What lies behind the Jamaat chief's 'civil war' remark?

It is customary for politicians to campaign against the other side: the opposition speaks against the government and the government against the opposition.
26 June 2026

FY2026-27 budget targets: A bridge too far?

The quality of budget implementation will determine whether investment is stimulated, inflation is reduced, and new jobs are created as planned.
25 June 2026

Advance tax on retailers: A smart reform or a burden on businesses?

Once a cost becomes unrecoverable, it does not disappear.
25 June 2026

Amid water-sharing uncertainty, rainwater harvesting deserves greater focus

Bangladesh has nine months left on a treaty it cannot afford to lose, and no fallback plan if it does.
25 June 2026

Why Keir Starmer's fall should surprise no one

That such a commanding mandate could dissolve so completely and so quickly suggests the problem runs deeper than any one leader’s failures.
25 June 2026

Bangladesh’s digital future can’t be built without addressing women’s fear

For millions of women, the digital world has become another unsafe street.
24 June 2026

Starmer’s resignation signals constraint, not virtue

Keir Starmer’s resignation is being presented as a dignified submission to democratic accountability.
24 June 2026

A bigger ADP, but can Bangladesh make it work?

The proposed national budget for FY2026-27 is more than an outline of the government’s spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year.
24 June 2026

Public universities are still rationing women’s freedom

What many students describe is not just security management but behavioural policing.
24 June 2026

EVs make economic sense for us, so why is adoption still slow?

In the early noughties, Dhaka was choking on petrol and octane fumes, and it was then that the government pushed Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as the answer.
23 June 2026

77 years of Awami League: From people’s vanguard to an autocratic machine

The territory that constitutes Bangladesh has been a political hotbed since the dawn of the 20th century. The country entered a new era in August 1947, after the partition of India, including Bengal.
23 June 2026

Ad-din tragedy shows why every hospital needs an air quality alarm

On the morning of May 27, 2026, six newborns died within hours of each other in the post-operative ward of Ad-din Medical College Hospital in Dhaka’s Moghbazar.
23 June 2026

Serajul Islam Choudhury at 91: Critique, commitment, and change

Today—June 23—marks the ninety-first birthday of Serajul Islam Choudhury, our foremost intellectual and writer in Bangladesh.
23 June 2026

Is the UK heading for a leadership change at the top?

I cannot recall another British parliamentary by-election in recent years that generated such intense media attention.
22 June 2026

A case for turning Dhaka's flyovers into rainwater harvesters

On June 12, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said Dhaka had experienced about 43 millimetres of rain in just two hours.
22 June 2026

Don’t leave Kaiputras behind in the name of development

In Dakshin Alipur of Satkhira Sadar upazila, a tragedy largely invisible to the wider public is unfolding. It’s taking place not in some remote char or forest but beside an important highway.
22 June 2026

A watchdog without teeth: The problems with the draft NHRC Act

On May 17, the law ministry unveiled the draft National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act, 2026, inviting public comments and feedback.
22 June 2026

Justice for the weak, immunity for the powerful

They also hurt diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and India
21 June 2026

Budget 2026-2027: A structurally old yet inspirationally new budget

Economists may think differently, but it appears that politicians and bureaucrats think alike when it comes to framing the budget document.
21 June 2026

Are our laws doing enough to address gambling?

When Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed announced the launch of a nationwide coordinated drive against drugs and gambling in April, two uncomfortable yet necessary questions arose
21 June 2026