Feature

MNA Feature Desk: The 42nd death anniversary of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, a great national leader, was observed across the country with due respect. Popularly known as ‘Majlum Jananeta’, the leader of the downtrodden, Maulana Bhasani, passed away on November 17 in 1976. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave separate messages paying rich tributes to the leader. Marking the day, different political parties and organisations organized various programmes. Bhasani was a popular leader in his fight against imperialism and oppression of the Pakistani rulers. Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, born in 1880 in Dhangara in Sirajganj, was ...

MNA Feature Desk: World Diabetes Day was observed across the globe to create awareness about the disease and its prevention, reported news agency. This year’s theme “The Family and Diabetes” aims to encourage families to learn more about the warning signs of diabetes and play a vital role in spreading awareness of the disease. Various activities were planned across the country to raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network of those affected. Jointly introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the day is internationally recognised. It was first ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 71st birthday of late prolific author, dramatist, screenwriter, playwright and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed is being celebrated today (Tuesday). Humayun Ahmed (13 November 1948 – 19 July 2012) was a Bangladeshi writer, dramatist, screenwriter, filmmaker, songwriter, scholar, lecturer. His breakthrough was his debut novel Nondito Noroke published in 1972. He wrote over 200 fiction and non-fiction books, all of which were bestsellers in Bangladesh. His books were the top sellers at the Ekushey Book Fair during the 1990s and 2000s. He won the Bangla Academy Award and the Ekushey Padak award for his contribution to Bengali literature. ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 46th founding anniversary of Jubo League, youth wing of ruling Awami League, is being celebrated today in a befitting manner. Bangladesh Awami Jubo League is the first youth organization of Bangladesh founded by Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni at the directive of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through a youth convention at Institution of Engineers on November 11, 1972. The organization has chalked different programmes to mark the anniversary which include hoisting of national and party flags at its central office at 6.30am, paying tributes to Bangabandhu by placing floral wreaths at his portrait ...

MNA Feature Desk: Shaheed Noor Hossain Day is being observed today across the country by political parties, socio-cultural and professional organizations with due solemnity commemorating the pro-democracy activists sacrifice. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, President Abdul Hamid and leaders of various political parties issued messages. The day was first called “Historic November 10 observance” but the Awami League supported the phrase “Noor Hossain Day”, by which it is known today. ‘Zero Point’ in the capital’s Gulistan area was renamed as ‘Noor Hossain Chattar’ (square) after the young man was gunned down near it by police on November 10, 1987. The day ...

MNA Feature Desk: Freedom Fighter- Soldier Killing Day is being observed across the country today. On this day in 1975, the killing process of the freedom fighter-soldiers started in the name of sepoy (soldier) revolution. The process was initiated much earlier, in August 1975, through the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and almost his entire family. Subsequently, on November 3 in 1975, the four national leaders were brutally killed in prison. After four days, the then rulers started killing the finest sons of the nation. In the name of sepoy revolution, three prominent freedom ...

MNA Feature Desk: World Tsunami Awareness Day is being observed across the world on 5 November 2018.  Its objective is to raise awareness and share innovative approaches to tackle the challenge. The day aligned with the ‘international day for Disaster Reduction’ and the ‘Sendai Seven Campaign” which are amide at reducing the number of affected people globally by disasters. Though they may be rare, tsunamis are among the most devastating natural disasters. They know no coastal borders. Coastal communities – often concentrated in low-lying and highly populated areas – are the most potentially vulnerable to coastal hazards including tsunamis, with ...

MNA Fetaure Desk: The nation is observing the Jail Killing Day today (Saturday) with due solemnity. On November 3, 1975, four national leaders and heroes of the country’s Liberation War — Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, Captain Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman — were assassinated inside the Dhaka Central Jail. The four leaders played a key role in forming the Mujibnagar government in exile that led the Liberation War of 1971 with Syed Nazrul Islam as the acting president, Tajuddin Ahmad as the prime minister, Mansur Ali as the finance minister and AHM Qamruzzaman as the home, relief and rehabilitation ...

MNA Feature Desk: India’s prime minister has unveiled a towering bronze statue of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, a key independence leader and the country’s first home minister after British colonialists left in 1947. The state government says at 182 meters (597 feet), it is one of the tallest statues in the word built at a cost of $403 million in Kevadiya, a village in Gujarat state. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Patel hail from Gujarat state. Modi inaugurated the “Statue of Unity” on Wednesday. He had promised the project despite criticism that India as an impoverished nation couldn’t afford to ...

