Bangladesh is situated in the north-eastern part of south Asia. The Himalayas stand as the northern ramparts, while the southern frontier is guarded by the Bay of Bengal. On the west lies the expansive gangetic plains (West Bengal) of India and on the eastern frontier lies the almost impassable forest of Myanmar and India. Bangladesh is a deltaic region. Much of the country's land area has been built up from alluvial deposits brought down by the major rivers. The land is mostly flat except for a range of hills in the south-east. It is mainly characterised by wooded marsh lands and jungles with forests regions.
History
The history of Bangladesh has been one of extremes, of turmoil and peace, prosperity and destitution. It has thrived under the glow of cultural splendour and suffered under the ravages of war. The earliest mention of Bangladesh is found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata (the story of Great Battle-9th century B.C). Evidence also suggests that there was a strong Mongoloid presence as well. Soon after, in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. came the Aryans from Central Asia and the Dravidians from Western India. Then came the Guptas, Palas, Senas, who were Buddhist and Hindus.
From the 13th century A.D. the Buddhist and Hindus were swamped by the flood of Muslim invaders and the tide of Islam up to l8th century. From 15th century the Europeans, namely Portuguese, Dutch, French and British traders exerted an economic influence over the region. British political rule over the region began in 1757 A.D. when the last Muslim ruler of Bengal was defeated.
After the end of the British rule in 1947 the land was partitioned into India and Pakistan. Present Bangladesh became the Eastern Wing of the then Pakistan. But the movement for autonomy for East Pakistan started within a couple of years because of linguistic and cultural difference and economic disparity between the two wings. The seeds of independence were sown through the Language Movement of 1952 to recognise Bangla as a state language. Ultimately then, the East Pakistan emerged as a sovereign and independent state of Bangladesh in 1971 after nine month-long war of Liberation.
Political context
The country is officially known as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It has a Parliamentary form of Government. The President is the head of the state. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami League, became the first Prime Minister of the independent Bangladesh (land of Bengal). After his assassination in 1975, the country saw sixteen years of military-backed regimes. The parliamentary elections which led to a centre-right Bangladesh National Party (BNP, Prime Minister: Mrs Khaleda Zia) government being installed in 1991 marked the start of a new era in building democratic institutions in Bangladesh. Elections, held in June 1996 under a caretaker government, resulted in the return to power of the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the first Prime Minister. The BNP emerged as the largest opposition party. The party under the leadership of Khaleda Zia formed a four-party opposition alliance in January 1999. The alliance participated in the October 2001 general election held under a Non-party Caretaker Government and won the polls with two-thirds majority.
Politics pervades all socio-economic organisations and political violence is widespread. The political climate is marked by tensions among rival parties and leaders, especially between Awami League on one side and the BNP and Islamic parties on the other. The human rights situation
The positive aspects of human rights protection in Bangladesh is the generally open, democratic, multiparty system with freedom of expression and assembly.
Bangladesh has ratified all the main international human rights treaties. In spite of this encouraging legal framework, constraints however are serious: widespread abuses and infringements of civil rights by security forces and lax enforcement of most economic and social rights; together with serious prejudice to vulnerable groups, particularly women and children. Institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman and the Anti-Corruption Commission are still under consideration by the Government.
Good Governance
One of the greatest challenge remains to address the structural poverty of the country, the main factors of which are an unequal distribution of productive assets, inequitable distribution of incomes, massive under-employment and low levels of human resource development. To these must be added an unbalanced social system, a low level of law and order, endemic corruption and a lack of good governance.
Good governance is of crucial importance for effective poverty alleviation. Enhanced capacity to establish good governance practices, greater accountability and transparency as well as building efficient, well managed and responsive institutions are essential elements for effectively combating poverty. The EC is concentrating on improving human development indicators, with in-built good governance and institutions building elements. The EC is committed to mainstreaming good governance and institutions building in all its development and economic co-operation with Bangladesh.
Social Situation
Bangladesh has made major progress in improving the standard of living of its people over the past two decades. It has successfully reduced the fertility rate from 7 to 2.95 births per woman in 2002; infant mortality rates have fallen to from 154 per thousand in 1970 to 52 per thousand live births and life expectancy is now 62 years. The population growth rate fell from 2.6% in 1970 to 1.74% in 2002. Primary education enrolments have doubled in less than 20 years. The adult illiteracy rate has fallen from 75% in 1970 to 58.9% in 2002.
There have been considerable efforts in supplying safe drinking water to the population. In 2000, 97% of the population had access to safe drinking water. However, Bangladesh has been struck by a widespread arsenic contamination of drinking water, the effects of which are long ranging.
Progress is still very much required as the UNDP Human Development Index places Bangladesh in 136th position out of 172 countries.
Economic structure
Bangladesh is an agricultural country. The total cultivable area is around 24 million acres and there are a little more than 14.5 million cultivators. Major agricultural products are rice, jute, wheat, potato, pulses, sugarcane, tea, tobacco etc. Tea, leather and frozen shrimp are also major foreign exchange earners. There has also been a rapid growth in manufacturing industries, which offer a wide range of exportable goods such as leather goods and ready-made garments.
In the beginning of the 1990s, significant strides were taken toward pro-market reform. In the second half of the 1990s annual economic growth level was maintained at an average of 5.1% (below the originally targeted 7%), and inflation at a single-digit rate. Per capita income levels still remain distressingly low at around US $1 per day. Despite significant achievements in the 90s in macro-economic stability, a major problem remains the narrow tax base and poor tax collection.
Agriculture, to a large degree based on subsistence farming, is still the most important sector with a share in the GDP of 28.9% and 48.5% of the total labour force.
The public banking sector remains a handicap to sound economic development. The state-owned banks are burdened with non-performing loans (NPLs). As of June 1999, the share of NPLs in total lending stood at 68% for state-owned specialised banks and 47% for state-owned commercial banks.
The composition of the export basket is a further significant problem. Almost 85% of Bangladesh's world exports are ready-made garments. The heavy dependence on this sector brings about a considerable vulnerability of the country's economy to world economic developments. |
