Rahitul Islam's novels reflect Digital Bangladesh

Rahitul Islam's latest novel, Call Centerer Aparajita (Prothoma Prokashani, 2022), recounts the sorrows and hardships of Aparajita, a woman who works in a call center. 

Islam also appeared in the news recently when he handed over his royalty earnings from the book to Prothom Alo Trust for helping two disadvantaged individuals. A source revealed that the young writer donates his initial royalty earnings from every book. 

A portion of the donation has been given to Sanjida Akter of Natore for the treatment of her eyes. Akter was the victim of an acid attack in November last year. 

The remaining portion of the donation has been given to Md. Shaheen Alam, a Dhaka University student, who is visually impaired. A zoom account has been purchased for Shaheen Alam to continue uninterrupted online training in Microsoft Office, which is being provided to visually impaired students in Bangladesh and abroad 

Rahitul Islam started reporting on the ICT sector in 2009. Noticing that people are less aware of this industry, he also penned down the stories of the ICT sector in books such as Outsourcing O Bhalobasar Golpo (2018), Charer Master Computer Engineer (2020), Kemon Achen Freelancer Nadia? (2019), Freelancer Sumoner Din Raat (2020), Hello Daktar Apa (2021) and Bhalobasar Hatbazar (2020). The writer, who has published 11 books so far, remembers two individuals who have greatly inspired his writing: former justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman and poet Rafiq Azad. 

Quite a few telefilms have been made out of his stories. Outsourcing O Bhalobasar Golpo (2018), starring Afran Nisho and Tanjin Tisha, was adapted from the novel of the same name. The novel recognises and sheds light on the work of about 600,000 freelancers working in the country. 

The telefilm Chorer Master (2021), featuring Khairul Bashar and Safa Kabir, was based on the novel Chorer Master Computer Engineer. This year, the telefilm Freelancer Nadia (2022), starring Mahzabin Chowdhury, was adapted from the novel Kemon Achen Freelancer Nadia? Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Division, has played a special character in this telefilm exploring women's empowerment. 

Rahitul Islam has been working on a book titled The Heroes of ICT Sector for the past four years. The book is about individuals who have contributed to the ICT sector but are yet to receive their due respect. Islam believes that it will be a realistic documentation of the ICT sector of Bangladesh. 

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Experience in journalism—which includes reporting for Prothom Alo—works as an advantage for his writing, Islam shares. He recently wrote about Garo youths who work as freelancers from the forest adjacent to the village of Gayra, which is located in Modhupur of Tangail district. Despite having the potential to earn dollars, they were constrained by slow internet connection. 

When it was reported in the front page of Prothom Alo, an internet service provider in Dhaka named Amber IT came forward with provision of a fast internet connection in the Gayra village. Grameenphone set up a network tower there and the government set up a computer lab, distributing laptops free of cost. 

Nearly 40 villages in Modhupur are going to avail the benefits of Digital Bangladesh. Rahitul Islam believes that he has been able to write about a few of these success stories. Hundreds of stories remain. The author wants to inspire many more youths by documenting the stories of the ICT sector.