4 more regional passport offices will start operations this year

Four more Regional Passport Offices (RPO) will start operations this year as a part of the government's decision to extend passport-related services across the country.With the setting up of these four offices, the number of total RPOs will be 19....

South Asia faces food crisis despite India's high productivity

THOSE most affected by the current global food crisis are the poor, particularly in developing countries, international agencies and independent experts agree, and a large number of people for whom steep food prices spell disaster live in South Asia.Rice, an...

corporatewatch

18pc cash dividendThe board of directors of National Polymer has recommended 18 per cent cash dividend for the year that ended on June 30, '08. The annual general meeting (AGM) of the company will be held at the National Shooting...

Respecting every dollar the remitters send

With the remittance from the expatriate wage earners rising in amount, the government has decided to reward the highest remitters. The reward will provide them with special citizen's benefits.' Such persons will enjoy the status of commercially important persons (CIPs)...

Getting immersed in Olympic frenzies

The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. China perhaps would not have agreed to host Olympics in any other year that would not bear the digit 8 as a qualifying index and I guess China...

Mischievous stories of gloom, doom about Bangladesh

It is known to all that Bangladesh gets unfair media coverage on some issues most of the time. For example, let us recall the banner headlines in a newspaper last week about the imminent earthquake to hit Bangladesh, or more...

Death of Solzhenitsyn: a dazzling flame extinguished

Not for a split of a second time freezes, not for a micro millimeter the Earth wobbles off its trajectory at the deaths of thousands of people everyday. But, at times news of death of a single luminary sends people...

Majority of old Dhaka, Gulshan businesses are without TINs

At least 100,562 businesses and professionals received new taxpayers identification number (TIN) during the ongoing drive across the country by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), officials said.They constitute 64.67 per cent of the 155,500 businesses and professionals surveyed across...

Heritage sites for cultural tourism

THE cultural heritage of Bangladesh and his archaeological wealth is yet to be projected and exploited to attract tourists. Cultural tourism can change Bangladesh's image to tourists, both domestic and foreign.Not many in Bangladesh are aware of its cultural heritage....

The concept of community policing

POLICE for its effective functioning anywhere in the world requires rapport with the ones whom they serve. Policemen are found working in social settings where they are not expected to try and do their professional work with a gruff or...

Three more landports will be handed over to pvt operators

Three more landports will be handed over to private operators under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement for a period 25 years by 2009 to help boost cross border trade, officials said.The landports that will be handed over to private operators in the...

news digest

buy armed drones: PentagonWASHINGTON, Aug 5: Germany and Italy areseeking to buy MQ-9 Reapers, new armed drones that the United States recently began flying in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Monday. In notifications to Congress, the Defense Security Cooperation...

Exports hit $14.11b in FY'08 as boom continues in garments

Bangladesh exports posted a 15.87 percent growth in the outgoing fiscal year to a robust US$14.11 billions, spurred by impressive show of garments and an all-time high monthly shipments in June, officials said Tuesday.The country shipped goods worth around two...

Energy sector needs a master plan

Improved energy planning at the soonest is proving to be more and more an absolute imperative for Bangladesh in the backdrop of its growing energy needs to expand its economy, fast and mindless depletion of its main energy source, inadequate...

Realtors in a double whammy

Country's real estate developers, no doubt, are going through the most difficult time in their life.On one hand, abnormal hike in the prices of construction materials has severely hit their business growth and, on the other, an ordinance seeking to...

The summit of many hopes

The 15th Summit of the 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) has ended in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. What is the outcome of the Summit that brought together the leaders of a region where one-fourth of humanity...

Computerised reservations in 30 more rly stations by Oct

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is going to introduce computerised reservations in 30 more railway stations by October this year to improve the efficiency in booking seats.The BR has meantime brought 53 railway stations under computerised networking through the project-Computerised Seat Reservation...

Shipbuilding industry at odds in arranging third party guarantee

The country's booming shipbuilding industry is facing hurdles in securing overseas orders as the local enterprises are finding it difficult to arrange third party guarantee from internationally recognised banks as per demand of the foreign buyers, sector insiders said Sunday.They...

corporatewatch

collect dividend warrantsBata Shoe: Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) Limited has requested concerned shareholders to collect their final dividend warrants for the year 2007 from August 05 to August 07, 2008 from the share liaison office of the company at Gulistan...

news digest

Iraq car accidentBAGHDAD, Aug 4: The US military said one American soldier was killed and two were injured when the vehicle they were travelling in rolled over at a base near the Iraqi capital. The latest death, which occurred on...

Factors frustrating industrialisation

INDUSTRIES, in both public and private sectors, are in the habit of blaming the government for all their troubles. Or, at least, they blame 'a poor business environment' for their failures. But a careful scrutiny would indicate that, in many...

Micro-insurance in socio-economic development

THE role of insurance in combating socio-economic problems has aptly been described in the following words by an Islamic Scholar Dr. Nejatullah Siddique :"Insurance is a basic human need, as accidents and their financial consequences requiring insurance cover are universal....

Govt decides to simplify baggage rule further

The government has decided to further simplify the baggage rule against the backdrop of widespread allegation by Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) about harassment and unusual delay on arrival at the airports.Existing customs rules on checking of baggage are still complex despite...

Community management in rural Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, community management is now increasingly used to refer to the need to increase sustainability and coverage by creating institutional supports for community-managed services, using a learning approach that includes all relevant stakeholders and allows for local context. However,...

Expansionary monetary policy: A bold step by the BB

DEFYING the prescription of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for adopting a contractionary monetary policy, Bangladesh Bank Governor, Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed declared half-yearly Monetary Policy pursuing existing Expansionary Monetary Policy on July 17 last. The declared Monetary Policy, among others,...

Adopting and implementing a policy of competition

IT is not enough to claim that a market economy is functioning and to remain content, thinking that the competition to ensue in such a market economy among different producers of goods and providers of services would automatically translate into...

Amended rules create trouble for banks over bond calculation

Banks are facing difficulties in calculation over government-approved securities as the central bank has amended rules allowing the on-cash-basis accounting method instead of the accrual basis method.On May 26 last, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) amended its rules relating to the...

To escape from pains

AT times, after taking a long hard look at options available when I surmise that what I am longing for is not going to see the light of day, or when I myself don't know why my heart sinks in...

How fair is deportation of Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait?

A bearded man in his late fifties clad in a lungi and a shirt was among nearly 500 Bangladeshi workers deported until last Saturday by the Kuwaiti authorities following the recent violent demonstrations by Asian workers to protest low wages...

Who killed the trade talks?

IF talks on international forums fail, it sends out a very appalling indication to the world populace. It is a bad omen for the global economy, be it the tycoons of the First World or the farmers of the Fourth....