I. INTRODUCTION
II. LAND AND RESOURCES
A. Physio-graphic Regions
B. Rivers and Lakes
C. Climate
D. Natural Resources
E. Plants and Animals
III. POPULATION
A. Population Characteristics
B. Principal Cities
C. Religion
D. Language
E. Education
F. Culture
IV. ECONOMY
A. Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
B. Mining
C. Manufacturing
D. Energy
E. Currency and Banking
F. Commerce and Trade
G. Labour
H. Transport
I. Communications
V. GOVERNMENT
A. Executive and Legislature
B. Political Parties
C. Judiciary
D. Local Government
E. Health and Welfare
F. Defence
G. International Organizations
VI. HISTORY
A. Assassination and Instability
B. Democracy Restored
Description:-
I INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh, in full, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, republic of southern Asia, in the north-eastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, bordered on the west, north, and east by India, on the south-east by Myanmar (Burma), and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 143,998 sq km (55,598 sq mi). The capital and largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.
Geographically, historically, and culturally, Bangladesh forms the larger and more populous part of Bengal, the remainder of which constitutes the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal. From the partition of India in 1947 until 1971 the region of Bangladesh was a province of Pakistan. As such, its official designation was changed from East Bengal to East Pakistan in 1955. On March 26, 1971, leaders of East Pakistan declared the region independent as Bangladesh (Bengali, “Bengal nation”), and its independence was assured on December 16, 1971, when Pakistani troops in the region surrendered to a joint force of Bangladeshi and Indian troops.
II LAND AND RESOURCES
Bangladesh, a low-lying country traversed by numerous rivers, has a coastline of about 580 km (360 mi) along the Bay of Bengal.
A Physiographic Regions
Most of Bangladesh lies within the broad delta formed by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers and is exceedingly flat, low-lying, and subject to annual flooding. Much fertile, alluvial soil is deposited by the floodwaters. The only significant area of hilly terrain, constituting less than one tenth of the nation’s territory, is the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the narrow strip of land that forms south-eastern Bangladesh. There, on the border with Myanmar, is Mowdok (1,003 m/3,292 ft), the country’s highest peak. Small, scattered hills lie along or near the eastern and northern borders with India. The eroded remnants of two old alluvial terraces—the Madhupur Tract, in the north-central part of the country, and the Barind, straddling the north-western boundary with India—attain elevations of about 30 m (100 ft). The soil here is much less fertile than the annually replenished alluvium of the surrounding floodplain.
B Rivers and Lakes
Rivers are a prominent and important feature of the landscape in Bangladesh. Some rivers are known by different names in various portions of their course. The Ganges (Ganga), for example, is known as the Padma below the point where it is joined by the Jamuna River, the name given to the lowest part of the main channel of the Brahmaputra. The combined stream is then called the Meghna below its confluence with a much smaller tributary of the same name. In the dry season the numerous branches of the delta that lace the terrain may be several kilometres wide as they near the Bay of Bengal, whereas at the height of the summer monsoon season they coalesce into an extremely broad expanse of silt-laden water. In much of the delta, therefore, homes must be constructed on earthen platforms or embankments high enough to remain above the level of all but the highest floods. In non-monsoon months the exposed ground is pocked with water-filled tanks, or borrow pits, from which the mud for the embankments has been excavated. These tanks are a chief source of water for drinking, bathing, and small-scale irrigation.
C Climate
The climate of Bangladesh is of the tropical monsoon variety. In all areas about 80 per cent of the annual rainfall typically occurs in the monsoon period, which lasts from late May to mid-October. Average annual precipitation ranges from about 1,400 mm (55 in) along the country’s east-central border to more than 5,080 mm (200 in) in the far north-east. In addition to the normal monsoonal rainfall, Bangladesh is subject to devastating cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal, from April to May and September to November. Often accompanied by surging waves, these storms can cause great damage and loss of life. The cyclone of November 1970, in which about 500,000 lives were lost in Bangladesh, was one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century.
