Policy Prescriptions

Banking Stress: Ring-Fence the Bad Loans Before the Credit Squeeze Stalls Investment

Bangladesh faces a simultaneous NPL surge, interest-spread blow-out, and private-credit collapse; MoF and Bangladesh Bank must move now to recognize losses, recapitalize the weakest banks, and restore credit to productive firms.

Stopping the Outflow: A Confidence-and-Controls Plan for Post-2024 Capital Flight

A sequenced plan led by the Ministry of Finance to stem post-2024 capital flight by stabilizing the policy environment, rebuilding investor confidence, and tightening the channels through which FDI and portfolio capital are reversing out of Bangladesh.

Stop the Reserve Bleed: A Market-Clearing Taka and a Credible External Anchor

A sequenced MoF-led plan to halt reserve drawdown, correct REER misalignment, and close the current-account gap through a credible market-clearing exchange rate, reserve transparency, and remittance-channel reform.

Break the 9-12% inflation regime by separating food-price and core-price tools

Bangladesh's 9-12% inflation since 2022, against a ~6% norm, is an entrenched regime; MoF should break it with a food-versus-core decomposition dashboard, sustained monetary anchoring, trade and logistics relief, targeted transfers, and orderly market financing.

Restore the employment content of growth: make GDP expansion create measurable jobs again

Bangladesh's falling employment elasticity of GDP means each point of growth buys fewer jobs; the Ministry of Finance should anchor fiscal, financial-market, and planning levers to a published, QLFS-measured jobs target.

Break the Forbearance Cycle: A Recapitalization-Conditioned Cleanup of Bangladesh's State Bank Loan Books

State commercial banks carry NPLs above 25 percent and the system above 12 percent on the IMF definition, so MoF must end forbearance, force honest recognition, and condition every recapitalization taka on enforceable cleanup.

Manage the maturity wall, not just the debt-service bill: a rollover-risk early-warning system for Bangladesh public debt

Bangladesh manages a structural debt risk (maturity concentration and rollover, distinct from cash-flow debt-service) with no public instrument to see it; MoF should build a redemption-calendar dashboard, then smooth the maturity wall via issuance design and liability management under a medium-term debt/GDP anchor.

Real Wages Have Fallen Since 2022: Stop the Erosion Before It Hardens Into Lost Living Standards

The BBS QLFS real-wage index has been falling since 2022, eroding household purchasing power, and the Ministry of Finance should lead a coordinated wage-data, inflation, and targeted-support response over the medium term.

Keep Formal Remittance Cheaper Than Hundi: A Channel-Stability Plan for the ~6% of GDP That Funds Bangladesh

A hundi crackdown, Gulf corridor disruption, or fee shock could divert remittances (about 6% of GDP) off formal rails, so MoF and Bangladesh Bank should lock in price and channel advantages before a shock hits.

Sovereign Default Prevention: A Reserve-Floor and IMF-Compliance Tripwire for Bangladesh

A standing early-warning and contingency regime led by the Ministry of Finance to keep Bangladesh clear of the twin sovereign-default trigger, reserves below three months of import cover combined with an IMF programme breach.

Breaking the Sub-8 Percent Tax/GDP Trap: A Revenue Mobilization Plan for Bangladesh

Bangladesh's tax/GDP ratio is stuck below 8 percent and falling (NBR 6.56 percent in FY25), the lowest in South Asia; this brief sequences MoF-led actions on NBR reform, base broadening, and VAT enforcement to reverse the decline.

Cap and Re-Profile Government Domestic Borrowing to Reopen Private Credit

Government domestic borrowing is squeezing private credit; the Ministry of Finance should cap and re-profile bank-financed deficits while shifting issuance to non-bank channels to restore credit to firms.

Cap the Debt Service Share of Revenue Before It Crowds Out the Budget

With external and domestic debt service claiming a rising share of revenue, the Ministry of Finance must set a published ceiling, lengthen maturities, and lift the revenue base so interest does not crowd out spending.

Close the Trade Misinvoicing and Hundi Channels Draining Bangladesh's Foreign Exchange

Bangladesh loses foreign exchange and tax revenue through trade misinvoicing and hundi corridors (per GFI); MoF should first quantify the outflow and stand up a customs detection unit, then enforce document-to-payment reconciliation and make formal remittance beat hundi on cost.

Ring-fence Bangladesh's NBFI sector before a single failure cascades into a Reliance or IL&FS-style collapse

Bangladesh's non-bank financial institutions carry cascade risk on the PLFS / Reliance / IL&FS pattern, and the Ministry of Finance should move now to resolve insolvent NBFIs, ring-fence contagion, and stand up a real-time exposure monitor.

Sovereign Rating Drift: Restore Bangladesh's Credit Standing Through a Single Accountable Reserve-and-Fiscal Command Line

Bangladesh has absorbed Moody's, S&P and Fitch downgrades since 2022; the Ministry of Finance should run a consolidated rating-defence programme tying reserve transparency, fiscal credibility and a standing agency-engagement cell to reverse the drift.

Containing bKash and Nagad Concentration Before It Becomes a Single Point of Failure

Bangladesh's mobile financial services market is concentrated in bKash and Nagad, a systemic risk the Ministry of Finance and Bangladesh Bank should pre-empt with interoperability, resolution planning, and operational-resilience supervision.

Pre-position MoDMR cyclone readiness for the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps before the next track lands

A MoDMR-led, pre-season cyclone readiness posture for the roughly one million displaced people exposed in the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps: build the missing readiness indicator, certify shelters, bind the alerting cascade, pre-position relief, and rehearse.

Buy the days before the water

A pre-monsoon flash flood early-action protocol for the Sunamganj and Sylhet haor, led by MoDMR, that converts upstream rainfall warnings into financed, pre-positioned harvest and evacuation actions before the water arrives.

Stand up a Bangladesh national heat action plan before the next April-May heat-index 40+ season

Heatwaves are a recurring Apr-May tier-1 hazard (heat-index 40+, records broken in 2023 and 2024) with MoDMR as lead body but no live nowcast or triggered response; the fix is to classify heat under the Standing Order on Disaster, set automatic heat-index thresholds, and build the missing collector before the next season.

Stand Up a Live Riverine Flood Watch for the Brahmaputra, Padma, and Meghna Before the Next Monsoon Peak

Bangladesh's three main rivers breach danger stages each monsoon, yet MoDMR has no live flood indicator feeding decisions; this brief sequences a public danger-stage tracker, pre-agreed evacuation triggers, and anticipatory cash to cut losses.

