Bangladesh

People’s Republic of Bangladesh, republic of southern Asia, in the north-eastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, bordered on the west, north, and east by India, on the south-east by Myanmar, and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 143,998 sq km . The capital and largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.

Geographically, historically, and culturally, Bangladesh forms the larger and more populous part of Bengal, the remainder of which constitutes the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal. From the partition of India in 1947 until 1971 the region of Bangladesh was a province of Pakistan. As such, its official designation was changed from East Bengal to East Pakistan in 1955. On March 26, 1971, leaders of East Pakistan declared the region independent as Bangladesh (Bengali, “Bengal nation”), and its independence was assured on December 16, 1971, when Pakistani troops in the region surrendered to a joint force of Bangladeshi and Indian troops.   

Land and Resources

Bangladesh, a low-lying country traversed by numerous rivers, has a coastline of about 580 km (360 mi) along the Bay of Bengal.   

Physiographic Regions

Most of Bangladesh lies within the broad delta formed by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers and is exceedingly flat, low-lying, and subject to annual flooding. Much fertile, alluvial soil is deposited by the floodwaters. The only significant area of hilly terrain, constituting less than one tenth of the nation’s territory, is the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the narrow strip of land that forms south-eastern Bangladesh. There, on the border with Myanmar, is Mowdok Mual (1,003 m), the country’s highest peak. Small, scattered hills lie along or near the eastern and northern borders with India. The eroded remnants of two old alluvial terraces—the Madhupur Tract, in the north-central part of the country, and the Barind, straddling the north-western boundary with India—attain elevations of about 30 m . The soil here is much less fertile than the annually replenished alluvium of the surrounding floodplain.   

Rivers and Lakes

Rivers are a prominent and important feature of the landscape in Bangladesh. Some rivers are known by different names in various portions of their course. The Ganges (Ganga), for example, is known as the Padma below the point where it is joined by the Jamuna River, the name given to the lowest part of the main channel of the Brahmaputra. The combined stream is then called the Meghna below its confluence with a much smaller tributary of the same name. In the dry season the numerous branches of the delta that lace the terrain may be several kilometres wide as they near the Bay of Bengal, whereas at the height of the summer monsoon season they coalesce into an extremely broad expanse of silt-laden water. In much of the delta, therefore, homes must be constructed on earthen platforms or embankments high enough to remain above the level of all but the highest floods. In non-monsoon months the exposed ground is pocked with water-filled tanks, or borrow pits, from which the mud for the embankments has been excavated. These tanks are a chief source of water for drinking, bathing, and small-scale irrigation. 

Climate 

The climate of Bangladesh is of the tropical monsoon variety. In all areas about 80 per cent of the annual rainfall typically occurs in the monsoon period, which lasts from late May to mid-October. Average annual precipitation ranges from about 1,400 mm  along the country’s east-central border to more than 5,080 mm  in the far north-east. In addition to the normal monsoonal rainfall, Bangladesh is subject to devastating cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal, from April to May and September to November. Often accompanied by surging waves, these storms can cause great damage and loss of life. The cyclone of November 1970, in which about 500,000 lives were lost in Bangladesh, was one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century.

Bangladesh has warm temperatures throughout the year, with relatively little variation from month to month. January tends to be the coolest month and May the warmest. In Dhaka the average January temperature is about 19° C (66° F), and the average May temperature is about 29° C (84° F).  

Natural Resources

The mineral endowment of Bangladesh is meagre. The principal energy resource, natural gas, is found in several small fields in the north-east. There is a coalfield in the north-west and large peat beds underlie most of the delta. Limestone and pottery clays are found in the north-east.  

