Editorial

MNA Editorial Desk: Dhaka city drainage system has become a curse. People of the city, instead of enjoying cooler weather and heavy rain, now had to deal with making their ways through flood and sewage water before Eid. Parts of the city went under water. In the densely populated city, woes of people knew no bounds. In 1954, 1956, 1988, 1998 devastating floods occurred submerging 70 percent or more of the country. Along with the country most of the Dhaka city except pockets of high spots went under various depths of water. There was flood water in old city, eastern ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Food Adulteration becomes severe health concern in Bangladesh. Adulteration of foods has become a national issue. The problem is not only ignoring the human rights for safer food but also endangering public health seriously with numerous acute and chronic diseases. Our future generation will be seriously affected with vulnerable physical and mental growth inflicted by food adulteration. Adulteration of food with toxic chemicals harmful to health has reached an epidemic proportion in Bangladesh. The newspapers have dubbed it as the ‘silent killer’. It is very difficult to find a sector of food industry which is free of ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Democracy was restored in Bangladesh in the early 1990s but the country has been blemished by a deep distrust between the two main political parties – the Awami League (AL) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). This suspicion stands in the way of strengthening democratic organizations, such as the Electoral Commission (EC). As a result the main opposition does not want to run for elections while the ruling party controls the EC and is demanding the formation of a neutral government to oversee the poll. This issue led to a logjam in 1995 and 2001 and the suspension ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Awami League, the country’s oldest political party, is observing its 67th founding anniversary today. Founded on June 23, 1949, at the historic Rose Garden in the old part of Dhaka, it has been transformed into a mass organization of the people of the country by leading all the democratic-political-social-cultural movements including the long arduous freedom struggle and the War of Liberation. The party played the lead role in all the democratic movements apart from leading the nation in the War of Liberation in 1971 under the leadership of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Prime ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Bangladeshi government should authorize an independent investigation into a recent spate of alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces in Bangladesh. The government should publicly order law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of all those taken into custody. Joint Forces consisting of the Bangladesh Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh continue to arrest opposition supporters, some of whom are accused of involvement in terrorism and militancy. Security forces claim that the deaths after arrest occurred during “crossfire,” which has previously documented is used by security forces as a common euphemism to ...

MNA Editorial Desk: An special day for a special person –  Father’s day is just like that as it is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. This Sunday, families across the world will mark the special bond between fathers and their children. For many, this is often done through the giving of gifts and cards. Others prefer to enjoy a meal and quality time. Father’s Day across the world The date when Father’s Day is celebrated varies from country to country. It is celebrated in Canada, the United Kingdom, and ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Driven by a strong expansion in India, coupled with favorable oil prices, economic growth in South Asia is expected to accelerate. The region is among the greatest global beneficiaries from cheap oil, as all countries in it are net oil importers. In the last quarter of 2014 South Asia was already the fastest-growing region in the world, a World Bank report said. According to the twice-a-year South Asia Economic Focus report, regional growth is projected to steadily increase from 7 percent in 2015 to 7.6 percent by 2017 through maintaining strong consumption and increasing investment. Given India’s ...

MNA Editorial Desk: In the era of globalization, a question comes to our mind as Bangladeshis- are we dominated by the Indian cultural aggression? In the era of globalization one culture can mix up with another without harming the individuality of the respective culture. But when this culture-intermingling turns into cultural domination, the individuality of a particular culture remains under threat. This is what is happening here in Bangladesh right now. And this domination is taking the turn of imperialism day by day. Cultural Imperialism refers to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations favoring the more powerful ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Child abuse in Bangladesh is a silent crime. Child sexual abuse is increasing day by day and it is affecting every level of the Bangladeshi society. Child sexual abuse can occur inside the family, by a guardian, step-parent, siblings or other relative or outside the home, for example, by a friend, neighbor, child care person, instructor, or stranger and the workplace. Disable children is more vulnerable to abuse. When sexual abuse has happened, a child can create a variety of upsetting emotions, thoughts and behaviors. No child is mentally readied to adapt to rehashed sexual stimulation. Indeed ...

MNA Editorial Desk: According to reports, several waste management projects by City Corporations is yet to be in action. The two city corporations in Dhaka are stressed with their waste management schemes due to absence of adequate land as well as difficulties shaped by unlawful land inhabitants. The new mayors, however, are self-assured that they can repair the systems in six months. Both Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) launched development projects to improve the capital’s waste management system in 2013. One of them, titled “Urban Public and Environmental Health Development Project,” was aimed at ...

