Dev 101.

Summarized by Shoron Rahman

RS 36, Chayaaneer

Trust me it may give stress to you at least to a certain level so calm

down and try to get the gist first from here then read the book. It will
help you to understand the chronology.

Syllabus:

 Rivers and Janapadas

 Pre Muslim phase
 Muslim phase
 British rule
 Pakistani rule
 Liberation war
 Lalbagh fort
 Sheikh mujib, Ziaur rahman, Ershad regime
 Khaleda and Hasina regime
 Public administration and government structure
 Good governance
 Development with MDG factors
Rivers

There were more than 700+ rivers but now there are around 300 rivers
left. Bengal is the largest delta formed by rivers flowing from the
Himalayas. The rivers are: Bharmaputra, Ganges, Meghna. Delta is
mainly the land making process through deposition of silts. There are 3
forms of water- River, rain and sea.

Janapadas- this is ancient settlement and establishment of human.

 Vanga- Dhaka and Tangail

 Vangal- Barisal
 Pundra- Dinajpur and Bogra
 Radha- Southern part of west Bengal
 Samatata- from Noakhali to Comilla
 Harikela- Chittagong and Sylhet and other hilly district
 Gaur- Chapainawabganj and Malda
 Varendra- Rajshahi

Human race and their names-

 Proto-astro-loids – Brazil- Australia

 Dravidians- Tamil and Indians
  Aryans- Europeans
 Mongoloids- Chinese and Burmese

Pre Muslim phase, Dynasties.

At first there were Mauryas and Guptas who ruled for quite a
long time.

Later, Sasanka came who were the first independent ruler and
their capital was ‘Karna-shubarna’. They were powerful and
rich dynasty. They issued gold coins as they were independent.
The main thing that you need to know is there was no
successor afterwards which leads to a massive chaos in order
to conquer the throne.

There was a 100 years of anarchy (650- 750). That era was
chaotic where there were no exact ruler and big nations
wanted to invade the small ones. This is known as
Matsanyayam or Matsannyam.

Then through the Matsannyam, came the PALA dynasty

which was Buddhist. Pala means protector and they were very
cast tolerance. They were peace loving. The founder of the
dynasty was GOPALA, later there were 3 important characters
to lead the dynasty- Dharmapala, Devpala and Mohipala and
the last one was Govindapala. They extended Bengal till the
border of Afghanistan. In their times architecture got
patronized and the art of terracotta (design over mud/ clay) got
promoted. They ruled for about 400 years and had around 18
generations.

Later, defeating Govinda pala came Bijoy Sen- the founder of

SENA dynasty. They were Hindus and not at all cast tolerant.
Afterwards, Vallal Sen impose cast system inside Hinduism
where he categorized the religion under 4 strands. In their
time, literature was patronized. They ruled for about 100 years
and they had around 5 genarations. The last Sena was
Laxman sen who lost the empire to Ikhtiar-ud-Din Mohammad
Bin Bakhtiar Khilji sent by Afghan ruler Kutubuddin Ibek.

Muslim Phase…
Though Ikhtiar- ud- din was the first Muslim ruler but he was
not independent as he was under Kutubuddin Ibek. He ruled
for four years and died after he failed to conquer Tibet.

After the death of Ikhtiar there was again anarchy about the
throne. Many commanders who were under Ikhtiar wanted to
be independent and rule Bengal but the sultan did not allowed
it. Thus the sultan name Bengal as BALGAMPUR- city of
rebellion as many came and fought to be independent.
After him came Fakhr-ud-din Mubarrak Shah who was the
first Muslim independent ruler. He was a wise king and
dominated appropriately. He did not have any successor but he
gave power to Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah- the founder of Ilyas
Shah dynasty. He was a good ruler and had good military
tactics. He united 3 main parts of Bengal- Lakhnawati,
Shaathgaon and Shonargaon and thus he was known as
SHAHI BANGALA. He used to patronize Bangla language and
literature. He succeeded to his son Sikander shah.

During his time, a Moroccan traveler, Ibn Batuta, visited

Bengal through Chittagong to Gaur to Sylhet. He was very
pleased as everything is so beautiful and cheap. He even
praised the ruler and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty.

Then came Giyash-ud-Din Azam Shah. He was also a

renowned ruler. He had good relationships with the Chinese
emperor. He also invited a Persian poet- Hafiz in his kingdom.
He also used to do massive amount of charities in Mecca.

Afterwards, Raja Ganesha took power. The only problem about

him was he was Hindu. Every other authority in his court was
Muslim and thus there were always misunderstandings and
misconceptions. As a result he converted his son, Jadu, to
Muslim and named him Jalal-ud-din Mohammad Shah. He
had a good relationship with the Egyptian emperor who sent
him a robe of honor. He also made various charities in Madina
and Mecca.

