The Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh :

The President & Chief Adviser : Prof. Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed

Located in the Northeastern part of South Asia between 20°34' and 26338' north latitude and between 88°01' and 92°41' east longitude, the country is bounded by India on the east, west and north but for a small strip of boundary with Myanmar on the southeast. The Himalayas are very close to its border in the Northwest. Located on the Northern shore of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh provides a natural bridge between South and Southeast Asia.

THE PEOPLE

Divisions - 6, Districts - 64, Upazilas - 490, Unions - 4451,Villages - about 60,000. Households - 19,979,932.
City Corporations : 6.
Food : Rice, vegetables, pulses, fish, potatoes and milk.
Dress : Tropical in summer and light woollen in winter.
Civilian labour force : About 56 Million.
Unemployment rate : About 18 percent.
GDP Growth rate : 5.7 percent
Per capita income : U.S. $380.00.
Arable Land : 60 percent. Agriculture accounts for about 32 percent of total land.
Principal crops : Rice, jute, wheat, potato, tea, sugarcane,
pulses, oilseeds, tobacco and vegetables.
Principal fruits : Banana, mango, coconut, lichi, blackberry,
pineapple, guava, papaya, betelnut, jacktruit and water melon.

Major industrial products : Readymade garments, jute goods, fertilisers, sugar, cotton textiles, newsprint, paper, cement, tea processing, leather goods, pharmacauticals, steel, silk, light engineering, oil refining, ship building, brick manufacturing, house building, carpet making, assembling buses and trucks, assembling radio,TV and computers.

Mineral resources : Natural gas, limestone, hard rock, lignite, coal, silica sand, ceramic clay and radioactive sand.

Major exports : Readymade garments, raw jute, jute goods, tea, fesh, hides and skins, newsprint and handicrafts.

Handicraft : Pink pearl, Muslin, Jute products including carpets, silver filigree works, cane and conchshell products, handloom fabrics, dolls and terracotta toys.

Communications : Road, Rail and Waterways exist between capital Dhaka and other districts. Bangladesh Biman (the national airlines) connects major towns and cities with capital Dhaka. From abroad Dhaka can be reached by the major airlines of the world including sritish Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Thai International Airlines, Indian airlines, Aeroflot, Malaysian Airlines System, Emirates, Gulf Air, KLM, Singapore Airlines, Kuwait Airways,Pakistan International Airlines, Royal Nepal Airlines, Oman Air, Dragon Air and Druk Air.

Seaports : Chittagong and Mongla.

Airports : International - Zia International Airport in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Domestic - Ishwardi, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Comilla, Rajshahi, Syedpur and Barisal.

Waterways : 5240 miles during monsoon and 3245 miles during the winter (Dry season).

Railways : 1786 miles.
Paved roads : About 10,000 miles.

Conducted tours : Conducted sightseeing tours with guides are arranged in Dhaka and Chittagong by Bangladesh Parjaton (Tourism) Corporation (BPC).

Best tourist season : October to March.
Attractive tourist spots : Dhaka, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Sunderbans, Rangamati, Kaptai, Teknaf, St. Martin Island, Sylhet, Kuakata, Mainamati amd Mahasthangarh.

Hotels in Dhaka : Sonargacn, Sheraton, Purbani, Sunderban,Abakash, Rajmoni Isha Kha, Jakaria, Midway and Metropolitan. In Chittagong, Agrabad and many others. Besides, there are hotels, motels and rest houses in Cox's Bazar and other tourist spots.

Radio and Television : Transmission covers the whole country.
Population per hospital bed : 3288.

One doctor : per 472s persons.

Human resources : Well-trained and skilled engineers, technicians, physicians, economists, accountants, trained administrative and managerial personnel and other professionals; cheap and easily adaptable hardworking intelligent and youthful labour force. The rate of labour ranges from one and a half dollars to two dollars a day.

Educational Institutions and enrollment : Government Universities 11, Non-govt. universities - 18, Govt. Medical Colleges - 14, Nongovt. Medical Colleges - 5, Engineering Colleges - 4, Colleges 1268, Polytechnic Institutes - 20, Secondary Schools - 11,846, Primary Schools-95,367, University enrollment - 117,359, College enrollment-1.28 million, Secondary School enrollment - 4.1 Million, Primary School enrollment - 16.7 million.

THE ROOTS

"Bangladesh has a hundred gates open for entrance but not one for departure"   - Bernier

  Bangladesh is a new state in an ancient land. It has been described by an American political scientist as "a country challenged by contradictions". On the face of it, the recent twists and turns of her history are often inconsistent. It is neither a distinct geographical entity, nor a well-defined historical unit. Nevertheless, it is the homeland of the ninth largest nation in the world whose gropings for a political identity were protracted, intense and agonizing. The key to these apparent contradictions lies in her history.

  Etymologically, the word Bangladesh is derived from the cognate "Vanga" which was first mentioned in the Hindu scripture Aitareya Aranyaka (composed between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D). Legend has it that Bengal was first colonized by Prince Vanga, the son of King Bali and Queen Sudeshna of the Lunar dynasty. According to linguists, the roots of the term Vanga may be traced to languages in the adjoining areas. One school of linguists maintain that the word "Vanga" is derived from the Tibetan word "Bans" which implies "wet and moist". According to this interpretation, Bangladesh literally refers to a wetland. Another school is of the opinion that the term "Vanga" is derived from Bodo (aborigines of Assam) words "Bang" and "la" which connote "wide plains."

Proto-history and Pre-history

  Geographical evidence indicates that much of Bangladesh was formed 1 to 6.5 million years ago during the tertiary era. Human habitation in this region is, therefore, likely to be very old. The implements discovered in Deolpota village in neighboring West Bengal State of India suggest that paleolithic civilization in the region existed about one hundred thousand years ago. The evidence on paleolithic civilization in Bangladesh region is limited to a stone implement in Rangamati and a hand exe in the hilly tip of Feni district. They are likely to be 10,000 to 15,000 years old. New stone age in the region lasted from 3,000 B.C. to 1,500 B.C. Neolithic tools comparable to Assam group were found at Sitakunda in Chittagong. Hand axes and chisels showing close affinity to neolithic industries in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa have been discovered at Mainamati near Comilla. The thinly forested laterite hills in eastern Bengal dotted with fertile valleys  provided a congenial environment for neolithic settlements. However, the archaeological evidence on transition from stone age to metal age in this region is still missing.

