Editorial

THE London-based Civil Unrest Index (CUI) rated Bangladesh at sixth place in the top ‘extremely risky countries’ in the world in terms of businessmen fear about doing business. The low ranking for Bangladesh came less than a year after yet another such low ranking in terms of ‘ease of doing business’ when the World Bank puts it at 174 position – two notches below from previous rating. It mainly blamed stalled regulatory reforms and bureaucratic hassles impeding business. What is...

PRE-CONDITIONS of a vibrant bilateral relations are often defined in the light of how closely political leaders interact with the masses and what they do to make common people believe that behind the facade of enchanting bilateral state visits they also have unresolved legitimate issues where the public also should participate. Our Prime Minister’s ‘Hilsa diplomacy’ was noticeable when she cooked for Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in the kitchen at the Rashtrapati Bhaban and prepared steamed Hilsa dish for Indian...

Ali M. Latifi :I spent the evening of April 13 with a cousin and two aunts in the upscale Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood in Kabul, Afghanistan. My aunts mostly talked about their relaxed, liberal early youth in the 1960s among the Kabul elite. As we waited in the driveway for our car, my cousin told me about an explosion in Nangarhar, the eastern province of Afghanistan, where our family comes from. We scrolled through our phones. As we drove out,...

Saleem Samad :As Indian Prime Minister “Chowkidar’ Narendra Modi is poised to take oath next week after his landslide victory last week, he is unlikely to hold a get-together of South Asian leaders, like in 2014.All South Asian leaders, including Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh have sent heart-to-heart congratulatory messages to Narendra Modi, the incumbent prime minister of India for the second time.PM Hasina made a phone call to Modi and conveyed her heartfelt wishes to her re-elected counterpart. While Imran...

ILLEGAL sand lifting from the major rivers, particularly Padma and Jamuna, has continued for years, although the government stopped leasing the sand fields in 2010 following an injunction by the court. With the growing demand of sand due to the increase in development works during the last few years, influential people got involved in massive sand extraction at different points of rivers. The unplanned sand lifting that involves business worth hundreds of crore of taka every year causes frequent erosion...

Crispen Mawadza : Countries everywhere are focused on supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). From successive G20 presidencies (Turkey, China, Germany) to many of our emerging country clients, supporting SMEs has become a clarion call. While this support appears to be largely driven by the global unemployment crisis (particularly among the youth) SMEs contribute much more than just jobs, including exports, production, innovation, diversification, geographic dispersion, and opportunities for women and youth entrepreneurs.A lack of access to adequate finance is...

Farhana Haque Rahman :By any measure this has been a devastating year: fires across the Amazon, the Arctic and beyond; floods and drought in Africa; rising temperatures, carbon emissions and sea levels; accelerating loss of species, and mass forced migrations of people.As seen through the eyes of IPS reporters and contributors around the world, 2019 will be remembered as the year the climate crisis shook us all, and hopefully also for the fight back manifested in the spread of mass...

THE outbreak of Ebola virus in Africa has been prompting authorities as far away as Asia to take preventive measures, but Bangladesh appears to be unaware of its possible danger, though a large number of our soldiers are in UN Peace Keeping Mission in Ebola affected countries. We are apprehensive of our people including the soldiers who are in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and express our concern over apparent indifference of our Foreign Ministry desk. World Health Organisation (WHO)...

Deutsche Welle, Asia : Calls for an environmentally conscious form of Islam are growing in Indonesia, as climate change poses enormous ecological challenges for the country. Experts say it could change society’s approach to climate efforts.Following the publication of an alarming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Indonesia is once again at the center of the global climate debate.As the world’s largest exporter of coal and palm oil, the country has a major impact on the global climate...

Shazzad Khan :Once termed as ‘basket case’ by the Western boasters, Bangladesh has got into the highway of graduating from LDC category just recently. Whoever says what, I feel proud of it. And I have reasons to say this.Before and after the declaration from the CDP (Committee for Development Policy) of the United Nations on last 17th March, which also coincided Bangabandhu’s 98th birth anniversary, I saw a number of articles and views on risks and opportunities of Bangladesh’s LDC...