Islam, Judaism And Christianity, On Human Rights And Democracy?

Posted by admin on Jul 26, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

Islam, Judaism and Christianity, on human rights and  democracy?

By:  H.A. Yahya, Professor of Sociology

 This state is not unique for Muslim faith, religion through history was (and still is)  a force to stabilize cultures, as a force for hostility toward others. European wars were incited by religion. That’s in theory, the west perceptions of Islam is that Islam induce suicide bombing culture, which is not true. The issue of martyrdom  is different from suicide bombers, and  Muslims have a difficulty to distinguish between the two in recent years to satisfy the new world order and its leading force, the USA, especially after September 11.  where human rights and democracy were put in the back seat.

 Need hierarchy motivates people change according to their perceived needs. Lower-order needs (such as food and shelter and of course democracy) are more important motivators and must be mostly filled before needs for peer acceptance and self-actualization become powerful motivators.

 I believe that not making cultural adjustment is usually a mistake. However,  the culture allows foreigners more latitude than it does to its own citizens. In such cases, less adjustment is necessary. As for western values, little adjustment is necessary but difficult to apply. What may help in this case, is  a core state plays the representative of western power to incite cultural changes, such a state is expected to be Muslim country with western thought.     

 Associations and organizations should have goals, and processes to make itself for the benefits of Muslims, as the Jewish associations. The Jews are far ahead on any other religion, in taking care of Jews anywhere on Earth. No other religion followers resemble them in management and leadership. And I believe, they should be commended for their successful efforts.

The idea of intellectuals and secularists is very dangerous one to the theologians in every religion. In the Jewish faith, in the Christian faith, and in the Islamic faith. They all share intolerance, lack of Judgment and ignorance of ideas might unite between them. Politics is riding almost all followers of the three mentioned religions. Their followers anywhere are drugged by the teachings of their clergy men, as they are the only followers of God who will open his paradise for them and denies other religions from Heaven, but to expel them in Hell.

In Christian faith, Jesus Image in one church, is different from other churches.  Catholic beliefs are different from those of Protestant beliefs. And both are misused by the Old Testament, or the New one.   

In the Jewish faith, however, it took a very different direction, Jews have understood early the power of mind, through Espinoza, Marx, and Durkheim, to control circumstances of the modern world through Psychology, Medicine, Audio-visual Media, Press,  and attorneys at law, in addition to business finance and banking were the means to control people.  These fields were observed, as controlled in the United States by Jews. Psychology departments and tests writings, have changed the negative image of Jews in America after the 1940s and the Holocaust.  Politically they supported those who may support Jewish goals, such as creating and supporting the State of Israel. They were very successful in that field. Most Americans follow blindly this direction and support Israel financially and materially through arms weaponry and advanced technology.

Both Christian and Jewish faiths were united early as Judeo-Christian faith to stand opposing the religion of Islam.  Muslims are not less in their position from other religions. All religions share conflict with the other. And none is proved true in their allegations. But as I see it, there should be a conciliation or normalization by reciprocal recognition between religions to reduce the tension among their followers worldwide. Exchanged misconceptions about each other may close the gap between religions in terms of human rights and Democracy. If we forget the false assumption about Muslim terrorists perception. (644 words)       

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Democracy is not Correctly Defined

Posted by admin on Jul 19, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

Democracy not correctly defined

We must accept that democracy has not been correctly defined. It is not government of the people. As set of people have taken up politics as a profession, trade, calling and employment and they are the rulers. Therefore, as and when a government is formed after election, that government is not of the people because these ruling people are not from amongst the people. They are the nominees of the political parties and only political parties know on what consideration these people have been selected and nominated for election. It is not a government by the people and that is the reason the people in the government are not working for the people. The people are simply voters who are called once in a five years aor so and they are directed to cast votes in favour of the candidates who have been allowed to stand as candidates. When these people cast their vote, their work is finished and they are pushed back to suffer for an other term of five years or so. The people who form government never work for the welfare of the people of the country nor they are committed as such. That is the reason in most of the democracies in the world the people in power are not working as public servants and they never allow the people to turn as masters of the country. Democracy is just a name and therefore, the ruler’s work with a rod in their hand and they utilize all power through police, courts and through jails. The people get only those rights which these rulers give them and nothing more. The word of democracy, fundamental rights, masters and public servants are just in books and those are never brought into practice. Therefore, we shall have admit that democracy which is present in all the countries could be called or defined as a government of a few, by a few and for a few and therefore, the common people should try to live like slaves as they had been under rajas, maharajas or under the imperialists. They shall have to wait for true democracy for another century.

