The recommendations that the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) committee has come up with recently in regard to Bangladesh are well overdue. The committee has expressed concerns about allegations of torture against law enforcers, and secret detention and enforced disappearance of citizens. Despite the fact that Bangladesh is a signatory to the UNCAT Charter, it took the country 20 long years to submit its first-ever report, which the committee noted with regret.

In a report on the annual development programme (ADP), prepared by the planning ministry and shared in a review meeting by the minister, we find that most ministries prepare projects without proper feasibility and technical design.

What we are hearing from entomologists in the city is that hay, when wet, provides suitable conditions for the Aedes mosquito to lay its eggs. If there is consistent rain, then hay, a staple food for cattle, which have begun to arrive in their thousands for Eid-ul-Adha, could potentially pose a new level of threat for the expansion of the dengue outbreak. So what is to be done? Experts believe that if the cattle grounds can be kept clean by actively seeking out breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquito, the city can be made safe.

It is quite confounding that the drives carried out by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) recently, with the aim to identify the hospitals, dispensaries and diagnostic centres charging people more than the government-declared fees for dengue tests and selling medicines for mosquito control at very high prices, have been brought to a pause for reasons we fail to understand.

While it is good to know that the police have finally submitted the charge-sheet in a case filed against four road safety campaigners in Chattogram last year during the nationwide road safety movement, there remains some confusion regarding the reasons why they were implicated under Section 57 of the ICT Act in the first place.

We are outraged at the alleged gang-rape of a woman by an OC and other policemen at the Khulna Railway Station on August 2. From what we learned from reports that have emerged since, the accused allegedly have committed the crime in a very organised manner: detaining the woman inside a train, forcing her to disembark from there and taking her to the police station only to rape her. What is more, the alleged rapists even filed a case against the victim for possessing five bottles of Phensedyl reportedly to cover up their crime.

We are left surprised and confused by the expatriates’ welfare minister’s suggestion that the police not record cases under the Anti-trafficking Act against recruiting agents should workers, sent abroad with proper documents, fall victim to trafficking. The rationale behind this suggestion stems from the fact that the Anti-trafficking Act carries harsher punishment (up to death penalty).

A news report that was published in the front page of a leading Bangla newspaper on August 6 gives us pause to think about the flagrant way in which money is spent by the Election Commission (EC). EC records show that each commissioner has given 520 speeches in 18 days, which translates into 14 public speeches every day—a feat that is not possible for any human being!

In an unprecedented but not quite unexpected move, the BJP government has scrapped the 70-year-old Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that had accorded a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). In fact, this was one of the points in the BJP election manifesto in the last general election which it has followed through on. But not only that, the BJP government has also bifurcated the state into two with J&K and Ladakh becoming Union Territories, the latter coming under the direct rule of New Delhi.

Following the signing of the CHT Peace Accord in 1997 between the then government and Parbatya Chattogram Jana Sanghati Samiti, the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission was formed in 1999 in line with the accord. However, it is extremely unfortunate that two decades after its formation, the commission has not been able to solve a single land dispute, even as the complaints keep piling up. Around 22,000 complaints have been filed with the commission since 1999, but the commission remains ineffective due to a variety of reasons—primary among them being the lack of a set of rules and regulations needed for the commission to do its job.

A recent study has revealed that some 53.8 lakh jobs will be lost within the next two decades because of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. According to the study, five specialised industries—garment, food and agriculture, furniture, tourism and hospitality, and leather and footwear—will be at risk because of the adoption of new technologies. And of the five sectors, garment will be the worst hit, with as many as 27 lakh jobs likely vanishing by 2041. Such predictions are worrying since we do not seem to be prepared to face the challenges of technological advancement. So determining how we would respond to these new challenges is of crucial importance.

It seems that the matter of public safety features very low on the list of priorities of various ministries and their subordinate agencies.

Courts in our country continue to struggle with a huge backlog of cases. And many cases filed under some special laws involving rape

Yet again, blood was spilled on the roads. And yet again, there were unfortunate deaths and injuries thanks to unruly driving. According to a report by The Daily Star on Saturday, eleven people died in road accidents in different parts of the country within the space of a day.

Fifteen hundred fisher folks living in the vicinity of the Dhaleshwari River have had to change their profession. Some have become day labourers, others rickshaw pullers. Because, the river is no longer capable of sustaining marine life. Authorities forced the tannery

Three workers died while three others suffered injuries upon inhaling toxic gas at a shipbreaking yard in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila on July 31.

It is heartening to see the finance minister getting tough with the Basic Bank.

Much of the discordant note that one witnesses in society today is due to a lack of tolerance, mores and values.

As this newspaper reported yesterday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimates that around 7.6 million people who have been affected by flood are at risk of hunger and disease.

The dengue epidemic in the country has gripped everyone by fear. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), a record 1,845 patients outside Dhaka were diagnosed with the viral disease on July 30.