Bangladesh

গনপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ
Gôno Projātontrī Bānglādesh

Coat of arms Flag of Bangladesh Coat of Arms of Bangladesh
Principal language	Bangla (or Bengali)
Capital	Dhaka
President	Iajuddin Ahmed
Prime Minister	Begum Khaleda Zia
Area - Total - % water	Ranked 91st 144,000 km² 7.0%
Population - Total (2004 est.) - Density	Ranked 7th 141,340,476 1,055/km²
Independence	1971
Currency	Taka
Time zone	Universal Time +6
National anthem	Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal)
Internet TLD	.bd
Country Calling Code	880

The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia that forms the eastern part of the ancient region of Bengal. Bangladesh literally means "The Country of Bengal." Lying north of the Bay of Bengal, it borders India to the West, North and East with Myanmar also bordering on the South East.

Evidence of civilization in Bangladesh dates back to 1st millenium B.C.E. After Partition of India in 1947 the area became known as East Pakistan after becoming part of Pakistan. India's partition was based on where there were Hindu and Muslim majorities. In 1971 after years of linguistic and ethnic differences with West Pakistan, which, although numerically smaller, controlled the government, the Bangladesh War of Independence broke out. With the aid of India's military, the east became liberated later that year forming the nation of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is one of the founding members of SAARC and a member of OIC. It is among the most densely populated countries in the world and much of it can be attributed to the fertile Ganges Delta and the monsoon rains that are the lifeline of Bangladesh. However, overpopulation and poverty have plagued Bangladesh, along with regular flooding, in part due to deforrestation in the Himalayas and possibly also linked to global warming. Bangladesh signed up to the Kyoto Protocal on the Environment and has removed all two-stroked engine (three wheeled) 'baby-taxis' from the streets of Dhaka to help reduce carbon monoxide and other emissions. The nation is a constitutional democracy, although it has witnessed several coups that impacted badly on the economy. On the other hand, for several years the economy has grown annually by 5%. Bangladesh has a rich cultural heritage that unites Bangladeshis across religious and ethnic divides in pride over their language, poetry and drama. Though officially a Muslim country, the national anthem was written by a Hindu, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) winner of the Novel Prize for Literature. This is typical of the unifying role that language and culture plays in the region. Tagore also penned India's National Anthem. Most of Bangladesh's iconic figures were uniters not dividers, preferring to regard humanity as one not many. Bangladeshis are a resiliant people, used to floods and cyclones, who also have a large Diaspora presence in Europe and North America where what is called the 'myth of return' never quite dies. Bangladeshis, whether Hindu or Muslim, all but reverence their green and beautiful land, which has been called a land of rivers and canals. They are renowned for their tolerance. In Europe, most 'Indian' restarurants are actually run by Bangladeshis, whose food has thus become very popular, although most customers are unaware that the chef is Bangladeshi and not 'Indian'. Bangladeshis' favorite food is illish, or hilsa fish, for which Bangladesh is renowned [1].

Geography

Bangladesh consists mostly of a low-lying river delta located on the Indian subcontinent with a largely marshy jungle coastline on the Bay of Bengal known as the Sundarbans, home to the Royal Bengal Tiger and one of the largest mangrove forests in the world. Bangladesh is situated in the geographic region named The Ganges Delta (also known as the Ganges-Brahmaputra River Delta). This delta is the largest in the world. Having densely vegetated lands, Bangladesh is often called the Green Delta. The densely populated delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganges (local name Padma or Pôddā), Brahmaputra (Jomunā), and Meghna rivers and their tributaries as they flow down from the Himalaya, creating the largest riverine delta in the world. Bangladesh's alluvial soil is highly fertile but vulnerable to both flood and drought. Hills rise above the plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (highest point: the Keokradong at 1230 m) in the far southeast and the Sylhet division in the northeast.

Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, the Bangladeshi climate is tropical with a mild winter from October to March, a hot, humid summer from March to June, and a humid, warm rainy monsoon from June to October. Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores affect the country almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion. Dhaka is the country's capital and largest city. Other major cities include Chittagong, the main sea-port, Rajshahi, and Khulna. Cox's Bazar, South of the city of Chittagong, has a sea beach that stretches uninterrupted over 120 km; it is frequently quoted as the World's longest natural sea beach (although this claim is difficult to prove or disprove).

