Digitised Public Exams: An innovation that can solve many problems

Originally Published in The Daily Star. The government is finally considering something that could really stop the question paper leak crisis. The education secretary has reportedly hinted at using tablet computers for taking tests. In this method, a question set will be prepared randomly from a question bank 30 minutes before the test. This is … Read more

Of huddled masses and government shutdowns

Originally Published in The Daily Star. A signboard in front of the Statue of Liberty read: “Government Shutdown.” This was almost poetic, because the bold idea of openness that the lady upholds is at the centre of the whole US federal government shutdown shenanigan. This has happened because the Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to … Read more

When Even Trump Moves to the Center

Originally Published in The Daily Star. Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech as president sounded presidential. On Tuesday night, he sounded more like the Republican candidate who took a combative and aggressive stance to win the election in 2016. Like a true Republican, Trump readily invoked patriotism and the American flag repeatedly in … Read more

The Politics of Non-political Student Movements

  Bangladesh Student League members attacked Dhaka University students protesting against violence on women on campus in a similar fashion that the Chattradal (BNP’s student wing) attacked protesting students in 2005. But dissimilar to the 2005-bout, a new rhetoric of apoliticality from the student protesters has emerged. Posting the photos of a BSL activist attacking … Read more

Stealing Shahbag: Third Force Dynamics and Electoral Politics in Bangladesh

First published on September 17, 2018.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728018791698Volume: 38 issue: 3_suppl, page(s): 1S-24SSouth Asia Research Abstract The Shahbag Movement, demanding capital punishment for war criminals of the 1971 liberation war in Bangladesh, emerged in February 2013 in Dhaka. This youth-led grassroots movement erupted in response to infuriating establishment party politics as a populist third force, wanting … Read more