Plants and Animals

With the exceptions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, portions of the Madhupur Tract, and the Sundarbans (a great tidal mangrove swamp in the south-western corner of the country), few extensive forests remain in Bangladesh. The wooded area amounts to less than one sixth of the country’s total area. Broadleaf evergreen species characterize the hilly regions, and deciduous trees, such as acacia and banyan, are common in the drier plains areas. Commercially valuable trees in Bangladesh include sundari (hence the name Sundarbans), gewa, sal (mainly growing in the Madhupur Tract), and garyan (in the Chittagong Hill Tracts). Village groves abound in fruit trees (mango and jackfruit, for instance) and date and areca (betel) palms. The country also has many varieties of bamboo.  

Bangladesh is rich in fauna, including nearly 250 indigenous species of mammals, 750 types of birds, 150 kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and 200 varieties of marine and freshwater fish.

The rhesus monkey is common, and gibbons and lemurs are also found. The Sundarbans area is one of the principal remaining domains of the Bengal tiger, and herds of elephants and many leopards inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Other wildlife living in Bangladesh includes the mongoose, jackal, Bengal fox, wild boar, parakeet, kingfisher, vulture, and swamp crocodile.   

Population

The vast majority of Bangladesh’s inhabitants are Bengalis, largely descended from Indo-Aryans who began to migrate into the country from the west thousands of years ago and who mixed with indigenous groups of various races in Bengal. Ethnic minorities include the Chakma and Mogh, Mongoloid peoples who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; the Santal, mainly descended from migrants from present-day India; and the Biharis, non-Bengali Muslims who migrated from India after the partition of India in 1947.   

Population Characteristics

Bangladesh has a population (2016 estimate) of abt 163 million. The overall density 900 people per sq km (2,135 people per sq mi) in 1993, is much higher than that of any other country in the world except for microstates such as Singapore. Just under 20 per cent of the Bangladeshi people are classified as urban. The distribution of the population is relatively even, except in the sparsely populated Chittagong Hill Tracts and the almost totally uninhabited Sundarbans. Most of the people are relatively young, some 43 per cent being under the age of 15 and only about 3 per cent being 65 or older. Life expectancy at birth was about 58 years in the 2001.  

 Principal Cities

Among the major cities of Bangladesh are Dhaka, the capital, with 15,000,000 inhabitants (2013); Chittagong, the leading port, with 2,000,000 inhabitants; Khulna, a rapidly growing centre for small-scale industry, with 900,000 inhabitants; Narayanganj, the inland port for Dhaka, with 400,000 inhabitants; and Rajshahi, located in a silk-producing area, with 400,000 inhabitants.  

Religion

Islam, the state religion, is the faith of about 85 per cent of the population, almost all of whom adhere to the Sunni branch. Hindus make up most of the remainder, and the country has small communities of Buddhists, Christians, and animists.  

Language

The national language, Bengali, of the Indo-European family, is the first language of more than 98 per cent of the population. It is written in its own script, derived from that of Sanskrit. Urdu is the language of several hundred thousand people, many of whom emigrated from India in the late 1940s. A number of languages akin to Burmese are also spoken.  

Education

Bangladesh lacks sufficient numbers of schools and cultural institutions, even though facilities were increased substantially in the 1970s. Public education in Bangladesh generally follows the model established by the British prior to 1947. Primary school education is free, but at least one third of all children are not enrolled in school. Poor school attendance is a major reason for a literacy rate of only 30 to 35 per cent for Bangladeshis aged 15 and older. In the period 1993 to 1994, the country had 95,886 primary schools, with a total annual enrolment of some 16.7 million pupils, and 11,488 secondary schools, with a combined yearly enrolment of about 4.5 million.

Bangladesh has several universities, the largest of which is the University of Dhaka (1921). Others include the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962) and Jahangirnagar University (1970), both in Dhaka; the Bangladesh Agricultural University (1961) in Mymensingh; the University of Chittagong (1966); and the University of Rajshahi (1953). Colleges include the Bangladesh College of Textile Technology (1950) in Dhaka, and the Chittagong Polytechnic Institute (1962). In the period 2000 to 2001, the country’s universities enrolled more than 140,000 students.