History

NASA satellite Image of Bangladesh's physical features (click to enlarge)

There has long been advanced civilization in what is now Bangladesh, once the eastern part of a greater region called Bengal. There is recent evidence of civilizations dating back to 500 B.C.E., and there are even claims of social structures from around 1000 B.C.E. One of the earliest historical references to be found to date is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100B.C.E. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bangladesh. However, more concrete proof of a political entity in Bengal starts with the Hindu king Shashanka in 7th century C.E. This was followed (though not immediately) by the Buddist Pala dynasty (750-1120 C.E.), and the Hindu Sena dynasty from approximately 1120 until the beginning of Muslim rule. Troops led by Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiar Khilji invaded what is now Bangladesh at the start of the thirteenth century. Islam, however (see below) had already evangelized much of the region.

Bengal became Islamic starting in the 13th century and developed into a wealthy centre of trade and industry under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century. European traders had arrived in the late 15th century and eventually the British East India Company controlled the region by the late 18th century after the Battle of Plassey. Starting from this conquest, the British extended their rule over all of India. When Indian independence was achieved in 1947, political motivations caused it to be divided into the independent states of Pakistan and India.

The Partition of India saw Bengal divided between the two new countries: a Muslim-dominated eastern part called East Bengal corresponding to what is now Bangladesh, and a western part, the Indian state of West Bengal (now called Bangla). As shall be shown below, both halves of Bengali shared a common culture and substantial Hindu or Muslim minorities remained both sids of the new border. The British had tried to divide the Province for administrative purposes in 1905, and a rebellion almost broke out. That partition was revoked in 1911, and later, as compensation for losing its new status as a capial, Dhaka was given its university (1921). Many felt that Bengal should not have been partitioned again. Indeed it had not been part of the original plans for Pakistan, which derives its name from (P)Punjab (A) Afghan (KI) Kashmir, (S) Sindhand 'tan' from Baluchistan, the areas that comprised the new state (which also means 'land of the pure'). Thus, Bengal was not included, as even the Muslim advocates of Pakistan thought that the Muslims of East Bengal (see below) would not want to join their experiment (the only state to be created as a Muslim entity, with Islam as the common factor cementing identity). The abolition of the Zamindari system (which divided the society into lords, owners of property, and commoners, users of property) in East Bengal (1950) was a major landmark in Bangladesh's movement to a "people's state". The Language Movement of 1952 established the rights of the Bengali community to speak in their own language, an event commomorated now as the International Mother Language Day. Pakistan was trying to impose Urdu (which was considered more Islamic) as the sole offical language. In 1955, the government of Pakistan changed the name of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan.

East Pakistan was dominated and neglected by West Pakistan, which comprised the rest of Pakistan (West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province). Despite the fact that East Pakistan earned the larger share of national income, especially through the export of Jute, most of the development was done in West Pakistan. The Pakistan Army was also mostly dominated by officers from West Pakistan. The tensions peaked in 1971, following an open, non-democratic denial by Pakistani president General Yahya Khan, of election results that gave the East's Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bôngobondhu (Friend of Bengal), Bangladesh started its struggle for independence. The official onset followed one of the bloodiest genocides of recent times carried out by the Pakistan army on Bengali civilians in March 1971. Virtually the entire Bengali intelligentsia were annihilated. Owing to West Pakistan's effort to rid the country of foreign journalists, accurate numbers are difficult to get, but some estimates claim 50,000 deaths in the first three days of the so-called Operation Searchlight of the Pakistan Army [2]. The overall death toll of the Bengalis in the nine-month war is officially estimated to be around 3 million, with some Western sources citing between 1-1.5 million deaths. More than 10 million Bengalis fled to neighbouring India, which backed the liberation war, with support from the Soviet Union.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Government. Before his arrest, Rahman made a formal and official declaration of Independence on 26 March. Hence 26 March is considered the Independence Day of Bangladesh. On 27 March Ziaur Rahman, an army major then, and President of Bangladesh much later (whose widow is currently Prime Minister), made the announcement of the declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Sheikh Mujib, using a makeshift radio transmitter from Kalurghat near Chittagong city. With help of Bengali officers in the army, support of civilians and military/humanitarian aid from India, Bangladesh quickly formed a regular army as well as a guerilla force known as Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters). Besides attacks on the Pakistani army, the Mukti Bahini provided local Military intelligence and guidance of immense value to the allied force of Bangladesh Army and Indian Army which attacked the occupying West Pakistani army of 80,000 in early December 1971. Many crimes against women and non-Muslims by West Pakistani soldiers were reported. The East's mukti bahini which included Christians and Hindus alongside their fellow Muslim Bangladeshis, women as well as men, were ill equiped and mainly self-trained but harried the Pakistani soldiers for months.