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On Revitalizing Parliamentary Democracy

Posted by admin on Jul 12, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

Parliamentary democracy was adopted in India after a purposive and elaborate debate among the founding fathers of India’s constitution. The members of the constituent assembly adopted the constitution with the conviction that it best suited to the heterogeneous character of Indian society, while the world expressed scepticism about India’s ability to operate a democratic system successfully 1.

Parliament has three important functions-to make laws, to be a forum for deliberations on important issues of governance and to enforce accountability of the executive to the people. Constitutional authorities such as Sir William Black Stone consider the law-making powers of the Parliament as the true index of Parliamentary sovereignty. Further, he says that the Parliament has “Sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal”2.

Indian Parliament, in the early years, discharged its function of charting out the path of social engineering with the utmost sense of responsibility, in the process of earning the admiration and respect of the people3. Healthy Debate, discussions, more number of sittings, spending more time for legislative business are considered as key features of Parliamentary democracy is now being overshadowed by uproar, chaos, conflicts and forced adjournments even for unimportant reasons and issues. Further, in the history of the Indian Parliament that a Parliament session was abandoned, the monsoon session of the Parliament in 2008, or frozen for reasons that are unclear.

Many MPs don’t attend the house for days together; the clever ones sign the attendance registered and slip out, ensuring that they don’t miss out on their daily allowance even if they miss crucial debates. Many others feel the prick of consciousness and turn up in the house and do nothing: In the present 14th Lok Sabha 32 MPs are still observing a vow of silence, waiting to participate in their maiden debate; 37 MPs are yet to table a question. Many more take their seats in the august house just to add to the decibel levels without contributing in any way to debates or discussions. There was general opinion that government, opposition and other political parties are not giving due importance to Parliament.

There has been a trend of decline in terms of the number and duration of sittings of Parliament after the period of the first Lok Sabha during 1952-1957. This trend of deterioration has been not only in terms of sittings or ‘hours of labour’ but also the quality and length of the debates and the legislative outcomes. There were 677 sittings (3,784 hours) during the first Lok Sabha (1952-57). This is the highest recorded count of the number of sittings of the House of the People. The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, had 565 sittings during 1952-57. During the period 1971-1977 (when Parliament had its tenure extended by a year), the Lok Sabha had 613 sittings (4,071 hours).

This, however, cannot be considered to have been a positive trend, as it included the period of the Emergency. The average number of sittings of the Lok Sabha during 1952-1957 was 135 days a year. In 1956, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha sat for 151 and 113 days respectively. This is the highest number of sittings of Parliament till today. In 2006, Parliament sat for 77 days. In 2007, however, this declined in the Lok Sabha to 66 days, marking the lowest number of days in the last few years with the exception of 2004, which was an election year.

In 2008 Parliament sat for only 46 days. This trend is disheartening, and will inevitably erode public trust over the institution. There is a long-pending proposal that the minimum number of days of sitting for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha be fixed as 120 and 100 respectively, so as to ensure that Parliament is able to transact its business and carry forward its responsibilities in an optimal manner3.

The recently concluded second part of the 14th session of the 14th Lok Sabha witnessed a loss of nearly 21 hours in interruptions and adjournments. But Parliament adopted a resolution unanimously condemning the heinous attack in Mumbai by terrorists4. It is significant to note that during this session total of eight bills were passed in Lok Sabha in just over 15 minutes. These included five bills in the revised list of business and four under the supplementary agenda circulated later5. Some of the bills rejected by the Standing Committee were also passed in the Parliament. Similarly Rajya Sabha had also passed 3 bills in about 20 minutes, without any proper discussions in the Parliament. Lok Sabha had no time to discuss the bills because it met 46 days only, the lowest in the history of the Parliamentary democracy and a far cry from the norm of having atleast 100 sittings6.