Then the Hussain Shahi Dynasty came and the founder was
Alla-du-din Sussain Shah. He was known as the best ruler in
Muslim era. He extended Bengal till kooch bihar, Tripura,
west Assam and Orissa. He also led Hindus to hold important
and key post. He built the Chhoto Shona mosque in Padua and
Quadam Rasul mosque in Rajshahi. Later he succeeded to his
son Nasir-ud-din Nusrat shah.

Then came Sher Shah Suri in power. He was responsible to

implement effective and administrative way to collect taxes
and introduce postal system through horses. He also build the
Grand Trunk Road from Bengla to Peshawar. Under him
different posts were created- Subadar( head of the province),
Dewan(treasurer) and the Sipah- Salar(the commander of
army).

After him there were 36 strong and powerful Zamindars who

tried to keep Mughals away from Bengal. They are known as
Bara Bhuiyans. Isa khan and his son Musa khan are the most
important characters to remember.

Shahista khan came afterwards and conquered chittagong

from Portuguese robbers and used to sell commodities in the
lowest price possible. He used to live in Lalbagh fort. He had 3
son and a daughter and after the death of his daughter ( bibi
Pari) he left the kingdom out of depression.

It was time for Mughal to come afterwards. Murshid Quli

Khan was the first one. He offered 12 crore taka a year t the
sultan in order to be independent and he wanted no
interference. He himself was the Dewan and the Subadar of
the province. He gave power to Aliwardi khan and afterwards
Shirajjuddawla got the kingdom. He was very young and
inexperienced and thus he lost the battle of Palassey in 23rd
June 1757.

Battle of Palassey:

It started because British East India Company wanted power

to rule the Bengal and collect taxes. Their greed led them to
this battle. Even they did not send any gift when
Shirajuddawla when he succeeded. Moreover they were
making illegal forts without permission breaking the rules and
regulations. There were many conspirators who were actually
giving insights to BEIC from Shirajuddawla. They are- Mir
Zafar, Ume chand, Roy Durlov, Jagat Seth etc. even the war
weapons were destroyed due to heavy rainfall. Moreover he
was not experienced and very young. He was conned by Mir
Zafar. The French armies also wanted to help but due to
palace conspiracy everything failed. As a result Shirajuddawla
lost the battle and the mughals lost power.
British Rule

After that, Mir zafar became the Nawab of Bengal and Robert
Clive was the head of BEIC. For the next three years they had
been like these but the British were not satisfied with Mir
zafar’s service and thus they made Mir Quasem (son in law of
mir zafar) the new nawab, but Quasem was very clever and he
formed him own army to be independent and took help from
French army and other Nawab Shuzauddawla. The British got
to know about the plan and in 1764 the Battle of Buxar took
place against Quasem and the BEIC. As usual, BEIC won and
afterwards they again made Mir Zafar the Nawab of Bengal.
Afterwards, they took the Dewani Rights in 1765 from Shah
Alam in order to collect taxes effectively.

From 1765 till 1770, tax increased 5 times and even in 1769
there was a flood which led to the first Bengal famine in 1770
where one third of the population died.

In 1772, Warren Hasting became the governor and in 1773 he

implemented a law- the Regulating law, meaning, appointing a
governor-general and 4 administrators under his council in
order to run the tax collection system smoothly. It went like
this for around 20 years.

In 1793, Lord Cornwallis implemented another law- the

permanent settlement law where land would have been
allocated to Zamindars and they cannot sell it or donate or use
it for other purposes except for farming. It was mainly to have
a smooth taxation system and improving agricultural system
as well as enthusing the Hindu Zamindars. The zamindars
have to pay the tax before the sunset of the last day of the year
(sunset law) otherwise they will lose their land and it will be
sold to other merchants.

After that there were many revolts, resistance and movements

which forced BEIC to give the power of Bengal to the queen of

England.

1. Fakir – Sannyasi Resistance ( Early 1760s – 1790s )

The Fakirs and sannyasis used to collect alms for living.

They also carried arms such as daggers for self-defense. The British
mistook the collection of alms for tax collection and imposed a ban on it
and also on carrying arms. This made the fakirs go crazy and they
wanted these blood suckers out of India. So they started a resistance
movement against the British.

The resistance was led by Fakir Majnu Shah who commanded

both the fakirs and sannyasis. There was also a guy – Bhabani Pathak,
who led the sannyasis only. There were other lieutenants like – Musa
Shah,Cherag Ali Shah and a petty zamindar – Devi Chowdhurani.
 The movement was operated in guerilla style. All the villagers
worked as spies for the fakirs and sannyasis.

