Greenwatch Dhaka Blog

The government has taken timely steps against two erring top leaders of BCL as complaints of seeking a share of development project money of Jahangirnagar University has come out in the open. The allegation has been made by none else than the vice-chancellor of the university Prof Farzana Islam herself. BCL is the student associate of the ruling Bangladesh Awami ... Read More »

The rawhide and skin merchants have started selling their merchandise – hide collected during the Eid-ul-Adha festival – after mediation by the apex business chamber FBCCI. Before the meeting with the FBCCI and the tanners, organised by the Ministry of Commerce, the merchants said they were prepared to export rawhide but did not have the papers like licences to do ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder A tiny kid of two years carried in the lap was telling his father, ‘I will not be given this’ as another child was screaming as a paramedic at a reputed private hospital was piercing a needle to collect blood to test for dengue. The pathological laboratory at the hospital in Mirpur 11 Section was working overtime ... Read More »

আমার অত্যন্ত প্রিয় ফার্ষ্ট কাজিন হেনা এসেছিল ঢাকায় উন্নত চিকিৎসা নিতে। শনিবার বিকেলে সে ঢাকার এক অত্যাধুনিক বেসরকারি হাসপাতালে শেষ নিশ্বাস ত্যাগ করে স্বজনদের সাথে চলে গেল কুমিল্লা স্বামীর বাড়ীতে দাফনের জন্য। একজন সহজ সরল শিক্ষিকা দেড়মাস পর তার চাকুরী সমাপ্তি অন্তে অবসরে যাবার কথা ছিল। তার চিরকালের অবসর শুরু হয়ে গেল তার আগেই। চট্টগ্রাম পোর্ট ট্রাষ্টের অবসরপ্রাপ্ত একজন কর্মকর্তার ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder After the April 29, 1991, devastating cyclone that ravaged the Southeastern coastal belt of Bangladesh with the official death toll put at 140,000; a spectacular post-cyclone agricultural recovery was achieved in the Kutubdia Island Upazila of Cox’s Bazar. The polder embankment around the island was rebuilt. Monsoon rains helped wash away the saline water whipped up by ... Read More »

মোস্তফা কামাল মজুমদারইংরেজীতে বলে ‘ফেস ইজ দ্য ইন্ডেক্স অব মাইন্ড’। তার মানে, চেহারা দেখে মন চেনা যায়। এটাতো একটা চিরন্তন বাকধারা। আমরা একে অন্যকে চেনা ও বোঝার জন্য যে কয়টা জিনিষ পরখ করি তার মধ্যে অন্যতম হচ্ছে বেশভূষা – জীর্ণশীর্ণ, সাধারণ, স্মার্ট না আনস্মার্ট, চেহারা মলিন না হাস্যোজ্জ্বল; কোন কিছুর দিকে লক্ষ্য নির্দিষ্ট নাকি খোলা মন এবং যে কোন আকার-ইংগিতে ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder A world summit on disaster management is being held in Mumbai the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra from 29th of January to the 1st of February. It will have a special media session to share experiences of leading media practitioners specializing in environment and disaster management. I was invited from Bangladesh but am not sure ... Read More »

মোস্তফা কামাল মজুমদার কবি আসাদ চৌধুরীকে দেখলে একজন সাধারণ সরল প্রকৃতির মাটির মানুষ মনে হয়। বিশাল তার ব্যক্তিত্ব কিন্তু সহজেই তার সাথে মেশা যায়। কথাবার্তায়, বেশভূষায় এটা পরিষ্কার হয়ে উঠে যে তিনি দেশজ সংস্কৃতির ধারক ও বাহক। ষাটের দশকে তার কবিসত্বা পাঠককুলের নজরে আসে। সে থেকে তিনি লিখেই চলেছেন। ঢাকার বাংলা কাব্যসাহিত্য সত্তরের দশকে কোলকাতার কাব্যসাহিত্যকে ছাড়িয়ে যায়। বাংলা সাহিত্যে ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder A charged political atmosphere that the long-awaited start of the process of general elections has created in Bangladesh has a calm undertone – thanks to the wisdom and pragmatism of the newly formed opposition alliance and its leader Dr Kamal Hossain. The last election of 2014 was boycotted by the BNP and almost all major political parties ... Read More »