The quality of debate is linked to the quality of MPs, says constitution expert Subash Kashyap. In the first Lok Sabha, lawyers and barristers formed the largest professional group members, this automatically ensured speakers of a certain quality such as Jawaharlal Nehru and N C Chatterjee (father of present Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee) to name a couple. In one such debate, he recalls, there was much hair-splitting over which word-incite or provoke-should be used for a particular legislation.

In the 1950s, even bitterly contested issues never degenerated into abuse leading to chaos. MPs saw one another as political rivals, not enemies. In those days several lesser-known MPs specialized in a particular topic and were heard with seriousness. For instance, Uma Charan Pattnaik, an independent MP from Orissa’s Ganjam constituency in the first two Lok Sabha elections, “He was an expert on defence matters. When he spoke there was pin-drop silence,”.

Experts say the quality of debate declined after the third Lok Sabha. The process of democratization has created a new crop of leaders whose intellectual and political capabilities are below par. “They prefer to shout than debate”, as pointed out by political scientist Imtiaz Ahmed. Besides, as a 2004 study by Bangalore-based independent watchdog Public Affairs Centre show, 23.2% of those elected to Parliament face criminal charges ranging from murder to extortion and rape. Such MPs are unlikely to be good debaters7.

It is worthwhile to note that, according to India Today report8, published recently, some 32 MPs, so far, never participated in any debate in the Parliament, which includes senior most members also. While debating the issues such as poverty and hunger in Parliament, especially the House of People, the attendance was very low. On May 5, 2007 only six members were present, initially, in the House of People, which discussed the eradication of hunger in India. The attendance was less than one per cent. Later six more members joined in the discussion. Totally 12 members attended the discussion, of which 7 belongs to Congress, 2 from Left parties, and one each from BJP, BJDand TDP12. Similarly, in the month of December 2007 the on going National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme was discussed in the Lok Sabha, and this time the attendance was 16 only. Because of lack of quorum the speaker adjourned the house.

It is significant as well as worthwhile to mention here that, in the 2007 Global Hunger Index (GHI) out of 118 countries list, India placed in a dismantle position of 94th rank- behind Ethiopia. Ethiopia worked better at reducing hunger than India did. Pakistan ranks ahead of India, too, at 88. China logs in at 47. All our South Asian neighbours do better than India on this index, except Bangladesh. None of these countries boasts an economy growing at 9 per cent a year. When the sensex fall of several hundred points the Finance Minister comes forward and soothes the market nerves. But no one, the representatives, came forward or reacted to calm the nation when India hit the 94th rank in the GHI9.

Everybody accepted the fact that the Parliament has not been functioning up to the expectations of the people and the people have also gradually loosing their faith over the system as well as Parliamentary democracy. The following are some of the facts about how the Parliament worked in the last year, 2008:

1. Union government spent Rs.440 Cr. for conducting business of the Parliament.

2. Rs.23,083 being spent for conducting one minute of the business of the Parliament.

3. Parliament met only 46 days in the year 2008, which is lowest in the history of the Parliamentary democracy .

4. Speaker and Prime Minister speech were also disturbed.

5. Speaker left Lok Sabha in a huff because of unable to maintain the order of the house.

6. Prime Minister was not allowed to introduce his Council of Ministers.

7. 32 MPs, so far, never raised any issues or participated in any debate in the Parliament.

8. 37 MPs never submitted any kind of questions, in Question Hour or Zero Hour, in the Parliament.

9. Lok Sabha passed, in December 2008, 8 bills in 17 minutes without any proper debate.

10. Rajya Sabha had also passed 3 bills in 20 minutes.

11. Bill rejected by the Standing Committee of the Parliament was also passed.

Quality of debate and discussions are the hall mark of Parliamentary Democracy seems to be unavailable at present. Everyone agrees there’s a need for more informed debate in Parliament. Imtiaz Ahmad suggested that rookie MPs should schooled in the art of parliamentary affairs. A short course can help10. Strict enforcement of Code of Conduct for MPs, electing representatives with some professional background or formal education, are essential for proper working of Parliament in India. More than any measures sense of commitments from: i) people representatives, ii) leaders of all the political parties will make the Parliament to work more meaningfully and purposefully.

