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to ensure economic stability and contain inflation. Two more problems have surfaced now. One is the risk of debt repayment, and the other is the slowdown of the economy.”
“The lack of accountability is the main reason behind the current situation. The bad influence of individuals, families, and groups has increased too much.”
Unfortunately, there is no accountability in politics, said Debapriya.
Nobody disagrees with the criticism put forward by the opposition political parties. However, they don’t give the impression of how they will solve the problems facing the economy, he said.
“We have fallen into a situation where there is an absence of democracy. The opposition parties say they will oust the government, but they do not say what they would do afterwards.”
He said the opposition parties have boycotted the general elections, and they are not participating in the local elections either.
He questioned in what form the opposition parties would operate if they remained disconnected from people. People will not take to the streets unless they see better alternatives, he said.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the Transparency International Bangladesh, said institutions were made ineffective in a way that could not be fixed even in 53 years.
Taking part in the discussion virtually, Ali Riaz, a distinguished professor for political science at Illinois State University, said three staged elections were held in Bangladesh, and institutions have been destroyed gradually.
Ali Imam Majumder, a former cabinet secretary, said there were reports in the media regarding the government’s plan to raise the price of electricity every quarter until 2026.
He said another report says the capacity payments to private power plants account for 81 percent of the total estimated subsidies for electricity. This is happening because of corruption and inefficiency, he said.
Mustafizur Rahman, another distinguished fellow of the CPD, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, chairman of the Development Studies department at Dhaka University, and Asif Nazrul, a professor of law at the same university, also spoke.
Students
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campus to students, staff and residents to ensure safety and that the Book of Kells exhibition was closed yesterday.
Similar to the student occupations sweeping US campuses, protesters at Trinity College are demanding that Ireland’s oldest university cut ties with Israeli universities and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Protests at universities elsewhere have included Australia and Canada.
In a statement last week, the head of the university, Linda Doyle, said Trinity College’s was reviewing its investments in a portfolio of companies and that decisions on whether to work with Israeli institutions rested with individual academics.
Ireland has long been a champion of Palestinian rights, and the government has pledged to formally recognise Palestine as a state soon.
More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.