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Listening to the women of the mountains

Parvez Babul | 2013-12-11 00:00:00

The United Nations designated December 11 as International Mountain Day in 2003.  Earlier, in 2002, the UN General Assembly declared 2002 as International Year of Mountains. The International Mountain Day has its roots in Chapter 13 of Agenda 21: 'Managing...

Indian state assembly polls: Bad news for Congress ahead of national elections

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury | 2013-12-11 00:00:00

The Indian national Congress, the main partner of the ruling alliance in India, is clearly badly disturbed by the outcome of the several state assembly elections in which the party has been routed. The development is particularly worrying the ruling...

From Bali, with smiles

Hasnat Abdul Hye | 2013-12-11 00:00:00

In international affairs what is considered as impossible sometimes happens but this was not expected of the ninth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that was held in Bali, Indonesia last week. The meeting had such a track...

Political unrest hits transport owners, workers hard

Badrul Ahsan | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Thousands of transport owners and workers across the country are passing hard days because of a drastic fall in their income due to the on-going political turmoil, owners and workers said. Almost cent per cent of transport owners failed to...

Construction firms in financial trouble

Shamsul Huda | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Most of the construction firms are facing financial trouble despite country's development works increasing every year, sources said. Absence of price adjustments in the government funded projects, high rates of bank interest, higher performance guarantee, security money and some other...

Tk 3.50b SOF unutilised in absence of policy

Jamal Uddin | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Lack of policy has created a major roadblock to the utilisation of around Tk 3.50 billion special fund for expansion of telecom network infrastructure, mainly in rural areas. The telecom regulator took the initiative in 2011 under Social Obligation Fund...

Top MFIs widen areas of operation in social sectors

Ismail Hossain | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Top microfinance institutions (MFIs), besides their prime focus on microcredit, have widened their areas of services in various social sectors like education, health, agriculture and disaster management. The recently-published annual report of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) has identified some...

World Human Rights Day 2013

Kazi Mukitul Islam | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

Human beings are the best creations on earth. But unfortunately, they are also the ones who often try to destroy their own races more than any other living species. Destructive outcome of exploitative authority during two World Wars seized attention...

Formalin vs. hilsa fish preservation

Md Jamal Hossain | 2013-12-10 00:00:00

The problem of the use of formalin in foods and the problem of preserving hilsa fish is almost same in one respect: both problems are created by the manipulation of people who deal with in two cases. But both are...

NBR-cell phone cos row deepens over Tk 30b stuck-up revenue

Doulot Akter Mala | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

The long-standing dispute between the revenue authority and cell phone operators on stuck-up revenue worth Tk 30 billion is getting complicated as both sides facing difficulties to come to a consensus on the due amount.   A committee, comprising representatives of...

Work on Dhaka-Mymensingh 4-lane highway progressing well

Shamsul Huda | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

Progress of construction of the Dhaka-Mymensingh four lane highway is going well though it is facing the problem of moving materials caused by shutdowns, sources said. Four lane project director Hafizur Rahman said despite materials movement problem caused by shutdowns...

Solar power stations to be built for charging batteries

Rezaul Karim | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

The government has decided to build solar power stations for charging batteries of three wheelers like easy bikes and auto-rickshaws. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources last month, the meeting...

Sending urea to N region may be tough this Boro season for poor navigability

Syful Islam | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

The country's northern districts will get 1.19 million tonnes of urea fertiliser this season which will be transported there during the December-January period through river routes, sources said. The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will create a buffer stock of...

Paying homage to Madiba Mandela

Neil Ray | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

With the passing away of Nelson Mandela, an epitome of freedom, hope, quiet courage and forgiveness, mankind has become poorer. His is a life that has perfectly inscribed the history of man. In the fight against apartheid, Madiba meaning a...

RMG export: The rot needs to be stopped

Shamsul Huq Zahid | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

Prior to the final phase-out of the multi-fibre agreement (MFA) on January 01, 2005, doomsayers had predicted ominous consequences for Bangladesh apparels. But they proved wrong. Instead of going down, the industry started flourishing at a fast pace and today...

A diplomat\\\'s disappointing visit

M. Serajul Islam | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

The Indians must have regretted the timing of the visit of the Indian Foreign Secretary to Dhaka in their debriefing in South Block (the seat of the Indian Foreign Ministry), after the conclusion of the visit. In particular, they must...