The Election Commission has sought a report on the police-BNP worker’s clash of Wednesday from the Inspector General of Police. Read More »

Dhaka, Nov 8 – Jatiya Oikya Front, led by Dr Kamal Hossain, placed three proposals, including an outline of the election-time government, during its second round of talks with the Prime Minister-led 14-party alliance on Wednesday, but none was accepted by the government. Read More »

After talking tough for months both the government and the combined opposition under the banner of Jatiya Jukta Front (National United Front) in Bangladesh have agreed to a political dialogue on Thursday, November 1, to facilitate the holding of the next general elections. Early this week the opposition sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanding dialogue to end ... Read More »

The passage of the Digital Security Bill in Parliament on Wednesday, September 19, 2018, has been viewed critically by editors of newspapers and leaders of journalist unions of Bangladesh. From the government side, it has been said that all that were needed to establish the rights of journalists have been done. Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder What the New York Times has done Last Thursday is nothing short of making a new history, publication of an anonymous opinion piece against the Trump administration that too from ‘a senior member’ of the said administration, in upholding the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the US Constitution. Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder A fresh debate on the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the next election in Bangladesh has emerged with the Election Commission, as reported, opting to buy 2,535 new Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The purchase of such machines comes months before the elections to be held sometime in December. The Bangladesh Election Commission had earlier said ... Read More »

The week that ended on Saturday was marked by two philosophical utterances by two men from Malaysia and Bangladesh. Mahathir Mohammad who has written a new political history by getting elected the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the second spell at the age of 92, has said an international exchange of visits of young people for greater understanding would help ... Read More »

Zulker Naeen The spread of the off-grid power solution in Bangladesh started in 2003 using the stand-alone photovoltaic systems, known as the solar home systems. By 2017, the country installed 5.2 million solar home systems that offer a cost-effective mode of supplying power to remote off-grid households. Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder The FIFA World Cup final in Moscow termed as the best so far has once again marked the victory of the game of football all over. FIFA officials have praised Russia for making the event successful and memorable. The finalists France and Croatia probably deserve extraordinary credit in that both the winners and the losers celebrated it ... Read More »

মোস্তফা কামাল মজুমদার ইরানে ইসলামি বিপ্লবের মহান ইমাম আয়াতুল্লাহ রুহুল্লাহ খোমেইনীর ২৯তম ওফাত বার্ষিকীতে একটা কথাই বারবার মনে ভেসে আসে। পশ্চিমা বিশ্বের এতো বিরোধিতা, অর্থনৈতিক নিষেধাজ্ঞা ও অবরোধ সত্বেও ইরান মাথা উঁচু করে উন্নয়নের পথে দৃপ্ত পদে এগিয়ে যাচ্ছে। এবছর ইরান-বিপ্লবের ৩৯তম বার্ষিকী পালিত হচ্ছে। পশ্চিমা বিশ্ব এখন ইরানকে হিসেব করে চলে। মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের প্রেসিডেন্ট ডোনাল্ড ট্রাম্প ইরানের সাথে সম্পাদিত ... Read More »

In talks and discussion on the World Press Freedom Day on Thursday some intellectuals have blamed the absence of press freedom in the country on the lack of courage and self-censorship on the part of the journalists. But do their analyses depict the reality? Perhaps they don’t. The said analysts have not reflected on the structure of the media, where ... Read More »