Storm Surge: Close the Last-Mile Gap Between Cyclone Warning and Coastal Evacuation

Storm surge, the cyclone-driven coastal flooding that the curated note flags as often the killer in Bangladesh, lacks an operational nowcast; MoDMR should stand up a surge-specific forecast-to-evacuation chain before this cyclone season.

Two cyclone seasons a year: making the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief ready before each Bay of Bengal window

Bangladesh faces twice-yearly Bay of Bengal cyclone risk, and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief should harden last-mile warning, shelter readiness, and post-event payout systems before each pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season.

A District Cold Wave Protocol for Bangladesh: Pre-Position Relief in the Northwest Before Each December

Cold waves that strike northwest districts each December and January kill the elderly and urban poor, yet there is no standing protocol; MoDMR should pre-position blankets, issue a binding cold wave SOP, and tie relief releases to a temperature trigger.

Pre-position a pandemic-safe cyclone evacuation protocol before the next compound landfall

A cyclone striking during an active pandemic forces a deadly tradeoff between crowded shelters and storm surge; MoDMR should codify a standing pandemic-safe evacuation protocol now, before the next landfall.

Pre-Position a Rabi-Season Drought Response for Boro Paddy in Northwest Bangladesh

Northwest Bangladesh faces Rabi-season drought that threatens Boro paddy yields; MoDMR should stand up a pre-positioned, trigger-based irrigation and relief response before the dry months bite.

Cut Bangladesh's ~300+ Annual Lightning Deaths with a MoDMR Early-Warning and Shelter Programme

Bangladesh records ~300+ lightning deaths a year, the highest per capita globally per the curated note; MoDMR should stand up minute-scale alerts, field shelters, and a verified death registry to drive the toll down.

Clear Dhaka and Chattogram Drains Before the Monsoon: A Nowcast and Accountability Plan for Urban Waterlogging

Bangladesh has no live urban flood nowcast and split drainage ownership, so MoDMR should stand up a real-time waterlogging warning system and a pre-monsoon drain clearance mandate with one accountable lead per city.

Cooling Dhaka's Baseline: Reversing Chronic Heat-Island Intensification Through Tree Cover and Surface Reform

Dhaka's concrete buildout and tree-cover loss are raising the city's baseline temperature year-round, a structural problem distinct from event heatwaves that MoDMR must address through binding green-cover rules, cool-surface standards, and ward-level heat governance.

Build a Boro Hailstorm Nowcast-to-Relief Pipeline Before the Next Kal-Baishakhi Season

Bangladesh has no operational nowcast-to-relief pipeline for pre-monsoon hailstorms that damage standing Boro paddy; MoDMR should stand up rapid warning, georeferenced damage assessment, and pre-positioned relief triggers before the next kal-baishakhi season.

Stand Up a Pre-Monsoon Tornado Nowcast and Last-Mile Warning Chain for the Manikganj-Pabna Belt

Bangladesh has no operational tornado nowcast for the Manikganj-Pabna belt; MoDMR should build a recurring pre-monsoon warning, drill, and rapid-relief chain anchored on the existing union-level early-warning network.

River Erosion: From Emergency Bank-Patching to a Predict-Relocate-Compensate System

River erosion displaces about 10,000 households a year (per CEGIS), yet the state response is reactive; MoEFCC should own a forecast-driven displaced-household register that pre-positions relocation and compensation before land is lost.

Salinity Intrusion in the Southwest Coast: Protect Drinking Water and Aman Paddy in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat

A structural plan led by MoEFCC to manage salinity intrusion across Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat, sequencing salinity monitoring, drinking water security, and salt-tolerant Aman paddy support.

Sea-Level Rise

Bangladesh lacks an authoritative sea-level baseline; MoEFCC should publish a verified tide-gauge record, fold rise into coastal infrastructure standards, and pre-position managed retreat before the structural threat becomes a fiscal emergency.

Anchor a permanent coastal erosion line at Bhola, Hatiya, Sandwip, and Kuakata before the land is gone

Coastal erosion is advancing at Bhola, Hatiya, Sandwip, and Kuakata while MoEFCC has no live indicator (current_state is null), so the first move is a shoreline-change monitor that turns blind breach response into a ranked, funded, pre-positioned protection plan.

Cap Dhaka's Groundwater Drawdown Before Aquifer Drop Locks In Irreversible Subsidence

Dhaka's falling aquifer is driving land subsidence, and MoEFCC should lead a measured drawdown cap, mandatory monitoring, and a surface-water substitution plan before the sinking becomes irreversible.

Halting Sundarbans Degradation: A Salinity, Cyclone, and Shipping Triage Plan for MoEFCC

The Sundarbans face compounding salinity intrusion, cyclone scarring, and shipping pressure with no monitoring baseline; MoEFCC should stand up a degradation collector, regulate vessel traffic, and fund mangrove regeneration before the next cyclone season.

Turn the Jamuna char erosion-accretion cycle from a recurring shock into a planned, registered system

Bangladesh treats predictable Jamuna char erosion and seasonal displacement as recurring emergencies; MoEFCC should lead a shift to a registered, forecast-driven char management system with pre-positioned relief and rights-protecting land rules.

Plan for a Brahmaputra-Jamuna Avulsion Before the River Chooses for Us

A major Brahmaputra-Jamuna channel shift over a 50-year horizon is a low-probability, civilization-scale risk that demands MoEFCC-led scenario planning, a monitoring trigger system, and protected corridor reservation now, while options are still cheap.

Break Dhaka's Winter PM2.5 Spike at Source: A Dry-Season Emissions Lockdown

Dhaka's winter PM2.5 spike has ranked the city world #1 for air pollution multiple years; the Department of Environment should run a seasonal source-control regime targeting brick kilns, construction dust, and roadside burning before each dry season.

Cutting Bangladesh's Air-Pollution Death Toll: A DoE-Led Source-Control Regime

State of Global Air estimates around 88K Bangladesh deaths per year from air pollution; this brief sets out a DoE-led, source-control regime targeting brick kilns, vehicles, and dust at the emission point.

Arsenic in Groundwater: Convert Tested Tubewells into a Standing Safe-Water Guarantee

With roughly 20 million people exposed to arsenic per WHO/UNICEF and chronic exposure driving cancers, DoE should move from one-off screening to a permanent tested-and-marked safe-water regime built on existing budget and agency lines.

Phase Out Fixed-Chimney Brick Kilns to Cut Dhaka's Winter PM2.5

With about 7,000 kilns acting as a major winter PM2.5 contributor in Dhaka, the Department of Environment should map and license the fleet, force a technology transition, and link survival of each kiln to measured emissions.

