South Asian Youth Society (SAYS)

The Beautiful South Asia: Bangladesh-11
Bogakain Lake, also called Baga Lake or Boga Lake, is a lake located in Ruma Upazila in the hill district Bandarban, Bangladesh. It is a natural sweet and deep water lake. Its height from sea level is nearly 1,246 feet (380 m). Geologists believe that it was created by collection of rain water in summer. The lake is irregular in shape. A team of geologists surveyed this lake in 1973. They found the lake's water to be too acidic for any form of life. By the year 1995, the lake's water became abundant with plants and fish. The local residents culture and gather Tilapia fish in this lake.

The lake is bounded on three sides by mountain peaks covered with thick bamboo bushes. The area of the lake is 18.56 acres (75,100 m2). It is a closed lake and there is a small spring named Boga chhara, which is 153 metres (502 ft) deep. There is no outlet for draining out water from the lake. The lake is composed of the soft rocks of the Bhuban Formation. The main source of water is the rain in summer. The water is greenish due to the abundance of algae. The lake's bed is covered with boulders, like any other hill surface in that area. The lake's water was the only source of water for drinking, washing and bathing until 2012. Later, a pipe network was setup to bring stream water for drinking and household activities.

Photo Credit: The Daily Sun

Heartiest Congratulations to SAYS Alumni and former SAYS Young Fellow from Bangladesh- Monojit Saha who has been selected by European Space Agency (ESA) for attending the Living Planet Symposium 2019 for representing Bangladesh.

Our hearts and prayers are with the innocent victims, their families and those affected by the horrific incidents in Sri Lanka.
Everyone is entitled to practice freedom of religion or belief.

The founder of South Asian Youth Society (SAYS) will be a session speaker on 12 December at the Talk Journalism UK 2018.
Please join the

Speaker Announcement: Towfique Ahmad Khan

Founder and President, South Asian Society and Chevining Scholar at University Of Sussex.

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Congratulations to SAYS member Soroj Mehedi for selected as an executive team member of 2018. The Commonwealth Youth Innovation Centre initiate the Future Youth Summit 2018 (FUYOH-2018). FUYOH-2018 will bring together over 500 young leaders, government officials, field experts, international speakers and youth development stakeholders coming together to discuss the future of tomorrow.. FUYOH-2018 is a convergence of minds to spark inter-generational and multidimensional discussions on the challenges and future of young people.

SAYS alumni and former Young fellow from Afghanistan Sultan Aziz has been selected by World Youth Forum, WYF 2018 as a panelist, to be held in Egypt.

We wish him all the best.

Congratulations to SAYS alumnus, Ashraful Islam Rehan to receive BASIS National ICT Champion Award 2018 yesterday in the category of "Inclusion and Community Services (HC ICS), Health and Wellbeing." He received his award from Honorable ICT Minister মোস্তাফা জব্বার, State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP & Secretary Zuena Aziz at BASIS National ICT Awards 2018. He also got nominated for The Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards) is an international awards program organized by APICTA Asia Pacific to be held in Guangzhou, China in October.
In the beginning of 2018, he formed his technology company named Aerotek, and started designing his own products in collaboration with FAB Lab, IUB. AeroTEK is a green Technology firm to design, develop and provide solutions & services for wellbeing and better living. He has been recognized by this Award for the development of affordable high quality Air Purification devices with bio-degradable materials for home and industrial use.
Ashraful Islam studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering at University of Wyoming, USA in an Undergraduate Exchange program, then came back to home country and graduated from North South University in 2015. During university years, Ashraf was involved with social activities and mentoring for likeminded students. He worked at South Asian Youth Society (SAYS) as Chief Project Coordinator for a year and contributed to launch SAYS Young Fellowship Challenge, Lets’ Talk Failure and various other programs for Bangladesh and other South Asian countries. While working at SAYS, he received award from The Asia Foundation as Agents of Social Change under YASC project to implement “Know your SDGs”.

Historical South-Asia /// Historical Dhaka /// IDRAKPUR FORT
Idrakpur Fort is a river fort situated in Dhaka-Munshiganj, Bangladesh. The fort was built approximately in 1660 A.D. According to a number of historians, the river fort was built by Mir Jumla II, a Subahdar of Bengal under the Mughal Empire, to establish the control of Mughal Empire in Munsiganj, and to defend Dhaka and Narayanganj from the pirates.

The fort was a part of the triangular defense strategy for the vulnerable river route, from where the pirates used to attack Dhaka. The strategy was developed by Mir Jumla II with the help of the other two forts in Narayanganj the Hajiganj Fort and the Sonakanda Fort. Mughals took over the control of the Bengal in 1574 AD after defeating Daud Khan Karrani. Mughals exercised a progressive rule in Bengal. Bengal was then a very wealthy province and was frequently attacked by the pirates.

The Mughal Empire was then locked into a civil war regarding the succession of Emperor Shah Jahan. Shah Shuja, the second son of Shah Jahan and the Subahdar of Bengal, led a campaign to Agra to take over the throne. Aurangzeb, after his accession to the throne wanted to appoint a man with high skills in naval warfare as the river-oriented Bengal was the strong hold of Shah Shuja. So he entrusted Mir Muhammad Saeed Ardestani alias Mir Jumla II who was a successful trader in maritime trades in first life, to deal with Shah Shuja.

Mir Jumla II rushed to the Bengal compelling Shah Shuja to retreat. Later, Mir Jumla II was appointed as the Subahdar or the governor of the then Bengal province in 1660.

Mir Jumla was aware of the pirates who used to run a campaign of terror in the important cities of Bengal. After his appointment as the Subahdar, he shifted the capital of Bengal to Dhaka from Rajmahal. In a quest to protect the capital Dhaka from the pirates, Mir Jumla II developed a triangular defence strategy and decided to build up three river forts near Dhaka. One of these three forts is Idrakpur Fort of Munshiganj.
Reference: Wikipedia, Google, Department of Archaeology (Bangladesh), Banglapedia.