This archive collects solutions-journalism stories and progress milestones from Bangladesh — covering health, climate adaptation, education, economic development, and more. Each entry highlights what’s working and why it matters.
Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philippines have canceled nearly 45 gigawatts of proposed coal power projects, a figure equal to more than one-quarter of the total installed capacity of Germany.
Now, people who damage a river can get taken to court by the government-appointed National River Conservation Commission. They’ll be tried as if they’d harmed a living entity.
Youth literacy rates in Bangladesh have risen to almost 93%, up from 62% in 2006 and 45% in 1991.
In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban lightweight plastic bags, a groundbreaking move inspired by devastating floods caused by clogged drains. The ban set a global precedent and sparked international attention to plastic pollution. While challenges with enforcement and alternatives have slowed progress, the policy has raised public awareness and inspired innovations in eco-friendly materials like jute, cassava, and cloth bags. Bangladesh’s pioneering step continues to influence environmental policy worldwide, and ongoing efforts to strengthen enforcement and expand sustainable alternatives keep the country positioned as a trailblazer in the fight against plastic waste.
In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban thin plastic bags, after officials traced deadly urban flooding to bags clogging Dhaka’s drainage systems. It was a practical fix to a local emergency. Decades later, more than 120 countries have followed with plastic bag legislation of their own.
Bangladesh independence was declared on March 26, 1971, in a radio broadcast from Chittagong, after Pakistani forces launched a brutal crackdown on the Bengali population of East Pakistan. Nine months of war followed, ending with Pakistan’s surrender that December. A nation built on language and cultural identity had entered the world.
Ram Mohan Roy, born in Bengal in 1772, spent his life weaving Vedantic philosophy, Islamic theology, and Enlightenment thought into a movement for human dignity. Haunted by watching his sister-in-law burned in sati as a child, he campaigned for decades until Britain banned the practice in 1829. His Bengali Renaissance opened doors that shaped Indian thought for generations.
Somapura Mahavihara, completed in the late 8th century in what’s now Bangladesh, was one of the ancient world’s great centers of learning. Spread across 11 hectares with 177 monks’ cells, it drew students from as far as Tibet. Its terraced, cruciform temple would echo in Buddhist monuments from Java to Cambodia.
The Nanda Empire rose along the Gangetic Plain in the mid-first millennium B.C.E., reportedly founded by a barber’s son who seized the throne. Its army was so formidable that Alexander the Great’s soldiers refused to march east to face it. The centralized state it built became the foundation for the Mauryan Empire that followed.
The Vanga Kingdom took root in the Ganges Delta roughly three thousand years ago, building its power not on land but on water — controlling delta islands with a naval fleet praised by the poet Kalidasa. In the 5th century B.C.E., a Vangan prince sailed to Sri Lanka and founded a dynasty that ruled for five centuries. Its name still echoes in Bengal and Bangladesh today.
