THOUGH belated, the government decision to reopen schools and colleges from September 12 is welcome after 18 months of closure to avoid the spread of Covid-19 infection among students in crowded campuses. We believe the closure could be shortened otherwise. The decision however to allow students to attend in-person classes in phases also makes sense to see how students will adjust to the new environment. The decision also said the opening of universities in October may be delayed for preparing...
THEY suffer a lot due to low prices of their harvests, though they provide foodstuffs for the rest. We often forget we live on what our farmers produce, and take little care of their labour and efforts. An English daily on Sunday reported that growers are being deprived of fair price due to the prevailing weak marketing infrastructure. This observation came in a roundtable on agri-business and its prospects and problems.Agriculture holds a major crucial position in the national economy...
WITH the vaccination campaign gathering pace, the fear of the dreadful killer Covid-19 has started subsiding. Lockdown has been lifted, economic activities have returned almost to the pre-pandemic levels and health emergency alerts have been lowered. The government is all set to open educational institutions by the end of this month. Bangladesh intensifies efforts the fight against the pandemic to return to the pre-pandemic way of life. The war on the pandemic however is expected to change the modes of...
Import of garlic seeds We have recently been experiencing exorbitant increases in the price of imported large-sized garlic. Every year Bangladesh imports huge quantities of garlic mostly from China, spending scarce foreign currency. But production of garlic in the country could be increased many folds without increasing the use of cultivated land.The local varieties of garlic grown in Bangladesh right now are very small in size – usually ten to twenty grams each, whereas both the size and quality of...
AS PER a news report in The New Nation on Tuesday rampant use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers and hormones are posing serious threats to safe food production and public health causing different diseases including cancer. But since most people are unaware about the harmful effect of chemicals and hormones, they remain open to become affected by dreaded diseases with severe consequences. This we say not to push the panic button but make people alert. The studies suggest that chemicals are...
SO MANY people died from the sudden landslide in the hilly areas of Chittagong, Rangamati and Bandarban following the incessant downpour overnight on Tuesday. As per the latest report 141 persons including four army men from a rescue team were killed while score of others still missing. The victims have no doubt fallen to the angry outburst of the nature but in our view there is also a big manmade part of the tragedy and we don’t know how the...
S. A. Korobi : An EU delegation team concluded a five-day visit to Bangladesh on November 12. 2023. They came to assess labour conditions in Bangladesh. The nation, often under scrutiny for its labour practices, has made significant strides in implementing initiatives prioritizing the safety and dignity of those who contribute immensely to its thriving garment industry. The journey from the tragic Rana Plaza incident in 2013 to becoming a global role model for workplace safety and sustainability is a...
Charles Tannock :Recently, there have been reports over the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, with countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan and expressing concerns over neighbouring China’s assertiveness in the region.According to a BBC report on 14 December 2015, China has been building seven new islands and three new runways in the disputed Spratly Islands area, in an attempt to enforce its claim to control over the seas and natural resources surrounding local reefs. More than...
Benjamin Schraven, Jörn Grävingholt :Some 125 million people worldwide are currently dependent on emergency aid as a consequence of war, instability, inequality, natural disasters and resulting refugee crises. But the international humanitarian system itself is also in crisis, proving ineffective, inefficient and inequitable in the way it allocates aid and shares the burden of aid provision. It neglects many serious flashpoints and fails to do enough to build local and regional capacity.United Nations organisations with a key role in the...
A NATIONAL English daily report estimates that a nexus of police and criminals, city corporation officials and political party cadres’ are extorting Tk 850 crore from hawkers every year. The report cited a recent press conference by hawker leaders which conjectured that there are over 5 lakh hawkers in the country and each of them on an average pays Tk 50 every day to “linemen” – the private confidants of extortionists. This payment rate even reaches up to Tk 400...
Sir Frank Peters :Parents often talk, even boast, about how much they love their children.“I would do anything for my children.” “I would give my life for my children.” “I love my children more than anything else in the world.”These are just some of the most hackneyed expressions heard floating about.But wait a moment… if they claim to love their children why are they sending them to schools and madrassas where they know corporal punishment is prevalent and why are...
The thorny issue of Rohingya repatriation, among other mutual issues, has reportedly been discussed in Dhaka during the two-day visit of the Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Deng Xijun, which ended on Tuesday. According to media reports, this was Xijun’s second visit to Dhaka within less than four months and he had separate meetings with both the foreign minister and the foreign secretary.However, neither the foreign ministry nor any other high officials shared anything about the visit of the...