MNA Feature Desk: Matiur Rahman, a flight lieutenant of Pakistan Air Force and a recipient of Bir Sreshtho, Bangladesh’s highest military gallantry award for his utmost bravery during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, was born in October 29, 1941. He attempted, in order to escape from Pakistan and join the Bangladesh Liberation War, to hijack a T-33 aircraft (code named “Blue Bird”) being flown by a 21 year old Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, who was conducting his second solo flight. Rahman stopped the aircraft on the runway, climbed into the cockpit and knocked Minhas unconcious. He nearly reached the Indian ...

MNA Feature Desk: The United Nations Day was observed across the world on October 24, 2018, marking the 73rd anniversary of the UN Charter’s entry into force. The Day was observed with an aim to celebrate everything that the UN represents and has achieved since its establishment in 1945. On this occasion, all the member states of the United Nations contributed finances to its operation to help further its goals. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, urged the men and women of the UN, and those they, serve, to “never give up” tackling the world’s many challenges. In a video ...

MNA Feature Desk: The country on Monday observed the National Road Safety Day 2018 with the slogan “Will obey law; will make roads safe.” The day’s program began with a rally in the morning, reported news agency. Government and non-government organizations have chalked out elaborate programs to mark the day, which the nation observes since last year in wake of rising road accidents in the country. Casualties on the roads have meanwhile kept on rising. At least 713 people were killed and 2,068 injured in 667 accidents in August and September, according to the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 90th birthday of renowned poet Shamsur Rahman will be observed today in a befitting manner across the country. Regarded as a symbol of aesthetics for his lifestyle, gestures and works Rahman was born in old part of Dhaka on October 23 in 1929 and died on August 17, 2006. Bangla Academy will organize a solo lecture program on his life and works at its auditorium at 3pm today where Sheikh Hasina University Vice Chancellor Professor Rafiq Ullah Khan will address it with Poet Asad Chowdhury in a chair. On the occasion, different socio-cultural organizations including Bangladesh ...

MNA Feature Desk: Today marks the 64th death anniversary of Jibanananda Das, one of the major Bengali poets of the twentieth century. Popularly known as ‘Rupashi Banglar Kabi’ (Poet of Beautiful Bengal), Das was also a well known writer, novelist and essayist altogether. This great intellectual of world poetry got hit by a tram on 14 October, 1954 near Calcutta`s Deshapriya Park and died on October 22 same year while undergoing treatment at the hospital. He was born on 17 February 1899 in Barisal, Bengal Presidency (present day Bangladesh) to Satyananda Das, a schoolmaster, essayist, magazine publisher, and founder-editor of ...

MNA Feature Desk: Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, ended on Friday with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga across the country. Devotees in their tearful eyes bade farewell to the mother deity and her children — Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh — wishing Durga’s return next year. The ceremonial worship of the goddess ended with the celebrations of Bijoya Dashami and devotees immersing the idols of the deity and her children in rivers and other water bodies. Durga Puja is the worship of ‘Shakti’ [divine force] embodied in goddess Durga. It symbolises the ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 54th birth anniversary of Sheikh Russel, youngest son of Bangabandhu Sheikh fMujibur Rahman, is being observed today. On this day in 1964, Russel, also the youngest brother of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was born in the historic Bangabandhu Bhaban at the capital’s Dhanmondi. Russel was brutally assassinated on August 15 in 1975. along with most of his family members, including his father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, when he was a class IV student of University Laboratory School. Different socio-cultural organisations including associate bodies of the ruling Awami League have taken various programmes to observe the birthday ...

MNA Feature Desk: Bangladesh has maintained a steady progress in tackling hunger as the country has moved two notches up to 88th spot among 119 countries in the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI), reported news agency. According to the report, Bangladesh is ahead of India and Pakistan as these two neighbouring countries have been ranked 103rd and 106th places in 2018 GHI, a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels. In 2017 GHI, Bangladesh’s rank was 86 while the positions of India and Pakistan were 100 and 106, said a press release. The ...

MNA Feature Desk: Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bangalee Hindu community, begins today with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga on the day of Maha Shashthi at temples across the country amid stringent security, reported news agency. On the occasion, preparations at all Puja pandals have completed as devotees and artisans are busy giving the final touches to idols and pandals across the country marking the festival. In separate messages marking the festival, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina conveyed greetings to the country’s Hindu community. The five-day festival starts Monday, October 15, ...

