Main Reports
The Marginalized and Excluded Communities
Elections in tea gardens and the larger issues of tea workers
Philip Gain | News Link PHOTO: Mariusz Kluzniak/Flickr Election of Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (BCSU) on June 24 was a joyous occasion for tea workers. BCSU happens to be the largest trade union in Bangladesh. And it is the only union for the 97,646 voters who are all...
IN AGONY: The plantation economy and reserved forests are destroying our natural forests by Philip Gain.
Philip Gain | News Link Rubber plantation in place of sal forest. Photo: Philip Gain Sicilia Snal, aged 25 in 2006, was shot when she went to collect firewood in the forest near her village. Sicilia is a Garo woman of Uttar Rasulpur, in Madhupur sal forest area. It...
SPECIAL FEATURE: Dinesh Nokrek – The Last of Sangsarek by Philip Gain
Philip Gain | The Daily Star The nonagenarian remembers what it was like to be a Garo before the forest dramatically disappeared from Madhupur and Christianity took over. Dinesh Nokrek, in his nineties, is a Garo kamal in Dharati village of Madhupur forest in Tangail....
The invisible chain binding the tea garden
by Philip Gain, Dhaka Tribune, April 30th, 2018 Hemlata Bauri (65) earns tk 60 for a full day's work at Daluchhera Tea Garden in Fenchuganj upazila, Sylhet district. She is paid a daily wage, so she does not get a weekly holiday. If she opts to work on a public...
The man with 100 forest cases… and why he claims he is innocent
Philip Gain | News Link Hssan Ali appeared at Tangail Forest Court on January 4, 2018 to take bail in a 'forest case' (no. 405) that was filed in 1998 for felling of trees. He had been charged in absentia on December 27, 2017. The court issued a warrant of arrest. On...
Tea Workers’ ‘No’ to Economic Zone on Paddy Land
by Philip Gain, The Daily Star, December 20, 2015 Tea workers in an open-air protest rally against economic zone. Photo:Philip Gain It was a very tense morning for Udoy Modi, a tea worker of Chandpore Tea Estate on December 15. In his sixties, Udoy wrapped his chest...
Cover Story: AMBUSHED BY GREED
The Chaks of Baishari are a tiny community, the existence of which is being threatened by encroachment of their land to grow rubber and tobacco, in the name of development. Story by Philip Gain. the daily STAR (stories behind the news) | Volume 10 | Issue 045 |...
The Garo Women in Bangladesh: Life of a Forest People without Forest
The Garo Women in Bangladesh: Life of a Forest People without Forest by Philip Gain, first published in World Rainforest Movement (WM) Bulletin No. 152 March 2010. Sicilia Snal (25), is a Garo woman of the forest village Sataria in the Modhupur sal forest. It is...
The Story of Tea Workers
by Philip Gain looks at the struggle of the labourers in the tea gardens, FORUM, A Monthly Publication of The Daily Star, June 2009. Philip Gain looks at the struggle of the labourers in the tea gardens Conditions on the tea gardens were grim. In 1911 the Head of...
Sidr and the Sundarbans.
Philip Gain makes a painful visit to find the World Heritage Site devastated, though hope still flickers. FORUM, a monthly publication of The Daily Star January 2008 (Volume 3, Issue 1) Philip Gain makes a painful visit to find the World Heritage Site devastated,...