File:TIMEfreedomofBangladesh.jpg

A TIME magazine issue covering the newly independent Bangladesh.

Within two weeks of the Indian invasion, on 16 December 1971, the Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi of the Pakistan army formally surrendered to Lt.Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, the head of the Indian army's Eastern Command. India took 93,000 prisoners of war who were held in camps in India. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had been incarcerated in West Pakistan since March, returned triumphantly as the first Prime Minister of the new nation. India withdrew its troops from Bangladesh within three months of the war.

After the war, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the Prime Minister and later the President of Bangladesh. He along with most of his family were massacred by a group of disgruntled Army officers on 15 August 1975. The exact reason for the coup remains unclear. Mujib, a popular leader before the war of liberation, was a patrician, and once in power abrogated authority to himself, banning all parties exept his own Awami League. There is even a rumour that he planned to decare himself a king, which could explain why his children were also killed. Following his death, (Major General) Khaled Mosharraf led a military coup on 3 November 1975. Khaled Mosharraf was killed in a counter coup on 7 November 1975 in the Dhaka cantonment culminating in General Ziaur Rahman gaining power and later gained the Presidency. Zia founded the BNP (Bangladesh National Party) and restored multi-party democracy.But in 1981, he was killed in yet another coup, in Chittagong. In 1982 General Hossain Mohammad Ershad staged a bloodless coup and became the Chief Martial Law Administrator, assuming practically all power. Ershad later declared himself President and started a new political party named Janadal, which he later renamed as Jatiya Party, and ruled until 1990, when a popular uprising forced Ershad to resign (he was later found guilty of corruption and imprisoned) and give way to a parliamentary democracy. Since then, Bangladesh has been ruled by three democratically elected governments. Using one available criterion for determining the stability of a democarcy (at least two peaceful changes of power), Bangladesh qualifies as a democratic state.

Politics

File:Bg-map.png

Map of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a Parliamentary democracy. The President of Bangladesh is the head of state and holds a largely ceremonial post. The real power, however, is held by the Prime Minister, who is head of government. The president is elected by the legislature every five years and has normally limited powers that are substantially expanded during the tenure of a caretaker government, mainly in controlling the transition to a new government.

The prime minister is appointed by the president and must be a member of parliament (MP) who the president feels commands the confidence of the majority of other MPs. The cabinet is composed of ministers selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president.

The unicameral Bangladeshi parliament is the House of the Nation or Jatiya Sangsad, which has 300 members are elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies for five-year terms of office. The remaining 45 seats are reserved for women, and allocated among the political parties according to their representation of elected members. There is Universal suffrage, citizens attain the right to vote at the age of 18. The highest judiciary body is the Supreme Court, of which the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president.

Khaleda Zia of the B.N.P, founded by her late husband, is currently the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was foremrly PM 1994 to 1996, then was re-elected in 2001. The current leader of the opposition is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, PM from 1996 until 2001.

The politics of Bangladesh is dominated by two major parties, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Awami League. Other major political parties include Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (which aims to crate an Islamic State and has a share in the present government) and Ershad's Jatiya Party.

In 2005 Bangladesh (along with Chad) was named by Transparency International as the most corrupt country in the world. Passing moral judgement is easy if you yourself are comparitively well off. Bangladesh is so poor that officials, who are not well paid, find the huge amounts of aid money they handle too tempting to resist. This does not justify theft but suggests that more radical change is needed to really combat poverty. The annual growth rate of 5% referred to above has been fairly consistent and has not changed markedly whether the government in power was elected or the result of a coup, which could suggest that factors external to Bangladesh play significant roles.