Closing the Forest-Cover Gap: Halting Bangladesh's 2.6% Annual Deforestation

Bangladesh is losing forest at a 2.6% annual rate, double the global average, while official cover estimates diverge sharply (FAO 15.8% vs Forest Department 17.3%); DoE and the Forest Department must first reconcile the measurement and then enforce a moratorium-and-restoration regime.

Untreated Dyeing Effluent at Hazaribagh, Savar, and Narayanganj: A Compliance and Enforcement Reset

Untreated dyeing effluent across Hazaribagh, Savar, and Narayanganj demands a Department of Environment enforcement reset built on mandatory metering, zone-wide central treatment, and verifiable discharge data.

Cut Children's Lead Exposure at Source: Turmeric, Used-Battery Recycling, and Ceramics

Bangladesh's lead burden runs through adulterated turmeric, informal battery recycling, and glazed ceramics, costing children IQ; the Department of Environment should lead a source-control programme of food testing, licensed battery take-back, and ceramic standards.

Restoring the Buriganga, Turag, Karnaphuli, and Shitalakkhya: An Enforcement-First River Pollution Strategy

The four core rivers around Dhaka and Chattogram carry heavy organic and industrial loads (BOD/COD), and with no monitoring baseline in place, the Department of Environment must first stand up measurement, then enforce effluent limits at the largest polluters.

Pesticide Overuse: Build the Soil, Groundwater, and Food Residue Monitoring Baseline Before It Hardens Into a Structural Health and Export Liability

Bangladesh has no published baseline for pesticide load across soil, groundwater, and food residue, so the Department of Environment should stand up a monitoring regime and residue enforcement before the harm becomes irreversible and export-disqualifying.

Turn Bangladesh's Plastic Rules Into Enforced Practice: Close the Gap Between the Ban and the Street

Bangladesh mismanages roughly 0.79 Mt of plastic each year (World Bank); the Department of Environment should move from paper rules to enforced source reduction, extended producer responsibility, and a working collection backbone.

Halt Soil Organic Carbon Decline in the Barind Tract Before Yield Loss Becomes Structural

Intensive cropping in the Barind tract is depleting soil organic carbon and creating long-run yield risk; the Department of Environment should lead a regime shift to residue retention, organic amendment, and monitored soil-health management before the loss becomes irreversible.

Closing Dhaka's Collection and Landfill Gap: A Department of Environment Mandate for Solid-Waste

Dhaka generates roughly 6,500 tonnes of waste per day against a persistent collection and landfill gap; DoE should mandate metering, source segregation, and engineered disposal to close it.

Stop the Quiet Drain: A Wetland and Haor Recovery Mandate for the Department of Environment

More than half of Bangladesh's wetland area has been lost since 1971; the Department of Environment should anchor a binding inventory, a no-net-loss rule, and enforced ecologically critical area protection for the haors before the remainder is converted.

Antimicrobial Resistance: Close the Over-the-Counter Tap Before Resistance Outruns the Drug Pipeline

Bangladesh's AMR threat is driven by over-the-counter antibiotic sales and resistance building in pediatric and poultry use; DGHS should enforce prescription-only dispensing, stand up surveillance, and curb agricultural use before last-line drugs fail.

Pre-Position the Dengue Response Before Monsoon: Vector Control, Surveillance, and Hospital Surge for the Annual Outbreak

Bangladesh faces a recurring annual dengue outbreak (2023 record of 321K cases and 1,705 deaths per DGHS); DGHS and DPHE should shift from reactive peak-season firefighting to pre-monsoon source reduction, real-time surveillance, and pre-staged hospital surge capacity.

Pandemic-X: Build a Standing Respiratory and Zoonotic Outbreak Response Spine Before the Next Disease Arrives

Bangladesh has no current Pandemic-X indicator because the capability is latent, so DGHS should stand up a permanent surveillance, surge, and supply spine now under the WHO Disease-X playbook for respiratory or zoonotic threats.

Closing the TB detection gap: notify, test, and trace the missing cases before MDR-TB compounds

With roughly 280,000 incident TB cases a year and a growing MDR-TB sub-burden, DGHS should lead with mandatory case notification, resistance testing at diagnosis, adherence support, and contact tracing before the resistant fraction compounds.

Stand Up a Standing H5N1 Response Protocol Before the First Human Case Forces an Improvised One

Bangladesh lacks a pre-activated H5N1 spillover protocol; DGHS should pre-position the surveillance, isolation, and poultry-culling response now, so the trigger of a human case plus a poultry-cluster outbreak meets a plan rather than improvisation.

Build the COVID-19 Retrospective into Standing Pandemic Readiness, Not a Closed Chapter

Bangladesh logged roughly 29K confirmed COVID-19 deaths with higher excess mortality and a lingering long-COVID burden; DGHS should convert that experience into a permanent excess-mortality surveillance, long-COVID care, and surge-readiness system.

Get Ahead of the Pre-Monsoon and Post-Monsoon Cholera Surge with a Standing DGHS Diarrhea Readiness Protocol

Bangladesh faces predictable twice-yearly cholera and acute diarrhea surges around the monsoon; DGHS should convert this seasonality into a standing pre-positioning, surveillance, and water-safety protocol led with DPHE.

A National Hepatitis B and C Elimination Programme to Cut Bangladesh's Liver-Cancer Pipeline

Bangladesh lacks a coordinated chronic hepatitis B/C programme; DGHS should stand up birth-dose vaccination, screening, and treatment to interrupt the infection-to-liver-cancer pathway.

Break the Date-Palm Sap Transmission Chain Before Each Winter Nipah Season

Nipah virus in Bangladesh kills roughly 70 percent of those infected and spreads mainly through raw date-palm sap in winter, so DGHS should run a pre-season prevention, surveillance, and rapid-response programme that breaks the sap-to-human and human-to-human chains.

Build a Functioning Antivenom and Rural Emergency Chain to Cut Bangladesh's ~7K Annual Snakebite Deaths

Snakebite envenoming kills roughly 7,000 people a year in Bangladesh because of an antivenom and healthcare-access gap; DGHS should build a stocked, protocol-driven rural treatment chain rather than leave victims to traditional healers and distant hospitals.

Stand Up a Standing Outbreak-Response System for Measles and HFMD Before the Next Wave

Bangladesh faces recurring childhood measles and hand-foot-mouth-disease waves with no live surveillance feed, so DGHS should pre-position a standing detect-confirm-respond protocol rather than improvising each outbreak.