Bangladesh has warm temperatures throughout the year, with relatively little variation from month to month. January tends to be the coolest month and May the warmest. In Dhaka the average January temperature is about 19° C (66° F), and the average May temperature is about 29° C (84° F).
D Natural Resources
The mineral endowment of Bangladesh is meagre. The principal energy resource, natural gas, is found in several small fields in the north-east. There is a coalfield in the north-west and large peat beds underlie most of the delta. Limestone and pottery clays are found in the north-east.
E Plants and Animals
With the exceptions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, portions of the Madhupur Tract, and the Sundarbans (a great tidal mangrove swamp in the south-western corner of the country), few extensive forests remain in Bangladesh. The wooded area amounts to less than one sixth of the country’s total area. Broadleaf evergreen species characterize the hilly regions, and deciduous trees, such as acacia and banyan, are common in the drier plains areas. Commercially valuable trees in Bangladesh include sundari (hence the name Sundarbans), gewa, sal (mainly growing in the Madhupur Tract), and garyan (in the Chittagong Hill Tracts). Village groves abound in fruit trees (mango and jackfruit, for instance) and date and areca (betel) palms. The country also has many varieties of bamboo.
Bangladesh is rich in fauna, including nearly 250 indigenous species of mammals, 750 types of birds, 150 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and 200 varieties of marine and freshwater fish. The rhesus monkey is common, and gibbons and lemurs are also found. The Sundarbans area is one of the principal remaining domains of the Bengal tiger, and herds of elephants and many leopards inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Other wildlife living in Bangladesh includes the mongoose, jackal, Bengal fox, wild boar, parakeet, kingfisher, vulture, and swamp crocodile.
III POPULATION
The vast majority of Bangladesh’s inhabitants are Bengalis, largely descended from Indo-Aryans who began to migrate into the country from the west thousands of years ago and who mixed with indigenous groups of various races in Bengal. Ethnic minorities include the Chakma and Mogh, Mongoloid peoples who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; the Santal, mainly descended from migrants from present-day India; and the Biharis, non-Bengali Muslims who migrated from India after the partition of India in 1947.
A Population Characteristics
Bangladesh has a population of about 131,269,860 (2001 estimate). The overall density, 890 people per sq km (2,304 people per sq mi) in 2001, is much higher than that of any other country in the world except for microstates such as Singapore. Approximately 21 per cent of the Bangladeshi people are classified as urban. The distribution of the population is relatively even, except in the sparsely populated Chittagong Hill Tracts and the almost totally uninhabited Sundarbans. Most of the people are relatively young, some 45 per cent being under the age of 15 and only about 3.4 per cent being 65 or older. Life expectancy at birth was 60.5 years in 2001.
B Principal Cities
Among the major cities of Bangladesh are Dhaka, the capital, with a population of 3,368,940 (1991); Chittagong, the leading port, with a population of 1,566,070 (1991); Khulna, a rapidly growing centre for small-scale industry, with a population of 601,051 (1991); Narayanganj, the inland port for Dhaka, with a population of 268,952 (1991); and Rajshahi, located in a silk-producing area, with a population of 324,532 (1991).
C Religion
Islam, the state religion, is the faith of about 85 per cent of the population, almost all of whom adhere to the Sunni branch. Hindus make up most of the remainder, and the country has small communities of Buddhists, Christians, and animists.
D Language
The national language, Bangla, of the Indo-European family, is the first language of more than 98 per cent of the population. It is written in its own script, derived from that of Sanskrit. Urdu is the language of several hundred thousand people, many of whom emigrated from India in the late 1940s. A number of languages akin to Burmese are also spoken.
