Corporal punishment is just another name for child abuse, torture, cruelty and brutality that can physically and mentally impair a pupil for his entire life. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to a minor, insignificant situation by adult terrorists full of exaggerated…
Category: Columns
Activation during the pandemic downturn
by Silvia Girardi, Alessio Fusco and Valeria Pulignano on 29th July 2020 @sigiraviaMandatory activation conditions for social-assistance recipients should be suspended during the pandemic.Whether activation policies can foster labour-market integration and, at the same time, protect individuals from poverty is…
The politics of identity and inclusion
by Karin Pettersson on 27th July 2020 @AB_KarinKarin Pettersson argues that struggles around race and gender are fundamentally about inclusion on an equal footing in the political community.Anonymous, camouflage-clad men taking protesters away in unmarked cars—federal agents, sent by the…
Black lives matter in Europe too
by Khaled Diab on 27th July 2020 @DiabolicalIdeaNo one should be smug about racism in Europe. Here too there is a toxic interaction between ethnicity, equality and the environment.Although police brutality has claimed too many black lives in America, the…
The Great Migration Clash
By Joseph Chamie NEW YORK, Jul 23 2020 (IPS) – The world is in the midst of the Great Migration Clash, a bitter struggle between those who “want out” of their countries and those who want others to “keep out”…
An economic, as well as a monetary, union?
by John Palmer on 22nd July 2020 The mammoth European Council meeting agreed on a diminished recovery package—yet one with still huge ramifications. There is not much of a market just now for optimism about our economic, social, political or…
Knowing state with corporatocracy, inverted totalitarianism
Sinha MA Sayeed Nature, contents and contexts of politics, political science and government(s) evolve and move in various and varied moods and modes in the settings of time, space and dimension. All these are topics of social science and necessarily…
Minimum wage: A success story with scope for improvement
by Peter Bofinger on 20th July 2020 @PeterBofinger Peter Bofinger argues that regionally-differentiated minimum wages should be considered for the post-coronavirus period. In Germany, the introduction of the statutory minimum wage in January 2015 was viewed extremely sceptically by many…
For a Separate Degree in Agricultural Journalism
M Zahidul Haque It is a felt-need of stakeholders as well as the demand of the present job markets to introducing a separate degree program in Agricultural Journalism at the university level. Agricultural Journalism is a specialized branch of Journalism…
US, UK, Interpol phone-hack tools for Ghana, journos at bay
By Jonathan Rozen NEW YORK, Jul 16 2020 (IPS) – In May 2019, senior members of Ghana’s law enforcement posed for photos with the U.S. ambassador to their country at a ceremony in the capital, Accra. Between them, they held…
The woman Roosevelt relied on to put America back to work
by Denis MacShane on 14th July 2020 @denismacshane Roosevelt is invoked more than ever amid talk of a ‘new deal’ for today’s crisis. Rather fewer, however, recall the woman at the heart of his programme. There is more mythical nonsense…
A ‘Hamiltonian moment’ for Europe
by John Weeks on 14th July 2020 @johnweeks41 Invoking Alexander Hamilton in the context of the sensitisation achieved by Black Lives Matter could not be more inappropriate. Drawing analogies across countries rarely provides insight and often proves wrong-headed. For instance,…
Carbon pricing and the exit from fossil fuels
by Adam Tooze on 6th July 2020 @adam_tooze Adam Tooze argues the European Green Deal and young Europeans’ activism are fostering a virtuous circle favouring more rapid decarbonisation.
Mask Matters!
M ZAHIDUL HAQUE AMONG the various strategies so far invented and recommended to beat corona– wearing of a face mask is the number one! Masks help in blocking particle droplets, splashes and other tiny particles containing germ to enter the…
The Quiet Survivors of a Global Pandemic
By Saima W. Hossain DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jul 8 2020 (IPS) – The issue of women’s rights, feminism and gender is complex and ongoing in most countries including Bangladesh. When I was asked to write about the impact of COVID-19 on…
Stopping Food Waste During COVID-19, One Grant At a Time
Danielle Nierenberg When the COVID-19 pandemic caused restaurants and creameries to shut down, goat farmers Blake and Andrew Place found themselves dumping 95 percent of their daily milk production because they couldn’t sell it. But with a grant from the…
For a law of ‘algorithmic justice at work’
by José Varela on 9th July 2020 Workers must be protected from adverse decisions where responsibility is displaced to apparently anonymous algorithms.
Courtesy of Corona
M ZAHIDUL HAQUE BY the courtesy of Corona, drastic changes have taken place in occupational, societal and human relations disciplines. COVID-19 pandemic has changed human behaviour and the pattern of human interaction. Social and organizational communications are getting more and…
China-India Relations: Conceivable Rebounds on Bangladesh
Speaking pragmatically, geo-politically and superlatively, in the ongoing global order free, independent and sovereign states operationally and strategically cannot be away from bilateral, regional and global realities, issues, problems, challenges, dilemmas and opportunities therein, notwithstanding anything contained in bilateral or…
Saved by the Pandemic?
by Mark Lynas HAY-ON-WYE – COVID-19 has killed more than 500,000 people worldwide, made millions more ill, and continues to wreak havoc. But as the saying goes – and without wishing to downplay this human tragedy in any way –…
Why Disaster Preparedness Cannot Wait
By Jagan Chapagain and Andrew Steer GENEVA/WASHINGTON, DC – The world has been planning for the future in the mistaken belief that it will resemble the past. But as COVID-19 coincides with cyclones in South Asia and the Pacific and…
For now, it is a question of answers
Sudhirendar Sharma For once, this pandemic has forced all of us to be different, to seek answers and only answers on how to confront, control, and get over the dreadful virus. No one seems to be asking questions anymore, but…
Resetting the West’s Relationship With China
Tony Blair New polling – conducted for YouGov on behalf of the Institute – shows there has been, during the Covid crisis, a sharp move in Western public opinion to a markedly more hostile attitude towards China. In our report…
Mobile payments help people during the pandemic
By Sonja Davidovic, Delphine Prady and Herve Tourpe Jun 22 2020 (IPS) – The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support in the hands of people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has baffled advanced and developing economies…
India-China Relations: Possible Reflections on Bangladesh
Speaking pragmatically, geo-politically and superlatively, in the ongoing global order free, independent and sovereign states operationally and strategically cannot be away from bilateral, regional and global realities, issues, problems, challenges, dilemmas and opportunities therein, notwithstanding anything contained in bilateral or…
Reimagining the Office
By Carlo Ratti BOSTON – Last month, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the company would allow its employees, currently working from home in accordance with social-distancing protocols, to stay there for good. Several other big businesses – from Facebook…
The Moment When America Fell Behind
By Jules Kortenhorst DENVER – As governments around the world adopt policies to address the immediate economic fallout of COVID-19, they are making decisions that will also determine their countries’ competitiveness for decades to come. If designed correctly, stimulus and…
The cups that cheer
Sudhirendar Sharma No other drink inspires as much feeling of relaxation, and trust! For me every day is a tea day but the International Tea Day (May 21) reminded me this year that it is a hot cup of tea…
Meritocracy Legitimises, Deepens Inequality
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jun 18 2020 (IPS) – How often have you heard someone lamenting or even condemning inequality in society, concluding with an appeal to meritocracy? We like to think that if only the deserving,…
We should not aim to return to normal
By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Inger Andersen BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 18 2020 (IPS) – The world before COVID-19 looks very attractive right now. In light of the disease, mass unemployment and social distancing, a return to pre-pandemic normality seems appealing.…