Political Ambivalence

Bengalis were among the first in British India to benefit from English education, and soon provided many civil servants and lawyers. They were also among the first politicians. They demanded 'fair play' from the British, that is, the right to participate in government. Benaglis have also known centuries of authoritarian rule from outside (from the Moghuls, then the British). Culturally, it has been argued that there is a willingness to submit to authoritarian rule especially if the ruler is also charismatic. Leadership is though to be inherent in individuals, rather than conferred by election. Leadership of this type can be derivative. Thus, both PM Zia and Sheikh Hasina gain recognition because of their dynastic links. It has been argued that there is a tension, or ambiguity, between a passion for participation and willingness to submit to charismatic leadership. Hussain and Khan (1998) argue that 'Bengalis look for magical powers or charismatic qualities in a political leadet' (206). Sheikh Mujibar possessed all the right qualities, this he earned almost universal support but when he assumed too much power, it was, ironically, the passion for participation that killed him. This understanding of leadership impacts on the role of a 'loyal opposition', since the idea of having an influential check on power is alien. Thus, it has not been uncommon during recent years for the opposition to boycott Parliament (see Bennett, 2005: 253-5). Hussain and Khan (1998) comment that 'the political leaders of Bangladesh ... place themselves on an unequal position of hierarchy and fail to discuss nationally important issues as equals not as rival' (200). These commentators claim that Bangladehis are 'threatened by too much freedom ... so the lifting of authoritarian rule is also problematic'. Thus, 'Bengalis have uprisings in almost every generation against oppressive rule, but being unable to handle the subsequent disorder, they set back to authoritarian rule again' (212).

Economy

Fishermen near the town of Cox's Bazaar in southern Bangladesh. Many industries in Bangladesh are still primitive by modern standards.

Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains an underdeveloped, overpopulation|overpopulated, and ill-governed nation. This is not only attributable to corruptionAlthough more than half of the GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single most important product.

Among other crops, Jute has been the major foreign exchange earnings cash crop from Bangladesh. Almost 70% of the export earnings of Bangladesh came from Jute immediately after the independence. Jute is the second Natural Fiber widely cultivated in the world after cotton. And Bangladesh is the major producer of Jute in the world. Tea is grown in the Sylhet region.

However, major portion of the export earnings of Bangladesh comes from the Garments Industry. During the 80s, the garments sector in Bangladesh boomed very rapidly. The industry employs about 20 million people, of whom 80% are women. This was possible because of the very low cost labor, which attracted the foreign investors to invest in the garments sector. The garments sector has developed a comprehensive network of businesses in Bangladesh, from yarn, lables, accessories, and fabrics, to ready made garments. The garments industry employs almost 40% of the female population in Bangladesh. However, the developed nations, through the World Trade Organization, have set up tariffs and quotas on least developed country (LDC) exports that make it difficult for Bangladesh to compete. Bangladeshi women charge the WTO with being anti-people and anti-women.

Major impediments to growth include frequent cyclones and floods, inefficient state-owned enterprises, mismanaged port facilities, a rapidly growing labour force that has not been absorbed by agriculture, inefficient use of energy resources (such as natural gas), insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms, caused by political infighting and corruption. In 2001, 2002, and 2003, Transparency International's surveys ranked Bangladesh as the World's most corrupt country.

Since June 2004 Bangladesh has been ravaged by its worst floods in six years, which have killed 628 people so far and covered about 60% of the country. About 20 million people are in need of food aid on account of damaged crops, and the textile industry which earns 80% of the country's export earnings has been disrupted. Officials estimate that the damage incurred could approach US$7 billion (Yahoo!News).

The July 19, 2005 issue of the New York Times reported that an eight story shopping mall (the largest in South Asia) has recently opened in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The large influx of shoppers belies the notion that the economy of Bangladesh has been stagnant, and also reveals the growth of the middle class in the country. Observers credited an expansion in the textile and garment trade for bringing some prosperity to the country.

