Appalling treatment of migrant worker in Malaysia

The treatment meted out by the Malaysian immigration police to a Bangladeshi worker who has been working legally in the country is simply unacceptable.
14 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Crack down on illegal dredging

How is it that despite there being a law making extraction of sand from riverbeds a punishable offense, influential and politically connected individuals continue to do so, with complete immunity?
14 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Hefazat chief's comment unacceptable

We take serious issue with the comments of the chief of Hefazat-e-Islam (HI), that girls should at most attend school up to class IV or V, since educated girls are prone to be “disobedient”. Not only that, he made those present at the assemblage take a vow to comply with his views.
13 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Two billion jobs to be at risk by 2030

With rapid technological advancement and the ever-increasing digitisation of various industries, a large number of expatriate workers employed in blue-collar jobs may have to return home by 2030 due to job displacement.
13 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Who is maintaining Dhaka's cleanliness?

The piling of garbage under the Mouchak flyover is another example of the sorry state of management plaguing Dhaka city.
12 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Myanmar's latest ploy to push out Rohingyas

After forcing almost a million Rohingyas to flee from their homes and take shelter in Bangladesh, Myanmar is now taking steps to construct a concrete structure in the no-man's land on its border with Bangladesh in Bandarban's Ghumdhum area.
12 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Extrajudicial killings undermine the legal system

According to a local rights organisation, extrajudicial killings crested in the outgoing year, the highest number in our history. The spike can be attributed to the government's anti-drug drives
11 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Stop this delinquency once and for all

The recent incident of clash, allegedly, between two groups of Jubo League men over the collection of extortion money and the demarcation of the territory for extortion in the capital's Mirpur area, that include the vendors using the footpaths in that area, is a cause for concern. In the clash, one Jubo League man was killed and two others were injured.
11 January 2019, 18:00 PM

How did Rohingyas get Bangladeshi passports?

As reported by the domestic and international media, dozens of stateless Rohingya individuals are being deported to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia. They allegedly went to the country with Bangladeshi passports, which they had obtained from smugglers who manufactured fake or counterfeit documents for them. Some of them are now being sent to Bangladesh, having spent years languishing in jail, while some others still remaining there.
10 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Public consultation a must for Delta Plan 2100

A two-day conference jointly organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) and Bangladesh Environmental Network (BEN) is to start from January 11 bringing together environmental experts to inform the public about the government's long-term strategy Delta Plan
10 January 2019, 18:00 PM

India's problematic citizenship bill

The Indian government has followed up on its words and passed a bill in its lower house of parliament that would accord Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who have lived in India for six years, even if they are without any document.
9 January 2019, 18:00 PM

BRTC's nagging pain

The temporary shutdown of a depot of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), which pushed on for the second day on Wednesday before being called off at midday, is the latest indication of the sad state of affairs in this very important state entity.
9 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Great expectations from PM's fourth term

We congratulate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she begins her fourth term as the premier of the country, with three consecutive terms running to her credit.
8 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Address RMG workers' grievances

The Dhaka-Mymensingh highway near the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has been the flashpoint for ongoing workers' protest the last two days.
8 January 2019, 18:00 PM

New cabinet with new faces

The prime minister has taken a bold step in infusing the cabinet, more than 60 percent, with new faces, a good number of them young and first-time MPs. This is perhaps the first cabinet of Sheikh Hasina where so many old stalwarts of the party, and of her allies, have made way for so many untried ones.
7 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Deadly skin whitening

A recent study by a coalition of NGOs from around the world, the Zero Mercury Working Group, has found that levels of mercury in skin-whitening products being sold in the country are dangerously high—ranging from 90 to 16,000 times higher than the 1ppm (parts per million) limit set by 2013 Minamata Convention on Mercury. Given the deadly nature of mercury, which has the potential to cause permanent skin damage, kidney failure, skin cancer and other fatal diseases, this signifies a gross failure of the Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI).
7 January 2019, 18:00 PM

DMCH's decision would save more lives

The decision by the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) authorities to set up all medical test equipment under one roof is an excellent idea and will hopefully make life much easier for patients. For far too long have patients had to run around from one corner to another to get the necessary tests done in nearly all the hospitals of our country.
6 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Another case of political vendetta

First a woman was raped in Noakhali for voting for BNP and now an entire village has been put under siege for the very same reason.
6 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Illegal stone extraction must stop

A picture published in this daily yesterday depicts how a vast area of land in the Bichhanakandi village of Sylhet's Gowainghat upazila has been destroyed because of indiscriminate stone extraction. The village and its surrounding areas are now under threat of land subsidence.
5 January 2019, 18:00 PM

New tax breaks for exporters

It is interesting to note that the government, which had reduced tax-at-source for exporters to 0.60 percent (for all goods except jute) back in September, has now reduced it further to 0.25 percent as the new government is about to be sworn in.
5 January 2019, 18:00 PM