E Education
Bangladesh lacks sufficient numbers of schools and cultural institutions, even though facilities were increased substantially in the 1970s. Public education in Bangladesh generally follows the model established by the British prior to 1947. Primary school education is free, but at least one third of all children are not enrolled in school. Poor school attendance is a major reason for a literacy rate of only 51.4 per cent for Bangladeshi adults. In the period 1993 to 1994, the country had 95,886 primary schools, with a total annual enrolment of some 16.7 million pupils, and 11,488 secondary schools, with a combined yearly enrolment of about 4.5 million.
Bangladesh has several universities, the largest of which is the University of Dhaka (1921). Others include the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962) and Jahangirnagar University (1970), both in Dhaka; the Bangladesh Agricultural University (1961) in Mymensingh; the University of Chittagong (1966); and the University of Rajshahi (1953). Colleges include the Bangladesh College of Textile Technology (1950) in Dhaka, and the Chittagong Polytechnic Institute (1962). In the period 1993 to 1994, the country’s universities enrolled more than 110,000 students.
F Culture
Bangladeshi culture is, in many respects, inseparable from that of Bengal, since the country was created by the partitioning of Bengal in 1947, and since the early 19th century a majority of the most widely read and admired Bengali writers and artists, Hindu and Muslim, worked for a time in the Indian metropolis of Kolkata. Greatest among these was the writer, artist, and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.
Classical, light-classical, devotional, and popular music enjoy a wide following in Bangladesh. Classical dancing is of various Indian schools, such as Kathak, Bharatanatyam, and indigenous folk genres are being developed (see Indian Dance).
Higher cultural life is concentrated in Dhaka, which is the site of the Bangla Academy (1972), devoted to the promotion and development of the Bangla language and literature. The country’s largest library is part of the University of Dhaka, and the Bangladesh National Museum, also in Dhaka, is noted for its art and archaeology collections. The Varendra Research Museum, controlled by the University of Rajshahi, is an important centre for archaeological, anthropological, and historical research.
IV ECONOMY
Bangladesh has a gross national product (World Bank estimate; 1999) of about US$47,071 million, which is equivalent to about US$370 per capita, one of the lowest in the world. First as part of British India and then of Pakistan, the area now constituting Bangladesh suffered from chronic economic neglect. The region produced large quantities of agricultural goods, including most of the world’s jute, but received little investment in such basic items as transport facilities and industrial plants. The region is also prone to natural disasters such as cyclones and severe flooding, which have kept the country reliant on international aid. In 1992 and 1993, the fiscal-year national operating budget was estimated to include US$2,800 million in revenue and US$4,100 million in expenditure. However, recent years have seen good harvests, despite the floods of 1998, and the economic growth rate was over 5 per cent by the end of the 1990s.
A Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
About 25 per cent of the gross domestic product derives from agriculture. Most farms are small, and per capita output is low. Rice, of which two or three crops can be grown each year, is the leading food crop in all areas and accounts for at least five sixths of cultivated land; almost 17 million tonnes were harvested in 1994-1995. Pulses, the main source of vegetable protein, are the most important food crop after rice. Various oilseeds (mainly for cooking oil), wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, mangoes, and pineapples are also raised.
The principal cash crop is jute (a plant used to make hessian and twine), grown throughout the annually flooded parts of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta; the amount of jute harvested in 1994 was about 800,000 tonnes. Tea, the second most valuable cash crop, is grown almost exclusively in the north-east, around Sylhet. Cattle and buffalo are numerous but are raised as draught animals rather than for human consumption. Dairy products and eggs are in short supply.
Aquatic animals provide the chief source of animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet. Hilsa (a kind of herring) and prawns are among the principal commercial species. The amount of fish caught in 1993-1994 was almost 1.1 million tonnes, mostly consisting of freshwater varieties. The leading commercial types of tree are wild sundari, gewa, and teak. Bamboo is also an important forest product.
B Mining
Mining and quarrying, apart from the modest production of natural gas, are of negligible importance.
C Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector, which contributes just under 15 per cent of Bangladesh’s annual domestic product, is made up principally of unmechanized, small-scale enterprises, which together employ more than 11 per cent of the working population. The chief manufactured goods of the country are jute products (such as cordage and sacks), textiles, processed food, beverages, tobacco items, and goods made from wood, cane, or bamboo. Large-scale factories process jute and sugar cane. Much of the nation’s heavy industry, including a small steel mill, is in the port of Chittagong.
D Energy
About 94 per cent of Bangladesh’s electricity is generated in thermal plants using either coal, natural gas, or petroleum products. Most of the remaining 7 per cent is produced by hydroelectric facilities, including a large installation on the Karnaphuli River. In 1999 Bangladesh generated about 12 billion kWh of electricity.
E Currency and Banking
The monetary unit of Bangladesh is the taka of 100 paisa (54.1 taka equal US$1; 2001). The government-run Bangladesh Bank handles central banking operations.
F Commerce and Trade
The per capita volume of Bangladeshi internal and foreign trade is low. Domestic trade is conducted largely through thousands of periodic markets called hats. Since independence in 1971 the value of Bangladesh’s annual imports has usually been at least twice that of exports; in 1999 imports cost about US$7,694 million, and exports earned some US$3,922 million. The principal exports are jute products and raw jute; clothing, seafood, tea, and hides and leather goods are the other important exports. Imports include foodstuffs, basic manufactured goods, mineral fuels, machinery, and transport equipment. Exports go mainly to the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and Singapore; imports come chiefly from the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, and France. Only a small number of tourists visit Bangladesh each year.
G Labour
The civilian labour force of Bangladesh was estimated in 1999 to be about 67 million people. Figures for 1996 show that 63 per cent were employed in agriculture, 10 per cent in industry, and 25 per cent in services. Unemployment and underemployment are significant problems in the country.
H Transport
The numerous rivers of Bangladesh and the marked seasonal fluctuation in their width and depth greatly inhibit the development of an integrated road and rail transport system. Bridging the major channels is not feasible economically, and reliance on ferry connections makes most long-distance overland travel exceedingly slow. The country has some 201,182 km (125,009 mi) of roads, only about 10 per cent of which are paved; the road network may be severely damaged by monsoon flooding. Just under 40,000 private cars were in use in 1993-1994. The country is served by some 2,700 km (1,678 mi) of operated railway track.
Much of the country’s domestic freight and passenger traffic is carried on inland waterways. Commercially operated routes that are navigable in the rainy season total at least 8,050 km (5,000 mi), but shrink to some 4,025 km (2,500 mi) in the dry season. Small boats can navigate an additional 17,700 km (11,000 mi) during the wet months. International freight traffic is handled at the ports of Chittagong and Chalna; the former leads in imports and overall value, the latter leads in exports.
The government-owned Bangladesh Airlines (Biman) provides international and domestic air services. The main international airport is at Dhaka.
I Communications
About 295 daily newspapers in Bangla and English are published in Bangladesh, chiefly in Dhaka, and the country also has many weekly and monthly periodicals. Radio Bangladesh and Bangladesh Television has been under government direction, but the first privately owned terrestrial television channel was launched in May 2000. About 6 million radio receivers and 770,000 television sets were in use in 1997. About 470,000 telephones were in use in 1998.
V GOVERNMENT
Since the nation’s formation in 1971, the government of Bangladesh has undergone many changes. A secular parliamentary form of democracy was established by the 1972 constitution, but it was suspended in late 1974 and replaced in January 1975 by a presidential form of government. The 1972 constitution, as amended, was suspended again in 1982 after a coup d’état. A ban on political activities was rescinded and the constitution reinstated in 1986. The seat of primary executive power moved from president to prime minister in constitutional changes effected in 1991.
A Executive and Legislature
The unicameral parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) comprises 300 members directly elected by universal suffrage every five years; in addition, 30 seats are reserved for women members who are elected by members of the parliament. All citizens aged 18 years and over are eligible to vote. The president is elected by parliament every five years and appoints the prime minister.