Reference:

1. Somnath Chatterjee, “Six Decades of Parliamentary Democracy”, The Hindu, August 15, 2007.p.4.

2. P.C.Alexander, “Raising a Question on Question Hour”, Deccan Chronical, May 20, 2008.p.6.

3. India Today, Jan. 19, 2009.p.65; Vinod Bhanu, “Abandoning a Parliament Session”, The Hindu, Sep.13, 2008.p.12.

4. The Hindu, Dec. 24, 2008.p.12.

5. The Hindu, Dec. 24, 2008.p.13.

6. Times of India, Dec. 28, 2008.p.8.

7. Avijit Ghosh, “Where’s the debate in this din of democracy?”, Times of India, Dec. 28, 2008.p.8.

8. India Today, Jan.21, 2009.p.18.

9. P.Sakthivel, “Indian Parliamentary Democracy in Turmoil”, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol.LXIX, No.3. July-Sep. 2008.pp.519-529.

10. Times of India, Dec. 28, 2008.p.8.

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Democracy Survives in Pakistan?

Posted by admin on Jul 5, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

Seeing the total anti-climax in the Pakistan’s swirling situation a friend advised caution as according to him there are many a slip between the cup and the lip! There was jubilation all over. The political pundits predicting the disintegration of this troubled country were proved wrong for once at least. Earlier it had become a part of history that every civil upheaval and turmoil most often resulted in army take over. Army was supposed to be the only disciplined institution which could hold the country together. Many had been debating whether the dream of Allama Iqbal and Mohammad Ali Jinnah had finally turned sour. It was repeatedly given out that religion cannot be basis for creation of a country. The very basic concept was held faulty and Pakistan was supposed to be heading towards becoming a failed state. Whether these predictions and postulations were correct or not, are too early to decide but for the time being the country seems to have returned from the brink. The fast deteriorating situation had forced some of the media persons and intellectuals participating in a recently held conclave in Delhi to indirectly propose the return of General Musharraf to save that country from total disintegration. This was being done out of the fear of the extremist Taliban taking over the country along with the lethal nukes.

A Talibanised Pakistan with freely floating nukes was every body’s nightmare from Delhi to Washington. Most of the sane people were praying for the stability of this country caught in the whirlpool of extremism. Some were in fact going so far ahead as to suggest that a military coup was round the corner. Army take over was supposed to be imminent. The total reversal of the situation regardless of the forces that were responsible for bringing it about seems to have taken some people by total surprise. Especially some of the TV channels seem to have been disappointed by the turn of events. Instead of welcoming this victory of peoples’ power and beginning of a new era in Pakistan, they are busy in highlighting the victory and defeat of various personalities involved in the episode. According to one channel Pakistan is suffering from the cancer of terrorism and the present victory is like aspirin being administered to a cancer patient! One would have thought that the people would have heaved a sigh of relief at this dramatic victory of the democratic forces but unfortunately because of the inherent bias and prejudice they are trying to belittle it by raising some personalised issues. According to them agitation has ended but the turmoil stays. The only silver lining has been the statement of the foreign minister that the stability of Pakistan is in the interests of the region and the civilian government there has been fighting the terrorism and needs support.

Any victory of democratic forces, however small, should be a joy for true democrats. Unfortunately, the prejudices in this part of the world are so deeply ingrained that we take pleasure in our neighbour’s discomfort. In any case the situation in Pakistan is not as simple as it may appear. The country apart from the cancer of terrorism introduced by the very same people who are now trying to keep it together, suffers from many infirmities. It is a totally feudal society and in spite of the massive show of peoples’ power, it is the Sardars, Rajas, Choudharys, Sharifs, and Zardaris who ultimately decide the fate of the people. It is these feudal lords who have prevented the creation of a nationality called Pakistani. They have stayed as Sindhis, Punjabis, Pathans, and Balauchis. They still think in terms of their tribes and clans. They are Pakistanis only outside Pakistan. As soon as they are back in Pakistan, they revert to their tribes and clans. The most damaging infirmity of Pakistan has been the absence of a sizeable middle class. There are “Dirty” rich people on one side and hopelessly poor on the other end. Compared to this India’s middle class is almost the size of USA.

