Energy crises are not rare, but a crisis of this magnitude that tends to derail world economic progress is.

​​​​​​​The United Nations Committee on Development Policy (UN-CDP) determined in February 2021 that Bangladesh has satisfied all three requirements to graduate from the category of Least Developed Country (LDC) for the second time.

If you ask someone from a country with a decent economy whether the central bank should be allowed to exercise independence in its policymaking, they will say that not giving independence to the central bank is like letting someone drive a car while keeping their hands tied behind their back. The question is not why, but how to give more independence to the institution.

The agriculture sector is one of the key economic pillars of Bangladesh. Just after liberation in 1971, its contribution to GDP was around 60 percent.

Fossil fuel and electricity subsidy is widely provided all over the world. A subsidy is a product of the political economy. Access to affordable energy is now a basic human right.

Like every year, our banking sector had been in the news in 2022, and mostly for the wrong reasons.

As we enter the third year of this decade, we have only seven more years until 2030 to tackle the major global problems of climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

One significant dimension that has emerged in Bangladesh in recent decades is the expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"[This] is an important collection of work to be made available to the architecture, planning and engineering community as a key cornerstone of continuing to build Bangladesh", Transcom GCEO Simeen Rahman writes in her foreword. 

Despite being small in terms of geography, Bangladesh currently ranks 8th in terms of population. Additionally, it is currently experiencing a demographic dividend, with 65.6% of its population being of working age.

It’s a tale of a little boy, moulded from the raw soils of a small town in the Jhenaidah district of Bangladesh, with lofty dreams. He swam against the currents of society at a very early age, to stay afloat in his river of artistic zeal. His dreams have carried him across seas in pursuit of liberty in the United States of America. He may have cloaked himself with the spell-bounding city lights of New York, but never forgot to nurture the small-town heart within.

Leading mobile financial service provider bKash has once again been ranked as the number one ‘Employer of Choice’ across all sectors for the third consecutive year, according to the results of the ‘Campus Track Survey B-school: 2022’ conducted by NielsenIQ.

“Competitions organised in our school have enriched our knowledge. We learned so many new things as well through this which turn our monotonous life into an interesting one. I really hope this continues and this happy learning journey keep continue in the long run”, said Lima Akhter, a student in 7th grade from Rangpur who attended annual campaigns in her school.

A five-year project has approached 331 School Management Committees (SMC) in the northern part of Bangladesh to ensure the health and other services for the students. SMCs of Nilphamari and Rangpur in the respective areas are becoming the changemakers through their leadership and cooperation jointly with the project titled Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO).

“We never had such in-depth knowledge about menstrual health or about physical and mental changes during the menstruation period. Sanitary napkins and other hygiene materials were not even accessible to us. Menstruation often caused being absent from the classes as well.”, expressed Akhi, a high school student of Ghonirampur Boro Gola High School of Taraganj Upazila under Rangpur.

“We are working for the adolescent, we’re listening to their physical and psychological issues carefully and trying to solve their problems within our reach. We are not only solving their problems but also discussing adolescent health and nutrition, physical and psychological changes in this period of life and many other things with them”, said Anowara Begum, a Family Welfare Officer in Motukpur Union Family Welfare Center under Domar upazila of Nilphamari.

Schools play a key role in educating children about basic knowledge like health, nutrition, hygiene, etc. With the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the people of Bangladesh, especially children, got impacted not only physically and mentally but also socially, economically and culturally. Social challenges like child marriage, child labor, dropout in schools, spreading of various superstitions, etc. increased simultaneously.

Bangladesh is all set to step into a new era of commuting with a new mode of public transport that has never been seen before -- the electricity-powered metro rail of Dhaka.

The Daily Star (TDS): Will the Dhaka Metro Rail bring a significant, qualitative change to the city’s traffic system?

The Daily Star (TDS): The MRT service is expected to save city dwellers from the menace of traffic congestion, improving the overall traffic situation of the city. How do you perceive the project’s impact?