B Political Parties
The principal political groups are an eight-party coalition led by the Awami League; the Bangladesh Nationalist Party; the Jatiya Party; and the Jamaat-e-Islami Party.
C Judiciary
The highest tribunal in Bangladesh is the Supreme Court, which is divided into a high court and an appellate division. The chief justice and the other justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president.
D Local Government
Bangladesh is administered in six divisions—Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet. Smaller units of government include unions, which are groups of villages with popularly elected councils; thanas (groups of unions); and, administratively most important, zillas (districts), which are groups of thanas.
E Health and Welfare
Health and welfare services in Bangladesh are limited. The country had more than 22,000 trained doctors (1 per 5,260 people), and more than 900 state and private hospitals in 1993. Infant mortality in 2001 was 70 per 1,000 live births. Much of the welfare work in the country is administered by voluntary organizations, and Bangladesh is a major recipient of assistance from abroad.
F Defence
Military service in Bangladesh is voluntary. In 1999 the nation had an army of 120,000 personnel, a navy of 10,500, and an air force of 6,500.
G International Organizations
Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and was admitted to the UN in 1974. It also belongs to the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development, with headquarters in Sri Lanka.
VI HISTORY
Following the partition of India in 1947, the area of Bangladesh became a province of Pakistan, initially known as East Bengal, and then, from 1955, as East Pakistan. The people of East Pakistan Province declared their independence as the nation of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971, while fighting a savage war against the central Pakistani government. The separation from Pakistan took place, with extensive aid from India, on December 16, 1971, as a result of the third Indo-Pakistan War. Bangladesh was soon recognized by most other nations, although Pakistan withheld diplomatic recognition until 1974 and China did not recognize the nation until 1976. Bangladesh was admitted to the UN in 1974.
The country’s initial government was formed in January 1972 under the charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, known as Mujib, who became prime minister. His immediate tasks were to rebuild the war-ravaged nation, re-establish law and order, and reintegrate the numerous Bengalis returning from India. A longer-range goal was to foster economic growth in order to raise the very low living standards of the densely populated nation. In the first years of independence, Bangladesh received much aid from abroad, and Mujib nationalized major industries as part of his programme of developing the country along the lines of democratic socialism. He had little success, however, in improving the economy, and lawlessness prevailed.
A Assassination and Instability
In mid-1974 the country was devastated by floods that destroyed much of the grain crop. At the same time, political disorder was increasing, and in late 1974 a national state of emergency was declared. In early 1975 Mujib became president under a remodelled constitution that granted him virtually dictatorial power. He was unable to stabilize the political situation, however, and was killed along with a number of family members in a military coup d’état on August 15, 1975. In November military leaders ousted Mujib’s successor, Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmed, who had initiated martial law, and installed Abusadat Muhammad Sayem as president. General Ziaur Rahman assumed the presidency when Sayem resigned in 1977. Martial law was lifted in 1979, following parliamentary elections. Despite a continuing food shortage, the nation made considerable economic progress in 1980 and 1981.
President Rahman was assassinated in May 1981 as part of an abortive military coup. He was succeeded by Vice-President Abdus Sattar, who won election to the presidency in his own right in November. However, a bloodless military coup in March 1982 brought General Hussein Muhammad Ershad to power. After suspending the constitution and abolishing all political parties, Ershad ruled by martial law under a figurehead president.
A proposal by Ershad to require all schools to teach Arabic and the Koran sparked demonstrations and riots in February 1983. Later in the year, limited political activities were allowed to resume; in December Ershad assumed the presidency. The long-postponed parliamentary elections took place in May 1986. Some members boycotted the initial meetings of parliament because Ershad did not lift martial law. In an October 1986 presidential election that was boycotted by opposition parties, Ershad was elected to a five-year term with a majority of more than 80 per cent. In November, after parliament passed legislation protecting his military regime from reprisals, Ershad lifted martial law and reinstated the constitution. Devastating floods in September 1988 inundated about three quarters of the country and left an estimated 30 million people homeless. Faced with rising political opposition, Ershad resigned in December 1990; he was subsequently convicted and imprisoned on charges of corruption and illegal weapons possession. In February 1991, Khaleda Zia, widow of President Rahman, was elected prime minister, which became the governmental position with primary executive power after a change in the constitution later that year.