According to the CIA World Fact Sheet:

Many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; water-borne diseases prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation[3].

People with land can usually survive through subsistance farming and fish cultivation (in tanks, or ponds). However, flooding depletes fish stocks (they swim away). Poverty results in a bitter cycle, since cash-strapped farmers mortgage their crops to money lenders, who claim them as payment. Farmers then lack the means to buy seed, so a great deal of arrable land remains barren. Thus, even landowners may find themselves living in the basti (slums) of the cities.

Demographics

Apart from very small countries or urban city-states such as Singapore and Bahrain, Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. The nation, at 982 persons per km², has often been compared to Indonesia's Java.

Bangladesh is ethnically homogenous, with Bengalis comprising 98% of the population, the rest belonging to the tribal people, who are referred to in Bangla as adibhasi, or aborigines. The vast majority speak Bangla, or Bengali, an Indo-Aryan language written in the Bengali script. It is the official language, though English is accepted in official tasks and in university-level education. A small number of people, mostly non-Bengali Muslims from regions of India such as Bihar speak Urdu. A substantial number of non-Bengali tribal groups inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast and the Northern regions Bangladesh, including parts of the districts of Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rangpur. Almost all non-Bengali Bangladeshis speak Bangla as a second language.

Bangladesh has a high population growth rate. In the mid-eighties, the government began promoting birth control to slow population growth, but with limited success. However, the Government has gained considerable success in preventing the spread of many childhood diseases, through an effective nationwide immunisation policy.

Many are landless or forced to inhabit hazardous floodplains, with the consequence of rampant water-borne disease. In an effort to stem the spread of pathogens like cholera and dysentery, international organizations began to promote well-drilling throughout the nation. Several years after widespread implementation of the programme, over a quarter of the population exhibited symptoms of arsenic poisoning. High levels of naturally occurring arsenic in the water table of certain regions has not been accounted for. The effects of arsenic-tainted water still remain a problem.

Religion

Most Bangladeshis (about 83%) are Muslims, but Hindus constitute a sizable (16%) minority. There are also a small number of Buddhists especially in the Chittagong Hill tracts, bordering MyanmarChristians, and Animists. The Buddhist monasteries in Bangladesh may be among the oldest in the world. Islam arrived in the area carried by Muslim merchants and Sufu missionaries from as early as the twelfth century, about a hundred years before Muslim forces conquered the region and Islamic rule began. The Sufis taught a version of Islam that meshed in with the pre-existing Buddhist and Hindu devotional traditions, stessing piety and devotion and a form of worship that had much in common with bhakti (Hindu devotion and love-mysticism). The Sufi shrines soon became holy places, and to this day flowers are offered much as Buddhist shrines are dedicated with flowers. The Sufi mendicants sing their Baul geeti, or using the flute and a type of stringed instrument. The Sheikhs resembled Gurus; like Gurus, they put their followers in touch with the divine. Bengali Islam attracted Hindus both as converts but also as Sufi devotees who remained Hindu. The Bengali's love of poetry and of music led to a devotional tradition that some Muslims in the West regarded as corrupt, as a Hinduized form of Islam. Before the war of liberation, this attitude was common in West Pakistan and the imposition of Urdu on the east was part of a deliberate policy of Islamization.

