"Relating Education To Real Life Situations"..CUWIN is an organization that is part of a Student & Alumni coalition that promotes & supports Academic Excellence in 4 areas HEAT (Health, Education, Arts/Science, & Technology) through the community
cuwinga aka the information school media specialist
facebook.com/cuwin
twitter.com/connectuniverse
myspace.com/mirabyte
dekalblibrary.org
rollingout.com
ajc.com
aclu.org
ala.org
sla.org
microsoft.com
apple.com
-----
"Relating Education To Real Life Situations"
CUWIN is an organization that is part of a Student & Alumni coalition
that promotes & supports Academic Excellence in 4 areas HEAT (Health,
Education, Arts/Science, & Technology) through community service
----
Bangladesh
country of the day
Geography
Area: 147, 570 sq. km. (55,813 sq. mi.); about the size of Wisconsin.
Cities: Capital--Dhaka (pop. 10 million). Other cities--Chittagong
(2.8 million), Khulna (1.8 million), Rajshahi (1 million).
Terrain: Mainly flat alluvial plain, with hills in the northeast and
southeast.
Climate: Semitropical, monsoonal.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Bangladeshi(s).
Population (July 2007 CIA est.): 150 million.
Annual growth rate (July 2009 CIA est.): 1.29%.
Ethnic groups: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims.
Religions: Muslim 88.3%; Hindu 10.5%; Christian 0.3%, Buddhist 0.6%,
others 0.3%.
Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English.
Education: Attendance--61%. Adult literacy rate--47.5%. (UNDP Human
Development Index 2007/2008)
Health: Infant mortality rate (below 1)--54/1,000. Life
expectancy--63.1%. (Both figures from UNDP Human Development Index
2007/2008)
Work force (60.3 million): Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries--48.1%
(Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2005/2006); manufacturing--11%;
mining and quarrying--0.2%; others--36%.
Government
Type: Parliamentary democracy.
Independence: 1971 (from Pakistan).
Constitution: 1972; amended 1974, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996, 2004.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state), prime minister (head
of government), cabinet. Legislative--unicameral Parliament (345
members). Judicial--civil court system based on British model.
Administrative subdivisions: Divisions, districts, subdistricts,
unions, villages.
Political parties: 30-40 active political parties. Largest ones
include Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Awami League (AL), the
Jatiya Party, and the Jamaat-e-Islami Party.
Suffrage: Universal at age 18.
Economy
Fiscal year: July 1 to June 30.
Annual GDP growth rate (FY 2008): 6.2%; (FY 2008 World Bank est.):
below 6%.
Current GDP: $79 billion.
Per capita GDP (2008 est.): $554.
Inflation (December 2008): 6.03% (point to point basis) and 8.9%
(monthly average basis).
Exchange rate: FY 2003: U.S. $1=Taka 57.90; FY 2006: U.S. $1=Taka
69.43; FY 2007 (January): U.S. $1=Taka 69.69; FY 2009 (January): U.S.
$1=Taka 68.90.
Annual budget (FY 2009): $14.5 billion.
Natural resources: Natural gas, fertile soil, water.
Agriculture (19.1% of GDP): Products--rice, jute, tea, sugar, wheat.
Industry (manufacturing; 28.6% of GDP): Types--garments and knitwear,
jute goods, frozen fish and seafood, textiles, fertilizer, sugar, tea,
leather, ship-breaking for scrap, pharmaceuticals, ceramic tableware,
newsprint.
Trade: Total imports (FY 2008)--$21.6 billion: capital goods, food
grains, petroleum, textiles, chemicals, vegetable oils. Growth rate
over previous fiscal year: 25.95%. Total exports (FY 2008)--$14.11
billion: garments and knitwear, frozen fish, jute and jute goods,
leather and leather products, tea, urea fertilizer, ceramic tableware.
Growth rate over previous fiscal year: 16.04%. Exports to U.S. (Jan.-
Dec. 2008)--$3.74 billion. Imports from U.S. (Jan.-Dec. 2008)--$468.1
million.
