BANGLADESH
Bangladesh officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India and Burma and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka, located in central Bangladesh. The official state language is Bengali. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language.
The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal during the reign and demise of the British India. Its map was chartered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe during the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan, part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan. Due to political exclusion and economic exploitation by the politically dominant West Pakistan, popular agitation grew against West Pakistan and led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence on 26 March 1971. With the direct and indirect help of India, 9 months of war came to an end on 16 December 1971 by the surrender of the Pakistan Army at Race Course, just after 10 days of direct action of the Indian Army. After independence, the new state endured an inept and corrupt administration, nationalising all aspects of life, that resulted in famines, poverty, widespread corruption, as well as political turmoil and unrest in the civil and military administration. The restoration of order in late 1975 brought back confidence and hope back into the lives of the citizens and the country.[citation needed] Since 1991 has been followed by relative calm and economic progress.
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy, with an elected parliament called the Jatiyo Sangshad. It is the eight-most populous country and among the most densely populated countries in the world. Just like in the rest of South Asia the poverty rate prevails, although the United Nations has acclaimed Bangladesh for achieving tremendous progress in human development. Geographically, the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones.
The country is listed among the Next Eleven economies. It is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the D-8 and BIMSTEC, and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement. However, Bangladesh continues to face a number of major challenges, including widespread political and bureaucratic corruption, widespread poverty, and an increasing danger of hydrologic shocks brought on by ecological vulnerability to climate change.
