Robert J. Burrowes If you hadn’t previously heard the expression ‘near term human extinction’, you have now. And you will get used to hearing it soon unless you insulate yourself from reality with greater effectiveness than you are doing by…
Tag: Column
Secondhand smoke too dreadfully dangerous
Mir Lutful Kabir Saadi Secondhand smoke is simply other people’s tobacco smoke. Wherever people smoke, there is secondhand smoke in the air. There is no doubt breathing second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) is dreadfully dangerous to health. It causes cancer, as…
US-China climate deal: Maker or breaker?
by Sunita Narain In my previous article I wrote that India should demand an ambitious climate change deal, because we need the world to stay safe—below the guardrail of 2°C rise in temperature. I also said that for the deal…
Tragic end of a decent man in Bangladesh journalism
Mostafa Kamal Majumder The sad demise of eminent journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury on Saturday night has come as a shock to all not only because of the suddenness with which the end came to the glorious career of a gentleman…
Nine ways to a food waste-free thanksgiving!
by Danielle Nierenberg, Sarah Small, and Kathleen Murphy Thanksgiving is a good time to remember to be grateful for farmers, farm laborers, cooks, and food service workers. Unfortunately, while we are giving thanks for the harvest, we are also wasting…
Who pays the real cost of cheap products?
Sudhirendar Sharma With online retailers in fierce competition to lure internet-savvy consumers, markets are abuzz with a wide range of cheap products on offer. The convenience of online shopping has helped consumers throw caution during economic slowdown to the winds.…
Nobel Laureate’s dream of an unemployment-free society
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus has called for redesigning the economy to redesign the world. His short write-up published in the news media on Monday has been received by readers across the globe with praise for his…
Egypt’s foreign policy: Development partnership with Bangladesh
H. E. Mahmoud EZZAT Geopolitics inevitably shaped Egypt’s foreign policy. Egypt occupies a strategic position as a land bridge between two continents and a link between two principal waterways; The Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It must be therefore…
Getting the most out of what we have!
In a world where growing knowledge confronts as much ignorance, the idea of scarcity offers clues on managing our lives better during abundance. When an economist and a psychologist come together to undertake an intellectual endeavor, the outcome shatters many…
Priorities of aviation for the new century
-By Raquib Siddiqi The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called for airlines, governments, and industry stakeholders to guide the development of the commercial airline industry into its next century with a global mindset and based on a foundation of…
World Migratory Bird Day 2014 promotes sustainable tourism
-By Raquib Siddiqi World Migratory Bird Day 2014 – celebrated in over 70 countries on 10-11 May – focussed on the role sustainable tourism can play in conserving one of the world’s true natural wonders the spectacular movements of migratory…
Case of the SSC examinee who has committed suicide
Legend in the field of journalism in Bangladesh Moulana Akram Khan has stopped the publication of examination results in his popular daily Azad in the sixties when an examinee committed suicide as he did not find his roll number on…
Corporate Social Responsibility in Bangladesh
Dr. Atiur Rahman We all know that the CSR obligations of activism towards promoting sustainability is not just a developed economy cause or a developing economy cause, it is a global survival urgency in the face of looming risks from…
When abductions, enforced disappearances shall stop?
Masum Billah The past few weeks have been marked increased frequency of abduction, forced disappearance of people and recovery of their bodies from rivers or in jungles or beside the roads. The public life has been exposed to this extreme…
The key to atract global tourists is projection of B’desh- ‘as it is’
-By Raquib Siddiqi A recent visit by a team of Australian journalists to Bangladesh and their impression, reconfirm our belief that tourism products should be designed to present Bangladesh as it is, to the tourist generating markets. Admitting that the…
Indian SC orders execution of journalists’ wage board award
By Nava Thakuria India’s highest court on April 9 ruled that journalists and non-journalist employees of newspapers and news agencies are entitled to a pay hike under the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Board. Dismissing pleas by various media owners…
Teesta alive everybody wins: The river merits love, respect
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Sudden influx of water in the Bangladesh part of the Teesta on 22 April coinciding with BNP’s long march to press equitable sharing of the river’s water was immediately followed by a race for claiming credit for…
The pudding without the proof
Some trends are more noticeable now than before. Yet, these often go unnoticed. For some these matter whereas for others it is business-as-usual. The trend nonetheless influences the way we live and the manner in which we conduct ourselves. Perhaps,…
Shrinking space for media persons in northeast India
By Nava Thakuria A debate, one may call prejudiced, on the implementation of various financial schemes for media persons in India under a statutory wage board, is gaining momentum in Assam. The Justice Majithia Wage Board, instituted in 2007 for…
On impending changes in the field administration
Government officials who belong to administration see transfer and reshuffle as a regular practice. But such change or reshuffle should be for the sake of welfare of the people and impartial as far as it can be. Bangladesh has witnessed…
500m family farmers have enormous potential to feed the world
CHICAGO, IL – As the world celebrates the International Year of Family Farming, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank (http://www.FoodTank.com (http://www.foodtank.com/) highlights new research showing how family farms, can nourish the world while protecting the environment. The new report, Food…
The Jatiya Press Club vibrant with Internet connectivity
Mostafa Kamal Majumder With the introduction of a new and upgraded set of computers the Internet facility offered by the the Jatiya Press Club to its members for collection and dissemination of news, articles, features, and networking through different social…
GreenWatch Dhaka mourns Dr MS Haq
Dr MS Haq, the prolific writer who used to fill the Green Corner of this online newspaper, is no more. He died of a massive heart attack in Dhaka on late Monday afternoon. He was buried near his parents’ graves…
I know I’m not confused
Sudhirendar Sharma In this age of information overload, there is a ‘know-all’ illusion. You probably don’t know as much as you think you do. The convenience of a personal computing device is only a click away to lift the veil…
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 …
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…
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…
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…
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…