The movement took place in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Comilla, Bogra,

Chittagong, Sylhet, Mymensingh and also Indian areas like- Kuch
Bihar, Jalpaiguri, Benaras etc. Captain De Mackenzie tried to check to
activities of the rebels and they fled to Nepal.

Majnu Shah died in the Battle of Kaleshwar in 1787. After that

the movement lost its effectiveness and finally ended in the late 1790s.

This was the first movement against the suckers from England.
This went in vain but worked as inspiration for many later movements.

2. Titu Mir ( 1827 – 1831 )

Titu Mir took birth in Chandpur village under Chobbish Porogona.

His original name was Mir Nasir Ali. He was Muslim in ethnicity and
became hafez in Kuran within the age of 18. Used to play lathi very well
from his very boyhood.

That was the age of Hindu zamindars and British reign. People
had to pay taxes everytime they had to go to mosque, celebrate a
festivity or even keep a beard! Yeah people, zamindars really were that
crack back there. Those who didn’t pay, were beaten to the pulp.

Titu Mir joined the lathial force for one of the zamindars and
started beating common people . The police arrested him and put him
into jail. After getting out of the jail after 5 years, he went to Makka
and received wahabi training.

On his return, he raised his voice against the zamindars and in no

time he got more than 1400 followers. The zamindars became anxious
because they could not collect taxes anymore. They asked help from a
British named Davis. Davis was defeated badly in war with Titu Mir.
 Titu Mir started to make big plans. He satrted constructing a
bamboo fort in Narikelbariya. Then he declared war against the
English. The British deployed their best resources in this. BEIC
appointed troops and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stuart as their
commander. Titu Mir’s force was literally nothing in front of their
modern weaponry and their man force.

14th November 1831, the war began. Titu Mir’s force gave a tough
fight until on the 5th day Stuart fired cannons on the bamboo fort. The
fort was demolished, Titu Mir was killed and rest were sentenced to
death.

3. Faraizi Movement

It was a nineteenth century religious reform movement led by

Hazi Shariatullah. At that time there were many misconceptions about
Islam among the Muslims. Islam was not being practiced properly.
Even there was practice of shirk ( we all know what this means ) and
bid’at ( sinful innovation ). Shaiatullah wanted to change this situation
and bring his fellow Muslim brothers to the correct path.

Shariatullah made a pilgrimage to Makkah and learned proper

ways for 20 years. On his return, he started preaching Islam among the
Bengali Muslims. He emphasized mainly on shirk and bid’at. Saint
worship, giving things to the Pir and collecting Taziah during the
Muharram were also considered as shirk.
 The British were considered injurious to the religious life of the
Muslims. They did not allow Jum’ah prayer, not even slaughtering cows
for eid-ul-Azha. In return Shariatullah imposed ban on all sorts of Puja.

This movement took place mainly in Dhaka, Faidpur,

Mymensingh, Comilla, Bakergong, Chittagong and Noakhali. The
British accused Shariatullah of trying to set up an own kingdom in
these areas just the way Titu Mir did.

Hazi Shariatullah died in 1840and the leadership was now in the

hands of his son Dudu Miyan ( Mahsinuddin Ahmad Alias Dudu Miyan
). He appointed a lathial force and followed the path of his father. He
settled disputes, administered summary justice and punished every
Hindu, Muslim or Christian who wanted to give him something for his
service. Soon he became very famous among the local people, so famous
that when the British tried to file a false case against him, not a single
witness was found to speak against him. Even some Hindus and native
Christians sought Dudu Miyan’s protection against the oppression of
the Hindu landlords.

Dudu Miyan died in 1862. Before death, he formed a committee to

take care of his successors – Ghiyasuddin Hayder, Naya Miyan and
Syeduddin Ahmed. Among them Syeduddin Ahmed was the most
powerful and was bestowed the title of Khan Bahadur. He carried the
movement from 1884 to 1906. By that time the first division was made.
He declared Pakistan as Dar-ul-Islam. After he was succeeded by his
eldest son Badshah Miyan, the movement lost intensity.

4. Santal Rebellion ( 1855 – 1856 )

 Santal Rebellion was the first organized armed movement of the
Santals against their oppressors. The fast spreading of the British
colonial state and consequent imposition of law, rent and control made
the Santals move from their habitats to the plains of Rajmahal hills.
They cleared a lot of land there.

The rebellion triggered when Collonial state agnts came to free

the lands. The Santals thought the land they took was their property.
The previous rulers did not cause any problem with this. The drama
reached climax when their leader, Bir Singh was arrested and tortured
in front of his followers.