Political Dynamics in Ancient Bengal (326 B.C. to 1204 A.D.)

  The earliest historical reference to organized political life in the Bangladesh region is usually traced to the writings on Alexander's invasion  of India in 326 B.C. The Greek and Latin historians suggested that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter attack of the mighty Gangaridai and Prasioi empires which were located in the Bengal region. It is not, however, clearly known who built these empires. Literary and epigraphic evidence refer to the rise and fall of a large number of principalities in the region which were variously known as Pundra Vardhana (northern Bangladesh), Gauda (parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh), Dandabhukii (southern West Bengal), Karna Subarna (Part of West Bengal), Varendra (northern Bangladesh), Rarh (southern areas of West Bengal), Summha Desa (south-western West Bengal), Vanga (central Bangladesh), Vangala (southern Bangladesh), Subarnabithi (central Bangladesh), Navyabakashika (central and southern Bangladesh), Lukhnauti (North Bengal and Bihar) and Samatata (Eastern Bangladesh).

  There are two schools of opinion regarding the political evolution of ancient Bengal. According to one school, the Bangladesh region in the ancient period was an integral part of mighty empires in north India. These historians maintain that Gangaridai and Prasioi empires were succeeded by the Mauryas (4^th to 2^nd century B.C.), the Guptas (4^th-5^th century A.D.), the empire of Sasanka (7^th century A.D.), the Pala empire (750-1162 A.D), and the Senas (1162-1223 A.D). Specially, the Pala empire which lasted for more than four hundred years and reached its zenith in eighth and ninth centuries under the leadership of Dharmapala and Devapala is cited as an example of Bengal's political genius. The revisionist historians are of the opinion that the traditional interpretation overstates the role of all-India empires in the political life of the Bangladesh region. They maintain that epigraphic evidence suggests that only some of the areas which now constitute Bangladesh were occasionally incorporated in the larger empires of South Asia. In their views, political fragmentation, not empire, was the historical destiny of Bangladesh region in the ancient times. Inscriptions attest to the existence of a succession of independent kingdoms in southern and eastern Bengal. These local kingdoms included the realms of Vainyagupta (6^th century), the Faridpur kings (6^th century), the Bhadra dynasty (circa 600-650 A.D.), Khadaga dynasty (circa 650-700 A.D), Natha and Rata dynasty (circa 750-800 A.D), the rulers of Harikela (circa 800-900 A.D.), Chandra dynasty (circa 900-1045 A.D.), Varman dynasty (circa 1080-1150 A.D.) and Pattikera dynasty (circa 1000-1100 A.D.).

  Opinions differ on the reasons for political fragmentation in Bengal. Some scholars attribute it to Bangladesh's topography specially to difficulties in negotiating its swamps and marshes, its unending maze of rivers and creeks and dislocations caused by the Bengali rainy season. Others emphasize the frontier character of the region which attracted from north India a continuous stream of rebels, heretics, and malcontents who destabilized the political life. Some scholars maintain that political fragmentation was fostered by a lack of corporate life at the village level. Specially, the village organizations were weakest in the eastern and southern areas; the corporate life of villages gradually increased in the western areas. Political fragmentation was, therefore, endemic in eastern and southern areas which now constitute Bangladesh.

  The primacy of the individual in social life and the concomitant institutional vacuum in Bangladesh region was not, however, an unmitigated shortcoming. The weakness of social, political and economic institutions provided a congenial environment for freedom of religion. The Buddhist rulers continued to rule Bengal long after the resurgence of Brahmanism in the rest of north India. Nowhere in South Asia were the deviations from the Brahmanical orthodoxy so glaring as in the Bengal zone. The esoteric cults like Vajrayana, Shajayana, Kalachakrayana, Nathism, the Bauls and the folk cults flourished in pre-Muslim Bengal. Throughout history, small kingdoms blossomed and withered like wild flowers in the region. In an environment characterized by weak political institutions, heresy, heterodoxy and alien faiths thrived in defiance of the Brahmical orthodoxy.

Contribution of Bangladesh to Ancient Civilization

  Bangladesh is the frontier of South Asian civilization. It is the natural bridge between South and South East Asia. Because of its location, Bangladesh was the intermediary in trade and commerce between the South Asian sub-continent and the Far East. This region, as a distinguished historian observed, "played an important part in the great cultural association between the diverse civilizations of Eastern and South Eastern Asia which forms such a distinguished feature in the history of this great continent for nearly one thousand and five hundred years".

  Tradition has it that Sri Lanka was colonized by a Bengalee Prince Vijayasingha who established the first political organization in that island. Gadadhara, another Bengalee, founded a kingdom in the Madras state in South India.

  Bangladesh region also played a seminal role in disseminating her beliefs, art and architecture in the wider world of Asia. The Bengali missionaries preached Mahayana Buddhism in the Indonesian archipelago, Kumaraghosha, the royal preceptor of the Sailendra emperors of Java, Sumatra and Malaya peninsula, was born in Gauda. The Bengali scholar Santirakshit was one of the founders of the Buddhist monastic order in Tibet. The great Buddhists sage Dipankara Srijnana, also known as Atish (10th-11^th century) reformed the monastic order in Tibet. The Bengalee scholars Shilabhadra, Chandragomin. Abhayakaragupta, Jetari and Jnanasrimitra were venerated as great theologians in the Buddhist world.

  Ancient Bangladesh also witnessed the flowering of temple, stupa and monastic architecture as well as Buddhist art and sculpture. There was discernible influence of the Pala art of Bengal on Javanese art. There was a close affinity between the scripts used on certain Javanese sculptures and pro-Bengali alphabet. A group of temples in Burma were built on the model of Bangladeshi temples. The architecture and iconographic ideas of Bengal inspired architects, sculptors and artists in Cambodia and the Indonesian archipelago. The influence of Pala art in Bengal could be easily traced in Nepalese and Tibetan paintings, as well as in Tang Art of China.

