The shopping malls sparkle with multi-coloured fairy lights throughout the night, beckoning us to indulge. Industries on the banks of Dhaka's prominent rivers boast of jobs and reek of foreign currency. Towering high-rises and old buildings given to 'develop' into apartment blocks reign over Dhaka's skyline. Thousands of crores of taka are invested in roads and highways connecting the country, and millions more are poured into energy generation. On the onset, we look every bit the part of the middle income country that we are on track to become.

Even mid-way last year, the Department of Environment's environmental clearance committee questioned whether Navana's Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Mongla should be cleared. “The plant is within the designated Ecologically Critical Area around the Sundarbans,” they opined. They held off on giving the license.

The rivers winding through our delta make for a beautiful landscape as well as being one of our greatest assets—we depend on it for everything from our food to transport to an abundance of flora and fauna. Yet our rivers have been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that these are no longer aesthetically, economically or ecologically viable.

Without effectual resistance, Bangladesh is poised to join the ranks of 31 other nuclear nations of the world with the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. The Government of Bangladesh asks that people be proud of this fact. Yafes Osman, minister of science and technology has stated that this is a historical moment for Bangladesh. Whatever support the government has thus far garnered in favour of this project has happened through capitalising on the development rhetoric.

Once, we loved Nilkhet because we believed that we could find a rare book there even though it wasn't to be found in famous libraries

“One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.”

Forty-year-old Azaher Ali is in a fix and isn't sure how he should react. He has just met his daughter and his grand-daughter for the first time in years. His daughter was just 11 months old, the last time he held her. Today, she's almost 20 and has a child of her own.

The committee that decides the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature every year is in shambles. The Swedish Academy, rocked by a sexual harassment scandal against an individual close to the committee,

As global concerns continue to rise with 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags being produced every year around the globe, a number of eco-friendly companies come up with a seemingly wonderful idea: biodegradable bags.

For Mirpur residents, hardship while commuting has become an everyday affair; by now, even the media is probably tired of repeatedly covering the same news about the area.

Since the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in mid-2014, the brutal ideology of the militant outfit has ensnared hundreds of young Bangladeshis, like it has brainwashed youth from across the globe.

As one enters into the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA), one encounters a magnificent ray of light illuminating many of the finest pieces of sculptures.

Ours is a society of cultural amnesia, so it is not surprising that Alamgir Kabir is not a part of our usual reminiscences.

About Town

This is the story of my life. But before I get there I want to tell you another story—the story of a mali who lived all by himself in a far-off land.

"This is madness!” I thought to myself as I frantically tried to stuff a jacket into my backpack, already bursting at the seams.

Around 30,000 people gathered in front of the gate of Anis Bari Jame Mosque located at Ghatiadanga village in Satkania upazila, Chittagong on May 15, 2018.

In mid-May, the Human Rights Council, a United Nations body, met with all member nations to discuss their human rights situation, and Bangladesh was one of them. The process is known as Universal Periodic Review. Bangladesh was given recommendations by other states on how to improve the human rights scenario. We accepted quite a few—167 to be exact. We also said that we are going to think about supporting 2

It is not for nothing that Dhaka is called a “jadur shohor”—a magical city. No, I don't say this to exoticise a city from the Global South out of any unconscious colonial hangover. I believe in the city's “special” abilities that are crucial in defining the urban pathology and behaviour it generates.

Like humans, gods too die. Gods are not immortal. They do not die as frequently as humans do but they die after all—in centuries. Through the ages, thousands of gods have died or rather been forgotten. A god dies when there is no worshipper because the relevance of any god is sustained by the number of devotees.