The Santals took Bangalis as their enemies, as they were their

zamindars, money lenders and railway contractors. They were all very
oppressive on the Santals. The Santals took oath touching the shal tree,
a symbol of their unity and strength. They followed guerilla warfare
and defeated several rounds of military expeditions sent by the British.
Railway labor contractors, who forced Santal women to become
laourers, were killed, if found. Rent payment to zamindars was totally
stopped.

After the declaration of martial law in july, 1855, the Santals were
cornered and the whole Rajmahal hills became drenched in Santal
blood. All the Santal villages were raged.

The arrested Santals were made railway labors. Most of the

Santal leaders were arrested and executed by the early months of 1856.

5. Sepoy Revolt
 6. Indigo Resistance Movement

In 1885, Sir Allan Octavian Hume decided to let Bengal have a

congress and in 1905 the 1st partition of Bengal took place
under Lord Curzon who came to Bengal and said it was hard
to control such a huge continent and thus it should be
partitioned. But the reality was different. They did it because
more administrative power, socio and political gain,
economical benefit to Muslim will come.

The border line between India and Pakistan was set by Cyril
Radcliff. That is why this border is still known as the Radcliff
line.

The Hindus were not at all pleased with the decision as they
will lose economical supremacy, less control over the whole
continent and fear of Muslim dominance. Thus they have
started Swadesi Movement against the partition. The main
leaders were Rabindranath Tagore, Surandranath Banargee,
Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and many others. Due to
the partition, communal riot took place from 1905- 1908.

On the other hand, Muslims were happy as new economical

opportunities will be opening up. Dhaka and Chittagong
became the capital and port of this part. It was divided in to
two parts- East Bengal and Assam and west Bengal and Bihar.

In 1905, Muslim league was formed by Sir Salimullah in order

to protect the interest of elite Muslims in India.

In 1911, the Annulment took place and again Bengal became a

single state. The main reasons behind it were: communal riots,
majority of the elite Hindus wanted the annulment and it was
safe to Britain to be in their favor.

1914-1919 – First World War

1928- First strike

1936- Election where internal affairs will be taken care by the

elected leaders. There KPP (krishak praja party) participated
in coalition with the congress.

KPP was forms in 1928 by AK Fazlul Haque to work for the

peasant farmers of Bengal.

1940- Lahore Resolution. Zinnah arranged a meeting with

muslim league where Sher-e-Bangla read that the nation is to
be divided in to two state, one for Hindus and the other for
Muslims. This is known as two-nation theory.

1939-1945- second world war

1946- Direct action day or Calcutta riot. Zinnah came to

Calcutta and declared direct action day because congress did
not agree with his two nation theory. Zinnah declared strike
and it got bad when congress reacted badly. More than 10000
people died in 4 days.

1947- The nation again got divided and there were huge
amount of migration. Bangladesh fell on east side of Pakistan
and in between east and west, India fell.

1948- Zinna declared that Urdu should be the state language.

1952 (LANGUAGE MOVEMENT) Zinnah came to the then

East Pakistan in 1948 and declared that Urdu should be the
state language whereas Urdu is used by mere 3% but Bangla
was vastly used by around 56% of the population. Later, the
2nd Prime Minister, Khawaza Nazimuddin, who at first
promised that Bangla will be the state language, turned turtle
and he even declared that Urdu should be spoken by all. At
last in 1952, student from different universities and people
from all walks of life gathered and went to the street chanting
slogans and violated sec 144. It was that time when the
Pakistani armies and fired on many students and other people
that killed, Rafiq, Jabbar, Salam, Shafiq and many others. As
a result people got agonized and gave the movement a thrust
and at the end Bangla was agreed to be the state language for
the then East Pakistan.

Rafiq was the first martyr.

In 1954- United front was created.

In 1954, just after the language movement United front (jukto
font) was created. It was created by Awami league, Nizami
Islami, Krishak Sramik Party (KSP) and Gonotontri Dal. This
was mainly created because the then east Pakistan did not
have any of its own political party and moreover Muslim
League were against most of the people due to the language
movement and they have broken trust of thousands that time.
No one was satisfied with Muslim League’s performance. At
the end United Front won the election of ’54 and Muslim
League got only 7 seats out of 309. They introduced 21 point
demand which included bangla as the state language, rights of
the peasant and workers and nationalize Jute sector.

1956- Pakistani constitution was made. Bangla was made the

state language in 1956 in the new constitution due to pressure
of united front.

1958- Ayub khan came into power and imposed military rule.

1962- anti Ayub khan student movement.

