It is a hopeful sign that after three years and relentless pressure from activist groups, a Dhaka court has framed charges against 13 people, including the two owners of Tazreen, Delwar Hossain and Mahmuda Akhtar, for the death of at least 112 workers.

Are you a writer, journalist, blogger or Facebook user? Do you find yourself thinking long and hard about the dwindling state of affairs in the country?

Purti Munda, the forefather of Mahasweta Devi's adivasi hero, Chotti Munda, had lamented how, wherever he goes, however remote the place, someone appears right away – “Whites-Bangalis-Biharis” – to snatch away his land, and along with it, his peace of mind.

Imagine a life of never fitting in, of constant ridicules and derisions, of being shunned by your own family, of being denied jobs and a chance at a “comfortable” life, of being harassed and assaulted, often sexually, because of who you are.

I never knew Kalpana di – not personally anyway -- the fearless indigenous activist who was snatched away from us by “mysterious” powers-that-be 19 years ago, when she was only 20 years of age.

During Rana Plaza, the media interviewed dying workers “LIVE” and went into the collapsed building with heavy recording equipment despite warnings that they might hurt survivors.

If police response during the attack was abhorrent, how they reacted to it subsequently was even more disgraceful.

ON March 21, 2014, I received the news that Sumaya Khatun, my friend and comrade, a 16-year-old girl who used to work at Tazreen Garments, passed away after battling a cancerous tumour for over a year.

Happy International Women's Day!” I cry excitedly to the first woman I meet in the morning: our cook, Shefali, as she brings a steaming