The prevailing ‘unusual’ political situation is hurting country’s economy and affecting the quality of governance, politicians, economists and experts said Saturday. They called upon the major political parties to engage in an immediate dialogue for, what they said, restoring democracy for the sake of clearing the way for economic growth. Their observations came at the launch of a research report styled ‘The State of Governance in Bangladesh 2013: Democracy and Party Politics’ at the Brac Centre Inn in the capital. The BRAC Instit...

Bangladesh has ranked the highest in terms of people’s political participation among 33 developing and emerging nations, says a global survey. The country, however, has a very low political efficacy with over two-thirds of the respondents saying government officials do not care about what the people think, it says. The survey, titled “Spring 2014 Global Attitudes Survey” by the US-based Pew Research Centre, shows 65 percent Bangladeshis have higher level of involvement in political affairs and 29 percent medium level, though the Asia region ranks the lowest in this field with an overall median of 24 percent. As regions, the Middle East and Africa have relatively high rates of participation in political affairs.