There is a deceptive calm in Bangladesh after every political imbroglio. Traffic flows steadily on Dhaka’s arteries, shopkeepers hoist open their shutters with renewed vigor, and the howl of public outrage that reverberated through the streets evaporates under the oppressive heat of the morning sun. To the untrained eye, it might seem like things have …
Read more “The Anatomy of a Quiet Street: What Peace Demands of Bangladesh”
A farmer in Satkhira knows that saline water will creep back into his field next monsoon. What he does not know is whether that same field will be farmable at all in ten years. The first problem needs an answer today—a higher embankment, a salt-tolerant rice variety, a new irrigation scheme. The second depends on …
Read more “Build the Embankment First, or the Power Plant? Bangladesh’s Real Climate Question”
Opening For two years, July has been written, spoken about, documented, debated, and remembered in countless ways. Its photographs have travelled from one screen to another; its slogans have become part of public memory; its prominent faces have been repeatedly placed at the centre of the narrative. Much has been said about those who stood …
There is a recurring movement in Tareque Masud’s cinema. People walk across fields, travel along rivers, gather in village squares, wait at bus stations, migrate toward cities, return to forgotten memories, or simply stand still while the world around them changes. Watching his films today, one is struck by how rarely they feel interested in …
Replacing the 159-year-old Public Gambling Act,1867, Parliament passed the Gambling Prevention Act 2026 (Act No. 98 of 2026) on 1 July 2026.[1] The new law is enacted on the basis that the colonial law is no longer capable of addressing online gambling, cryptocurrency gambling, digital payment, virtual private networks (VPNs) and transnational gambling syndicates.[2] There …
Read more ” Gambling Prevention Act, 2026: Progress or Overreach?”
Introduction History leaves behind more than memories; it leaves institutions, assumptions, and unresolved tensions that continue to shape political life long after the events themselves have passed. One of the more difficult inheritances confronting Bangladesh in the aftermath of the political transition of August 2024 is not simply the recalibration of its relationship with India, …
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first overseas tour, covering Malaysia and China, carried significance beyond ceremonial diplomacy. The China leg brought high-level meetings, investment discussions and cooperation instruments, placing trade, infrastructure, river management and regional connectivity at the centre of the conversation. In my view, the visit should be understood as an attempt to widen Bangladesh’s …
Read more “China visit opens a wider strategic horizon for Bangladesh”
Bangladesh’s FY2026-27 budget promises to wean the economy off bank borrowing. The pivot is real as a ratio — but it is mostly an accounting effect, and the deeper problem it skirts is revenue. Image: AI Generated Every June, Bangladesh unveils a budget bigger than the last, and every June the more revealing number is …
Read more “Less from the banks, more from abroad: does the deficit math add up?”
Five decades after independence, local government remains fiscally starved and politically subordinated. The post-uprising BNP-rule is a chance to change that — if an elected Parliament chooses to use it. Image: AI Generated Local government in Bangladesh occupies a paradox at the heart of the country’s political life. The Constitution could not be clearer: Articles …
Read more “Bangladesh’s Reform Moment Will Be Won or Lost in Its Localities”
Remembering Mustafa Monwar, the artist who taught a nation to play On the morning of June 29, 2026, the news moved through Dhaka the way bad news about an old, familiar face always does, quietly at first, then everywhere at once. Mustafa Monwar died at Square Hospital at around 8:30 a.m., three months short of …