When There Is No Warrant
On the afternoon of December 29, 2017, Nurnabi Sarkar, a senior reporter from Jamuna Television was having tea at a stall near the capital's Technical bus stop in Mirpur. Sarkar was waiting for his aunt, who was due to arrive from Sirajganj. All of a sudden, two police constables came to him and said that their senior official was asking for him.
1 March 2018
Another BCL Casualty
When Rafiqul Islam, a college lecturer of Kaliganj upazila in Jhenaidah district, received a call from his son Ahsan Rafiq at 2:00 am on February 6, 2016, he felt a pang of anxiety. Ahsan studied at the Department of Disaster Science and Management at the University of Dhaka and used to live in the veranda of Salimullah Muslim (SM) Hall, as he did not have an assigned room.
22 February 2018
How safe is your child online?
Almost every parent has asked this question at least once—how do you protect your children from the dark side of the internet?
15 February 2018
Are we slowly killing our children?
The percentage of global smokers has dropped in the past 25 years, but in countries like Bangladesh, where as many as 40 percent of
8 February 2018
One less park for Old Dhaka
Did you know that less than 0.30 percent of land in all of Dhaka city is used for recreational purposes?
18 January 2018
Coping with injustice
It is five in the afternoon, on an ordinary weekday.
4 January 2018
Into the fountain of enlightenment
Do you love reading? If yes, then this article is especially for you. What if there was a space in busy Dhaka where you could spend hour after hour browsing shelves and finding one gem after another?
7 December 2017
Behind the scenes of NCTB's blunders
For a few years now, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), the largest state-owned publishing house in the world, has been immensely criticised by civil society for their misprints, factual errors and ideologically inappropriate content.
30 November 2017
The inhumane human act of animal abuse
On November 3, a video of a stray dog getting beaten in a bathroom of a residence in Kazipara in Mirpur went viral on Facebook. The dog had supposedly bitten a 12-year-old in the region and as a result, the child's uncle, the watchman of the residence, and an accomplice were punishing it.
16 November 2017
The abandoned mothers
Thirteen-year-old Rupa Akter begs on a foot over-bridge in the capital's Shewrapara area, with her eight-month-old son, Nirob. Akter lives in a makeshift house (if one can call the threadbare tarp tent a house) under the bridge—her unemployed husband left her and married another woman during her pregnancy.
2 November 2017
Financing tertiary education
Every year, after the university admission tests, we find students who score well, but cannot afford their educational expenses, and eventually drop out. Private banks, on the other hand, offer many lucrative loan products for their customers, including education loans.
26 October 2017
Are we covering suicide responsibly?
The month of October is yet to come to an end, but the country has already witnessed at least 15 deaths by suicide. It won’t be a surprise if that number increases—statistics show that thousands commit suicide in Bangladesh every year.
17 October 2017
Going gently into that good night
A look into what palliative care is available for those with life-limiting illnesses in Bangladesh.
5 October 2017
Puppetry: The dying art form
It is the year 1971. Standing beside a green paddy field, Yahya Khan and a Razakar are locked in a heated deabate against a Bengali farmer.
14 September 2017
Hustlers on the loose
Thirty-eight-year-old Anisur Rahman had decided to send his sister BDT 10,000 through a bKash outlet on his way home from work. Eid was nearby and his sister needed some extra cash. Upon reaching the outlet, Anisur discovered that he was not the only one who urgently needed to transfer money. He was asked to write down his sister Jakia Sultana's account number and wait. A few minutes later, the agent informed Anisur that his money had been transferred and asked him to call Sultana to confirm.
7 September 2017
I deserve the blue
When 13-year-old Rafiul Islam Rabby was having trouble breathing, his mother Rabeya Begum didn't take it very seriously—not initially, at least. A week after, she noticed her son was coughing and wheezing throughout the night, unable to sleep. This time, Rabeya Begum took her son to the hospital.
31 August 2017
Is 'politics' a dirty word?
With no democratic student governments in private universities, what recourse do students really have?
10 August 2017
How safe are our schools?
A recent inspection report by Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD) classified more than 89 percent of 933 education institutions 'Risky' and nine percent 'Very Risky'.
3 August 2017
Are the students collateral damage?
We are accustomed to students protesting to postpone their exam dates. This time, however, students of seven government colleges took to the streets demanding the announcement of exam dates and timely publishing of their results.
25 July 2017
The never ending cycle
From January 2012 to June 2017, a total of 388 incidents of violence against domestic workers have taken place, and, of them, only 161 cases have been filed.
20 July 2017