Closing the Cancer Treatment and Cost Gap Behind Bangladesh's ~150K New Cases a Year

Bangladesh faces roughly 150K new cancer cases a year against thin treatment capacity and a catastrophic cost gap; DGHS should sequence a treatment-capacity registry, decentralized regional centers, and a financial-protection scheme to keep diagnosis from becoming a death sentence.

Make Cardiovascular Disease a Named Line in the Health Budget: A Primary-Care-First Plan for Bangladesh

Cardiovascular disease drives about 30% of all deaths in Bangladesh with a rising young-adult heart-attack rate; DGHS should anchor a primary-care detection and treatment system, supported by DPHE on environmental risk, to bend the curve.

Lock In the Stunting Decline: From 41% to 24% and Onward to Single Digits

Child stunting fell from 41% in 2014 to 24% of under-fives in BDHS 2022; a sequenced DGHS-led plan on the first 1,000 days, water and sanitation, and district-level tracking can protect those gains and push lower.

Halting Bangladesh's Doubling Diabetes Curve: A DGHS-Led Primary-Care Detection and Control Mandate

Adult diabetes near 13% per IDF Atlas has doubled since 2011, so DGHS should mandate opportunistic primary-care screening, a continuity-of-care register, guaranteed first-line medicine supply, and community prevention to close the diagnosed-to-estimated gap.

Breaking the Maternal Mortality Plateau: Move From Coverage to Quality at the Point of Delivery

Bangladesh's maternal mortality ratio has stalled near 165 per 100,000 live births since 2016, so DGHS should pivot from counting facility deliveries to guaranteeing emergency obstetric quality, midwife deployment, and maternal death audits at every delivery point.

Closing Bangladesh's Mental-Health Treatment Gap: Build Care Into Primary Health, Not Around It

With adult mental-health prevalence near 17 percent and a treatment gap above 90 percent per WHO mhGAP, DGHS should integrate basic mental-health care into existing primary health channels rather than wait for scarce specialists.

Cutting Bangladesh's Out-of-Pocket Health Burden

With more than 67% of health spending paid out of pocket (world top decile), Bangladesh needs a sequenced shift toward pooled public financing, led by DGHS, starting with primary care and essential medicines.

Break the Child-Marriage-to-Pregnancy Pipeline: A DGHS-Led Adolescent Health Strategy

Adolescent pregnancy in Bangladesh is driven by child marriage and contributes to maternal mortality, so DGHS should lead a sequenced response combining adolescent health corners, frontline registration of married minors, and cross-ministry enforcement.

Closing the Anemia Gap: An Operational Fortification and Supplementation Plan for Reproductive-Age Women

Around 40 percent of reproductive-age women in Bangladesh are anemic per BDHS/NIPORT, and DGHS, with DPHE support, should anchor a sequenced plan of mandatory wheat-flour fortification, antenatal iron-folate delivery, and routine surveillance.

Treat COPD and asthma as an air-pollution disease: pair clinical care with exposure control

COPD and asthma in Bangladesh are driven by chronic air-pollution exposure, so DGHS should pair primary-care management with DPHE-led exposure reduction rather than treating it as a purely clinical caseload.

Map the Rural CKD-u Clusters Before Treating Them: A Surveillance-First Plan for Bangladesh's Salinity and Pesticide Belt

Bangladesh faces clustered chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in its rural belt with a salinity and pesticide hypothesis; DGHS should lead a surveillance-first response that maps cases, tests exposures, and protects the working-age population before scaling treatment.

Fix where health workers are, not just how many: a DGHS plan to staff primary care

Bangladesh's health-worker problem is as much maldistribution as raw density, with primary care left thin; DGHS should redirect posting, retention, and task-shifting toward underserved upazilas before adding headcount.

# Treat the Untreated: A Primary-Care Hypertension Control Programme for Bangladesh

With adult hypertension prevalence at ~25-30% and mostly untreated, DGHS should build a standardized primary-care detection and treatment programme anchored in upazila and community clinics, free essential medicines, and a control-rate registry.

Make suicide a measured, treatable public health problem in Bangladesh, starting with the count

Bangladesh's estimated 14,000 annual suicide deaths are badly under-reported, especially among women, so DGHS must first standardize sex-disaggregated surveillance, then pair pesticide means-restriction with crisis care in primary health complexes.

Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Convert the Health System into the Frontline Detection and Deterrence Network

With 51% of girls married before age 18 per BDHS and Bangladesh holding the world's 4th-highest rate, DGHS should turn routine health contacts into a registration, screening, and referral backbone that makes underage marriage visible and costly.

A National Childhood Drowning Prevention Programme for the 1 to 4 Age Window

Childhood drowning is the leading cause of death among Bangladeshi children aged 1 to 4 at roughly 14,000 deaths a year (per CIPRB), yet it has no DGHS programme owner, budget line, or live counter; this brief sets a sequenced fix.

Build a Standing Health-Sector Response to Intimate Partner Violence in Bangladesh

With roughly 73% of married women reporting intimate partner violence per the BBS VAW survey, DGHS should make survivor-centred clinical response a permanent, funded line of the health system rather than a project add-on.

Close the road-death data gap before Bangladesh can cut its 5-8K annual toll

DGHS should first reconcile the divergent BRTA and media-based road-death counts (estimated 5-8K deaths/year) into one surveillance-backed figure, then use a blackspot map to direct engineering fixes with the Department of Public Health Engineering.

Build a Single Occupational Injury Surveillance Backbone Across RMG, Ship-Breaking, and Construction

Bangladesh has no unified surveillance of workplace deaths and injuries in its three deadliest sectors (RMG, Sitakunda ship-breaking, construction); the fix is a DGHS-run injury registry that turns hospital and inspection records into a standing trigger for enforcement.

Treat the Yaba Epidemic as a Health Crisis on the Teknaf Corridor, Not Only a Policing Problem

Yaba enters via the Cox's Bazar and Teknaf corridor from Myanmar; with DGHS as lead and no baseline yet, the priority is to count the corridor, build treatment capacity, and route seizures into care.

Acid attacks have fallen sharply but persist: finish the job with survivor-centred enforcement and acid supply control

Acid attacks have declined sharply yet continue, so Bangladesh should close the last gap through tighter acid-sale licensing, faster survivor care pathways led by DGHS, and durable case tracking rather than treat the problem as solved.

Bangladesh's Demographic Dividend Window Peaked in 2024 and Closes Around 2042: Act Within That Window

Bangladesh's working-age advantage peaked in 2024 and closes around 2042, so the Ministry of Social Welfare and partners must convert the remaining window into jobs, skills, and a funded ageing-readiness plan now.

