Planned changes in budget must result in more targeted, impactful interventions
Troubling development involving fine exemptions comes to light
RHD must keep up inspections, ensure accountability for shoddy work.
The discourses on the development of agriculture in South Asian countries, during the last few decades, mostly dealt with irrigated agriculture. Policy perceptions and prescriptions for agricultural development were principally pitted against the potentials of those areas. Admittedly, the search for food security in a regime of very high man/land ratio led to the advent of Green Revolution under the aegis of irrigation and high yielding varieties (HYVs). Assured water supply, seeds and extension services were all set to see self-sufficiency in staple foods. Undeniably, perhaps, the agricultural strategy at that time worked well to put the respective countries on an even keel as far as self-sufficiency in staple food grain is concerned....
NOTWITHSTANDING a last-minute trouble-shooting deal between Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Biman, Bangladesh Airlines over the huge arrear fuel bill owed by the latter to the former, we cannot let the thick-skinned Biman default culture go uncommented....
The government has decided to introduce unitrack curriculum at the secondary level (grade nine and ten) of general education. Already a lot of arguments and debates have taken place on this issue....
WE are deeply moved by the photograph, published in our newspaper day before yesterday, of a mentally disturbed young woman chained to the waist having a bath on a riverbank. It bespeaks not only a personal tragedy for the family but also reflects on the attitude and the overall state of our society in general. Mental illness is just like any other illness. It is a debilitating affliction not only for the individual concerned but also a tragedy for the extended family....
The twice-postponed thirteenth Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be held in Dhaka on 12-13 November 2005. There were some uncertainties about holding of the Summit on these dates in view of the recent devastating earthquakes in Pakistan and India. The confusion seems to be over as spokespersons of both these seriously affected countries have now made statements expressing their support for the holding of the SAARC Summit in Dhaka on the scheduled dates....
In 1947 the United States welcomed an independent India in its open embrace and hailed the latter as her future ally in Asia. India with Nehru at its helm had however its own world view and charted a different course to become instead the leader and spokesman of the newly emerged decolonised world still suffering from the trauma of the long years of colonial subjugation. The non-alignment being the cornerstone of her global policy she stubbornly attempted not to be identified with any of the power blocs. Indeed, as a founder-leader of Non-Aligned Movement, powerful voice of decolonisation and persistent promoter of nuclear disarmament India enjoyed enviable prestige in international arena. All these helped India developing an image of her own which gave the country a unique standing...
The much talked about Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) entitled 'Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction' has been approved by the Executive Committee on the National Economic Council (ECNEC), the highest policymaking body of the government. The 400-page PRSP, a three-year strategy for the government's development programmes was completed in December 2004 and released for review and comments by the donor agencies and experts. The General Economic Division (GED) of the planning ministry also requested all 300 parliamentarians of the country to give their inputs and suggestions by May 15 to the PRSP, a document that will contain the road map for development and poverty reduction for the next three years (2006-2009). The process has been...
Perhaps both the great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun and Scottish philosopher David Hume (who greatly influenced Skepticism and Empiricism school of thought) shared oscillation theory in their observation of religion. While Ibn Khaldun believed that popular religion in Muslim societies tended to oscillate between periods of strict religious observance and of devotional laxity, David Hume believed that men changed from polytheism to monotheism, not in a continuous unilinear change, and back again because "men have a natural tendency to rise from idolatry to theism and sent again from theism to idolatry". This oscillation, argues Hume, is not caused by thoughtful and considered reasoning but by politics of fear, uncertainty and a "kind of competitive sycophancy"....
We find no word strong enough to express our shock and consternation at the manhandling by some Rab elements of media correspondent Atiqur Rahman in Meherpur. He was roughed up to the point of being taken to hospital. What was his fault? He had merely asked a Rab vehicle parked in the middle of a side street to be removed to make way for the rickshaw he was riding home on, following Tarabi prayers after day-long fasting....
The Supreme Court's rejection of the government's 21st plea for time extension for implementation of the 12-point High Court directive issued in 1999, to effect separation of the judiciary from the executive, has brought to the fore the government's long-winded failure to accomplish the task. Apart from the time extensions sought and received by the past AL government, the BNP-led alliance government has had a disgraceful track record of dithering on the constitutional obligation whose requirements were clearly spelled out through the HC directives some half a decade ago....
