Shariful Hasan

The passport authorities sat on upgrading the MRP server that had crossed the 30-million limit in early June, causing delay in reissuing passports to tens of thousands of Bangladeshis, mostly migrants in the Gulf and Southeast Asian countries.

‘Mehmankhana’, an initiative by a group of volunteers in Dhaka’s Lalmatia, made special arrangements to feed low-income people on the occasion of holy Eid-ul-Azha. 

Everyone present on the grounds of Nishchintopur Primary School was in uncertainty that day.

During the whole month of Ramadan, nearly 1,500 people received iftar here every day. ‘Mehmankhana’, as the organisers call it, aimed to provide hot meals to orphaned children, rickshaw-pullers, street vendors, and people from other marginalised sections of society who have become unemployed during lockdown. Special arrangements were also made for all these people on the day of Eid. Everyone was happy with such an arrangement on Eid day.

The 41st BCS preliminary examination is going ahead on March 19 after the High Court rejected a writ petition filed by a BCS candidate seeking its deferral due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the recent surge in infections and fatalities.

Noted columnist, researcher and writer Syed Abul Maksud today breathed his last at Square Hospital in Dhaka. He was 74.

A Saudi court has rejected the bail petitions of three accused arrested in a case filed for the murder of a Bangladeshi domestic worker in Saudi Arabia two years ago.

The written test was held on Saturday afternoon. The result that came out eleven hours later left many candidates surprised.

In the recruitment test for the post of Scientific Officer (Temporary) of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, a candidate has reportedly passed without appearing for the written test.

It was 4:00am yesterday when the first light of dawn was still far from the Dhaka sky.

A year after she was sent to Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker, Nodi returned to Bangladesh last night, lifeless, crammed inside a coffin, only to be received by her wailing relatives on the premises of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Despite going through several uncertainties regarding acquiring plane tickets and Covid-19 certificates over the last few days, all 302 Saudi-bound Bangladeshi passengers were able to leave Dhaka on flight SV-802 of Saudi Airlines.

All the expatriate Bangladeshis who are scheduled to fly for Saudi Arabia tonight have tested negative for Covid-19. Health officials have said the passengers can go to airport and receive printed copies of Covid-19 negative certificates from the health desk by showing the text messages sent to them.

Mohammad Arif and his father Mohammad Shahidullah's flight to Saudi Arabia is at 12:30am tonight. But they have not yet received their Covid-19 certificates. They are counting every minute at a hotel in Dhaka's Fakirapool as they can't go to Saudi Arabia without the certificate. They don't know when to start for the airport.

According to her primary education certificate, Umme Kulsum was only 14-years-old. But to send her to Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker, her passport falsely portrayed her as 25—since that is the minimum age for women to go as labour workers to Saudi Arabia. But the dream that the middleman had sold to Kulsum’s family was broken within a year and a half when she returned to her family as a corpse.

Kulsum died on August 9 this year while undergoing treatment at the King Faisal Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Her lifeless body arrived in the country on September 12. The family claimed that her employer and his son had beaten Kulsum, breaking her legs and arms, as well as injuring her waist. Her eye was also damaged. Merciless as they were, she was left on the street in this miserable condition. Later, Saudi police rescued her and took her to the hospital where she died in a few months.

Soon after completing her MBA from Dhaka University last year, Fahmida Khan started looking for jobs. Her first choice was a government job for which the recruitment takes place through BCS exams.

Md Sohorab Hossain has been appointed as the new chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC). He is a former senior secretary to the government.

Students these days can finish their undergraduate-level education at public universities in Bangladesh in four years but some of them may have to wait another four years before they are offered a job by Rupali Bank.

A student can finish his honours degree in four years at public universities nowadays. Four years have passed after the circular, but the recruitment process for the state-owned Rupali Bank has not been completed yet. Seven months have passed since the final viva, but the results have not been published yet -- immensely frustrating the candidates.