Harnessing political will to combat money laundering

Md. Azharul Islam | 2013-12-09 00:00:00

In contemporary times, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US, international effort to combat money laundering has gained momentum. Financial crimes like money laundering pose a direct threat to security as well as stability, transparency, and efficiency of...

Mandela showed what politics and statesmanship are all about

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

Perhaps, the most remarkable contributions Nelson Mandela made to the realm of politics and statesmanship were through his tolerance, magnanimity and the priority he had attached to the cause of the people than his own life and ambitions. He is...

Coping with building collapse

Khalilur Rahman | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

Yet another four-storey under-construction building in the densely populated Ray Shaheb Bazar area in the old part of Dhaka city collapsed last week. The incident that took place early in the morning caused panic among the neighbours. No casualty was,...

PC\\\'s repeated moves to disinvest 12 state-owned jute, textile mills fail

Shah Alam Nur | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

The government's repeated moves to sell the state-owned textile and jute mills failed to lure private entrepreneurs due to frequent rise in liabilities of those mills over the years, officials said. According to official figures, the cumulative liabilities of 12...

Huge backlog of audit objections at MoA

Rezaul Karim | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

A huge backlog of unsettled audit objections has piled up with the ministry of agriculture (MoA) and its different departments due to increased irregularities, official sources said. By the end of November the audit objections pertaining to transactions worth Tk...

Three private airlines hike fares cashing in on turmoil

Ismail Hossain | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

Three local private airlines are allegedly cashing in on the opposition political programmes like strikes and blockades by increasing fares by 10 per cent to 20 per cent depending on routes. Like national flag-carrier Bangladesh Biman, three private domestic airlines...

Slight decrease in corruption in education gives us great hope

Masum Billah | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

Corruption prevails in every strata of the society. It has engulfed every aspect of government, non-government office and institution. But the corruption in education proves seriously sensitive as corruption in this sector directly affects all the machineries of the state...

Challenges facing ethnic and disadvantaged children in Bangladesh

Pamelia Khaled | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

According to 1989 census, about 80 percent of Bangladeshis are Muslims, and about 12 percent are Hindus. Approximately 600,000 Bangladeshis are Buddhists, forming a mixture of tribal cults and Buddhist doctrines (Heitzman and Worden, 1989). In Bangladesh, with approximately 45...

Trust Bank’s thrust on financial inclusion, ‘bank-led m-banking’

Mohammad Ali | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

Trust Bank Ltd has moved to buy an exchange house in England in order to strengthen its remittance in-flow channel, eventually boosting the economy in Bangladesh. The bank, in this connection, has already sought permission from the Bangladesh Bank (BB),...

Microinsurance for low-income people

Md Hasan Khaled | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

History of insurance industry of Bangladesh traces its ancestry to the British-India and Pakistan regimes. After the independence of Bangladesh, the insurance industry was nationalised. Later on, the Insurance Corporations Act (ICA) was amended and the process of denationalisation was...

When democracy is being jeopardised

Maskurul Alam | 2013-12-08 00:00:00

More than 40 years have been elapsed but democracy still is in jeopardy. Our political leaders have seemingly forgotten to practise democracy in the country. A group of politicians is now engaged in criminal acts to establish an authoritarian rule....

NCL starts operation next month

Shamsul Huda | 2013-12-07 00:00:00

The newly-installed high-tech drug testing National Control Laboratory (NCL) is finally going to start its operation next month, officials said. Though the installation work of the laboratory was completed a year ago, NCL faced a delay in going into operation...

Migrant workers still in demand abroad

Shahana Bilkis | 2013-12-07 00:00:00

There is a declining trend in overseas employment of Bangladeshi workers, as only 27,949 persons landed jobs abroad in August, the lowest in a month this year. In the first eight months of this year, the number of overseas employment...

The tasks ahead of global climate pact

Quamrul Islam Chowdhury | 2013-12-07 00:00:00

Ministers and representatives of 194 countries returned home from the two-week-long marathon UN climate conference in Warsaw cracking some soft-nuts and keeping more hard-nuts to smash on way to Paris via Lima with a heavy load of homework to do...