Editorial | The Daily Star

  • Bangladesh’s slow progress in reducing hunger

    It is unfortunate that Bangladesh has gone two notches down in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) this year, ranking 88th among the 117 countries, whereas last year, the country ranked 86th out of the 119 countries.

  • 17 years of fighting a case of ‘mistaken identity’

    It is disturbing to know about Bablu Shiekh, a man who has had to fight a legal battle for 17 long years before he was finally cleared of charges for a crime he did not commit.

  • Buet students take oath to resist violence

    The horrific murder of Abrar Fahad has galvanised general students of Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (Buet) into action. In an unprecedented move,

  • PM’s call appropriate

    The prime minister struck the nail on the head when she called for alertness on everyone’s part to prevent road accidents.

  • Bank robbery over four years!

    It is mystifying that nobody knows what happened to the Tk 4,500 crore that was swindled out of BASIC Bank between 2009 and 2013. The investigators of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have not been able to find any clue as to what happened to this astronomical amount and has not submitted any charge sheet in the 56 cases filed in 2015 over its disappearance.

  • Overseas labour markets shrinking

    In the first eight months of the year, Bangladeshis got 4,17,084 jobs abroad, 2,08,536 fewer than the government’s projected number for this period.

  • Kurds in the line of fire

    Kurdish fighters constituted some of the most effective forces in the fight against ISIS in the long-drawn-out Syrian conflict.

  • Violence against children goes on unabated

    Words are not enough to express our shock and horror at the cruel way Tuhin Miah, a five-year-old child, was murdered at the Kejaura village of Sunamganj’s Derai upazila on October 14. The disturbing details of the torture and murder make us wonder if we still live in the dark ages, in the absence of any law and order. Otherwise, how can people kill a child in such a brutal manner?

  • Why are secondary school students suffering?

    According to the Education Watch Report 2018-2019, which is prepared by Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), 55 percent of English and mathematics teachers in secondary schools have not been specifically trained to teach these two important subjects.

  • Why foil a peaceful rally?

    The police foiling a “civic mourning rally” brought out by Jatiya Oikyafront to protest the murder of Buet student Abrar Fahad is disturbing.

  • Owning a home shouldn’t be a rarity

    Shelter is one of three basic needs of people, apart from being a constitutional right, that governments should take as an obligation to ensure.

  • Bending the rules for wilful defaulters

    Analysts again sounded the alarm on the government’s lack of will to arrest bad loans which, according to the International Monetary Fund, stood at Tk 240, 167 crore as of June.

  • Jamuna gobbles up homes in Tangail

    Water flow of the Jamuna River has been rising steadily and is threatening homes and livelihoods of hundreds in Kalihati and Bhuapur upazilas of Tangail.

  • Only banning student politics is not the solution

    The ban on the activities of student-led political organisations on Buet campus, announced by the university administration on Friday, should be seen as a first step toward the wider institutional reforms that are needed to make the campus safe for students.

  • Liability for financial anomalies

    A recent ACC report has found the Public Works Department (PWD) entirely responsible for the financial anomalies at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project. Earlier, two probe committees formed by the ministry found anomalies involving Tk 36.4 crore in purchasing furniture and other household items for the officials of the plant in Pabna in the now well-known and much-talked-about pillow saga.

  • Bangladesh slips in GCI ranking

    In the latest edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) unveiled on October 9, Bangladesh has slipped two places to 105th position.

  • The power of girls is limitless

    For policymakers, parents, teachers and communities in general, the fact that investing in girl children is one of the major catalysts of development cannot be emphasised enough. We have enough proof of this in many benchmarks of a nation’s progress. Girls are outshining boys in the SSC, HSC and equivalent examinations. Girls have given exemplary performances in football and cricket despite social constraints and logistical limitations.

  • University authorities must take charge

    We welcome the PM’s announcement that she would direct the authorities to ensure that criminal activities in the universities are stopped.

  • Bangladesh Bank

    Is it ignorance or incompetence?

    When the Bangladesh Bank (BB) hands over the remittance award to a known loan defaulter and money launderer, we must take a moment to reflect on the irony of the matter! By failing to verify properly the nominated persons and institutions before announcing the awards, and then embarrassing the finance minister who handed over the prizes, BB’s management has illustrated a level of incompetence unheard of.

  • BCL’s torture in Buet dormitories

    The killing of Abrar exposes a grim picture about the quality, more exactly the absence, of administrative control in the running of the university, particularly of the students’ halls. It would not be wrong to suggest that what we find in Buet is fairly representative of the state of affairs in most other public universities.

  • Refugee influx raises local poverty levels

    According to World Bank’s “Bangladesh Poverty Assessment Report” released on October 7, the influx of the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar has raised local poverty level by approximately 52 percent, while the average daily wage in the area has dropped by about 24 percent between August 2017 and May 2018.

  • Unparalleled brutality

    We are benumbed with shock at the brutal killing of a second-year Buet (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) student, Abrar Fahad, at the hands of Chhatra League members who had called him ostensibly for “questioning” regarding his possible involvement with Chhatra Shibir.

  • Saving our rivers from grabbers

    It is encouraging that the state minister for shipping has taken a strong position with regard to protecting our rivers from encroachment and pollution.

  • The emperor’s fall

    The arrest of Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat—president of Jubo League Dhaka South unit, also a casino kingpin—on October 6, by Rapid Action Battalion, along with Enamul Haque Arman, vice president of the same unit of the ruling party’s youth wing, is commendable.

  • A dangerous way to live

    A picture in the front page of this paper, apart from speaking a thousand words, demonstrates the utter negligence of duty and indifference to the need to ensure public safety by the BIWTA and the local administration, as well as the gross disregard of the public for their own safety.

  • Pleasure trips on public money

    A news report published in The Daily Star about the visit of an eight-member team of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University (JKKNIU) to Europe to “inspect lifts” has brought to light the hidden talents of the university’s academics—that of being technical experts too.

  • Perennial manpower crisis in hospitals

    We are dismayed by the poor state of affairs at the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College (SBMC) hospital in Barishal where, according to a report by The Daily Star, over 43 percent of posts for doctors are lying vacant, disrupting crucial medical services.

  • Serial defaulter asks for restructuring loans

    The case of Mother Textile warrants everyone’s attention. This company has had outstanding loans of Tk 1,168 crore since 1993 and accounts for 27 percent of Rupali Bank’s defaulted loans as of June, 2019.

  • Electrocution kills thousands yearly

    We seldom give much thought to the people who are disabled or who die due to electrocution by live wire that are found dangling on roads.

  • Why paddy prices are still low?

    Despite a raft of measures undertaken by the government, which include a 20 percent incentive on rice export and Tk 3,000 crore subsidy for farmers to buy agricultural tools, the price of paddy has remained low for the past three months.

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