Shadma Malik

From ancient to modern times, harvesting rainwater has always been a backup plan to meet water needs.

Menstruation or period is a natural phenomenon for women of reproductive age and indicates a healthy life. Yet, many people—both men and women—consider the monthly period cycle as an illness.

The existential question confronting many right now: how do you look put together when even simple grooming could spread the virus?

Against the backdrop of a generation growing up in a dusty city that is fast losing its green, open spaces and is frequently topping the

The 'untouchable' sweeper community in Dhaka's Hajaribagh is facing uncertainty with fear of eviction hanging over their head. Hundreds of families have already been evicted in city corporation's drive. Others still remaining in buildings yet to be brought down are living in fear.

Zarif holds the mask and sits patiently for around ten minutes for the liquid asthma medicine to convert into a breathable mist.

A ready-made garment worker, Rekha was informed that some of her colleagues had been fired from the factory in Tejgaon without any prior notice. They were asked to leave without salaries.

Ayena was trying to be as quick as possible, adding woodchips to the flame under a clay cooking stove by a roadside in the capital's Rampura. A crowd of half a dozen people was waiting for her to deliver the pithas (a kind of cake).

Social challenges have held back women's economic participation over the last decade, despite headway made in education, training, entrepreneurship, and jobs overseas.

Garment worker Mira breathed a sigh of relief when she learnt last November that she would no longer have to bear her healthcare bills.

Two minors engaged in forced labour in Dubai have been rescued by Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA).

Riyas wakes up early every day, eats his breakfast, and then heads to “Phulki” in the capital's Mirpur. Once there, he greets his friends and supervisor, then quickly gets on to business at hand: running in circles, building castles out of blocks, and herding a menagerie of stuffed animals.

Four months into her pregnancy, Tahmina, 35, found herself under constant stress as she tried to meet the production quota in the RMG factory in Tejgaon where she had been working for the last four years.

Forty-year-old Abu Kalam dug into the towering garbage pile in search of bones at the landfill in the capital's Matuail. He seemed unperturbed by the foul smell which had perhaps taken a backseat to the money he could earn by selling discarded animal parts.

It was a moment of pride when Parimal Kumar Das got his autistic son's SSC results this year, but memories of being turned down by other schools flashed through his mind.

Mansura Akhter Panna, 30, often recalls her dreadful days of menstruation when she entered puberty.

A young girl with some documents in her hands sat in the waiting room of Nagar Shastho Kendra in the capital's Meradia.

Shahana Chowdhury kept going back to the story of her 25-year-old son’s recent Hong Kong visit and repeatedly said how proud she was to have seen her autistic child along with 10 others win the best performance award in a cultural programme there. Her excitement was mixed with gratitude for Begum Nur Jahan Dipa, special educator at the Parents Forum for the Differently Able (PFDA)-Vocational Training Centre, who made it possible.

Yeanur Rahman came to Dhaka with big dreams. She studied hard, aced her final exams maintaining a good GPA and got admitted into a public university in the capital. Things were going exactly as she had envisioned. Better yet, the freshman thought she had fallen in love with someone in her very first year.

With an aim to detect cancer at its primary stage, the Nuclear Medicine Institute (NMI) is going to install a PET/CT scanner from early January next year.