Oorbee Shom is a renowned Nazrul Sangeet and classical music artist and teacher. As a former student of Government Music College, she completed her B. Music and M. Music in Nazrul Sangeet from the same institution, securing first class in M. Music. She is currently teaching at Government Music College.
On the dawn of August 24, 1995, the lifeless, bloodied body of a teenage girl lay by the roadside in front of the BRAC office at Raniganj intersection in Dinajpur town. Her name was Yasmin Akter. According to Bangladesh Mahila Parishad and most reliable accounts, she was only 14 years old. At an age when a girl should have been carrying schoolbooks, Yasmin’s lifeless body lay on a city street in the early morning light. She had been working as a domestic helper in a Dhaka household and was travelling by bus to return to her mother in Dinajpur.
In the official narrative of Pakistan, the term "peace" is associated with a troubling history. Elections occur, parliament convenes, and prime ministers are sworn in; however, alongside political authority looms an unseen presence—the military chief of the country, whose sway often surpasses that of the elected prime minister. When political ties between the central government and a peripheral region deteriorate, the discourse of dialogue is swiftly supplanted by the discourse of security.
Today, I wish to share a narrative regarding a darkness that the media in Bangladesh is hesitant to confront. It is a realm afflicted by exploitation, disdain, and humiliation, yet none of the nation’s prominent editors, tenacious investigative journalists, esteemed columnists, or well-known talk-show commentators appear capable of addressing its suffering.
In October 2025, just before Durga Puja, the price of a one-kilogram hilsa rose to around Tk2,900 at Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar. Yet the fisherman who spends night after night casting his net in the Meghna estuary often cannot afford to put even a piece of hilsa on his own children’s plates for months on end.
Bangladesh does not need to win the global race for computing power. It needs to rediscover its own strength: organising people so that technology creates shared prosperity.
A 16-member fact-finding committee was formed at Rajshahi University (RU) to investigate allegations of corruption and irregularities in infrastructure construction, maintenance and development projects since 2009, irregularities in recruitment and promotions, and torture and harassment during the July 2024 uprising. However, even after 16 months of the committee's formation, the investigation report has not been submitted. This has raised questions among teachers and students regarding the committee's activities and the publication of its report.
It was the afternoon of August 21, 2004. An Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue was nearing its end. Then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina had just finished her speech from a makeshift truck stage and was stepping down when a series of explosions shook the area.
Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU) General Secretary (GS) Salauddin Ammar has withdrawn Tk 2.388 million from the union’s fund, but has yet to submit bills and vouchers accounting for Tk 1.839 million of the amount. So far, he has submitted expenditure documents for only Tk 549,000.
Tarique Rahman took oath as prime minister on 17 February. Exactly six months, or 180 days, have passed since then. In numerical terms, six months may seem like a relatively short period, but for a state, such a span can sometimes feel as weighty as a decade.
"Autumn has come, a touch of frost lingers in the air" — Rabindranath's autumn is a familiar portrait of Bengali nature. Blue skies with white clouds, swaying kash flowers, dew drops on morning grass and the soft glow of sunlight — autumn is a season awaited by both nature and people.
Before dawn, the chilli market is set up — piles of good-quality dry chillies on one side and stacks of rotten ones on the other. As light breaks, the Kaliganj market in Panchagarh's Boda upazila bustles with buyers and sellers. Traders from various districts buy dry chillies, and by 9am, most of the business is done. The concern is that rotten dry chillies are openly sold here with significant demand, putting consumers at risk.