The major cause for the failure of democracy to take roots in Pakistan has been the absence of institutions. Its rulers both civil and military never allowed institutions to grow and flourish. India may not be a perfect welfare state as there are more than 35% people still below the poverty line, yet it is to a large extent a functioning democracy. The survival of India as a democracy is because of its institutions. The Supreme Court of India, the Election Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Income Tax Department, and many other institutions have a reputation of their own. By and large these institutions are supposed to be least susceptible to any political interference and have functioned independently and given independent judgements whenever these were called upon to do so. Another important pillar for democracy to survive is the active and forceful media. India has rather a hyper-active media which sometimes goes overboard. However, it contributes for the functioning of the democratic institutions. The only Achilles heels of Indian democracy is Kashmir. Here, everything democratic vanishes. All principles, rules, regulations, and moral considerations are given a go by. Anything connected with Kashmir is protection of so called national interest for all political parties regardless of their ideology or affiliations.

The triumph of the lawyers in getting the sacked Chief Justice of Pakistan restored is being considered a victory of the civil society and an important step towards the restoration of complete democracy. However, the main problem facing Pakistan is not the absence of democracy but the fast growing religious extremism spearheaded by the Taliban. Army is the only institution which can take this menace head on but they need the full support of the civil society to do that. The first important question for Pakistan is to survive as a state and the other things will come only after that. The greatest challenge for the Pakistanis is what has been happening in Swat. Whether they have a democratic set up or a military dictatorship, Swat is staring the both in the face. No doubt the March 16 victory has been termed as the “Justice Revolution” and it has strengthened the civil society, yet the ultimate test will come only after the strengthened democratic institutions take on the extremism which is destroying it from within. For this to succeed the army and the civil society will have to join hands as they recently did in saving the total collapse of the nascent democracy!

One of the easiest points of convergence for all extremist groups in Pakistan has been the holy war to liberate the Muslims of Kashmir. General Musharraf had tried to remove this convergence and Zardari had gone even a step further! Unfortunately, the Indian intransigence did not allow their initiatives to succeed. Even President Obama in his pre-election speeches had pointed about the urgency of removing this basic cause preventing an all out effort to tackle extremism. The Indian Foreign Minister’s positive response augurs well and one hopes it will be implemented all the way not only to strengthen democracy in Pakistan which is essential for its stability but also to tackle the scourge of extremism with full force in the entire region.

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in Democracy Participation of People is Nil

Posted by admin on Jun 28, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

In democracies participation of people is nil.

Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.

It has been said that democracy is the best form of Government because it is government of the people, by the people and for the people and all rajas, maharajas, monarchs and imperialists are no more to govern them. But we shall have to accept that this concept of democracy has not be adopted fully in any of the countries claiming that they have established democracy in their country. If we go deep, we can find that all in politics are those who want to become rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists and they want to rule the people through one way or the other. All entries in the constitutions are paper transactions and the people in power could not change their habits and spirit. They do not want to become public servants and serve the people. They want to rule and till they are on chairs, they treat the people as subjects or as slaves and every citizen is not allowed to approach to them.

The people in each country are just voters and they are invited at the prescribed time to come, stand in lines before the poling booths and then caste their votes in favour of one of the candidate who is not known to them, whose character and antecedents are not known to the voter and who has got no approach upto that fellow. Therefore, this casting of votes is just a formality and when these people are elected and sit on seats of power, they could no turn people of the people. They were a separate class, they are a separate class and they shall remain a separate class. They have taken up this line as a profession, trade, calling and employment and therefore, they are investing money only to gain profits and get power. That is the reason they are taking all the eligible members of their families in this field and all these political parties are just co-operative societies where some people collect and distribute positions amongst themselves and they start inviting others to join this party as members and in most of the cases, they take money as admission fee and even portfolios are divided through auction and sale. We should not expect that such people shall follow some code of conduct.

The people always remain subjects or slaves and they cannot call themselves that they too have become masters of the country. Such entries are available in each constitution in the world, but it is strange that the people could not get such a position in any of the democracies in the world. The rulers are still functioning with the same spirit in their mind which was functioning in the hearts of rajas, maharajas, monarchs and the imperialists. They could not come from this spirit to rule and therefore, till this spirit is available in the ruling classes, no country shall become full fledged democracy.