Culture

Bangladeshi culture is, in many respects, inseparable from that of Bengal, since the country was created by the partitioning of Bengal in 1947, and since the early 19th century a majority of the most widely read and admired Bengali writers and artists, Hindu and Muslim, worked for a time in the Indian metropolis of Calcutta. 

Greatest among these was the writer, artist, and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.  

Classical, light-classical, devotional, and popular music enjoy a wide following in Bangladesh. Classical dancing is of various Indian schools, such as Kathak Bharatanatyam, and indigenous folk genres are being developed (see Indian Dance).

Higher cultural life is concentrated in Dhaka, which is the site of the Bangla Academy (1972), devoted to the promotion and development of the Bengali language and literature. The country’s largest library is part of the University of Dhaka, and the Bangladesh National Museum, also in Dhaka, is noted for its art and archaeology collections. The Varendra Research Museum, controlled by the University of Rajshahi, is an important centre for archaeological, anthropological, and historical research.

Economy

Bangladesh has a gross national product pro capita of about about US$299 per capita, one of the lowest in the world. First as part of British India and then of Pakistan, the area now constituting Bangladesh suffered from chronic economic neglect. The region produced large quantities of agricultural goods, including most of the world’s jute, but received little investment in such basic items as transport facilities and industrial plants  

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

About 30 per cent of the gross domestic product derives from agriculture. Most farms are small, and per capita output is low. Rice, of which two or three crops can be grown each year, is the leading food crop in all areas and accounts for at least five sixths of cultivated land; almost 21 million tonnes were harvested in 2000. Pulses, the main source of vegetable protein, are the most important food crop after rice. Various oilseeds (mainly for cooking oil), wheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, mangoes, and pineapples are also raised.

The principal cash crop is jute (a plant used to make hessian and twine), grown throughout the annually flooded parts of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta; the amount of jute harvested in 2000 was about 800,000 tonnes. Tea, the second most valuable cash crop, is grown almost exclusively in the north-east, around Sylhet. Cattle and buffalo are numerous but are raised as draught animals rather than for human consumption. Dairy products and eggs are in short supply.

Aquatic animals provide the chief source of animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet. Hilsa (a kind of herring) and prawns are among the principal commercial species. The amount of fish caught in 2000 was almost 1.1 million tonnes, mostly consisting of freshwater varieties. The leading commercial types of tree are wild sundari, gewa, and teak. Bamboo is also an important forest product.  

Mining

Mining and quarrying, apart from the modest production of natural gas, are of negligible importance.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector, which contributes just under one tenth of Bangladesh’s annual national product, is made up principally of unmechanized, small-scale enterprises, which together employ more than 11 per cent of the working population. The chief manufactured goods of the country are jute products (such as cordage and sacks), textiles, processed food, beverages, tobacco items, and goods made from wood, cane, or bamboo. Large-scale factories process jute and sugar cane. Much of the nation’s heavy industry, including a small steel mill, is in the port of Chittagong.  

Energy

More than 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s electricity is generated in thermal plants using either coal, natural gas, or petroleum products.

Most of the remaining 10 per cent is produced by hydroelectric facilities, including a large installation on the Karnaphuli River. In 1993-1994 Bangladesh generated about 9.8 billion kWh of electricity.  

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Bangladesh is the taka of 100 paisa (46.3 taka equal US$1; 1998). The government-run Bangladesh Bank handles central banking operations.  

Commerce and Trade

The per capita volume of Bangladeshi internal and foreign trade is low. Domestic trade is conducted largely through thousands of periodic markets called hats. Since independence in 1971 the value of Bangladesh’s annual imports has usually been at least twice that of exports. The principal exports are jute products and raw jute; clothing, seafood, tea, and hides and leather goods are the other important exports. Imports include foodstuffs, basic manufactured goods, mineral fuels, machinery, and transport equipment. Exports go mainly to the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and Singapore; imports come chiefly from the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, and France. Only a small number of tourists visit Bangladesh each year.

