Nahela Nowshin

NO OFFENCE

Journalist at The Daily Star

Low levels of testing are hampering our Covid response

It has been more than a year since Covid-19 was first detected in Bangladesh. Much has been, and continues to be, said about the country’s handling of the pandemic.

3y ago

Can quarantine be a solution in a country like Bangladesh?

The words “quarantine” and “isolation” have now become synonymous with the coronavirus outbreak. Social media has exploded with status updates,

4y ago

Coronavirus and the dark side of globalisation

The coronavirus outbreak—which seems straight out of the sci-fi thriller Contagion—has led to over 7,989 deaths and 198,736 cases worldwide. As we try to make sense out of truths that seem stranger than fiction, the WHO-declared pandemic has laid bare the fact that in an era where globalisation reigns supreme, infectious diseases no longer simply pose the risk of transnational movement of bacterial and viral infections.

4y ago

Why focusing on ‘rural development’ is a must

Post-WWII, Bangladesh, along with countries which had been freed from the shackles of colonisation and had gained their independence, embarked upon the journey of “development”.

4y ago

A recipe for a public health disaster

Going by numerous recent news reports, we have good reason to be worried about the state of food safety in the country.

5y ago

Development for whom?

A particular finding in the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) blows the illusion of GDP growth being the “be all and end all” of development into smithereens.

5y ago

Waiting to be heard

Contrary to popular belief, it's not entitlement or narcissism or laziness that defines millennials. If anything, it's probably a sense of disillusionment that's a defining characteristic of this generation.

5y ago

How can we make our buildings safe?

Defiance of the BNBC stems from the ways that it can provide immediate benefit to owners and often the users and the developers of buildings. For example, rules are violated to achieve maximum use of space when land itself is costly.

5y ago
October 1, 2017
October 1, 2017

Sagor and Rajon: Murder as public spectacle

I still remember the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach when the news of the brutal killing of 13-year-old Rajon broke on social media two years ago. Is this real? How could they do this to a child? Why did the onlookers simply stand there?

September 29, 2017
September 29, 2017

Darwin: The portal to Asia

Tucked in a remote corner at the tip of the Northern Territory (NT), Australia, lies a little known city called Darwin—first named in 1839 by John Lort Stokes after his former shipmate and evolutionist Charles Darwin.

September 21, 2017
September 21, 2017

Suu Kyi's cowardly speech

Suu Kyi's speech was not only “disappointing” but also cowardly. It towed the typical line of “we have to look at both sides”, completely oblivious to the power dynamics at play: the national army versus a dispossessed population.

August 6, 2017
August 6, 2017

Doklam standoff, Bhutan and its quest for greater freedom

Has anyone asked what Bhutan—the tiny kingdom hidden in the folds of the eastern Himalayas—has to say?

July 23, 2017
July 23, 2017

The bus is indeed moving backwards

A Facebook post shared by a man named Rushad Faridi caught my eye recently. He shared an article with an intriguing title, which he had written for Prothom Alo. But it wasn't the article that grabbed everyone's attention at first. It was the fact that Faridi, a professor in the economics department at Dhaka University, was placed on forced leave less than a week after the article was published on July 7.

July 17, 2017
July 17, 2017

Justice After Nuremberg

When the Nuremberg War Trial began more than 70 years ago, it marked a watershed moment in international law.

June 5, 2017
June 5, 2017

The war that never ended

“The world watched through my camera [as] this soldier shot the boy in cold blood, and his life was not in any danger at all.

May 31, 2017
May 31, 2017

The combined power of capital and philanthropy

"I grew up as a young girl in Bangladesh, a post-war country at the time ravished by famine, and saw everyone trying to do their part to rebuild the country."

May 22, 2017
May 22, 2017

Ideological Struggles Within

There is a widely held belief that culture and religion are mutually exclusive entities. And herein lies the primary source of conflict.

May 1, 2017
May 1, 2017

Work that doesn't exist on paper

It wasn't until 1972 that the term “informal sector” emerged in the development scene. Since then the phrase has continued to gain traction as a central theme in the development discourse.