Ayub Khan said he did not want any power or fame but after
he came in power, he changed and behaved like other past
leaders. Infact he tripled the student fees and tried to keep the
students at bay as a revenge of 1952 language movement. The
students and other people got furious and protested against
him. They staged demonstration in street where the law
enforcers fired many.

1966- 6point demand by Sheikh Mujibar Rahman.

 Right to vote
 Right to taxation
 Separate defense system
 Separate but easily exchangeable currency
 Separate foreign reserves
 Will give power except foreign policy and defence

1968- Agortola Conspiracy case. It is a false, fabricated case

where Sheikh Mujhib was arrested with 35 of his members
and accused that they set a meeting with Indian premier to
plan for dividing the Pakistani state. He was taken to jail
afterwards. But he was again released due to the mass
upsurge.

1969- mass upsurge, fall of Ayub and Yahia came to power.

In 1969 people were already angry and dissatisfied with

Ayub’s rule due to the Anti Ayub Student Movement and again
in 1968, he falsely accused Sheikh Mujib and jailed him for no
reason. A group of east Pakistani student staged
demonstration adding 11 more demands with Mujib’s 6 point
demand. The 11 point demand include social factors like:
workers right, good salary of the workers, less tax on farmers,
centralizing the banks etc. Due to this all the people from
different strata came and gave the movement a thrust.
Student leader Asad from Rajshahi University, prof.
shamsujjoha and many other got killed. This led the movement
a vast momentum and many others joined. In the end Sheikh
Mujib was released and Ayub handed over power to Yahia
Khan.

1970- General election.

1971: Liberation war

25th march –Operation Searchlight

The Pakistani Troops targeted many areas focusing on Hindu

habitants like Shakhari bazaar, Tanti bazaar, Ansar camp in
Khilgaon, Police line in Rajarbagh and even Jahangir hall of
Dhaka University.

10th April- exile government was formed

17th April- oath taking ceremony took place.

 Sheikh Mujib- president

 Syed Nazrul Islam- vice president
 Mag Osmani- commander in chief of the independent
forces
 Tajuddin Ahmed- Prime Minister
 Akm kamruzzan- home, relief and rehabilitation minster
 Capt. Mansur Ali- industry and trade minister.
There were many groups fought for independence

REGULAR- K S Z force

Sec1- Chittagong – Major Ziaur Rahman

Sec2- Dhaka – Major Shafiullah

Sec3- Sylhet- Major Khaled Mosharraf

Sec 11- Mymensing- Abu Taher

Sec 10 – naval, no exact commander. Used to destroy ships

carrying ammunition from West Pakistan

IRREGULAR- Mukti bahini, Hemayati bahini, Afsar battalion

and Kaderia bahini.

There were Razakars who were mainly collaborators involved

in mass killings and passing insights about the Mukti Bahini
to the Pakistani armies

Mujib Regime: most powerful and enthusiastic leader.

Controvercies:

 Dictatorship,
 baksal ( banned political parties)
 famine(artificial pricing, delayed food supply),
Result: secret plots against by young army officers, killed the
full family.

Challenges:

 Infrastructure
 Empty Treasury
 Medical
 Shelter
 Production of food
 Arms
 Existence of Collaborators
 Absent of constitution

Successes:

 Constitution within a short time

 Taking back the Indian army. He went to New Delhi
before coming back to BD. Only to withdraw their army to
Dhaka within 4 months.

Zia Regime: Zia’s regime started after the soldiers mutiny in

1975 he became the President and Martial law administrator
after the November 3 coup where the rights of political parties
were oppressed and often banned. There were many Pakistani
administrators with him in power who were involved in the
liberation war against Bangladesh. There are numbers of
success and controversies also about his regime. He was
assassinated in 1981 by a group of army officers. Jagodol 6
which failed and then BNP. No opposition was there.

Khandakar mostak became the next president from august 16

till November he ruled. Khaled mosharraf influenced mostak
to order a killing 4 leaders in the national jail. Mostak
withdrew afterwards.

Cl Taher organized a coup against khaled mosharraf. Ziaur

rahman was a friend and zia was released from jail. Then zia
killed 1082 including cl taher. This is because he was a threat
for zia. .

