Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan

Around 11.07 million hectares of land, which accounts for 75 percent of the country’s geographical area, suffered soil nutrient depletion, found a recent study.

“Who will look after our child after our demise? Who will be their friends and family to depend on when we will not be there?”

Purchasing power of factory workers in the capital and its outskirts has fallen sharply amid surging inflation.

The decision to increase the job application fees for government jobs, except for cadre posts, has outraged the country’s millions of job seekers who find it an additional burden on them, making their expenses heavier.

It was stars galore at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre as celebrities, influencers and artistes alike were keen on witnessing a unique celebration -- Blender’s Choice - The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021.

Tea estate owners in Bangladesh yesterday said they suffered losses of up to Tk 20 crore per day during the recent 18-day protest by estate workers as significant amounts of tea were wasted for the work abstention. 

Bangladesh’s dependency on coal-based power plants is gradually increasing, when countries around the world are abandoning the technology to make electricity.

Basanti Bauri, 40, of Moulvibazar works for a renowned tea estate as a “plucker”. Her day starts at 5:00am sharp. After paying homage to the family deity, she prepares food for her three children and husband.

When Seeam Ul Karim was born, he brought immense joy to his parents’ life. However, within a few years, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurological and developmental condition that changed the lives of Seeam and his parents.

English medium schools have been charging exorbitant admission and tuition fees in the absence of any guidelines and monitoring, making it a constant struggle for guardians, especially those belonging to the middle-income bracket, to continue their children’s education.

Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury is a professor of the department of clinical psychology of Dhaka University and programme director of Nasirullah Psychotherapy Unit – an outpatient mental health unit managed by DU’s department of clinical psychology. He has been researching adolescent mental health and juvenile delinquency for decades. Recently he talked to The Daily Star about the sudden rise of criminal behaviour among youths and adolescents.

In the first six months of this year, three incidents of violence against teachers became newspaper headlines, showing a disturbing trend that is contrary to our traditional values of respecting and honouring teachers.

A universal pension scheme for citizens aged 61 and above will be introduced from fiscal 2022-23, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday.

Garment workers are fighting a desperate battle to keep up with price hikes and inflation. Price of every essential is skyrocketing, but the workers wages have not increased a penny, said speakers at a conference.

Ward 53 of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) covers most parts of East Jurain’s Muradpur area. According to the 2011 census, more than 27,000 people live in this ward which, according to them, has become probably the worst place to live in Dhaka.

Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) could not pay arrears and benefits to all the laid-off government jute mill workers even after about two years.

Excluded from the government’s social safety net, middle-income families are struggling to cope with the rising prices of basic goods and services.

When Aklima Akhter (not her real name) learned that her three-year-old son has autism, her world fell apart. A few months after getting this news, her husband married another woman, and Aklima’s in-laws told her that if she conceives another child, the baby will also have autism.

Oryx Bio-Tech Limited was struggling for quite some time to find a suitable plot near Dhaka for building a large manufacturing plant -- the first-ever plasma fractionation plant in Bangladesh.

Naim Ahmed, a father of two, has been struggling to get the new digital 17-digit birth registration (BR) certificates for himself, his wife and children. All of them already have the old 16-digit BR certificates, and passports which were issued against them.