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Looking back at the 50 years of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad

With the whole world entangled in the coronavirus pandemic, we have no other option but to shut down all work and fight to contain the deadly disease.

Changing the shy world of adolescent girls

Back in 2017, we had an opportunity to build a small and experimental toilet in Jhalokati, with the simple intention of helping adolescent girls in a rural school who had no real toilet to avail.

The Magic of Scripts

Yin and Yang of the Brahmaputra

Lessons to still learn from the ‘Meena’ cartoon

A man’s share in ‘women’s work’

Why are social safety net programmes so crucial?

Is banning student politics the solution to campus criminality?

The death of Abrar Fahad epitomises the need for tolerance towards dissenting voices. He is a martyr to the cause of free speech. Employing his brutal death to silence political dissent and to eliminate political rights on campus is wrong. He did not deserve such betrayal.

Justice, where are you?

One of my close friends from law school is currently undergoing psychosocial counselling for severe depression. I met him over coffee last week, and asked him about it.

Slums: Whose problem is it anyway?

The recent fire incident at the Chalantika slum in Mirpur has perhaps been the kindest to the victims: claiming no lives, only their life’s possessions. The fire that broke out around 7:20pm on August 16, 2019, engulfed more than a thousand shanties, leaving thousands of people homeless. It took 24 firefighting units hours to reign in the insatiable flames. A lot of the slum dwellers had been away to their native villages to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha, serendipitously escaping the blazing fires. Concerned authorities have also been quick to contain the situation and provide relief to the affected people, with DNCC operating treatment facilities for the victims.

Redefining maleness in a man’s world

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples / Protect languages, protect peoples

Student agitation: Signs of egalitarian aspirations

Rumours and mob killings: What are the underlying causes?

How elite capture of society prevents equality

Breaking harmful taboos in society

Bangladesh has been witnessing an alarming rise in rape cases, particularly child rape cases. Between April and June this year, child rape cases increased by 102 percent from the previous quarter; the number of child rape cases filed so far in 2019 is around 500. This makes me wonder whether men are becoming more violent or just switching over to children as they are more vulnerable and easier to target.

Safe Motherhood Day: Unite for women’s rights for respectful care

On May 28, Bangladesh is celebrating yet another Safe Motherhood Day. It is time we promoted safe motherhood as an initiative to advance women’s basic human rights, and not just to reduce morbidity and mortality.

Game of Thrones: An allegory or an escape?

The word “Dracarys” has the power to burn entire cities to the ground with scathing dragon fire in HBO’s epic fantasy saga Game of Thrones. Even off-screen, the Valyrian term has had an impact on millions of fans around the globe.

Has anything changed after Nusrat?

The horrific murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Feni, had caused a massive outcry from the public and intensive media coverage.

Role of Zakat in poverty alleviation

Poverty is a complex and multidimen-sional issue, and will continue to be a problem for us in the near future. To combat poverty, countries have taken different measures.

Precious childhood lost in the streets

Dhaka, a city of cacophony that reverberates from its belligerent streets which carry the clash of a million stories every day. Amidst cars honking, buses screeching, people cursing, vendors trading, the shuffling sound of pedestrians and the din of everyday life, the sound of a boy, begging for a few takas with his hand outstretched, gets muffled.