Robert J. Burrowes If we want to take appropriate action to fix something that is not working properly, then it is necessary to understand, precisely, the nature of the problem. Obviously, if our diagnosis is inaccurate, then the solution applied…
Category: Columns
The problem of dropout at SSC, equivalent examinations
Masum Billah The SSC and equivalent examinations have begun from February 9 with the participation of a record number of examinees. It sounds good but the news of dropout has baffled us. One lakh sixty six thousand eight hundred forty…
US strategic interests and Bangladesh foreign policy
Tanbir Uddin Arman It is an scrumptious paradox that the US , which in 1971 sent its the 7th fleet to the Bay of Bengal to desist India from militarily assisting the Bangladesh Liberation War, now wants Bangladesh to host …
2013, the worst year for nascent tourism industry of B’desh
-By Raquib Siddiqi The year 2013, is going to be marked as the worst year for the nascent tourism industry of Bangladesh. According to tourism industry insiders, the nearly 4,000 crore taka investment in the sector is under serious threat. …
The significance of Dhaka art summit
The second edition of Dhaka Art Summit has been held between February 7 and 9 with focus on the South Asian region and highlighted the vibrant contemporary art scene. It has featured five exhibitions curated by local and international curators,…
The Global Elite is Insane
Robert J. Burrowes In a recent report titled ‘Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality’ Oxfam informs us that ‘Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population’. Their report goes…
Making water footprints count
Dr Sudhirendar sharma Free water allocation resolves temporal scarcity but at the cost of inducing lasting crises. Such populist measures stretch existing supply alongside stressing perennial water sources, Since water bills are measured in currency and not in volume of…
Trust no one…..if you may!
Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma History has never been as readable – intriguing, engrossing and gripping! By weaving fact and fiction together, Alex Rutherford has brought the historical characters of the bygone era to life in his Empire of the Moghul series.…
Promoting better deals for migrant workers in Arab countries
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Malaysian labour activist Charles Hector Fernandez recently told their government that detention of 2400 undocumented migrants, mostly Bangladeshis, at 15 immigration depots must be followed up by a thorough investigation on the journey from their country of…
Teaching is indeed a courageous profession
Masum Billah Teaching itself is a courageous profession in many respects. The people belonging to other professions can do corruption, earn colossal amount of money by fair means or foul, can do indecent activities which will not upset people around…
Editorial: The bt bringal issue
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of the government the other day came up with an explanation that there is no reason to ‘lend ear to a propaganda’ that bt bringal produced in Bangladesh in a limited way would be exported…
An open letter to soldiers with ‘mental health’ issues
Robert J. Burrowes Are you a soldier or veteran who is supposed to have a ‘mental health’ issue such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia or PTSD? If you are, then I have some suggestions for you to consider. My first suggestion…
Has the world gone mad?
Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma So, it would seem! Else, all dreams for better arrangement of the world would not have been attacked, poisoned, discredited and ridiculed. From Cuba to Rwanda and from Congo to Iraq, countries refusing to Western dictate have…
January 5 election and the future of our democracy
We witnessed the 10th Parliamentary Election which has earned the reputation of the most controversial and questionable one in the history of Bangladesh with the lowest percentage of voter turnout. The EC was hesitating to declare the poor percentage of…
Fundamentalism: A psychological problem
Robert J. Burrowes Fundamentalism is a widespread problem. It often manifests in a religious context – making it highly visible – but there are plenty of secular fundamentalists too. If we are to understand fundamentalism we should not view it…
Restoring confidence for sustainable political order
Mostafa Kamal Majumder With the government saying it has got the people’s mandate to run the country for another term, calling the activists opposing the January-5 election as miscreants and anti-liberation forces to be punished and eliminated; and the opposition…
Guide-books liquefy excitement with new textbooks!
Masum Billah Bangladesh has occupied a unique position in the globe in many respects both in positive and negative senses. The distribution of new textbooks at the beginning of every academic year free of cost among the learners of primary…
Making election security arrangements
-Rakibul Hasan Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy. Every five-years it holds general election. The Bangladesh Election Commission is a constitutional body that conducts election as per powers vested under Article 118 of the Constitution. Like in many other developing democracies,…
Climate change and the rise and fall of civilisations
By Emily Sohn Mayan pyramid in Chichen-Itza, Mexico. Space observations provide clues as to how ancient civilizations, like that of the Mayans and the Old Kingdom of Egypt, collapsed. Credit: Shutterstock. Mayan pyramid in Chichen-Itza , Mexico . Space observations…
March for democracy!
Masum Billah The whole country has experienced a nightmare since November 26 just after the declaration of 10th parliamentary election. A series of blockades by the opposition alliance from November 26 and the response from the law enforcers and the…
Compromise, tolerance and reconciliation the only panacea
Mostafa Kamal Majumder As the all-round confrontation between the government and the opposition has almost completed two months and has entered the third, ordinary citizens are passing breath-taking time and anxiously awaiting a way out of the hostilities that are…
The amazing world of pseudoscience …
Dr. Sudhurendar Sharma Throughout recorded history, humans have widened their choices by focusing on things that either don’t exist or exist only in imagination. Isn’t the opposite of everything more interesting? No wonder, paranormal persists, myths fascinate and pseudoscience captivates.…
Is the businesses’ white flag rally of any significance?
Masum Billah White colour is the symbol of peace universally. To stop a war white fag is shown. We know the ‘red-shirt’ and ‘yellow shirt’ movement and demonstration of Thailand. But the rally or demonstration with ‘white flag’ is quite…
Defeating the violence in our food and medicine
Robert J. Burrowes Critiques of the mainstream (allopathic) medical industry have long drawn attention to its death-dealing: See, for example, ‘Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health’ and ‘When Doctors Strike, Fewer People Die’. In fact, according to one heavily-researched report,…
Apparent pulling back democratisation in Bangladesh
-Rakibul Hasan THERE are some inevitable questions, taken as proof for democracy, are yet to be answered in the context of Bangladesh. Like what is it happening in the political arena in the name of democracy in the country? Is…
Universal primary education goal and Bangladesh
Masum Billah The concept of universal education dates back to 2000 when UNESCO hosted Dakar summit which was participated in by 180 countries. They committed to the simple but profound goal of achieving universal basic education by 2015. It actually…
“Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”
By Dr Gideon Polya The world is farewelling world hero Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) who is universally admired (except in Apartheid Israel) for his courageous persistence for decades until the evil racism of Apartheid was…
The inconvenient fact of drug resistance
Dr. Sudhurendar Sharma In 2011, a fifth of the global human population perished on account of infectious diseases. With the power of anti-microbial and anti-bacterial drugs literally coming to an end, some 9.5 million people in developing countries paid the…
Let Mandela’s greatness inspire reconciliation
Mostafa Kamal Majumder The demise of South Africa’s fatherly figure Nelson Mandela (95) on Friday has cast a pall of gloom not merely in the African republic that he has built from the ruins of apartheid to a nation of…
Lobbying elites: The fast track to extinction
Robert J. Burrowes As we evaluate the outcomes of the recent UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, one lesson that we are invited to learn, again, relates to our strategy for getting effective action taken on the ongoing climate catastrophe and…