Raising Female Labor-Force Participation From ~36 Percent: A Care, Safety, and Skills Agenda for Bangladesh

With female labor-force participation stuck around 36 percent, one of South Asia's lower rates, MoSW should lead a sequenced care-infrastructure, safe-mobility, and skills-to-jobs agenda to convert women's education gains into paid work.

Stabilizing the Cox's Bazar Camps as Aid Fatigue Sets In: A MoSW-Led Plan to Hold the Line

With roughly 1M Rohingya in Cox's Bazar facing aid fatigue and rising camp violence, MoSW should lead a unified security-and-livelihoods plan that protects camp order without signaling permanent settlement.

Pre-positioning Bangladesh for a Second Rohingya Influx Before the Naf Border Breaks

Intensified Arakan fighting near the Naf border threatens a fresh Rohingya influx, so the Ministry of Social Welfare should stand up a pre-cleared reception and registration system now, before arrivals begin.

Turning Bangladesh's NEET Generation Into a Trained Workforce: A MoSW-Led Reactivation Strategy

With roughly 30% of 15-24 year olds not in employment, education, or training, BDPolicyLab prescribes a MoSW-led registry, demand-linked skilling, and stipend-backed apprenticeships to reactivate idle youth before the demographic window closes.

Build the Pension and Elder-Care Architecture Before Bangladesh's 65+ Population Doubles by 2050

Bangladesh's over-65 population doubles by 2050 with a pension and care gap, so MoSW should anchor a contributory pension, a community elder-care cadre, and a demographic registry before the cohort arrives.

Brain Drain: Turning the F-1 Pipeline From a One-Way Door Into a Circulation Loop

Bangladesh is losing top-tier graduates through the F-1 to permanent-residency pipeline, and the response should start with measuring the outflow, building a circular-migration and diaspora-engagement track, and giving returning talent something to come back to, led by the Ministry of Social Welfare with the Department of Youth Development.

Absorbing Dhaka's ~400K Annual In-Migrants: A Reception-and-Services Compact

With ~400K rural-to-Dhaka arrivals a year straining housing and services and no live indicator, MoSW should first build an arrival registry, then receive, route, and support new migrants while coordinating origin-area retention.

Stand Up a Returnee Reintegration Contingency Before the Next Mass Return, Not After

Bangladesh lacks a standing system to absorb a sudden wave of returning migrants from wage theft or a COVID-style mass return, so MoSW should pre-position a registration, cash-relief, and reintegration pipeline now while flows are normal.

Build Bangladesh's First Old-Age Care Floor Before the Family Safety Net Thins Further

Bangladesh has no social-care infrastructure for its elderly while family fragmentation erodes the informal net, so MoSW should stand up a costed elderly-care framework, a registry, and a community caregiver scheme now.

Build a labor-market early-warning and reskilling system before sewing-bots reach Bangladesh's RMG floor

A 10 to 15 year automation risk to ready-made garments is a latent, slow-moving threat with no current measurement; the Ministry of Labour and Employment should stand up displacement tracking, a reskilling pathway, and a peer-country watch now, while adjustment is still cheap.

Formalize from the Worker Up: A Ten-Year Path Out of 85% Informal Employment

With about 85% of total employment informal per BBS QLFS, Bangladesh should build a worker-first formalization spine (ID-linked registration, contribution-based benefits, and graduated micro-enterprise compliance) led by MoLE, BMET, and the expatriate welfare ministry.

Cushion the November 2026 LDC graduation shock before EU EBA, India DFTP, and pharma TRIPS waivers expire

Bangladesh's November 2026 LDC graduation removes EU EBA, India DFTP, and the pharma TRIPS waiver at once, so MoLE and trade bodies must sequence GSP+ readiness, an export-worker safety net, and a transition deal before the cliff hits.

Breaking the RMG monoculture: a labor-led path off 84 percent export concentration

Ready-made garments make up about 84 percent of merchandise exports and diversification has stalled, so MoLE should lead a worker-mobility and skills agenda that lets labor flow into adjacent export sectors rather than waiting for new factories to appear.

Stop migrant wage theft in the Gulf corridors: a recovery system anchored at MoLE

Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East and Malaysia lose unpaid wages with no reliable recovery channel; MoLE should build a complaint-to-recovery system with BMET and the expatriates' welfare ministry, starting with a caseload baseline.

Defuse RMG Labor Unrest by Fixing Wage Arrears and Closures Before the Next Minimum-Wage Cycle

Bangladesh's garment unrest recurs around minimum-wage cycles (2018, 2023) and is triggered by wage arrears and factory closures; MoLE should build an arrears early-warning and closure-resolution system before the next wage reset rather than managing each flashpoint reactively.

Closing Bangladesh's Industry 4.0 Skills Gap Before Automation Outruns the Workforce

Bangladesh faces an Industry 4.0 skills and automation-readiness deficit; MoLE, BMET, and the expatriate-welfare ministry should rebuild TVET around employer-validated competencies, an automation-exposure labor-market signal, and overseas-skills alignment.

Turning Hidden Underemployment Into Counted, Full-Time Work

With underemployment at roughly 25 percent of the labor force per the BBS QLFS, MoLE should move from headcount unemployment to a time-and-income underemployment metric, expand demand-driven skills and overseas placement, and tie wage-subsidy hiring to verified full-time jobs.

Closing the Education Spending Gap: From ~2% of GDP Toward the 4-6% Target

Bangladesh spends about 2% of GDP on education against a 4-6% target; this brief sequences a financing-floor, allocation-quality, and execution agenda led by the Ministry of Education with Primary and Mass Education support.

Closing Bangladesh's Learning Poverty Gap: A Foundational-Literacy Mission for Grades 1 to 3

With 60%+ of 10-year-olds unable to read a simple text per the World Bank, Bangladesh should run a time-bound foundational-literacy mission led by MoE with MPME, anchored on a structured grade 1-3 reading programme, periodic reading assessment, and teacher support.

Close the Post-Closure Remedial Gap: A Catch-Up Mandate for Bangladesh's Schools

The 2020 to 2022 school closures left a remedial gap that persists, and the Ministry of Education should run a measured, time-bound catch-up programme with diagnostic baselines, targeted instruction, and a public completion signal.

Bridging the Madrasa-General Divide: A Single Examinations and Skills Spine for Bangladesh

Bangladesh runs parallel madrasa and general education streams that diverge sharply at the labor market, and the Ministry of Education should build a shared examinations, accreditation, and skills spine to converge outcomes without erasing either tradition.