GEOGRAPHY
Bangladesh is a low-lying, riparian country located in South Asia with
a largely marshy jungle coastline of 710 kilometers (440 mi.) on the
northern littoral of the Bay of Bengal. Formed by a deltaic plain at
the confluence of the Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra (Jamuna), and Meghna
Rivers and their tributaries, Bangladesh's alluvial soil is highly
fertile but vulnerable to flood and drought. Hills rise above the
plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the
Sylhet division in the northeast. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer,
Bangladesh has a subtropical monsoonal climate characterized by heavy
seasonal rainfall, moderately warm temperatures, and high humidity.
Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and
tidal bores affect the country almost every year. Bangladesh also is
affected by major cyclones on average 16 times a decade.
Urbanization is proceeding rapidly, and it is estimated that only 30%
of the population entering the labor force in the future will be
absorbed into agriculture, although many will likely find other kinds
of work in rural areas. The areas around Dhaka and Comilla are the
most densely settled. The Sundarbans, an area of coastal tropical
jungle in the southwest and last wild home of the Bengal tiger, and
the Chittagong Hill Tracts on the southeastern border with Burma and
India, are the least densely populated.
PEOPLE
The area that is now Bangladesh has a rich historical and cultural
past, combining Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol/Mughul, Arab, Persian,
Turkic, and west European cultures. Residents of Bangladesh, about 98%
of whom are ethnic Bengali and speak Bangla, are called Bangladeshis.
Urdu-speaking, non-Bengali Muslims of Indian origin, and various
tribal groups, mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, comprise the
remainder. Most Bangladeshis (about 88.3%) are Muslims, but Hindus
constitute a sizable (10.5%) minority. There also are a small number
of Buddhists, Christians, and animists. English is spoken in urban
areas and among the educated.
Sufi religious teachers succeeded in converting many Bengalis to
Islam, even before the arrival of Muslim armies from the west. About
1200 AD, Muslim invaders established political control over the Bengal
region. This political control also encouraged conversion to Islam.
Since then, Islam has played a crucial role in the region's history
and politics, with a Muslim majority emerging, particularly in the
eastern region of Bengal.
HISTORY
Bengal was absorbed into the Mughul Empire in the 16th century, and
Dhaka, the seat of a nawab (the representative of the emperor), gained
some importance as a provincial center. But it remained remote and
thus a difficult to govern region--especially the section east of the
Brahmaputra River--outside the mainstream of Mughul politics.
Portuguese traders and missionaries were the first Europeans to reach
Bengal in the latter part of the 15th century. They were followed by
representatives of the Dutch, French, and British East India
Companies. By the end of the 17th century, the British presence on the
Indian subcontinent was centered in Calcutta. During the 18th and 19th
centuries, the British gradually extended their commercial contacts
and administrative control beyond Calcutta to Bengal. In 1859, the
British Crown replaced the East India Company, extending British
dominion from Bengal, which became a region of India, in the east to
the Indus River in the west.
The rise of nationalism throughout British-controlled India in the
late 19th century resulted in mounting animosity between the Hindu and
Muslim communities. In 1885, the All-India National Congress was
founded with Indian and British membership. Muslims seeking an
organization of their own founded the All-India Muslim League in 1906.
Although both the League and the Congress supported the goal of Indian
self-government within the British Empire, the two parties were unable
to agree on a way to ensure the protection of Muslim political,
social, and economic rights. The subsequent history of the nationalist
movement was characterized by periods of Hindu-Muslim cooperation, as
well as by communal antagonism. The idea of a separate Muslim state
gained increasing popularity among Indian Muslims after 1936, when the
Muslim League suffered a decisive defeat in the first elections under
India's 1935 constitution. In 1940, the Muslim League called for an
independent state in regions where Muslims were in the majority.
Campaigning on that platform in provincial elections in 1946, the
League won the majority of the Muslim seats contested in Bengal.
Widespread communal violence followed, especially in Calcutta.
When British India was partitioned and the independent dominions of
India and Pakistan were created in 1947, the region of Bengal was
divided along religious lines. The predominantly Muslim eastern half
was designated East Pakistan--and made part of the newly independent
Pakistan--while the predominantly Hindu western part became the Indian
state of West Bengal. Pakistan's history from 1947 to 1971 was marked
by political instability and economic difficulties. Dominion status
was rejected in 1956 in favor of an "Islamic republic within the
Commonwealth." Attempts at civilian political rule failed, and the
government imposed martial law between 1958 and 1962, and again
between 1969 and 1971.
-----------------