Labour

The civilian labour force of Bangladesh was estimated in 2000 to be about 60 million people, of whom 66 per cent were employed in agriculture, 14 per cent in industry and commerce, and 21 per cent in services. Unemployment and underemployment are significant problems in the country. Child work with an estimate of 6,000,000 aged between 7 and 14 is an other problem.  

Transport

The numerous rivers of Bangladesh and the marked seasonal fluctuation in their width and depth greatly inhibit the development of an integrated road and rail transport system. Bridging the major channels is not feasible economically, and reliance on ferry connections makes most long-distance overland travel exceedingly slow. The country has some 193,280 km  of roads, only about 12 per cent of which are paved; the road network may be severely damaged by monsoon flooding. Just under 50,000 private cars were in use in 2000. The country is served by some 2,700 km  of operated railway track.

Much of the country’s domestic freight and passenger traffic is carried on inland waterways. Commercially operated routes that are navigable in the rainy season total at least 8,050 km , but shrink to some 4,025 km  in the dry season. Small boats can navigate an additional 17,700 km  during the wet months. International freight traffic is handled at the ports of Chittagong and Chalna; the former leads in imports and overall value, the latter leads in exports. A bridge has been built on the Bramaputra river making easier comunication with Dinajpur (north-west region)

The government-owned Bangladesh Airlines (Biman) provides international and domestic air services. The main international airport is at Dhaka.  

Communications

About 295 daily newspapers in Bengali and English are published in Bangladesh, chiefly in Dhaka, and the country also has many weekly and monthly periodicals. Radio Bangladesh and Bangladesh Television are under government direction. About 4.5 million radio receivers, 613,000 television sets, and 315,000 telephones were in use in 1995.  

Government

Since the nation’s formation in 1971, the government of Bangladesh has undergone many changes. A secular parliamentary form of democracy was established by the 1972 constitution, but it was suspended in late 1974 and replaced in January 1975 by a presidential form of government. The 1972 constitution, as amended, was suspended again in 1982 after a coup d’état. A ban on political activities was rescinded and the constitution reinstated in 1986.  

Executive and Legislature

The unicameral parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) comprises 300 members directly elected by universal suffrage every five years; in addition, 30 seats are reserved for women members who are elected by members of the parliament. All citizens aged 18 years and over are eligible to vote. The president is elected by parliament every five years and appoints the prime minister.  

Political Parties

The principal political groups are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party; an eight-party coalition led by the Awami League; the Jatiya Party; and the Jamaat-e-Islami Party.  

Judiciary

The highest tribunal in Bangladesh is the Supreme Court, which is divided into a high court and an appellate division. The chief justice and the other justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president.  

Local Government

Bangladesh is administered in six divisions—Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet. Smaller units of government include unions, which are groups of villages with popularly elected councils; thanas (groups of unions); and, administratively most important, zillas (districts), which are groups of thanas.  

Health and Welfare

Health and welfare services in Bangladesh are limited. The country had more than 22,000 trained doctors (1 per 5,260 people), and more than 900 state and private hospitals in 1993. Infant mortality in 1994 was 77 per 1,000 live births. Much of the welfare work in the country is administered by voluntary organizations, and Bangladesh is a major recipient of assistance from abroad.  

Defence

Military service in Bangladesh is voluntary. In 1997 the nation had an army of 101,000 personnel, a navy of 10,500, and an air force of 9,500.   

International Organizations

Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and was admitted to the UN in 1974. It also belongs to the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development, with headquarters in Sri Lanka.  

Recent History

Following the partition of India in 1947, the area of Bangladesh became a province of Pakistan, initially known as East Bengal, and then, from 1955, as East Pakistan. The people of East Pakistan Province declared their independence as the nation of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971, while fighting a savage war against the central Pakistani government. The separation from Pakistan took place, with extensive aid from India, on December 16, 1971, as a result of the third Indo-Pakistan War. Bangladesh was soon recognized by most other nations, although Pakistan withheld diplomatic recognition until 1974 and China did not recognize the nation until 1976. Bangladesh was admitted to the UN in 1974.  

