

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) has sought to put its name in the new import and export policies along with enough policy bounties to lure in investors from home and abroad.       Officials of the new body on economic sector...

Stocks extend winning streak for 4th week

Stocks extended their winning streak for the four straight weeks that ended Thursday despite the premier bourse faced 'technical glitches' in the first two trading sessions of the week. The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) witnessed major technical glitches in the...

Satisfying the learners while teaching a second language

When we conduct a class and speak to a group of learners we want to inform them something or, persuade or entertain them. To achieve any or all of these objectives, we should know their interests, likes and dislikes; otherwise...

When hubris takes over human quality

The humiliation an invigilator at a Higher Secondary Certificate examination hall in Bhandaria was forced to go through is most outrageous, to say the least. Two government officials-one the boss of the upazila and another a magistrate there-had no qualm...

Organic fertilizer imperative for agriculture

With a view to meeting the food deficiency, dependence on chemical fertilizer in Bangladesh has increased manifold over the past decades. No doubt, this has resulted in boosting crop production. But as a result of the overwhelming reliance on chemical...

Energising FDI inflow deserves priority

Finance Minister AMA Muhit has expressed his disappointment at the inadequate inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. In a pre-budget discussion this week, he clearly said that he had been emphasising on the higher FDI inflow for...

Only 4.0pc turned into four-lane highways

Over 10 years of official efforts to upgrade the country's important highways to four-lane ones have hardly made any headway, leaving long-route journeys ever more risky for frequent tragedies. By official count, only four per cent road infrastructures are now...

AIT likely on import of some essentials from FY \\\'16

The government is likely to slap advance income tax (AIT) on import of some essential items, including rice, wheat, sugar and petroleum oil, from the upcoming fiscal year (FY), 2015-16. However, import of these essential commodities may enjoy a reduced...

BD to press again for removing NTBs, PTBs during Modi visit

Bangladesh will raise the issues relating to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and para-tariff barriers (PTBs) again during the ensuing visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials have said.  "The response from Indian officials on removal of NTBs and PTBs is...

Telcos to lose control over towers

The nation's telecom regulator has approved the guidelines for tower sharing licences, which will pave the way for third party to develop and control mobile-network infrastructure, an official said. The guidelines, approved in a recent meeting of the Bangladesh Telecommunica-tion...

Public expenditure on infrastructure

For a developing country seeking to boost economic growth and development, infrastructure plays a decisive role. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Index (GCI) lists transport and energy infrastructure as a key pillar of competitiveness, highlighting their role as essential...

On the road to attain six EFA goals

In 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, 164 governments pledged to achieve 'Education for All (EFA)' and identified six goals to be met by 2015. Goal 1 - Early childhood care and education: Expanding and improving comprehensive...

Social media and internet activism

Nowadays, the power of technology is greater than what we could not even imagine a few years ago. Nobody will deny that we are living in a strange time, when a certain phenomenon called social media has occupied our thinking...

Culture of condonation and impunity

Patriarchal societies have an arcane attitude towards sex crime. How the inadequacy of the view gets exposed unaware at times is best illustrated by the recent naïve statement by the country's police chief. He preferred as innocuous a term as...

Electoral reform for holding credible elections

The international community wants reform of the country's electoral system on the basis of political understanding. Their proposal is aimed at free, fair and participatory election. They are considering the views of the civil society in this regard. There are...

Costs of migration

Most of the migrants are desperate people. They are prepared to take any risk to fulfill their dream of a better life. Knowing this, recruiting agents and human traffickers take full advantage. The former get paid many times over what...

BB mounts watch on offshore banking

The central bank has expedited monitoring and supervision on offshore banking units (OBUs) of the commercial banks for limiting risks in free trans-boundary transactions, officials said Wednesday. As part of the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) is now collecting information...

Expectations from Mr. Mayor

A mayor is regarded as the first citizen of the city. There are numerous debates on the authorisation of a mayor, but it is important for us to remember that a mayor is the person directly elected by the city...

Big groups move into rice milling business

Big corporate houses are investing in rice milling and marketing, encouraged by demand from a growing population in the country, insiders said. ACI, City Group, Pran-RFL Group and Bashundhara Group are among the companies that are preparing to set up...

Budgets caught in deficit trap

The Keynesian theory of deficit financing advocating injection of money into the economy to ensure full employment has widely been accepted by many developed and developing countries in their fiscal policies. Deficit financing in a national budget usually happens as...

Pull and push factors in non-farm occupations

In a recent research paper, eminent economist Mahabub Hossain has dealt with rural non-farm sector and labour productivity. Do non-farm activities provide relatively full-time employment?  Are these taken up basically to augment household incomes during slack seasons of agricultural activities?...

Unloading of BPC oil faces severe disruption at Ctg port

The unloading of oil imported by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) faces setback for severe shipping congestion as vessels of private-sector power plants have been given permission to call at the corporation's jetties at Chittagong seaport sans its consent, officials said....

Restraining winged capital from flying

Capital worth over $18 billion went out of country between 2005 and 2014 using both legal and illegal channels, the keynote paper presented at a 'press meet' held by a group of civil society organisations in Dhaka Sunday last estimated....

India closes in on two BD SEZs

The government is likely to award two special economic zones (SEZ) to Indian investors-one at Mongla in Bagerhat and the other at Bheramara in Kushtia. The Mongla SEZ would be set up on about 205 acres of land and the...

Al-Arafah becomes first banking co to own equity of CBS provider

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd, a second generation private commercial bank (PCB) has acquired 51 per cent shares of Millennium Information Solution Ltd (MISL), one of the biggest software companies of Bangladesh. Corporate insiders said the $ 2.0 million investment from...

Potato exporters fear shipment slump

Potato exporters fear further setback after the Russian government imposed ban on import of produce from Bangladesh, industry insiders said. Russia early this month temporarily suspended imports of potatoes from Bangladesh, citing food safety and disease risks issues. The decision...

Tax laws should regularly be updated

Taxation, no doubt, is a critical subject. It needs meticulous study of tax Acts, rules and other related materials to understand the intricacy of the "language/terms" used in the relevant tax Acts. Lack of adequate explanatory notes often causes serious...

Bangladesh’s look-east policy and Myanmar

Lack of basic land, air and sea connectivity in conjunction with a plethora of governmental complications is discouraging the prospects of boosting bilateral trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The border trade between the two countries is still low. The transportation...

What\\\'s the actual amount of \\\'revenue foregone\\\'?

As the time of announcing another budget gets nearer, last-minute lobbying to avail fiscal incentives is also there. From the high level of the government, it has already been signalled that the upcoming budget would provide some handy fiscal incentives...