There
is no denying the fact that by our
active movement, it is documented as International Mother language Day on 21st
February in every year through out the whole world and it is consecrated by
swaging flowers and holding the memories in the highest regard to those
language martyrs who had laid down their lives for the cause of launching the
dignity of our survival as a nation uprising our heads like other nations
virtually. The 21st February is a red-letter day in the history of
our mother tongue. It is a very significant day in view of good verdict that we
have been able to pioneer our mother tongue as our state language. It is our
glory and inspiration that we have accomplished freedom from the movement of
this day. We think that we could not achieve our freedom if 21st February was
not emergent in 1952. Due to the movement of this day, we have shown our
agitation against the rulers of the then Pakistan. To speak the truth, the
21st February, as a symbol of blaze illumination is our rectitude
for which our survival as Bengali nation has been reproduced through out the
whole world. As compared to socio-economic condition of the erstwhile Pakistan,
the recent economic profile so far data have been collected in due course has
been enumerated as follows:
A monetary profile of Bangladesh
· The Country |
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The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
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·
Brief history
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Documentation history is traceable to the fourth
century B.C. with clear facts of prosperous society, consisting of cities, palaces,
temples, forts, seats of learning and monasteries: 1200 A.D. – introduction
of the Muslims; 17th century – a time of fiscal well beings; 1757
– beginning of British colonial rule; 1947-departure of British from Indian
Subcontinent and Bangladesh becomes East Bengal/East Pakistan as part of
Pakistan; 1971-emergence of the sovereign state of Bangladesh through a
bloody and devastating armed struggle against the Pakistani force.
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·
Geographical location
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South Asia; between 20 degree 34 and 26 degree 38
north latitude and between 88 degree 01 and 92 degree 41 east longitude;
consists of flat fertile alluvial land.
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·
Boundaries
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North – India
(West Bengal and Meghalaya)
West – India (West Bengal)
East – India (Tripura and Assam)
and Myanmar(Burma)
South – The Bay of Bengal
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·
Area
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1,47,570 sq. km. (Territorial water – 12 nautical
miles)
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·
Administrative divisions
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The country is divided
into 6 divisions (Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong,
Khulna, Barisal
and Sylhet), 64 Districts and 460 Thanas (Sub-districts).
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Capital City
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Dhaka
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·
Standard time
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GMT
+6 hours
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Climate
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Sub-tropical monsoon
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Climate variation
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Winter (December – February) temperature: average
maximum 29oC, average minimum 11oC.
Summer (April-June) temperature: Average maximum
32oC, average minimum 21oC.
Unfortunately, Bangladesh has to face, quite
frequently, natural disasters of great magnitude. Being located at the mouth of the Ganges
and the Brahmaputra delta, Bangladesh
often gets submerged by abnormal floods during July-September and severe
tropical cyclones accompanied by tidal waves during October to mid-December
and during the April-May period causing very heavy loss of human lives,
physical infrastructure and production, both in agricultural and industrial
sectors.
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·
Rainfall
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1194 mm to 3454 mm
(average during monsoon, June – August).
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·
Humidity
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Highest: 99 per cent (July)
Lowest
: 36 per cent (December & January)
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·
Vegetation
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Grassland, mixed evergreen
and evergreen
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·
Population
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Bangladesh is the eighth most
populous country and one of the most densely populated countries in the
world. According to the results of the
1991 census, the total population of Bangladesh was 111.4 million
(March 1991) and the population growth rate was 2.17 per cent. In January 2000, the total population stood
at 130.2 million and the population growth rate was 1.5 per cent. The percentage of population living in
rural areas is about 80 per cent (2000).
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·
Adult literacy rate (15 years+), (2000)
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60 per cent (compulsory
and free primary education)
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·
Birth rate (per 1000 persons), (1999)
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23.60
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·
Death rate (per 1000 persons), (1999)
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8.00
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·
Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1000 live births before one year),
(1999)
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66.00
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·
Total fertility rate per woman (1997)
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3.30
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Contraceptive use rate (1998)
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51.50 per cent
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·
Life expectancy (1999)
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Male –
60.80 years
Female – 59.60 years |
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Average age of women at first marriage (1998)
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20.2 years
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·
Population per hospital bed (1999)
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4251
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Population per doctor (1999)
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4599
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·
Percentage of family using safe drinking water (1998)
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96.2 per cent
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·
Ethnic groups
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Predominantly mixed group
of Proto Austroloids/Dravidians, Mongoloids and Aryans
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Language
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95 per cent Bangla (State language) and 5 per
cent other dialects
English
is widely spoken.
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Religion
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Muslim (88.3%), Hindu
(10.5%), Buddhist (0.6%), Christian (0.3%) and Animists and believers in
tribal faiths (0.3%).
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Food
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Rice, wheat, potato, sweet potato,
vegetables, pulses, fish and meat.
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Principal crops
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Rice, wheat, potato,
spices, pulses, jute, tea, tobacco and sugarcane
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·
Principal rivers
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Padma, Brahmaputra,
Jamuna, Meghan, Karnaphuli, Teesta, etc. Total 230 rivers including
tributaries.
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Mineral resources
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Natural gas, limestone,
hard rock, coal, lignite, silica sand, white clay, radioactive sand, etc.
(There is a strong possibility of oil deposit).
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Human resources
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Bangladesh boasts of a substantial
manpower reserve _ trained, skilled, engineers, technicians,
physicians, lawyers, economists, accountants, administrative and managerial
personnel. There is abundance of low
cost, easily trainable and adaptable and hard working intelligent labour
force.