When Bangladesh gained independence, the original constitution was secular since culture, not religion, was the state's raispn d'etre, while Pakistan's had been religion. This also recognized the contribution of non-Muslims to the liberartion struggle. Hussain and Khan claim that the birth of Bangladesh represents the first time that 'a demand was made for politics and culture to coalesce' (198). While the slogan 'Islam is in danger' had rallied support for Pakistan's founding, the liberation cry of the Begalis was 'joy bangla' (victory to the Bengalis). However, Bangladesh was placed under some pressure from oil rich Muslim aid donor states to assert its Islamic identity. In 1988, Ershad declared that Islam was the religion of the state. There were some protests at the time but little changed in terms of the generally very good relations between the different faiths. All faiths continue to enjoy free time on state television. There are some accusations that Muslims use the Vesting of Property and Assets Ordinance of 1972 to seize Hindu and Christian land. Following the Hindu attack on the Babri Masjid (Mosque) in Ayodhia in 1992, a backlash occured against Hindus in Bangladesh. This was denounced by the feminist writer, Taslima Nasrin in her 1994 novel, Lajja (Shame), resulting in a death threat agains her from Muslim fundamentalists and her subsequent exile. Her books has been described as 'a savage indictment of religious extremism and man's inhumanity to man' (backmatter). Her character, Suranjan, remarks that no Hindu occupies a senior post except for one High Court Judge. On the other hand, a Christian leader held a ministerial post under Ershad. Betwen 2002 and 2005, a number of terrorist attrocities were committed in Bangladesh by a group calling for the establishment of a genuine Islamic state. The Jamati-i-Islam, a co-alition partner in government, has co-signed various fatwas issued by Osama bin Laden. Analystsm, however, are skeptical that Islamaists parties will gain enough electoral support to significantly change Bangladeshi largely Western-style legal system and Parliamentary system. Hussain and Khan observe that 'the majority do not opt for either religious or left radical parties' but 'for moderate or moderately secular parties ... Almost all [their] respoindents said that their choice was on the basis of liking the leader of the party ... [their] lnowledge of ideology, programmes and organisational structure was minimal' (210-11). In a country with a low literacy level (43% accoding to CIA Factsheet, [4] it can be argued that people are easily led. Thus, the phenomenon known as 'rent a crowd' has the same people, with little knowledge of the cause they are campaigning for, marching 'for' the government one day and against it the next.

Culture

Bangladeshis are heirs of a rich and ancient culture with over a thousand years of literature. Early literature was in the form of song and poetry followed by translations of popular Hindu scriptures. In the medieval period, Muslim patronage of the arts enabled a cultural flourishing. Under British rule, what has been called the Bengali renaissance occured in the nineteenth century. This was mainly led by the only Indian to date to win a Nobel prize for literature, Rabindranath Tagore. His music and songs remain hugely popular among all sectors of the Bangaldeshi population, across the faiths. Tagore was also a leading reformer of Hinduism, whose version of Hinduism is known as 'universalist' and in Bangla he is known as the bishakobi, or Universal Poet. His father, Debendranath Tagore, was a leader of the Brahmo Samaj movement. For Tagore, see the Nobel Prize site [5]. He desribed his own family as a 'confluence of three cultures' (Hindu, Muslim and British) and he dislike seperatism, preferring 'confluence'. He favored a religion of humaity (Manusher Dhormo). Alongside Tagore, the Muslim poet and writer, Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899 - 1976) or the bidrohikobi (rebel poet) is renowned for his patriotic poetry that inspired the freedom fighters. Islam was given a state funeral as Bangladesh's Poet Laureate, buried in the Dhaka University Mosque. He had been imprisoned by the British, who banned his books. Though a Muslim, he loved Hindu literature and his poetry embraced all people. In Hudar Sakal Manabe, he wrote:

Liberal India, men of all kinds have shelter on your lap

The Parsee, the Jain, the Buddhist, the Hindu

the Christian, the Sikh and the Muslim

You are an ocean, and in your vastness have mingled

All religions and all people.

He also wrote: ' The helpless nation may sink and die/ as it knows not how to swim/ Sailor, "tis time when you must act and fulfil your pledge and dream/ "Hindu or Muslim?" who ask this question?/Sailor, tell him, it is men who are sinking/the children of our common mother."

To hear these and other poems recited by his son, in the original, hauntingly beautiful Bengali, is electrifying experience that makes ones hair stand on end! Speaking in 1926 after communitarian riots, he declared that no prophet, or avatar, or divine messenger ever said that they have only come for this or for that people, but 'for humanity - like light, for everyone'. He was a strong believer in cross-faith communal harmony. Both Tagore and Nazrul have their own following and has given birth to musical styles. Popularly, the tabla (drum) and harmonium are used to accompany song. tagore helped to simplify the written script and, through his novels, to develop modern prose Bangla. Another major contribution was the Baptisy missionary, William Carey's translation of the Bengali Bible (Carye lived 1761-1834). Another popular, almost iconic literary figure in Bangladesh is the Christian writer, Michael Madhusudan Dutt (Datta), (1824-1873) a poet, novelist and playwright. Literature this serves to bridge religious differences. It is not insignificant that Bangladeshi's poets of choice championed universal values and human brotherhood, since this is very much in tune with the Bengali ethos and also that of the Sufi tradition, with its motto of sulh-i-kul, and which often stresss the essential truth of all religions since all sprout from the same root.