Evolution of Mediaeval Bengal (1204-1757)

  The Middle age in Bengal coincided with the Muslim rule. Out of about 550 years of Muslim rule, Bengal was effectively ruled by Delhi-based all India empires for only about two hundred years. For about 350 years Bengal remained virtually independent. The Muslim rule in Bengal is usually divided into three phases. The first phase which lasted from 1204  to 1342 witnessed the consolidation of Muslim rule in Bengal. It was characterized by extreme political instability. The second phase which spanned the period 1342 to 1575 saw the emergence of independent local dynasties such as the Ilyas Shahi dynasty (1342-1414), the dynasty of King Ganesha (1414-1442) and Husain  Shahi dynasty (1493-1539). The third phase which lasted from 1575 to 1757 witnessed the emergence of a centralized administration in Bengal within the framework of the Mughal empire. The Mughal viceroys in Bengal curbed the independence of powerful landlords who were known as Bara Bhuiyas and suppressed the Portuguese pirates who frequently interfered with the flow of foreign trade.

  There were two major achievements of Muslim rule in the region. First, prior to Muslim rule in this area, Bengal was an ever-shifting mosaic of principalities. The natural limits of Bengal were not clearly perceived till its political unification by the Ilyas Shahi rulers in the fourteenth century. The political unification of Bengal was thus a gift of the Muslim rulers. Secondly, the political unity fashioned by the Muslim rulers also promoted linguistic homogeneity. Unlike their predecessors, the Muslim rulers were ardent patrons of Bengali language and literature. Prior to Muslim rule, the Bengali vernacular was despised for its impurities and vulgarities by Hindu elites who were the beneficiaries and champions of Sanskrit education. The spread of Islam challenged the spiritual leadership of upper caste Hindus. The intense competition between Islam and resurgent Hinduism in the form of Vaisnavism for capturing the imagination of unlettered masses resulted in an outpouring of their stirring messages in the vernacular.

  The Muslim rule in Bengal also witnessed the gradual expansion of Islam in this region. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Muslim rulers in Bengal were not in the least idealists and proselytizers; they were primarily adventures whose sole aim was to perpetuate their own rule. The preponderance of the Muslims in Bangladesh region stands out in striking contrast to signal failure of the Muslims in converting local people in other parts of north and south India. The distribution of Muslims in different regions of South Asia clearly contradicts the hypothesis that the patronage of the temporal authority was the most crucial variable in the spread of Islam. If this hypothesis was correct there would have been Muslim preponderance in areas around the seats of Muslim rule in North India. The fact that the Muslims remained an insignificant minority in the Delhi region where they ruled for more than six hundred years clearly suggests that Islam in South Asia was not imposed from above. In Bengal also, the share of Muslims in the total population was higher in areas remote from the seats of Muslim rule.

  Islam was propagated in the Bangladesh region by a large number of Muslim saints who were mostly active from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Among these missionaries Hazrat Shah Jalal, Rasti Shah, Khan Jahan Ali, Shaikh Sharafuddin Abu Tawamah, Shah Makhdoom Ruposh, Shaikh Baba Adam Shahid, Shah Sultan Mahiswar, Shaikh Alauddin Alaul Huq, Shah Ali Bagdadi, etc. deserve special mention. While similar Muslim missionary activities failed in other regions of South Asia, Islam ultimately succeeded in penetrating deeply into Bengal because the social environment of this region was congenial to the diffusion of a new religion. In much of South Asia, strong village communities were impenetrable barriers to the spread of alien faiths.

  In Bengal, the corporateness of village institutions was weak in eastern areas; it gradually increased towards the western areas. The distribution of Muslim population also followed similar spatial pattern in this region. The Muslims in Bengal were concentrated in the eastern areas and the share of Hindu population was much higher in western areas.

  The Muslim rule in Bengal contributed to economic polarization and cultural dichotomy. Except the brief interludes of the northern Indian empires, pre-Muslim Bengal was ruled by local potentates. Most of the Muslim rulers either acted as agents of Delhi or tried to use Bengal as a stepping stone for attaining political authority in Delhi. Economic exploitation intensified during this period owing to transfer of resources to north India. The main victims of this exploitative system were locally converted Muslims and low caste Hindus. The sole aim of the Muslim rulers was to mobilize as much resources as possible. The size of the immigrant Muslim ruling elite was small. Furthermore, different factions of the ruling elite did not trust each other. Consequently, Muslim rule in Bengal became, in effect, a coalition of immigrant Muslims and upper caste Hindus.

  The gradual process of conversion to Islam in Bengal resulted in an intense interaction between Islam and Hinduism. At the folk level, however, there was less confrontation and more interaction between Hinduism and Islam. A syncretic tradition developed around the cult and pantheons of pirs. The actual practices of local Muslim converts were an anathema to both Hindu and Muslim religious leaders. The orthodox Hindus, despite their political reconciliation with Muslim rulers, despised the local Muslims as untouchables (Mlechhas). The Muslim religious leaders were equally scornful of the customs and practices of local converts. Hated by immigrant religious leaders for their ways of life and by the local aristocracy for their adherence to an alien faith, local converts face a dichotomy of faith and habitat which found expression in an emotional conflict between religion and language. The dichotomy can be traced in Bengali literature as early as the fourteenth century. "Those who are born in Bengal but hate Bengali language", asserted the seventeenth century poet Abdul Hakim "had doubtful parentage. Those who are not satisfied with their mother tongue should migrate to other lands".

The Glory that was Mediaeval Bengal

  The Bangladesh region reached the zenith of economic affluence during the mediaeval period. It was know as one of the most prosperous lands in the world. The Moorish traveler Ibn Batuta who visited Bengal in the fourteenth century described Bengal as the wealthiest and cheapest land of the world and states that it was known as "a hell full of bounties". In the same vein, the seventeenth century French traveler Francois Bernier observed: "Egypt has been represented in every age as the finest and most fruitful country in the world, and even our modern writers deny that there is any other land so peculiarly favored by nature; but the knowledge I have acquired of Bengal, during two visits paid to that Kingdom inclines me to believe that pre-eminence ascribed to Egypt is rather due to Bengal".

