On one hand we have the standards set by the sole quality control institute of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), while on the other we have those laid down by the Pure Food Rules, 1967.
BANGLADESH enjoys a big comparative advantage compared to many other countries in producing and exporting a wide range of agro based products to the world's markets where there is a huge and growing demand for the same.
SEVENTY-NINE years ago, Manik Bandopadhyay painted the picture of the strugglesof fishermen in his famous novel,'Boatman of the Padma River.' The struggle for survival and livelihood remains to this day for many fishermen.
In the last 40 years the amount of arable land has shrunk at a rate of 1 percent per annum. In the last 40 years many natural sources of irrigation water have dried up permanently.
HISTORIC PERFORMANCE OF AGRICULTURE: Despite a precipitous fall in the relative contribution to the GDP of Bangladesh, agriculture has performed remarkably well so far.
Bangladesh’s effort to emerge as a major leather products exporting nation is not getting momentum due to long dilly-dallying over the relocation of polluting tanneries from the capital to Savar.
Bangladesh has all the potentials to become a new paradigm for global generic medicines. With a population of 156.66 million, the country's social development indicators are very promising.
Prompted by the Rana Plaza disaster that killed about 1137 workers in April 2013, the US government suspended duty-free privileges it had granted under the GSP programme to products exported from Bangladesh.
Well, that's one way of defining it. The cool way to describe it would be: 'The Next Big Binary Bang'.
The global financial and economic crisis started in 2007 as an aftermath of the housing sector bubble coupled with aggressive lending practices in the US sub-prime mortgage market and lax regulation of the financial sector.
Banking sector is an important component of the financial system that mobilises resources for productive investments in a country which in turn contributes to economic development.
On August 15, India's Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national mission of financial inclusion. Called the Prime Minister's People's Wealth Programme, it envisions bank accounts for all Indians. In its first phase, ending August 14, 2015, the target is 7.5 crore accounts.
Capital market plays an important role in the economic development of a country. Research studies conducted worldwide indicate that there is a high degree of positive correlation between the size of the capital market measured in terms of market capitalisation and the level of economic development. In case of Bangladesh, the capital market's movement is not only important for economic development but it is also important in the context of maintaining social harmony and ensuring a healthy political atmosphere.
Dhaka stock market started functioning in 1956. Sixty years have passed since then. But the Bangladesh stock market remained immature and failed to be an important force in shaping the economy of the country.
Those who say that the Bangladesh capital market has already had enough reforms and also the policy support, they are mainly outsiders; they did not have any stake in the market directly.
IT is with great pleasure that we present to you a three-part special supplement series beginning today to mark the 24th founding anniversary of The Daily Star.
Following the worldwide pattern of a limited role of government in industrial and commercial activities and divesting of government owned enterprises into private hands; Bangladesh too has been doing this for decades.