The country’s initial government was formed in January 1972 under the charismatic leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, known as Mujib, who became prime minister. His immediate tasks were to rebuild the war-ravaged nation, re-establish law and order, and reintegrate the numerous Bengalis returning from India. A longer-range goal was to foster economic growth in order to raise the very low living standards of the densely populated nation. In the first years of independence, Bangladesh received much aid from abroad, and Mujib nationalized major industries as part of his programme of developing the country along the lines of democratic socialism. He had little success, however, in improving the economy, and lawlessness prevailed.  

Assassination and Instability : In mid-1974 the country was devastated by floods that destroyed much of the grain crop. At the same time, political disorder was increasing, and in late 1974 a national state of emergency was declared. In early 1975 Mujib became president under a remodelled constitution that granted him virtually dictatorial power. He was unable to stabilize the political situation, however, and was killed in a military coup d’état on August 15, 1975. In November military leaders ousted Mujib’s successor, Khandakar Mushtaque Ahmed, who had initiated martial law, and installed Abusadat Muhammad Sayem as president. General Ziaur Rahman assumed the presidency when Sayem resigned in 1977. Martial law was lifted in 1979, following parliamentary elections. Despite a continuing food shortage, the nation made considerable economic progress in 1980 and 1981.

President Rahman was assassinated in May 1981 as part of an abortive military coup. He was succeeded by Vice-President Abdus Sattar, who won election to the presidency in his own right in November. However, a bloodless military coup in March 1982 brought General Hussein Muhammad Ershad to power. After suspending the constitution and abolishing all political parties, Ershad ruled by martial law under a figurehead president.

A proposal by Ershad to require all schools to teach Arabic and the Koran sparked demonstrations and riots in February 1983. Later in the year, limited political activities were allowed to resume; in December Ershad assumed the presidency. The long-postponed parliamentary elections took place in May 1986. Some members boycotted the initial meetings of parliament because Ershad did not lift martial law. In an October 1986 presidential election that was boycotted by opposition parties, Ershad was elected to a five-year term with a majority of more than 80 per cent. In November, after parliament passed legislation protecting his military regime from reprisals, Ershad lifted martial law and reinstated the constitution. Devastating floods in September 1988 inundated about three quarters of the country and left an estimated 30 million people homeless. Faced with rising political opposition, Ershad resigned in December 1990; he was subsequently convicted and imprisoned on charges of corruption and illegal weapons possession. In February 1991, Khaleda Zia, widow of President Rahman, was elected prime minister, which became the governmental position with primary executive power after a change in the constitution later that year.

More than 120,000 people were killed and millions left homeless in April 1991 when a powerful cyclone struck the coastal areas in the Ganges delta. An influx of Muslim refugees in the early 1990s, fleeing persecution in Burma, further strained Bangladesh’s already devastated economy.

Democracy Restored

By 1993 the Bangladeshi economy was recovering, despite continuing problems with flooding and other crises. In May 1994 opposition parties began a series of boycotts of parliament, amid a deepening personal feud between Prime Minister Zia and the opposition Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina Wazed. In September the author Taslima Nasreen fled to Switzerland after a series of legal cases, demonstrations, and death threats against her by Islamic fundamentalists. 

In December 1994 opposition Members of Parliament resigned en masse to force new elections, and organized a series of violent strikes in January 1995.

Following general strikes in September and October 1995, President Abdur Rahman Biswas formally dissolved parliament in November to make way for a general election, but opposition parties refused to participate without the appointment of an impartial caretaker government. The general election went ahead in February 1996, but the opposition boycott, a low voter turnout, and violent incidents undermined the landslide victory of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). With strikes and demonstrations continuing, Zia was finally forced in March 1996 to concede the appointment of a caretaker administration by the president and tendered her resignation. President Biswas swore in the caretaker government in April, with all parties promising to cooperate, and scheduled general elections for June. Following a reported coup attempt in May, the June general elections brought the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina Wazed to power.