MNA Feature Desk: On 15 October, the United Nations commemorates the International Day for Rural Women. This year’s theme, “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”, places empowerment of rural women at the heart of fulfilling the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite progress on some fronts, gender inequalities remain pervasive in every dimension of sustainable development; and in many areas, progress is too slow to achieve the SDGs by 2030. These women make up over a quarter the world population and majority of the 43 per cent ...

MNA Feature Desk: Awareness programmes on mental health and mental disorders marked the World Mental Health Day observance on Wednesday. This year’s theme of the day is ‘Young people and mental health in a changing world’. Marking the day, DU educational and counseling psychology department, and students counseling and guidance service office jointly set up a stall in front of Teacher-Student Center (TSC) to provide free counseling over mental diseases to the people. Different organisations and professional bodies have chalked out elaborate programmes to observe the day. A recent World Health Organisation (WHO)-led study estimates that depression and anxiety disorders ...

MNA Feature Desk: Thousands of Cubans paid tribute to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader, on the 51st anniversary of his death. An estimated 70,000 people thronged the streets outside a mausoleum in this town 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of the capital Havana which houses the remains of Guevara and of some of his former comrades. The 39-year-old was captured and executed by a CIA-trained unit of the Bolivian army on October 9, 1967. The anniversary comes amid the dying gasps of other Latin American guerrilla movements such as the FARC in Colombia, which last ...

MNA Feature Desk: The auspicious occasion of Mahalaya, where Goddess Durga is invoked, is being observed across the country among Hindus. It marks the end of Pitri-paksha (fortnight of Shradh or mourning) and beginning of Devi-paksha (fortnight of the Goddess). It is said that Goddess Durga starts her journey towards Earth on the day of Mahalaya i.e. the first day of Devi-paksha. Since she is traditionally worshipped during spring, this Sharodiya (autumnal) festival is also known as Akaalbodhan (untimely invoking of the Goddess). Durga Puja will begin on October 15 with different rituals on the day of Maha Shashthi. Mahanagar ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The award was announced Friday at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. The recipient is chosen by a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament. There were 331 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 — the second highest number ever. Of those, 216 were individuals and 115 were organizations, according to Nobel organizers. The names of the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years have ...

MNA Feature Desk: On World Teachers’ Day, celebrated yearly on October 5, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will focus on the professors, teacher, researchers and others who otherwise provide educational services to students at institutions of higher learning. The work of these educators will be the subject of a daylong series of seminars at the Organization’s Headquarters, reported news agency. The empowerment of teachers emerged as a priority when the United Nations adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Education, said a statement from UNESCO. It requires teacher to enjoy professional independence, freedom and the tools needed ...

MNA Feature Desk: The world is commemorating the Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi — an International icon of peace and human rights who was born exactly 150 years ago. Popularly and adoringly called as ‘Bapu’ and ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ in his country of origin, he was the man who, through his self-developed tactics of passive resistance and non-violence, ensured India’s freedom from the slavery of British colonial powers. Mahatma Gandhi who was born into a conservative Hindu family in Porbandar in the state of Gujarat was an average student who didn’t excel in any subject. But his childhood exposure to initial teachings ...

MNA Feature Desk: Today, September 30, is the International Translation Day. This day is meant to pay tribute to the work of language professionals which plays a key role in bridging gaps between nations, facilitating talks and understanding their cooperation and ultimately, contributing towards making the world a better place for peace and security. “Transposition of a literary or scientific work, including technical work, from one language into another language, professional translation, including translation proper, interpretation and terminology, is indispensable to preserving clarity, a positive climate and productiveness in international public discourse and interpersonal communication,” says the United Nations on ...

MNA Feature Desk: The World Tourism Day 2018 was celebrated in the city and elsewhere in the country with the theme ‘Tourism and the digital transformation’. A colourful rally was brought out in the city on Thursday morning marking the day. The rally started from Matsya Bhaban intersection at 8:30am and ended at TSC intersection in Dhaka University campus. Civil aviation and tourism minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal, among others, spoke at the rally highlighting the importance of the day. Members of the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh, Aviation and Tourism Journalists’ Forum of Bangladesh (ATJFB), a platform of journalists covering ...