S Dilip Roy

Aklima Begum, 22, wife of farmer Mohor Ali of remote char ‘Karai Barisal’ in Chilmari upazila of Kurigram, gave birth to her first child four years ago suffering from various complications.

Although horse-drawn carts are a thing of the past in most parts of the world, these outdated buggies still facilitate movement across 450 char areas in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat.

The biggest peanut market in Rangpur is almost never found on the same spot two years in a row due to the changing waters of Brahmaputra river in Chilmari upazila of Kurigram.

Prafulla Chandra Das’ (48) fishing boat and nets have been drying out in the sun. His entire ancestry has been devoted to the same trade, and as such, Prafulla knows no other craft.

A fair of the Police Women Welfare Association (Punak) is being held in Lalmonirhat since January 12, despite the district being at high risk of coronavirus infection.

Anwar Hossain has been trapping and killing rats since he was 16.

It has been 11 years since Felani, a Bangladeshi teenager, was shot dead by a member of India’s Border Security Force and left hanging from the barbed fence of the border along Kurigram, but her family is still waiting for justice.

Today marks the 11th anniversary of Felani Khatun killing. On this day in 2011, Bangladesh woke up to the dreadful image of the teenage girl hanging from the barbed fence at the India border.

Despite having no fingers to grip a pen, Mobarak Ali, 16, has passed last year’s SSC examination obtaining GPA-3.84. Despite an insurmountable odd, Mobarak clung to the hope to pursue his education. He would write with his leg up to class two. Later, he learnt how to write gripping pen with his wrists.

Constructed in 1916 during the British rule, it was initially used as a police station. But eventually, it started decaying, and soon enough rainwater began to seep in through the roof. After it was declared abandoned, a new police station building was built next to old one.

Milon Islam (25), a visually impaired student who received a national award in tabla in 2014, has been passing his days amid hardship and uncertainty over his further studies. Due to the lack of financial support, his aspiration for higher studies is getting blurred.

The larvae of black soldier flies, a common insect in the Stratiomyidae family, can be used as organic poultry and fish feed, providing farmers with a cheap alternative to the comparatively high priced products currently available.

“For the last 18 years, there has been not a single day when I have not reached out to my readers with books. I am on a journey to build a knowledge-based society,” says Bikash Chandra Roy Tarun.

Laizu Khatun Lima, a resident of Chandrakhana Balatari village in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila, has brought a unique job opportunity for many women in the area, especially those from poor families.

Cultural workers and civil society members are ringing an alarm as the age-old moveable theatre stage ‘MT Hossain Institute’ of Lalmonirhat is being pushed to the brink of further destruction even though it was supposed to be protected as promised.

Ruling Awami League (AL) men have allegedly raised Tk 69 lakh from the grassroots of Kurigram’s Roumari upazila with fake promises of giving them houses in government-funded housing projects. The allegation of swindling poor people’s money has surfaced in Dantbhanga union of the upazila.

A creeper resembling betel whose vines are used to make meat dishes spicier is bringing some extra cash for around 10,000 farmers growing traditional crops in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts.

Vast  swathes of land on Bangladesh’s side of the no-man’s-land separating  the country from India in Lalmonirhat district are sitting idle while  those in the neighbouring nation’s half of the region are being used to  farm tea.

The closure of the border haat in no-man’s land along the Jinjiram River at Baliamari Char of Rajibpur upazila in Kurigram district has impacted the livelihoods of more than one hundred families based in the region.

Lalmonirhat district, bordering the Teesta, Dharla and Saniazan rivers, accounts for about one-third of the maize produced in Bangladesh’s northern region.