Editor's Note

An interesting mix of articles branches out following in-depth analyses on Padma Bridge financing and the state of private medical service in the country.

We have brought in two contesting perspectives on financing of Padma Bridge based on domestic resources. One view is, it maybe difficult but not impossible, to arrange foreign exchange component of the self-funding proposition. But the four-year timeline would have to be heavily compromised. Hardheaded experts, however, dub it as an unrealistic proposition, even an illusive dream. But all views concur in what is circulating as the buzzword now, “There is no substitute for the government doing its job honestly and properly; it should stop spinning tales and just get on with it.”

Lack of accountability in private medical service is put down to absence of an adequate legal framework for the operation of private diagnostic centres and clinics. These are proliferating in direct proportion to inadequacies in public sector hospitals. An increasing dependency on private medical service providers has fuelled commercialisation of medicare in this expanding sector. The asymmetrical quality of services and their differing exorbitant rates are causes for considerable disquiet. Nothing short of updated laws in conformity with international standards can save public health from the brink of a full scale peril.

The unrest in the RMG sector has focused attention afresh on problem areas. Wage discrimination aggravated by increasing costs of living, bad relation between workers and mid-level management, resultant miscommunication between the employees and the employers and retaining competitiveness of our products are issues that require to be addressed squarely. Enhanced negotiating capacity and breaking new grounds in marketing have been emphasised.

On the Rohingyas, a cohesive narrative has been scripted drawing on in-depth research on their forced exclusion and statelessness. The apathy towards them has been put in a historical-cum-contemporaneous perspective.

Dr. Kamal Hossain builds up to a convincing case for a two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The discourse on forms of government culminates in the famous adage -- 'whate'er best administered is the best'.