Syed Mansur Hashim

NO FRILLS

Assistant Editor, The Daily Star

Dhaka-Chattogram Highway: Why no feasibility study?

When policy planners undertake a major connectivity project like the Dhaka-Chattogram highway expansion, which serves as a lifeline for our exports, one would expect that they would do what reasonably well-informed policymakers in other countries do, i.e. conduct

5y ago

Aramco attacks: Fuelling the fire

Fingers are being pointed at Iran for the drone attack on two major Saudi Arabian oil facilities set ablaze on September 14. While the sabre rattling picks up the tempo, and despite reassurances by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) that strategic oil reserves will be deployed to stabilise the market, price of oil has shot up in the global markets.

5y ago

Making the most of BRI

A daylong dialogue organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on September 8 brought together participants from Bangladesh and some South Asian countries, as well as from China. Among them were high-level policymakers, political leaders, academics and

5y ago

Donors’ interest in Rohingya crisis waning?

By all indications, yes, it is waning. Not from ours, but from the perspective of the international donor community that has been providing humanitarian support to the million or so Rohingyas stranded on Bangladeshi soil for two years now. The data speaks for itself.

5y ago

Getting a rotten deal on rawhide

The recent debacle over the purchase of rawhides after Eid-ul-Azha raises some important concerns. The government had fixed the prices of rawhides of cows and buffaloes at Tk 45-50 per square foot in the capital city of Dhaka and Tk 35-40 elsewhere. The price of the rawhide of castrated goats was fixed at Tk 18-20 per square foot, while it was Tk 13-15 for that of non-castrated goats. This year, some 1 crore animals were sacrificed across the country. Forty-five percent of these animals were cows, bulls and buffaloes, according to rawhide traders.

5y ago

Socio-economic impacts of the Rohingya influx

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in association with the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and the local administration of Cox’s Bazar, unveiled the findings of a joint impact assessment study on July 25, 2019. The report titled “Impacts of the Rohingya Refugee Influx on Host Communities” looks at the impact of the massive influx of Rohingyas on the host communities and how it has affected the long-term development needs of Bangladeshis living in the affected areas.

5y ago

Foreign assistance boosts infrastructure development

During the five-day state visit by PM Sheikh Hasina to China on July 2-6, Bangladesh and China inked some important deals—five agreements including three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and other agreements that included investment in the power

5y ago

Bringing more people under the tax net

The finance minister recently stated that it is the government’s intention to bring 10 million people under the tax net.

6y ago
September 20, 2016
September 20, 2016

Where do we dump our e-waste?

Bangladesh lacks an e-waste (electronic waste) disposal policy. Urbanisation has brought forth rapid population growth of major urban

September 6, 2016
September 6, 2016

First Pakistan, now Turkey

How is it that the Turkish government only chooses to see one side of the argument? Why does it not look at the atrocities committed in 1971 by a marauding Pakistani military in an attempt to stifle and eventually stamp out a nation's demand for independence?

August 30, 2016
August 30, 2016

Management of LP cylinders

Very day, we see news of a CNG-driven vehicle or Liquefied Petroleum (LP) cylinder used in households bursting and most recently, the explosion that rocked at the Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) plant in Chittagong that caused release of toxic substances into the surrounding areas and atmosphere.

August 23, 2016
August 23, 2016

Government walking a tightrope

The information being gleaned from suspects and their laptops is that there is external finance being funnelled in through informal channels such as hundi. But the most worrying development is the discovery of bomb making material and knowhow amongst some of those arrested.

August 16, 2016
August 16, 2016

The fight for Jihadi leadership

The fight between al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State (IS) has been going on since 2006 when the latter split from al-Qa'ida and declared

August 9, 2016
August 9, 2016

Turkey's Syria headache

Five years into the 'oust Assad' campaign, Turkey finds itself isolated in the region and beyond. After a narrow escape from a failed coup attempt, President Erdogan may finally be rethinking his Syria policy.

August 2, 2016
August 2, 2016

Goodbye hospitality industry?

The recent government decision to make residential areas residential makes sense. However, authorities seem to have gone gung ho in implementation.

July 26, 2016
July 26, 2016

What happened at Manbij?

While major Western media outlets didn't make much of the news, it is obvious that the French and US airstrikes that targeted the village of Toukhan Al-Kubra near the Turkish-Syrian border and the city of Manbij had gone horribly wrong!

July 19, 2016
July 19, 2016

The importance of soft power

The world is at war with extremists. Developed and developing nations, whether it is France, the United States, Russia or China, the

July 12, 2016
July 12, 2016

“Do the right thing”. Really?!

Mr. Blair may have taken “full responsibility” to lead his nation into the war, but does it absolve him of the immorality of the whole affair?