A Strategy for Asymmetrical Measures to Reduce Bribery in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt countries with a rampant bribery scenario. In the public service sector of this country, service is almost considered to be unattainable without bribing the service providers. From the viewpoint of specialists and ad-hoc academicians, symmetric punishment measure has been a failed mechanism to stop rampant bribery. This study initially pondered the reasoning behind the severity of the bribery scenario in Bangladesh using the dataset of the National Households Survey's 2017 (NHS) of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). It analyzed the legal jurisdictions of bribery especially the penal code 1860. In this study, following Basu argument on the asymmetric punishment system (harassment bribe) for India, an asymmetric punishment measure has been proposed through a game theoretical explanation about how it will work for Bangladesh instead of the current symmetric one. This game-theoretical analysis shows that asymmetric punishment is more efficient for reducing rampant bribery in a country than symmetric punishment. The study suggests the government initiate an asymmetric punishment policy on bribery with a strict punitive measure and monitoring of bribe-taking which, with a qualitative approach and case study

Prevalence of depression and anxiety among university students during COVID-19 in Bangladesh: A cross sectional study

Introduction: The COVID-19 outbreak has become a challenging crisis for public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the indefinite closure of educational institutions in Bangladesh has a severe impact on the mental health of students. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that might have considerable influence on the mental health of students during quarantine in Bangladesh though they did not explore in previous studies on mental health status during the pandemic. Methodology: A standardized questionnaire was generated using PH9 and GAD7 to measure depression and anxiety levels. A total of 203 responses were collected from university students of Bangladesh through social media. Results: Descriptive statistics found that 37% of the students experienced moderate to severe anxiety while 54% faced moderate to severe depression. Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis found that anxiety is significantly related to gender, students’ current affiliation status in university (e.g., sophomore, masters), and time spent on watching TV while depression was related to family member’s contact with Covid-19, performing multiple activities as hobbies, and spending time in reading and writing. Conclusions: This study adds valuable findings in the existing literature, and it will help Students, university authorities, and government can take productive steps to tackle mental health issue

Impact of COVID19 Pandemic in Bangladesh: A Perspective of Mental Health and Socio-Economic Status

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global labor market has threatened millions of livelihoods globally including Bangladesh. The study attempts to analyze the emerged socio-economic crisis among street vendors’ households in Bangladesh and to explore the psychological impacts among them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the qualitative approach, it was conducted in a total of 16 KIIs from street vendors. The study found that levels of depression and anxiety varied from individual to individual (i.e., street vendors), the households of street vendors with multiple breadwinners or minimum earnings were merely affected by psychological distress whereas the households with single breadwinners or no income had to suffer severe anxiety and depression. Mostly, COVID-19 infected street vendors went through severe mental depression in comparison to others. In conclusion, the paper suggests that policymakers and other respective authorities can effectively address the issues for ensuring the well-being of street vendors in upcoming pandemics