  Because of her fertile land and abundance of seasonal rainfall, Bengal was a cornucopia of agricultural products. Famines and scarcity were virtually unknown as compared to other areas of Asia. Bengal was the focal point of free trade in the Indian Ocean since the 14th century. She was the virtual store-house of silk and cotton not only of India and neighboring countries but also of Europe. The Dhaka region used to produce the finest cotton in the world. A very large quantity of cotton cloth was produced in different areas of Bengal. The best and well-known variety of textile was muslin produced in Dhaka. Some of the muslins were so fine that, as the seventeenth century traveler Tavernier notes, "even if a 60 cubit long turban were held you would scarcely know what it was that you had in your hand". Some of the muslins were so fine that a full size muslin could be passed through a small ring. Bangladesh also had extensive export of silk clothes. According to Tavernier, Bengal silks were exported to other parts of India, Central Asia, Japan and Holland. The Bangladesh region was also one of the largest producers of sugar. The sugar from this region used to be exported to other parts of South Asia and the Middle East.

British Rule in Bangladesh (1757-1947)

  The greatest discontinuity in the history of Bengal region occurred on June 23, 1757 when the East India Company-a mercantile company of England became the virtual ruler of Bengal by defeating Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah through conspiracy. Territorial rule by a trading company resulted in the commercialization of power. The initial effects of the British rule were highly destructive. As the historian R.C. Dutt notes: "The people of Bengal had been used to tyranny, but had never lived under an oppression so far reaching in its effects, extending to every village market and every manufacturer's loom. They had been used to arbitrary acts from men in power, but had never suffered from a system which touched their trades, their occupations, their lives so closely. The springs of their industry were stopped, the sources of their wealth dried up". The plunder of Bengal directly contributed to the industrial revolution in England. The capital amassed in Bengal was invested in the nascent British industries. Lack of capital and fall of demand, on the other hand, resulted in de-industrialization in the Bangladesh region. The muslin industry virtually disappeared in the wake of the British rule.

  In the long run, the British rule in South Asia contributed to transformation of the traditional society in various ways. The introduction of British law, a modern bureaucracy, new modes of communication, the English language and a modem education system, and the opening of the local market to international trade opened new horizons for development in various spheres of life. The new ideas originating from the West produced a ferment in the South Asian mind. The upshot of this ferment were streams of intellectual movements which have often been compared to the Renaissance. Furthermore, the Pax Britannica imposed on South Asia created an universal empire that brought different areas of the sub-continent closer to each other.

  The British rule in Bengal promoted simultaneously the forces of unity and division in the society. The city-based Hindu middle classes became the fiery champions of all-India based nationalism. At the same time, the British rule brought to surface the rivalry between the Hindus and Muslims which lay dormant during the five hundred years of Muslim rule. The class conflict between Muslim peasantry and Hindu intermediaries during the Muslim rule was diffused by the fact that these intermediaries themselves were agents of the Muslim rulers. Furthermore, the scope of exploitation was limited in the subsistence economy of pre-British Bengal.

  The economic exploitation of the British provoked an intense reaction against the Raj in Bengal. However, the grievances against the British rule varied from community to community. The Hindu middle class, which styled itself as the bhadralok, was the greatest beneficiary of the British rule. The Hindu middle class primarily originated from trading classes, intermediaries of revenue administration and subordinate jobs in the imperial administration. On the contrary, the establishment of the British rule deprived the immigrant Muslim aristrocracy (ashraf) of state patronage. The immigrant Muslim -upper caste Hindu coalition which characterized the Muslim rule was replaced by a new entente of the British and the caste Hindus. The new land settlement policy of the British ruined the traditional Muslim landlords. The Muslim aristocracy which had hitherto been disdainful of their native co-religionists sought the political support of the downtrodden Muslim peasantry (atraf) who were exploited by Hindu landlords and moneylenders. The Muslim elite in Bengal manipulated to their advantage the social insecurity of the less privileged without giving up their exclusiveness.

  The conflict between Muslim peasants and Hindu landlords was reinforced by the rivalry between Hindu and Muslim middle classes for the patronage of the imperial rulers. In the nineteenth century, both Hindu and Muslim middle classes expanded significantly. The Muslim middle class did not remain confined to traditional aristocracy which consisted primarily of immigrants from other Muslim countries. The British rule in Bengal contributed to the emergence of a vernacular elite among locally converted Muslims in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was facilitated by a significant expansion of jute cultivation in the Bangladesh region. The increase in jute exports benefited the surplus farmers (Jotedars) in the lower Bengal where the Muslims were in a majority. The economic affluence of surplus farmers encouraged the expansion of secular education among local Muslims. For example, the number of Muslim students in Bengal increased by 74 percent between 1882-83 and 1912-13.

  Faced with the economic and cultural domination of the Hindu intermediaries in Bengal (bhadralok), the ashraf (traditional Muslim aristocracy), the newly created Muslim jotedars who constituted the vernacular elite and Muslim peasants (atraf) closed ranks. Despite their outward unity, the coalition of various Muslim interest groups in Bengal was fragile. The interests and ideological orientations of these groups were dissimilar. Unlike the jotedars and peasants, the ashraf in Bengal spoke Urdu. The vernacular Muslim elites and peasants in Bengal wanted agrarian reforms; the ashraf was a staunch proponent of absentee landlordism. The Muslim vernacular elite and atraf identified themselves with the local culture and language, the ashraf was enthralled by Islamic universalism. The internal contradictions of the Muslim society in Bengal were naturally mirrored in their political life.

  Initially, the leadership of the Muslim community in Bengal belonged to ashraf for two reasons. First, the size of the vernacular elite was too small in the beginning of the twentieth century and the vernacular elite itself tried to imitate the traditional aristocracy. Secondly, because of the institutional vacuum in the rural areas, it was very difficult to mobilize politically Muslim masses in the Bengal region. The easiest means of arousing such masses was to appeal to religious sentiments and emotions. In this charged atmosphere the natural leadership of the Muslim masses in Bengal lay with the immigrant ashraf who monopolized the religious leadership.

