Bangladesh

1 Chapter Basic knowledge

    • Basic Knowledge

       

       Official country name:

      People's Republic of Bangladesh

       

      Bengali name: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ

      The origin country name of Bangladesh is “Bengali”, meaning "Bengalite" by “Bangla”, "country" by “dish”, all meaning of "country of Bengali".

       

      National flag:
      The flag of Bangladesh has a red circle drawn on the green area. Green represents rich earth, red circle represents blood shed for independence. The red circle is characterized by being somewhat to the left of the center.

       

       

       

      Area · Country ⇒ 1474,000 ㎢ (about one of the three of Japan)

       

      Bangladesh is located at the easternmost end of the Indian subcontinent. Most of the surroundings are surrounded by India and the southeastern part is in contact with Myanmar. Three major rivers in Asia, namely the Ganges River (Padma River), the Brahmaputra River (Jamuna River) and the Megna River, are flowing through the country. For that reason, it has rich soils, and at the same time, large floods occur frequently in the rainy season.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      ■ Capital ➡ Dhaka

      It is the capital city of Bangladesh and also serves as the capital of Dhaka. It is said that the capital city population is 11,880,000 people (estimated by the Bureau of Statistics in 2011), the population of the metropolitan area including suburbs is more than 14 million people (United Nations estimate), and it is the world's most populous city.

       

      ■ The climate in Bangladesh

      The climate in Bangladesh is tropical, with relatively little change in temperature throughout the year, and it has a temperate climate throughout the year. From March to June, the hot and humid period continues, which makes you feel particularly hot and humid. From May to October is the rainy season, most of the annual rainfall concentrates at this time.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      ■ Time difference ➡ -3 time (UTC: +6:00)

      The time difference in Japan is -3 hours, the noon in Japan is 9 AM in Bangladesh. There is no introduction of daylight saving time.

       

      ■ Population ➡ 159,054 people (Exhibition: Population Survey of the Statistics Bureau of 2013)

      According to the population survey conducted in March 2013, the total population of Bangladesh is 159,054 thousand, the world's eighth largest population. Approximately 17 million people have increased from the 2011 survey. According to the UN population estimate, it is expected to exceed 200 million by 2050.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      In terms of people, Bengali accounts for 98% of the population. Besides, non-Bengali from Bihar and other parts of India make up 2%.

       

      ■ Language

      The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali. Bengali is used in Bangladesh and a part of India. It is consists of 14 vowels and 29 consonants. Unusual in Islam, Bengali letters are used instead of Arabic letters. In addition to Bengali, English is also used in public offices and educational institutions. However, it is said that the thought of the Bangladeshians is very strong, as the Bengali identity of the Bengali language has broken out as an official movement.

       

      ■ Currency

      The currency of Bangladesh is Taka (abbreviation: Tk). In ISO code it will be displayed as BDT. Pisa is used as an auxiliary currency, and it is 1 hawk = 100 pisa. There are 9 kinds of bank notes, 1 hawk, 2 hawk, 5 hawk, 10 hawk, 20 hawk, 50 huh, 100 huff, 500 huh, 1,000 taka, coins are 5 pisa, 10 piesa, 25 pisa, 50 pasa. Banknotes from 5 to 1,000 Taka are issued by the Bangladesh Bank, but the other two banknotes and coins are issued by the Bangladesh Government. The exchange rate is 1 yen = 0.650 hawk (as of October 20, 2015).

       

      ■Religion

      The state religion of Bangladesh is Muslim, and according to the 2001 census about 90% of the people believe in Islam. It is said that Hindu occupies much of the rest, there are only a few Buddhists and Christians. Therefore, there are many mosques in Dhaka, and prayer music flows many times a day. In addition, you can hardly get pork and alcohol in the city. If you go to the town near the border with Myanmar, many Buddhist live and you can see the Buddhist temple.

       

      ■ Education system

      In Bangladesh, we have adopted the system of 5 years of elementary school, 5 years of junior high school, 2 years of high school, 4 years of university, but in 2010 we adopted the change of educational policy at the National Assembly. According to the Ministry of Education statistics in 2009, the literacy rate is 53.5%, about half of the population of nearly 150 million people cannot read and write letters. The government has set the government policy to zero the illiteracy rate by the end of 2014.

       

      ■ Modern history of Bangladesh

      The modern history of Bangladesh is largely divided into three:

       

      - British period

      - East Pakistan era

      - After independence.

       

      [British Age ~ East Pakistan] The British era began at the end of the 18th century by colonization of British East India Company. One important pillar of the British colonial policy is when the time that it was on the policy of "split reign" where colonies are divided into several groups. This is the purpose of preventing residents from uniting. Even in British India, the way to separate Hindus and Muslims was taken, and when the Bengal Decree was issued in 1905, it was divided into West Bengal, centrally in Hindus and East Bengal, centered on Muslims. Later, in 1947 British India fulfilled independence, but intense clashes between religions occurred, it is said that more than one million victims came out. As a result, the Hindu region is India and the Muslim region is separated and independent as Pakistan, East Bengal will join Pakistan and become East Pakistan.