মোস্তফা কামাল মজুমদার সবাইকে আপন করে নিয়ে কথা বলার যে অল্প ক’জন মানুষ বাংলাদেশে এখনো আছেন, তাদের মধ্যে মুস্তাফা জামান আব্বাসী অন্যতম। লোকসঙ্গীতের কিংবদন্তি সম্রাট আব্বাস উদ্দিন আহমেদের তৃতীয় সন্তান মোস্তফা জামান আব্বাসী তাঁর পিতার ঐতিহ্য ধরে রেখেছেন অনেক যত্নকরে। বাংলাদেশের মানুষের মনের কথা যে ক’জনার কন্ঠে ধবনিত এবং কলমে লিখা হয়েছে তাদের পুরোধা ছিলেন আব্বাস উদ্দিন। মোস্তফা জামান আব্বাসী ... Read More »

Mahmud Hafiz It was a shocking experience for an investigative environmental journalist to see the exhibits of foreign materials collected from stomach of a dead gray whale at the pacific science center, Seattle, USA. Because he is already aware of plastic pollution in ocean water especially after seeing floating logs in Florence beach of USA west coast and aware about ... Read More »

Mostafa Kamal Majumder A tiny tot, playing near a hand-pump beside shanties covered with polythene-sheet roofs was visibly worried as he saw a handful of visitors getting closer to him, and at one stage he ran away into one such make-do shelter of Rohingya refugees, the worst persecuted ethnic minority in the world, from Myanmar. Before him a young lady ... Read More »

Samuel Furfari Brussels – How the world uses energy is a hot topic for a warming planet, and fears of pollution and resource strain have produced a virtual arms race of energy-efficiency strategies. From the European Union to China, economies are vowing to reduce their energy intensity with the help of technological innovations and legislative changes. Read More »

AHM Nouman With opposing stance of two major parties there has already arose a confrontational situation in politics on the debate whether the coming election will be held under a supportive/ caretaker government or not. Not that with restoration of remaining or not remaining caretaker system all problems will be resolved. There will still remain the question of acceptance and ... Read More »

Kuala Lumpur, 21 Nov (Jade Chiang and Meena Raman) – Despite the delayed ending of the climate talks at Bonn by nearly a day, developing countries, in welcoming some key decisions adopted at COP 23, also emphatically registered their unhappiness over how the finance issues were addressed at the closing of the climate talks that took place early morning of ... Read More »

‘চট্টগ্রাম থেকে ট্রেনে ঢাকা ফিরছি। ভৈরবের কাছাকাছি কোন ষ্টেশনে ট্রেন থামতেই এক দল যুবক আমাদের কামরায় হৈচৈ করে ঢুকে পড়ল। আমাকে দেখেই হোমড়া চোমড়া দলনেতা বলল, ‘স্যার আপনি? কোথায় যাবেন?’ জবাবে বললাম, ঢাকা যাব। টেলিভিশনে টকশোর উপস্থাপক হওয়াতে অনেকে আমাকে চিনতেন। ছেলেটি তার দলের সদস্যদের হাঁক দিয়ে বলল, যা, স্যারের জন্য ভাল কিছু খাবার নিয়ে আয়। একটু পড়েই তারা বড় ... Read More »

Bonn, 13 Nov (Prerna Bomzan) – Developing countries, led by the Group of 77 and China, expressed concerns over the lack of progress on all finance related issues due to the lack of political will by developed countries, adding that finance is the key enabler in the operationalization of the Paris Agreement. Read More »

Bonn, 10 Nov (Jade Chiang) – The climate talks in Bonn could be a historic moment if Parties are able to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) by ensuring the entry into force of its second commitment period (CP2), said developing countries at a press conference organised by the Like-minded Developing Countries (LMDC) along ... Read More »

It’s been a year of catastrophic climate events. Rains of biblical proportions across South Asia brought floods that affected more than 41 million people and killed at least 1,200. Record-breaking hurricanes claimed lives and destroyed infrastructure across several island states in the Caribbean and in towns and major cities in the southern United States. Drought gripping Africa put 20 million ... Read More »