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.
What about justice for the unheard?
It is a long and difficult struggle for persons with intellectual, hearing and speech disabilities
A demographic time bomb?
According to the latest figures released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), around two million youths of working age are unemployed. Young university graduates are struggling the most to secure employment.
Finding the superbug, the invincible bacteria
Scientists find invincible bacteria resistant to all antibiotics in city locations
Nobody to blame for the landslides
As the landslides wreaked havoc over Chittagong division in the last two weeks, there was one thing that everyone was at a consensus about – this was a man-made disaster.
Digital repression in Digital Bangladesh
The number of cases filed under section 57 of the ICT Act seems to be on the rise. This year has already seen more than 260 cases.
Longadu burning
The indigenous people of Longadu flee to remote jungles escaping violent rioting.
Rampal Power Plant: Myths debunked
The critics of Rampal include environmentalists, scientists and experts. Yet, the defence for the power plant has remained the same. But, under scrutiny, how do these claims, meant to relieve us of our fears about the potential risks of the power plant, hold?
No room for the forgotten
In April, a tender appeared on the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) website inviting constructors to propose a price to build two sets of three six-storied residential buildings at Ganaktuli City Colony, Hazaribagh.