THE OVERTON WINDOW
Opinion / Principles, party, power or politics?
The student movement’s ability to inspire people to stand up to a vicious oppressor was truly remarkable.
The irresponsible remarks of our responsible persons
History and ordinary people in general will remember very well what happened over the last week or so.
What options are left for us to fight unbridled corruption?
Unfortunately, all the mechanisms meant to address corruption seem to have been weakened, if not completely destroyed, one after another in recent decades.
Opinion / We need humility, not hubris, to turn the economy around
While a privileged minority, sitting in their high castles, continue to enjoy a larger and larger share of the fruits of “development,” it is becoming obvious that the vast majority are increasingly struggling.
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?
Is Bangladesh Bank’s new decision good for the banking sector?
Over the years, experts have identified two major problems in Bangladesh’s banking sector.
Development for whose benefit?
When we ask the question, “Who should development benefit?”, the answer should be quite straightforward: “the people.” But in reality, that is not often the case.
Time to address the growing wealth gap in Bangladesh
In a recent report, the World Bank stated that better targeted social protection programmes and reallocation of existing transfers to the poorest segment of society could reduce poverty from 36 percent to 12 percent in Bangladesh.
Winners and losers of the West’s ‘forever wars’
Today marks 20 years of the 9/11 attacks on the US masterminded by Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and a bunch of “ragheads” (as angry racist US soldiers called them) sitting in some cave in Afghanistan, as per the West’s dubious official narrative of what transpired on this day.
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.