Challenges:

 To restore democracy
 To reduce coups


Successes:

 Initiated Gram Sarkar to focus the local level of

government. The NGOs started to grow and conveyed
their services to the much needy people in the rural areas.
  Initiated SAARC- south asian association regional
cooperation.
 Integrated Rakkhi bahini under military chain of
command
 Strengthened the military and civil bureaucracy
 Changed many words like Bangalee to Bangladeshi
 Law and order situation improved
 Increase foreign aid from the Islamic countries as well as
migration of workers.
 Capitalist

Controversies:

 Weakened the other political parties. Prioritize those who

supported military rule and banned the people who
opposed.
 War criminals were free under collaborators Act of 1972.
 After becoming the president, Zia amended the
constitution of the martial law ordinance immediately.
 Followed capitalist path by deleting provision of
acquisition of property without compensation.
 Dropped Secularism. Emphasized on the Muslim identity
of Bangladesh in order to bring Bangladesh closer to
Islamic Bloc countries.
 Relationships with India Deteriorated.
Ershad regime lasted for long eight years from 1982 to 1990.
After the assassination of Zia, Abdus Sattar became the
President and ordered a new election which he won. But the
factionalism within the BNP and Sattar’s old age made the
government vulnerable. So General Ershad demanded an
institutionalized role for the military in Governing the country.
After months of rumor about an impending coup, on March 24,
1982 Ershad declared martial law, suspended the constitution,
dismissed sattar and his cabinet, dissolved parliament and
became the chief martial law administrator with the navy and
the air chiefs as his deputy.

Ershad continued the policies and politics of Zia regime.

Ershad emphasized Islam like Zia and in 1988 he amended the
constitution giving Islam the status of state religion. He
vigorously pursued the capitalist path. Economy was
liberalized and most sectors were opened up to private
investment. He pushed a massive privatization program
returning enterprises to original owners and auctioning public
enterprises. He sought and received an enlarged foreign aid
package and implemented many donor prescribed policies
including a structural adjustment program. He also made
friendship with the West and Islamic countries just like Ziaur
Rahman. He also made the Upazila System the focus of local
level governance and health sector got inclination.

Ershad regime had many criticisms just like other regimes. It

faced many problems that it couldn’t deal with. The pumping
of the development funds in the rural areas was never enough,
this regime couldn’t keep the growing NGO community happy
as well as the women’ organizations were unhappy. Ershad
regime also faced a strong opposition from BNP and Awami
League at that time. These two parties were united in order to
restore democracy. Ershad faced criticisms for trying to hold
onto his position for a long time. He also faced criticisms for
some personal issues too. So, these criticisms grew the number
of opposition against him and it forced him to hand-over the
administration to an acting president on December 4, 1990.
But this regime was the first regime in Bangladesh which was
changed through a citizen’s movement.

Good Governance: a system where the government will

have perfect blend to run the nation.

Pillars of good governance:

  Predictability: government should have definite and
certain course of activity that people will be aware of.
 Accountability: it’s mainly based on answerability and be
aware of the action of the consequence by the government.
 Participation: where all the people will feel free to share
idea and advice for further improvisation and they will
feel safe to live in that specific country.
 Transparency: it is about the clarity and the accuracy of
the government and how fast the government can provide
the information and data to the commons.

Factors for poor government:

 Unjust legal system

 Misuse of political power
 Corruption
 Difference between civil society and people
 Arbitrary policy making

Caretaker Government System: it is a panel of advisor of

10 personals and a chief advisor in order to have a fair election
within 90 days.

Need for care taker government in Bangladesh:

 Mass corruption and rigging
 Less confident in the government in power
 Weak Election Commission
  Lack of opposition and emergency like situation.

Success of Caretaker Government in Bangladesh:

 In 2006, when the caretaker government came in power,
the country was very steady and disciplines.
 Corruption and rigging had been curbed.
 People were satisfied and price of basic commodities fell
and prevailed.
 Initiated the National ID card in 2006

Controversies of the caretaker government in

Bangladesh:
 Biased and partial advisors
 Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed made himself the chief advisor
which led to many other controversies.
 In the later part of the regime (2007) the system was not
much effective.

Civil Society: It is an independent voluntary association of

group of knowledge and experienced people out of state power
in order to criticize the failure of the government and advising
improvisation.
Interim Government- Unofficial government without
any oath taking.

Let’s see the timeline from 1991 till now.

At first, after the Ershad regime Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed

started his unofficial interim government and led the sixth
national election where BNP had a landslide victory and
Begum Zia became the Prime Minister. After that there were
movements where the opposition Awami League with other
parties like Jatiya Shamajtantrik Dal (JSD) and Jatiya party
wanted an election under caretaker government and at last in
1996 the seventh national election was held under the first
official caretaker government of Justice Habibur Rahman and
Awami League won the election and ruled till 2001.
Afterwards the eighth national election was held and BNP won
and it was conducted by Latifur Rahman and in 2006, again
there was 2nd official caretaker government due to 1/11
emergency situation and stayed in power for 2 years. The
committee was led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. In 2008, the 9th
parliamentary election was held and Awami league won and in
January 05, 2014 the 10th national election was held where
Awami League retained to power.

Now in to the details of each regime:

1st regime of Khaleda Zia (1991- 1996): BNP won with the
alliance of Jamaats’ support

Challenges:

 To help the cyclone effected people

 Bring economic growth

Successes:

 GDP rose as well as GDP per Capita

 Improvement in credit balances
 Improvement in education sector
 Successful in helping people affected by cyclone in 1991
through recovery programs to some extent.

Controversies:

 Lack of administrative experiences of the ministers which

led to inappropriate decision takings and confusions
 Many committees were formed but failed to achieve
curbing terrorism in Universities campuses,
administrative corruption etc due to lack of consensus.
 Allegation of vote rigging in Magura by-elections in 1994
 Failed to gain trust and appreciation from other parties
leading to political unrest.
1st regime of Sheikh Hasina ( 1996-2001) Awami League won
and formed government with 44 cabinet members. Awami
league had two more alliances, Jatiya party and Jatiya
Shamajtantrik Dal. Afterwards, there were serious boycott of
parliament by BNP because (i) BNP members were denied
promotional representation, (ii) government was tempting
through media a lot, (iii) speaker was biased towards the
treasury Bench members and thus Awami league proposed
consensus through dialogue. There were 3 conditions from
BNP: (I) withdrawal of cases against BNP leaders, (ii) allowing
2 main roads to hold public rallies against the government, (iii)
reinstallation of the floating bridge that lead to the tomb of
Ziaur Rahman.

Challenges:

 Attaining sustainable growth

 Bring parliamentary democracy
 Improve law and order situation

Successes:

 Ganges water treaty signed with India in 1996

 Increase foreign investments
 Peace treaty signed with PCJSS in 1997 which ended the
bloody 2 decade fight against the government and the
rebel tribal.
 Tried to bring the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman
Controversies:

 Allure 2 MPs toward their sides knows as tactical moves.

 Created constitutional crisis
 Stock market got bogged down

2nd Regime of Khaleda Zia (2001-2006): BNP led by 4 party

alliances started its regime with 60 cabinet members and won
2 third of the votes.

Challenges:
 Curbing corruption
 Enhance development and reduce poverty
 Control terrorism and improve law and order situation
 Improvements in foreign reserves.

Successes:
 Operation Clean Heart
 Public safety act was note worthy.
 Environmental awareness rose
 Formation of RAB initially it was a success

Controversies:
  Inflation, politicization
 Killing of minorities, RAB members and Judiciaries
 Rise in Fundamentalism and militancy
 Law and order situation deteriorated.
 Violation of Human Rights
 Corruption in public sector as per World Bank and
transparency international Bangladesh.

2nd tenure of Sheikh Hasina (2005- now):

Challenges:

 MDG goals mainly,

 Corruption
 Infrastructure
 Digital Bangladesh

Successes:

 International events
 Role model in various sectors
 Won south south award in America
 Infrastructure and development projects

Controversies:

 Transparency
  Corruption
 Money laundering
 Mass kidnapping
 Various tragedies

Making process:

Proclamation of Independence: promulgation of Constituent

assembly order of 1972 who were given ultimate power to
make law with no one to question them. Dr. Kamal Hossain,
the then Law Minister, with his 34 member Constitution
Drafting Committee has made the constitution within 9
months. They started on 10th April 1972 and it was given effect
on 16th December 1972. They had 74 meetings to make the
constitution. 12th October 1972 was the day when Dr. Kamal
Hossain introduced the Constitution in front of the parliament.
From 19th October- 3rd November there was general discussion
about the constitution where 163 amendments were proposed
from which 84 got adopted including one from Suranjit Sen
Gupta.
Parliament: there are altogether 469 MNAs and MPAs ( 300
were MPAs and 169 were MNAs) at last only 403 remained
(400 from Awami league, 1 from National Awami Party,NAP,-
Suranjit Sen Gupta and 2 were independent). MPA and MNA
are elected representatives of the Constituent Assembly of
Bangladesh.

PS. MNA- Member of National Assembly

MPA- Member of Provisional Assembly

Salient Features of the Constitution:

 Written constitution. It got 153 Articles, 1 preamble and 4

schedules

 It is a rigid constitution (provision can’t be made without

the vote of 2/3 of the whole Parliament which is very
tough to get)

 Preamble- it mainly means the moral and legal base of

the constitution as it is the guideline of the country which
reflects the aims and objectives of the state.
 Supremacy of the Constitution- It is about ensuring the
Constitutional Supremacy as article 7(2) said if any law is
inconsistent the law shall be void.

 Unitary Governmental System- as per article 1, it is

stated that Bangladesh is a centralized country to a
unitary Government unlike federal Republic.

 Unicameral Legislature- As per article 65, it is said that

there should be one House for the whole nation, i.e. The
parliament unlike India having 2 house- the upper and
the lower house

 Fundamental Principle of state policy- the State’s policy

should reflect Secularism, Socialism, Democracy and
Nationalization.

 Fundamental Rights: part III of the constitution has 18

fundamental rights. These rights are only for the citizens
around the globe and any inconsistency of any law
contradicting the fundamental law will be void.
 Parliament form of government: The state will be run by
cabinet ministers who will be led by the Prime Minister
who will have the power where the president will be
present as Titular head.

 Independence of Judiciary: At first Chief Justice would be

appointed by the President himself and other justices will
be appointed after consulting with the chief justice.
Secondly, a judge cannot be removed from his office
without the permission of the president leading to a 2/3
vote of the parliament and thirdly the Judges will have
their salaries, remunerations and other benefits from the
consolidated fund of the republic.
 Ombudsman: as per the article 77, it is said that a person
will be appointed who will have the responsibility to look
and assess the activity of the ruling party. No one will be
able to interfere in his/her work and he/she will be
indicting the pros and cons of the government.
  Responsible government was not ensured: the whole
cabinet will have to be accountable for any mishap and
the Minister of the Cabinet will be responsible for the
deed but it is not the case rather there is no provision for
ensuring the individual responsible of any minister.

15 AMENDMENTS:

1st amendment: it was done in 1972 which amended article 47 that

any individual involved in any war crimes, crimes against humanities
or genocides will be prosecuted and punished under international law.
Moreover, it added a new paragraph 47A that fundamental rights will
be suspended for that accused person.

2nd amendment: it amended article 26, 63, 72 and 142, substitution of

article 33 and insertion of a new paragraph IXA that said fundamental
rights will be abolished in terms of any state emergency.

3rd amendment: it amended article 2 and said about the fixation of

boundaries between Bangladesh and India and also some exchange of
certain enclaves between these countries.

4th amendments: it has amended many articles like 66, 88 and many
other. It happened in 6th April 1979 Here it stated: presidential form of
the prime minister, one government system in place of mixed
government system, power of Jatiya Shangshad were curtailed,
Judiciary independence got altered and Supreme Court got deprived of
preserving and utilizing the fundamental rights.

5th amendment: it amended the 4th schedule of the constitution and

added a paragraph of 18 thereto. It said that any changes, modification,
amendments, substitution, addition done within 15 august 1975- 9th
April 1979 are made valid and will not be produced before any tribunal,
authority or any ground whatsoever.

6th amendment: it is done by the Jatiya Shangshad in 1981 and

amended the article 51 and 66.

7th amendment: it has again amended the 4th schedule and article 96
that any Proclamation, Matial law regulation, martial law orders, chief
martial law Administrator’s order in between 24th March 1982- 11th
November 1986 are made valid and will not be produced before any
tribunal, authority or any ground whatsoever.

8th amendment: it amended article 2, 3, 5, 30 and 100 and said that

Muslim is the State Language, change of the word Bengali to Bangla,
change of the word Dacca to Dhaka and prohibition of any honor, title
or decoration from any foreign state by any citizen of Bangladesh
without the prior approval of the President.
9th Amendment: introduce new post Vice President through direct
election. He should be appointed if there is any vacancy and election
afterwards. Moreover, president will not be able to retain his post in the
3rd term after consecutive 2 regimes (5 years term)

10th amendment: 30 seats should be allocated for women as per article

65 in the parliament.

11th amendment: amended 4th schedule (21 thereto) legalized the

Shahabuddinn Government, proposed by Ershad. All the laws were
legalized of his tenure and Shahabuddinn can return to his office as
chief justice afterwards.

12th Amendment: Most important act. Amended article

55,56,57,58,59,60 and many other. It said, Vice president post was
abolished, ensured participation of local governing body in parliament,
President becomes the constitutional head and prime minister becomes
the executive head. The Prime Minister’s cabinet will be responsible to
the Jatiya Shangshad.

13th amendment: it indicted the Non party caretaker government with

the tenure of 90 days. There will be a chief adviser with not more than
10 other adviser will conduct a free, fair election. They will be
accountable to the president.

14th amendment: It’s about preservation of portrait of the Prime

Minister and the President, to rise the retirement age of the judges of
the Supreme Court, auditor general.
15th amendment: given briefly in the book. ( pg: 319-20)