Because Hndi is closely related to Bengali, many Bangladeshi watch Hindi films and what was once a thriving Bengali film indusryr, mainly based in Calcutta. Bengal's first silent era feature film - Satyabadi Raja Harishchandra was produced in 1917, by J.F. Madan's (1857-1923). Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) gained critical acclaim, scroring his own films. These include In 1955, Satyajit Ray's film - Pather Panchali (based on a famous Bengali novel of the same name by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopaddhyay), Jalsaghar (1958), Devi (1960), Charulata (1964), Sakha Prasakha (1990), Agantuk (1991). Ritwik Ghatak (1925-1976) films were dee[ly influenced by the tragedies of Bengal's partition and by the miseries of the millions of displaced people. His films include Ajantrik (1957), Komal Gandhar(1961), Subarnarekha(1962) and Jukti Takko Gappo(1974). After Bangladesh's independence he directed a Bangladesh production - Titas Ekti Nadir Naam(1973). Competiton from Mumbhai's huge film industry has resulted in very few contemporay bengali films. However, recent Bdengali films include Rituparno Ghosh's 2003 Tagore based Chokher Bali. Many Bengali artists of both classical and adhunik (modern) songs perform on Bangladeshi radio and television.

Sports

Although Bangladesh is not a major sporting power in any sense, Bangladeshi athletes and sportspersons have brought the country many laurels. Kabadi is the national game of Bangladesh, though recently cricket has gained popularity in the urban areas. In the international arena, cricket and chess have brought many victories to Bangladesh. In 2005, Bangladesh beat the world champions Australia in a one-day match in England, and Niaz Morshed became the first Grandmaster of the subcontinent. Bangladeshi Shooters have also won medals in Commmonwealth games and Asian Games.

Education

Education in Bangladesh is highly subsidized by the Government, which operates many schools and colleges in the primary, secondary and higher secondary level as well as many public universities. The whole country is divided into seven education boards (Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Jessore, Barishal, Sylhet and Comilla Education Boards) which oversee education from the primary to the higher secondary level, and conduct the primary and junior scholarship examinations, the Secondary School Certificate examination, and the Higher Secondary Certificate examination. The Government also provides a large portion of the salaries of the teachers in non-government schools. To promote literacy among women, education is free upto the higher secondary level for female students. There is also a Government-funded program which gives incentives like stipends and food for continuing education in the secondary level.

There are 22 public universities in Bangladesh. Among them five provide engineering education and the rest are general universities.

Further reading/Non-government sites

• Bangladesh Gateway
• Banglapedia - National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
• Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
• Bangladesh Statistical Information and Resources

Government and government organizations

• Bangladesh Customs Home Page (National Board of Revenue)
• Bangladesh Government Official Web Page
• Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board (BTTB/T&T)
• Dhaka City Corporation
• Election Commission Secretariat
• Legislative Information Centre - Official parliamentary site

Newspapers

• Ajker Kagoj
• Inqilab
• Ittefaq
• Janakantha
• Jugantor
• Jai Jai Din
• Prothom Alo
• Shaptahik 2000
• The Daily Star
• The New Age
• The Daily Independent
• The Bangladesh Observer
• The Financial Express
• The News Today
• The New Nation
• The Weekly Holiday

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Online Bangladeshi news sources

• The Bangladesh Journal
• Bangladesh News Archives
• News from Bangladesh

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bennett, Clinton Muslims and Modernity, London: Continuum, 2005 ISBN 0826454828
• Hussein, Naseem A and Khan, M Salimullal 'Culture and Politics in Bangladesh: Some Reflections', 197-216, in Bayes, Abdul and Muhammad, Anu (eds.)Bangladesh at 25 : an analytical discourse on developmentDhaka : University Press, 1998. ISBN 984051421X
• Nasrin, Taslima Lajja (Shame), London, Penguin: 1994 ISBN 0140240519

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