  The rivalry between Muslim ashraf and Hindu bhadralok first surfaced in the political arena, when the British partitioned the province of Bengal in 1905 for administrative reasons. The nascent Muslim middle class under the leadership of the Muslim Nawab of Dhaka supported the partition in the hope of getting patronage of the British rulers. To the Hindu bhadralok who had extensive economic interests on both sides of partitioned Bengal, the move to separate the Bengali-speaking areas in East Bengal and Assam was a big jolt. They viewed it as a sinister design to weaken Bengal which was the vanguard of struggle for independence. The bhadralok class idolized the "Golden Bengal". Though initially the anti-partition movement was non-violent, the dark anger of the Hindu middle class soon found its expression in terror activities. The emotionally charged atmosphere culminated in communal riots. The partition of Bengal ultimately turned out to be a defeat for all. The Raj had to eat the humble pie and annul the partition in 1911. To the Muslims, the annulment of the partition was a major disappointment. It virtually shook their faith in the British rulers. To the Hindu bhadralok of Bengal, the annulment was a pyrrhic victory. "The net result of these developments in Bengal during the first decade of this century, so far as the bhadralok leadership of Bengal was concerned, lay in the exposure of its isolation, its inner contradictions and the essentially opportunistic character of its politics".

  The communal politics of confrontation and violence which erupted during the partition of Bengal was interrupted by a brief honeymoon during the non-cooperation movement led by the Indian National Congress and the Khilafat movement of the Indian Muslims in the second decade of 20th century. Bengal witnessed in the twenties the emergence of the charismatic leadership of Chitta Ranjan Das who had the foresight to appreciate the alienation of the Muslim middle classes. In 1923 Das signed a pact with Fazlul Huq, Suhrawardy and other Muslim leaders. This pact which is known as the Bengal Pact provided guarantees for due representation of Muslims in politics and administration. The spirit of Hindu-Muslim rapprochement evaporated with the death of C.R. Das in 1925. However, even if Das were alive he might not have succeeded in containing the communal backlash. The communal problem was not unique to Bengal, it became the main issue in all India politics. As the communal tension mounted in the 1930s, the Muslim ashraf in Bengal which had close ties with the Muslim leadership in other parts of the sub-continent pursued a policy of communal confrontation.

The Road to Pakistan

  The Pakistan Resolution of 1940 at Lahore was the outcome of the political confrontation between Hindus and Muslims. The Lahore Resolution demanded that geographically contiguous units "be demarcated into regions which should be constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary so that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority should be grouped to constitute "Independent States" in which the constitutional units be autonomous and sovereign". From the constitutional point of view, the Lahore Resolution asserted that South Asia consisted of many nations and not of two nations. It was, in effect, a blue-print for the balkanization of South Asia and not merely for its partition into two units.

  The fervor for the Lahore Resolution sprang not merely from the disillusion of the Muslims with the Hindu leadership. It was also facilitated by the vagueness of the Resolution which promised everything to everybody. The vernacular Muslim elites in Bengal maintained that the Lahore Resolution was legally a charter for a Muslim dominated independent and sovereign Bengal. The immigrant Muslim ashraf in Bengal thought that the Lahore Resolution was a mandate for merging geographically dispersed Muslim majority areas into an Islamic state. Ultimately the demands of the vernacular Muslim elite for an independent Bengal was opposed both by the ashraf and the Hindu middle class. Ironically the formal decision for partition of Bengal was taken not by Muslim but Hindu leaders who fought for an undivided Bengal four decades ago.

  The partition of the South Asian sub-continent into two independent states in 1947 was a defeat for the British policy. It partially undid the Pax Britannica which was the greatest achievement of the Raj. Nevertheless, the partition forestalled the balkanization of the sub-continent which would have swept away the entire political structure was so laboriously built by the British rulers. The eastern areas of Bengal were constituted into a province of Pakistan and her political boundaries were drawn up arbitrarily.

The Birth of Bangladesh and Resolution of the Identity Crisis

  Pakistan, which emerged constitutionally as one country in 1947, was in fact "a double country". The two wings were not only separated from each other by more than one thousand miles, they were also culturally, economically and socially different. "The cure, at least as far as the East Bengalis were concerned, proved to be worse than the disease".

  The relationship between the East and the West wings of Pakistan was the mirror image of the Hindu-Muslim relations in the undivided sub-continent. The creation of East Pakistan did not resolve the identity crisis of the majority people in the Bangladesh region. The political leadership in Pakistan was usurped by the ashraf and their fellow-travelers. The spread of secular education and monetization of the rural economy swelled the ranks of the vernacular elite who was intensely proud of the local cultural heritage. This compounded the dichotomy of language and religion. As a recent scholar rightly observes: "The Bengali love affair with their language involves a passionate ritual that produces emotional experiences seldom found in other parts of the world". The Language Movement during 1948-52 which demanded the designation of Bengali as the state language of Pakistan undermined the authority of the ashraf and reinforced the role of the vernacular elite. In British India, the Muslims of Bengal united under the banner of Islam to escape from the exploitation of Bengali Hindus who shared the same mother tongue. In the united Pakistan, the Bengalis of East Pakistan reasserted their cultural and linguistic identity to resist the exploitation of their co-religionists who spoke in a different language. Though history repeated itself in Pakistan, the lessons learnt from Hindu-Muslim confrontation were forgotten. Neither in undivided India nor in united Pakistan, the dominant economic classes agreed to sacrifice their short-term interests. Democratic verdicts were brushed aside and economic disparity between the two wings widened under the aegis of military dictatorships in Pakistan.

  The disintegration of united Pakistan is not, therefore, in the least surprising. However, the way in which Bangladesh was born is unique to South Asia. Bangladesh was the product of a sanguinary revolution. The Pakistan army had to be defeated physically in 1971 to establish the new state. The birth of Bangladesh resolved the dichotomy between religion and habitat, and between extra-territorial and territorial loyalties by recognizing both the facts as a reality in the life of the new nation.

