Can Bangladesh bring back the Chakaria Sundarbans?
18 July 2026
A vast, barren landscape stretches to the horizon—devoid of trees and even sufficient grass.
18 July 2026
Don’t leave Kaiputras behind in the name of development
22 June 2026
In Dakshin Alipur of Satkhira Sadar upazila, a tragedy largely invisible to the wider public is unfolding. It’s taking place not in some remote char or forest but beside an important highway.
22 June 2026
The killing of Sonadia’s mangroves: An eyewitness account
13 June 2026
Horrific. Thousands of acres of mangroves have been wiped out. Across the landscape, fresh scars mark where trees were recently felled and burned.
13 June 2026
A bizarre mission to restore the Madhupur Sal forest
21 February 2026
The most recent Sal forest restoration drive by the government was ceremonially launched on October 18 last year. Acacia saplings were felled at the social forestry plot of Md Aminul in the Dhorung Par Tilertal area of the Dokhla Range.
21 February 2026
Beyond Bangla: Why Bangladesh’s other languages matter
21 February 2026
Many of the mother tongues spoken by Adivasi and other smaller ethnic communities are at risk of extinction.
21 February 2026
Those who remain invisible in Bangladesh’s political imagination
31 January 2026
The most invisible and unheard communities in Bangladesh include, among others, ethnic communities or adivasis, tea workers,
31 January 2026
Unsustainable forestry practices / Can the govt restore Madhupur Sal Forest?
27 March 2025
The underlying factors of deforestation must come under objective scrutiny.
27 March 2025
Stop the exploitation of tea workers in Bangladesh and fix the industry
7 October 2024
Equal opportunities are no longer enough to bring the tea workers in Bangladesh out of their current conditions.
7 October 2024
Kaiputra: The untold story of a discriminated and excluded community
The public, in general, also uses the same word but Kawara, in Bangla, is used in a derogatory way implying the community that lives with pigs.
1 June 2024
Rubber: A death sentence to natural forests
Rubber, be it in the CHT, Madhupur or in the tea gardens, may bring some economic benefits to the state and private entrepreneurs, but in general it has not been beneficial to the people who once used these lands.
20 March 2024
Owners win, workers lose
It is a shame that the wage board completely failed in framing and presenting acceptable recommendations on the tea workers’ wage structure.
24 August 2023
How forestry projects destroy forests
Though eucalyptus was eradicated from the public forest land, social forestry continues at a very high cost to natural ecosystems.
21 March 2023
Why do women in tea gardens face higher reproductive health risks?
Women in the tea gardens suffer from a host of reproductive and health issues, which remain unaddressed.
7 March 2023
No justice in paying tea workers’ arrears
The owners’ fickleness about signing of the agreement has come as a big shock to tea garden workers.
29 January 2023
Expand social protection in the new year
The government has a huge task ahead in terms of making its social security programmes effective.
1 January 2023
Tea workers’ strike ends. What’s next?
Tea workers may not have had their demands fulfilled, but their united voice brings in a new era of workers' rights.
3 September 2022
Fairer wages, or more broken promises for tea workers?
In the best interests of the tea sector, tea garden owners and government functionaries should promote true trade unionism.
22 August 2022
Why are the tea workers on strike?
It is the responsibility of the government to ensure justice and protection for tea workers
14 August 2022
Ending deforestation by 2030: An empty promise?
Bangladesh is amazingly green. Yet, historically, our natural forests have always been limited. In 2000, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics estimated our total forest area to be 2.6 million hectares.
21 April 2022
Why do we need an artificial lake in Modhupur forest?
A beautiful baid may soon turn into a little artificial lake in Modhupur forest area. Baid is low land to grow rice and other crops in, between chala (high) land with sal stands.
1 April 2022
The strong women of tea gardens
It was midday on October 6, 2018. A woman was sitting under a mahogany tree at Sreemangal Upazila Health Complex in Moulvibazar. Another woman was holding a newborn wrapped in a blanket.
26 December 2021
Will the tea workers get the wages they deserve?
An unthinkable and deplorable situation has risen out of the rigid position taken by the Minimum Wage Board (MWB) that was formed to fix the minimum wage for the hapless tea workers of Bangladesh.
11 October 2021
Tea workers routinely ignored during the Covid-19 pandemic
Paban Paul, 38, a tea worker of Rampur Tea Garden in Bahubal upazila (Habiganj district), died of Covid-19 on July 6. Rampur Tea Garden is a furi (division) of Rashidpur Tea Estate, owned by Finlay Tea Co. Ltd.
23 August 2021
An autopsy of the tea workers’ bizarre wage structure
The Minimum Wage Board (MWB), formed in October 2019, declared a draft wage structure for tea garden workers through a gazette notice published on June 13, 2021.
1 July 2021
Modhupur forest: The sylvan aroma is gone
Once a pure jungle, Modhupur sal forest is now, for the most part, a motley assortment of vast banana, pineapple and spice orchards.
10 February 2021
Time to pay just wages to tea workers
Ratan Shadhu (56), a tea worker from Doloi Tea Garden in Moulvibazar district, earns a daily cash wage of Tk 102 (USD 1.2).
8 September 2020
The indigenous communities of the plains need urgent social protection
The indigenous communities of the plains of Bangladesh, including those in the tea gardens, are excluded and marginalised for their identity, occupations, casteism, culture, geographical locations, and various other reasons.
9 August 2020
Why are tea workers out of the ambit of labour law?
The tea plantation workers (TPWs) in some 60 tea gardens in Sylhet stopped work for a day or two in the beginning of the countrywide lockdown.
30 April 2020