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21st February, a Call for Restoration of Democracy

Posted by admin on Jun 21, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments

There is no denying the fact that the movement of 21st February was a call for restoration of democracy for which the non-co-operation movements with the then rulers have been promulgated day by day to achieve independence as an ultimate target. Due to the fact, it was not only their sole desire to make Urdu as a state language but also there were many reasons behind it which may be reflected as Political and educational aggression, to pollute Socio-economic condition, to pollute cultural and traditional affairs, to occupy monopolies over trade and commerce, to handicap people under obligation towards submission, to surpass the people under tyrannous depletion etc and hence in regard to economical aspects in common life, the goods which were produced by our active people from our land and factories were taken to the West Pakistan and priced cheaply in that land but it was costly to us to consume. There was a great ambiguity in between the measuring of values made between the two countries and not only that in case of import and export of our commodities, such ambiguity was largely compacted. It is a significant fact that they led their efforts to suppress us every time in the field of economics ingrained in common life. It is evident from the past history that they used to exploit us in different ways for which they formulated the policies to disgrace us in tyrannical attitudes with which our people declared movement on 21st February and being agitated, they protested them against their attitudes and feelings for aggression and misruling. The movement of 21st February was only an agitation against the exploitation of resources in this country which was their object to occupy some how. They wanted to make Urdu as their state language in the sense that they liked to extend their hands for exploitation in respect of economics, commerce, language, education and traditional aspects involved in social and cultural life. Like British Empire, they wanted to torture in respect of mental, physical, political and social aspects ingrained in our common people irrespective of caste and creed. Bangladesh came into being as an independent state in 1971 from the emergent of the movement of 21st February. The movement spread as nation wide agitation and there is no doubt that our economic profile has been flourishing day by day and we can say that the 21st February is a milestone of our economic prosperity and political affiliation in the dimension of Bangladesh in the world map.

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 : The People’s Republic of Bangladesh

• Brief history : 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.

• Geographical location 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.

• Boundaries North – India (West Bengal and Meghalaya)

West – India (West Bengal)

East – India (Tripura and Assam) and Myanmar(Burma)

South – The Bay of Bengal

• Area : 1,47,570 sq. km. (Territorial water – 12 nautical miles)

• Administrative divisions : The country is divided into 6 divisions (Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet), 64 Districts and 460 Thanas (Sub-districts).

• Capital City : Dhaka

• Standard time : GMT +6 hours

• Climate : Sub-tropical monsoon

• Climate variation : 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.

• Rainfall : 1194 mm to 3454 mm (average during monsoon, June – August).

• Humidity : Highest: 99 per cent (July)

Lowest : 36 per cent (December & January)

• Vegetation : Grassland, mixed evergreen and evergreen

• Population : 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).

• Adult literacy rate (15 years+), (2000) : 60 per cent (compulsory and free primary education)

• Birth rate (per 1000 persons), (1999) : 23.60

• Death rate (per 1000 persons), (1999) : 8.00

• Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1000 live births before one year), (1999) : 66.00

• Total fertility rate per woman (1997) : 3.30

• Contraceptive use rate (1998) : 51.50 per cent

• Life expectancy (1999) : Male – 60.80 years

Female – 59.60 years

• Average age of women at first marriage (1998) : 20.2 years

• Population per hospital bed (1999) : 4251

• Population per doctor (1999) : 4599

• Percentage of family using safe drinking water (1998) : 96.2 per cent

• Ethnic groups : Predominantly mixed group of Proto Austroloids/Dravidians, Mongoloids and Aryans

• Language : 95 per cent Bangla (State language) and 5 per cent other dialects

English is widely spoken.

• Religion : Muslim (88.3%), Hindu (10.5%), Buddhist (0.6%), Christian (0.3%) and Animists and believers in tribal faiths (0.3%).

• Food : Rice, wheat, potato, sweet potato, vegetables, pulses, fish and meat.

• Principal crops : Rice, wheat, potato, spices, pulses, jute, tea, tobacco and sugarcane

• Principal rivers : Padma, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Meghan, Karnaphuli, Teesta, etc. Total 230 rivers including tributaries.

• Mineral resources : Natural gas, limestone, hard rock, coal, lignite, silica sand, white clay, radioactive sand, etc. (There is a strong possibility of oil deposit).

• Human resources : 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.

• Employment and labour force (as per Labour Force Survey, 1995/96) : 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.

• Form of government : 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.

• Principal industries : 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.

• Traditional export items : Raw jute, jute manufactures (hessian sacking, carpet backing, carpets), jute products, tea, leather and leather products, etc.