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·
Employment and labour force (as per Labour Force Survey, 1995/96)
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Civilian labour force:
56.0 million; Male – 35.0 million and female – 21.0 million. Percentage of labour force: Agriculture –
63.2, Industry (manufacturing, electricity and gas) – 7.7, Others – 29.1.
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Form of government
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The country has a
parliamentary form of government headed by the Prime Minister. The President is the constitutional head of
the state. The number of seats in the
National Parliament is 300.
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·
Principal industries
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Garments, textile, jute,
tea, paper and newsprint, fertilizer, leather and leather goods, sugar,
cement, ceramic, fish processing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering and
ship building, iron and steel, oil refinery, paints, colors and varnishes,
cigarettes, electric and wires and electrical goods and accessories.
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·
Traditional export items
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Raw jute, jute
manufactures (hessian sacking, carpet backing, carpets), jute products, tea,
leather and leather products, etc.
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·
Non-traditional export items
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Garments, frozen shrimps,
other fish products, newsprint, paper, naphtha, furnace oil, urea, etc.
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Principal imports
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Petroleum products, food
grains, oil seeds, crude petroleum, raw cotton, edible oil, fertilizer,
cement, staple fibers, yarn, iron and steel, machinery and capital goods,
medicines, motor cars, etc.
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Principal partners of foreign trade
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USA, EU, Japan, India,
Pakistan, Canada, China,
South Korea, Russia,
etc.
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Bangladesh in international forum
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Bangladesh is a member of many
international and regional organisations including United Nations,
Commonwealth, SAARC, OIC, World Bank, IMF, IFC, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA,
UNHCR, FAO, WHO, ILO, ADB, IDB, SAPTA, WTO (formerly GATT) and so on.
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Tourism
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With growing international
interest in traveling through Asia, tourism is taking roots in Bangladesh. Bangladesh offers a variety of
historically significant and culturally unique sites for tourists. Sylhet’s tea gardens, Cox’s Bazar
sea-beach, the Royal Bengal Tiger, deer and the Sundarbans, the largest
mangrove forest in the world with unique bio-diversity offer tourist
attractions. Ancient mosques, Buddhist
monasteries, Hindu temples, monuments and other landmarks dot the
countryside.
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·
Currency
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Taka (TK)
1
US Dollar = TK 49.37 (as on September
22, 1999).
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Central Bank
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Bangladesh Bank
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Bank rate
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8 per cent
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The Economy:
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GDP at current price, 1999-2000 (provisional)
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TK 2412.78 billion
US
$48.56 billion (approximately)
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Annual per capital GDP, 1999-2000
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TK 18528
US
$373 (approximately)
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·
GDP growth rate at constant price, 1999-2000
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5 per cent
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·
Inflation rate (consumer price index), 1999-2000
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6 per cent
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·
Gross domestic investment/GDP, 1999-2000
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22.41 per cent
Public – 6.73 per cent and
Private
– 15.68 per cent
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·
Gross national savings/GDP, 1999-2000
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21. 8 per cent
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Exports, 1998-99
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US $ 5324 million
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Imports, 1998-99
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US $ 8018 million
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Foreign remittances, 1998-99
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US $ 1706 million
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Government revenue income/GDP, 1999-2000
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10.01 per cent
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Government revenue expenditure/GDP, 1999-2000
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14.99 per cent
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Deficit/GDP, 1999-2000
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4.98 per cent
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·
Foreign exchange reserves (as on 4 May, 2000)
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US $ 1622 million
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Annual Development Programme, 1999-2000
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TK. 155 billion
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Debt service/exports
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12.1 per cent
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Sect oral contribution to GDP, 1999-2000 (provisional)
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Agriculture
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31.9 per cent
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Industry
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11.1 per cent
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Construction
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6.4 per cent
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Electricity, Gas, Water and Sanitary
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1.7 per cent
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Transport and Communication
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12.4 per cent
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Trade and other services
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10.2 per cent
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Housing
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6.8 per cent
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Public Administration
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5.7 per cent
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Bank and Insurance
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1.7 per cent
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Profession and miscellaneous services
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12.1 per cent
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Foreign aid
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Total foreign aid received (from 1971-72 to
1998-99): US $ 34753 million
Balance of repayable debt (at the end of 1998-99):
US $ 14840 million
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·
Food grains production (1999‑2000)
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20.16 million MT (net)
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Total demand for food grains (1999-2000)
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21.36 million MT
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Forest
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Forestry accounts for 2.3
per cent of GDP (1999-2000). Total
forest land covers an area of 2.5 million hectares (about 17 per cent of the
total land area). Out of this only 45 per
cent area is covered with trees and plants.
Principal forest products are timber, firewood, golpata, bamboo,
sungrass, honey, wax, and cane and rattan.
The Sundarbans is the national forest.
The famous Royal Bengal Tiger is found here.
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From
the above view point, it is clear that after the emergence of Bangladesh such profile of economy
either Micro or Macro has been achieved due to active intervention of our
people in different sectors of development. This identity whatever we posses
were not possible if 21st February was not created to retaliate the
tyrannical boom of the then rulers of Pakistan. And as such, in this day
some young persons of our country have declared indomitable movement to create
confrontation against the conspiracy of our mother tongue. They have
intensified the movement by degrees and being polemical, the then rulers have
invaded them and ultimately they had shot them dead. This is such a movement
where our heroes have laid down their lives for the cause of dignity of our
mother tongue. In the whole world, such unparalleled movement has never been
taken place. Like each year, this year has carried out this day with due somber
mood and prominence and as such we celebrate this day with honour according to
the heritage of the country. This day is mixed with our Independence Day as if
it is mixed with our blood. The heroes who have laid down their lives for the
cause of our equality, liberty and national prestige of our country shall
remain ever memorable to us.
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