Manifesto implementation main challenge”. Thus read the headline on the online edition of The Daily Star on January 7. It quoted the General Secretary of Awami League (AL) talking to reporters at Bangabhaban after the oath-taking ceremony of cabinet ministers.

I had one of my most memorable “urban” experiences in Dhaka on Election Day. I roamed aimlessly around the city. The streets were filled with relaxed pedestrians. It was probably psychological, but the air felt fresh, even a bit aromatic! The usual cacophonous soundtrack of Dhaka streets was absent. There was no menacing truck to overrun me as I walked, no incessant honking to make me neurotic. Rickshaws appeared like the chariots of utopia. I saw carefree birds in city trees, chirping. It was an incredible feeling in the midst of our familiar congested and chaotic Dhaka.

The gang-rape of a 35-year-old woman, a mother of four young children, because she insisted on exercising her right to vote for whoever she wanted to, has been the most devastating story for us ordinary citizens and especially for women of this country. It is hard to find words to describe the disillusionment and anguish I know I share with most of my fellow citizens that such horrendous violence should be inflicted as a twisted form of political revenge. While all the rapists have been arrested, even the man who “ordered” the 10 to 12 men to rape that woman “to teach her a lesson” for challenging him, what we cannot escape is the realisation of how far the culture of impunity of political elites and their cohorts has gone.

Every year, around this time, I get the urge to write a column on the global economy or the outlook for the new year.

Despite all the shenanigans that had been resorted to, to win the election, we will have a new parliament for another five years.

Despite not being a leap year, 2018 for many in Bangladesh is more than a leap year, consisting of 370 or even more days. With a moratorium on New Year's Eve parties, at least on the ones outdoors and on rooftops (no mention of backyards, since they are practically extinct), most have pushed back the partying by a week, unless they are already in Bangkok.

I had concluded my previous column with the assessment that the Awami League would in no way countenance a situation where the BNP secured the second highest number of seats so that it could not lay claim to being the opposition in the parliament.

As we start the new year of 2019, we have 11 years to 2030 which is an important year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate change goals of mitigation as well as adaptation under the Paris Agreement.

Election Day in Bangladesh is usually a festive occasion. The weather is wonderfully crisp. We are in our Friday best. With friends and

In the next 24 hours Bangladesh will have a national election. The question is what kind of an election will it be? It has already become unprecedented on many counts: the incumbent is seeking a third term, an election is being held under an incumbent government which is being participated in

The young man delivered the hot biriyani at our door. I thanked him and paid him his company's due, and a little something extra for his service.

Ever since it started existing, governments have had a love-hate relationship with social media. Predictably, the romance starts to sour when social media contains criticism of the

There is only one political party in the country that understands and indulges in professional politics. It can think and plan ahead to achieve a predetermined objective (perpetuation of power).

As 2018 comes to an end, it can be said that the year has proved to be a major tipping point for the issue of climate change globally as well as in Bangladesh.

Half an hour away from home, the air smells the same; the people seem similar, but there's definitely a lack of ostentation. One does not drive through streets of Kolkata in the latest cars; the roads are still swamped with yellow taxis and a touch of Uber and Ola has changed the scene only a bit.

In their election manifestos political parties would appear prudent if they address cities as the frontier for fighting the adverse effects of climate change. In the era of global warming, smart climate-change strategists around the world view the city as both a villain and an opportunity. Because, as much as they contribute to economic growth, cities also produce

In its manifesto for the upcoming elections, the Awami League has pledged to strengthen the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), mass media and the judiciary.

From all accounts, it appears that COP24, the recently concluded climate summit held in Katowice, Poland, was a mixed success.

They do think black and white, well dark and white. The fact that it takes 190 years for the British to eventually leave their Jewel in the Crown just shows how easily the “darker” world can be manipulated.

Architects, not all, will perhaps offer a convincing reason for choosing the subject and the profession. Dialectics may vary from