Teacher Quality: Measure Subject-Matter Mastery and Absenteeism Before Reforming Either

Bangladesh has no routine measurement of teacher subject-matter pass rates or classroom absenteeism, so the Ministry of Education should build that measurement system first and then tie recruitment, certification, and posting to it.

Tertiary employability: close the graduate skills mismatch through employer-anchored curricula and a public placement signal

Bangladesh's graduate unemployment and skills mismatch needs the Ministry of Education to anchor curricula to employer demand, mandate work-integrated learning, and publish program-level placement data so the labor market and universities can self-correct.

Breaking the Private-Tutoring Dependence: Curbing Out-of-Pocket Cost and Equity Erosion in Schooling

Bangladesh's reliance on private tutoring shifts learning into a paid market that families fund out of pocket and erodes equity; the Ministry of Education should regulate, measure, and substitute for it through in-school remediation and a teacher conduct framework.

Close the Research-Output Gap: A Competitive Grant and Institutional Incentive Regime for Bangladesh Universities

Bangladesh's per-capita patents and Scopus publications lag South Asian peers; MoE should build a national research-output dashboard, then attach competitive peer-reviewed grants and performance-based university funding to it.

Corruption Control: Close the Procurement and Enforcement Gaps Behind a Rank Near 149 of 180

Bangladesh sits near rank 149 of 180 on the TI CPI with recurring sectoral grand-corruption episodes; the Cabinet Division should anchor a sequenced reform on procurement transparency, asset disclosure, and enforcement independence.

Rebuilding Credible Elections in Bangladesh: A Statutory Caretaker Settlement and an Independent Election Administration

Three consecutive disputed national elections (2014, 2018, 2024) and a live caretaker debate require a Cabinet Division led statutory settlement on the interim administration question plus a structurally independent, audited election machinery.

Turning the Enforced Disappearances Inquiry Into Convictions, Restitution, and Permanent Legal Bars

A post-Hasina inquiry commission is examining pre-2024 enforced disappearance cases; the Cabinet Division must convert that inquiry into prosecutions, a victims' restitution programme, and a permanent statutory ban so the practice cannot recur.

After the July-August 2024 Uprising: Build a Standing Protest-Accountability and Early-Warning System

The 2024 uprising left roughly 800+ killed per OHCHR (Feb 2025); the Cabinet Division should institutionalize crowd-control accountability, a victims' registry and reparations channel, and a cross-agency protest early-warning function to lower the risk of a repeat.

Closing the Capacity and Political-Will Gap That Lets Grand Corruption Escape the ACC

Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission is hobbled by a combined capacity and political-will gap on grand corruption; the Cabinet Division should ring-fence ACC autonomy, build specialist investigative capability, and bind enforcement to published outcome reporting.

Build a Fallback Path Before the Reform Commission Deadlocks

Bangladesh should pre-build a phased, consensus-tested constitutional reform pathway led by the Cabinet Division so that a reform commission deadlock or referendum rejection triggers an orderly fallback instead of a governance vacuum.

Ending the Cyber Security Act Chill on Dissent and Journalism

Bangladesh should replace the chilling speech-criminalization core of the DSA/CSA regime with narrow, warrant-gated rules, led by the Cabinet Division through coordinated repeal, redrafting, and case review.

Clearing Bangladesh's ~4.4M Case Backlog: A Cabinet-Division-Led Court Throughput Programme

With roughly 4.4 million cases pending and commercial-court delays choking contract enforcement, the Cabinet Division should run a sequenced throughput programme: case-flow management rules, dedicated commercial benches, judicial vacancy filling, and digitised case tracking, monitored by IMED.

Pre-Committing the State Against a Repeat of January 2007

A latent governance risk: political deadlock plus civil unrest of the January 2007 type can invite military intervention, so the Cabinet Division should pre-commit constitutional continuity, an unrest-to-resolution protocol, and a transparent transfer-of-power path before any crisis arrives.

Depoliticizing the Bangladesh Police: An Operational Independence Compact

Use the interim-government window and the OHCHR February 2025 findings to entrench police operational independence through a statute, an independent appointments commission, and an external complaints body led by the Cabinet Division.

Press Freedom: Replace Discretionary Speech Controls with a Statutory Right-to-Report Regime

Bangladesh sits near the bottom of the RSF index (rank ~165/180 in recent years); the Cabinet Division should lead a phased reform replacing discretionary speech-control powers with statutory safeguards, defamation decriminalisation, and an independent press council.

Decentralization deadlock

Bangladesh local government reform is stalled against a Dhaka-centric administrative model; the Cabinet Division should issue a sequenced fiscal and functional devolution mandate, starting with a pilot tier and a legislative timetable rather than another commission.

Break the RMG Single-Basket Trap: A Product and Market Diversification Push Led by the Ministry of Commerce

Ready-made garments make up 84% of exports concentrated in US and EU markets, leaving Bangladesh exposed to a single product and a narrow set of buyers; the Ministry of Commerce should lead a sequenced diversification push across products, markets, and trade-facilitation bottlenecks.

Pre-positioning Bangladesh for a Hormuz Strait LNG and fuel cut-off before the next escalation

If Iran-Israel war escalation closes the Hormuz strait, Bangladesh faces an LNG and fuel cut-off, so the Ministry of Commerce should lead reserve, sourcing, and rationing contingency now before, not after, the shock lands.

Preference-Cliff Defense: A 12-Month Plan for Bangladesh's November 2026 LDC Graduation

Bangladesh graduates from LDC status in November 2026, losing EU EBA duty-free access, India's DFTP scheme, and the pharma TRIPS waiver; the Ministry of Commerce must lock in successor trade arrangements and compliance systems before the cliff hits.

Reducing Bangladesh's China and India Import Concentration: A Diversification and FX-Resilience Plan

Bangladesh's import basket is concentrated in China (~25%) and India (~12%), creating FX and supply-concentration risk; the Ministry of Commerce should build a line-level concentration register, facilitate alternative sourcing via tariff and BSTI/port neutrality, and seed domestic substitution through BIDA.

India Transit Weaponization

India can squeeze Bangladesh through land-port suspension, transit-tax changes, and water-treaty risk, so the Ministry of Commerce should build redundant trade corridors, a transit-tax contingency response, and a standing leverage-monitoring cell.

Unlock Leather, Hilsa, Frozen Food, and ICT Services: A Compliance-and-Certification Push to Close the Non-Traditional Export Gap

Bangladesh's leather, hilsa, frozen-food, and ICT-services exports lag potential due to a compliance and credibility gap, so the Ministry of Commerce should instrument each line and clear certification, port, and tariff frictions agency by agency.