MNA Editorial Desk: A sudden look over the word ‘Third Gender’ brings a question to the mind that if ‘Third Gender’ is a word or a gender as a deep thought on this world can create cloud inside our heads. The third gender, commonly used word for the transgender is an identity-based category for people who do not identify themselves as either male or female.  This may include people who want to perform or want to be presented as a gender that is different than the one which was assigned to them at birth, based on genitalia or other criteria. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Bangladesh government is yet to take adequate steps against child marriage, in spite of promises to do so, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released recently. Instead, in steps in the wrong direction, after her July 2014 pledge to end child marriage by 2041, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attempted to lower the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 16 years old, raising serious doubts about her commitment. Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage of girls under the age of 15 in the world, with 29 percent of girls in ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Women in Bangladesh have made major strides or it has been a quiet revolution over the past decades, putting the South Asian country at the forefront among the least-developed countries in addressing gender disparity. Since the World Conference on Women in Mexico in 1975, which was a milestone in the battle for equality Bangladesh has been at the forefront among the least-developed countries (LDCs) in addressing gender disparities. Bangladesh has the eighth lowest gender gap in political empowerment in the world. This is partially due to the fact that it has had a female head of state ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment and the consequences of climate change can be very ferocious. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves. Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Nurjahan Begum, noted journalist and editor of the weekly ‘Begum’, passed away on Monday. In the capital’s Square Hospital she breathed her last. Nurjahan is survived by two daughters. The news of Nurjahan’s demise was received with shock and gloom, with President Md. Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Jatiya Sangsad speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and different socio-political figures expressed their condolence over the death and expressing their sympathies for the bereaved family members. Born in Chandpur on June 4, 1925, Nurjahan was the child of renowned journalist Mohammad Nasiruddin, who was the editor of ‘The ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Impact of climate change on the coastal area of Bangladesh can be very vital for the overall ecosystem of this belt. Of all the countries in the world, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change on coastal area. The regular and severe natural hazards that already batter the country – tropical cyclones, river erosion, flood, landslides and drought – are all set to increase in intensity and frequency as a result of climate change. Rising sea levels will increasingly inundate Bangladesh’s coast, and dramatic coastal and river erosion will destroy land ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Sexual harassment in educational institution is still rife. The High Court of Bangladesh issued landmark directives on the prevention of sexual harassment seven years ago. Sexual harassment that takes place at workplaces, educational institutions and public places. The 2009 directives defined sexual harassment and directed employers and authorities of institutions to provide mechanisms to prevent and prosecute offenses of sexual abuse and harassment. But according to UN Women Bangladesh’s 2013 situational analysis in eight universities, 76 per cent of female students had faced incidents of sexual harassment. Mahtabul Hakim, UN Women’s Coordinator of Ending Violence against Women ...

Fire safety has become a major issue in Bangladesh in the recent few years and is raising critical concerns. It is also a buzzing word in Bangladeshi garment factories. Poor electrical installations and bad maintenance often create significant fire hazards as we have seen from our experience. A fire broke out at a slum in the city’s Farmgate area and another ravaged a jute mill in the southern district of Khulna on Wednesday morning. This year on April 13, 18 and 27, a massive fire erupted near the DhanSagar Station, which the forest department says were actually acts of arson. ...

Bangladesh is receiving little attention in comparison to other countries in South Asia such as Pakistan or Afghanistan for the recent activities of assailants or militant groups. As the fourth largest Muslim state in the world, Bangladesh’s standing has been encouraging. Bangladesh’s counter-terrorism response is currently at a critical juncture and its preparedness to counter emerging threats remains under scrutiny. Operational responses alone are proving inadequate. The government must scale up capacity in the cyber and digital domain, particularly on social media networks, and build up technical capabilities and expertise for monitoring and countering violent extremism online. Bangladesh still lacks ...

On Saturday, the top economies of the world anticipated on a declaration to recommend the world to look for options for growth opportunities other than ultra-low interest rates as well as printing money to get over from the vulnerability of global economy. Alongside, they promised future structural reforms as they believe that would intrigue activity. The G20 (Group of 20) finance ministers and central bankers have gathered in Shanghai for a two-day meeting. A draft of the statement, which is to be issued at the end of the meeting, projected huge concerns and policy frictions that was driven due to ...