Sayings of Kabir

Image Credit Wikimedia Saint Kabir was a 15th-century mystic poet from India, whose writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Adi Granth. Here are some of his inspirational quotes: During suffering, everyone prays to the Lord, but when experiencing happiness, we forget to thank God. If one were to pray to God even during the good times, can the bad times ever trouble one?  Instead of doing...

Read More

Bangladesh Police Chief Tells Bloggers, "Don't Cross the Line"

Activists march in a torch-light vigil demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment to the killers of secular blogger Niloy Neel. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Khurshed Alam Rinku. Copyright Demotix (8/8/2015) It has been five days since the assassination of secular blogger Niloy Neel but Bangladesh police authorities have made no significant progress investigating his murder. Neel was hacked to death by a band of five men...

Read More

Maldivians March to Mark Anniversary of Local Journalist's Disappearance

Image via the Facebook page of Secular Democratic Maldives Movement It has been 365 days since Maldivian journalist, blogger and human rights advocate Ahmed Rizwan Abdulla went missing. The 28-year-old, who works for online news site Minivan News, is an advocate of democracy and free speech and a prolific social media user. There has been no real progress in the investigation and the people behind his abduction have not been identified. The...

Read More

"No Country For Secular Bloggers": Niloy Neel is the Fourth Bangladeshi Blogger To Be Killed in 2015

Murdered blogger Niloy Neel, Image by Reza Sumon. Copyright Demotix On Friday, August 7 at approximately 1:45pm, five assailants armed with machetes entered the flat of blogger Niloy Neel and killed him brutally. When his wife and sister attempted to save him, the attackers threatened to kill them too. Niloy is the fourth blogger to be killed in Bangladesh over the last six months. All those killed were secular and critical...

Read More

Why Britain Owes India for 200 Years of Brutal Colonialism

Shashi Tharoor speaking at Jaipur literary festival. Image by Jim Ankan Deka. Copyright Demotix (23/1/2015) Indian Opposition MP, former minister and former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Shashi Tharoor recently participated in a debate at the Oxford Union society arguing that Britain owes reparations to India for misdeeds committed during two centuries of colonial rule. The 15 minute clip containing Tharoor's powerful and...

Read More

Citizen Media Shows Why India Is Unlikely to Reach Its Millennium Goals Target for Maternal Mortality

In the hamlet of Indkatha, Jharkhand state in eastern India, women of the Ho tribe take lessons to reduce maternal mortality. Image by Freny Manecksha. Copyright Demotix (11/11/2008) According to the UN Millennium Development Goals, India should bring down its maternal mortality rate (MMR) to 109 per 100,000 live births by 2015. This is a tough ask, as from an MMR of 437 per 100,000 live births in 1990-91 India has only achieved...

Read More

Ananta Bijoy Das Becomes Third Free-Thinking Blogger Killed This Year in Bangladesh

Ananta Bijoy Das. Image courtesy his Facebook page It's a sad day for online activists in Bangladesh. On Tuesday morning, science writer and blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was murdered by a group of three or four masked people wielding machetes in Sylhet, Bangladesh's fifth largest city. It was the third such killing this year of a writer who advocated secular thought, allegedly at the hands of religious extremists. Das,...

Read More

Why Arabic Script on the Walls Might Not Stop Public Urination in Dhaka

The photo shows Arabic sign on the sidewall of Panthakunja Park at the Karwan Bazar in Dhaka. Image by Sk. Hasan Ali. Copyright Demotix (7/5/2015) Public urination is a problem in Bangladesh due largely to a lack of public toilets. Municipal officials in the capital Dhaka have battled in vain to stop men urinating in public, with signs in the local Bengali language and warnings of punishment and fines yielding no...

Read More

Bengali New Year Takes a Colorful Stand Against Religious Extremism in Bangladesh

People celebrating Pahela Baishakh at Mangal Shobhajatra (Rally), a procession organised by Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to welcome the Bengali new year. Image by Sourav Lasker. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015) The past few months have been particularly tough for Bangladesh as continuous political turmoil and violence left over 120 people dead. The recent killings of two free-thinking blog activists and...

Read More

Real Goats. Real Stories. Bangladesh Delivers.

Screenshot from "The Goats of Bangladesh" Facebook page. Read the full interview here at Scroll.in. Bangladesh has now a satirical Facebook page much like Pigeons of New York, which is itself a parody site of the famous Humans of New York project. Goats of Bangladesh is only about six months old, but it boasts of almost 10,000 followers. Sahil Bhalla of Scroll.in interviewed one of the page's administrators,...

Read More

A Passenger Ferry Capsizes in Bangladesh. Again.

Recovered bodies are brought to the shore in a dinghy. Image by Reporter#7619314. Copyright Demotix On Sunday noon a passenger ferry reportedly packed with more than 100 passengers was hit by a cargo vessel 40 kilometres northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. It subsequently sank. A rescue vessel located the capsized vessel and attempted to pull it up. According to reports 37 bodies have been found and many are feared missing. UPDATE: Child...

Read More

Afghanistan Makes History in Cricket World Cup, Despite Debut Loss to Bangladesh

Image from the Bangladesh-Afghanistan match from Manuka, Oval. Image By Rezwan February 18 was a historic day for Afghanistan, as its national cricket team took on Bangladesh at Manuka Oval Stadium in Canberra, Australia, for the country's first ever game in a Cricket World Cup. Even though Bangladesh showed off its experience and talent, beating Afghanistan by 105 runs in a quite one-sided game, it was clear the country had come a long...

Read More