More than 120,000 people were killed and millions left homeless in April 1991 when a powerful cyclone struck the coastal areas in the Ganges delta. An influx of Muslim refugees in the early 1990s, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, further strained Bangladesh’s already devastated economy.
B Democracy Restored
By 1993 the Bangladeshi economy was recovering, despite continuing problems with flooding and other crises. In May 1994 opposition parties began a series of boycotts of parliament, amid a deepening personal feud between Prime Minister Zia and the opposition Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina Wajed. In September the author Taslima Nasreen fled to Switzerland after a series of legal cases, demonstrations, and death threats against her by Islamic fundamentalists. In December 1994 opposition Members of Parliament resigned en masse to force new elections, and organized a series of violent strikes in January 1995. Following general strikes in September and October 1995, President Abdur Rahman Biswas formally dissolved parliament in November to make way for a general election, but opposition parties refused to participate without the appointment of an impartial caretaker government. The general election went ahead in February 1996, but the opposition boycott, a low voter turnout, and violent incidents undermined the landslide victory of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). With strikes and demonstrations continuing, Zia was finally forced in March 1996 to concede the appointment of a caretaker administration by the president and tendered her resignation. President Biswas swore in the caretaker government in April, with all parties promising to cooperate, and scheduled general elections for June. Following a reported coup attempt in May, the June general elections brought the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina Wajed, a daughter of the assassinated former president, Sheikh Mujibur, to power.
A successor to President Biswas, Shahabuddin Ahmed, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and an Awami League nomination, was declared in July 1996, after being elected unopposed. By-elections held in September gave the Awami League an absolute majority, with control of 176 of the 330 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament). A treaty signed in December that signalled improving relations with India, agreed a series of measures to facilitate the sharing of water from the Ganges. The previous agreement had expired in 1988 and attempts to renew it had failed.
In January 1997 Ershad was released from prison; his opponents spoke of a deal struck with the ruling Awami League. The reported assassins of President Rahman went on trial in March. In July 1997 Ershad was expelled from the opposition political party he led, Jatiya Dal, but the party’s 33 parliamentary members remained loyal to him. A one-day general strike called by the opposition BNP in September was attributed to continuing political tension between it and the ruling Awami League. During 1998 corruption charges were filed against Zia, still head of the opposition BNP, and, in November, 15 former army officers were sentenced to death for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a sentence confirmed for 10 of the 15 by the high court two years later, although 6 of the convicted were not in custody. Opposition pressure on the government continued throughout 1999 and 2000 with a series of debilitating strikes, demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina and early elections. Claiming insufficient opportunity to voice criticism democratically, opposition parties staged a prolonged boycott of parliament. Following the failure of his appeal, Ershad returned to prison to begin serving a prison sentence for corruption in November.
Commercial exploitation of the country’s reserves of natural gas, believed to be substantial, formed an important part of the agenda for Sheikh Hasina’s official visit to the United States in October 2000, the first ever by a Bangladeshi prime minister. An agreement for exploration of the reserves had been signed with an American company earlier in the year, soon after US President Clinton’s visit. While the economic potential of the gas reserves offers great hope, the debilitating effect to the country’s people and economy of the region’s proneness to natural disasters was once again evident in 2000, however, when Bangladesh, like neighbouring parts of India, was hit by severe flooding, followed by storms.
A court ban on fatwas in December 2000, regarded by many as a landmark ruling, caused protests among Islamicists, flaring into violence in early 2001. A crackdown on radical Muslim groups followed. Nevertheless, the hold of radical Islam is believed to have declined since the days of the fatwa on writer Taslima Nasreen.
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