Anwar Ali

Staff Correspondent based in Rajshahi

Will Altadighi come back to life?

According to folklore, King Vishwanath dug a lake to address the people’s drinking water problem, prompted by his queen’s dream. The queen’s stipulation was that the lake should be dug as far as she could walk barefoot. When the queen continued walking over a mile, the king’s ministers intervened fearing a near impossible lake digging project. They stopped her by sprinkling alta (red dye) on her feet, claiming she was bleeding.

7m ago

Farmers enjoy uninterrupted power

A sigh of relief has swept over Boro paddy farmers in Rajshahi, who were deeply concerned about irrigation due to electricity shortage just two weeks back.

8m ago

Mangoes and litchis taking a hit from the heat

It’s painful for Tajul Islam to see what has happened to his beloved mango orchard in Rajshahi city’s Borobongram Namopara.

8m ago

Onion farmers in the north stare at losses

Even after a bumper harvest of onions this season in four districts of Rajshahi, a sharp decline in the price of the vegetable has left farmers struggling.

8m ago

The north remembers

In Kurigram, a district in northern Bangladesh, there’s a house with a collection of over 5,000 war artifacts.

9m ago

'Coaching showed me a path to survive’

Michael Collins, also known as AHM Taswar, was the first coach from the Rajshahi Tennis Complex to take up a coaching job abroad, pioneering a path that many have followed since. After trying to make it as a tennis player from 1992 to 2004 and representing Bangladesh in the Davis Cup thrice, he turned to coaching and has worked in China, Japan and the USA since. While on vacation in Rajshahi recently, he spoke with The Daily Star’s Anwar Ali where he shared the story of how his dream shifted from being a tennis star to becoming a tennis coach.

9m ago

Rajshahi’s tennis dream finds new avenue on coaching court

Back in the 80s, the Boalia Tennis Club in Rajshahi, a humble facility with just one hard court, was a place where the locals of the region got a taste of a game that was mostly accessible to the elites of the society.

9m ago

When bending the rules deserves praise

Bangladesh Railway's West Zone and Rajshahi University take extraordinary measures so that 700 admission seekers do not miss their exams

9m ago
November 22, 2023
November 22, 2023

Attacks on BNP-Jamaat men: Of masks, helmets and baffled cops

Police are clueless about mask- or helmet-wearing assailants who have killed three BNP-Jamaat supporters and injured 15 others in Rajshahi region over the last two months.     

October 6, 2023
October 6, 2023

10-Yr Record Rain: Major parts of Rajshahi city go under water

Much of Rajshahi city was flooded between Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon as the metropolitan area witnessed its highest single-day rainfall in the last decade.

September 26, 2023
September 26, 2023

Barind Farmers: At mercy of ‘water lords’

On April 9, Mukul Soren, a Santal farmer in Rajshahi, drank pesticide in a suicide attempt over not getting irrigation water from the same deep tubewell that allegedly led to the suicide of two farmers, also Santals, last year.

August 27, 2023
August 27, 2023

Mango Export: Growers innovate farming practices

The rising quantity of mango exports has been changing the farming practices of the fruit in Rajshahi region as farmers are now opting for more chemical-free mango production, agriculturists say.

August 26, 2023
August 26, 2023

Caught in the ‘easy money’ scam

The lure of earning easy money is often too much for a common person to resist. This is where ponzi schemes like Metaverse Foreign Exchange Group (MTFE) come in.

August 26, 2023
August 26, 2023

Mangoes to be exported to Russia for the first time

For the first time, a Rajshahi-based farming company is exporting Gourmoti and Katimon varieties of mango to Russia.

August 20, 2023
August 20, 2023

New initiative to boost shoemaking

The SME Foundation has established a common facility centre (CFC) for shoemakers in Kaluhati village under Rajshahi’s Charghat upazila, a move that is expected to help businesses improve the quality of their products.

July 29, 2023
July 29, 2023

‘Our struggle for water is never-ending’

Bidyut Kumar Mondol, a farmer from Kamardha village in Naogaon’s Porsha upazila, finds himself grappling with a challenging predicament. He had prepared 23 bighas of land for cultivating Aman paddy, but his dreams have been thwarted by a relentless lack of water.

July 29, 2023
July 29, 2023

High Barind running out of water

Due to decades of excessive water extraction, over 40 percent of unions in the high Barind region are facing severe groundwater depletion.

July 28, 2023
July 28, 2023

Daughter wins battle for justice

Shagufta Tabassum Ahmed, daughter of slain Rajshahi University teacher Professor Syed Taher Ahmed, had taken up law as a profession to get justice for her father