It’s been six months since the BNP-led government took office after winning the national election on February 12, right in the middle of high inflation, weak revenue mobilisation, banking sector weaknesses, stagnant private investment, an employment crisis, and a vulnerable energy sector.

Unnecessarily complex administrative procedures can discourage entrepreneurship, drive away investment, and deprive Bangladesh of valuable employment, exports, and economic growth.

Bangladesh is preparing for an AI economy, but its existing technology base offers a warning that must be heeded.

August arrives in South Asia carrying an unusual historical weight. It’s the month of Partition, when India and Pakistan emerged from British rule in 1947.

Nine workers died after suspected toxic gas exposure on August 14 while working inside LNG carrier MT Rasi at Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila.

Essential medicine list and pricing are two important policy issues directly linked to people’s health, lives, and financial security.

Reform conversations about universities in Bangladesh tend to break down at the same point. Someone identifies a real problem.

In July 2024, a young woman in Dhaka stood in front of a police prison van, trying to stop officers from taking away a fellow male student.

On Friday, August 14, nine workers died after suspected toxic gas exposure at the shipbreaking yard of Ferdous Steel Ship Recycling Industries at Bhatiari in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila.

On August 20, for only the second time in our history, parliamentarians will have the opportunity to elect the president of the republic.

Bangladesh’s education system, from primary school to the HSC examination, has mostly been built around marks earned through memorisation. GPA-5 has largely become less a measure of understanding and more about how faithfully a student can reproduce a model answer, a formula or a paragraph learnt by heart.

While awaiting the completion of a government-initiated process to select the three information commissioners, following a prolonged vacancy that this column has lamented time and again, it may be useful to revisit the enduring value of right to information (RTI) in strengthening democratic governance.

Earlier this month, a national daily reported that at least 325 academic papers published by Bangladeshi researchers in international journals published between 2019 and 2026 had been retracted due to various irregularities, including plagiarism.

The question whether Mujib’s murder could have been avoided still remains.

How we treat our national currency reflects a broader issue of civic responsibility, financial culture, and respect for public property.

The recent revelation of the retraction of at least 325 research papers (by Bangladeshi researchers) from international journals between 2019 and June 2026 is a cause of concern for the entire country, not just for the academic community.

A landmark study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, led by Dr Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury and 29 co-investigators, deserves the attention of every policymaker, physician, regulator, and farmer in Bangladesh.

A retail store owner in any part of the country processes dozens of bKash or Nagad transactions an hour, pays suppliers every week by digital transfer, and never misses a utility bill.

In 1976, Ziaur Rahman, then Chief Martial Law Administrator, established the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) by ordinance, bringing fuel marketing and distribution under one state roof.

After experiencing the tragedy of enforced disappearances, many countries have undertaken various legal and institutional reforms to prevent such crimes from recurring.