Spotlight
Jahangirnagar University crisis - mired in a stalemate
Amidst all the commotion at Jahangirnagar University, this issue of the Star Weekend attempts to discern the trajectory of the disaster by sieving it through a chronological timeline, collated from reports published in The Daily Star and other major national newspapers. We start from the reappointment of the VC and take the reader through all that has happened till date, all that has brought this renowned academic institution to a standstill.This timeline is certainly not exhaustive. What it demands of the reader is discernment, analysis and conscious awareness of the ever-persistent, wider issues that these events represent. Where does it all begin, and where does it end? Why should a public university be in such a place to begin with?
East Jurain: Worst place to live in Dhaka?
Ashraful Islam, a retired government official, built a two-story house in Dhaka’s east Jurain neighbourhood in 1996. He spent his forty years of savings and even exhausted his wife’s fixed deposit to build this dwelling.
Stone- Crushers Dying of silicosis, failed by courts
Burimari union, a border village nestling in a nook of the Indian district of Cooch Behar, is a village of stones and stone-crushing yards.
Jamdani: A fabric of then and now
Along the banks of the Sitalakhya river in Narayanganj, some 20 villages in Sonargaon, Rupganj, and Siddhirganj in particular, women villagers starch yarn in lime and toasted rice to make warp yarn—the vertical, lengthwise weaves that make up a fabric.
TERROR RISING
The latest, but probably not the last, victim of this culture of impunity is Abrar Fahad, a second-year student of the electrical and electronic engineering department of Bangladesh University of Science and Technology (BUET).
A long, hard look at our teachers
For months, our public universities have been erupting in protests, with students demanding some very basic things: vice-chancellors who are not corrupt, teachers who cannot bribe their way into the university, student political wings who do not extort or oppress (or murder), effective sexual harassment policies, and freedom of expression.
Youth against fear and injustice
The public universities, old and new, are in quite a sorry state. It seems that these institutions exist only to offer support for the government’s misrule.
The story of Teesta
The story of Teesta begins 23,386 ft above the sea-level at the Pahunri glacier nestled between the Tibet and India border.
The Week in Turmoil
When unidentified criminals brutally murdered Professor Rezaul Karim Siddiquee in the Shalbagan area of Rajshahi city on
Turning a Blind Eye
As we began last week with the Bengali new year, and hope to let go of the past and hit the restart button, we remember the horrendous day from last year, when on Pahela Baishakh, April 14, 2015, female visitors, of all ages, in the Dhaka University
Stateless: An Account of Displacement in Bangladesh
No one is asked to foot the bill for staying in prison,” begins Sheikh Naziruddin Rashed, a leader at the Mirpur camp for the Urdu-speaking community...
EUREKA! Changing the Nation, One Idea at a Time
Before we get to know these exciting startups, their owners and their work, let's delve a little into how it all began.
Jaago Bangladeshi Jaago
45 years ago, at the beginning of the month of March, Yahya Khan announced on televisions and radios that the General Assembly of Pakistan was to be postponed 'until a later date'.
Out in the Open
When 26-year-old Tasmia Jahan would stay mostly awake, experience bouts of dizziness, gain weight, display strange cases of mood swings, suffer from anxiety attacks and suddenly burst into tears, her family thought she was just lonely and needed to get married.
Fighting the Good Fight
The 68-year-old specialist physician, Dr MB Zaman is a pioneer in the field of Histopathology and Cytopathology – used for the
Small Victories
The women in this country have seen it all – from becoming state leaders to literally climbing mountains and celebrating summits.
On A Trail of the Lost Languages
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) includes some of the most inaccessible and remotest areas of Bangladesh. There are places
Ready for the Bout
A great number of us grew up boxing with siblings, imagining our beds as a premiere boxing ring and our sibling as our greatest rival. Elders would never encourage this game though, because a playful tussle could often turn into a full-fledged muscle game.