The Melting Pot: Ethnic Background

  Though the overwhelming majority of the population in Bangladesh forms a homogeneous ethnic group today, the racial mix of diverse races occurred in this region over a long time. Broadly speaking, there are two major racial elements in the people of Bengal: (I) the primitive tribes like the Kols, Sabaras, Pulindars, Hadi, Dom, Chandala and others who were designated as the Mlechcha; (ii) the Aryan and Aryanized elements.

  The major pre-Aryan racial elements in Bengal were the proto-Australoids. There is a striking similarity between the language of the aborigines of Bengal and the people in South-East Asia, the archipelago and the aborigines of Australia. The Dravidian languages of South India also belong to proto-Australoid group. Bangladesh, being the frontier of South Asia, also came into contact with the Mongoloid tribes who lived in the adjoining areas. The Mongoloid influence was dominant in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region where Chakmas and other tribes belong to this category. The Mongoloid influence is, however, limited in other areas. Scholars maintain that there is also a substratum of Negroid racial elements in the racial mix in this region. Thus Bengal was the home of mixed races long before the Aryans came. The Aryan influence in Bengal was primarily limited to upper castes. The gradual stages in the Aryanization of Bengal are not very clear. It appears that the Aryans brought the indigenous people into the framework of Aryan society. This is indicated by the fact that some of the indigenous tribes were classed at Khastriyas (the warrior class). The majority of these pre-Aryan tribes were classified as untouchables. The process of racial mix did not, however, stop with the coming of Aryans. The Semitic traders from the Arab world frequently visited the coastal areas in the Middle Age.

Religion

  Bangladesh contains the second largest (after Indonesia) Muslim population in the world. In 1981, 86.6 percent of the population was Muslim. The proportion of Muslims increased from 85.4 percent in 1974 to 86.6 percent in 1981. On the other hand, the proportion of Hindu population dropped from 13.5 percent in 1974 to 12.1 percent in 1981. The increase in proportion of Muslim population may be attributed to higher birth rate among the Muslims. Census records from 1872 to 1981 clearly indicate that birth rate among the Muslims was always higher than that of the Hindus. The Buddhists constituted about 0.6 percent of the population in both 1974 and 1981 censuses. There are about 175,000 Christians in Bangladesh. The percentage of Christians was about 0.3 percent.

Art and Architecture

  The Bangladesh region contains relics of the finest specimens of Buddhist monastic architecture. The Buddhist vihara at Paharpur occupied a quadrangle measuring more than 900 feet externally at each site. "No single monastery of such dimensions", asserts an art historian, "has come to light in India and the appellation mahavihara, the great monastery as designating the place, can be considered entirely appropriate". Similar vihara of Deva dynasty has been unearthed at Mainamati. The relics of Mahasthangarh where the ancient city of Pundravardhana was located suggest that a large monastery was built there. Of notable sculptures in ancient Bengal, stone figures of Buddha from Ujani in Faridpur district, Varaha avatara from Bogra (10th century), the Vishnu Stela from Comilla (11th century) and Chandi image from Dhaka district (12th century) deserve special mention. Another remarkable achievement was the terracotta art of Paharpur which drew its inspiration from the simple village life. This depicts the daily life of people with intense human interest. As an art historian observes: "It is impossible to find in the heretic religious art of India at any given period such a large social content, such variety of human feelings, such intimacy of contact with the events and experiences of daily life, such spontaneous action and movements, depicted with such powerful and purposeful rhythm".

  The Middle Age in Bengal saw the construction of a large number of Islamic monuments which were characterized by massive arches and bold clean lines. The emphasis was on utility and simplicity. Among these monuments the Satgambuz mosque of Bagerhat, the mausoleum of Shah Ali Bagdadi at Mirpur and the mosque of Rasti Khan at Hathazari deserve special mention.

Language

  BangIa is the language of more than 99 percent of the population. BangIa is the seventh most extensively spoken language in the world after Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic. The Bengali script is derived directly from Gupta Brahmi script which has close affinity to Cambodian and Thai scripts. The origin of this language is usually traced to the 10th century. Bengali is a rich language capable of expressing the finest nuances of thought and feelings, a language that continuously mirrors the ever-changing play of life. It is rich in poetry, short story, novel, drama, essay and belles-lettres."

NATURAL RESOURCES

  "With the exception of a few very lightly populated countries that possess massive amounts of oil, natural resources have essentially ceased to be a major source of competitive advantage" -Lester Thurow.

General Background

  Location and Area: Situated in the south of the Asian continent, Bangladesh has an area of about 144,036 sq kms and occupies the apex of the arch formed by the Bay of Bengal in which all rivers are flowing through the country. Bangladesh stretches latitudinally between 20?34' and 26?33' North and longitudinally between 88?01' and 92?41' East. The country is mostly surrounded by India, except for a short south-eastern frontier of 283.36 km with Myanmar (Burma) and a highly indented southern coastline with offshore islands in the Bay of Bengal. The boundary with India on the west, north and east is about 4092.62 km long. The maximum length of this land, between the north-west and the south-east extreme points (Banglabandha to St Martin's Islands), is about 760 km, and the widest width from east to west extreme points is about 467 km.

  Climate: The climate of Bangladesh is characterized by high temperature and high humidity, heavy rainfall and marked with seasonal variation. The country experiences a hot summer of high humidity from late March to late June, somewhat cooler. The climate gets hotter and more humid during June through October and it experiences cool dry winter from November to the end of February. Daily temperature ranges from 10? C to 12? C in the winter and it varies between 28? C and 40? C in hot days. Within these three broad divisions, there are six seasons clearly identified, name1y summer, rainy season, autumn, deep autumn, winter and spring. The seasonal diversity not only breaks the monotony associated with a typical tropical climate but also adds color and richness to the local culture.

  Between late March and May, hot air masses rise over the western p~rt of the sub-continent creating low pressure. This attracts cooler moisture laden winds from the Indian Ocean causing pre-monsoon rainstorms, ~nown as nor' wester. These storms gradually merge into the rainy season during July through early October. The onset of the south-west monsoon along the coast is often dramatic, accompanied by strong winds lashing rain and a quick drop in temperature. These winds from the Bay of Bengal build up to a cyclonic force several times a year, especially in September and October.

