BANGLADESH

officially People's Republic of Bangladesh, Bengali Gana Prajatantri Bangladesh relatively small coastal country of south-central Asia.The capital is Dhaka (formerly spelled Dacca). The country lies between latitudes 2034 and 2638 N (about 390 miles from its extreme north and south extensions) and between longitudes 8801 and 9241 E (about 190 miles from east to west). To the south Bangladesh has an irregular coastline fronting the Bay of Bengal and is bordered on the southeast by Myanmar (Burma). The Indian states of West Bengal to the west and north, Assam and Meghalaya to the northeast, and Tripura and Mizoram to the east line the border between Bangladesh and India. Area 56,977 square miles (147,570 square km). Pop. (1996 est.) 123,063,000. officially People's Republic of Bangladesh, Bengali Gana Prajatantri Bangladesh, country of south-central Asia, located in the delta of the Ganges and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) rivers in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent. Bangladesh (Land of the Bengals), whose population is predominantly Muslim, is a riverine country. It has an area of 55,598 square miles (143,998 square kilometres) and is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is bounded by the Indian states of West Bengal to the west and north, Assam to the north, Meghalaya to the north and northeast, and Tripura and Mizoram to the east, by Myanmar (Burma) to the southeast, and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. As the eastern portion of the historic region of Bengal, the area formed, along with what is now the Indian state of West Bengal, the province of Bengal in British India. From the partition of 1947 until 1971 it was, as East Pakistan, one of five provinces of Pakistan, separated from the other four by 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometres) of Indian territory. In 1971 Bangladesh became independent. Additional reading Geography For information on the geography of Bangladesh, it is necessary to consult books and documents published both during the Pakistani period and since independence. Syed S. Husain, East Pakistan: A Profile (1962), is a collection of essays on the country's geography. B.L.C. Johnson, Bangladesh, 2nd ed. (1982), is a brief, well-illustrated study. Haroun Rashid, Geography of Bangladesh (1977), is comprehensive. For demographic, agricultural, and industrial statistics, see Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh (annual); and Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh (irregular), both published by the government. Other useful works include Don Yeo, Bangladesh, a Traveller's Guide (1982); A.B.M. Shamsuddoulah, Introducing Bangladesh Through Books: A Select Bibliography with Introductions and Annotations, 18551976 (1976); and A.B.M. Shamsul Islam, Bibliography on Population, Health, and Development in Bangladesh (1986). Works on the economy include Nafis Ahmad, A New Economic Geography of Bangladesh (1976); and Haroun Rashid, An Economic Geography of Bangladesh (1981). Postwar economic development is discussed in Just Faaland and J.R. Parkinson, Bangladesh: The Test Case of Development (1976); and E.A.G. Robinson and Keith Griffin (eds.), The Economic Development of Bangladesh Within a Socialist Framework (1974, reprinted 1986). Rural conditions at the time of independence are explored in Robert D. Stevens, Hamza Alavi, and Peter J. Bertocci (eds.), Rural Development in Bangladesh and Pakistan (1976). Traditional lifestyles and customs of rural communities are examined in Mohammad Afsaruddin, Rural Life in Bangladesh: A Study of Five Selected Villages, 2nd ed. (1979); M. Habibullah and A. Farouk (eds.), Some Aspects of Rural Capital Formation in East Pakistan (1963); Joseph F. Stepanek, Bangladesh, Equitable Growth? (1979); Betsy Hartmann and James K. Boyce, A Quiet Violence: View from a Bangladesh Village (1983); Gudrun Martius von Harder, Women in Rural Bangladesh: An Empirical Study in Four Villages of Comilla District (1981); and Tahrunnessa A. Abdullah and Sondra A. Zeidenstein, Village Women of Bangladesh: Prospects for Change (1982). Broader social studies include M. Anisuzzaman, Bangladesh Public Administration and Society (1979); Ben Whitaker, Iain Guest, and David Ennals, The Biharis of Bangladesh, 4th rev. ed. (1982); and Clarence Maloney, K.M. Ashraful Aziz, and Profulla C. Sarker, Beliefs and Fertility in Bangladesh (1981). Syed Sajjad Husain History Subrata Roy Chowdhury, The Genesis of Bangladesh: A Study in International Legal Norms and Permissive Conscience (1972), examines the political history of the country. For the background of the civil war of 1971, see G.W. Choudhury, The Last Days of United Pakistan (1974); Herbert Feldman, The End and the Beginning: Pakistan, 19691971 (1975); Jyoti Sen Gupta, History of Freedom Movement in Bangladesh, 19431973 (1974); and Pran Chopra, India's Second Liberation (1973). The events of the civil war are chronicled in Lawrence Lifschultz, Bangladesh, the Unfinished Revolution (1979); Marcus Franda, Bangladesh, the First Decade (1981); and Talukder Maniruzzaman, The Bangladesh Revolution and Its Aftermath (1980). Both historical background and surveys of later developments are provided in Craig Baxter, Bangladesh: A New Nation in an Old Setting (1984); and Charles Peter O'Donnell, Bangladesh: Biography of a Muslim Nation (1984). The political forces that brought about the emergence of independent Bangladesh are discussed in G.P. Bhattacharjee, Renaissance and Freedom Movement in Bangladesh (1973); and Md. Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Emergence of Bangladesh and Role of Awami League (1982). Also see Matiur Rahman, Bangladesh Today: An Indictment and a Lament (1978); Matiur Rahman and Naeem Hasan, Iron Bars of Freedom (1980); Anthony Mascarenhas, Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood (1986); Talukder Maniruzzaman, Group Interests and Political Changes: Studies of Pakistan and Bangladesh (1982); and Asoka Raina, Inside RAW: The Story of India's Secret Service (1981). The following works place the emergence of independent Bangladesh into regional and world perspective: Kuldip Nayar, Distant Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent (1972); and G.W. Choudhury, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Major Powers: Politics of a Divided Subcontinent (1975). Hugh Russell Tinker Administration and social conditions Government While the constitution of 1972 specifies a parliamentary form of government under a prime minister and a president elected by a national assembly, its implementation has been interrupted by coups. In 1975 a military coup led to a regime of martial law, and, though the form of government that obtained thereafter was a mixture of presidential and parliamentary systems, power effectively remained with the army. Following another coup in 1982, the constitution was suspended and the country placed under martial law. In 1986 martial law was lifted and parliamentary elections were held, but in 1987, following a series of strikes and riots, the government dissolved the parliament. A new parliament was elected in 1988. A large-scale administrative reorganization was carried out in the 1980s. While the revenue divisions remained the samenamely, Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, and Khulnathe older districts were subdivided and each subdivision raised to the status of a district. A new administrative unit, called upazilla, or subdivision, was created to facilitate decentralization of power. The upazillas are headed by an executive officer who has administrative and judicial functions. Bangladesh has continued with substantially the same judicial system as had been in operation when the territory was a province of Pakistan and which owes its origins to the system in operation under the British raj. The 1972 constitution divided the Supreme Court of Bangladesh into Appellate and High Court divisions and mandated a complete separation of the judiciary and executive branches. During the subsequent authoritarian regime, however, the power of the Supreme Court was greatly reduced. In 1977 a Supreme Judicial Council was established to draw up a code of conduct for Supreme Court and High Court judges, who may be removed from office by the president upon the council's recommendation. The fragmentation of the High Court into five divisions located in different parts of the countrywhich had been decreed by the military in the 1970swas rescinded in 1986. Provision was made, however, for the judges to go on circuit for part of the year to hear cases in other parts of the country. Education The foundation of the educational system in Bangladesh was laid down during the period of British rule; the system has three levelsprimary, secondary, and higher education. Primary education, which is free but not compulsory, is for children up to about 10 years old. Only about half of all children attend primary school. Secondary education is divided into three levelsjunior secondary, high school, and higher secondary (intermediate college)with public examinations being held at the conclusion of each level of schooling. Schools in cities and towns are generally better staffed and financed than those in rural areas. There are more than 600 colleges, most of them affiliated with the University of Dhaka, the University of Rajshahi, or the University of Chittagong. Other institutions include Jahangirnagar University on the outskirts of the capital, the Bangladesh Agricultural University at Mymensingh, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology at Dhaka, and the Islamic University at Tongi. Medical education is provided by several medical colleges and an institute of postgraduate medicine at Dhaka. Each college or institute has a full-fledged hospital attached to it. For vocational training Bangladesh relies on several engineering colleges and a network of polytechnics and law colleges. In addition, there exist a college of arts and crafts, an agricultural college, a college of home economics for women, and an institute of social welfare and research. The demand for higher education has continued to rise. One of the problems that has continued to impede educational progress is political unrest among students. Cultural life The Bengali language, Islamic religion, and rural character of Bangladesh all serve to unify the country's culture, although variations occur among ethnic, religious, and social minorities and in the urban centres. Daily life The typical household in Bangladesh, particularly in the villages, includes several generations of extended family. Most marriages are arranged by parents or other relatives, but increasing numbers of educated men and women choose their own partners. Custom and religion among Muslims require that a dowry be offered by the husband to the wife, but it is usually claimed only in the event of separation or at the husband's death. Divorce is permissible among Muslims. Hindu marriage is sacramental, but a Hindu can obtain a separation by application to a court of law. Muslim law permits limited polygamy. The main festivals in Bangladesh are religious. The two most important are 'Id al-Fitr, which comes at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, and 'Id al-Adha, or the festival of sacrifice, which follows two and a half months later. On both occasions families and friends exchange visits. While rice, pulses, and fish continue to constitute the staple diet of Bangladeshis, shortages of rice since World War II have forced the acceptance of wheat and wheat products as alternatives. Meat, including goat and beef, is also eaten, especially in the towns. At weddings and other festive occasions, rice pilau accompanies highly spiced meat dishes and curries. Bangladesh is noted for a large variety of milk-based sweets. The lungi (a length of cloth wrapped around the lower half of the body, comparable to the Malaysian sarong) with a short vest is the most common form of male attire in the countryside and among poorer sections in urban settlements. Men of the educated classes prefer light cotton trousers called pajamas (whence the English word) and a kind of collarless knee-length shirt known as a panjabi. On more formal occasions they dress in a modification of the Western suit. The traditional sherwani and churidar, calf-length tunic and close-fitting trousers, are still seen at weddings, where they are worn along with the turban. The sari is common among women, but girls and younger women, especially students, prefer the shalwar kamiz, a combination of calf-length shirt and baggy silk or cotton trousers gathered at the ankles.