Insulate Bangladesh trade from the Red Sea shipping shock: a freight, insurance, and routing response

Houthi-era shipping rate and insurance spikes on the Suez route raise landed costs for Bangladesh trade; the Ministry of Commerce should lead a freight-and-insurance monitoring cell, rerouting guidance, and targeted relief for exposed exporters.

Restoring US GSP Eligibility: A Labor-Compliance and Trade-Diplomacy Plan for the Ministry of Commerce

US GSP for Bangladesh has been suspended since 2013 after Rana Plaza and never restored; the Ministry of Commerce should lead a labor-rights compliance, evidence, and re-petition strategy with BIDA, BSTI, BTTC, and the Chittagong Port Authority.

Stress-Test Bangladesh's China-Financed Infrastructure Debt Before the Repayment Cliff Hits

Bangladesh carries concentrated repayment exposure on China-financed projects (Padma Rail, Karnaphuli tunnel, Payra port); MoC and partner agencies should build a consolidated obligation register, stress-test debt service, and renegotiate terms before grace periods lapse.

Replace Shock Fuel Hikes With a Rules-Based Pricing Formula and a Protected Subsidy Floor

Bangladesh should convert administered fuel pricing into a transparent, automatic formula run by BERC, ring-fence BPC's subsidy exposure, and pre-build targeted transfers, so the next world-oil swing does not force another abrupt hike like August 2022's +50%.

Bibiyana Past Peak: Managing Bangladesh's Falling Domestic Gas Toward a Planned Transition

Bangladesh's gas reserve-to-production ratio is declining as Bibiyana passes peak, so MoPEMR must front-load appraisal drilling, demand reallocation, and an LNG-plus-renewables bridge before the depletion curve forces it.

Insulate Bangladesh's power supply from the LNG spot market and FX swings

Bangladesh imports 5 to 6 LNG cargos a month exposed to spot price and FX shocks; MoPEMR should lock term contracts, hedge FX, build a winter reserve, and accelerate domestic and renewable supply to cut the exposure.

Building a reserve-margin firewall against Bangladesh's recurring national grid collapse

Bangladesh's tier-1 blackout hazard (2014 and 2022 precedents) is monitored without a live load-versus-reserve-margin signal; MoPEMR should make the margin visible, then defend it with under-frequency protocols, fuel covenants, distributed reserve, and restoration drills.

Stop Paying for Idle Megawatts: Renegotiate Bangladesh's Capacity-Payment Contracts

Bangladesh is locked into capacity payments for idle power plants; MoPEMR should renegotiate the underlying PPAs, audit the fleet, and reform planning so the country stops paying for electricity it never uses.

Cut Dhaka WASA non-revenue water below 25 percent before the aquifer forces the choice

Dhaka loses over 25 percent of produced water before billing while overdrawing its aquifer; measure the loss, ring-fence the network into metered zones, and convert leakage cuts into verified pumping-energy and groundwater savings.

Dhaka Housing Affordability: Build a Rent-and-Wage Evidence Base Before the Informal-Settlement Curve Steepens

Dhaka housing affordability lacks even a basic median-rent-to-median-wage tracker, so the first move is to stand up the data and a named owner before designing supply or tenure interventions.

Break Dhaka's 6 km/h Gridlock: An Energy-Anchored Plan to Electrify, Power, and De-Carbonize Urban Mobility

Dhaka peak traffic crawls at roughly 6 km/h, dragging productivity and air quality; MoPEMR and its energy bodies should anchor an electrification, charging, and clean-power push to cut the congestion and emissions burden.

Clearing the Chattogram Bottleneck: Making Matarbari and Payra Ramp Up Faster

Chattogram dwell time and the slow ramp of Matarbari and Payra are throttling energy-infrastructure throughput; this brief sequences MoPEMR-led actions to convert new deep-sea and power-corridor capacity into actual relieved flow.

Renewables Lag: Closing the Gap from ~3% to the 40% by 2041 Target

Bangladesh sits at roughly 3 percent renewable generation against a 40 percent by 2041 target; MoPEMR must fix land, grid, and tariff bottlenecks through SREDA-led siting, PGCB interconnection rules, and BERC pricing reform.

Closing Dhaka's Sewerage Gap

With piped sewerage serving under 20 percent of Dhaka and a cholera plus river-pollution pathway, BDPolicyLab calls for a treatment-first sewerage build sequenced through a clear lead body, an enforced fecal sludge mandate, and ring-fenced tariff financing.

Close the rail freight modal-share gap by funding double-tracking and a freight-first operating mandate

Rail carries a marginal share of national freight because single-track bottlenecks and passenger-priority scheduling starve cargo capacity; the fix is a funded double-tracking programme plus a freight-protected operating regime under the lead ministry.

Build a Two-Season Rice Shock Buffer Before Boro Heat and Aman Flood Strike Together

A single-year compound failure (heatwave-hit Boro plus flood-hit Aman) would remove the country's natural two-season insurance, so the Ministry of Agriculture should pre-position heat- and flood-tolerant seed, a standing seed reserve, and a triggered buffer-stock protocol before the next bad season arrives.

Cap Boro Groundwater Drawdown in the Northwest by Pricing Pump Energy and Shifting Crop Mix

Falling aquifers and rising pump-energy costs in the northwest make dry-season Boro irrigation unsustainable; MoA should meter and price irrigation water, fund water-saving rice technology, and steer the cropping calendar toward less thirsty crops.

Food Price Spike: Build a Standing Early-Warning and Buffer-Stock Regime Before the Next Shock

Bangladesh keeps absorbing recurring food price spikes (2007 rice, 2019 onion, 2022 wheat and oil, 2024 onion, potato, and egg) reactively; the Ministry of Agriculture should stand up a permanent early-warning, buffer-stock, and import-facilitation regime so the next shock is managed, not improvised.

Break the Boro Yield Plateau Before Salinity and Heat Lock It In

Boro rice yield growth is slowing under salinity and heat-stress drag, so the Ministry of Agriculture should fast-track stress-tolerant varieties, retarget extension, and protect the coastal water regime before the plateau becomes structural.

Insulate the Fertilizer Subsidy from Global Price and FX Shocks Before the Next Procurement Cycle

Bangladesh's fertilizer subsidy is exposed to global urea and DAP prices and FX cost, creating a fiscal squeeze; the Ministry of Agriculture should hedge procurement, target the subsidy, and improve nutrient efficiency to break the open-ended liability.