  By late October or early November, the wind direction reverses. As higher atmospheric pressures form over the landmass, the south-west monsoon is replaced by land winds blowing in the opposite direction towards the sea. This is a much weaker nor'wester, the so-called retreating monsoon. Its winds are generally light and dry, a typical phenomenon of the Bangladesh winter season.

  The average rainfall varies between 127 cm and 152 cm in the west to 254 cm and 508 cm in the east, concentrated between April through May and August through September. The north-eastern Sylhet district lies along the foot of the Khasia-Jainta Hills (India) which has the heaviest rainfall in the world. The highest rainfall in the country is 574 cm at Lalakhal in Sylhet, and the lowest is 122 cm at Lalpur in Rajshahi district.

  Throughout the year humidity remains high. During June and July the relative humidity across the country ranges from 84 to 90 percent. During September and October it ranges between 75 and 85 percent. In the cooler days of winter from November to February, humidity remains relatively lower staying below 70 percent. The lower coastal districts are the most humid regions in the country.

  Very common feature of the country’s climate is tropical cyclones, which usually make visits in every year particularly in the coastal region. Cyclones occur mainly during early monsoon (April-May) and late monsoon (October-November). There are also pre-monsoon tropical rainstorms in April. Although these calamities cause severe damage to life and property, people of the land face these disasters with exemplary courage and resilience. Both the long and short-term disaster management efforts of the Government have also been proven to be effective in managing such natural calamites.

  Topography: Topographically, Bangladesh may be divided into alluvial plains and hilly areas. More than 90 percent of the total area of Bangladesh is lowland, an alluvial plain formed by the sediments of the several great rivers and their tributaries and distributaries, which traverse the country. There are, however, some local variations in the nature and extent of the plain land.
Low hills are found in east of Comilla, a district in the north-eastern extremities of Bangladesh. These are part or extension of the Khasia-Garo-Jointa and the Tippera Hills of India. But the more important hilly areas are concentrated in the Chittagong hill districts, which are geologically the offshoots of the Arakan Yoma running through eastern India to Burma. The Chittagong hills are steep sloped parallel ranges, largely covered with tropical forest. These hills rise steeply to narrow ridges, generally not wider than 120 feet and no higher than 2000 to 3000 feet. The highest hill in Bangladesh is Keokradong (4,034 feet} in the south-east end of Bandarban district.

  River System: A large volume of water flows through the rivers across the country. It is estimated that 870 million acre feet (MAF) water flows through the rivers every year, which mainly originate in India. The amount of rainfall received within the country is estimated at 203 MAF. Losses of water caused by evaporation, transpiration and deep percolation probably account for about 120 MAF. This means that about 953 MAF of water flows out to the Bay of Bengal, 914 MAF through the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta and 39 MAF through the rivers of Chittagong-Noakhali region. This vast outflow of water is second highest in the world after Amazon. The lower Ganges (Padma) and the lower Meghna are the second largest rivers in the world in terms of both breadth and total annual volume of water flow. There is a close relation between the heavy monsoon rainfall and the flow through Bangladesh. Since 90 percent of the flow is received form outside Bangladesh, the rise and fall of the rivers are greatly influenced by the amount of rainfall in the Himalayas of Assam, Bhutan and Nepal.

  Rivers in Bangladesh has divided the country hydrologically. Brahmaputra-Jamuna, GangesPadma and Meghna and their numerous tributaries and distributaries, except for the Chittagong area, which has a separate river pattern, have distinct drainage systems.

  The rivers Brahmaputra-Jamuna are originated in the Himalayas and flow through Tibet and Assam. It maintains a stable and often deep channel. Within Bangladesh, this river has many tributaries, distributaries and spill-channels. Major tributaries are Dudhkumar, Darla, Tista and Atrai-Gumani-Karatoa-Hurasagar on the right bank. On the left bank there are distributaries and spill channels like old Brahmaputra, Jhenai, Lohajang, Dhaleswari and Ghior. The Brahmaputra-Jamuna has a length of 180 miles in Bangladesh flowing in a southerly direction until it joins the Ganges at Goalundo. Total catchment area of this river in Bangladesh is 18,000 sq.miles.

  Originating in the Himalayas, the Ganges mainly flows through India and only about 190 miles is through Bangladesh. Most feed channels are in India and the dry season discharge is controlled at Farakka by India. The only major tributary of the Ganges within Bangladesh is the Mahananda. On its right bank there are numerous distributaries: Mathabahanga, Gorai, Arial Khan and a few others. The total catchment area of the Ganges in Bangladesh is 12,000 sq miles.

  The Meghna is the third largest river of Bangladesh. River Barak bifurcates near Bangladesh border in Sylhet into Surma and Kushiara, which again join at Markuli near Bhairab Bazar, and takes the name Meghna. The Meghna belt is one of the heaviest rainfall areas of the world. The Meghna meets the Dhaleswari above Chandpur and below Munshiganj. The Lakhya carries an appreciable discharge of the old Brahmaputra and meets the Dhaleswari near Munshiganj and then they together fall into the Meghna below. The total catchment area of the Meghna in Bangladesh is 8,000 sq miles.

  Rivers in the south-eastern region originate in the hills and discharge independently into the Bay of Bengal. The principal rivers in the region are Muhuri, Little Feni, Dakatia, Karnafuli, Sangu, Matamuhuri and Bogkhali. The river Naf is at the border of Bangladesh with Burma in the extreme south-east.

  From the above, it would appear that virtually all of Bangladesh lies within the deltaic plains of three of South Asia's major river systems. These rivers drain a 600,000 sq miles of catchment area and only 7.5 percent of the basin lies in Bangladesh. With the exception of the south-eastern hills and a narrow belt of hillocks in Sylhet and a few patches of Plio-Miocene terraces, Bangladesh consists of a low-lying deltaic plain where these rivers drop at an average rate of only 0.06 feet per mile as they pass from India to the Bay of Bengal. It is estimated that this catchment area generates some 1000 MAF of run off annually all of which passes through Bangladesh. As a result an extensive floods associated with erosion to its river banks often occur annually. The river channels shift over considerable distances and due to this there is substantial situation of river beds, which in turn amplifies flood risks. The rivers in Bangladesh carry an annual silt load of 2.4 billion tons. This implies that 18.5 percent of total sediment in the world is annually transported through Bangladesh, which occupies about one thousandth of the land in the world.

