The fiasco over the ongoing fast-unto-death of teachers demanding inclusion in the government's Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme and how it came about despite there being a policy to execute the scheme, bespeaks a noble effort that's gone haywire thanks to neglect and systemic failure.

On January 3, we reported that four workers were killed in a landslide in Jaflong while they were extracting stones from a quarry illegally. But, further developments on the story, reported on January 4, reveal far worse.

Three pictures in this paper yesterday depict the utter callousness with which we have degraded our natural resources because of greed and indifference.

Last year, the cost of living in Dhaka hit a four-year high. It rose by an alarming 8.44 percentage points from that of 2016.

We are alarmed to know that diphtheria, a highly contagious disease, has made a sudden comeback in Bangladesh.

Despite seemingly insurmountable odds, the government has started the free distribution of 35.42 crore copies of textbooks to more than 4.37 crore students nationwide.

We are dismayed to see the lack of efficient teachers leading to poor results for board examinations published on Saturday.

Much progress has been made towards economic development in the last year but sadly the same cannot be said about the state of human rights in the country.

We congratulate the Bangladeshi audience, all the law enforcement agencies and others but for whose cooperation this magnificent festival would not have taken place. Most of all, we congratulate Bengal Foundation, its leadership and all its team members for a superb job done.

2017 has been a year of great ups and downs. It has been a year where we have seen significant improvements in the economic sector in particular, as evident from our high GDP growth rate and per capita income, as well as the ICT sector, which is set to grow even faster in future.

The government's Economic Relations Division has found that slow implementation in several ministries has sat on the back burner several important projects.

We have been expressing our alarm about the continued degradation of the Dhaleswari river for an umpteen number of times and yet our concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

We agree with what the prime minister has suggested when it comes to doctors being on station at upazila-level hospitals. This has been a major problem for decades.

As part of an initiative to rehabilitate prison inmates, the government has recently opened a mini-garment factory inside Narayanganj District Jail.

A study financed by the fisheries and livestock ministry has found that in the last seven years the Halda river has lost 26 of its fish species.

Two individuals and five local IT firms were awarded The Daily Star, in association with Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and The Daily Star for their outstanding contribution to

We are relieved to know that ex-Chhatra League leader Arif Hossain Howlader has finally been arrested for allegedly raping six women.

Drug dealing is serious business. Unfortunately, six out of 10 accused in drug-related cases got off scot-free in the first nine months of 2017.

The findings of a study conducted by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (Barc) this year on the quality of drinking water is horrifying.

We applaud the efforts of selfless endeavours of missionaries who have been serving the poor and needy in Bangladesh. On December 25, The Daily Star reported on the contributions of a Christian charity where around 100 people of different faith groups, who suffer from a number of problems, are taken care of by the nuns trained as paramedics and nurses.