• Non-traditional export items : Garments, frozen shrimps, other fish products, newsprint, paper, naphtha, furnace oil, urea, etc.

• Principal imports : 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.

• Principal partners of foreign trade : USA, EU, Japan, India, Pakistan, Canada, China, South Korea, Russia, etc.

• Bangladesh in international forum : 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.

• Tourism : 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.

• Currency : Taka (TK)

1 US Dollar = TK 49.37 (as on September 22, 1999).

• Central Bank : Bangladesh Bank

• Bank rate : 8 per cent

The Economy:

• GDP at current price, 1999-2000 (provisional) : TK 2412.78 billion

US $48.56 billion (approximately)

• Annual per capital GDP, 1999-2000 : TK 18528

US $373 (approximately)

• GDP growth rate at constant price, 1999-2000 : 5 per cent

• Inflation rate (consumer price index), 1999-2000 : 6 per cent

• Gross domestic investment/GDP, 1999-2000 : 22.41 per cent

Public – 6.73 per cent and

Private – 15.68 per cent

• Gross national savings/GDP, 1999-2000 : 21. 8 per cent

• Exports, 1998-99 : US $ 5324 million

• Imports, 1998-99 : US $ 8018 million

• Foreign remittances, 1998-99 : US $ 1706 million

• Government revenue income/GDP, 1999-2000 : 10.01 per cent

• Government revenue expenditure/GDP, 1999-2000 : 14.99 per cent

• Deficit/GDP, 1999-2000 : 4.98 per cent

• Foreign exchange reserves (as on 4 May, 2000) : US $ 1622 million

• Annual Development Programme, 1999-2000 : TK. 155 billion

• Debt service/exports : 12.1 per cent

• Sect oral contribution to GDP, 1999-2000 (provisional) :

- Agriculture : 31.9 per cent

- Industry : 11.1 per cent

- Construction : 6.4 per cent

- Electricity, Gas, Water and Sanitary : 1.7 per cent

- Transport and Communication : 12.4 per cent

- Trade and other services : 10.2 per cent

- Housing : 6.8 per cent

- Public Administration : 5.7 per cent

- Bank and Insurance : 1.7 per cent

- Profession and miscellaneous services : 12.1 per cent

• Foreign aid : 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

• Food grains production (1999 2000) : 20.16 million MT (net)

• Total demand for food grains (1999-2000) : 21.36 million MT

• Forest : 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.

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.

