THE OVERTON WINDOW
Fear and loathing surrounding India’s election
After the first phase of voting, Modi seems to have changed his campaign strategy, focusing more on firing up BJP's Hindu base.
Should social media be our new public square?
Aside from posting, social media has become the go-to place for many to get their news, views and overall information, and for communicating them.
CAA and its effects on Indian secularism and regional stability
The Act, clearly, is a step in the wrong direction.
Roadmap for banking reforms: Old wine in a new bottle?
In February 2019, the central bank lowered the timeframe to three years from five years. And what has that achieved?
What haunts us at night
People really are struggling beyond any comprehension to get by—at least for you and me.
The election is not the endgame
“What’s the point of this election?” Its winner has already been predetermined.
Explaining the potential exodus of funds from Bangladesh
The mismatch highlighted by the IMF could indicate that capital flight in FY23 has increased even more.
How do we describe the upcoming election?
With the national election still two weeks away, many national and international observers have already termed it as a farce or “staged election.”
From the graveyard of empires, the US retreats
Twenty-years after 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan by US and NATO forces, the US is on the cusp of withdrawing its forces from the proverbial “graveyard of empires”, with the US military claiming its withdrawal is more than 90 percent complete.
Iran nuclear agreement and the future of US-Iran relations
As of now, the US and Iran are yet to conclude their talks in Vienna “on the terms of Washington return(ing) to the [Iran nuclear] agreement,” according to The Guardian.
Have we done enough to address the problem of drug abuse?
On May 27, The Daily Star reported that detectives had claimed to have seized LSD, an extremely potent hallucinogenic drug, for the first time in the country during a raid in Dhaka.
What does and doesn’t happen when money changes colour
On May 19, the finance minister said, “The scope [to whiten black money] will be there as long as undisclosed incomes will be there.” (The Daily Star) Before commenting on this statement, let’s take a step back and think how we got to this point.
Our health sector is ‘sick’ because of government apathy
In a report published on May 1, this newspaper revealed that according to a recent study, the Covid-19 treatment cost is abnormally higher in private hospitals compared to public hospitals.
The pandemic has exposed our existing vulnerabilities
The ongoing pandemic has caused huge economic losses for the world. In 2020, growth in South Asia contracted by 5.4 percent, which does not capture the whole story of how terribly its people have actually suffered—but it is an indicator of how the region has struggled over the last year.
Solving the power sector’s overcapacity problem
One of the less talked-about downsides of the pandemic-induced lull has been the increasing financial stress on the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). According to a study last year by the Ohio-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis,
Issues that demand inclusion in the development debate
The reason behind the creation of the concept of Least Developed Countries (LDC) by the UN in the 1960s was to identify a set of nations whose development struggles were not solely based on their own shortcomings, but due to other structural constraints.
Our financial system is just broken
It was good to hear the High Court blasting a section of Bangladesh Bank officials for their alleged connection with financial scams involving People’s Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL), a non-bank financial institution (or NBFI) that is now in the process of liquidation due largely to the infamous PK Halder and his associates.
Main reasons why the government’s recovery effort has fallen short
Bangladesh is no stranger to disaster management. Since independence it has dealt with numerous natural disasters as well as political unrest and overhauls.