Cut Bangladesh's exposure to imported milk, soybean meal, and edible oil before the next FX shock

Bangladesh's reliance on imported powdered milk, soybean meal, and edible oil ties core food prices to the exchange rate, so MoA should pair domestic production targets with a standing import buffer to blunt the next FX shock.

Consolidate Bangladesh's Sub-Half-Acre Holdings Through Voluntary Block Farming Before Mechanization Stalls

With average holdings under 0.5 acre creating a mechanization ceiling, the Ministry of Agriculture should pilot voluntary block-farming consolidation, retrofit machinery to small plots, and ready a tenancy and land-records reform pathway.

Closing Bangladesh's Post-Harvest Loss Gap: Cold-Chain and Storage Before More Output

With roughly 30 percent of rice and perishables lost after harvest and cold-chain largely absent, the Ministry of Agriculture should treat post-harvest infrastructure, not just yield, as the next gain in food supply.

Clearing the EU Antibiotic and Sanitary Barrier for Hilsa and Shrimp Exports

Bangladesh's hilsa and shrimp exports are constrained by EU antibiotic residue and sanitary compliance gaps; the Ministry of Agriculture should lead a residue-control, traceability, and lab-accreditation push to protect and expand market access.

Make Internet Blackouts Legally Hard: A Connectivity Continuity Regime for Bangladesh

Bangladesh shut both mobile and broadband for roughly 10 days in July-August 2024; the ICT Division should codify due-process limits, a connectivity-resilience standard, and routine transparency so a simultaneous nationwide blackout cannot recur by quiet executive order.

Close Bangladesh's AI Policy Vacuum: A National AI Strategy and Governance Framework Led by the ICT Division

Bangladesh has no AI strategy or governance framework; the ICT Division should issue a national strategy, stand up an interim governance body by circular, and codify high-risk rules before scaling public-sector AI.

Closing the SWIFT and RTGS Cyber Gap That Enabled the 2016 USD 81M Heist

The 2016 USD 81M theft exposed structural weaknesses in Bangladesh's SWIFT and RTGS financial-messaging defenses, and the ICT Division must lead a sequenced hardening, segmentation, and drill regime before the next attempt lands.

Close Bangladesh's Two Internet Gaps: Rural-Urban and Female-Male, Before They Harden

The ICT Division should treat the rural-urban and female-male internet-use gap as a structural equity problem, fix the missing measurement first, then target affordability, device access, and women's digital skills through existing agencies.

Stress-Test the Rails: A Continuity Plan for a Multi-Day bKash or Nagad Outage

A multi-day bKash or Nagad outage would freeze cash and remittance flows for millions, so the ICT Division must mandate failover, interoperability, and a remittance backstop before the next incident.

When Both Cables Fail: A Resilience Plan for a SEA-ME-WE 4 and 5 Dual-Cut

A simultaneous failure of SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5 would expose Bangladesh's concentrated submarine connectivity, and the ICT Division should pre-position terrestrial and satellite failover, mandated capacity reserves, and a rehearsed national continuity protocol.

Treat MFS Concentration as Critical Infrastructure: Interoperability, Redundancy, and a Resolution Plan for bKash and Nagad

Mobile financial services concentration around bKash and Nagad is a single-point-of-failure risk, so the ICT Division should mandate interoperability, redundancy standards, and a resolution-and-continuity regime before an outage at one provider freezes everyday payments.

Close Bangladesh's Data Sovereignty Gap: Enact a Data-Protection Law and Govern Cross-Border Flows

Bangladesh has no comprehensive data-protection law and no governed framework for cross-border data flows; the ICT Division should sequence an enabling law, an independent regulator, and clear transfer rules.

Break the GP-Robi-Banglalink Squeeze: A Pro-Competition Reset for Bangladesh Mobile

With GP, Robi, and Banglalink dominating mobile pricing and service quality, the ICT Division should anchor a pro-competition reset: a market study, binding quality-of-service rules, MVNO entry, and spectrum and infrastructure reforms that contest the oligopoly.

Hardening the Naf Border Against Arakan Army Spillover Before Shells Become a Refugee Wave

The Arakan Army's advance to the Naf and artillery landing inside Bangladesh demands a coordinated Bangladesh Police led internal-security response, paired with Border Guard Bangladesh hardening, immigration screening, and a Security Services Division crisis cell, before shelling triggers a fresh cross-border influx.

Stand Up a Uniformed-Force Early-Warning and Grievance System Before Discontent Hardens Into Mutiny

A standing grievance-and-early-warning system for uniformed forces, anchored at Bangladesh Police with BGB and SSD support, to detect and defuse discontent before it reaches a 2009 Pilkhana-style rupture.

Closing Bangladesh's Adaptation Gap When the Loss and Damage Fund Underdelivers

With the Loss and Damage fund underperforming and Bangladesh's adaptation gap widening, the country needs a domestically anchored, ringfenced finance and delivery system rather than waiting on external pledges.

Stand Up a Pre-Election and Festival-Period Communal Flashpoint Watch Under Bangladesh Police

Bangladesh Police should pre-position a flashpoint watch, rapid-response protocol, and rumor-control cell ahead of pre-election and festival periods, when communal violence spikes are most likely.

Stop the Killing at the Border: A Documentation, Diplomacy, and Crossing-Reduction Strategy for BSF Deaths of Bangladeshi Nationals

BSF killings of Bangladeshi nationals, recorded by Ain o Salish Kendra, persist as a recurring border-security and human-rights failure; the fix is rigorous documentation, sustained bilateral pressure, and reducing the irregular crossings that put civilians in front of guns.

Holding the line on Indo-Pacific hedging: an internal-security floor for Bangladesh's balancing act

Bangladesh's hedge between US-China posture, QUAD, Myanmar, and defense procurement is exposed at the border and inside the security apparatus; this brief sets an internal-security floor owned by Bangladesh Police and its supporting bodies.

Hardening Against a Holey Artisan-Style Militant Attack Amid ISKP and JMB Resurgence Risk

With the 2016 Gulshan precedent and renewed ISKP/JMB resurgence risk, Bangladesh Police must lead a layered prevention, detection, and rapid-response posture coordinated with border, immigration, and intelligence bodies.

Close the Smuggling Corridors: A Shared Intelligence and Border-Interdiction Plan for Cattle, Yaba, Phensedyl, Gold, and FX

A sequenced plan led by Bangladesh Police with BGB, Immigration, and the Security Services Division to fuse intelligence, target high-value commodity flows (cattle, narcotics, gold, FX), and measure interdiction against clear operational signals.