But the achievement of 21st February is being hampered to uphold with the heinous touchwood of terrorism and there is no denying the fact that being poverty based country; we are passing through a great threadbare against terror campaign, bribing, and dishonesty and embracing a cause of policies of disingenuous the people. The creator has sent people to the land with all crucial things fundamentally imperative for their endurance. God has also imparted upon them some rules for leading our lives controlled and cleanly and as such God has accordingly conferred upon some rules and directives so that human beings can show the way his life by following these instructions like complete code of every well beings of eternity virtually and ideally. If they go out of these rules, they become nonplussed what to do. Corruption may exist in rendering services in the field of private, public sectors and in leading normal flow of life. When a man degenerates himself, he stigmatizes himself by entering into the world of dimness as well as fallacious from where he can never get rid of. He commits crime, such as smuggling, robbing, murdering, snatching and dilapidation etc. Failure waits for him everywhere and even if, he is attracted by innumerable but deadly forbidden things. Being educated, he becomes addicted to evil works in society. He knows that it is the transient and allusion of worldly affairs, which has no eternal value in the real sense. In many times, it is observed that he becomes ambitious and many harmful activities are performed in social life. He knows that being corrupt and heinous work, the society cannot consider him as an evil person; never the less; every body is in the way to run after such forbidden things. In many times the terror leaders welcome him and encourage him to do the forbidden things. Thus a person becomes the leader of the country and occupies a very influential position in the society by doing all the forbidden things like bribing, mal practicing and thieving. Hence forth, it is seen that from every branches of the Government corruption is a common phenomenon for which the nation would like to lead a healthy life. Bangladesh is a highly populated country and as such the double entendre among her resources and needs are prevailing every time to a great extent. Due to shortage of wealth, here one-fourth people cannot satisfy their daily needs for which no one is satisfied with his family life. It is a very difficult thing for someone to get a job, as there are fewer vacancies in offices, industries and so on. When people cannot find any occupation or job for earning their livelihood, they do not get any alternative measures except committing crimes. So unemployment is a reason for being a criminal and the opportunist apply this sense in evil manner and influence him to do the job of mischievous and heinous deeds for which he remains depleted through out his whole life. In this world everyone needs a companion to live with society, friendship and love. That is why; people make friendship in the hope to have good fortune to deal future life. But every friend might not stand beside another friend in weal and woe. He sometimes pushes him towards danger and inspires him for doing anti-social activities, which is called ‘crime’. Therefore, being a criminal, he may be infected with the misleading people. Suffice it to say that due to frustrated socio-economic conditions prevailing in our country, our society of youths is leading very miserable life. They are creating hindrance and preventing the people from dealing normal life as they are sometimes no longer lost to play a role of terrorists as well as miscreants. Due to the fact that poverty is the indispensable reason for doing criminal assault on the part of the youths. Any person belonging to a poor family has to pass his days through hard struggle. He surely wants to develop his condition. On the other hand, for being poor, he does not get opportunity to be educated properly. Consequently, he cannot have any respectable occupation. At last, finding no other alternatives, he commits crime as his profession. If we are able to reach our goal as expected, it is universal that glory of success must wait for us in future. But we must have to work arduously for that golden opportunity. Otherwise our all hopes and aspirations will be nipped in the bud. No one cannot get salvation of ideal love and peace from God by following the path vices and misfortune. Dr. Faustus was an uncommon genius but by committing seven deadly sins with the exchange of his soul into the hell by taking 24 years kingdom in the eternal world had been thrown to the hell. Lucifer, the owner of the hail grew jealous of him for his talent and geniuses and made a deed by way of Mephistopheles with Faustus. Later, Faustus became lamented but due to his colossal crime, he was thrown to the hell for his misdeeds for long 24 years. That is to say, if a man is addicted to bad habits during childhood, he cannot get rid of from such criminal assault for which he has to repent on through out his whole life. Youth is the best season of good harvest and as such it is likes mild mud and henceforth, he needs to precede his life very carefully. Fundamentally, for these three reasons, we are loosing many brightly illuminated resource personnel to place them on the basis of ‘Right man for the right place’ of our country. We need to end all these frolicsome activities. We must come across some way to get rid of mischievous debris and save the bewildered people of our country. The Government also should take actions against such awful activities. First of all, the people here should be aware of the explosion of population and they must not possess more than two children. Secondly, we need to be careful about making friendship, so that we don’t have any bad company. And at last, we must have to recognize the importance of education and the teachings of 21st February. No matter how poor we are, we have to try our level best to gain knowledge. In this context, Socrates said,” Knowledge is virtue, from knowledge, virtue and goodness flourish; from ignorance, he said, all that is evil.”

We want all the ends of such mischievous activity from the social life. We should memorize the great sacrifice of the martyrs who had hoarded our mother tongue by dedicating their lives. Consequent upon this, we achieved the 21st February as an ‘International Mother Tongue Day’ in 1999. This is a great achievement in the world to show our best regards to our Bengali Language. It is a rare example in the history of mankind. Furthermore, the dignity of our mother tongue is worthy of achieving the highest honour as the poet in this language has been awarded ‘Nobel Prize’ and even in many European and American countries such language is taught and a certain part of the people in the world this language of their own accord. Many great men have been born in this beautiful land which is the best contribution of the world. There is a great history in the background of our mother language and this is highlighted through struggle in the history and for this reason our mother tongue has been mixed as if in our heart and soul through thick and thin.

In fine, it is evident that the 21st February was undoubtedly a call for restoration of democracy which is promulgated by the people, for the people and of the people. The Pakistani hoarders tried to loot our economy and freedom of survival; if we would like to preserve the prestige of Bengali nation, we need to pay great eulogy praise to the martyrs. They had laid down their lives for the restoration of democracy and freedom of economics. Their activities are undoubtedly of heroic deeds. If we dedicate ourselves for the cause of equality and liberty of our country, their departed souls will be peaceful and effulgence. In every year, we celebrate this day by showing homage to them and shower the flowers to the ‘Shaheed Minar’ in order to solemnize their memory and achievements contributed to the dignity of our mother tongue.

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