Are women’s reserved seats in parliament only tokens?
Does our present reservation system really promote the empowerment of women politicians?
Turn candidates' halafnama into amalnama
It is heartening to see that the media has been preparing statements based on the information in affidavits submitted by the candidates who are running for parliament.
Another managed election will be disastrous
Continued denial of voting and other political and democratic rights is bound to become a very serious threat in the future.
We are heading towards another one-sided election
Voters will be deprived of the opportunity to choose from worthy candidates in a one-sided election.
The Election Commission’s credibility problem
A number of controversial decisions, actions and statements of the EC itself has put it in this situation.
How constitutional is the 15th amendment?
It is clear that the 15th Amendment was neither legitimate nor constitutional, as no referendum was held before its passage.
Barishal, Khulna city polls exposed what's wrong with our elections
The elections to Barishal and Khulna city corporations held on May 12, 2023 cannot be considered free, fair and credible, as they were non-competitive.
What will it take for our next election to be credible and acceptable to all?
It must be recognised that the election is not a one-day phenomenon – it is a process involving multiple interrelated steps
June 13, 2021
Budget ignores the interests of the common people
My former classmate, now the finance minister, presented in the Parliament the budget for the year (also the golden anniversary of our independence), and I congratulate him for this honour.
June 8, 2021
Why are NID services being transferred from the Election Commission?
On May 24, the Cabinet Division wrote to the Secretaries of Security Division of the Home Ministry and the Election Commission (EC) to amend the National Identity Registration Act (Jatiyo Parichoypotro Nibondon Ain), 2010 and transfer the personnel and infrastructure used for providing NID services, which includes 594 server-stations, to the Security Division.
April 19, 2021
How do we break the chain of coronavirus infection?
Despite the claims made a few months ago that Bangladesh has successfully—more successfully than many western countries—beat back the coronavirus,
August 6, 2020
‘Coronavirus Resilient Villages’
Bangladesh was unable to put in quarantine 213 students who came from the Chinese city of Wuhan—where the coronavirus originated—in early February and the subsequent influx of hundreds of thousands of people from countries like Italy where the virus was causing havoc.
July 7, 2020
Why Kerala has succeeded in controlling coronavirus
A recent headline in Prothom Alo (June 26, 2020) stated, “Amartya Sen and Noam Chomsky showered Kerala with praise for their successful containment of the coronavirus”.
April 28, 2020
Community-level intervention is the answer
On April 16, as coronavirus continued to spread through the country, the government declared all of Bangladesh to be at risk from the pandemic.
March 24, 2020
Complacency, not panic, is the real danger
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of coronavirus a global pandemic. Over 14,000 people have died and nearly 350,000 have been infected, although there is uncertainty about the numbers as many of those infected may not show symptoms.
March 17, 2020
From Sheikh Mujib to Father of the Nation
In 1964, I was enrolled as a student at the University of Dhaka (DU) and became active in student politics, although my involvement began during the education movement of the early 1960s.
February 6, 2020
Low turnout: the new normal?
One question that I repeatedly faced in the last few days was: how were the elections of the two Dhaka city corporations?
January 28, 2020
Will the EC kindly answer?
The Election Commission, particularly the CEC, has been repeatedly assuring us that the upcoming elections of the two Dhaka city corporations will be free and fair.
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