A successor to President Biswas, Shahabuddin Ahmed, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and an Awami League nomination, was declared in July 1996, after being elected unopposed. By-elections held in September gave the Awami League an absolute majority, with control of 176 of the 330 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament). A treaty signed in December that signalled improving relations with India, agreed a series of measures to facilitate the sharing of water from the Ganges. The previous agreement had expired in 1988 and attempts to renew it had failed.

In January 1997 Ershad was released from prison; his opponents spoke of a deal struck with the ruling Awami League. The reported assassins of President Rahman went on trial in March. In July 1997 Ershad was expelled from the opposition political party he led, Jatiya Dal, but the party’s 33 parliamentary members remained loyal to him. A one-day general strike called by the opposition BNP in September was attributed to continuing political tension between it and the ruling Awami League.

The Splendour

Bangladesh has been aptly described as a new state in an ancient land. Much has been written about the past glory of Bangladesh, notably in old records like the evidence of Pliny and Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (first century AD). It was drawn in Ptolemy's map. These indicate that from the earliest times Bangladesh was known to the West, particularly for its Muslin, the finest fabric the world has ever produced. 

Travellers and scholars who were attracted by the charms and fame of Bangladesh since time immemorial had showered effusive epithets on its bounties and wealth, affluence and prosperity, craftsmanship and cultural advancement.They include the Chinese travellers Fa-hien (fourth century AD), Hue-an-tsung (seventh century), Ma-hoen and Fei-shin (fifteenth century), Ibne Batuta (fourteenth century) from Africa, Nicola Kanti (fifteenth century) and Ceasar the Frederik (sixteenth century) from Venice, Verthema, an Italian in the sixteenth century, Barbosa and Sebastin Manric (sixteenth century) from Portugal, Travernier and Bernier from France (seventeenth century) and Queen Elizabeth-the First's ambassador Ralf Fish. To Ibne Batuta, Bangladesh was a 'hell full of bounties and wealthiest and cheapest land of the world.'So great were the attractions of Bangladesh that to quote Bernier 'it has a hundred gates open for entrance but not one for departure.' 

Ladies of Imperial Rome were literally crazy for Bangladesh's Muslin and luxury items, which according to Pliny, resulted in serious drain of gold of the Empire. Because of its location, Bangladesh served as a flourishing entry port and intermediary in trade and commerce between South Asia and the Far East. The region also played a seminal role in disseminating its belief art and architecture in the wider world of Asia. Ancient Bangladesh took great pride as a coveted seat of learning and education and scholars from far away countries regularly flocked to its numerous universities and monasteries.

Etymologically, the word Bangladesh is derived from the cognate Vanga which was first mentioned in Aitarey Aranyaka, a Hindu scripture composed between 500 BC and 500 AD. Literally it means a wetland. Muslim merchants of Arab origin used to refer it as Bangalah from which its present nomenclature is believed to have gradually evolved.

Geological evidence indicates that much of Bangladesh was formed 1 to 6.5 million years ago during the tertiary era. Human habitation in this region, therefore, is likely to be very old with the evidence of Palaeolithic civilization dating back to about 1,00,000 years.

Bangladesh has an area of 148,393 sq km and occupies the apex of the arch formed by the Bay of Bengal into which all the rivers flowing through the country drain. 

Bangladesh has one of the most complex river systems in the world numbering about 230 with their tributaries having a total length of about 24,140 km. The climate of Bangladesh is characterised by high temperature and high humidity, heavy rainfall and marked seasonal variation. Daily temperature ranges from 10° C to 12° C in the cool months and in the other months it varies between 28° C and 40° C. Soil of Bangladesh may be divided into three main categories, namely hill soils (Chittagong and Sylhet regions), terrace soils (Barind and Madhupur tracts) and alluvial and flood plain soils.