       

      [Eastern Pakistan Era ~ Independence] Although both Pakistan played independence from India, the common point between East and West Pakistan is that it is an Islamic state, it is not only geographically more than 1,000 km apart but also history and culture , There is a difference in language, conflict will gradually occur. The military regime after independence decided to use Urdu as the official language in addition to the economic disparity as well as the fact that it concentrated on the development of Western Pakistan where the central government is located. Although the military regime kept the East 's repulsion by force, in the 1970 general election in which the civilian rule was transferred, the Awami League of the east side which is superior to the population will win. The military government will not acknowledge this and arrest the leaders of the Awami League. In the East, riots and strikes occurred against this, and in March 1971 unilaterally declared independence. The military regime dispatched troops to the east to suppress this, and the war began. As India intervenes in the war, West Pakistan will be defeated and the independence of East Pakistan will be recognized. As a result, it became independent as Bangladesh which means "the country of Bengali".

       

      [After independence ~ present] Bangladesh fulfills independence, but it did not go as well. Politics corrupted, repeated military coups occurred, repeated assassinations of the leaders. After independence, the first Prime Minister Shake Muzibur Rahman (father of Mr. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister as of October 2015) was assassinated with his family in 1975 and governance by the military regime is done. After that, the democratization campaign became active in 1990, the then Elshado regime collapsed, the general election took place in 1991. Democratic elections have been held since then, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the two major parties of the Awami League are in charge of the administration alternately. However, social and economic confusion is caused by conflict between political parties in the meantime, so corrupted reform of politics is considered indispensable. Meanwhile, the economy continues to grow steadily, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working on economic development and eradication of corruption in order to achieve "Vision 2021" aiming to enter middle-income countries by 2021.

       

      ■ Political system

      Government: Republican head of state: President Abdul Hamid

      Government: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

      National Assembly unicameral, capacity is 350

      The term of office of a member is five years, and 50 of 350 seats are supposed to be elected as a women parliament according to the political party's vote rate by the electoral district system.

      The main political parties are the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party), the Awami League, the Kuomintang, the Islamic Association (Jamathi Islam) etc. In the general election in 2014, the opposition parties led by BNP boycotted the elections, and the Awami League led by H.E. Sheikh Hasina won the race. A new administration was inaugurated.

       

      ■ Political / economic trends

      The politics of Bangladesh who experienced a censade over several powers after independence was hard to say that it was stable in recent years. In October 2006, the BNP regime led by Begum Khaleda Zia by pressure of the military resigned, and the interim government was inaugurated. In January 2007 there was a time when the emergency declaration was issued from the turmoil over the implementation of the general election and the political activities were restricted. Thereafter, in December 2008, the emergency declaration was lifted, and the general election for the first time in seven years was implemented, the Awami League won 230 seats (48.06% of the votes) and the cabinet with H.E. Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister was born. Even then, the conflict between the two major parties continues, there are demonstrations, general strikes (HARALTAL), assassin's assassination, political stability is desired. On the other hand, the economy is maintaining good performance in recent years. The export of textile products which became the nation's leading industry now is a major income source. Due to rising wages in China and Vietnam, investment from foreign companies gathered in Bangladesh with inexpensive workforce, overseas remittances from Bangladesh who work in the Middle East and abroad are also present, maintaining economic growth of 5 to 6% in recent years doing. With such stable and high economic growth, it is positioned as one of the emerging economies of "Next 1 1" next to BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China).

       

      ■ Japan-Bangladesh Relations

      At the time that Bangladesh became independent, Japan approved its first independence among developed countries. There is a national character as a sunny day, maintaining a friendly relationship. The Embassy of Bangladesh in Japan opened in March 1972, and in July the same year, the Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh was established. The greatest relationship between the two countries is ODA from Japan. For Bangladesh, Japan is the largest ODA country, aid in the construction of the largest Jamuna Bridge and Chittagong / Shahjalal International Airport in the country, and it is recognized as an important partner for the country with poor infrastructure.

      Looking at the economic relationship, the amount of trade is increasing year by year, exports to Japan are US $ 750 million and imports are US $ 1,150 million. We mainly import clothing from Bangladesh and export automobile parts etc. from Japan. And, as represented by UNIQLO in recent years, there are an increasing number of Japanese companies entering Bangladesh, and that trend will continue in the future.

      In addition to politics and economics, the acceptance of government-sponsored international students and cooperation on grant aid are being implemented.

      The number of Japanese residents in Bangladesh is 908 (as of October 1, 2013 / Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan).