Saturday, April 17, 2010

Campus Violance In Bangladesh

ampus,In Bangladesh, Campus violence is a severe socio-political problem. Sometime this becomes a concern for the government. Political observers said that absence of proper, independent student activism is the main cause of campus violence making the society an anti-political though student community of the country had contributed a lot in all political achievement of the nation including the struggle of independent, language movement and the struggle for democracy.
It must be mentioned that the Bangalee nationalism, developed under the semi-colonial rule of Pakistan, was demonstrated in the language movement of 1952 in which students were the main players of that bleeding full struggle. Then in 1962 for the cause of education rights and the 1966 movement for self-rule students' were in the forefront. Peoples upsurge in 1969 against military rule was also mainly participated and organized by the student community. Liberation War of the nation was a youth movement as well. Youths from the peasants and workers society were the front fighters, and of course students were the organizers and commanders of the freedom struggle. In the post independence era, decades-long struggle for democracy against military or semi-military rule were also led by the student unions.
This glorious era of struggle obviously was led by many student organizations those were supporters of different political parties. Before 1971, the year of independence, Bangladesh Chhatra (student) League (BCL) and two factions of East Pakistan Student Union (EPSU) were the major student units active in the then East Pakistan. The members of those organizations contributed a lot for the nation. These student unions were affiliated to Awami League (AL) and two factions of Communist party. The military backed Muslim League had also a student wing named National Student Front (NSF). In campuses, NSF was known as an association of hoodlums. NSF was the student organization that introduced violence in campuses. But mainstream student groups were involved in the struggle for democracy, self rule and independence, and of course in the struggle for the causes related to student rights. NSF hooligans were treated as demon. In 1969, after student-people upsurge NSF was eliminated from the Campuses.
In post liberation era, few more left inclined student organizations like Bangladesh Student League, Socialist Student Front, Biplobi Chatra Moitry (revolutionary student unity) etc. and Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal (nationalist student organization) commonly known as JCD, the student organization of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) remain active. Jatio Party Military autocrat of HM Ershad also has a student wing named Notun Bangla Chatra Samaj (New Bangla Student Society). There has been a major change in post liberation student wing concept among the political parties.
Before 1971, all student organizations had a similar character of independent body, not controlled by the leadership of their respective political parties. After 1971, few of them emerged as direct front of political parent; this made them only a supporter of particular party. In 80s of last century, educational institutions went for frequent closed sine die position for military rule. At that time student organizations were involved in the struggle for democracy. The closed sine die situation pushed the student leader shifted the units from schools, colleges to wards, thanas and districts. As a result local leadership of student organizations also shifted from real students to local non-student youths. On the other hand, political parties had started giving emphasize on capability and influence instead of knowledge, dedication and honesty. Furthermore, military backed student organizations were harbouring hooligans to extend influence over the campuses. And again the era of NSF demon came back in the campuses.
As 80s of last century was the time of struggle for democracy, with many limitations, mainstream student activism was solely concentrated on the democratic movement. Once the V-day came, the military autocracy was toppled down. And the student activists went to their normal activities, it was December 1990.
In 1991 first post-90 elected government led by BNP came into state power. The power party student wing took control over the campuses. Opponents were expelled from the educational institutions with active or passive cooperation of administration. In 1996, AL came into state power and again in 2001 BNP reoccupied their 91 position over the state machinery. All these changed the dynamics of campus power structure including the faculty and university administration.
By the time student activism got the popular name of STUDENT POLITICS. In other words student organizations became the political wing of a certain political party in the student thus these organizations have lost their independent character and leadership of those organizations went to the people who are not students anymore. Consequence of the process is welcome of hooliganism and violence in the campuses. Blind support to the party politics replaced the glory of knowledge based debate-full support to the political parent.
The impact of this change in student activism is very negative on the society. The mass, no matter literate or illiterate, thought that student activism is a bad phenomenon of society. This social thinking, in fact, makes the weaker part of population more vulnerable. Because, in Bangladesh, as of statistics 60 percent of population is lettered but the people conscious about their rights are not more than 15 percent. Student community is also included in this number.
Student community was the only section of educated people who fought for others causes and of course the student organizations were in the leading role. Now, as the student unions are simply the wings of political parties, those student bodies are not addressing the socio-economic and political issues of their poor parents, rather they are working to establish particular agenda of political parent.
One thing should be spoken loudly that without political philosophy a student organization cannot come forward to do something better for the country and people they owe to. So intellectuals, academics and the politicians, who think about the mass, suggested that banning of student politics is not the solution. Solution is tracking back the student activism in its old dignified history.
It is known to all that an unwanted situation put the nation into an unconstitutional rule for almost two years. In that period many of our politicians, academicians, intellectuals and civil society leaders advocated to stop the student activism with political flavour. But it was not accepted to the concerned people as well.
After the December 2008 election, there was a hope that old practice may not be practiced in the campus. Though the pivotal leadership of government and the ruling AL instructed to control the youngsters to be in tolerance and told party men to advice student wing for showing broadmindedness to other organizations, campus violence is returning slowly.
As campus violence is a demon and no one like to see it again, the government is also keen to make campuses violence free and making student activism a process of leadership building for future, people concerned want to see immediate steps from the government and elder politicians in this regards.http://banglafree.com

Bad Effects Of Corruption In Bangladesh

Of all the issues currently affecting Bangladesh, the most talked about, most contentious, and perhaps most important is the endemic, institutional corruption in the country, and how to get rid of it.
I could link to a hundred blog-postings, op/eds and articles on corruption, but they tend to repeat themselves, and I fear – given the very nature of corruption as a concept – that people will be writing many more thousands of essays on corruption in Bangladesh long after I leave the country.
The essential point is that Bangladesh over the last five years has been shown to be the most corrupt country in the world. Causes of this corruption can be attributed to base human greed, exacerbated by the economic, social and political conditions of the country over the last thirty years that have allowed human greed to flourish unchecked. And of course the worst aspect of corruption is that it reproduces and replicates; the worse the corruption is, the greater the economic, social and political problems become, and the more attractive corruption practice is as a relief – for those able to take advantage. And so this downward spiral has continued throughout the life of Bangladesh, made worse by the false democratic legitimisation of the last 15 years.
And the result is happening now, with a State of Emergency, a military/technocratic interim administration running the country, no sign of elections on the horizon, and essential political freedoms banned. The reformed Anti-Corruption Commission has just issued a list of 50 high profile politicians, who have to go to the ACC in person and declare their suspiciously obtained property, or else it will be confiscated. They’ve had their fun, and now they and the rest of the country are paying the price.

How the corruption affects me personally, and the majority of the country, is the power supply. The electricity supply in Bangladesh at the moment is just awful. Currently, Bangladesh can only meet about 60% of demand for electricity, so the supply is rationed around the country, one hour here, one hour there, maybe two hours… so no matter how hard anybody, in any sector tries to improve their own life or the lives of the people around them, you can only do so much because anything that relies on using electricity, you just can’t rely on.
This is because billions of taka has been looted out of the power industry over the last decade. Existing power plants haven’t been maintained properly, new ones haven’t been built, and demand has spiralled as urban development has rocketed unchecked and often illegally.
The cost to the country is staggering. In my office, for example, we only have one computer anyway between four people, and our work ethic could hardly be described as Japanese Beaver. But when the power’s off, which is about 3-4 hours a day, almost nothing can get done, so we effectively waste 12-16 man hours a day because of the power. Over our six day week that’s around 70 hours, which is the equivalent of two week’s full time work for one British civil servant, for example. If we were a business, we would effectively have to fire a member of staff to keep costs down. And that’s just our small NGO. I waste about an hour a day sitting around waiting for internet connections to be reset because of the power, and this blog posting itself has taken me two attempts and about an hour to do, whereas in the UK it would be five minutes.
And this is during the winter. In about two months, when the humidity hits 80-90% and the temperature climbs above thirty, it’s very hard to concentrate and get anything effectively done. In October when I had Bangla classes in Dhaka, we were next to a construction site and had the farcical situation of either sweating and fidgeting away in peace and quiet, or the power would come on, you’d have five minutes of comfort and then over the road a pneumatic drill would start and you wouldn’t be able to concentrate again.
The very worst aspect of the power shortages though, is that it has the greatest and most negative affects on the poor. The rich have generators in their homes, big businesses have generators in their offices (including the VSO Bangladesh office) so no risk of losing your work when your computer goes off four times a day. Large shopping malls are being constructed all over Dhaka, and Sylhet, with huge demands on the power supply, just so the middle-classes and rich can buy consumer items 12 hours a day, whereas people in the villages have their routines governed by daylight. The interim administration has just issued an edict stating that these malls can no longer stay open after 7pm, which is certainly an advantage of not being beholden to electoral politics.
But there is no better illustration, to me, of the debilitating affects of corruption on a country than the power industry in Bangladesh. It so greatly enforces and maintains inequalities, acting as a barrier to economic and social development, and those responsible, who can afford generators for their big homes with their stolen money, just won’t see any of the negative effects of their theft while enjoying the benefits. I think of this every time I sit in my house in the evenings in the dark, or lose something I’d spent an hour working on, and it’s terrible.
It’s a great paradox that almost every single person I’ve encountered here in Bangladesh has been incredibly kind, generous and welcoming to me, and the trend is that the less they can offer, the more they give. Whereas the people who have everything just take take take, and make the country harsh and inhospitable for nearly everyone. I’m no socialist, but this situation really does ram some realities home.

Effects of Student Politics in Bangladesh

STUDENTS are a component of civil society who can lead the nation towards sustainable development. From time immemorial the student community has been playing an important and unparalleled role in nation building. In China, Japan, the USA and many other countries, the students are contributing a lot for social mobility. Democracy, good governance and right-based development depend on a vibrant student community.
Though every human being is a student from cradle to grave, there is a specific time -- the periphery of life in educational institutions, which is considered 'student life'. Student life should be spent in study and interaction with all in order to develop the human caliber for future leadership. As Lenin rightly mentioned in his university lecture, "read, read and read."
Unfortunately, most students in Bangladesh do not believe the usual meaning of studentship. A segment emphatically concentrates on obtaining marks only, devoid of life touching real education. This propensity is again encouraged by unhealthy capitalism and selfish individualism, with which all the ingredients of so-called education is ensured and golden GPA managed. This results in social stratification, corruption, white collar criminality and so on.
In Bangladesh, the more challenging phase of studentship is university/ college education which is highly influenced by criminalized politics. In each so-called political party in Bangladesh, we mark student wings which are used to demonstrate muscle power that goes against everything that an egalitarian society stands for.
The political parties, devoid of sound theories and pragmatism of politics, deliberately nourish and patronise unhealthy student politics only for their vested interest, setting aside the greater interest of the nation.
One need not be a social scientist to understand the reasons behind today's student politics. It is a synonym for hooliganism, hijacking, extortion, robbery and what not. After independence, dozens of students and non-students have been murdered in educational institutions due to campus violence triggered by venomous political parties' student wings.The present kind of student politics is a colossal wastage for the whole nation. All the sufferers know how diabolical the behaviour of the student political entities can be. Student politics in Bangladesh is diametrically opposite to what real student politics should be. Real student politics negotiates for enhancing research facilities, ensuring regular class and accommodation facilities, increasing the number of books in the library, organising seminars, symposia, presentations, debate etc. But these are bygone, historical memories in Bangladesh.

After the 9th parliamentary election, anarchy in the educational institutions seem to be an everyday affair. Most higher educational institutions are closed sine die for violence and vandalism created by different sections of student wings. The universities are turning into a battle field with mediaeval barbarism to kill or cause grievous hurt to fellow students.

The hapless parents count the moments with great anxiety, whether their beloved offspring would come home after completion of education within the stipulated time, or be a dead body sacrificed at the altar of sick student politics which snatch two to three years from the life of every student due to session jam.

Poor parents start counting beads for better days just after sending their son/daughter to the university. The pertinent question arises: Is there any economist in the world who can count the financial and psychological value of such time wasted in vain?
None can deny the historical role of the students for the independence of Bangladesh. The Bengalees are probably the only nation which gets its complete shape from the very leadership of students.
But so-called student politics now is a death trap in Bangladesh. It does not deserve any support from any corner -- legally morally, and ethically. The common people of Bangladesh do not want to see so called student politics at all.
We have to remember that political rights are not absolute and are subject to many reasonable restrictions of public policy.
Many public universities insist on a non-political campus. Hence the constitution and constitutional explanation would not bar the proposal for banning the present anti-development, anti-enlightenment politics of students.
The law enforcing agencies should not be made spineless to resist the anarchy and lawlessness made of the so-called students who care not for education or the nation's greater interest.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Electricity Problem In Bangladesh

Electricity crisis has been a problem for the people of Bangladesh. The government policy on this issue is not right. I have some suggestions with a view to solving this problem. Everyone is invited to give more suggestions.

The people of Bangladesh have been suffering from lack of electricity for the last few years. Power distribution lines have been expanded to cover more consumers but production of electricity did not increase. The main reason behind this is corruption. The present government is doing the job of eliminating corruption. This will do good to the nation. But this will not solve the electricity crisis.
 There are some problems with the policy that was followed in the power sector. This sector was always under government control. Recently large scale investment from private sector was encouraged. But it did not solve the problem for various reasons. In the context of Bangladesh, this problem can easily be solved by micro enterprise or micro investment. For the success of that strategy, all types of taxes on the import and sale of generators below the capacity of 10 mega watts must be fixed at zero per cent. Banks should allow loans without mortgage for purchasing generators below 10 mw. This will create employment for the youth. They will be able to invest in small area-wise power production and distribution business. Low-priced electricity will strongly assist the boost up of cottage industry in the rural areas. Owners of these micro power plants will need employees for maintenance. In a small area, each household will be their customer and they will negotiate the price. The city corporation or the municipality will ensure the standard of service by regular inspection. This way the sufferings of the people from power shortage will decrease significantly. These investors should be exempted from income tax and vat for the first five years. This will certainly solve the power crisis. This will also provoke some self-seekers, whose interest is going to be hurt. The government should prevent them from doing anything harmful. The government should also encourage manufacturing of small capacity generators locally.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Unemployment Problem In Bangladesh

Arsesenic Problem In Bangladesh

Contamination of drinking-water by arsenic
in Bangladesh: a public healthemergency
AllanH. Smith,1 ElenaO. Lingas,2 & Mahfuzar Rahman3
The contamination of ground water by arsenic in Bangladeshis the largest poisoning of a population in history,with millions of people exposed. This paper describes the history of the discovery of arsenic in drinking-water in Bangladesh and recommends intervention strategies. Tube-wells were installed to provide ‘‘pure water’’ to prevent morbidity and mortality from gastrointestinal disease. The water from the million sof tube-wells that were installed was not tested for arsenic contamination. Studies in other countries where the population has had long-term exposure to arsenic in  groundwater indicate that 1 in10peoplewhodrinkwater containing500mgof arsenic per litre may ultimately die from cancers caused by arsenic, including lung, bladder and skin cancers. The rapidallocation of funding and prompt expansion of current interventions to address this contamination should be facilitated.The fundamental intervention is the identification and provision of arsenic-free drinking water.Arsenic is rapidly excreted in urine, and for early or mild cases, no specific treatment is required. Community education and participation are essential to ensure that interventions are successful; these should be coupled with follow-up monitoring to confirm that exposure has ended. Taken together with the discovery of arsenic in groundwater in other countries, the experience in Bangladesh shows that ground water sources throughout the world that are used for drinking-water should be tested for arsenic.
Keywords: Bangladesh; arsenic poisoning, prevention and control; arsenic poisoning, therapy; water pollution,
chemical, prevention and control; water treatment; environmental monitoring.
The first patients seen were from West Bengal, but by 1987 several had Bangladesh is grappling with the largest mass already been identified who came from neighbouring poisoning of a population in history because ground- Bangladesh. The characteristic skin lesions includedwater used for drinking has been contaminated with pigmentation changes, mainly on the upper chest,
naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. It is estimated arms and legs, and keratoses of the palms of the
that of the 125 million inhabitants of Bangladesh hands and soles of the feet (Fig. 1). After ruling out
between 35 million and 77 million are at risk of other causes,water sources used by the patients were
drinking contaminated water (1, 2). The scale of this analyzed, and the diagnosis of arsenic-caused disease
environmental disaster is greater than any seen was confirmed. The primary drinking-water sources
before; it is beyond the accidents at Bhopal, India, for the patients were tube-wells, which drew water
in1984, and Chernobyl,Ukraine, in1986.This paper from underground aquifers (Fig. 2)(6).
suggests guidelines for responding when a popular- Tube-well shave been used in Bangladesh since
tion is exposed to arsenic, and it is based on the 1940s (7). However, the problem of arsenic-
information from several visits to Bangladesh made contaminated water has only recently come to light
by Allan H. Smith as a consultant for the World due to the increasing number of tube-wells used over
Health Organization between 1997 and 1998 (3–5). the past 20 years and the subsequent increase in the
In1983, the first cases of arsenic-induced skin number of individuals drinking from them. Histori -
lesions were identified by K.C. Saha then at the cally, surface water sources in Bangladesh have been
Department of Dermatology, School of Tropical contaminated with microorganisms, causing a sig-
nificant burden of disease and mortality. Infants and 1 Professor of Epidemiology, 140WarrenHall, School of Public Health, children suffered from acute gastrointestinal disease University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA94720-7360, USA resulting from bacterial contamination of stagnant (email: ahsmith@uclink4.berkeley.edu). Correspondence should pond water. Consequently, during the 1970s the 2be addressed to this author. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)worked of  DCoacltifoorranliaR,eBseearkrcehleSyt,uUdSeAnt., School of Public Health, University with the Department of Public Health Engineering to 3 install tube-wells to provide what was presumably a International Fellow, Public Health Sciences Division, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh, Dhaka, safe source of drinking-water for the population. Bangladesh; Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, These wells consistof tubes that are5cmin diameter Faculty of Health Sciences, Linko¨ping University, Sweden. that are inserted into the ground at depths of usually Ref. No. 00-0751 lessthan200m.The tubes are then capped with a cast Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2000, 78 (9) #World Health Organization 2000 1093Special Theme– Environment and Health report for Bangladesh that it had surpassed its goal of providing80%of thepopulationby2000withaccess to ‘‘safe’’ drinking-water in the form of tube-wells, ring-wells and taps (8). Presently, three out of four tube-wells in Bangladesh are privately owned (7). Extent of exposure in the population In Bangladesh, arsenic contamination of water in tube-wells was confirmed in 1993 in the Nawabganj district (1). Further testing was done in the following years; this included investigations by the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health of the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine Results from various laboratories were collated in a WHO country situation report in 1996 (9). The institutions that provided results included the Jadavpur University in Calcutta, India, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Public Health Engineering’s laboratories in the Khulna and Rajshahi districts, and the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine in Dhaka. Altogether, 400measurementswerepresented in the report, although contamination in some wells was measured by more than one laboratory. In about half of the measurements concentrations were above 50 mg/l (9), which is clearly in excess of the Table 1. Percentage of ground waters surveyed in1998by the maximum level recommended by WHO of 10 mg/l British Geological Survey with arsenic levels over 50mg/l (10)and greater than the maximum level of 50 mg/l permitted in Bangladesh (7). District %of District %of To raise awareness of the seriousness of the ground waters ground waters arsenic problem in West Bengal and to draw attention surveyed surveyed to the need for studies in Bangladesh, a conference was convened in 1995 by D. Chakraborti and the Bagerhat 66 Madaripur 93 School of Environmental Studies of Jadavpur Barisal 63 Magura 19 University in Calcutta (11). In the years after the Brahmanbaria 38 Manikganj 15 conference, the extent of the problem in Bangladesh Chandpur 96 Meherpur 60 hasbecome clearer through additional surveysof the Chittagong 20 Moulvibazar 12 water and population, many of which were led by Chuadanga 44 Munshiganj 83 Comilla 65 Narail 43 Chakraborti. Cox’s Bazar 3 Narayanganj 24 A study conducted in the Rajarampur village of Dhaka 37 Nawabganj 4 the Nawabganj district, by the National Institute of Faridpur 66 Noakhali 75 Preventive and Social Medicine and the School of Feni 39 Pabna 17 Environmental Studies, found that 29% of the Gopalganj 94 Pirojpur 24 294 tube-wells tested had arsenic concentrations Jessore 51 Rajbari 24 greater than 50 mg/l (12). Between September 1996 Jhalakati 14 Rajshashi 6 and June 1997, a survey was jointly conducted by Jhenaidah 26 Satkhira 73 Dhaka Community Hospital and the School of Khulna 32 Shariatpur 80 Environmental Studies.An examination of 265wells Kushtia 28 Sylhet 19 in Samta village in the Jessore district found that Lakshmipur 68 about 91% of the wells had arsenic concentrations higher than50mg/l (13). In1998, a British Geological Survey of 41 districts collected 2022 water samples
iron or steel hand pump. At the time the wells were —35%were found to have arsenic concentrations
installed, arsenic was not recognized as a problem in above 50 mg/l (Table 1)and 8.4% were above
water supplies, and therefore standard water testing 300 mg/l (14). Based on population density mea-
procedures did not include tests for arsenic (7). sured in 1998, this group estimated that the number
During the 1980s, UNICEF’s support for of people exposed to arsenic concentrations above
installing tube-wells decreased because the private 50 mg/lwas about 21million.This number would be
sector was able to supply and install millions more of approximatelydoubledifWHO’sstandardof10mg/l
them(7). By 1997, UNICEF indicated in its country were adopted. Further studies conducted by the
1094 Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2000, 78 (9) Contamination of drinking-water by arsenic in Bangladesh School of Environmental Studies and the Dhaka Community Hospital found that 59% of the 7800 groundwater samples had arsenic concentrations greater than 50 mg/l (15). In 1997 a project designed to establish the extent of the problem in a sample population was authorized by the government of Bangladesh. Two hundred villages that had already been identified as having arsenic-contaminated tube-wells were surveyed by the Rapid Action Programme. These villages had a combined population of 469424. About 62% of the 32651 tube-wells sampled had concentrations greater than 100mg/l (16). Surveys of the effects on the population’s health have occurred concurrently with the previous studies of groundwater contamination. From December 1996 to January 1997, a three-week survey was conducted by the Dhaka Community Hospital and the School of Environmental Studies. The survey teamvisited18 affected districts.Of the 1630 adults and children examined, 57.5% of them had skin lesions due to arsenic poisoning (11). In another study, approximately one-third of the 7364 patients examined had skin lesions due to arsenic (17).The population of the42affecteddistrictswas 76.9 million. These studies do not imply that the entire population is drinking contaminated water.

Population Problem in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country of south-east Asia. It is well known as a developing country. There are many problems in this country, which are said to be major obstracles in the development of this country. Excessive  Population is said to be the worst among all current problems. If we compare to the global population we will see why population  causes such damage to the development of Bangladesh. The area of Bangladesh is near to 55 thousand square miles or 1,47,570 square kilometer. The current population of Bangladesh is approximately over 160 million and will exceed 200 million within 2020. The average population density per square kilometer is almost 1000. Even a very rich country would have been in deep troubles if they have to handle such mass population in such short land. So whenever the government tends to take any developing steps, they seems to fell into shortage of resources for such huge population. As a result the actual development is just getting being delayed an hampered a lot.
In the 1980s, Bangladesh faced no greater problem than population growth. Census data compiled in 1901 indicated a total of 29 million in East Bengal, the region that became East Pakistan and eventually Bangladesh. By 1951, four years after partition from India, East Pakistan had 44 million people, a number that grew rapidly up to the first postindependence census, taken in 1974, which reported the national population at 71 million. The 1981 census reported a population of 87 million and a 2.3 percent annual growth rate. Thus, in just 80 years, the population had tripled. In July 1988 the population, by then the eighth largest in the world, stood at 109,963,551, and the average annual growth rate was 2.6 percent. According to official estimates, Bangladesh was expected to reach a population of more than 140 million by the year 2000.
Bangladesh's population density provided further evidence of the problems the nation faced. In 1901 an average of 216 persons inhabited one square kilometer. By 1951 that number had increased to 312 per square kilometer and, in 1988, reached 821. By the year 2000, population density was projected to exceed 1,000 persons per square kilometer.
The crude birth rate per 1,000 population was 34.6 in 1981. This rate remained unchanged in 1985, following a 20-year trend of decline since 1961, when it had stood at 47 per 1,000. The rural birth rate was higher than birth rates in urban areas; in 1985 there were 36.3 births per 1,000 in the countryside versus 28 per 1,000 in urban areas. The crude death rate per 1,000 population decreased from 40.7 in 1951 to 12 per 1,000 in 1985; the urban crude death rate was 8.3, and the rural crude death rate was 12.9. The infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 111.9 in 1985, a distinct improvement from as recently as 1982, when the rate was 121.9. Life expectancy at birth was estimated at 55.1 years in 1986. Men and women have very similar life expectancies at 55.4 and 55, respectively. With an average life expectancy of 58.8 years, urban dwellers in 1986 were likely to live longer than their rural counterparts (average life expectancy 54.8 years). The sex ratio of the population in 1981 was 106 males to 100 females.
In the late 1980s, about 82 percent of the population of Bangladesh (a total of 15.1 million households) resided in rural areas. With the exception of parts of Sylhet and Rangamati regions, where settlements occurred in nucleated or clustered patterns, the villages were scattered collections of homesteads surrounded by trees. Continuous strings of settlements along the roadside were also common in the southeastern part of the country.
Until the 1980s, Bangladesh was the most rural nation in South Asia. In 1931 only 27 out of every 1,000 persons were urban dwellers in what is now Bangladesh. In 1931 Bangladesh had fifty towns; by 1951 the country had eighty-nine towns, cities, and municipalities. During the 1980s, industrial development began to have a small effect on urbanization. The 1974 census had put the urban population of Bangladesh at 8.8 percent of the total; by 1988 that proportion had reached 18 percent and was projected to rise to 30 percent by the year 2000.
In 1981 only two cities, Dhaka and Chittagong, had more than 1 million residents. Seven other cities--Narayanganj, Khulna, Barisal, Saidpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, and Comilla--each had more than 100,000 people. Of all the expanding cities, Dhaka, the national capital and the principal seat of culture, had made the most gains in population, growing from 335,928 in 1951 to 3.4 million in 1981. In the same period, Chittagong had grown from 289,981 to 1.4 million. A majority of the other urban areas each had between 20,000 and 50,000 people. These relatively small towns had grown up in most cases as administrative centers and geographically suitable localities for inland transportation and commercial facilities. There was no particular concentration of towns in any part of the country. In fact, the only large cities close to each other were Dhaka and Narayanganj.