Bangladesh contains greater biodiversity than that of many countries taken together. Indeed few countries in the world can match its rich and varied flora and fauna which are not only a unique biological phenomenon but are also a great natural resource of the country.Bangladeshis are historically descendants of various races and nationalities. An Austro-Asian race first inhabited this region followed by Dravidians and Aryans. There was also an influx of the Mongolians from Tibet and Mayanmar

The Arab Muslims started coming here in the early ninth century AD. Persians, Armenians, Turks, Afghans and lastly the Mughals came in quick succession.

As per the census of 1991 Bangladesh has a population of 111.5 million with an average density of 755 people per sq. km. It is the second largest Muslim country. Traditionally a land of communal harmony, followers of other religions enjoy full freedom of worship.

The economy is mainly agrarian. Recently there is a spurt in industrialisation with the utilisation of country's available natural resources and manpower. Trade and commerce are increasing and widening.Bangladesh is a repository of rich cultural heritage and tradition. Long colonial exploitation has largely denuded Bangladesh of its past affluence and wealth. 

 Independence has, however, opened new vistas of prospects and opportunities. In the final analysis, Bangladesh is a land made splendid by natural grace - a veritable mosaic in green, verdant and boisterous, with its dedicated and creative people adding colour and vibrancy to it.

The land 

The landscape of Bangladesh, as if, looks like a magical tapestry in green woven intricately by nature. Across the tropic of cancer it lies in the north-eastern part of South Asia between latitudes 20° - 34' and 26° 38' north and longitudes 88° 01' and 92° 41' east. The country is fenced by India on the west, north and the Northeast, Myanmar on the Southeast and the Bay of Bengal on the south. Strategically located Bangladesh is virtually a bridge between south and Southeast Asia. It has a landmass of 1,48,393 sq. km criss-crossed by a network of several major rivers, their numerous tributaries and canals forming a lace of interconnecting channels. In fact, Bangladesh is the largest riverine delta in the world. The extensive river systems are fundamental to the country's economy and the people's way of life. Its low flat alluvial deltaic plains present an enchanting vista of vast verdant green fields sweeping the horizon. Bangladesh has some of the world's most fertile agricultural lands accounting for abundant growth of various crops. The north-eastern and south-eastern parts of the country are dotted with small hills and ridges, their average elevations being 244m and 610m respectively. The highest peak Keokradong in the south-east end of Bandarban district 1230 meters above the sea level. Thus with its variegated topographical features Bangladesh appears like a vibrant motif splashed with enchanting beauty and serenity.

People 

Bangladeshis are essentially simple in nature. Since time immemorial they are noted for their valour and resilience as well as hospitality and friendliness. Bangladeshis are also equally known for their creativity. They have an innate quality of open mindedness. Communal or ethnic feeling is alien to them and despite diverse racial mix from pre-historic days they are, by and large, a homogeneous group. Almost all the people speak and understand Bangla, a language which occupies an exalted position because of the richness of its literature. Generally speaking, fish, rice and lentils constitute the main diet of the masses, the vast majority of whom live in the country's villages. A cotton lungi and a jersey called kurta are the common attire for men in rural areas. The urban people have, however, largely adapted to western costume. Sari is women's universal dress, both in the cities and countryside.

Bangladeshi women are traditionally adored for their charm, beauty and elegance. They are now increasingly adapting themselves to changing needs of time; working shoulder to shoulder with the men-folk in fields, factories and offices. In fact, they can be found in all professions and there is no exclusive male domain. Agriculture and its related fields still provide the main livelihood of the people. The expanding industrial and service sectors together with trade and commerce offer increasing alternate occupations for the people.

There are about a million, mostly Mongoloid origin, tribal people, the majority of whom live in Hill Tracts districts. They zealously guard their customs, traditions and cultural heritage which are quite distinct from one another and, till to date, largely remain unspoilt. For their living, they mainly depend on traditional cultivation called jhum and cottage craft in which they greatly excel.