Bangladesh

Regional cooperation was written in the cards when two avowed socialist, left wing-ish governments came to power, in turn in India and Bangladesh.  And now, it seems the promise of regional cooperation between India and Bangladesh has come to pass, quite in contrast to its historic lineage and border linkage. So says the Economist. As […]

This is excellent news.  The Awami League government is moving to standardize primary education at all levels.  The Education Policy Formulation Committee, tasked with establishing a viable education system in Bangladesh has already submitted a proposal that is getting funneled through the appropriate channels. As The Daily Star reports: “The prime minister pointed out that […]

If an asset is more productive with a policeman guarding it, then Bangladesh Police has a lot of explaining to do.  Wisdom on the street has it that if one is afraid of having something stolen, then she should notify the police of its whereabouts, and, sure enough, it will have been stolen. So the […]

There has been a fairly energetic mixed reaction on Tarique Rahman’s elevation to second in command, within the BNP, next only to his mother, leader of the BNP and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.  On the one hand within the BNP, senior party members claim that his name did not come up in discussions […]

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), currrently boycotting its minority seats in parliament, elected Tarique Rahman, the son of the current leader of the party and former Prime Minister as the de facto second in command in party leadership.  This move makes leadership in the party founded by Tarique’s late father– and the assassinated husband of […]

Bangladeshi media, represented by The Daily Star, has gotten ahead of the curve on the consequences of climate and is really fighting for the claim of social justice in the Copenhagen Conference, now well on its way.  This morning, December 7th, 2009 the Daily Star published an op-ed piece that is being published in over […]

The political leader of the militant Islamist group, Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) confessed to being directly responsible for the attempted assassination on the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh in August 21, 2004, when she was the opposition leader to the BNP led alliance.  That attack killed 20 and injured at least 300 individuals. After being detained […]

The Economist has a nice piece up about the literal and metaphoric trials that P.M. Sheikh Hasina will have to suffer through in the near term. As the Economist reports: “Officials say executions [of the convicted assassins of the founding leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman]  by a firing squad will be carried out by […]

Bangladesh seems to have improved some of its aggregate income and governance metrices.  Per capita income seems to have improved over fiscal year 2007-2008.  Nevertheless, hit by the global recession aggregate GDP growth decreased by 0.3%. As The Daily Star reported recently, a “World Bank (WB) report says poverty may increase by 0.3 percentage point […]

Diogenes Laertius wrote, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”   This simple formula hides behind it much of what is wrong with the socio-political economy of Bangladesh. Humanism has been on the wane in Bangladeshi curricula since the rightist BNP took power in 2001 and the effect has yet to […]

Sheikh Hasina has taken up the claim that Bangladesh deserves a separate fund for being a victim of climate change resulting from industrial carbon emissions.  Until yesterday, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni had argued for that claim. Addressing the executive session of the Commonwealth Heads of State in Trinidad and Tobago, Begum Hasina […]

Eid Mubarak. Eid-ul Adha was celebrated with quiet contemplation in New York yesterday. Today Bangladesh and much of the Muslim world celebrates the faith of the patriarch Abraham. Unfortunately as millions of Bangladeshi’s rushed to make their way back home for Eid celebration, tragedy has struck again.   News reports show that more than 32 […]