Every Pahela Baishakh comes with a new rhythm and new promises, but a common thread is the time spent with loved ones, the sights

The prime minister's announcement to do away with the quota system for public service exams is a very welcome decision and we are all relieved to know that students have called off their demonstrations until the government publishes a gazette notification formalising the abolishment of the quota system. We hope that the necessary implementation process will be initiated soon.

The statement of the visiting minister of Myanmar, Win Myat Aye, that his country would like to take back its Rohingya nationals sheltered in Bangladesh as soon as possible should be backed up by substantiated actions. So far, Myanmar has been procrastinating and delaying the process by putting newer conditions.

This newspaper ran two reports yesterday that revealed a positive picture of the economy's future. The first one describes the government's plan to provide a handful of incentives including tax exemptions to the pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturers, with a view to capitalising on the patent waiver for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products extended to the least developed countries.

A picture on the back page of this newspaper on April 11 shows a number of young men scaling an iron railing on the Dhaka-Aricha highway to cross the road in Savar Bus Stand area. Such sights are very common both on highways and on city roads. What it points to is our disregard for traffic rules, which are there for public safety, but apparently our citizens think it quite within their rights to break the law whenever they feel like it.

We have been covering the issue of reckless disposal of hospital waste and the health hazards they pose to the public for some years now. Unfortunately, our words have fallen on deaf ears of the management of hospitals and diagnostic centres.

The brutal torture of Omar Faruq, a 12-year-old madrasa student, by his teacher in Mymensingh has again proved the ineffectiveness of the laws to protect our children from various forms of violence that they are subject to. In this particular case, the child was not only beaten up but confined inside the madrasa for three days. He is still in an unstable condition and undergoing treatment in MMCH.

We strongly condemn the violence perpetrated by all sides—protesters, law enforcement, and BCL activists. On the one hand were police excesses in the form of teargas shells, rubber bullets, water cannons and batons which led to many injuries, including those sustained by journalists. There was clearly disproportionate use of force by the police. Photos of protesters bleeding profusely from serious injuries are already doing the rounds on social media. To

Images of the aftermath of what has been claimed by medical aid groups operating in Douma as a chemical attack on the besieged rebel-held Syrian town cannot fail to horrify. At least 49 people are reported to have been killed in the attack on April 7. Videos published by international media show lifeless bodies of children, women and men, some foaming at the mouth.

That very little progress has been made with regard to the repatriation of the Rohingyas has been amply expressed by the prime minister in her meeting with the secretary general of Amnesty International very recently. The statement of the PM's special advisor on foreign affairs that unless sanction is imposed on Myanmar, their repatriation and a sustainable solution to the Rohingya issue are very unlikely, speaks of the intractability of the problem.

More than 55,000 vehicles, including 3,740 belonging to different ministries and government agencies, have not renewed their fitness certificates for more than a decade, according to official data. One can only assume that the actual number of such vehicles is much greater, even though some on the list may no longer be running according to BRTA.

Access to healthcare is a basic right for every citizen. But for the poor it is a luxury they can ill afford.

It is astonishing that a large segment of the expanded Dhaka-Chittagong highway, that overran time by six years, has fallen into a state of disrepair within months after its completion.

The government made lofty promises when the Rampal project was launched in the Sundarbans. Amidst a national outcry to protect the mangrove forests, we were told that the project would have no impact on the natural habitat of Sundarbans and the forest would be protected.

The Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital was set up to serve two purposes. First it would open the doors to cost effective treatment for BMT (around Tk 10 lakh) which costs Tk 25 lakh or more in foreign countries.

Yesterday, we reported how an act of gross negligence on the part of a government agency has turned out to be a disaster for hundreds of farmers in Bagerhat. When Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) completed its dredging project in Mongla-Ghashiyakhali channel in 2005, the contractor dumped the dredged silt on private lands instead of carrying out proper disposal, turning nearby fertile farm

The unfortunate case of a 22-year-old college boy who lost his hand in the midst of an insane race between two buses shows just why road safety in Dhaka is one of its greatest development challenges.

This year so far has been a particularly good one for farmers in the haor region of Sylhet as there have been no flash floods this season. As we already know, flash floods in the past two years had devastating consequences for people living in haor areas. But a year later, one thing still stands out. Construction of embankments, it seems, is far from being completed and anomalies are apparently rife, as per a report published in this paper on Tuesday.

We fail to understand precisely why 65 out of 176 government primary schools of Rangpur's Badarganj upazila have no headmasters. The schools in question have been in operation without headmasters for a decade or more.

The world overserved Autism Awareness Day 2018 on April 2. Official statistics say there are about 44,000 autistic children across the country. However, because of the social stigma which still surrounds the condition despite increased awareness, it is possible that the number is actually much greater.