IN THE silent shadows of diplomacy and under the smoke of geopolitical cordiality, a darker truth is unfolding at the borderlands between Bangladesh and India. A truth so grotesque, so cruel and so systemic that one begins to question not only the morality of the world鈥檚 largest democracy, but also its very claim to being a civilised, law-abiding state. India, under...
YET another train collision in Lalmonirhat lays bare the appalling state of railway safety, constrained by mismanagement and institutional negligence. Two air-conditioned compartments of the Lalmoni Express derailed after it had collided with the Burimari鈥揚arbatipur commuter train in the BDR Gate area on July 28. The incident left at least eight passengers injured, two of...
ROAD safety has continuously been put at bay as the number of fatal accidents has only increased for seven years since the road safety movement in 2018 after a bus killed two college students in Dhaka on July 29 that year. The government made the Road Transport Act 2018 in September that year. Police data show that 2,635 died in road accidents...
ISRAELIS do not see the images of skeletal corpses of Palestinian children who they have starved to death as a curse. They do not see the slain families they gun down at food hubs 鈥� designed not to deliver aid but lure starving Palestinians into a massive concentration camp in the south of Gaza in preparation for deportation 鈥� as a war crime. Israelis do not look at...
ABU Sayed, a student activist at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, was killed on July 16, 2024. The death became a flashpoint in what would grow into the July uprising. While the Awami League government, toppled in the uprising,聽 then claimed that Sayed had been killed with bricks and firearms by other protesters, video footage shared widely on social media...
OVER the past few decades, education has undergone a profound transformation, shifting from rigid, traditional models to more flexible and inclusive approaches. Alternative education 鈥� which includes Montessori and Waldorf schools, homeschooling, online learning and experiential programs 鈥� is increasingly seen as a remedy for the limitations of conventional...
YOU could almost hear the plastic of the television screen bending from the weight of it. Names. Three of them. Bright as blood under fluorescent lights. Allegations. Extortion. Corruption. One crore taka, just like that 鈥� enough to make you choke on your morning tea...
DHAKA appears to be hurtling towards an ecological disaster as its last remaining trees and water bodies are being wiped out in the name of development. A recent Change Initiative study shows that in 44 years, the capital has lost a half its tree cover and 60 per cent of its water bodies. The research shows that green coverage fell from 21.6 per cent in 1980 to 11.6 per cent in...
THIS is unfortunate that the interim government, which assumed office after the overthrow of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024 in an uprising that began on July 1 that year as student protests against civil service job reservations, has yet to comprehensively enlist all who died and became wounded at the hand of law enforcers who were aided by the...
THE bronze sculpture by Marie Uchytilov谩, Memorial to the Children Victims of the War, depicting the 82 children of Lidice murdered at Che艂mno in 1942, serves as a haunting reminder of the barbarity that defined the Nazi-led Lidice massacre. In reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazis razed the village of Lidice, executed its men, and deported its women and children to death camps...
WHEN a new episode begins in Bangladesh, it often ends not in reform but in distortion. The story of higher education is no different. Public and private universities are said to be growing in number every few years. Yet in a country where even the four major autonomous public universities struggle to recruit talented and committed teachers, there is little...
SMARTPHONES are now ubiquitous fixtures at emergencies and disasters. The moment something terrible happens, a bus crashes on a Dhaka highway, a school building erupts in flames, many bystanders reflexively raise their phones. Instead of rushing to help, some want to capture every horrifying detail for likes and shares...
BANGLADESH is known as one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of global climate change, but the country is moving fast from the vulnerability to a become climate-resilient society through various policy responses and climate actions at various levels. The country has formulated a set of policies, plans and strategies to address climate change through...
THIS is deplorable that the authorities have failed to address the issues that have rendered Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation Industrial Estate 2 in Rajshahi unattractive to entrepreneurs. Launched in July 2022 as a Tk 1.5 billion project, the estate was meant to create 10,000 jobs and stimulate small and medium enterprises in the region. It, however, remains...
THE interim government鈥檚 instituting a national pay commission to decide on an increase in the salary of public servants in six months has come as a surprise to economists, especially amidst a chronic revenue shortfall, growing government borrowing and increased inflation. The pay commission has come in less than a month after the interim government introduced...