Land Resources

  Extent of Land: The total continental area of Bangladesh is 36.79 million acres of which approximately 34.25 million acres is land and the rest is inland water bodies. In addition there is over 25 million acres of marine area, which comprise the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone. Despite its relatively small size, Bangladesh has a surprisingly large number of complexes of agro-ecological regions. This is due to the interaction of temperature and rainfall gradients with topography and normal flood levels.

  Of the total land, 12 percent is hilly or mountainous, 8 percent consists of reddish soil uplands and 80 percent is floodplains. From north to south (Banglabandha to Jinjiradwip) the distance (in a straight line) is 760 kilometers, and from west to east (the maximum distance) is 467 kilometers. The coastline along the Bay of Bengal is 1200 kilometers long including the coastlines of numerous islands, but excluding minor indentations. A large area in the south is, therefore, in the coastal zone, which has its own dynamics and deserves special attention as a very distinctive terrain.

  Major Land Uses: Land resources generally mean soil resources other than minerals. These constitute the country's main natural resource and produce mainly crops, forests and pastures. 60 percent of the total land area is under cultivation. About 22 percent is not available for cultivation. In 1990-91, the total cropped area and net cropped area were 34.7 million acres and 20.2 million acres respectively. There was substantial rise in cropped area over the years through increase in cropping intensity, which is now around 165 percent. The per-capita net cropped area (now 0.25 acres) has been on the decline, although it is still much more favorable than in Japan and Republic of Korea. However, the yield per acre for most crops is very less compared with most Asian countries growing such crops. So, Bangladesh needs to improve cultivation system by adopting modern farming technology and management practices.

  Forest represents about 13 percent of total land area in the country. Although 61 percent of total land is under vegetation, only 7.5 percent is actual forest area, which is environmentally unsustainable. About 87 percent of the forest area is under government control. The remaining 13 percent are village forests and homestead groves owned privately. The main products from forest are timber, firewood, golpata, bamboo, sungrass, honey and fish. About 80 percent of the forest output is derived from rural areas and homestead groves. Traditional pastureland, on a large scale, is to be found only in the greater districts of Pabna, Bogra and Sylhet. Road side patches, embankments, field bunds (ails), homestead land, dry river beds and canals, cultivable waste land and current fallow land are the main sources of green animal fodder. The total fodder area in 1990 was about thirty thousand acres. It is estimated that about 0.475 million acres is under urban and industrial use. This represents one percent of the total land area.

  Soil Condition and Land Capability: A vital factor for land resource development is soil condition and land capability. Soils of the country may be divided into three main categories namely hill soils (Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet), terrace soils (Barind and Madhupur Tracts) and alluvial and flood plain soils (rest of Bangladesh). A finer classification leads to 17 categories. About 64 percent of the soils belong to flood plain, grey pediment and black terai soils, 12 percent are alluvium and acid sulphate soils, 14 percent are terrace soils and 8 percent are brown hill soils. Natural fertility of the soil is generally high in Bangladesh. One important reason for high natural fertility is the annual deposition of silt carried by rivers during the flood season. Provided other conditions are met, these soils can support a wide range of land-based products and ensure a much higher yield per acre of the land. Besides traditional cereals and cash crops, there is high potential for expanding the present production of cotton, wheat, potato, vegetable, fruits, flower, honey and timber trees.

  However, land capability does not depend only on natural soil fertility, but also on a host of other factors such as land elevation, flooding and natural drainage, availability of water when it is mostly needed, use of fertilizers and other modern agricultural inputs and equipment, etc. According to one estimate, only 15 percent of the land available for agriculture in Bangladesh is high land, immune or near immune from flooding (N Bangladesh, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet), while 60 percent of the land is of intermediate elevation subjected to very little flooding, 15 percent is low land given to considerable flooding and 10 percent is very low land subjected to severe flooding. In the highland and land with intermediate elevation, irrigation is necessary for multiple cropping. On the other hand, low land can support double cropping and very low land is fit for only single cropping. Therefore, a proper combination of flood control and irrigation measures, depending on the varying requirements of different areas of Bangladesh, can contribute substantially to increasing land capability.

  However, floods are not caused by land elevation alone. Undesirable human interference with nature such as Farakka barrage across the Ganges, continuous land digging for earth requirement in connection with brick field operations, roads and house construction along the flow path, indiscriminate road building without taking natural drainage into consideration, deforestation, etc are no less important than natural conditions and climatic factors for causing floods. It is also important to distinguish between normal inundation and flooding.

  In most parts of Bangladesh, water is excessive when it is not required, and scarce when it is badly required for crop cultivation. Only 21.5 percent of the cultivated land is at present under irrigation. Annual growth rate for ground water irrigation has been much higher than that of surface water irrigation. There are obviously environmental hazards, associated with excessive ground water exploitation particularly through deep tube wells. The cost of ground water development in future is likely to increase. On the other hand, greater public investments in irrigation projects involving surface water could not only tap the vast potential in this respect, but also would minimally disturb the ecological balance. However, seasonal cropping patterns, which have large peak water demands severely constrain the area irrigable from only surface water. This is particularly the case in Bangladesh where peak water demands occur at the period of lowest surface water flows. In such a situation, the use of ground water on a limited scale in conjunction with surface water can extend the irrigable area and hence contribute to increasing the capability of land resources.

  The use of per-cropped acre of fertilizer is also low. Similar is the situation regarding use of modern agricultural tools and equipment. All these would suggest that there is still a tremendous scope for increasing land productivity through greater use of modern agricultural technology. Indeed, most empirical evidence also confirm such a hypothesis.

   Measures for Improving Land Resources: In a land hungry country like Bangladesh, increase in cropping intensity appears as an important strategy for augmenting land resources, and there still exists a considerable potential in this regard. However, it should be done in a manner such as to avoid soil depletion and overuse of ground water.

  Another way of increasing land resource in Bangl